Processing Fee

When using Etsy Payments, the processing fee includes the cost of handling credit card and bank transactions. This service is available to sellers in 36 eligible countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. It accepts PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, credit cards, and debit cards. The cost varies depending on where your bank account is located.

Etsy Payments charges U.S.-based sellers $0.25 plus 3% of the final sales price, including tax, customization, and shipping. PayPal can accept payments if you’re not in an eligible country. Payment processing fees should be comparable.

Currency Conversion Fee

If your business attracts overseas customers and uses Etsy Payments, or if the listing price is in a different currency than the payment account currency, selling on Etsy costs a 2.5% currency conversion fee on the total sales price.

More than $0.20

You may have read that Etsy requires only $0.20 to get started. While this is not entirely incorrect, there are various other fees to consider on how much do Etsy charge, as discussed above. However, extra fees such as Etsy ads and Pattern are not included in this article.

4. Web Development Services

Anyone wishing to make money on the Internet must have an online location to do so. Their own privately maintained and operated website. Website development has come a long way and demands a lot more understanding and dedication than many aspiring entrepreneurs have.

You can easily earn $100 or more per project if you have expertise in the field of coding websites or creating Content Management System (CMS) themes. You can always offer your services as a web developer on Fiverr, as there is a constant need for professionally designed websites.

Earn Money With These Awesome Gigs Today

If you’re looking to earn additional side income, you may be wondering about the gigs that pay the most on Fiverr. However, it is difficult to say since it depends on freelancers’ experience and skills. 

Consider offering your services on the platform if you have any creative abilities that could be useful to businesses. You could make hundreds of dollars from each project with a little work; if you want to maximize your earnings, consider the list above for the best gig ideas for Fiverr.

Have a Good Store Name and Branding

A good name for your store will make it easier for customers to remember and find it in online searches. Shop names on Etsy are limited to 20 characters. The best way on how to have successful Etsy shop is to use descriptive names.

Another thing to consider is your shop’s branding. Many people think that branding only means the shop’s logo, but branding is actually the process of conducting research, continuing to develop, and trying to apply a unique feature or set of qualities to your organization so that customers can start to associate your brand with your goods or services.

Consider the overall emotion you want your customers to experience when they make a purchase and how you might express that emotion across your store.

Invest in Advertisements and Give Coupons

Advertisements are a great method to get the word out about your shop, especially if you’re just starting. In addition, they will deliver direct clicks and sales if you are ready to invest a little money.

On the other hand, Etsy offers a method for automatically sending coupons to customers and shoppers. Sending coupons to customers who have already made a purchase can encourage additional purchases. In most cases, a 10–20% discount offer is enough to attract them back.

You can also offer coupons to users who have liked your products or had them in their shopping cart; these coupons will be distributed automatically after a specified time period. Alternatively, use a coupon code to encourage customers to join your email list.

Do These Etsy Shop Tips & Tricks to Succeed

Etsy is becoming increasingly popular as a platform for business owners because it allows them to reach a large market without investing a lot of money initially. Follow these Etsy tips and tricks to improve your store’s chances of attracting more customers, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced seller.

Be that as it may, customers still prefer one brand over the other. That’s mostly because certain brands have better product packaging than most. It turns out that though the product inside the packaging is indeed the main attraction, many customers often consider the packaging as an extension of the product. 

That being said, improving the aesthetics of your packaging can go a long way in setting your brand apart from others. The logo, in particular, is an excellent addition as it adds a personal touch to your packaging.

Alas, if your logo consists of numerous elements, like a bunch of text and images, it may not look well on a small sticker as it might be hard to read or make out. In these cases, a submark logo is more suitable.

Submark Logo in Print Marketing

Print marketing is a form of marketing that makes use of printed media, like newspapers, magazines, brochures, and business cards. Print marketing is when you include an ad of your brand in these places.

As you might imagine, your ads will often turn out to be a little too small. Business cards, in particular, are already small as they are, so you wouldn’t want to take up a lot of space for your logo alone.

