Category: Digital Marketing

Christmas is the best time of the year. People are full of expectations and hopes for miracles and happiness to come and stay. And marketers are full of hopes to boost sales and increase revenue ;).

(Source: Stripo template)

How can you make your Christmas emails stand out among thousands of offers provided by other brands?

It’s not that difficult. The key to success in Christmas email marketing is simple — do not sell your products, put a smile on your customers’ faces instead, and spread the Christmas mood! Be sincere when sharing your emotions and when greeting your contacts on this day. This makes your newsletters effective as recipients are more likely to buy from those who spread the holiday cheer.

(Source: Email from Tom Raffield)

In this post, we will cover:

• Christmas email marketing ideas;

• Christmas email examples;

• Christmas email subject lines;

• the best time to send your Christmas emails.

Christmas email marketing ideas

In this section, we will share tips on how to make your emails powerful and ideas of what your customers really want to see when they open your happy holiday newsletter.

1. Provide free shipping

Did you know that 91% of customers are only going to shop with brands that provide free shipping? 91%! You see, it matters!

(Source: Email from Ameri Mark)

According to NRF, customers are ready to spend an impressive $998.00 on Christmas this year, $648.00 of that amount is meant for gifts. This is huge. So, offering free shipping is like giving customers a little reward for being so kind and generous to their friends.

2. Cut prices

There’s nothing new in this piece of advice, but it’s still worth mentioning: we need to cut prices big on Christmas as customers expect us to do it.

(Source: Email from Crell)

According to NRF, 64% of consumers are only going to buy from a company if the latter offers huge discounts.

3. Entertain customers with interactivity and gamification

During the holiday season, we tend to relax, have some fun, and be entertained.

This is when email gamification helps. For instance, you may just let your customers have some fun or ask them to “win” their prize or discount, that depends on your business.

In our post “Mazes and Puzzles for Emails“, we show how to build a similar puzzle in under 30 minutes.

4. Specify the delivery dates 

People buy presents for a special day. Hence, it is crucial to have those orders delivered by this certain date. 

However, we all know that post offices and delivery services are quite busy during the holiday season. And delivering orders can take longer than it usually does. You don’t want to disappoint your customers during this magic season by being late with delivery.

(Source: Email from Adidas)

It should be on brands and marketers to let people know how soon their orders can arrive. 

Timers could be of great use here. With their help, you can let customers know how many days they have to order items that would arrive in time for Christmas.

5. Help customers get what they really want 

You wanted a fishing spinner, but your friends got you a pair of socks? You wanted a pair of jeans, but your family got you another pair of socks? This happens quite often. I don’t mind socks. But they are definitely not a fishing spinner.

(Source: Email from Victoria’s Secret)

Why not help your subscribers get what they really want?

Here’s what Victoria’s Secret did last year: they let customers add their favorite items to carts. And then they gave “hints” to friends and relatives of their subscribers in accordance with the items a particular user added to their cart.

6. Give presents/personal discounts to your valued customers

You can give presents to your subscribers to thank them for being with you. There are two ways to give presents away: giving small presents to everyone or giving impressive presents to the lucky ones. Monica Vinader chose the second option last year.

(Source: Email from Monica Vinader)

This simple “trick” will:

• drive traffic to your website;

• make subscribers strive for your products — some will buy those items if they don’t win;

• make at least one person — the winner — happy. Isn’t it great?

7. Use real-time content to provide customers with actual numbers

Promoting a limited edition? What should you do to prevent users from getting disappointed with you when you run out of a product that you have already promoted in your Christmas email and they are willing to buy?

(Source: Email from Vermont Teddy Bear)

There’s a way out: use real-time content in emails. How? Connect your emails to Google Spreadsheets. And once you run out of a certain item, you will be able to notify users about it in the same email by simply making changes in Google Sheets.

New users who just open this email, will see updated info: something like “SOLD OUT.”

8. Promote gift cards

Why? To make 56% of Americans happy.

Did you know that 56% of all respondents whom NRF managed to survey this year said they would love to get a gift card for Christmas?

(Source: Email from Tom Raffield)

Selling gift cards is a pretty old Christmas email marketing strategy. And it is still quite popular.

9. Run contests

Running a competition could be a good Christmas email marketing idea. First, competitions always win our interest. Second, winning a competition will make someone happy. And making people happy, especially during the holiday season, is something we all strive for.

(Source: Email-Competitors)

Be sure to announce a winner before Christmas ;).

10. Make a review of the year/Share your plans for the next year

Remind your clients what you’ve been through together. First of all, they will know you track their success, second of all, you might remind them how helpful and supportive you’ve been all year.

(Source: Email from Stripo)

This is one of the best business Christmas newsletter ideas for consulting and legal services, and for SaaS products. 

Important to note:

Your users might want to share this info with their friends. Be sure to add the “Share” button to your Christmas newsletters.

You may also brag about your brand’s achievements so that customers know they deal with an ambitious company. 

As for sharing your plans for the next year, it is reasonable to do it if your plans are huge. People will love to know what you are up to and what to expect from you next year.

Of course, in this case, you will need to implement them ;).

11. Spread the Christmas cheer

There are plenty of ways to do it: from paying close attention to Christmas email design to telling heartwarming stories or sharing your holiday playlists. 

(Source: Really Good Emails)

Madonna said, “Music makes the people come together”… Psychologists believe she is right.

Share the Christmas music you listen to with your colleagues and customers and see what happens.

12. Make Christmas shopping easier

We’re always in a hurry. So, searching for Christmas presents on your website or in your emails can take a while. 

(Source: Email-Competitors)

Using additional menu tabs can significantly help your customers save time as such tabs take users directly where they need.

13. Set your working hours

No matter if you run an online or an offline business, users need to know when they can catch you.

(Source: Email from Kittery Trading Post)

This is not optional, this is a must-do. Especially, if you are not going to work through the holidays.

14. Remind customers New Year is coming

It will be nice to remind customers that New Year is close if you work in the HoReCa industry. Being emotional about Christmas, people may totally forget about this holiday.

(Source: Email from Prezzo)

It would be reasonable to send this email on December 26. Schedule this campaign if you do not plan on coming to the office during the Christmas holidays :).

15. Show your gratitude/Congratulate customers on Christmas

Would your business exist without them? Right, it wouldn’t. That is why the upcoming holidays are a good reason to thank people and mention that you care. 

(Source: Email from French Connection)

Emphasize that they are not only your customers but also friends and maybe even a big family of yours.

There’s a brilliant idea to make this email even more emotional and sincere: add a photo/video of your entire team or your CEO saying, “Merry Christmas.”

(Source: Email-Competitors)

Send this email before Christmas Eve, say early morning on December 24th, as people are not likely to read your emails on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — this is family time.

Christmas email marketing examples

In this section, we want to share the greatest examples that will inspire you to build touching holiday emails.

Example 1. Cheerful Christmas email from Stripo

Subject: Christmas Presents.

It’s hard to find a person who wouldn’t smile when they see Santa Clause dancing with his deer.

This banner could be a great addition to any Christmas email. And once you add it, your email won’t require any other festive email design elements.

Example 2. Sophisticated Christmas email from Ross-Simons

Subject: Get it by Christmas: Order by 2 pm ET today. 

First, this sample looks classy, I’d even say, “Luxurious” as it has nothing superfluous in it. Second, this email is a great example of how to combine colors. The company managed to stick to Christmas traditional colors, but at the same time, they avoided using green and red in one email as that is too trivial. Not to mention green and red do not go well together according to email accessibility best practices.

(Source: Email-Competitors)

Example 3. Emotional Christmas email from Sun & Ski Sports

Subject: Merry Christmas from Sun & Ski Sports.

A Harvard Business School Professor states that 95% of all purchases are done emotionally.

Thus, we need to appeal to consumers’ emotions to convince them to buy from us or just to help them feel the holiday spirit.

(Source: Email-competitors)

And Sun and Ski Sports succeeded in it. Every time I look at this picture, I long for snow, I wanna go skiing.

Choose bright, colorful, and cheerful photos for your newsletters that present your product best. Or be sure to optimize them with an image manipulation service.

Example 4. Cozy Christmas email from Barnham Broom

Subject: A Cosy Christmas.

For those who don’t feel like skiing, but would rather have a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows instead, you may add photos of happy people at home/resorts to make them feel cozy.

(Source: Email from Barnham Broom)

Pastel colors would go best for such emails.

Example 5. Gamified Christmas email from Stripo

Subject: Draw your Christmas card right in the email.

We all love to have a little fun despite our age, even during a hard working day just to relax a little.

Last December, we congratulated our users on Christmas and enabled them to draw in the email. We also mentioned that if they wanted to congratulate us back, they could send a card they just drew. We received thousands of them. Thank you all who did that. We loved all those cards. And we love you.

If you are still hesitating about whether to use gamification in your Christmas emails, we will only say that the CTR of this campaign was high.

With our Ultimate Guide to Email Gamification, building a gamified email will not take you long.  

Example 6. Touching Christmas email from Cabela’s Inc.

Subject: Hope and faith: A story of Christmas joy. 

They say you should never boast about the good deeds you do. But if this encourages others to do the same, then you are, probably, obligated to tell the world about those good deeds.

(Source: Email-Competitors)

Please be advised that currently there are two ways to add videos to emails with Stripo: adding links to videos in emails and embedding videos.

Example 7. “Personal” Christmas email from Beau Ties

Subject: Merry Christmas.

Previously we said that it would be just great if a team or a CEO on behalf of the entire company greeted your customers. But sharing a team photo will be also lovely and will have the same effect — users will feel a little bit closer to you.

(Source: Email-Competitors)

But taking photos requires much less effort than taking a video.

Example 8. Interactive Christmas email from 1973

Subject: Here’s a gift just for you… 

Christmas is the time when we can finally relax and have some fun. Your contacts do hope to relax too — give them this opportunity.

(Source: Really Good Emails)

If you use games like this one, they work best in greeting emails. But you may also use games for “Giving out” coupons and discounts, like the image carousel that we provided in the “Entertain customers with interactivity and gamification” section. In this case, you should add them to promo emails. 

Example 9. Gift cards from Brighton

Subject: Want Your Gifts by 12/24?

While some companies leave just a small spot for gift cards in their emails, which makes it hard to notice them, Brighton dedicated an entire section to their cards. In fact, the Gift card section was even placed on the first screen as a banner. 

(Source: Email from Brighton)

The brilliant design solution, especially for last-minute promos.

Example 10. CSS-Animated email from Stripo

Subject: Snowflakes.

CSS animation is one of the hottest trends in email marketing. It’s not heavy and renders across major email clients, yet it entertains customers.

