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It Doesn’t Have to Be Profound: 4 Easy Tricks to Writing Body Copy that Sells

Miley on March 16, 2020

Body copy is the place where you make your money. You can choose long or short body copy, depending on your product and goals, but at the end of the day, body copy is where you build your story.

There are tons of articles about headlines. There’s also a lot of great advice about writing from a personal perspective. But body copy is hard because body copy is just writing. Many people, when faced with a blank page, panic a little bit.

These four tips will make the process easier, especially if writing isn’t the favorite thing on your to-do list.

1. Decide who you’re writing to

To—not for—that’s important to remember. The number one piece of advice for body copy is to write it as though you’re writing a letter to a friend or family member.

That’s great in theory, but executing is hard. Clear writing is often muddled by detailed buyer personas, calls-to-action, or positioning. In this scenario, you’re not just writing a letter to someone you care about. You’re writing a letter in response to their imagined letter to you.

In their letter, they are asking you to help with a specific problem. Your product or link is the solution to that problem. Just like a personal letter, if the solution is all you send, you’ll not only offend that person you love with your letter you’ll probably confuse them too.

So, before you write to your imaginary family put yourself in the shoes of your customer. This is harder than it sounds. One technique is to read something from your customer’s point of view before you begin writing. This could be a thread on Reddit, published interviews or blogs from influencers in your niche. Another strategy is to experiment with a search engine. Let yourself go into a Google hole the way your customers do and see how that changes your perspective before you start writing.

Once you understand the worries of your ideal customer, it’s easier to write a letter to them. Your body copy should show them that you care while providing a solution. Also, you’ll want to show your customers they have reason to trust your suggestions.

2. Be smart about your outline

You have to build a frame for a house before you paint the walls. Writing copy requires some structure too. So, don’t start writing until you know how the different topics you want to write about will flow together.

Many writers stick with what they learned in high school—an introduction, three supporting paragraphs that expand on the ideas introduced in the first paragraph, and a conclusion. That structure is a great place to start.

That said, if you stick with that formula, your readers might stick with another common formula- scanning the first paragraph and leaving your blog or email before you get a chance to tell them what you really want them to hear.

Let’s go back to the idea of writing a letter. As you write your letter begins by rephrasing the problems your ideal customer would have added in their letter to you.

Go into some detail, and show that you understand why this problem is a big deal. Then, tell them a little bit about your experience with this problem so they understand why you’re a good person to come to for advice.

After that, your only goal is to get your audience to keep reading. So, write for scanning. Readers tend to skim looking for something interesting or new. They also might be looking for the answer to a specific problem. With each paragraph add something that will hook your reader in. This will ensure that they stick around until your offer or CTA.

If you’re writing a blog, connect your calls-to-action with the search terms your audience is most likely to use to reach your article. This makes readers more likely to click.

Get emotional

One more thing to consider in your outline- emotion, and logic. If you’re trying to write body copy that converts, you’ll want to focus on the emotional pull for your readers. Whether it’s business or personal, people purchase for emotional reasons and then rationalize those purchases with logic.

Will your product make a task take less time so they can have a moment to relax? Will it make them feel as cute as their friends on the next girl’s night out? How does your product make your customers feel good? Start with that emotion and follow up with logic.

It’s easy to start with the logic of your brand messaging and the way your product solves a specific problem. But, chances are your readers won’t pay attention until you address the emotional needs your product will satisfy.

3. Get it all out

You’re busy, so you might write a short letter, clean it up, and send it off. Even if you’re a great writer, that probably won’t be body copy that converts.

Effective body copy takes more time. You want to play with each idea and talk about it from several angles. Try to think about the specific little problems that come up while tackling a big idea. Those tiny snags are where most people get stuck.

If your body copy can help just one customer get unstuck, that customer will be more likely to look to you the next time they need help with a problem.

Once you’ve written all the different options and solutions, you probably have too much copy. If you don’t, keep writing. Copy that converts may need proof or testimonials. You may want to add statistics or a vivid story to draw readers in. Your body copy could be great, but if it doesn’t fully meet the expectations you created with your headline, you need to keep writing.

If you have a busy day ahead, it is easy to cut this process short or get distracted. To avoid this, set a timer and write until the timer goes off no matter what. If you tend to wander off-topic as you write, set a timer for each section. Give yourself only a set amount of time, about five minutes, to write on each topic.

When you’re done, let your copy sit for at least a day. If you are someone who puts off writing until the last minute, make your deadline a day (or 31) or early. You’ll need a clear head and fresh eyes for editing.

4. Then bring it back in

You put it all out there, now it’s time to pull it back. Editing is the next step in writing your body copy, and some say it’s the most important step in writing.

Cut it short

You may have started writing your body copy with a clear set of business goals. Before you start editing, make sure that these are still the right goals for your body copy. Meet each of your business goals in the fewest words possible. You usually want to stick to one goal or CTA per piece of writing if you can.

To start, actively edit by making sections of text you feel need work a different color or underline text to make it stand out.

Things you noticed easily on your first read are easy to miss as you continue to clean up your body copy. On your first read-through, highlight anything that doesn’t lead your readers to the desired goal. You may leave these sections in for flow or emotional connection, but they are a good place to start editing.

Be ruthless in your editing

Next, remove extra words and replace difficult words with easier-to-read alternatives. If you need help cutting down a copy, a tool like Hemingway Editor can help. It will show you which of your sentences are harder to read than others and give you an idea of where to trim copy down.

As you edit your sentences and paragraphs, assume most people are reading on their phones. A long sentence looks like a fine amount to read on a desktop, but it looks like a long paragraph on your phone. People will be more likely to continue reading if you break up your text.

After your body copy feels right, do one final pass to check to make sure your spelling and grammar are correct. Again, you’re building trust with your readers. Even small errors can give the impression that you’re not as smart and trustworthy as you seem to be.

Humans are hard-wired to love stories. Your body copy is a chance to tell all the different versions of your story to the people that need your products. Body copy can be easy, just like writing a letter to an old friend.

About the author

Jana Rumberger is a writer and content manager for Selz ecommerce. She has expertise in strategy, selling products online, and small business solutions. Jana combines diverse experience in education, creativity, and manufacturing to craft engaging content. In addition to her writing, she is an active visual artist and foodie in Portland, Oregon.

Development Insights Martech SaaS

R3000L-BMS: An Unique 3G/4G Remote Access Solution for the BMS Industry

Miley on March 13, 2020

Site visits constitute one of the main costs related to BMS installations. These performance tests of the control equipment installed are often very time-consuming too. It is possible to rely on remote access through 3G/4G cellular communication systems. Yet, these systems have proved to be unreliable, expensive, or difficult to use.

The R3000L-BMS router-based system offers a new alternative for system installers and designers. It is a powerful VPN router developed from RobustOS. Robustel designed this self -developed and Linux-based operating system for its devices. This proprietary device operating system was built from the ground up around a Linux Kernel. It allows for lightweight firmware and application delivery across the Robustel product range.