This is yet another practical use of a submark logo in boosting your brand.

Submark Logo in Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing involves the use of social media platforms like Twitter to interact with customers as a brand. You do these by publishing posts that provide value to prospects or customers on the site.

When doing so, it’s a common practice to slap your brand logo in there to add a personal touch and boost the brand image. Unfortunately, social media posts tend to have a size limit. And any content marketer would know the importance of not taking too much space on a post image. That’s why a whole logo is often not suitable for social media posts. For this strategy, it’s best to use a submark logo instead.

In addition to its practical use in social media posts, a submark logo also works perfectly as a profile picture on your business pages. It’s small, compact, and can help prospects identify your brand.

Submark Logo in Email Marketing

Another form of marketing that can make use of submark logos very well is email marketing. If you’ve ever done email marketing before, you might be aware that an email signature is crucial if you want to look professional. For your reference, an email signature is like a business card found at the bottom or top of a business email. For individuals, it consists of their image, contact details, and occupation.

3. Take Your Time Taking Images of Your Products

According to a survey by Etsy, product photos are the most important factor that customers consider when they’re deciding whether to buy a product or not.

They claim it’s even more important than customer reviews, shipping costs, or even the price of the product itself. In other words, on Etsy, photography is key, but how do you decide if a product photo is acceptable? Well, to start with, you don’t—the customers would, but while that may be the case, you can at least make sure it’s presentable.

With that said, rather than taking a quick photo of the product, make sure you actually take your time. Here are the different types of images you can take of your products:

• A studio shot is when you place the product in a plain background with plenty of lighting. It highlights the product, allowing the customer to see its every detail.
• A lifestyle shot puts the product in a scene. For example, you can put a handmade bird nest in a tree. It helps the customers get an accurate image of how the product would look when they use it for its intended purpose.
• A detail shot is often a close-up shot of the product. Similar to a studio shot, it aims to highlight every detail of the product, from its material to its texture.
• A group shot is great if you have a bunch of products that go with each other. If you sell crafting supplies, for example, you can take a photo of them together.
• A package shot is ideal if the packaging of the item is part of the product itself. It’s the perfect type of photo for items that people often buy to give to someone else.

Choose the type of photography that you think is most suitable for your product.

4. Include Prevalent Keywords on Product Descriptions

When a customer wants to buy something, they usually enter keywords on the Etsy search bar. Unless they already have a shop they typically go to, they won’t enter a shop name right away. To reach these customers, you have to make sure your product can be searched through the platform’s search bar. An excellent way to do that is by including prevalent, relevant keywords when writing product descriptions.

If you’re selling a handmade necklace, for instance, you may want to search for relevant keywords through tools like the Etsy keyword tool to see what keywords you can use.

5. Add New Items Regularly

When the sales of an existing product are going well, you may be tempted to just keep making that item. Though that can work in the short term, eventually, you’ll run out of customers that have yet to get the product unless, of course, the product is disposable or consumable. When that time comes, your product sales will most likely plummet.

To avoid that, you might want to add new items to your store every few months or so. That way, your customers have something to look forward to when visiting your shop.

6. Reply to Messages from Customers

When you sell on Etsy, you’ll eventually stumble upon the eCommerce giants that are prominent on Amazon or eBay. While their pricing for the same product you sell on the platform might be better than yours, they most likely struggle to provide personalized responses to their customers, what with the countless numbers of messages they receive. 

Since that’s the case, you can easily provide better customer service. With personalized replies, people who value customer service highly will naturally flock to your store.

Closing Thoughts

The beauty of Etsy is that the community is welcoming and appreciative. If you manage to convince customers that your product is unique and that you value your customers, they’ll be more than happy to choose your brand over others with better pricing. But of course, you cannot make a good impression with a half-heartedly made shop, so you must use everything at your disposal, including these tips and tricks, to create your Etsy shop.

