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  • Is Shopify Text Message Marketing App Any Good? Seven Ways You Can Be Certain

    Is Shopify Text Message Marketing App Any Good? Seven Ways You Can Be Certain

    If you’re a brand looking to get your name out there and assist your customers, then look no further than text message marketing. SMS, or text message marketing, is a great way to stay in touch with and connect with your consumer base. Whether you want to share a promotion or service, text message marketing is a good way to go. Although this is a very useful service and there are plenty of providers to choose from, not all will offer you the same level of success. 

    The best way to know if a text messaging marketing service is any good is to break down what they offer and examine them individually. If you’re new to Shopify or mass text messaging services and want to learn more, you’ve come to the right place. Read these 7 tips on how to know if a message marketing app is any good and whether it’s a good fit for your brand. Stay ahead of the curve, up to date, and informed about mass text messaging apps with these 7 simple tips! 

    1. Integration 

    All good text message marketing services and apps should be easy to use and integrate. If you’re an already established business, chances are you already have a way of communicating with your customers. Ideally, you want to incorporate SMS marketing into your existing plan without losing customers or data.

    Your SMS marketing service should be easy to integrate and use across all your business platforms. A good SMS marketing app should be easy for both you and your customers to install, understand, and use. You also want to make sure that you can set it up with as little hassle or difficulty as possible. 

    2. Customization

    For a text message marketing app or service to be good, it needs to be customizable. Every brand’s needs are different and unique when it comes to contacting your customers. Using SMS marketing for Shopify stores is not the same as SMS marketing for other kinds of businesses and platforms. Whether you want to create thousands of templates or craft personalized messages, you need to be able to find what you need with your service or app. To get the best bang for your buck out of your text message marketing, you need to make sure you can customize it to fit your needs.

    3. Less hassle and work for you

    The great thing about using a good text message marketing app is that you get to do less work! Setting up a text message marketing service does take a little finesse in the beginning. You have to sort out all the templates, programming, and personalization of your service. But, once that’s all done, you can sit back, relax and let the messaging service do the work for you! As a business, your time is precious, so working with a good text messaging service for your platform will save you time, money, and stress. 

    4. Automation 

    Finding, contacting, and conversing with customers can be laborious and tedious and it can take a lot of time and effort from both parties. One of the biggest advantages of using SMS marketing services as a brand is that you get to automate a large part of your operations. 

    When searching for an SMS marketing app or service, make sure to go for the one that can streamline and automate your operations as much as possible. A good text message marketing service has plenty of templates, algorithms, and servers to keep things fast and zippy. Invest in a good app or service, to have more time and resources to spend elsewhere in your business!

    5. Scheduling

    One of the many difficulties of being a successful brand in 2022, is staying productive and keeping up to date with your customers. With SMS marketing, you can schedule text messages and updates for your customers to keep things productive.  

    You won’t have to manually remember to send out messages and updates, which can keep your customers happy with your brand. Timing is essential, especially if you have customers in different time zones and locations. Scheduling text messages help you stay in contact with your clientele, whatever the occasion. 

    6. Drip campaigns

    Aside from scheduled messaging, any good messaging service, platform, or app allows you to make the most of drip campaigns! Drip campaigns are a useful tool in today’s day and age and help you follow through with your customers. With this feature, you can send out automated messages and responses based on pre-set conditions and commands. 

    They allow your customer to be served each step of the way by triggering the logical next response or step. This is especially important for customers who are looking to confirm a purchase or for brands looking to get feedback. Getting feedback from your customers is an essential part of growing your brand, and drip campaign messages make getting it a breeze.

    7. Analytics and reports

    Last but not least, when looking for a good text message marketing app, you need to find one that has all the analytics. A lot of important data and analytics go into crafting the perfect method of communication between you and your customers. Whether you’re looking to get the most out of your service or expand your reach, you need to have access to this valuable data. Being able to examine the data and analytics can help you see where you need to improve and how you can reach your goals as a business.