When using this Christmas wishes email, you can replace our text with yours, work on the button’s design, and change the background color.

Christmas email subject lines

Every day your subscribers receive tons of emails, especially during the holiday season. This is why you should “fight” for clients’ attention and do your best to get emails opened.

This is why we’re going to show the most interesting and distinctive holiday greetings email subject lines, in our opinion.

1. 🎄 We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🎅 — Stripo.

2. Do not open until 25th December… — KE Adventure.

3. Merry Everything and Thank You — Marketing Profs.

4. Merry Shopping With 50% Off your purchase — Banana Republic.

5. Merry Christmas! From our family to yours — Gap.

6. 🎄MERRY EVERYTHING!🎁 — VS PINK.

7. YAAAASSSS! You’ve been gifted 25% OFF your purchase (Merry Christmas) — Old Navy.

8. A Christmas Miracle — Nice Laundry Underwear.

9. Still shopping? We can email you a gift experience voucher. — Whittlebury Hall.

10. Last-minute gifts + special holiday shipping — Guitar Center.

11. All I Want for Christmas is Growth — GrowthHackers.

12. ‘tis the season to be marvelous and mischievous — THE BRITISH LIBRARY.

13. Need it by Christmas? 50% OFF 2-day shipping — Cosentino Winery Napa Valley.

14. Christmas… Better Together — Prezzo.

15. Need a last-minute Christmas present? — Historic Sussex Hotels.

16. Hope and faith: A story of Christmas joy. — Cabela’s Inc.

17. 24% Off | Spread A Little Christmas Magic — Buyagift.co.uk.

18. Thanksgiving & Christmas are coming up fast! Save 35% Off Spode Woodland 50 to 75% on Spode Christmas Tree + Free Gifts with purchase +Free Shipping — Char Crews.

19. Thinkin’ About Christmas Gifts?  — JD.

20. Order in time for pre-Christmas delivery — Tom Raffield.

21. 10 breathtaking hotel Christmas trees — Forbes Travel Guide.

22. Can I start my Christmas tree now? — RONA.

23. Last-minute gifts to save Christmas — WIRED Gadget Lab.

24. Sporty Christmas Gifting Ideas — Decathlon.

25. Can You Guess What These Christmas Carol Words Mean? — Dictionary.com.

26. Give the Gift of Sport this Christmas — Decathlon.

27. A Cosy Christmas — Barnham Broom.

28. Get set for the festive season (2020 moves fast) — The Plum Guide.

29. 16 Cozy One-Pot Recipes Just Like Grandma Used to Make — EatingWell.

30. The quiz that reveals your partner’s perfect gift — Beaverbrooks the Jewellers.

31. MERRY EVERYTHING! — VS PINK.

32. Continue the Christmas spirit — Esprit Family Ski.

33. Happy Christmas Eve! Open for a present — Yours Clothing.

34. Christmas Calendar – Today’s daily prize! — Triumph Online Shop.

35. Christmas may be over, but now it’s time to get a gift for yourself!! Our Holiday Sale ends on New Year’s! — SonicElectronix.

36. Wishing you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! — ShopHQ.

37. Shop Early for Christmas 🎄🎅 — M&M’s.

38. Whatever your Christmas looks like… — Boden.

39. There is still time for Christmas gifts — Monica Vinader.

40. Ho-ho-ho 🎅 Christmas SALE has started! — Crello.

Use all your rich imagination when working on Christmas subject lines — no limits here, just express your feelings, preferably in a funny or heartwarming way.

Consider using emojis as they make your emails more festive and are capable of increasing OR by up to 3.29%.

Please remember that you can set your catchy Christmas titles and preheaders/preview texts in Stripo.

The best time to send your Christmas emails 

Today is the right time to start preparations for the holiday season and reach out to our clients with Merry Christmas emails.

Why now exactly? — Because, per research conducted by Statista, 45% of gifts for this magic holiday are bought in November — 23% before Thanksgiving and 22% on Thanksgiving weekend. And only 15% will be bought in December.

(Source: Email from Tom Raffield)

Wrapping up

You have done enough this year. Christmas is the family holiday when you can rest and enjoy some time off! 

Stripo has prepared a wide variety of Merry Christmas email templates for you. Choose the one that you like best, and customize it in accordance with your brand book. And your email is ready to go.

Fitness Mobile App Development: Introduction

The focus people are putting into their fitness to better their physical and mental health has grown drastically, especially in the past few years. The total revenue in this industry is estimated to touch USD 46.62 million in 2022. People have started to invest in fitness-related products heavily and rely on external resources to help keep their health in check. Thus, fitness mobile app development is a hot domain in the app industry. With digitalization at an all-time high, fitness apps have revolutionized how people work out and exercise to stay fit.

Fitness apps have additional features which monitor all your health parameters and analyze all the data received throughout the day to show your progress and the kind of lifestyle you’re leading. These apps offer a wide range of customization scope, which give them a unique edge to cater to a broad customer base, as each person has their methods and routine, which help them to stay fit and healthy.

Fitness Mobile App Development: The New “Fad”

Fitness apps have initialized a revolution and given a new shape to workouts and health maintenance. This can be proven by users’ extensive use of these apps, as more than 16M leading fitness apps were downloaded in January 2022.

Earlier, people had to go out to work out, such as in parks or gyms. This required extra effort and time, and there were cases when the designated area was overcrowded. Additionally, there was no graph to check your progress and give you a self-assessment of your consistency and stamina and what areas you need to improve. Workout areas also limit your exercise and the customers’ flexibility to choose what they want.

Fitness apps help you overcome all these shortcomings. The mix of technology, such as AI/ML, along with the continuous inflow of data from the user, provides real-time insight into your health and keeps track of your fitness journey. These had become an asset, especially surging during and after the pandemic, when people had no choice but to look for alternatives to gyms and outdoor parks.

For instance, MyFitnessPal is one of the most downloaded apps in the US, with more than 1 million members, which helps users to achieve their nutrition and fitness goals. It has a calorie counter, which allows the user to know the number of calories consumed. It has features like a scanner, which tells the nutritional value of the packaged food. You can also add your workouts and sync your daily steps using Apple’s Health app, making MyFitnessPal a popular choice for iOS users. You can keep a food diary to understand your goals and search for 10 million foods from their database to know their nutritional value, giving you an idea about your eating habits, which directly relate to fitness.

Fitness Mobile App Development For Business: Various Types

There are a few broad categories of fitness apps, each one uniquely providing its services:

1. Fitness Trackers

These apps help you to track your daily progress in terms of your step count, calorie intake, sleep and pulse rate and are usually connected to a device such as a smartphone or a smartwatch. The app then synced and analyzed the data to provide a complete overview. E.g: Fitbit.

2. Mental Wellness Apps

Mental health is also important today due to the stressful and fast-paced work environment. Apps such as MoodFit help to access services that keep you rejuvenated, engaged, and light-headed to prevent you from going down a mental spiral.

3. Altruistic Fitness Apps

An incredibly innovative concept, Altruistic fitness apps give users an incentive to remain consistent and work out by allowing them to work out for a good cause and donate it to charity by the requisite sponsors. For instance, if you complete a certain number of cycling laps or run a few miles, you can donate to charity since you’ve achieved your goal.

4. Workout Apps

Workout Apps give users various options and help them form a routine using guided tutorials. The user can select if they want to do a cardio workout, yoga, weightlifting, etc. The Nike Training Club is an example of how workout apps help to provide world-class services to customers from the comfort of their homes.

Fitness App Features That Can Make Your App A Success

1. Personalized Settings

Each user has a different fitness goal and a routine for working out. Thus, fitness apps must offer personalized settings according to their requirements and needs, which would strengthen the app’s reliability. For instance, it can study the user’s previous habits and make diet suggestions accordingly or create a suggested workout routine during the time slots they prefer.

2. Organized Dashboard

A dashboard helps to give the user an overview of their habits. A simplistic dashboard gives the user an overview of their statistics and allows them to glimpse their progress. Good fitness apps have a well-designed dashboard with multiple fitness app features.

3. Habit & Goals Tracker

Habits and Goals tracker help the user to stay consistent and pushes them to improve. These trackers can be used for step counting, water intake, sleep cycle, or the number of calories burnt. It also helps them to map out their fitness plans and set goals according to the capacity they think they can increase.

4. Device Synchronization

To continuously fetch data from the user and provide the most accurate results, synchronizing with devices such as phones and watches is essential. It facilitates ease of use and gives them analytics based on 24*7 monitoring.

5. Constant Notifications

Constant notifications, when it comes to fitness apps, can be a crucial feature. These remind the user to fulfill their goals, eat properly, drink water, and encourage them if they achieve a new target. An optimum amount of notification alerts gives a solid reminder to help keep the user stay on track.

6. Social Integration

Fitness apps should have social media connections. This enables to help a community to grow and thrive together. Social sharing allows users to share their achievements with their trusted ones, know about their workout routines, or help them to stay aware and encouraged.

7. Gamification

Normal workouts can get monotonous after a time, causing people to lose interest in the fitness app slowly. To prevent this, fun elements such as personalized music or brownie points can be incorporated. Apps that pay you when you achieve your target are popular choices these days. This feature adds a fresh touch to the app and helps it to stand out.

8. Creating A User Profile

Apps should always offer the option of creating accounts for users. This makes the whole experience personalized. Fitness apps function differently depending on their habits, goals, and personal details like gender, height, and weight. It also makes tracking the user’s journey much more accessible.

Fitness Mobile App Development: Things To Take Care Of

Here are a few things that one needs to keep in mind before venturing into developing a fitness app:

1. Set a budget and define the features of the app first. Each fitness app differs hugely in terms of its services, and it’s essential to know the vision you are trying to achieve.

2. Work on the UI/UX design. It should be attractive, simplistic, and unique, along with a bold color scheme. A good design helps in user retention and experience. It makes the whole app flow much smoother and displays all the information in an organized manner. Especially in fitness apps, the information should be displayed in a graphical manner supported with graphs and charts to help the user understand their progress better.

3. Try to integrate incentives that keep the user engaged and motivated. It can be through their social network, integration with mental wellness apps, or features like monetization.

4. Grow your brand and establish your app through different methods. This can be possible through influencer collaboration, paid advertising, or content creation.

5. Ensure that your fitness app covers the basic essential fitness app features. Goal trackers, user personalization, device integration, and guided tutorials are a few examples that can elevate your app.

Markovate & The Company’s Experience with Fitness Mobile App Development

Fitness app development can be a tricky field to navigate through. It’s essential to know how the services can be brought to the user in the easiest way possible and how innovative fitness app features can be incorporated to help them stay motivated throughout their fitness journey and keep using their app.