Users can use RobustOS to update their device functionality through apps and yet leave the firmware untouched. All Robustel devices are built around RobustOS. For this reason, minimal changes are required to transfer apps among device models and families.

For more flexibility and customization, RobustOS apps can be created via the RobustOS SDK in C, Python, or Java. RobustOS also includes basic networking features and protocols. As a result, the whole user experience is generally enhanced. Here is how RobustOS can solve some of the most common problems faced by users worldwide:

RobustVPN Software – This cloud-based system allows easy access to any remote device using a SIM. RobustVPN is the comprehensive integration of network security standards. It enables a VPN tunnel between users and their remote devices. It was tested with SETT and IQ3 controllers, amongst others.

Flexible IO – We are referring to Ethernet ports, serial ports, and a Modbus RTU port built-in. RobustOS can access a multitude of devices over a single connection. This feature makes the whole process much more convenient. DIO can also be used for monitoring and control. It is as multifunctional as convenient.

Roaming SIM – An optional multi-network SIM makes it easier to connect a cellular router to equipment in plant rooms and other enclosed areas. Using a roaming SIM is cheaper than roaming with your phone provider. It is also more convenient than relying on local SIMs. That is why it is one of the most cost-effective options available nowadays.

Data Limiting APP – With this app, you can send alerts or pause your SIM if you exceed a certain data threshold. You can also reconnect any time with a text message. Moreover, the RobustOS data limiting app can reduce the risk of “Bill-shock”. Consider it as a reminder to pay your phone bills! Based on our experience, this function is so practical and essential for all errant users.

RCMS Cloud Platform – With the new RCMS Cloud platform from Robustel, you can track and update routers on the field. All the routers available will show on a map through cell triangulation. They can then be managed directly from this platform If one router is offline, you will be the first to know! Call it a boost on your efficiency.

The RCMS delivery system ensures en-masse handling of critical firmware, software, or configuration updates. Full customization is also available for major projects.

Screenshot of the RCMS Cloud home screen

Robustel is one of the leading high-performance cellular VPN router manufacturers worldwide. It specializes in the IoT and M2M markets. Robustel has a wide portfolio of award-winning solutions. Its product lines include wireless modems, routers, gateways, EDGE computing, cloud software, and end-to-end IoT solutions.

Robustel helps businesses and industries across the world to solve their IoT & M2M problems. It provides them with robust, secure, scalable, and creative solutions from hardware to complete ‘IoT in a box’ services. What’s more, the goal of Robustel is to “Make Things Connected”. Remote monitoring and controlling have never been easier than with Robustel!

Development SaaS

Check the Top 3 Fantastic Portable Devices in The World

Miley on March 13, 2020

Thanks to technology development, we are no longer tied to a set path. We are free to lead a freewheeling lifestyle and explore life’s infinite possibilities. For example, the creation of portable devices such as a portable projector really blows our minds. In this article, the top 3 fantastic portable devices are listed for you. Just keep reading to know more!

Throughout the ages, we have concluded a number of factors that contribute to the prosperity of society, among which is technology development. Technological advances require the integration of numerous actions derived from the joint effort of wise government, superior scientists and up-and-coming tech companies.

The wise government gradually increases its financial support for tech enterprises. Meanwhile, it pushes for incentive programs and policies. Superior scientists devote themselves to their careers. Finally, they create many excellent innovations to the public. At the same time, tech companies speed up their research process and upgrade their equipment to fulfill the massive production requirements. Take XGIMI as an example. XGIMI values users’ audio-visual experience as a great deal. It inspires the company to produce smart portable projector and laser TVs with the best materials and state-of-the-art technology. In the last 5 years, the pursuit of users’ satisfaction has earned XGIMI 21 authoritative international design awards and reputation at home and abroad.

Actually, if you browse online for portable devices, there will be zillions of search results. After we leveraged all the results, we have finally concluded the top 3 fantastic portable devices. They really change our lifestyle and bring us a brand-new experience.

Portable Charger

This portable device is actually a combination of a portable charger and a charger plug. You can charge your phone by using the 7500mAh portable charger at a fast speed. For that, this device provides three main kinds of USB to fulfill any type of phone’s charging needs. As for the charger plug, it can be used for two functions. For one thing, when the portable charger is out of battery, you can recharge it by plugging in. For another, if there is a wall socket near you, instead of charging your phone by the portable charger, you can directly use the charger plug for the faster-charging speed.

Portable Projector

Compared to other projectors in the market, MoGo portable projector from XGIMI has a built-in high-capacity battery and excellent lens. On the strength of 210 ANSI Lumen power and Harman-Kardon speaker, MoGo portable projector can provide way more colorful and brighter images and superior sound quality for users. Most importantly, this portable projector can perfectly work with the Google Play Store for Android TV. No matter on the bed or on the sofa, you can always spend your leisure time watching great movies by this portable projector with your family and friends. What’s more, to avoid this portable projector blocking the view, users can just put it on their side and then the patented smart keystone correction function will adjust the screen quickly.

Portable Scooter

With forward-thinking design and advanced technology, this easy-to-learn portable scooter has a powerful battery life that can provide a 30km ride. When it comes to night riding, the creator equips this scooter with a headlight and red taillights. Along with the disc braking and eABS regenerative anti-lock braking system of this portable scooter runs, these lights will shine distinctly as a warning to vehicles and other pedestrians on the road. As for the mobile feature, users can totally fold this scooter into a small and robust structure by three easy steps. It means that you can place it at home, in the office or even on a bus.

Development Insights

How Robotic Soldering Machine Works

Miley on March 13, 2020

As the name implies, an automatic soldering robot is a piece of machinery that has been built and reinforced with software that allows it to perform basic and advanced soldering operations. The range of soldering robots from top brands like Topbest has been specially designed to carry out the operations which can be undergone by man – and even more.

That, on top of their cost savings, makes them a great pick.

However, some OEMs are left wondering if these robots will do the job right for them. If that is you, you have come to the right place to get your doubts lifted.

How do they work?

We won’t bother you by going into the specifics of what soldering is, or how the process works. Chances are that you have been doing that for years anyway, so it would be redundant information.

When it comes to a robotic soldering machine, though, you could be lost as to how they can perform the full range of operations that you may throw at them.

While not all of them could do the advanced things, the best ones on the market work with the following principles:

Methods of soldering – soldering might have the same ultimate goal, but they don’t come the same. The ideal picks for you will be those options that offer the chance to execute both point and slide soldering. The machine can even be automated to choose the best mode of soldering depending on the soldering distribution under consideration.
Z-axis rotation – when humans handle soldering, they don’t see things in 2D but 3D. The same is true for top soldering robots with a Z-axis, depending on where the solder point is located on the electrical component in question.
Rail system – these soldering robots can handle multiple units at once, depending on the number of trails in place. Thus, one material is being soldered while the next is prepared for the operation on the rail system
Solder tip – you must know already that there are a series of different solder heads to choose from. An ideal pick for high precision manufacturing would be the dual head solder tips. The only downside to this is that the Z-axes won’t rotate with the dual head tips.

Why They Are Worth It

We cannot talk about how much ease and simplicity a soldering robot brings to the manufacturing.