    With these 7 points, you’re ready to take on the world of text message marketing like a pro! Whether your platform is Shopify or Spotify, there are plenty of reasons to want to make use of this useful service for your brand! A good text message marketing service should be easy to integrate into your pre-existing platforms and services. You should be able to customize an experience for your consumer, to get the best fit for your brand. 

    Text messaging services help to automate business operations and make life less of a hassle for your brand. Scheduling messages is a great way to keep up with your customers, whatever their time zone or location. Make the most of your service with drip campaigns to provide a streamlined and convenient experience for your consumers. Last but not least, SMS marketing services are perfect for getting analytics, reports, and feedback, to better grow your brand. 

  • 6 Easy Hacks to Increase Traffic on your Website

    6 Easy Hacks to Increase Traffic on your Website

    Running your business online means you have to get well-acquainted with a few things about inbound marketing and how you can make your business more profitable. Attracting more customers to your business is not as difficult as it seems. The introduction of digital marketing has made it possible to promote your business on the internet at large.

    Digital marketing allows you to utilize the right techniques to attract more people to your website and increase its traffic without putting in the extra effort. If you are struggling to find the best ways to increase traffic on your website, here are some easy hacks to help you out.

    Utilize SEO to your Advantage

    When you improve the SEO of your website, you will witness increasing traffic on it in no time. The better optimised your content is, the higher your posts will rank on the internet’s search engines like Google and Bing.

    It is good to have some basic knowledge of how search engine optimization works for your website. You can also get in touch with SEO services and let them do the needful. A Maryland SEO service understands all the know-how of the internet and all strategies to use to gather traffic on your website. From picking up the right keywords to finding tools and services to help your business grow – SEO services manage all.

    Include the Right Audio-Visual Content

    Using the right videos and pictures for your website also helps you improve the quality of your content. Using this hack, you can also make your articles and blogs more interesting for your audience. Audio-visual content catches their eyes and makes your posts a lot easier for them to go through.

    Create more List Articles

    To incorporate more audio-visual content on your website and attract your audience, you must find the right type of articles you can create to support your content.

    Nowadays, list posts have become an excellent idea to create shorter posts. The advantage of shorter posts over longer ones is that they hold a lot of audio-visual content and are interesting for your audience. You can further use these list articles to promote your own products and services.

    Market your Brand Through Social Media

    Social media has become an incredible medium to promote your brands and services among the audience at large. Gone are the days when the platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat would be used to merely share photos and videos.

    You can create a social media page for your business and start promoting it to people at large. These platforms have many active users. You can host paid promotions, polls, QandA, Ask me Anything, and other events to keep in touch with your audience on social media platforms. Do not forget to use the right keywords while sharing posts.

    Encourage Guest Blogging

    Suppose you are experiencing trouble keeping up with your upload schedule and want to find more ways to post more frequently without spending a lot of money on copywriters. In that case, you can find many writers to write on your website for free in return for online exposure. This concept is known as guest blogging.

    Guest blogging happens to be an excellent way to cover various topics on your site. Test their quality of writing and then add good content to your site. Your audience will love to read them.

    Introduce and Email Marketing Campaign

    Working with your customers while attracting new potential customers and readers is a good idea. You can achieve the former by starting an email marketing campaign. They have become an essential part of digital marketing and prove useful and easy to put together.

    Begin with creating an email targeting your current contacts and encourage them to invite their friends to join your email list in exchange for attractive discount codes. Emails also help to create a sense of urgency and act fast.

    Takeaway

    Now that we have listed down all the secrets of increasing traffic on your website, it’s time to work on the above-listed ideas and attain positive results.

  • 6 Things All Bloggers Should Do to Prepare for Paying Their Taxes

    6 Things All Bloggers Should Do to Prepare for Paying Their Taxes

    If you make a living from blogging, then you’re already winning at life. However, it’s not all sunshine and smiles in the world of professional blogging, as you still need to deal with some unavoidable administrative tasks.

