MarketStar Blog | Marketing (11)

CES is the land of dreams for early adopters, geeks and of course consumer electronics companies looking to ply their wares.  On a side note, we learned it isn’t a comfortable environment for movie directors.

In 2013, Google unveiled its new search algorithm called Hummingbird, revolutionizing how search queries are interpreted. Unlike traditional algorithms that matched keywords to websites, Hummingbird focuses on understanding the intent behind a search query. For example, if you type “Which is the place closest to me where I can watch gravity,” a traditional search engine might focus on the keyword “gravity.” 

Marketing Automation has seen the highest growth rate in the past five years, and it has changed from being a system to automate emails to being a sophisticated system for attracting, nurturing, engaging and retaining customers. In the year 2014, the most noteworthy development is how the focus of Marketing Automation has now drifted from the power and speed of automation to the necessity of personalization and relationship-building. 

Google’s most recent Panda update sent shockwaves across the web-o-sphere with popular sites such as eBay, ask.com and yellowpages.com taking huge dips in traffic. The Panda 4.0 mirrors Google’s previous updates and is an effort by Google to ensure that it’s users only get access to the best content, which means sites (whether big or small) duplicating content or not providing value to their users will take a hit and see a drop in rankings. Although this update is said to have affected large companies and sites more than the small enterprises, it has also ended up providing an opportunity for small sites to rank well if they possess high quality and genuine content. 

The Panda update is not just a warning for sites with poor content strategy, it is a clear reminder for companies to re-visit and revamp their SEO strategies in order to acquire and maintain search engine visibility and rankings. Here are some steps that marketers can take to deal with this update: 

Consumers are using mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, connected devices (iPods, smartwatches) etc. to enhance their shopping experience. With technology that allows them to make purchase decisions on the go, shopping behaviors have altered indefinitely. Especially mobile technology is gradually substituting human interactions as a study shows that 73% of shoppers with smartphones prefer to reference their mobile device in-store rather than ask a sales associate for help (Source: Accenture, reported by Internet Retailer, 2010). Changes such as these have altered today’s shopper’s purchase journey indefinitely. 

Video is fast becoming a powerful lead generation tool for marketers. Using video appropriately can easily shorten sales cycles and improve the nature of conversations you are having with your buyers. A study by the IT Business Edge showed that videos are used by B2B buyers throughout the buying cycle: from awareness to purchase; with more than 70% of B2B buyers relying on video product demonstrations before deciding on which product to buy.

ideos drive traffic, boost engagement and help to reach out to customers on a more personal level than almost any other form of marketing. The supply of content is far outstripping demand online. Be it a blog post, slide share or an infographic, content is being shared at a rapid rate, making the online space extremely crowded and competitive. It is increasingly difficult to be heard in this melee. 

This is where video marketing is proving its worth. According to research done by Google and Millward Brown Digital, ‘70% of B2B buyers and researchers are watching videos throughout their path to purchase. And it’s not just light viewing. Nearly half of these researchers are viewing 30 minutes or more of B2B-related videos during their research process, and almost one in five watch over an hour of content’. 

An emerging trend in the video space is live streaming. While B2C marketers have recognized its relevance to their marketing efforts, fewer B2B marketers have tried it out. Here are five reasons why we think they should.

Ever wonder how some businesses leap from average to exceptional performance? According to Ottawa-based sales guru Colleen Francis1, those businesses see their sales closures climb from 25% to 33%. But here's the kicker: while new customer acquisition might plateau, their customer retention rates soar up to 95%. This means that focusing on retaining and nurturing existing customers can be far more profitable than constantly chasing new ones. 

Measurement is an area which continues to puzzle and plague marketers constantly. While measuring marketing performance it is absolutely essential to tie the metrics to the goals or objectives, else the exercise is futile. Similarly for email marketing, depending on your goal – whether it is to build awareness, accelerate lead generation (either gaining new leads or reviving cold ones) it is imperative that marketers first look at the objectives for their email marketing campaigns.