Markovate (Fitness app development company) understands these requirements and works toward providing your business with developers having expertise in the latest cutting-edge technologies to give you the best app solution. In the fitness apps industry, we have prior experience developing My Perfect Trainer (MPT), which connects trainers with clients and works for their mutual benefit. It is a fully functional fitness platform with Cloud integration, an eye-catching UI, and a focus on the user’s security regarding payment transactions or account creation.

Further Read: Fitness App Development: Include These Features To Make It Like Fitbit

Fitness Mobile App Development: FAQs

1. What makes a successful fitness app?

Successful fitness apps have a combination of features that deliver the best user experience. They keep the user engaged and motivated, help them to track their fitness progress, and guide them with their workouts or nutrition.

2. How long does it take to develop a fitness app?

The time taken to develop a fitness app differs based on the technical requirements and the resources involved in the development process. On average, it takes four-six months.

3. What are some of the best fitness Apps?

A few examples of the best fitness app are Fitbit, MyFitnessPal, My Perfect Trainer, and Nike Training Club. All of these work towards the user’s fitness but cover different aspects.

Rajeev Sharma

author

I’m Rajeev Sharma, Co-Founder, and CEO of Markovate, a digital product development company. With over a decade of experience in digital product development, I have led digital transformations and product development of large enterprises like AT&T and IBM.

My main areas of competence include mobile app development, UX design, end-to-end digital product development, and product growth. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and certifications from the Scrum Alliance. Aside from my work, I am interested in Metaverse and closely following the latest developments.

Auto mechanic. Boxer. Insurance salesman. Carpet cleaner. Letter carrier. These are just a handful of the odd jobs that Steve Harvey, the famous comedian, and host of Family Feud, worked before he became a household name. It’s a pretty amazing resume!

Before Steve Harvey became famous, he had been homeless and lived on the streets for three years. But he never gave up, and never stopped thinking of strategies to help propel him to where he is today.

In this article, I’m going to talk about how Steve Harvey became an unlikely success story and why people like him so much.

A Real Rags-to-riches Story: How Steve Harvey Got Popular

January 17, 1957, Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. was born to Jesse Harvey, a coal miner, and Eloise Vera. He was named after the actor Broderick Crawford of the TV Series Highway Patrol. That he got his name from a TV actor and ended up becoming a TV host was a happy coincidence.

Growing up in coal country West Virginia is not a glamorous lifestyle. He didn’t have much money in his childhood, and things didn’t magically get better when he was an adult.

Harvey started his career as a comedian. Early in the 1980s, he did stand-up comedy. Later, he hosted Showtime at the Apollo and The Steve Harvey Show on the WB. After appearing on the Kings of Comedy Tour, he was a part of The Original Kings of Comedy. His latest performance was in 2012.

But it was a long way to the top for him. You see, Steve Harvey was homeless for three years in the late 1980s. He slept in his 1976 Ford when the comedy gigs he worked didn’t provide hotels. He spent a lot of time showering at gas stations and swimming pool showers.

Harvey found himself switching between odd jobs as a mailman, autoworker, carpet cleaner, and insurance salesman when he was working hard to reach success.

His fortunes started to turn when Rich and Becky Liss gave Harvey a chance on a carpet cleaning contract. It wasn’t comedy that saved him initially. You can see his gratitude in this video of him reuniting with the Lisses who helped him out so long ago. He can’t help but show his appreciation to them even though he’s already famous.

Steve Harvey’s early experiences with fame

Through years of struggle and working odd jobs, Steve Harvey persisted until he finally started to get some traction into what would eventually become his radio and television career. His fortune turned along with the decade in 1990, when he was selected as a finalist in the Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search. His stand-up comedy was starting to get noticed!

Three years later, he was hosting It’s Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated variety show that started in 1987. The hours the show was aired weren’t the best – often it was slotted in after Saturday Night Live so only the true night owls would see it, but at least he was on TV at this point.

The next year came, and in 1994, Harvey was selected to be a star on the ill-fated ABC series, Me and the Boys because of his popularity as a stand-up comedian. The show didn’t go much of anywhere, but it was just one more stepping stone toward his next big gig – The Steve Harvey Show which ran from 1996 to 2002 on WB.

By the early 2000s, Steve Harvey was a recognizable guy, but still not a superstar. After all, The Steve Harvey Show never really saw phenomenal ratings. It was well-liked within the African-American community, but mostly faded from public memory and remained as a show well-liked by a handful of viewers.

But he just kept working from there. He got into radio in 2000 where he was host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show for five years, which is still in syndication to this day. He starred in a handful of movies, then released a stand-up special called Steve Harvey: Don’t Trip…He Ain’t Through with Me Yet.

In 2009, he released his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. It stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for over a year, spending nearly six months at #1.

There were no magic moments of success – just a slow build. He didn’t really become famous until his mid-30s or even his 40s depending on what you consider “famous.”

Steve Harvey revived Family Feud

If you know Steve Harvey for one thing now, it’s for hosting Family Feud. The show has been around since 1976 and has been hosted by six different men. Steve Harvey took over the show in 2010, and he’s now been the show’s longest-running presenter.

And arguably the best too.

In the US, where Family Feud got it’s start, the show had become boring and stale by the late 2000s. The viewership ratings were really low. Then Steve Harvey took over.

Since he started hosting Family Feud, ratings increased over fivefold compared to where they were when the previous hosted departed.

His brashness, willingness to poke fun a contestants (in a likeable way), and his quick wit breathed life into an old, dry, worn-out show. Now Family Feud is competing with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for syndication.

5 Reasons Steve Harvey Won the Hearts of Millions

Clearly, Steve Harvey worked his way to where he is, became recognizable in the 1990s, and really popular in the late 2000s and 2010s. He’s successfully won the heart of millions.

But the critics also love him. Steve has won 14 NAACP Image Awards across a variety of categories as wells as two Marconi Awards and seven Daytime Emmy Awards. It feels, in a way, like life is repaying him for the hard times he experienced earlier.

But why is Steve Harvey, in particular, so beloved by the public? What makes him such a perfect fit for our TVs? Why does he stand out among other comedians as being relatable and likeable? How have I even heard of him all the way in the Phillippines where I’m writing from?

Here are a few reasons that come to mind.

1. Steve Harvey is a genuinely hard-working man.

Harvey had a lengthy and incredibly successful career in the entertainment sector. And he has been effectively managing a number of enterprises under the name Steve Harvey Global since 2017.

One thing to bear in mind is that despite Steve Harvey’s success on the big screen, and his success in amassing millions of fans, he still had to put in a lot of effort. Harvey worked hard for every bit of the success he currently enjoys and was able to do so because he had a humble attitude that allowed him to take the unglamorous opportunities needed to get him to where he is now.

On some level, Steve remembers what it’s like to be homeless. He keeps working hard and stays busy because he knows on a visceral level – in a way most celebrities don’t – that he has a good life.

2. Steve Harvey knows what it’s like to be down on your luck, and he cares a lot about charity.

Have you heard about the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s an influential philanthropic organization that provides youth outreach services. Steve Harvey himself is the Founder.

His focus through the charity is to “help cultivate the next generation of responsible leaders by providing educational enrichment, mentoring, life transformation skills, and global service initiatives. The Foundation strives to be a change-agent by fostering excellence in the areas of education, health, and social well-being in urban and diverse communities, ensuring that the needs of the whole child are met.”

In other words, Steve Harvey’s trying to find the kids who live the life he lived in the 1970s and 1980s and give them the chance they need to succeed that they would otherwise never get.

3. He has shown the ability to gracefully recover from mistakes.

Steve Harvey, like every public figure these days, has had the occasional run-in with social media over mistakes and controversies.

One good example comes from the year 2015 at the Miss Universe Event. He announced the wrong winner, and that was very embarrassing!

Around the 3 minute mark in this video, you can see Steve Harvey thinking about what to say. Here, he’s just told the wrong woman that her dreams have come true. Now he has to take away her moment.

He immediately apologized, made it clear that he misread the card, gave people a minute to process the information, then corrected his mistake. He showed the audience what was on the card he was reading off of, immediately took responsibility for his mistake and made it abundantly clear who was truly the winner so there would not be speculation.

It takes a lot of class to do that and a lot of wits to think on your feet like that.

4. Because he’s experienced really hard times in his life, Steve Harvey is a credible motivational speaker.

Steve is known first and foremost as a comedian, but many people take his motivational words to heart and change their lives as a result. Steve has several mentoring programs including The Steve Harvey Boys Mentoring Program and Girls Who Rule the World.

Steve Harvey has talked plenty about failure – specifically, how to reframe it as a necessary stop on the way to success.

He has also talked about how if you want to be successful, you have to think on a higher level with broad goals in mind. But you also have to find specific things that you can work on so that you can have focus and purpose at the same time. This will let you try things, fail at what you need to fail at, and figure out who you really are.

He’s also talks about how it’s important to smile, and how that can make more people smile at you.

This is evergreen, effective, useable motivational advice. It’s nothing particularly original, but originality isn’t the point. Steve Harvey says what he says with conviction – and that’s the key difference.

5. He’s really funny.

It’s obvious, but it’s true! People like Steve Harvey because he’s just really funny.

As Steve would say it, everyone has a gift that’s like a tree trunk. Trees have many branches that stem from the trunk. He says his gift is “comedy”, and that’s his tree trunk. His motivational speeches, his TV career, and his philanthropy all come from his tree trunk.

To close out this post, just check out this video of his funniest moments. Watch these and it will help you really understand just how much his humor connects with people.

How can B2B marketers put the old adage of focusing on what you can control to the best use, and why will 2023 be an important year to boost efficiency with better focus?

We’ve all heard the saying that it’s better to focus on those things that you can truly play a part in changing than spending time worrying about so many of the things that really are outside the scope of what we can change.

Knowing where to put our efforts to the best use and which areas to skip are skills that generally improve as we mature and grow, in both our personal and professional lives.

Let’s jump right in and take a look at how to boost B2B marketing efforts with better focus.

Improved Focus For Better Marketing & More

No matter what stage of the journey we’re on, it can be valuable to take stock of where we’re at when it comes to where we place our focus, and how we can improve these important skills.

Today’s helter skelter always-on social media digital marketing lifestyle is riddled with endless avenues vying for our attention, making it a harder task than ever to filter out the things we can’t control from those where we should be directing our full focus.

Over time most of us generally know what our strong areas are, and where we tend to struggle, and building better focusing skills can often start simply by turning a mirror back onto ourselves, to be reminded of our inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Embracing Our Strong Points

With that refresher, we can confidently move on to applying our efforts to our strong point areas. What if those areas are perfectly aligned with our strengths, but aren’t ones that we can have an effect on? Or, on the other side of the equation, what if we’re facing areas where we can have great impact, but they’re not aligned with our strong points?