For the most part, they can help OEMs to churn out more units within a specified period without suffering a drop in quality at all. Likewise, it is possible to use up less workspace in the manufacturing area with a desktop soldering robot. They also offer improved flexibility in managing complex alloys that would have otherwise been gotten wrong by human effort.

Furthermore, robotic soldering systems have shown that it is possible to develop nano parts, conserve materials (wires, components, solder, etc.) and save costs overall while at it.

That should be enough to get you sold on the idea of these units and how they can be the game-changer for your business.

Recommendation

To make soldering work well, a high-quality soldering robot is needed. In addition to the quality factor, Topbest can provide a variety of options when we choose the automatic soldering robot. A soldering robot equipped with a camera can realize real-time monitoring of the soldering process, so that errors can be found in time to avoid the loss. Besides, a preheating platform and a nitrogen protection device can be chosen according to your own needs.

As a company with more than 20 years of professional soldering solutions, Topbest provides not only high-quality and full-featured equipment but also additional professional consulting services. Therefore, it is worth your trust.

Insights Martech

How to Make Social Media Call to Action More Compelling in 2020 – 6 Exciting Ways

Miley on March 5, 2020

Social media marketing has become a challenge for many marketers. In 2020, many entrepreneurs, agencies, business leaders, SMB, and startups are planning to improve their social media efforts. The ultimate goal of social media marketing is to be clear of what you want your potential customers to do, comment on your post, like your post, signup for a free trial, visit your website or blog, download an eBook, or place an order.

Creating a persuasive and engaging social media post can help you convince users to perform all these actions and enhance the conversion rate of your website. Creating a killer call-to-action that creates a high click CTA is not an easy task. If your company is thinking of generating more leads and conversions through social media, here are some easy ways to create killer CTAs for social media that will definitely persuade users to do what you want them to do.

Call to action, if written right and executed well, can prompt people to take the specific action. But the question is how to come up with compelling CTAs to strengthen your social media efforts and convince people to do what you are asking.

Let’s discover some creative ways to write eye-catching CTAs for social media posts and attract more users towards your brand.

Excite Your Users

It is one of the best marketing techniques to catch the attention of your social media audience. Before launching your upcoming product, service, app, company event, news, or anything exciting, post teasers to get your audience hooked. It will allow users to think and talk about your brand to anticipate what is going to happen.

Be creative before launching your product. Post a video or a photo and write an interesting caption for your teaser post that helps your audience understand what your brand is planning to launch.

Use an Eye-Catching Video

Using videos to highlight the importance of your product is an effective strategy; many social media agencies are using to grab the attention of the audience. Sometimes a picture might not be able to explain what your product does; incorporating a short video into your social media posts will allow people to understand why they need your product.

Use More Visible Text

Make your CTAs more unique and visible to your audience by using concise messages, bold colors and contrasting buttons. If the design, graphics, and text of your CTA are not visible, your readers can’t be able to read the message you are trying to convey. And the ultimate goal of your social media post will not be fulfilled. So, it is highly recommended to keep the design unique and make your text visible to make it noticeable and visually attractive to create more customer engagement.

Be Specific

When it comes to creating a CTA for your social media posts, try to be specific and to-the-point. A majority of your audience is using social media on their smartphones, where you have limited space. Therefore, using ultra-concise and to-the-point messages is the key to convey your point to the audience.

Create brief and concise posts; it will direct users to click the CTA button to learn more about your offer.

Allure Your Audience

When you give your audience something outstanding at a very low cost, chances are they will definitely try it. By using the caption, save more, click to save is a very clever strategy to make people think about your product or service and persuade them to make a purchase.

By making it clear to your readers that they will get an incredible offer at a very low cost by highlighting how your product can solve their problems can make people feel that they are making the right decision. Communicate the benefits and qualities of your product and what the users will get by investing in their brand.

Urgency Matters

Today, no one wants to miss out on any opportunity, especially if it’s their favorite brand. When you add a sense of urgency in your social media CTAs, chances are it will entice users to take the desired action quickly. As it sounds like that the offer will be going to expire soon.

Call Now, Buy Now, order within 24 hours, and limited time offer are a few effective CTAs that can drive the fear of missing out, induce quick response and allow viewers to avail the offer right away. So, when you want to drive more traffic to your blog, get more engagement, or increase conversions, give your social media posts a sense of urgency, and you will get more and more users’ attention.

Simply an exclusive offer and limited time offer can help you entice more users and achieve your sales goals.

Use Brand-Focused Imagery

Starbucks Coffee call to action examples

To come up with an effective CTA, it is super important to consider background, colors, text, and images. Try to use interesting and more powerful images. Sometimes, using a single image can fulfill the purpose of your ad and convince users to click and convert. Try to use creative and vivid images that make sense and allow your audience to take action and understand what your brand is all about.

To Sum Things Up

By making a few changes in your CTAs, you can come up with more interesting social media posts that can drive multiple actions that you want your audience to take. Converting a viewer into a visitor or customer will possible if you follow these simple and creative techniques to craft your social media call to action. A social media agency Dubai can help you create better, and outstanding CTAs for your next social media post so that you can achieve your conversion and sales goals in the year 2020 and beyond.

About the author

Muneeb Qadar Siddiqui is a visionary when it comes to digital marketing. During his tenure at Branex Dubai, he has worked on several ground-breaking online projects and ideas related to apps that have shaped the future of several companies. He likes to get into the nitty-gritty of things related to web design and app development and comes out triumphant in coming up with apps that serve a large customer base. His hobbies include reading a lot so that he can remain one step ahead of the competition.

Insights

Top Healthcare Trends to Know About

Miley on March 5, 2020

The health sector is rising and changing every day. Every day new systems and techniques are developed to satisfy the great demand for medication and therapies. When technology develops quickly, the health industry has grown exponentially to provide facilities to a large number of people worldwide. Top of custom healthcare solutions are:

Electronic medical records

The first phenomenon on the chart is the electronic medical record. Many health care organizations nationwide have taken electronic medical records and the individual who manages the patient can use this information in seconds to view the medical history of the patient and thus make better decisions while handling the emergency care denton, tx.

Although there have been online medical records for a while, it took time to include and incorporate healthcare facilities and research writing programs. Most health institutes worldwide are already utilizing electronic health records. The medical expert will draw up effective treatment strategies for electronic records at any time.

Study with Smartphone

Technology has improved the contact, knowledge and decision-making of medical experts. The way medical students are educated has also shifted. Nowadays, laptops and a laboratory are not an issue for health professionals. In reality, these systems are enabled to improve their learning methods.

Teachers have modified their methods of teaching. It was noted that teaching with modern equipment and software is harder than historically teaching, which made it difficult for the instructor to communicate important information easily and quickly. Students can also quickly communicate with these programs to train them for real-life experiences.

Artificial Intelligence

Without artificial intelligence, one cannot explore the potential of the health sector. Intelligence digital can alter and enhance the quality of health care in many respects. Artificial intelligence should generally open up the way for people and technology to communicate. This helps us to quickly track and evaluate the behavior of people around the world.