With a target audience, you can reduce costs since you’ll spend less money by narrowing down your target market. It also helps by allowing you to focus on the audience that matters.

There are several ways to identify your target audience. One particular method that many marketers use is creating personas. A persona is basically a fictional character with the characteristics of a person you think will be the ideal customer. When creating a persona, you must decide on their characteristics and information, such as their:

• Age
• Income
• Interests
• Job title
• Location
• Pain points
• Industry

With a persona, you can create digital marketing campaigns more easily since they often require you to input your target audience’s information and demographics.

Step #3: Determine Your Unique Selling Point (USP)

Every business has a unique selling point or USP. It refers to a characteristic in your product or business that sets it apart from your competitors. For example, the USP of the Zoom platform was that it’s relatively easy to use. Hence, even non-techies can use the app.

Furthermore, Zoom has far fewer glitches and bugs. That’s why despite being a relatively new telecommunications app, Zoom was able to surpass Skype in terms of user count.

That’s how significant a unique selling point can be, so you must determine your USP before crafting a digital marketing strategy. That way, when you create digital marketing campaigns, you can emphasize the USP and make your business stand out.

Step #4: Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Once you follow the previous steps, you should now have a strategy of your own. The last thing you need to do is ensure it has no flaws that may hinder its success.

One of the best ways to further enhance your strategy and eliminate flaws is to conduct a competitive analysis. A competitive analysis is when you look into your competitors’ existing digital marketing strategies. After all, while it’s good to learn from your mistakes, it’s better to learn from other’s mistakes, and “others” here refers to your competitors.

There are several ways to conduct a competitive analysis. Here are a few examples:

• Use an SEO audit tool like SEMRush to look into the metrics of a competitor’s website.
• Look into the kinds of posts they publish on their social media accounts and pages
• Identify the types of articles they post on their website
• Determine the pain points they emphasize in their digital marketing campaigns

Your next action would depend on whether the competitor is doing well or not. You can either follow in their footsteps or avoid using the same strategy. If their numbers are high, follow in their footsteps, but if their numbers are low, try to avoid their strategy as it likely has a lot of flaws.

Wrapping Up

The beauty of digital marketing is that you can very easily make changes to the plan according to your circumstances. Your goal may change, your niche may expand, or you may adapt a different unique selling point. That’s why having a digital marketing strategy plan template is crucial. You can immediately respond to changes to the market and your business itself since all you have to do is tweak your digital marketing strategy plan template accordingly.

(Related: How Can a Submark Logo Help Boost Your Brand?)

CONTENT MARKETING

Creating high-quality, valuable, and relevant content for your target audience greatly benefits your brand awareness. Content will always be at the heart of every digital marketing campaign despite seeing new trends come out. 

Content refers to the collection of promotional media your business delivers to its target audience. These can come in the form of blog posts, videos, case studies, and more, which generate leads like crazy. Content marketing is an excellent platform for businesses to educate and provide necessary information to their audience. 

This channel is critical if you want to establish your brand’s reputation and authority in a specific field. Compared to traditional marketing, good content can generate 3x more leads at less than half the cost. Increasing your organic traffic and lead generation depends a lot on the content your pumping out. 

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

Search engines have become integral parts of our lives in the world today. Anytime someone needs an answer to their question or a solution to their problem, they just “Google” it. Statistics show that 93% of online experiences start with a search engine query. Furthermore, Think with Google says that 53% of people always do their research before making a purchase. 

Search engine results are a clear integral cog in shaping customer experience. Search engine optimization is the process of maximizing the traffic to your website by making sure your links appear high in search engine results. Your position in a search result matters, as 75% of people never even scroll past the first page! That’s insane, especially when you consider the millions of websites out there. 

SEO-generated traffic has much higher conversion rates than say, ad-generated traffic. That’s because this traffic is much more organic, with people actively searching for information. This marketing tactic involves many activities like keyword research, on and off-page optimization, organic link building, and other related operations. 