    Paying tax is at the top of this list of annoying yet essential obligations, so what can bloggers do to prepare so that this process goes as smoothly as possible?

    Estimate tax in advance

    There’s nothing worse than getting to the point of filing a tax return only to find that you’ve got to pay a lot more than you’d anticipated.

    This is where it makes sense to use an estimated tax calculator for quarterly deductibles and thus know how much you need to set aside to cover your next tax bill, as well as factoring in the business expenses which you can shave off this total alongside standard deductions.

    As with all aspects of paying tax as a blogger, the earlier you make preparations like this, the better. And online tools make it a breeze to estimate tax ahead of time.

    Keep your invoices & receipts

    Paperwork is useful to cling onto in whatever freelance role you fulfill, so if you write blogs for third party clients, it’s sensible to issue invoices efficiently and track your financial documents carefully.

    Likewise when you pay for goods and services that are partly or wholly for business use, hang onto the receipts. These will let you claim them as expenses and deduct them from the tax you owe.

    Open a business bank account

    Another option for reducing complexity and confusion when preparing to pay taxes as a blogger is to set up a separate bank account that you only use for your business transactions.

    If all of your incomings and outgoings related to your blogging come from one account, and are not mixed in with personal money matters, it’s so much simpler.

    Get an accountant

    Having an accountant to handle your tax affairs for you might seem like a luxury that you don’t need as a blogger, but the reality is that this could be the single best decision you make.

    Even in an age when you can file your returns online, letting a certified, qualified and experienced accountant take the reins will mean that you don’t have to worry about making mistakes or stressing over all of the complicated parts of this process.

    Provide accurate information

    It should go without saying, but filing your taxes as a blogger is only achievable if you have all the right information to hand. This applies whether you are handling the filing yourself or working with an accountant.

    You’ll not only need all the invoices and receipts mentioned earlier, but also things like your social security number, alongside things like a W-2 form if you also had a full or part time position with a separate employer during the taxable period.

    Add key dates to your calendar

    Another excellent tip for bloggers who are worried about the implications of having to pay tax is to put important dates and deadlines into your professional calendar, and implement a system of alerts that makes you aware when they have into view on the horizon.

    It might not be an enjoyable prospect to always have tax-related elements on your schedule, but it’s the only way to develop good habits.

    Don’t leave it until it’s too late

    As discussed above, the sooner you start preparing to pay tax as a blogger, the easier it will be to get through the process unscathed.

    Only those who procrastinate will find that they are losing their minds with stress as important deadlines loom. So if you take only one thing away from this article, let it be this piece of advice.

  • Why Is Editing So Important When Creating Video Marketing Content?

    Why Is Editing So Important When Creating Video Marketing Content?

    People think of editing as a ‘cherry on the cake’ type scenario. They will edit to apply the finishing touches to their creations.

    However, the editing process should begin early and create the framework for your video marketing project. Editing offers many benefits, including allowing you to create a unique piece of footage and make it more professional.

    The process also begins long before any footage is shot or before cartoons are animated. Editing encourages you to develop the correct mindset; perfection can only be achieved by steadily reworking your material.

    Editing is also often underestimated too. In cinema, there are at least five ways it helped save the Star Wars franchise, for instance. In the end, it is at the core of all things video creation and must be taken seriously on that basis – especially if you are using the medium to market your business.

    There are finer points to why editing is so important to creators when developing video marketing content. Each one is worthy of further analysis. Read on for our insights below.

    Valuing Customer’s Time

    While it might be tempting to develop an artistic short film for your firm, people today do not have the time to sit through twenty-minute marketing videos. Even if they did, they would likely refuse. Editing can keep you grounded in this reality without compromising on the message you are trying to convey.