Providers in services should have the best treatment methods in their possession. Through this system, for example, healthcare providers are readily available in places where physicians are scarce without being physically involved. Many experts predict that procedures like radiology will be changed so that medical providers will not continue to take samples of specimens from patients.

Medical equipment

Registered journal writers and patients have been allowed by technology to communicate with their physicians without visiting them. Now, video chat is always open to doctors and patients. The healthcare provider will effectively make informed choices by speaking with the individual and reviewing the information. This is great news for elderly patients or individuals who can’t move out of their homes.

The healthcare system is changing as technology advances. Health experts have invested a lot of time and money developing and revolutionizing medical equipment. The patients don’t have to wait for days or hours with these tools to receive the test results. They are quick and powerful.

Not only patients but also healthcare providers and thesis writers feel confident on these devices.

Enhanced support standard

The emphasis of all technological innovations is on maximizing the patient’s satisfaction. For each specialty, the professionals are paid on the basis of their professional quality and quantity. Technology allows emergency rooms azle, tx care providers to calculate their performance on the basis of their appointment periods, and the patients’ health consequences.

The method often simplifies the assessment of which type of treatment works perfectly for healthcare professionals and how to achieve the best outcomes. Tests can be administered fast and effectively. There are available medications and other therapies. The best care people think of and strive for centuries is given to patients.

Block chain Systems

Another phenomenon that we plan to see this year is block chain technology. Block chain technology is a modern way to store electronic data to that inventory. It enables digital information to be circulated without it being filled.

Digital money, Bitcoin, designed and implemented Block chain. Experts in other technical systems have since come up with innovative ways of using it. In the coming years, block chain technologies should impact the health sector in how data is distributed via health systems. Block chain applications surpass Electronic Medical Records’ limits, for example, compliance issues across various health networks.

Breakdown of the silos in education

Another development in healthcare is the preparation of professionals. Every day, several health care organizations from various disciplines and specialties partner to create support teams.

The healthcare system is changing gradually to make it easy for patients to use complex facilities. A number of doctors will be seen in the same matter for the patients. This can make patients nervous and upsetting. The right medication and treatments simply fall down the drain, in most situations.

In contrast with traditional treatment programs, the development of health-care teams is highly efficient. This is what occurs in the classroom precisely. Breakdown of the silos in education allows exposure to efficient ways for medical professionals to do similar things in hospitals. The above-mentioned health patterns are just a subset of what everyone needs to foresee. People expect quick and efficient medical devices and treatments as technology advances at a speedy pace. For healthcare professionals, it is vital that they are helped as much as feasible as most of them invest their personal time protecting patients’ lives.

Development Insights

Tips to Grow Your Small Business

Miley on February 25, 2020

Small businesses have an incredibly important role in the economy of the USA. In fact, a large majority of all companies within the country are classified as small businesses. These companies range from restaurants, top construction companies to IT firms and everything in between.

However, no matter what industry you’re in or what product or service you sell, one thing that many small businesses struggle with is growing. In fact, many small businesses will fail within their first couple of years of operation.

Thankfully, your company doesn’t have to simply be another statistic. There are several different things you can do to give your company a good chance of growing. With that in mind, this article is going to go over a few tips to grow your small business in 2020.

Customer Service Should Be a Priority

In order to have a successful company, you need customers. However, with so many different businesses in your space, there is a lot of competition for these customers. As a result, your customer service needs to be top-notch. You could have an outstanding product or service, but if your customer service drives people away, you will fail.

You need to take every step you can to make your customers feel special and valued. Be sure to respond to any issues and questions as soon as possible, and be as helpful as possible. Ensure your customer service staff is knowledgeable and well-versed, and also kind and friendly. The better customer service, the more likely your customers will recommend you to their peers.

Employee Engagement is Instrumental for Success

Another thing that is instrumental in the success of your company is your employees. If your team is made up of lackluster employees, your products, projects, and services are likely to fall flat. As a result, you need to make sure that your team is made up of high-quality employees capable of getting the job done.

However, hiring and retaining these types of employees is difficult, unless you engage them properly. Employees want to feel challenged, respected and want to be compensated fairly for their work. Be sure to appreciate all of your employees and also take what they have to say into account.

While all of this can take a bit of time and money for your company, the results will be more than worth it. Without helping your employees grow and mature in their careers, growing your business will prove difficult.

Use Technology to Your Advantage

In 2020, technology will play a bigger role in companies than ever before. There are dozens of different apps, platforms, and tools that can help nearly every business area at your company. There are tools to simplify HR, to speed up invoicing and accounting, to keep your business secure and even manage data.

Of course, the value of having your company on social media is still incredibly high as well. It is one of the easiest ways to reach out to potential customers. Also, things like automation and AI should also be considered, as they can optimize your processes and save you money. You could also use a virtual assistant to help you with your outreach.

In conclusion, the tips within this article will be able to help you successfully grow your small business in 2020. Some very experienced people would have very good tips and ideas:

Roundpeg – ‘In our 2020 Digital Marketing Study we see business owners gravitating toward platforms, which take less time such as Instagram but are also less effective than the less glamorous but significantly more beneficial, Google My Business.’

GreenRope – ‘Spend time testing out your emails. Testing a message across the most popular email clients (Gmail, Yahoo!, Outlook, etc) allows you to see your email through the eyes of your readers. Check and double check that all links are working properly, images load correctly, and that there are no spelling or grammar errors. Using A/B testing is another great way to test variations of your message, different images or subject lines for example. A/B testing allows you to send the varying content to a smaller group of contacts in your list, then send the one with the best performing results to your remaining contacts.’

Lorenzo Gutierrez – Look for your best niche and stay with it.

As they say, the riches are in the niches. By focusing on your best niche it allows you to penetrate an industry deeper and better allowing you to be the expert rather than trying to be a jack of all trades.

Read In Brief – Continuously be searching for approaches to improve your business and to make it stand apart from the competition. Perceive that you don’t know it all and be available to new innovative thoughts and new ways to deal with your business.

Millennial Moderator – Social media can be leveraged by any size of the business, depending on what their objectives are. Looking for new customer leads means optimizing good social media funnels, spreading knowledge about your product requires actively engaging the relevant social communities that care about your cause, and addressing public feedback about your services will require confident and transparent, social messaging. A great (and easy) way for small businesses to benefit from social media is through social bookmarking, which I discuss more about in this article.

Axiomq – From learning the latest marketing strategies, it may seem like the high budgets that are needed to get exposure of your small business are beyond your capabilities. It couldn’t be further from the truth. You can promote your small business for little to no money.

Glenmont – For those not experienced in the space, marketing automation involves leveraging software and tools to automate different components of your marketing strategy. Often these are time and labor-intensive tasks that can automate through technology. These tools can also help you better manage your digital campaigns across email, social media, your website, etc.