This is a fairly common scenario, as we all have to tackle tasks that aren’t exactly in our top areas of expertise.

When this happens, it can be helpful to recognize it as an opportunity to boost those skills and become a more well-rounded B2B marketer — especially with today’s roles requiring more of a full-stack skill-set than ever.

In B2B marketing, learning where not to focus your energy can be an important discovery, along with the subtle power of brevity.

In today’s short attention span digital-first world, a finely-tuned short message can often significantly outperform a comprehensive missive or manifesto, especially when it comes to content shared on social media platforms. I wrote more about this phenomenon in “You Have 8 Seconds – GO! Brand Messaging Secrets With Debra Jasper.”

“In B2B marketing, learning where not to focus your energy can be an important discovery, along with the subtle power of brevity.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Click To Tweet

Aligning Focus With Skill

It’s important to recognize that even if a particular task is squarely aligned with one of our strongest skills, if that task falls in the category of things we can’t control, no matter how much effort we put forth, the work will usually be for naught.

The magic happens when we know our strong points and are also able to apply them in areas where our efforts can have a direct impact.

We can optimize our focus by making it a regular practice to ask ourselves four key questions:

• Is this something my efforts can have an impact on?
• Does this task align with my strengths?
• Can I use this situation as a learning opportunity?
• If not me, who would this task be ideally suited for?

“The magic happens when we know our strong points and are also able to apply them in areas where our efforts can have a direct impact..” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis Click To Tweet

Riding The Focus Wave

When you find yourself in an especially productive period, take advantage of it and ride the productivity wave to get as much done as possible while the creative B2B marketing iron is burning hot.

Unfortunately, we can’t control when we’ll be at our peak combined levels of energy, productivity, and efficiency. By quickly recognizing when such a period hits us, however, we can get in as much work as possible before the big wave eventually peters out.

How can you take advantage of these times? Here are three strategies:

• Turn off anything you can that normally distracts you, such as alarms, notifications, or whatever may cause you to break stride while working at your best
• Try to include short micro-breaks — even if just for a minute — to keep the overall energy up and use the time to focus on what you want to accomplish next during the session
• When your very productive period comes to its inevitable end, take a little time to write down what you think made for such a good working session, and what you’d do differently next time to make it even better

Laser Focus Builds Better B2B Content

via GIPHY

By using these focus-building techniques you’ll have a jump on the competition, and be able to elevate your own B2B marketing efforts in new ways.

You can learn more about increasing productivity through focus in our own Nick Nelson’s “5 Ways B2B Marketers Can Boost Productivity and Focus,” and how B2B marketers can build a super-stack of marketing technology skills to create the most value and efficiency in 2023 and beyond in “20 Ways to Build a B2B Marketing Super-Stack of Skills.”

More than ever before, creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

Google Business optimization should be a high priority for Local SEO.  While this seems like something that would only apply to local businesses, that’s not entirely true. It’s important that you have your entities fully optimized, whether it be in the knowledge panel, in the Google Business Profile, or on your website.

 

Video Transcript: 

What is a Google Business Profile?

Even if you are not a local business, don’t ignore Google Business. Make sure that your profile makes sense.  Just in case you aren’t aware, let’s talk a little bit about what Google Business is. Google Business used to be known as “Google My Business.” They took out the “my” (for whatever reason), changed the name, and rebranded slightly.

Google Business is an essential tool for local businesses. Any other business that wants to can clean its profile, attain management rights to it, make some updates and changes to it, and unlock other features like adding products, services, and booking. This is going to help you with visibility in the maps location, but it’s also going to help inform Google about your company, what you do, and how you engage with the community as a whole.

Recently, Google made some updates to Google Business, and so there’s a new way to approach this. There’s also information that has been done by other companies in research that is very important for us to understand.  I’m going to be sharing with you my top three today.

3 Tips To Understand Google Business Profile Updates 

1. Reviews

You need to have at least ten reviews or more, but the baseline is ten. A study done at SEroundtable shows significant data that when you have a minimum of ten reviews, you’ll see a massive impact on your overall ranking. Now, as you get more, the impact doesn’t seem to be as big, but you need to have a baseline of at least ten.

Now, another thing to know about reviews is that Google does monitor them and they will remove them if they think that they are spammy. It’s very important that you look at the quality section of this support.google article, because they talk about the quality of reviews.

An article from searchcentered.com address the question, “Why are my reviews missing?” A number of people have been asking why their reviews are gone. Lately, Google started to add some of those back, but they do retain the right to remove reviews, especially if they’ve been flagged as not authentic or spammy. It’s very important because you don’t want to spam the system.

You want to do it the right way because it’s going to be more authentic to your community, and you’re not going to have them removed. You have to worry about this.

The best practice for reviews is to ask for them by generating a review link for your client.

There are a lot of ways you can do that. Just say, “Hey, can you leave me a review? Thanks so much for doing business with us.”

You can create QR codes. There are so many ways for businesses to get reviews. Especially once you’ve had a really good interaction with the client, take that opportunity to say, “Hey, thank you so much. You know, it would really help us out if you went on to Google and you left us a review.” 

I’ve even seen some local businesses put up kiosks where you can leave reviews within the kiosk. There are a lot of ways to do this, especially if you want to build up to that baseline minimum out of ten. This is really important to ask your customers to give you reviews.

2. Keep Your NAP Accurate

The next thing we need to do is keep our NAP accurate.  NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. Having the correct information, the same information, formatted in the same way across the web is extremely important for your business. Google Business is not “set it and forget it.” You don’t just load stuff in there one time and then ignore it forever.

You need to make sure that you have the proper links for your websites, your proper contact information, and your proper event information. Any of the information that you’re putting on your website also needs to be put in your Google Business Profile in the correct way.

You also need to make sure you’re choosing the right category. There are times when Google will choose categories for you, and I’ve seen some very weird stuff happen where people are in categories that make no sense. You need to get as close as possible. Use the broadest category that applies to you. If there’s something more specific, then choose that. But if it’s kind of close and it doesn’t make total sense, don’t choose it. Use the broader category, and be as correct as you can.

You have to make sure that you have consistent information across all your websites, whether it’s Google Business, Facebook page, or your website. Use the phone number in the same way. Use your address in the same way, make sure that you are consistent. Google has AI that will review these entities and if they notice discrepancies, they may not make that full connection. Again, we are feeding data to a computer, so you need to think about the concept of “garbage in, garbage out.”

As you can see here from Google Business Answers, this is how they source your information.

• Publicly available information, such as crawled web content (e.g., information from a business’ official website)
• Licensed data from third parties
• Users who contribute factual information (such as addresses and phone numbers), and content (such as photos and reviews), including business owners who claim profiles through Google Business Profile
• Information based on Google’s interactions with a local place or business

If you believe a profile is inaccurate or should be removed, you can suggest an edit or flag it for removal. If you believe a profile should be removed under European data protection laws, please see here. If you believe it should be removed for any other legal reason, please submit a legal request. For further information about how Google processes personal data in the context of profiles, please see Google’s Privacy Policy. 

You need to make sure that you clean your profiles. You have ownership over that because it’s your business. That’s one of your business’s front doors, especially if you’re a local business or somebody that drives people to a location via Google maps. This is incredibly important. If you change phone numbers or other information on your website, you need to make sure that you’re also updating your Google Business property as well.

3. Know how to update your Google Business Profile

Google made changes in a recent update.  You used to log in to a manager section and you could see and edit your information. Today, Google’s having you do it straight from search. Let’s take a look at what the Google Business Profile update looks like.

If you own a business profile and you can manage it, you’re going to see a blue checkmark under your business reviews.

All of your information is going to be right under that. It’s going to give your physical address and your hours. Below that, you can edit the business information by clicking the button that says “Edit your business information.” This is going to open up a new widget. In the past, that used to take you to the back end. Now, you can do all that from here. It’s kind of like a dashboard or a tool set.

 Add everything that makes sense and applies to your business. You can edit base categories and make sure that your description is the same or very similar to the one that your using on your website. Make sure the contact information is correct. Be sure to claim it so you can update this information if you need to.

On the left-hand side you can edit your profile.  Here are a few options under “Your Business on Google.”

• Read reviews
• Look at messages
• Add photos
• Look at your performance. 
•  Q&A
• Edit your services and products
• Ask for reviews
• Data from Search Console
• Other SEO tools like keywords everywhere

Google is making Google.com the home for all of these tools. Everything’s going to be right here. You’re not going to log in to a different entity. As you can see, you’re not going to log into the backend, you’re going to make updates straight from search. If it looks different, it’s because it is different. 

They’ve given you a lot of cool tools to work with. You just need to play around with this new interface, which is going to show up right within the search results.

Owning your Google Business is going to be very beneficial when it comes to optimizing your entity as well. Make sure that you are taking ownership of this and making the correct updates. If you have any questions about local SEO or enterprising SEO, we’d love to continue that conversation with you. 

One of the biggest things that can help is having another set of eyes. If you’re implementing structured data or a strategic SEO strategy and you need somebody to help give you clarity and focus, that’s what coaching is all about.

So, if you’re interested in seeing what an SEO coaching retainer or an SEO coaching agreement might look like, I do offer free sample sessions and you can sign up. There’s going to be a link below in this video. Go ahead and check that out and sign up. We can talk for  15 or 20 minutes about your strategy, and some of the things you’re doing, and just get that other set of eyes so that you can really get the clarity of focus you need.

YouTube advertising is one of the most powerful ways to promote your brand and reach potential customers. Our handy YouTube ads guide will help you through every aspect of YouTube advertising and understand ways to leverage the platform for exponential growth.

YouTube is the second most active social media platform and a popular website after Google. The online video-sharing and social media platform has approx 30 million+ daily active users every single day! YouTube users consume about five billion YouTube videos every day, making the online video-sharing site one of the most leveraging platforms for businesses to advertise and promote their products or services.

About 78.8% of marketers consider YouTube as the most effective video-sharing and marketing platform, running ahead of Facebook with 58.5% of votes. If you want your brand to get noticed by your target audience and build maximum engagement with them, you need to consider YouTube advertising.

However, YouTube advertising is more than uploading multiple YouTube videos on your YouTube channel. You cannot expect tangible growth and engagement with your target audience if you can’t advertise your product or services in the best way possible.

So, how do you get started with YouTube advertising? By following our ultimate guide to YouTube ads!

In this guide, we will cover every aspect of YouTube advertising and share key insights on nailing your YouTube advertising strategy. But first, let’s understand:

How to Advertise on YouTube: Launching Your Ad Campaign

Before advertising on YouTube, you need to create a marketing video that covers every essential aspect of your brand, product, or service. Once done, you can set up your YouTube video ads campaign!