    Insightful guides on testimonial videos attest to this, advising readers to keep their creations short and sweet. Once they feel their time is being respected, they are more likely to:

    • Watch your content in its entirety, and comment and rate the video if there are options to do so.
    • Rewatch the video if it made an impression on them and appear in their feed again. They may even tap replay or search for it themselves for a repeat viewing.
    • Recommend the video to their personal network and repost it online. 

    Tightly edited company videos can stand the test of time more than longer ones can. Keep track of consumer trends and play by their rulebook, and your content will resonate with a wider audience.

    Create an Impact

    Everything you create in the video marketing arena needs to be impactful. If you can communicate an idea in five words instead of fifty, that is the option you should pursue.

    The most famous quotes of all time tend to be concisely delivered, broad ideas communicated in a moment. That same understanding should be applied to your video marketing. Effective editing techniques will leave viewers filling in the so-called ‘gaps’ themselves, encouraging them to think about your marketing long after the video has played.

    In this sense, you can use editing as an interactive tool. Viewers will invest themselves more deeply into the content. Instead of being spoonfed every last detail of information, they feel compelled to find out more. Video marketing is a jumping-off point, not a full-circle experience with your company.

    This process can begin during your video content’s scripting and storyboarding phase. Can you cut lines?

    Introductions to New Tools

    Like many other areas of business, editing is evolving all the time. New technologies and tools constantly redefine the process and help firms heighten their efficiencies. If your company does not take these developments seriously, it risks missing out on opportunities and underperforming as competitors excel. 

    For example, there are many free subtitle editors are useful tools that can support you with quick and advanced editing needs in your video content. Many are beginner-friendly and can help you adjust the size, font, and color of the text you feature and make them easier to synchronize with the video displayed. Your video content will be more accessible accordingly.

    Additionally, other video editing tools enable you to play with aspect ratios for different social media channels and use a selection of music without paying royalties. If you are hoping to appeal to a younger crowd on social media, this software might help with that.

    Other optional tools automatically analyze your footage to find key moments and can even add digital effects or musical synchronization on your behalf. It could be a viable route to explore if your video content is informal and for frequent social media updates.

    Avoiding Sloppy Mistakes

    Not everything about editing is enormously profound. It can be about resolving minor quibbles, too. That said, even these instances can save a firm’s reputation more than one might expect. Therefore, it is important not to underestimate even editing’s most basic uses.

    For instance, there are many instances of simple mistakes costing big-name businesses financially and reputation-wise. Typos can lead to embarrassing gaffes that overshadow the message you are trying to convey. Viewers can also interpret production errors as apathy, as they assume the company did not have the time or care to present content with basic competence.

    Use the editing process as a way to iron out these creases. That way, even if you do not create something world-shattering, your video content will at least be competent enough to preserve your firm’s dignity.

    Establishing Discipline

    It is worth thinking about how editing can mold your attitude and appetite as a creator. While it is a useful tool to have, it is also a discipline in its own right that many experts have spent lifetimes mastering. Like other areas of business and art, the world of editing keeps on growing, too.

    Editing can be a humbling experience and subject your work to scrutiny. It can be a lifeline, turning mediocre video content into perfect campaigns with subtle tweaks and changes. Having that safety net may prevent stress and build confidence, too. 

    That said, if things get out of control, the editing process can become a convoluted distraction. It is vital to manage the process well so that it does not overwhelm you and your content creation team, too. Listening to the team around you during the editing process will prevent you from making constant changes that add little or no value.

    Of course, there are many reasons why discipline is such a valuable trait for entrepreneurs to have. The lessons you learn as you edit your video marketing projects can be applied to other aspects of your career. The ability to scrutinize and refine your work and heed feedback, for example, will serve you well in other business areas. 

    As this article has highlighted, editing is a key part of creating high-quality video content that will enrich your brand. Use these tips to get started and improve your editing skills.