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

You’ve probably come across businesses and brands making funny quips on Twitter and Facebook. These are all part and parcel of their marketing strategies! 

Talking ROI, 20% of marketers say that social media garners the highest one out of the rest of these strategies. Additionally, only 8% of the same marketers don’t use this channel, which is the lowest among all strategies. 

Social media provides a much more candid and casual way businesses engage with their customers. This is incredibly effective in establishing a brand image and personality. Building these makes your brand much more relatable, which subconsciously influences your audience. 

Some of the most popular social media sites include:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Google+
• Pinterest

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)

People not immersed in the digital marketing space often mistake SEM with SEO. The main difference between the two is that SEO optimizes sites to get organic search results, while SEM makes use of both organic and paid search.

SEM uses both SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) to generate the necessary traffic. When using the PPC strategy, search engines will show your links at the top as an ad. And from its name, you have to pay a specific amount per click. How it works is that you bid to rank for specified keywords. The order in which you rank is directly proportional to how much you bid for that search query. Using PPC allows you to target individuals based on buying behavior and demographics.

In summary, SEO falls under SEM, as SEM encompasses both SEO and PPC. 

DISPLAY ADVERTISING

The last, but certainly not the least digital marketing channel is display advertising. Many people visit websites that they believe are useful or attractive to them. Digital marketers may generate traffic from their target audience by displaying ads on third-party websites. Display ads can be banners, interactive ads, video ads, and other visually attractive media linked to a landing page or website. 

Display ads usually charge on cost-per-impression (CPM), which is more cost-effective than its counterpart, cost-per-click (CPC). These are the possible forms your ads could come in:

• Banner ads
• Interstitial ads
• Rich Media
• Video ads

About 41% of marketers indicate that display advertising has medium to high ROI. 

Factors and other Criteria to consider

When selecting the appropriate digital marketing channels, you’ll want to align them with your company’s goals. Your business may relate to the following objectives:

Brand Awareness

Brand Awareness refers to how familiar your brand is to your target audience. When your brand is easily recognizable, people are more likely to ride its trend. For many old-timers who love crunching hard numbers, brand awareness may be a bit challenging. But let me tell you it is incredibly important not just to you but also to your customers.

Brand Awareness can be thought of as your reputation in the eyes of your target audience. The higher it is, the more they’ll trust your brand and keep coming back to it. Aside from that, it can also create an association with specific events or products. For example, when you think of photocopy machines, you think Xerox. When you think of hot tubs, you think of Jacuzzi. Associations like this are free real estate and could generate a ton of money. 

If brand awareness is your goal, you’ll want to devote a lot of effort into social media marketing. Social Media gives you an excellent platform where you can interact with your target audience. Research shows that 50% of brand reputation can be attributed to online sociability. People love when brands and their social media accounts make witty quips, provide swift customer support, and so on. With that being said, there aren’t many better platforms where you can informally connect to your target audience than social media. 

Sales Generation

With the world that we live in today, online stores are becoming the “new normal.” With avenues like Amazon offering same-day shipping, it’s no wonder people don’t want to leave their houses to make a purchase. 

E-commerce is becoming more and more prominent in the world we live in today. The idea that you have to have a brick and mortar storefront is all but erased now, with some businesses operating purely online. For this, we recommend using display advertising and email marketing. 

Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of enticing then converting strangers into someone who shows interest in your product or service. Generating leads is the first step in communicating with prospective clients and customers. Once they show organic interest in your business, their transition to a paying customer is much smoother. 

Educate Prospective Customers

The beautiful thing about technology and the world, in general, is that there are always new ideas to be had. I say that because many, if not all, products came from an idea at some point. Many companies pride themselves in coming up with ingenious inventions and products, which is a great thing. However, it can get a bit difficult to purchase something you’re not quite sure of. 