Marketing Sparkler – When creating a small business marketing strategy, it is important to understand what “content” means in this digital era, and who the content is for. Content includes your company blog, social media posts, and articles on websites. In addition to the good old written word, it is also based on graphics, videos, and quizzes that get your readers to actively participate in the content.
Then, you want to take into account how each generation communicates. Put simply, different generations have distinct preferences. In order to persuade them to buy your products, you need to provide information relevant to them, through the communication channels they appreciate the most.

Cooler Insights – The best strategy for small businesses to do is to build your brand in a specific niche, and be known as an influencer in your communities. In a world where social media is now ubiquitous, small business owners and their staff need to be viewed as experts in their chosen field. This can be done cheaply and freely by constantly creating helpful content around your niche. If you run a cafe, you may want to talk about how to select the best beans for your cuppa, and if you operate a bookkeeping service, you can offer tips on managing your cash flow during crises.

For more strategies on how you can grow your online communities, read my article here.

Yokebay – There are many lessons to learn in business. Therefore, a business owner needs to develop his/her inner mind set to see a bigger picture of the business. By doing so, you are giving yourself the opportunity to succeed. Additionally, create a good marketing strategy that builds your brand around your business; at the same time, build a supportive network around yourself.

EZOfficeInventory – Agility is going to be critical in 2020. Business technology is enabling small businesses around the globe to become more flexible and adaptable. Find out what kind of automation your workflows require and invest in management solutions to lower administrative burdens. Small businesses are already short-staffed – get yourself the right software so you can focus on strategy-building and scale your business effectively.

CloudLGS – Hands-free search is a rising trend nowadays. With Voice search, businesses will see more success. Alexa’s preferences, Cortana, Siri, and other voice apps are bringing voice search closer to home.

P2P Marketing – Every person has become a media company with a social media profile and online advertising has become harder than ever. You cannot underestimate the social reach and advertising capacity of each of your customers. In fact, you need to learn to turn this capacity in your favor. Turning your customers to promoters can 10x your company’s growth. Focus on your customer base, and identify potential brand ambassadors. These are your VIP customers, harness their reach to truly grow your brand.

ReferralRock – Knowing your customer isn’t just about getting their name and contact details. The more you learn about those using your product, the better you can deliver what they want. Take the time to talk with some of your most loyal customers (of course, offering a little incentive helps!), and consider their actual challenges and needs. This goes a much longer way than building your business for a fictional buyer persona.

InterPages – If you have recently ventured a small business and looking forwards to its meaningful growth in 2020, then it is crucial to follow some appropriate tips for the purpose. The first and foremost milestone to grow your small business through an online platform is to reach your customers. Generally it requires more efforts for small businesses to make the consumers aware of a business, especially when it is a new venture. Have a sight on some unique and effective tips to grow your small business in 2020 given below.

Here are a few relevant and marvelous tips and ideas that will help you to grow your small business in 2020.
1. You must have an exclusive website for your business which is more users friendly.
2. Hire some professionals of digital marketing to rank your website on search engines through SEO and other techniques of online marketing.
3. Do not forget the importance of social media for the growth of your small business.
4. Data collected from consumer behavior analysis will help you to take relevant decisions for your business by keeping the needs of customers in mind.
5. Set an active channel of conversation with your customers to address their complaints.
6. Keep some lucrative offers and loyalty points for those who are your regular customers.
7. Sending customized newsletters according to the customers’ previous purchasing history can also work very well for the growth of your business.
If you will hit these tips for the growth of your small business venture in 2020 then you will definitely be able to flourish your business to a certain height.

Botsify – And if you are worried about having a high cost in marketing to promote your small businesses don’t worry at all there are many awesome low budget Content marketing ideas for small businesses. Writing for marketing is all concerned with helping the people. What the customers want is their questions answered as fast as possible. What you should do is find a question that is bothering your clientele and answer it. It helps you a lot to promote your small business.

TechSpective – Let some things go and don’t try to do it all yourself. Focus on what you’re good at and building your business and outsource functions that are necessary, but outside of your skillset.

Business in Gambia – In a time of uncertainty and slowing economic conditions, cashflow management continues to be the key tip to survival. As a small business manager, you need to assess the cash flow needs of your business using multiple business case scenarios. If your scenario plan shows cash flow issues, start to engage the financiers or government agencies in advance. Do not wait for liquidity challenges before preparing for alternative financing sources.

The Total Entrepreneurs – One of the best tips Small Business Owners can take advantage of to grow their business is using case studies. Using case studies is another strategy of content marketing for your business. All you need to do is make a list of most of your successful customers or clients and share with your target audience how working with your business or using your product or services benefited these customers or clients. Start with the problems these customers faced before using your product or services, then tell how your product or services addressed the problems. Make sure to use social proofs like testimonials from satisfied clients. A case study will not only show potential customers what you have to offer but also give them confidence that you can deliver what you are promising as you have done for others.

Global Marketing Alliance – There are endless marketing tools that small businesses can use to help grow their business. It’s easy for small business owners to get overwhelmed by all the options and potential action points available to them. So, focus on those marketing areas most important for growing your business and make sure you have a clear plan of action – clearly time-scaled – which builds upon your business objectives. Finally, make sure you have a means of recording how effective your marketing efforts are.

Anthony Gaenzle – As a small business, you can really boost the presence of your brand with a well-executed content strategy. People want to feel a connection with the brands they follow and ultimately buy from, and content is your chance to forge that connection. Through engaging video content, articles, infographics, and other types of content, you can create a persona for your brand that showcases your brand’s values and the value you bring to your customers. By creating content for each part of your customers’ journey, you can position your brand and your team as thought leaders, highlight the value of your products and services, help your target audience solve problems, and ultimately close sales. Your content marketing efforts shouldn’t stop after the sale. After the sale, you should continue to create content aimed at keeping your customers engaged, maintaining your thought leadership status, and helping your customers get the most out of your products and services. – Anthony Gaenzle

Postfity.com – An easy (and cheap!) way to grow your small business in 2020 is to increase organic exposure on social media through employee advocacy. You can use a social media scheduler for employee advocacy on LinkedIn to boost organic reach and conversions for free. One of our users, Shortlist recruitment – linked all their employee’s (15) accounts to one Postfity master-account, and shared all the company updates automatically to all their employee’s profiles. This helped the IT recruitment agency to leverage its employees’ networks and to boost their organic views on LinkedIn by a whopping 2,666% in just 4 months! According to their marketing manager, Helen Finnan – LinkedIn has been the main source of leads for them ever since. This simple strategy is very cheap compared to paid ads and very easy to implement.

Fannit – For small business seo to really make an impact you need to focus on local map rankings and be able to see the impact you’re making at a granular level. This is difficult if you are using a normal keyword tracker like SEMRush or Ahrefs since they don’t have this capability – even though they are great for other areas. Even though it’s more expensive to track, use a tool like agency analytics because it provides the deep data you need to manage keyword growth for Google Maps (user IP zipcode, the keyword the user is seeing in that IP specifically, and the map ranking) and lead generation in those targeted areas.

Blackandise – If you are starting out, you need to focus on creating good content. After you have the content, then you can decide on one social network to master. Do not try to juggle multiple networks. Master one and grow fast. Our suggestion for 2020 is Pinterest.
Give it a few weeks, review your Pinterest data along with your Google/Bing Analytics data to learn more about your audience without spending any money!