  • Why Brands Marketers Should Target Gen Z (and How)

    Why Brands Marketers Should Target Gen Z (and How)

    If you think Gen Z is only about Tik Tok, for the sake of your marketing efforts, please think twice. Yes, Tik Tok is huge among Gen Z, but there’s much more about this demographic you have to learn. After all, they have become one of the biggest consumer sectors in North America. So if you are thinking of targeting Gen Z in 2022 as part of your brand’s strategy, you’re in the right place. We’re here to share some Gen Z marketing insights. Read on!

    Who is Gen Z?

    Gen Z is usually considered to include those born between 1996 and 2010. See, many of them aren’t kids anymore. Many are in college or graduated with jobs and disposable income. Sounds hard to believe, but 40% of consumers in the US are Gen Zers. 

    Socially active

    Almost born with an iPad in their hands, this generation is incredibly savvy with technology.

    Here are some numbers about their technology usage:

    • Most Gen Zers spend over an hour a day on social media.
    • They are categorically the group to spend the most time on such platforms.
    • They also use more than one social media platform.

    When it comes to inspiration for shopping, Gen Z ranks Youtube and Instagram at the top. It’s crucial to be in at least one of these platforms to be noticed by these online consumers. What’s more, a PwC Canadian survey found that social ads broadly are the largest influence on Gen Z’s shopping decisions. It seems like there’s one platform missing though…ah of course, Tik Tok!

    The Power of TikTok

    The largest growing social media platform in the world in 2021 was to nobody’s surprise, TikTok. It hit 1 billion users near the end of 2021, an unprecedented growth in the industry. This wave is largely driven by Gen Z and its loyalty to the interactive video platform.

    The main reason why people flock to TikTok is entertainment, according to various surveys. Brands that thrive on TikTok understand this and create content that their audience finds funny or engaging.

    Time to go shopping

    When brands create content that engages people on Tik Tok, it increases trust and loyalty. TikTok is an important guide for Gen Z to make shopping decisions. Marketers have a real opportunity here. A survey in the US found that 39% of Gen Z women learn about new products from TikTok as their primary source.

    So TikTok isn’t just about funny and viral videos, it’s also a place where your audience wants to learn about your product.

    Let your Personality shine

    In the age of digital and social, if you have a brand, you should really have a brand. Social media is not a space to simply shout to the world about how cool your products are. It’s about providing value to your audience, entertaining them and showing your personality in the process. This is true for TikTok, Instagram, Youtube or any other platform you use. It’s especially true for visually-driven channels.

    Gen Z wants your business to be vocal and loud about its personality, to be funny and not take itself too seriously. Granted, this is not for every business. But if your business has a light or funny vibe or your product lends itself to some jokes, by all means go ahead and try this! When done correctly, Gen Z will gravitate towards your content and expect more of it.

    Take the popular Bernie Sanders mittens meme. We saw so many companies across social incorporating that meme, while adding distinctive visuals relevant to their brand or audience. Joining these types of trends can be humorous, relevant and seems like everyone is in on an inside joke, which creates further connection among followers.

    What do you believe in?

    No generation is as values-oriented when it comes to shopping as Gen Z.  Not only are they price conscious, they also want to purchase from companies that represent or share their values.

    A report found that 55% of Gen Z consumers prefer to buy from socially responsible companies. This means businesses can’t remain silent on social issues anymore. 

    Gen Z cares about social justice and wants the companies they purchase from to do so too – to promote inclusivity, be environmentally friendly, to support communities when needed. In the US, 45% of Gen Zers reported to have boycotted a company because of their stance on social or political issues.

    This makes it even more important to ensure your values are clearly established, and to communicate them effectively, making your business operations align with those values. Remember that Gen Z doesn’t fall for tricks easily. They are getting increasingly better at telling which companies are really value-driven and which ones are only pretending so they can appease them. Businesses have to take the time to reflect on what they care about and how they can operationalize its values, while showcasing this to the public.