For that reason, your best plan should be first to educate prospective customers. You should talk about your product, and create a buzz of why more people should be using it. When you make people see that they have a problem that only you can solve, they will be sold on your idea! If you can see your business aligning with this, you’ll want to leverage content marketing here. You can do this sort of marketing by blogging and coming up with press releases raving about your product. 

Generate Traffic

Many companies and businesses give out most of their content for free. You might wonder how they earn money from this sort of business model. Well, they generally make money through third-party ads running on their websites. 

The appropriate digital marketing channel for this would be content marketing and SEO. Coming up with high-quality content that ranks well in search engines will generate a lot of traffic for your business. 

(Related: Backlink Pyramid for SEO: What Is It and How Does It Work?)

Who is a Digital Marketing Analyst?

A digital marketing analyst takes the data from digital marketing to educate brands and companies on using this data to generate leads. 

Digital marketing analysts must have, above all else, the ability to communicate. They’ll need to be able to relay technical information or data quickly to non-technical team members.

They should also be strategic and analytical, always based on the statistics and data they have compiled. They must also work closely with contractors and watch product demos to assess which tools are the best fit for their brand or business.

What does a digital marketing analyst do?

Digital marketing analysts collect and analyze customer, marketing, and web behavioral data. They also test campaigns, analyze key metrics, and identify opportunities to increase campaign performance.

They have to develop and present their learnings from their analyses to make actionable insights and recommendations. All this while also monitoring and analyzing digital media and marketing trends.

How To Become a Digital Marketing Analyst

You can become a digital marketing analyst if you have a degree in marketing or related fields. Getting a degree is a fastest and most secure way to become a digital marketing analyst, as you will already have the basic knowledge of how marketing works.

However, if you didn’t take up a marketing degree in college, there are other ways you can learn how to become a digital marketing analyst.

Learn the Basics Through Online Digital Marketing Courses

There are plenty of digital marketing courses online that can help you on your way to becoming a digital marketing analyst. These online courses will give you the basic knowledge, practical skills, and a certificate upon completion.

There are plenty of online classes to choose from, but we recommend these courses.

1.Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Specialist Program

If you’re looking for practical skills so you can work right after taking the course, then we recommend Simplilearn’s Digital Marketing Specialist Program. It offers a wide range of classes that train you to become industry-ready by giving you seven full-length, comprehensive courses covering all digital marketing areas.

2. Coursera’s Digital Marketing Specialization

Coursera offers seven courses with a hands-on capstone project that will earn you a digital marketing specialist certification. Each lesson takes 32-40 hours over four weeks to complete and covers analytics, SEO, social media, and more.

3. Shaw Academy’s Digital Marketing Certification Course

If you want to take it slow and learn at your own pace, we recommend Shaw Academy. They offer four modules with eight lessons each for over 16 weeks. You can take your time learning since you can review the studies over and over again. When you finish, Shaw Academy gives you a globally recognized certification.

Learn From Influencers and Marketing Experts

If you’ve already learned the basics and have the marketing skills needed, but you’re still looking to improve and learn more. We recommend learning from influencers and marketing experts online.

The marketing industry is continuously changing, with new experts creating new strategies and trends to push marketing boundaries. There’s a lot to learn by just reviewing videos and looking into the news.

Many influencers and experts choose from, but these are the five pros that we recommend. Neil Patel, Ryan Deiss, Ann Handley, Rand Fishkin, and Larry Kim. Each of these people has its specialties, from SEO, Content Marketing, and Platform Strategies.

(Related: What Is EDM Marketing And Why Do You Need It?)

Set a timer

Keying in “set timer for (amount of time)” starts a countdown on Google. Simply push start, and the timer will give an audible beep once the time is up.

Find your IP address.

Certain apps and tools require you to input your IP address. For some of us less technologically skilled, locating our IP address might sound confusing, even intimidating. But Google has you covered; simply ask it, “what is my IP address?” to find out. 

Find out sunrise and sunset times.