To set up your Youtube advertising campaign, you need to log in to your Google Ads account. If you don’t have an Ads account, sign up with a Google Workspace email.

After signing up, you will immediately notice the start a campaign option. Look for an option stating “Are you a professional marketer?” or “Set up without creating a campaign” and click on that. Follow this and you get your new Google Ads dashboard. Once you have access to your Google dashboard, click on “New Campaign”. Now, from here on the process of your YouTube ad campaign will start.

Step 1: Select Goal and Campaign Type

Upon clicking the “New Campaign” button, you will be directed to a section stating to select a goal and campaign type. Choose your goal preference and select “Video” in the campaign type.

Step 2: Select Campaign Subtype and Strategy

Once you select “Video” in the campaign type, you will be promoted to the campaign subtype. You will get three options for the campaign subtype – Video reaches campaign, out-stream, and ad sequence. Select “Video reach campaign.”

Next, select the preferred way of reaching your goal. Marketers can use “Efficient reach” (includes Bumpers, Skippable in-stream, or combination ads) or “non-skippable in-stream.”

Step 3: Choose a Campaign Name

Once you decide on choosing the method of reaching your goal and choosing the preferred YouTube ad type, the next step is to enter the name of your campaign. Ensure the campaign name is short and impactful. You may also notice a section stating “Bid strategy”. Leave the section as is.

Step 4: Decide Your Budget

Here is where you can set your budget for the YouTube ad campaign. You can decide to set the budget on a daily basis or pay for the entire campaign together. Both options have their pros and cons.

• Setting a particular daily budget will allow you to maintain the daily cost and ensure you don’t run out of money quickly.
•  Setting up the budget for your entire campaign will help maintain a fixed amount for ads and allow Google to avoid going over the investment.
• Regardless of the choice, you will be asked to set a start and end date for your YouTube ad campaign.

Step 5: Select Preferred Networks, Locations, and Languages

After deciding on the budget, you will have to select the preferred network, location, and language of your YouTube ad.

Networks – Decide where you want your YouTube ad to appear. Here you’ll get three options – YouTube search results, videos, and Video partners on the Display Network.

YouTube search results: Your ad will appear on the YouTube search result page.

• YouTube videos: YouTube Ads can appear on the YouTube homepage, channel pages, and video pages.
• Video partners on the Display Network: YouTube ads can appear before or on various videos across the Google Display Network.

Note: If you choose YouTube search results and YouTube videos, create and run both campaigns separately to obtain adequate tracking of performance metrics. 

Locations – Mention the location of your target audience, i.e., viewers who will watch the ad. In this section, you can also exclude certain areas or locations.

Language – Lastly, select the preferred language. We recommend choosing the one that your target audience is familiar with.

Step 6: Choose Content Exclusions and Excluded Types and Labels

Such options will allow you to exclude your brand promotions on YouTube videos with profanity or sexual content. There are three inventory options –

Expanded inventory (excludes videos that have excessive profanity and graphic content)

• Standard inventory (excludes videos with strong profanity and graphic content)
• Limited inventory (excludes videos with moderate profanity and graphic content)

Using the “Excluded types and labels” option, you can also restrict your YouTube ads from appearing in such videos or live streams. You can also exclude YouTube content labels – G, PG, MA, etc.

Step 7: Choose Related Videos

Marketers also have the option of adding YouTube videos related to their ads. YouTube allows you to add up to five related videos.

Step 8: Make Advanced Settings

Advanced settings allow you to mention the type of device and operating system your target audience is likely to use. Super helpful for those marketers who are targeting viewers using YouTube on their mobile devices. If you are planning to put up a mobile app ad, YouTube offers you an option to increase or decrease your bid. You can also mention the start and end date of your campaign, customise the ad viewing schedule and restrict daily views for your audience.

Step 9: Determine Demographics and Audience Segments

Here is where you have to define the type of audience you want your ad to notice. You have the option of defining your viewer’s gender, age, parental status, and household income. Next, select an audience segment to define who should see your YouTube ad. Ensure you target your audience by their interests. For instance, if you have written a cookbook with various recipes, you might want to target cooking enthusiasts who skim through every must-try recipe. To discover the best engagement rate, you can run multiple YouTube ad campaigns with various audience segments.

Step 10: Select Keywords, Topics, and Placements

After defining your demographics and audience segments, you have to mention the type of keywords, topics, and placements of your YouTube ad. Targeting specific keywords will allow you to find the audience searching for a brand, product, or service similar to yours. However, make sure to perform extensive research and test different keywords to identify which brings more engagement, clicks, views, or conversions. Remarket your ads by re-engaging with your previous customers or someone familiar with your brand.

Step 11: Decide Bidding Per View

Next, decide your maximum bidding per view. You have to determine how much you are ready to pay for each view. The bidding, however, can be adjusted based on your ad viewing performance.

Step 12: Creating the Video Ad Creative

Last step! This is where you have to mention the link to the video you want your ad to appear. You get the option of choosing an in-stream ad or an in-display ad.

• If you select an in-display ad, make sure to include the title and short description of your advertisement. Kindly note that the title character limit is 25, while description lines have only 35 character limit.
• Using in-stream ads, you can overlay the URL of your brand, product, or service on top of the selected video. YouTube will feature a companion banner of your video image on the right side of YouTube.

All you have to do is click “Done” and select “Create campaign”. Google will ask you to fill in your credit card information to start running your ad. Your new YouTube ad campaign is live!

BONUS!

Step 13: Link Your Account

Make sure to link your Google Ads account to the selected video’s YouTube channel.

• Go to the top navigation bar and click on “Tools & Settings.”
• Under “Set Up,” go to “Linked Accounts.”
• Choose YouTube from the screen, and click on “Add channel.”

The Latest in YouTube Advertising

Most individuals believe that YouTube advertising is similar to any other PPC or paid social media campaign. However, this YouTube ads strategy has various new aspects which are not usually found in any usual Google ads campaign. You will notice various specific creative constraints and other options in YouTube advertising. It is imperative to have a sound knowledge of these constraints and options used in YouTube advertising before uploading YouTube videos on your YouTube channel to make the most of your investment.

Google has introduced various algorithms and made necessary changes on YouTube to make your YouTube ads campaign leveraging and investment-worthy. Here are a few highlighting changes Google made in recent years:

1. Targeting Viewers’ Search History

Previously, advertisers could only target their users based on video ads. However, Google soon made necessary changes and announced that advertisers can reach more viewers based on their Google search history. Since almost 50% of YouTube views take place via mobile devices, advertisers can easily target an audience on Google or any other search engine looking for a specific product or service related to their brand.

So, apart from targeting the user’s YouTube video viewing behaviour, advertisers can identify and filter the audience looking for something similar to your product or services. Marketers can look for any YouTube video closely related to their viewer’s search on Google. Your audience is more likely to watch a YouTube ad that answers their search and urges them to click through the video ads straight to your website.

2. Audio Ads

Audio ads are another popular advertising form preferred by marketers these days. As various social media apps and podcast channels are adapting to audio ads, Google has decided to keep up with the changes by bringing audio-only ad features. Advertisers can now create audio-only ads and reach maximum viewers without worrying about visual content creation. We recommend starting with video ads first and gradually shifting to audio-only ads. Once you have established your brand and have created an unmatched impression on the target audience, you can further engage with them using audio-only ads.

3. Updated Data Attribution Models

Every YouTube ad campaign and PPC or social media platform campaign relies on audience engagement. The more your audience engages, the better leads you will generate. However, measuring the overall user engagement of your YouTube advertising can be challenging. Keeping this in mind, Google updated YouTube’s data attribution model to allow marketers to measure their ad engagement rate and determine cost-per-conversions (CPC). Marketers can also check their YouTube search results and YouTube ads performance.

4. YouTube Advertising Cost

YouTube ads cost depends on your YouTube video views. The average cost-per-view of YouTube ads can be anywhere between $0.010 to $0.030. However, your YouTube advertising cost may vary depending on your target keywords, niche, and industry. Your overall budget spend will determine how long you wish to run the YouTube video ad campaign. You can set a daily budget to ensure Google charges you only up to the mentioned amount.

The Types of YouTube Video Ads

Marketers can invest in various types of video ads, depending on their campaign goal. All types of video ads have particular YouTube advertising formats that should be followed to ensure maximum ROI. Let’s understand each type of YouTube video ad:

1. Video Discovery Ads

Video discovery ads allow your brand, product, or service to get noticed alongside other most-watched video content on YouTube. Such types of ads appear on the YouTube homepage, search feed, and often as related videos on YouTube’s also watch pages. Video discovery ads usually show up after viewers have performed a YouTube search on a specific topic or industry.

2. TrueView In-Stream Ads (Skippable Ads)

TrueView ads – also known as skippable ads – are one of the most common types of YouTube advertising options opted for by marketers. In-stream ads allow marketers to only pay for the ad when a viewer watches or clicks on their ad. Marketers will pay when a viewer watches the ad for at least 30 seconds or the entire advertisement or has clicked on the CTA button displayed. Skippable ads should be anywhere between 12 seconds and 6 minutes.

TrueView in-stream ads appear before any selected YouTube video, where viewers get the option “skip the ad” after watching it for five seconds. The best part of selecting skippable ads is that you can make them play almost anywhere on the Google Display Network. Apart from displaying in Google Display Network, TrueView in-stream ads can be played on other sites with already purchased Google video ad space. Such skippable ads can be customised using various CTAs and overlay text.

TrueView ads are not recommended to run any product promotion commercial because such types of YouTube video ads are often skipped and ignored by viewers. However, you can hook your audience’s interest by creating highly engaging video content. One of the most effective ways to get the attention of your viewer and keep them from skipping the ad is by telling a story. Most viewers enjoy watching a case study of a person struggling with something. Here, empathy plays a pivotal role in making your ad memorable and non-skippable.

TrueView ads are more than just promoting your brand, product, or service. Marketers can gain a deep insight into their ad performance for testing purposes. How? YouTube account managers will simply have to log in to their Ads account and check the data. You will be provided with adequate data on complete view, partial view, clickthrough rates on CTAs, YouTube channel subscriptions, content sharing details, and more. Checking the insights of data will help you understand how much and where to allocate the budget for attaining maximum ROI.

3. Non-Skippable In-Stream Ads

As the name suggests, non-skippable are short in-stream ads that play before, mid-roll, or after the YouTube video. Such in-stream ads can be 15 to 20 seconds in duration and are often displayed in the middle of a video – that is at least 10 minutes or more. Non-skippable ads are displayed either in a yellow marker or before a five-second countdown. Such instream ads allow you to include various elements – people, audio, dialogue, etc. – suitable to your brand.