FundThrough – With businesses reopening around the country, small business owners will be eager to get back to work and fill orders for larger companies. But we’re seeing large customers extending their payment terms from 30 and 60 days to upward of 90 to 120 days. If you’re waiting three to four months for your customers to pay you, you might feel like you’re shut down all over again waiting to get paid for work you’ve already done. Invoice factoring gives small business owners the option to self fund their growth and get working capital within 48 hours for outstanding customer invoices. This is the fastest way to fund your business, pay expenses, and not have to deal with the hassle of small business loans.

LoveUMarketing – In this worldwide pandemic situation of Covid 19, where the entire world is at stand still, ‘Customer Management’ is the only way to grow your business. Boost your customer base and try to make them happier. Remember, only the happy customers will give you more sale opportunities. If you have loyal customers (who will not prefer doing brand switch), your business will definitely grow.

Hippo Video – With social distancing in place, it is time that businesses embrace the new normal by including videos inside their business activities. By this, we just don’t mean online streaming and meeting sessions, rather a more defined, scalable approach by including videos that can be recorded, personalized, and easily distributed. Using videos inside sales activities, teaching, training and even fitness will help bring the humane element into communication and make people feel REAL. Hippo Video is one such platform that can help you do this without hassle at a very reasonable price target.

OnlyInfoTech – Study your audience based on the platforms, if you are looking for B2B business deals, marketing on Facebook and LinkedIn would be the preferable platforms, but if you are in search of B2C leads, platforms like Instagram would be worth investing your time.
Analyze your response on these networks and opt for the paid promotions options, plan your campaigns keeping in mind the goal you want to achieve through it and the audience that might be interested to know about your business.

Clever Ads – You can do all your ppc campaigns on your own, but probably, if your business is small or you are starting in this sector, it will be tough and time consuming. You should facilitate work for yourself by looking for some helpful tools like keyword planners or personalized banners creators. You can find all of them on the internet and save time (and also money).

Digital Ducats Inc. – Content and backlinks are deeply rooted in the success of every website’s ranking. In order to enhance both ranking factors, small businesses should establish a clearly defined content schedule. This means clustering your content topically and assigning a regular schedule for content that gets published on and off-site. For example, when it comes to SEO Toronto, local companies have been able to benefit by appearing more frequently in localized search results by posting regularly to Google My Business.

On average, only 17% of companies post content to Google My Business on a weekly basis. By posting weekly, you’re doing more for your business locally than 83% of all businesses.

Planning and scheduling the content you publish is one of the simplest ways to enhance your website’s search visibility.

Supercool Creative – The key to growing any business is sales – getting new customers.

Start by knowing exactly who you’re selling to.
Develop a content marketing plan designed to inform, educate, entertain, and inspire consumer actions that eventually result in sales.
Focus on video content – blogs, video ads, social media sharing like updates, photos, memes, ads – and include CTAs for connection and engagement where appropriate, like follow, sign up, tell us what you think, contact us, and of course buy now. Decide which content to share organically (free) and which to share via paid channels like Facebook, YouTube TikTok, Instagram, Twitter…
Optimize your website for conversions, for a smooth customer experience.
Track results, determine what’s working and not working, and do more of what’s working!

Splento – A great way to gain business growth is by implementing new content marketing strategies. Develop several approaches with fresh content for your blog and on your website and give special attention to visual, mobile-friendly content.

Videos and photographs on these pages are proven to attract more visitors, will improve your bounce rate, and can have a dramatic effect on your Google ranking over time. It needs monitoring and some experimentation to find the right content that works for you. Stay agile and analyze the data you get after your experiments – but keep going and you’ll soon discover what is working best. Then – scale it!

Magnificent Marketing – Before you spend any marketing or advertising dollars on spreading the word about your products or services, you need to know what’s important and to who… And although the human creative element is important, it will be out of order if you don’t know exactly who your target customers are and what is most important to them. This is where predictive marketing and analysis comes in. You must go deep before you define your messaging and targeting. It takes a bit more time and investment at the beginning, but this time and money will be made up 100 times over as you decrease marketing to the wrong people with the wrong messages.

QuanticMind – Know Your ROI! The return on investment from the budget you have spent on marketing can be difficult to prove. As an example, around 60% of small businesses continue to report challenges proving the value of their social media efforts (HubSpot). Calculating the ROI of your digital marketing initiatives empowers you to deliver stronger results by shining a light on what works best for your business while providing tangible proof of contributions to the bottom line. But how do I do that? Set SMART goals for your marketing efforts and go beyond vanity metrics when gathering data.

We Are All Connected – Today, few things are as vital to business growth as a well-designed website. It is your handshake, and in many cases, the first impression you make on a potential client. What’s more, it is the only digital home that your business actually controls and a key success factor in social media and ad campaigns. Your SEO efforts, email campaigns, Google ads, many of your posts on social media, will all lead people back to it. So, when they arrive on your site, it needs to offer a positive experience, whatever stage of the buying journey they are at.

A well-designed website prioritises the user experience (UX). It clearly signposts the routes that can take your user from interested visitor to signed-up customer through the thoughtful use of calls to action and links to helpful content. It is easy to use across devices; it is structured in a way that supports SEO to help your rankings in search engines; its design represents your unique brand personality and appeals to your audience; it showcases and surfaces your high quality content that makes your target audience feel heard and interested in finding out more about your products or services. In essence, a well-designed website takes time and resource, but it will more than repay the investment.

Zoek.UK – Ensure your customer service is exceptional and go the extra mile when you can. Loyalty is rooted in trust. Customers can trust humans more than the ideas and image of a brand. By interacting with your customer service team, customers will develop and maintain life-long relationships with your business much easier. In doing so, they won’t only remember great service, but it’s also more likely they’ll refer others to you. Great customer service is a unique way to differentiate your company from competitors, instead of simply relying on the exciting features of your products or service.

AutoConversion.net – Business growth occurs by acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones. So keeping customer churn low and new customer acquisition steady are key. Depending on your product offering and your industry, acquiring new customers for your small business could be a short simple process or it may be a long one. Regardless, you need effective ways to create awareness of your product, spark interest in your company, and generate demand with decision makers. One effective way to do all these things with both existing and future customers is with a media strategy that engages not only customers but also employees and strategic partners. An effective media strategy is one akin to a traditional or new media publisher. Avoid thinking and acting like a vendor trying to sell something, and instead think and act like a publisher offering up dynamic engaging content that appeals to your prospective buyer.

Adlibweb – Before you start out, make sure that you have a DIgital Marketing Strategy in place. Wildly firing off PPC or Social Media campaigns might work in the short term but if you don’t tie it all together in a logical way, in alignment with the overall objectives of your small business, then you are setting yourself up to fail.

The process is to set your goals, aligned with your business objectives, define your audience, define the channels you are going to use such as Organic, Social Media or PPC, make a business case (to make sure you make margin on your campaigns), implement and measure. If you follow these steps your small business will grow.