    The influence of Influencers

    Many of the tips we mentioned above are about creating trust with your customer base. Gen Z wants to know it can trust your company and its messaging. When it comes to social media marketing, who does Gen Z trust? Influencers.

    Gen Z is the cohort that places most trust on influencers when making shopping decisions. Finding the right influencers that align with your values and truly believe in your product is a huge win. It doesn’t have to be Kim Kardashian, Addison Rae, or some of the mega-famous social media celebrities.

    Micro-influencers actually have a lot of trust from their base following. You can tap into those niches, collaborating with the right influencers to promote your products in unique ways and be seen and trusted by their audience.

    Takeaway

    There’s much to consider when it comes to marketing to Gen Z. You don’t have to do everything listed here and there are many other insights that can help you effectively market to them. But following what fits with your business and what aligns with your brand can help you get great results, tapping into this growing consumer base. New generations often set new trends that previous ones follow too, so adapting to Gen Z will eventually help you reach other customers too.

    An effective way to target Gen Z with your digital ads is by partnering with an advertising agency like War Room Inc. Their team of experts works with dozens of ad platforms and know which channels are the most effective for different target audiences. They will help build custom campaigns and proactively manage and optimize your ads to ensure you get the best Return on Ad Spend and help you reach your business goals faster.

  • 5 Benefits of Hiring an SEO Company

    5 Benefits of Hiring an SEO Company

    If you want your business to have an online presence, whether it’s to drive sales or bring more customers to your store or restaurant, you’ll need an SEO-friendly website.

    SEO, short for search engine optimisation, covers a range of factors on your website that makes it easier for online users to find when using search engines. Plenty of business owners try to optimise their websites themselves by filling them with keywords, but that’s not enough to rank highly on search engine results pages (SERPs).

    There’s more to SEO than keywords. You could take an online course and try to learn it yourself, or you could hire an SEO company or expert. Are SEO agencies worth the money? Here are five benefits to consider.

    Time savings

    SEO can be time-consuming. Keyword research, regular content creation, and data analysis can take up valuable time that could otherwise be spent focusing on revenue-driving parts of your business and your KPIs.

    This is where an SEO company steps in. The continuous work and upkeep required to keep a site fully optimised for SEO can be handled in full by an SEO company that will dedicate time to your website and content creation efforts so you can focus on the rest of your business.

    Expertise on your side

    Even if you’ve taken a course in SEO and have read up about it as much as possible, complicated tasks like indexing or SEO migration may still be beyond your skillset – and messing them up could cost your business.

    SEO agencies have years of industry experience and expertise. Not only can they provide the latest advice and tools for optimising your website and marketing your business, but many SEO agencies will also have expertise in your industry too.

    Regular reports and analyses

    Putting your finger on exactly what’s going wrong (or right) with your website’s SEO plan or your marketing campaign isn’t easy if you don’t have access to regular reports, SEO metrics, and data analyses, or if you don’t know how to interpret these reports.

    SEO companies have the latest tools and reports to give you relevant, understandable reports and will help you pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses and provide expert advice for how to act on these reports.

    Help with marketing goals

    Many SEO agencies don’t just specialise in SEO. They can help you with all of your marketing goals and campaigns. Whether you need content creation, social media posts, or paid ad campaigns, a great SEO agency can cover it all.

    SEO companies that offer everything might not be what you need. Often, a specialist SEO expert can be more effective. Think about what your SEO and marketing needs are and look for companies based on that.

    Drive revenue

    Ultimately, hiring an SEO company can positively impact your sales and revenue. By driving more traffic to your website, identifying key demographics, and creating a website that is easy to navigate and encourages customers to make purchases, the cost of hiring an SEO expert will quickly pay for itself.

    The most important thing to know when looking for an SEO company is what you want and expect from them. That way, they can help you optimise your website in an effective and goal-oriented way.