Ever wanted to watch the sunrise or sunset, but you don’t know the exact time? Google does. All you have to do is key in “sunrise/sunset time + (your location).” Here’s an example of one in “sunset time Boca Raton.“

Convert units.

With all the different measurements out there for the same quantity, it can get a little bit confusing. For example, you want to know how to convert cm to inches, feet, or yard, but you don’t know the exact conversion factors. Google can convert any measurement to the desired one in mere milliseconds. Here’s one where we ask Google to convert “225 Fahrenheit to Celsius.”

Flip a coin.

Need help in making a potentially life-altering decision? You probably shouldn’t flip a coin for that. But when you do need to flip a coin, Google can do that too. Just ask Google to “flip a coin,” and you’ll have an answer. 

Tic-tac-toe

One of my favorite games I used to play as a kid was tic-tac-toe. I can still remember drawing grids on my school books, playing the game with my seatmates. Of course, it’s a little different now. You have the option of playing either a medium or a hard game against Google. Just search “tic-tac-toe,” and you’ll immediately be confronted with the game interface. 

Blink HTML

The HTML blink element “<blink>” is an element that causes the enclosed text to start blinking slowly. Now, I’m not quite sure why you’d want to use this trick, but it is pretty fun. You input “blink HTML” into the search bar, hit enter, and start to see all the words of “blink” and “HTML” flicker metronomically.

Metronome

Speaking of metronomes, Google has just that for you. For whatever reason you may need one, the search engine has one where you can adjust it to the exact bpm that you want. 

I’m feeling curious.

Want to learn a random fact today? Just tell Google, “I’m feeling curious,” and it’ll do the rest. The “I’m feeling curious” query lets Google go through its database and present you with a question and corresponding answer. It’s a fun and unpredictable way of learning new information. 

Breathing exercise

Did you know? Practicing healthy breathing exercises dramatically reduces anxiety and panic disorders. Google has short 1-minute breathing exercises that you can try right now. By searching “breathing exercise,” Google will display the exercise’s interface, and all you have to do is press play and follow the instructions. 

Google logo history

Want to learn a little bit about history? Take a walk through time as you navigate the different stages that Google’s logo passed. This tour should bring back nostalgic memories of a simpler time in your life. Get to it by searching “Google logo history.”

Wizard of Oz

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. If you’re a big “Wizard of Oz” fan, this one should hit the spot perfectly. Once you key in “Wizard of Oz” in your search bar, you’ll notice the pair of bright red, ruby slippers somewhere. Click them and return to the black and white hues of Kansas. And if you want to get back? Be whisked away by the tornado into the magical land of Oz (our world). 

Animal sounds

If you’ve always wanted to know what an animal sounded like, this feature will do good by you. Featuring sounds of some of your favorite animals, this might be useful if you have a toddler too. Input “animal sounds” as your search query and enjoy the sounds of nature. 

Reverse image searching

We all know that Google shows images of things related to our search, but did you know it can conduct a reverse image search when you input a picture of your own? Google can show you relevant and related information to the posted image. To do this, you’ll open up Google Images ,click the camera icon, upload a picture, and click the search icon. 

Find businesses near you.

If you’re looking for new spots to go to, this is perfect for you. You can do this by inputting “(Business) + nearby,” so if you’re searching for a coffee shop, you put “coffee shop nearby.” This feature is excellent, as it displays relevant businesses with their corresponding ratings for you to choose from. 

(Related: FBCLID in Google Analytics: Should You Remove It?)

7 Types of Branding Strategies

Product Branding

This is probably the most popular branding strategy. Product branding involves focusing your efforts on making a product that is distinct and recognizable. Everything about your product is included here, from the logo to color to its shape, everything. 

Product branding involves a lot of research on your target market. Your product will have to be attractive and effective enough to relieve a customer’s pain points. 

A terrific example of this type is Coca-Cola. From the logo to the shape of the soda bottles, Coca-Cola has established itself as the leading soda brand worldwide. 