Since viewers cannot skip this in-stream ad, marketers can take advantage of this opportunity to create an ad with CTA. In short, you can encourage your viewers to click on the ad and provide them with anything – from your newly launched products to the promotion of a major event. You can easily use these clicks to generate leads and attain real growth. However, it is imperative to understand that YouTube offers space for non-skippable ads based on pay-per-click (PPC). So, make the ad click-worthy!

4. Bumpers

Bumpers are six-second, non-skippable ads played before a viewer’s chosen YouTube video. Although considered the shortest YouTube video ad type, Bumpers can help you deliver a simple yet highly impactful message across. With bumpers, you don’t have to worry about creating a complete minutes-long video and delivering the message. You simply have to use these six-second wisely and cover essential components of your brand that should be noticed by your target audience.

5. Overlay Ads

Overlay ads appear at the bottom of a YouTube video and are often considered to supplement other in-stream YouTube video ads. Such types of YouTube ads show up after the video starts playing in the form of a text or an image ad. Marketers can consider using this YouTube advertising approach to promote a product without interrupting their audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are YouTube Ads?

YouTube ads are advertisements featured on YouTube. YouTube ads can appear in videos, homepages, searches, or channels. You can easily advertise your video or audio-only ad on YouTube to maximise your reach, views, engagement, and conversions.

Are There Different Types of YouTube Ads?

There are five main types of YouTube ads:

• Skippable InStream Ads: Played before, mid-roll, or after a video. You can skip the ad after five seconds.
• Non-Skippable InStream Ads: 15-second long ads, usually played before, mid-roll, or after a video. You cannot skip the ad.
• Bumper Ads: Six-second, unskippable ads that play before any YouTube video.
• Overlay Ads: YouTube ads that appear after the video starts playing in the form of a text or an image ad.
• Video Discovery Ads: Appears alongside other most-watched video content on YouTube and after performing the search.

Are YouTube Ads expensive?

Whether YouTube ads are expensive or not depends on how well your strategies your video content and delivery. With a result-driven strategy and engaging content, the YouTube advertising cost can be worth the investment. A typical video ad can cost anywhere between $0.010 to $0.030 per view, depending on the target market, quality of the video, and campaign goal. With the right strategy and fixed marketing goals, YouTube can prove to be a leveraging social media platform or website for your business. You can build brand awareness, generate qualified leads, reach audiences, and ensure overall engagement.

How to Narrow Down Target Audience for YouTube Ads?

• Filter the age, gender, parental status, and household income of your audience
• Consider the interest of your audience and check various topics related to them
• Target audience searching for your brand or similar products
• Remarket audiences who previously expressed their interest in your product or services.
• Target keywords most commonly used by your audience based on their searches.

If you are struggling to understand the ins and outs of YouTube advertising or want to know more about YouTube ad campaigns, or need assistance with Google ads management, reach out to us! We help businesses build scalable marketing strategies that ensure tangible growth and unreal ROI. Trust digital experts at Clickmatix for your paid campaign growth.

Web3 Apps: Introduction

Technology is continuously evolving, and innovations are being made daily. People are looking for the next big thing to help overcome earlier shortcomings. Web 3.0 is one such model which has developed over the years and aims at providing a decentralized virtual space that everybody can use. This has also made Web3 apps the next big thing in the world of applications.

It helps solve the problems of the present online ecosystem and exploits the power of the latest technologies, such as Blockchain, AI, and ML, to develop a new model. Web3 apps have provided a new dimension to what we know as the Internet and enhanced its functioning power multifold. It believes in putting the user’s needs over everything else, be it in terms of privacy, governance, or services.

Web3 apps, based on blockchains and decentralized peer-to-peer networks, are a part of the next boom in the industry. Industries such as healthcare, finance, and social networking have adopted these vastly. They believe in providing a solution to the users independent of any central power, completely transparent, and highly customizable, shifting all the control into the user’s hands.

Web3 Apps: Next Generation Of Technology

The global Web 3.0 market reached USD 3.2 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 43.7% during the forecast period.

The staggering growth rate itself is proof of the scope in this domain. Researchers, entrepreneurs, and even students are exploring the Web 3.0 era and trying to exploit its potential to create the following product which would be different from the standard apps we use nowadays.

The tech giant, Facebook, has changed its name to Meta and decided to invest billions of dollars in this domain due to its promise of building next-gen applications based on Metaverse.

Evolution Of Web1 To Web2 To Web3 Apps

The Web came into existence in 1989 and has evolved immensely since then. Earlier, it was defined as a set of hyperlinked documents containing text and some images that anyone with an internet connection could access. We are currently in a phase where it is attempting to integrate intelligence that would improve automation, mobility, and globalization.

Web 1.0

From 1989-2005, people viewed the Web as ‘read-only.’ This meant that users could only see the websites uploaded on the Web, which were essential and primarily used to spread information. Static HTML pages, using browsers like Netscape and Explorer, linked with each other through links and metadata. This generation of the Web focused on content delivery, and dynamic interaction was negligible. The primary purpose, which was to allow users to access data from all over the world instead of interacting with it, was fulfilled through this type of Web and showed that there was hope in the future for a new era of digital communication that would be built upon this model.

Web 2.0

After thoroughly exploring Web 1.0 and its capabilities, in 2005, Web 2.0 emerged. This model focused on the communication between the users and the Web and developed new ways of making dynamic interaction possible. It believed in principles such as the information is what moves the Internet and that the different characteristics of a network can be developed independently. Users could now consume content and create them, resulting in more active participation from people worldwide. Sites like blogging and social networks using technologies like JavaScript and .NET framework were used as well as deployed using strict Internet protocols. Web 2.0 enabled fruitful collaboration and quality content generation, along with creating dynamic web applications which put the end-users contribution to the Web as its prime target.

Web 3.0

The current era in which we live is on this Web model. Web 3.0 is the ‘read-write-executable’ Web, which aims to make connections more intelligent and open, giving the user the power to be a content owner rather than just a mere user. It is based on a decentralized and permissionless model, which gives users the authority to use the Internet in whichever way they want while not compromising their privacy. Web 3.0 is yet to be figured out completely, and the coming years seem promising for this Web ecosystem.

Features & Importance Of Web3 Apps

There are multiple reasons why Web 3.0 is the next big revolution. The ability to empower the Web in such a way that it can automate its decisions or create a network of virtual environments that blurs the line between visual and actual reality. Also, Web 3.0 gives the sole digital ownership to the user, removing any scope for any centralized power. This also greatly increases overall security and reduces the risk of fraud. It is necessary to know about Web 3.0 and the technologies involved, such as Blockchain and Artificial intelligence, as many companies have also started innovation. To survive in the market, you must be able to create a user-defined product based on these.

Some features of Web3 apps are:

1. Edge Computing

Edge computing enables data processing closer to the source of the data, such as laptops, smartphones, smart automobiles, and IoT devices.

2. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence aims to equip the Web to create smart browsers that can understand human needs better through various algorithms, providing more accurate results. It provides a highly personised experience to the user, be it in search results or ad recommendations, and enhances the user-web interaction.

3. 3-D Graphics

Web 3.0 uses 3-D graphics to provide an immersive, real-life-like experience virtually. From the current GIFs, pictures, and graphic design elements we use nowadays, 3-D graphics are a big jump. Web 3.0 can enable virtual concerts, shopping trips, and visits to tourist attractions.

4. Semantic Web

The semantic Web is the next evolution in the field of the Web and focuses on enabling it to interpret data in the user’s context rather than just in terms of numbers and text. Tim Berners Lee defines it as “a web of data that can be processed directly and indirectly by machines.”

Some Success Stories Of Web3 Apps

Siri

Siri is one of the most popular voice assistants developed by Apple and is an excellent example of how intelligence can be used to make our lives easier. It enables human-like discussions, hands-free information retrieval, and accurate and individualized search results, and human-like information retrieval.

Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha has recently gained immense popularity as a search engine based on computational intelligence. It can calculate and gather all the information related to a search query, rather than just providing a list of articles, provides the user with more than sufficient information, and gives a fantastic user experience.

Sapien

This social network website powered by Ethereum is one-of-a-kind and allows to create as well as deploy a set of apps, tools, and technologies of which they can get sole ownership. Sapien provides a highly customizable platform that rewards content generation and minimizes fake news.

Brave

The Brave Browser, developed by the Mozilla Foundation, focuses on providing users with a faster, more reliable, and more secure browser that prioritizes the user’s and their needs first. It is open-source, uses blockchain technology to block spam, ads, and trackers, and allows customers to sell their data in exchange for cryptocurrency.

Final Thoughts & Key Takeaways Of Web3 Apps

The Web3 revolution in the next few years will completely transform how we interact with the Web and unlock new possibilities that were impossible earlier. Thus, it’s important to start exploring this field and look for products that can create a secure place in the market in the future.

Markovate, as a Web3 app development company, can help you create Web3 apps with the help of the latest cutting-edge technologies to provide you a unique edge over others and give your app a new dimension in terms of functionality. We aim to create secure, reliable, as well as scalable apps that provide the user with the best experience possible and integrate all the elements that can help you fulfill your business potential.

Further Read: Web2 vs Web3: What’s The Difference & Why Does It Matter For Your Enterprise?

Web3 Apps: FAQs

1. Is Web 3.0 the same as Blockchain?

Web 3.0 is not the same as Blockchain. One of the numerous applications of blockchain is Web 3.0, a distributed, immutable, as well as decentralized ledger.

2. Does Web 3.0 provide a richer experience?

Web 3.0 provides a richer experience than its earlier versions due to the integration of AI/ML algorithms, rich 3-D graphics, and technologies such as Blockchain. This gives its users a secure, interactive, as well as fruitful experience.

3. What are examples of Web 3.0 applications?

Examples of Web 3.0 applications are Brave, Storj, Sapien, and Livepeer.

Rajeev Sharma

author

I’m Rajeev Sharma, Co-Founder, and CEO of Markovate, a digital product development company. With over a decade of experience in digital product development, I have led digital transformations and product development of large enterprises like AT&T and IBM.

My main areas of competence include mobile app development, UX design, end-to-end digital product development, and product growth. I hold a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and certifications from the Scrum Alliance. Aside from my work, I am interested in Metaverse and closely following the latest developments.

SEO is not only necessary for your business, it’s one of the greatest investments that you can make.

You can think of SEO like investing money in a 401K for your business — it’s money that will gain value over time and remain in your account. Similarly, by investing in SEO you create long-term value for your website that will continue to accrue over time.

Here are 5 reasons you should start investing in SEO now.