IED – Apply a reward system for your employees. Employees as the backbone of the business. The harder they work, the better the results. Employees that love the place they work, will want to help it grow. By applying a reward system or a bonus system for hard work or good results, you will be encouraging your employees to work more and gain more. Plus, by doing so you will start creating a great reputation for your business. More people will want to work for you and even more, will want to buy your products or get your services.

Omniconvert – Prioritize Customer Retention and stop focusing all your resources on customer acquisition. The eCommerce market is getting more competitive than ever and the consumer is becoming very picky. If you don’t find a way to differentiate your business, to make your customer remember you, your business won’t thrive in this environment. The way you can do this is to put more resources into Customer Value Optimization, segment your customers using the RFM model and start monitoring vital KPIs such as NPS, Customer Lifetime Value and Customer Retention Rate.

Tech Patio – Having the right technology can unlock possibilities to make your business stand out from any other. Not only can you spur on communication but with the right tools you can bring in the right audience. Here are 5 ways that the right tech can help you quickly grow your business.

ReturnOnNow – One of the biggest oversights we see small businesses make is trying to build a “one size fits all” marketing strategy. There are a couple of concepts you can immediately adopt that will help better connect with your customers via marketing efforts:
1. Customer Personas – How well do you know your customers? Can you build a profile of a typical customer and then target all of your messaging toward catching their attention? This works, so try it for yourself.
2. Buyer’s Journey / Customer Life Cycle – Have you mapped out your marketing efforts across the full customer life cycle, from awareness of your name/brand to familiarity, then consideration of your solution and finally a decision that will hopefully go in your favor? If all of your messaging jumps right to “buy” messaging, you’re missing the opportunity to nurture customers properly and may come across as over eager or too salesy. This will help balance that disconnect.

Masterful Marketing – Today every small local business is looking at ways to change the way they market their business. The best way to successfully grow is to move your marketing online. When people need local services, they will go online to find a suitable provider. Which means, you need to do what it takes to be found in a crowded local market.

In order to be successful, you need to build a strong foundation and a powerful web presence to make an impact. Don’t take shortcuts in this important area as people will judge your business by what they see. At a minimum:

Have a professionally developed, responsive website built in WordPress
Implement local SEO strategies
Claim and verify your local business listings on Google My Business (GMB) and Bing Places for Business
Select your social media platforms based on where you can connect with your target audience
Research other industry directories and claim your business listing on those that make sense
Ask for reviews and testimonials from happy customers
Create content that educates your audience and shows them you are the expert they are looking for

Your social media platforms and local business listings in conjunction with your website can create a powerful information network that makes it much easier for you to be found. Promoting your content on these social platforms can get you more visibility with the right audience.

For local small businesses, changing the way you reach your target customers can have a big impact on your bottom line.

Hoot Design Company – Investing in culture is one of the best ways that small businesses can grow. If your organization is strong internally, clients and customers will be more likely to want to work with you. Businesses are built from the inside out, so never overlook your team.

CAD Pro – Grow your small business with CAD Pro. CAD Pro has helped thousands of small businesses’ such as realtors, builders, contractors, and remodeling companies streamline their business. CAD Pro is used by NARI professional remodelers and contractors and the NRCA roofing contractors as well as the National Home Builders Association. Cad Pro is an affordable and easy alternative to other more expensive home design software and will help any small business with budget limitations.

BizEpic – If you’re low on online marketing budget, I’d suggest you to do ‘guerilla marketing’ on Facebook. It’s effective in driving traffic to your website and/or generate inquiries that can potentially lead to sales – and it’s free!

What you should do is to join several Facebook Groups related to your business niche (don’t join a general business group.) Make sure that the Groups are active and heavily moderated (you don’t want to join a spammy Group!)

Your first post would be introducing yourself and what you do in a new post/discussion. Then you should participate in the conversation – responding to other members’ posts with your opinions and insights, be helpful, etc. Don’t sell anything just yet, but when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. Guys, where can I find… ?) You should answer the call.

Best Social Media Management Tools For Small Businesses by Social Champ – You can use it to strategize your social media posts and screen the analytics to see what works best. You’ll discover enormous players and little players here of the social media marketing tools, with an assortment of fortes and capacities, so there’s something for everybody. The portrayals of best social media management apps are short, just to give you a general thought of each tool’s essential qualities.

FounderJar – If you are not using email marketing for your online business, you are missing out on a huge opportunity and potentially leaving thousands of dollars (perhaps even millions) on the table. If you ask most bloggers and other online business owners, most of them will tell you that building an email list is the most important thing you can do to ensure the success of your online business.

IdeasPlusBusiness – Growing a business is not a one-time thing. It is a process. It is a journey. One strategy that has worked well for us over the years is that we focus on the core products of our business and refine the production process until it is almost perfect. It is by refining our processes that we discover new ways to scale our business to the next step. The aim of any business is to make a profit and the big profits come from your main products. And in the process of refining your main products, you will discover the magic that will push your business to the next level.

The Grable Group – COVID-19 has created an imperative for organizations in every sector to reassess and redesign their operations.
One way organizations have been rising to the challenges of the pandemic is by pivoting events to virtual platforms and organizing more online meetings to handle their work and communicate. With more and more organizations shifting their planning into an online-meeting mindset, new virtual meeting trends are emerging as well.

Cayenne Consulting – Figure out the one important and difficult thing you can do that nobody else in your market can do as well, and build your business around that. That is your core competency, your value proposition, your competitive strength, and the center of your marketing message. Refine it. Perfect it. Delight your customers with it. Craft your business plan around it. Soon, you will be outdistancing your competition.

Development Insights Martech Products

7 Hidden Features Every Samsung User Must Know

Miley on February 20, 2020

If you’re a Samsung user then we have some really interesting facts in store for you. Let us share with you 7 not-so-hidden features that are present in your Galaxy Smartphone that you might not know about. After learning about these super cool features, you can totally show them off to your friends and family. Before we proceed to reveal these specs, please note that:

Some of these features might be available in other Android smartphones as well.
Few of these features might not be available in older models of Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

So without further ado, let’s dive in to see the exciting hidden features in Samsung mobiles!

1. Shortcut to Launch Camera

We all know one way to launch the camera that is tapping on the Camera icon on the menu, but did you know there is another way too? You can launch the camera by pressing the Power Button twice. This setting can be changed to other apps as well. So if there is another app you’d rather have on this shortcut then all you gotta do is go to the Settings and modify this feature.

2. New Way to Unlock

Tired of pressing the Power Button to light up your screen to unlock? No worries, you can easily unlock your phone by double-tapping the locked screen.

3. How to Launch Google Voice Assistance?

Only a few people know the benefits of having Google Voice Assistance on your smartphone. Who needs Iphone’s Siri when Google Voice Assistance is there to perform all kinds of phone-related tasks for you? That’s right. You can launch Google Voice Assistance by long-pressing or double-tapping the Home Button. If you are using the new Galaxy A series then long-press it and if you’re using any older model then double-tap it.