Pros:

• Improves identifiability 
• Establishes brand preference if done correctly

Cons:

• Can be expensive
• Typically tough to change

Personal Branding

Personal branding refers to an investment in yourself as an individual. This type establishes your image, character, and personality as the brand. For personal branding to be effective, you should be able to showcase a unique skill set and personality that is relatable to your audience.

An incredibly popular and trending example of personal branding is the rapidly growing collection of influencers online. With the rise of social media, visibility is no longer a concern. You can quite easily put out content that highlights your value as a personality. 

Pros: 

• People want to do business with people they like and relate to
• Easy to convey personality and views to the target audience

Cons:

• Your reputation is much more fragile than a company’s
• Negative press can spill over into your personal life

Corporate Branding

Corporate branding is the set of core values a company holds in high regard and shares with the rest of the world and its employees. 

Successful application of corporate branding requires a top-to-bottom adherence to the company’s values and mission. This means that with every customer engagement or interaction, they can see your brand’s image. 

One example of corporate branding is Tesla. Tesla’s brand represents innovation and renewable energy, as seen in their electric cars. 

Pros:

• Competitive edge
• Customer loyalty
• Enhanced credibility

Cons:

• High costs 
• Risk of negative publicity

Online Branding

Since the dawn of the internet, we’ve seen this transition from traditional practices to digital. With that, access to customers has never been more convenient. 

Online branding involves establishing your brand’s image and reputation through online means, such as social media and website creation. Through various content and social media posts, you can more effectively educate people about your company and show them your brand’s personality. 

You’ve probably seen examples of these on Twitter, where companies regularly interact with their customers and fans.

Pros:

• Fairy low costs
• Easier to start
• Targets customers where they spend their time

Cons:

• Highly competitive space

Co-Branding

Co-branding involves a strategic alliance between two or more established companies. This strategy combines the market strength and brand reputation of multiple companies to compel each brand’s customers to pay a heftier premium for the collaboration. In almost all cases, this strategy is mutually beneficial for all parties involved.

An excellent example of a co-branding involves Nike and Apple to come up with Nike+. This innovation made the activity tracking technology compatible with Apple products like the iPhone and Apple watch.

Pros:

• Companies share the risk
• Higher revenues
• Product image enhancement

Cons:

• May have adverse effects on partner brands
• Negative publicity from one side will likely affect the other, decreasing overall brand equity

Service Branding

Service branding leverages the needs of the customer. Companies that practice service branding guarantee extraordinary services than those of their competitors. They use excellent customer service to meet and surpass expectations in every encounter.

Pros:

• Increased brand equity
• Excellent service will likely induce customer loyalty quicker

Cons:

• Variability since each interaction is unique
• Negative press can be more devastating

Activist Branding

Activist branding is when companies involve themselves in social, economic, political, or cultural issues. A popular example of this is Nike’s commercial starring Colin Kaepernick, former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick became infamous back in 2016 for kneeling during the American national anthem in protest of racial injustices he witnessed firsthand. The commercial displayed the quote, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” alluding to Kaepernick essentially losing his job, remaining a free agent since 2017. 

Activist branding should only be done if the cause aligns with your company’s values, and your practices reflect that. It can also effectively associate your brand with a particular cause. However, it may also be subject to other considerations, such as public reception and marketing concerns. You should be wary when using activist branding because it could easily ruin the brand identity you took years to establish. 

Pros:

• Sternly expresses a company’s values
• Shows a company’s empathy
• Great platform to express company views

Cons:

• Extremely divisive
• Controversial

When is the best time to upload to Youtube?

The uploading process on youtube isn’t instantaneous. Generally, Youtube may take a couple of hours to index your video, so the time you upload your video may not be the time it becomes available to everyone. It’s a rule of thumb to upload your videos hours in advance before your planned streaming time. Referring to the same study from Frederator, they indicated the best time ranges to post your videos for each day of the week (based on EST).