1. SEO works.

This is a fairly straightforward reason, but it’s completely true. As of today, Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day. With that kind of search volume, there’s no debating that ranking in Google’s search results offers a valuable opportunity to get more traffic to your business’s website.

This is very important because traffic equals leads and leads turn into sales.

By investing in SEO and raising your rankings in Google you’ll send more traffic to your website which can generate more leads and sales for your business.

2. Because of mobile, SEO is becoming even more important for small businesses.

Gone are the days when people needed to wait until they got home and in front of a computer to look something up online. With mobile searches now surpassing desktop searches, more people than ever are doing research on the go. This is great for small businesses because it means that people are searching for things at the exact time that they need them and are ready to make a purchase.

For example, let’s say someone is on a business trip in your area and walking around town when they decide they’re in the mood for a coffee. All this person has to do is type “coffee shop near me” into their mobile browser and they’ll find all of the local results. For a smaller local coffee shop, this creates an opportunity to rank in their area over big-name coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. That means people can find not only find them online but also find them on foot in real-time.

By investing in Local SEO you’re putting your small business on the radar of people who are your ideal customers and are ready to make a purchasing decision quickly.

Learn more: Beginner’s Guide to Local SEO: 5 Steps to Improve Your Google Rankings

3. Higher search engine rankings give your business credibility.

What do you do when you’re considering making a purchase online or in-store? For most people, the answer is research.

Most web users — as high as 80% in some studies — look past paid ads and focus solely on organic search results. That means that when someone is doing research for a product or service, they are much more likely to be pre-sold on your business if you rank highly in Google’s organic search results. Plus, in order for you to rank highly, your website will need relevant content, which will help drive sales once someone clicks through to your site.

Having a high ranking means that Google and other searchers have found your website to be relevant. This builds trust and authority for your business and gives consumers a positive feeling toward your business before they even start searching around your site.

4. Rankings can change fast, and your competition knows it.

SEO is an ongoing process and the more you invest in it, the greater it will be. This is a good thing on many levels.

If your website is already ranking highly in search results that’s great — but it means you need to continue to invest in SEO in order to stay there. With everyone vying for those top spots, your competitors are going to invest in SEO, and if they do and you don’t, they can start to outrank you.

If you’re not currently ranking highly in search results, you still have an opportunity to rise up. By investing in a sound SEO strategy and using smart tactics, you may be able to start outranking your competition and driving more traffic to your website.

Ranking #1 is a constant race to the finish line, and whoever trains the hardest and runs the fastest will get there first.

5. SEO is not going anywhere.

Consumers used to learn about products mostly through advertisements on the radio, television, and print ads. People also used to make purchasing decisions in stores and look for service providers in the phone books.

While some people may long to go back to those “simpler” days, the reality is it’s not going to happen.

Online shopping and searching are not only here to stay, but these trends are also going to keep growing and evolving, and that means SEO will continue to change as well. It’s important to start investing in SEO sooner vs later so you set your business up for success in the future.

Need Help with SEO?

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Consumers searching for information today expect Google to display a wide variety of information from a number of sources in multiple formats. SEO professionals must understand intricacies of Google’s algorithm and identify the best way to make their content rank higher on the organic search results.

Google has published a new guide to search ranking systems that lists the major algorithms deployed over the years that currently drive Google Search rankings.

Need help with your SEO?

Core ranking system

This is the single most important algorithm that determines where a web page ranks on organic Google Search results. SEOs often cite 100+ ranking factors that determine a website’s position on Google SERPs – they’re usually talking about the core ranking system. It was created when Google was founded, and has evolved very significantly since then.

At its heart is a scoring system that evaluates the meaning of a searcher’s query, the relevance of your page to that query, and then the quality, usability, and the context and settings for the user. Pages are ranked based on their combined “score” for all the ranking criteria.

Often new algorithms are launched, tested, and if Google determines the algorithm is successful in its objective it gets incorporated into the core ranking system. Infamous older systems including Panda and Penguin have been assimilated into the core ranking system over time.

Natural language processing

A number of recent systems created by Google focus on the ability to understand language as spoken naturally by humans, and process it to match search queries and online content with the correct context. These systems go far beyond the early days of search, when ranking was based largely on keyword matching, and instead aim to understand search intent and true relevance.

Examples where NLP comes into play range from understanding all the different ways people may refer to shoes – footwear, sneakers, boots, moccasins, loafers, trainers – to being able to differentiate users searching to buy a wristwatch from those looking to watch movies online, even when they search on a query as ambiguous as ‘watch online’.

Systems that tackle these challenges for Google Search include:

• BERT
• Neural matching
• Passage ranking system
• RankBrain
• MUM

User experience grading

Ever since page speed and mobile friendliness became ranking factors, Google has continued to drive webmasters and SEO practitioners to improve their user experience. In recent years, Google has started showing core web vitals within Search Console and the PageSpeed Insights tool. The main metrics in this report – largest contentful paint, first input delay, and cumulative layout shift indicate how fast and how user friendly a site is.

Added to that, site security has also become an important ranking factor. Websites that don’t use HTTPS are likely to struggle to outrank secure websites with similar relevance and authority.

Beyond speed and security, Google also considers originality and reliability as significant factors that impact their user’s experience on the SERPs. Systems that tackle user experience challenges for Google Search include:

• Page experience system
• Helpful content system
• Deduplication system
• Original content system
• Reliable information systems

Spam detection

Ever since organic search rankings were identified as an important source of traffic, unscrupulous SEOs have tried to game Google’s algorithm to rank their own or their client’s sites higher. Google employs a web spam team specifically to combat content and link spam.

Systems that tackle spam-related challenges for Google Search include:

• Spam detection systems
• Link analysis system
• PageRank
• Deduplication system
• Site diversity systems
• Exact match domain system
• Removal-based demotion systems

Special algorithms

During exceptional circumstances, such as national calamities, global pandemics, and even significant local events, searchers turn to Google for information that ranges from seeking news to finding helplines. Google has developed special algorithms specifically to handle such queries. Systems that tackle unusual challenges for search include:

• Crisis information system
• Local news system

Read the full guide to Google Search ranking systems

About the author: Sophie Roberts is Founder of Hampshire Digital, the community network for businesses and marketers in Hampshire, and Managing Director of Koozai. With over 28 years’ of experience in digital marketing in Hampshire and London, Sophie has worked both in house and agency side, as well as with brands like Golden Wonder, Airfix & Humbrol and Victorinox Swiss Army Knives – so she knows a thing or two about the Hampshire digital scene.

Who are the best digital marketing agencies in Hampshire?

According to Hampshire County Council, there are over 62,000 business enterprises in the county and digital marketing is vital to all of them. Whether you’re a maritime business, a healthcare provider, or an aerospace company. However, finding the best digital marketing agency to support your aspirations can be a minefield.

With more than 7,200 digital advertising agencies in the UK, the sector is very competitive. Due to this, some agencies will make a variety of promises and guarantees in order to win your business. So, just how do you separate the good from the bad and ensure you’re working with the cream of the crop? And how do you ensure that the one you hire is actually the best for you and your business?

Being a Hampshire business and the founder of Hampshire Digital, I want to ensure that we provide help and support however we can and that starts with our guide to the 15 best digital marketing agencies in Hampshire.

There has been an influx of new digital marketing agencies across Hampshire and the UK in recent years, which can make it difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff and find the digital marketing companies that are worth their salt and have the experience to take your online marketing to the next level.

I have been working in digital marketing in and around Hampshire and London for decades and know who’s who in our local digital marketing community. Below are the top digital marketing agencies in our experience, and a little bit about why they’re worth considering if you are thinking of engaging a digital marketing agency.

In no particular order, here are my top 16 digital marketing agencies in Hampshire:

I may be a little biased, but no list of the top digital marketing agencies in Hampshire would be complete without Koozai on it. Founded in 2006, Koozai has been a lasting presence in digital marketing both locally and nationally and is one of the most well-established full-service digital marketing agencies in the area.

As a tight-knit, independent agency we have won countless awards for our work in SEO, Content Marketing, Digital PR and Paid Media and have worked with some of Hampshire’s most recognised brands. We are also extremely proud to say that over 50% of our current clients hail from Hampshire, and we have had considerable experience in supporting hundreds of businesses just like them over the past 16+ years. Koozai has also worked with several businesses across Hampshire, as well as a number of big name brands, such as Tui, V&A, Travelbag, Srixon, Papa Johns, Koozai, Trevor Sorbie, and Cote Brasserie.

 

“Koozai is small enough to care, but big enough to deliver. Trust is hard won in a competitive space like digital marketing, so the fact that Koozai has been around since 2006 and over 62% of our clients have been with us for 3 years or more [38% of those have been a client for over 6 years], puts us, rightfully, and firmly within the top digital marketing agencies in Hampshire category…”

“At Koozai we ensure our clients get noticed and help them to use digital marketing to meet and exceed their business objectives. We have experts in each of the disciplines we offer, all under one roof and all working together to amplify the impact of the work we do for you” – Sophie Roberts, Founder of Hampshire Digital and Managing Director of Koozai.

One of our favourite Hampshire agencies, and also well-known in the industry is Giraffe, based in Portsmouth. Giraffe is a Social Media Specialist, providing social media management to help businesses reach their digital marketing objectives. They’ve helped brands like Cluse, Tracker and Eko Atlantic with content creation, social media management and influencer marketing.

On their website the agency say that they offer social media management, influencer marketing, as well as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn advertising. If you’re looking for social media help, it’s worth checking them out.

Farnborough may be well-known for its biennial international airshow, however it is also home to Clever Marketing. Clever Marketing is a well-known specialist digital marketing agency that offers social media marketing & web design, content marketing & SEO. They’ve helped Caltest, Silvermere, Inn on the Lake and WeeeCycle reach their marketing objectives.

According to their website, they also specialise in services such as web design, development, hosting, graphic design and other digital marketing services.

Based in Segensworth near Fareham, Damteq is a specialist and credible growth marketing agency. They are a reputable agency and undertake a lot of website redesigns and branding projects, including for clients such as the Palaeontographical Society, Aqua and Margaux Mae.

If a bespoke web build is what you’re after then Eldo are one of the best. Based in Lee-on-the-Solent, Eldo Web Design use their own platform to create functional and beautiful websites for their clients including Sychem, Lendrum’s Driving School and 2 Teck.

Tillison Consulting is a self-proclaimed vanguard of the digital marketing industry based in the village of Cowplain near Waterlooville. Named after the founder, Mark Tillison, they offer a range of services including SEO, PPC and web design. Over the years they’ve worked with a range of clients including Lockers Park, Hercules Events and the Shalimar Indian Restaurant & Takeaway.