4. Smart Stay

This is a super cool feature that allows you to keep your screen lit while you’re still looking at it. By keeping the ‘Smart Stay’ mode on, you can read long articles without tapping on the screen to keep it on again and again. It’s a good feature for all the readers out there! Just go to Settings and look for Motions and Gestures option and you’re good to go.

5. Smart Alert

This feature is also a part of Motion and Gestures settings. Your phone will vibrate when you pick it up after missing a call or receiving a text message. This feature allows you to be more punctual and vigilant in replying to important calls and messages. We can all think of someone who is really poor at that, so make sure you share this cool feature with them.

6. Screen Off Memo Using S Pen

Great news for all the Galaxy Note users! You can write memos on your Note phone using S Pen on an off screen. Yes, you read that right. Just go to the Settings and turn this amusing feature on. Your precious Galaxy Note will save that memo for you and also help you save a lot of time and effort in writing a memo after unlocking the phone.

7. Send Out Auto SOS Message

Believe me, when I say, Samsung really cares about you. If you don’t believe me, then check out their ‘Send SOS Messages’ feature available in almost all Smartphones. All you have to do is press the side key quickly three times and an auto SOS message will be delivered to your emergency contacts. This quick emergency alert sent to your loved ones can definitely save you from a critical situation.

About the author

Anna Watson is a graduate from San Diego State University and a blogger online. She loves to write about tech, business, marketing, and many more. Follow her on Twitter at @annawattson25.

Development Insights Martech Products SaaS

5 Models to Monetize Your OTT App

Miley on February 20, 2020

Back in the days when traditional or cable TV was king, advertising models were simple. You simply told your advertisers how many viewers your channel had and what their demographic information was then set rates accordingly.

Today, with the popularity and shift to online (streaming and OTT) watching, content service providers have had to shift into one or more of the major monetization models. So if you are thinking about creating your own Roku channel or getting a channel on Amazon’s Fire TV, you’ll want to explore these options.

Check out these 5 OTT monetization models to utilize to generate a profit on your app.

1. Subscription

Subscription-based revenue models tend to be the most lucrative model for content providers. This model has the added benefit of sitting most favorably with consumers. By providing unlimited access to content, users are enticed to view their favorite content whenever they want.

The challenges of this OTT monetization model, however, are that brands typically need a lot of upfront investment in content to appeal to viewers who are willing to pay for it. If the library of content is not there, the demand by consumers may result in the fizzling out of the brand before it is able to generate a large subscriber base.

2. Rental

The rental monetization strategy is based on providing consumers incremental access to content that tends to be new in nature. This type of model is used frequently by cable companies who offer video on demand but was also made popular by iTunes.

Unlike the subscription model, the rental model tends to make advertising revenues less predictable. Customer demand for new content ebbs and flows and this may also result in fluctuating revenues month-to-month.

3. Purchase

Not unlike the rental model that attracts consumers who like the latest shows and movies, the purchase model works when demand is high. Users get lifetime access to content in cloud libraries and pay a premium for access at any time. The purchase model shares similar predictability models as the rental model.

4. Freemium-to-Premium

Freemium-to-premium revenue models are based on providing viewers access to content — perhaps the first episode of a popular show — then getting them hooked on the content so they are inclined to purchase a membership.

Content publishers should have shows that lend to this type of engagement (i.e. access to pilot episodes) so they can entice viewers in and work on converting them to the subscription model.

5. Advertising

Similar to the traditional TV advertising model, in-app advertising on streaming apps have been modernized with more relevant ads than what cable can bring. For example, the introduction of Dynamic Ad Insertion, or DAI technology, means that ads can now take into account the viewer watching the stream. This means two viewers watching the same stream can see two different ads.

In-app advertising does require more sophisticated analytics, so brands who invest in this arena will need to partner with existing advertising brands or have some inherent data structure built in.

Regardless of the monetization model, or models, you choose (hybrid approaches can also be considered), you’ll want to leverage the power of data to provide the most appetizing access to niche demographics. Decide what is best for your business model and tap into this exciting world of advertising.

Uncategorized

How to Convert Your Blog Visitors into Customers

Miley on February 20, 2020

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Trying to make a living in this day and age is hard, especially if you’re a blogger. The problem isn’t your passion or dedication – but the competition! There are literally hundreds of thousands of people everywhere in the world who do the same as you, so making a name for yourself and actually earning some money can be quite hard. That’s why some bloggers include an online shop where people can purchase the products they read about. Now it’s all about converting those readers and visitors into paying customers, and you’re done! If that’s something you’d like to do as well, here are a few ideas that might help you.

Be honest

The problem most people have with purchasing things online is being absolutely sure they’re getting the real deal. This may not sound like a huge problem for you, but it’s a real concern that thousands of customers worldwide have every single day. That’s why you need to insist on honesty and be real when marketing your products.

One of the ways to do so is showing reviews and testimonials by people who have already purchased something from your online shop. Ask them for an honest review and make sure all your potential buyers are able to read it. Do this in a visually appealing way, and you’ll surely encourage your visitors to buy something from you.

Insist on brand marketing

Photo by Allie Smith on Unsplash

When you look at some of the most famous, successful, and lucrative companies in the world – from Nike and Apple to BMW and Facebook – there’s one thing they all have in common: brand recognition. No matter what they do, where they are, and how much money they earn, all of these companies insist on brand marketing anywhere they can, and that’s definitely something you should do as well.

However, this may not always be that easy. You need to learn more about this issue first and understand why constantly talking about your brand is so important. Even if you manage to forget it in the future, you can always go back to a famous brand marketing definition that emphasizes raising brand awareness and boosting brand recognition. This dedication to your brand will pass onto your visitors, and they’ll be happy to spend their money on your products, thus joining your brand too.

Get some help

Doing things your own way is sometimes all right, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to work in all cases. Certain sellers have a problem moving their products using traditional methods, so they need some help. Hiring people who will get in touch with their visitors is one of the ways to make a difference, especially if you insist on a personal and one-to-one approach.

Using various tools and apps is another way to go, especially if you’re managing a huge online shop with lots of potential visitors. If that’s the case, be sure to the best tool possible, such as the amazing social proof tool from Cue that can make your conversion easier. Being able to convert more visitors into leads is crucial for your business, so don’t be afraid to explore these handy little tricks that could boost your sales more than you can imagine.

Offer discounts and promotions

This may sound like the oldest trick in the book – and it probably is – but that doesn’t mean it’s any less effective. Offering your regular customers discounts will make your relationship with them even stronger, and they’ll be happy to know you appreciate their loyalty. Of course, you shouldn’t forget new customers either because both of these groups are vital for your business, so offer discounts to all of them.

Also, use certain times of the year for promotions – Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, Easter, Halloween, Black Friday, and other holidays are perfect for attracting more visitors to your website. These promotions create a sense of urgency with them, and they’ll be ready to make a purchase before the holiday promotion is over.

Converting blog visitors into paying customers is never easy, no matter what you do and how great your products are. But, if you use these cool techniques, you’ll certainly make a difference in your sales, so just find the ideas that work for you the most and incorporate them into your business plan.