Monday: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Tuesday: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Wednesday: 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Thursday: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Friday: 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Saturday: 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Interest

After your potential customer catches wind of your product or service, they’ll most likely want to learn more about it. At this stage, customers do their research to gain all the necessary information about your offering. 

Did you know that about 88 percent of consumers research their product before making a purchase? Potential consumers generally gather information through online reviews, word-of-mouth, and product descriptions. At this stage, you can ramp up the interest in your product or service with high-quality content.

Evaluation

The third stage is evaluation. At this stage, potential consumers use their gathered information to come to a conclusion about whether or not to purchase. 

Consumers may have a different set of criteria in coming to these conclusions. Some may consider price as the main factor, while others look to functionality or aesthetics. Whatever the case, potential customers measure your product or service’s perceived value in their lives. 

Additionally, consumers may compare your offering to similar offerings from different companies. Because of this competition, companies invest a lot in their research and development to gain a significant competitive advantage in their industries. 

Trial

The fourth stage in the adoption process is the trial stage. Consumers decide, “okay, I’ll try this product out.” Suppose you get to reach this stage as a startup, congratulations. It’s not an easy thing to do, as there are a series of forces you have to overcome just to reach this stage. 

In this stage, consumers decide to try your product in small quantities, dipping their toes in the water. Here, consumers want to gain first-hand experience or knowledge about your offering to see whether it’s worth adopting indefinitely. 

The concept of “free samples” is highly encouraged and recommended in this stage. 

Adoption

As you may have guessed, the last stage is adoption. When customers are satisfied with the trial stage, they’ll get right to integrating your product into their daily lives. Instead of buying in small quantities, they’ll buy your product in bulk, as they believe they’ll be using it for the foreseeable future. 

As the business owner in this stage, you’ll want to ensure that transactions are smooth and hassle-free. Additionally, you’ll want to focus heavily on customer satisfaction post-purchase. This entails responsive customer service and clear labels and instructions on your product. User experience is a significant difference-maker between a one-time purchase and repeat engagements. So, the easier your product or service makes someone’s life, the better.

To put into perspective how lucrative digital marketing can be, here’s an image from Neil Patel, which shows the ROI of several strategies. 

You read that right. For every $1 you spend in email marketing, you can earn up to 4000% from this effort! While many marketers believe email marketing is dead, it is far from it. It’s still the king when it comes to conversion and acquisition, dwarfing other strategies in comparison. 

Digital marketing not only costs less than traditional marketing, but its growth potential is much more tremendous too. 

Provides Instant And Highly Measurable Results

I know I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, telling you how much better digital marketing is for startups than traditional marketing. But the results are just too difficult to deny. 

Another advantage digital marketing provides to startups is delivering highly measurable results instantly. With the help of various tools to measure key performance indicators (KPIs), marketers have all the information they need to make educated decisions. 

But what are these KPIs? And why are they relevant to digital marketing?

Key performance indicators are elements that determine the success of a project. They’re quantifiable factors that measure how far off you are from the goals and expectations you set. 

In digital marketing, KPIs between projects are not always the same. Different projects have different goals, and KPIs should vary accordingly. Companies must focus on the KPIs that align with their goals, or else they’re just wasting their time measuring them. Smart Insights came up with this useful guide in choosing the KPIs that have significant implications on performance. 

To give you an idea of what KPIs may be useful to your digital marketing campaign, here’s a table that Smart Insights came up with:

Reaches Audience In The Early Stages of The Buyer’s Journey

Statistics show that 78% of people research online before buying products. This research is an integral part of the buyer’s journey. 

What’s the buyer’s journey, you ask? 

The buyer’s journey is the active research process a potential customer takes leading up to the purchase of a product. It starts with recognizing a need, assessing different options that solve that need, then selecting the best one among those options.  

It’s basically realizing you have an itching problem, searching online for remedies, then applying them. Coming up with content that caters to each specific phase in this journey is vital for companies. Your web page is your best salesperson; thus, it should be optimized to draw traffic, create leads, and convert them.