Rooster is a full-service marketing agency in Winchester. They have excellent credentials in graphic design and as well as offices in London, Birmingham and Manchester they also have one in Winchester. They’ve developed notable, creative campaigns in the past for clients such as Sloane Stanley, Elekta and John Guest.

Vertical leap is part of the huge Sideshow Group, with 800+ staff worldwide. Offering services from their Portsmouth office in data analytics, SEO, CRO and more, over the years they’ve undertaken search marketing for clients like Keytech, Sarah Raven, and Ontrack.

Evisible deliver a wide variety of Digital Media services from their location in Southsea, including; Website Design, Build and Management, Email Marketing and List building. Some of their clients include Creative Creations, George Mae and Bloodcube.

Five by Five is a global independent integrated creative agency with offices in London, Sydney, LA and Southampton. They have an exciting roster of clients with expertise in a number of categories including, video gaming, financial services, charity & not-for-profit and increasingly with environmental and sustainability focused brand partners.

A New Forest based web design agency and winners of the South of England Prestige Awards’ ‘Web Design Agency of the Year’ for Hampshire. Graphics Bite undertake work for local tradesmen and eCommerce businesses and have clients such as Christchurch Care, New Forest Signs and Le Petit Lac in their roster.

One2Create is a marketing agency who specialise in branding, web and print design. Based out of the village of Droxford they work with clients such as Beemyminder, Alpha Pets and HCS Safety.

Mrs Digital work in partnership with clients such as JustKampers, ramsac and Alan Greenwood & Sons funeral directors. They offer web design, marketing and branding services from their base in Fleet.

McGinn & Dolphin has been helping clients in Hampshire to grow their businesses online since 2016. Based in Petersfield, they have developed a reputation for helping clients like the Time to be ME beauty salon, Securit Locks and Keys, an independent locksmith and Vaughan Design and Development, a professional interior design and project management company build strategies to keep them on track toward their goals.

A Hampshire-based agency that specialise in SEO. They help businesses in Hampshire to get the rankings they deserve. They’ve worked with clients like Voice Fairy & Rebecca Couture to do just this.

The guys create unique, yet engaging digital marketing campaigns, brand and web designs that are lead generating, for all sizes of business. They’ve worked with brands such as BJH Windows and Conservatories, Growing Revolution and Covers Timber & Builders Merchants.

 

Things to consider when choosing a digital marketing agency in Hampshire:

How do you choose the best digital marketing agency in Hampshire? When you make the decision to hire an agency there are so many things that you need to think about. There are lots of options from freelancers, through established, independent agencies like ours, to large corporate-owned behemoths. So just how do you choose the right Hampshire digital marketing agency?

The guide we wrote to the Top 28 Digital Marketing Agencies in the UK [2022] would be a solid place to start but we know that more often than not, a local business wants a local agency. After all, we all like to support our own local economies, don’t we?

To begin with, here are a few pointers on things to think about when researching digital agencies. If you want help with other questions you could ask a prospective Hampshire agency then you can also take a look at this blog.

1. Find a digital agency that meets your requirements and budget

This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how often it’s overlooked. You don’t want to spend time speaking to agencies that don’t provide the services you’re after or that will be outside of what you’re able to invest. A good tip is to ask about their average client retainer and whether they’ve experience with comparable businesses.

Consider what you want to invest on a monthly basis and whether this is an ongoing retainer or a short-term project. Some agencies for example specialise in projects, whereas others do only retainers.

Ask also about the terms. A lot of agencies will have terms which means you’re tied in for a year and need to give notice within a specific 30-day window. And if this isn’t done, you’ll be tied in for a further 12 months. Reputable digital marketing agencies know they don’t require long contracts, they’ll build in notice periods to ensure they can hand anything over professionally, but these are generally around 90 days on a rolling basis as any time during the contract.

2. Check that the digital agency in Hampshire has solid experience

Unfortunately, some agencies will state they are experts when in reality they have minimal experience. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ve seen a lot of traditional marketing or PR agencies jump on the digital bandwagon but many of them simply won’t have the skills or experience to support you fully.

A digital marketing agency that’s been in business for 10-15 years or more will have a lot more skill and experience than these new entrants, and for them to have been around for that long means they must be doing a good job for their clients.

Ask how long the agency has been in business and ask to see client testimonials and case studies for the services you’re looking for. When you check out their website, ensure they display an address, a client list, and case studies. If this information isn’t there, then we’d suggest removing them from your list of potentials.

3. Does the digital agency you are considering practice what they practice what they preach?

Leading on from this, it’s always a good idea to have a little snoop around the websites of the agencies you’re thinking about speaking to. You should be looking for an agency that markets itself well, has regular blog posts [check the dates they last posted], a site with clear calls to action [CTAs] a selection of case studies, links to social channels, easy to use navigation and a clear design.

You are checking to see that they do for themselves what you’d like them to do for you.

4. Does it sound too good to be true? It might well be.

Agencies have their experience, skills and time to sell and because of this most agencies will work to a time-based model where you’ll pay for a set number of retainer days in a month.

Based on your budget, a strategy and plan should be put in place that will provide your business with the best results to move you to your objectives. A decent agency should explain what their process is, what’s planned and when the tasks will be undertaken. They should also be agile and able to flex the plan based on the changing market, business priorities and any Google algorithm changes.

Fortunately, it’s easy to weed out poor quality agencies as their pricing will be low compared to the market average.

To help you understand the market, an annual report by Benchpress provides the averages that agencies are charging. In the report we saw most recently, the average was £750 – £950 a day. Koozai sits in the centre of that range when it comes to our costs and if an agency were below the baseline, we’d suggest there’s a reason for that.
Cheap means lower margins so there is less money to invest in tools or training, which will result in a less skilled team and likely low effort.

5. Check the details in the contract before signing

This is sometimes not considered by businesses, but agencies will charge for reporting, travel, meeting and call time as well as the actual work undertaken. This should all be made clear in the contract they provide but if it’s not there you will still be charged, they’re just not being transparent about it. Be sure to ask.

6. Do you have the available resource?

In order for an agency to get the best results they can for you, they will need a point of contact in your business who can supply the information they require; feedback on lead or sales quality, and liaise with any third-party businesses like developers to implement recommendations. Ideally, nominate someone with enough seniority so that decisions can be made in a timely fashion.

Consider who will implement the recommendations too. Will you provide the agency with access to your CMS or will someone in the team be doing this in-house?

Finally, our last tip is to pick an agency where you’ve met the team you’re going to be working with day to day. Ensure they’re a good fit culturally and that they enjoy their work. If they do, the chances are they’ll enjoy working on your business just as much.

Why Consider working with Koozai?

With my hat on as Managing Director of Koozai, I feel duty bound to also share a little bit about Koozai and why we’re a good choice for many businesses looking to take their digital marketing to the next level:

1. We’re a Top Hampshire SEO Agency

Founded in 2006, Koozai has earnt a reputation as one of Hampshire’s top SEO Agencies. We know how important it is to have the best SEO company on your side and to focus on the core elements your business needs. Namely:

• Increased visibility
• More traffic
• Quality leads

We also pride ourselves on ensuring our clients understand what we’re doing and why. No complicated jargon, just simple clear explanations of the work we’re undertaking and how it will help you. At the end of the day, we know you want to drive more sales or enquiries via your website and one of the biggest issues is that people need to be able to find you. Only 1% of searchers scroll past page 1 and at Koozai we help you gain more traffic and improve your visibility on Google so that in turn your business will gain more revenue and more enquiries.

Our Hampshire-based SEO experts have the skills and experience to be your perfect partner and to support you in being found on the search engines. We offer a wide selection of SEO services including; Technical SEO, ECommerce SEO, Local SEO, Website Migrations and UX optimisation. Don’t just take our word for it though, you can check our results for Hampshire resident, Trevor Sorbie’s national chain of hair salons.

2. We’re an award-winning Hampshire Paid Media Agency

As a top Hampshire paid media agency, we’ve won lots of awards for our PPC, paid social, display and remarketing services. We can help you to secure the conversions and return on spend that you require by using paid social and paid search platforms like Facebook, Instagram Twitter, LinkedIn, Google & Bing.

We’ve been expertly creating strategies and managing paid activity for clients for a long time. Not only are we a Google Partner and skilled paid media experts but we’ve also been driving drive cost-effective conversions and securing results like the ones here for Genesis Care.

3. We’re One of Hampshire’s Most Respected Content Marketing Agencies

As one of Hampshire’s best content marketing agencies, we pride ourselves on developing remarkable content strategies that exude creativity and passion, but which always have your marketing goals at their heart. Whether you want greater brand recognition, more leads, increased traffic, improved SEO performance or engagement, we can create a content strategy tailored to your needs. Check out how we did just this for our client Srixon.

4. We’re A Top Hampshire Digital PR Agency

Working along-side the media day-to-day enables us to gain valuable insight into what journalists are looking for and what will gain traction in their publications. This allows us to create digital PR campaigns which we know will work for you. We have extensive experience in link building, reactive PR or newsjacking, brand awareness and local PR. We pride ourselves on being able to propel organic SEO performance for our clients by securing valuable backlinks – take a look at our digital PR case studies to find out more and see how we became finalists for ‘Best Use of PR in a Search Campaign’ at the much-lauded UK Search Awards.

5. We offer Quality Hampshire Web Design and Development Services

Koozai is not only a top Hampshire Digital Marketing agency but also offers web-design and development services.

Having a secure, engaging and smoothly functioning website is important to the marketing mix. We know that a great website is an asset and will provide a solid return on investment be that in terms of improved website speed, rankings, or conversions. Our web development specialists have been in the game of creating functional and beautiful sites for clients of all sizes since 2006, and we’re experienced in a range of platforms including WordPress and Woocommerce websites.

We also offer website audits, web hosting, ongoing website development support and WP Engine hosting. The Koozai web development experts can ensure your site is built with your exact business needs in mind. So, if you’re looking for Hampshire’s top digital marketing agency and want an agency that are specialists, have proven results and that will care about your business as much as you do, then Koozai is for you. Drop us a line and see how we can help.

Why Work With A Digital Marketing Agency in Hampshire?

If you’re a Hampshire business, or even from further afield, and you have ambitions to do great things, assessing the agencies on this list would be a great place to start.

They will have access to skills, expertise and tools that can help your business achieve more. From data-led agencies to those with experience in specific industries, or complete creative geniuses, they’ll be someone for you in this list.

We hope our round-up of the top digital marketing agencies in Hampshire is useful and that you’ll find someone to suit your specific needs.
If you want to have a chat with us about how we could help you then please get in touch, we love to talk digital and to help businesses like yours grow.

Get in touch and let’s chat about how we can help

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