inbound marketing

Inbound Marketing archive by Smart Cow Marketing, digital marketing agency offering the best lead generation services in and around Croydon.

Digital Marketing written in pen

What is digital marketing?

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Digital Marketing is all about marketing communication that we consume via digital devices, that is, laptop, PC or smart phone and of course through the internet.

This means that beyond the adverts you may see in print or in leaflets, brands can reach their target audience using a wide range of tactics through digital marketing services including website Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) e.g. using Google Ads, search engines, social media, email marketing, video, advertising campaigns etc. With the analytics and insights available as a result of using digital marketing, you can really keep track on what resonates with your audience by monitoring what works and what doesn’t.  

Digital marketing encompasses

  1. Website design & Development
  2. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
  3. Social Media Marketing
  4. Pay Per Click (PPC)
  5. Remarketing / Banner advertising
  6. Email Marketing
  7. Inbound Marketing
  8. Content Marketing
  9. Marketing Automation  

The evolution of marketing automation

With digital marketing continuously evolving, changing beyond recognition in just the last 10 years alone, the possibilities for communicating with a potential audience are endless. With access to a raft of channels in our daily lives and different ways to seek out the brands we want to know about, digital marketing also includes marketing automation.

Perhaps deemed the new kid on the block, marketing automation is not to be overlooked. It not only frees up time by automating repetitive tasks, it also allows tailored automated responses, tracking of prospects activity on a website as well as chat bot automation…you get the picture. In short it offers more marketing opportunities. Align this with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and the data and analytics at your fingertips to help you grow your business are sometimes beyond comprehension.

Using digital marketing to its full potential for your business

It’s highly likely that at some point in your daily routine you’re using some sort of digital marketing activity in your business. Whether that be through social media, an email to customers or writing a blog for your website. However, by pulling these tactics together you can start to formulate your digital marketing strategy to target the right audience for your business which will enable growth.

Smart Cow is a digital marketing agency in Croydon, we work across a range of industries including the accounting sector. We look at the products and services on an accounting firm and see best how to put them high up on the landing page for the accounting market.

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Further reading to help you develop your digital marketing strategy

Robot creating video content for digital marketing

6 digital marketing video tips

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With studies showing that people have the ability to recall 65% of the visual content they see almost three days later (HubSpot, 2017), we highly recommend business owners everywhere take the time to get to grips with the visual side of content marketing.

Consumers watching a branded video are 28% more likely to buy (Hootsuite), so video content will really enhance your inbound marketing strategy.

6 tips for great video

Here’s a few tips to help you create great video and ways of sharing video that helps increase views and helps Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

  1. A simple way to record a video is through a social media app and share from that for your social media marketing. You can also live-stream via Twitter and other channels such as Facebook and Instagram, which have a story function for live feeds. With 100 million hours of video content watched on Facebook daily (Facebook, 2016), using video makes sense.
  2. To make sure you utilise video across social media channels or on your website, use the video function on your phone for simple and effective images. You’ll find recording on your phone easy for short soundbites to offer your target audience tips and advice. This can even include email marketing campaigns.
  3. Remember that content is king. It’s not about posting any video, it’s important that your video content is also targeted to your audience, with a relevant script, tagline and a clear call to action for more lead generation.
  4. If you have a blog on your website with a relevant video, post it at the top of the page as it helps to keep the visitor on your website for longer. This reduces bounce rate and helps SEO.
  5. Host your video content on YouTube. With over 1.8 billion users on YouTube every month, the business opportunities for using this channel shouldn’t be overlooked.
  6. Be authentic so that your brand resonates with your target audience.

Get in touch

Talk to us about your digital marketing needs. Our marketing team will help grow your business through online marketing, web design, social media management and more.

We will advise of the best combination of channels and tactics to utilise to make you stand out from the crowd. A digital marketing agency in Croydon, Smart Cow will be glad to answer any questions on the inbound marketing strategy best for you.

Resources

Video content strategy that will help with your inbound marketing

Video strategy to make your business grow

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With 85% of customers more likely to make a purchase after watching a product video*, it makes sense to consider video as part of your digital marketing strategy. Including video content within your communications plan can really enhance your sales strategy.

We’re constantly driving home that content is key. However, what this statistic indicates is that it’s not just about the written word for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) purposes, it’s also about the visual content.

As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, your content needs to be targeted to your audience and this goes for video content too. This means, relevant script, tagline and call to action.

A simple way to record a video is through the Twitter app and from there it’s possible for you to share it. But make sure it’s well lit, you make just one point and you keep content succinct. Also think about a specific hashtag for your campaign as you can own this, ask your audience to share with it and help extend reach as well as have a gallery of related images.

You can also live-stream via Twitter and other channels such as Facebook and Instagram, which have a story function for live feeds. If you are using video on your social media channels then here’s a few stats to bear in mind:

  • 100 million hours of video a day are watched on Facebook**.
  • 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound, therefore captioning your video is essential**.  
  • 60% will stop watching a video by 2 minutes** – so make sure you get your message across well within this time.

Youtube

A great way to host your video content which can be linked to from blogs and social is via YouTube. With over 5 billion videos watched on YouTube every single day**, the business opportunities for using this channel should not be overlooked.

Equipment

You’ll find recording on your phone easy for short soundbites offering your target audience tips and advice. For a more detailed video that you’d perhaps like to share on YouTube, think about a tripod and camera for this. There’s an abundance of editing tools out thee including free channels such as Adobe Spark to help you create simple image and text led video.

But what you should be mindful of is the story. Don’t just post videos because you’ve been told they will gain more likes or shares you still need to have good and relevant content.

Book a Practice Growth Session

If you feel you need some support in getting the content of your digital marketing strategy up to speed, then get in touch with us today. As an inbound marketing agency in London, helping you draw up a content marketing plan to keep you on track and get creative with video and blog content to attract your target audience is one of many services we offer.

We also run Practice Growth Sessions which are tailored for businesses keen to grow and ready to invest in a digital marketing campaign to achieve their goals. You can book a session with us for £95.

Keyboard shopping cart for remarketing

Understanding how remarketing can grow your business

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Have you ever seen those ads that follow you around the internet? A few days ago you searched for something online and then an ad for it shows up on a completely different website a few days later. This is remarketing and a very useful tool it is too.

Sales very rarely result from a smooth journey from ‘A’ to ‘B’. It normally takes a few side roads to get to the end goal and remarketing helps you guide people along the journey.

We’ve talked before about ease of navigation on your own website and in a similar way remarketing is another way of helping to reconnect visitors back to your website. As people scroll through Google the remarketing ads appear in a strategic position on the page.

It’s helping to increase brand awareness and trust for your product and services.

Benefits of remarketing

Here’s some of the benefits of remarketing to help drive sales and awareness of your brand:

  • You can really target your audience. When someone has added items to a shopping cart on your website but then disappears without completing a transaction, you can create a remarketing list specifically focussing on these people.
  • Be found. Remarketing is another way of getting you found online. Ads can show when clients are searching for your business on Google which really reinforces your brand message.
  • Be creative. It’s easy to create ads via the Google Ad gallery layouts which helps you to create an eye-catching campaign.
  • Increase sales. Conversion rates are more likely to increase overtime. The more users see an ad, the more brand awareness and trust is built. Although you’ll find that the CTR (click through rate) declines over time, the people who do click are more likely to convert to a sale

While cost for a remarketing ad can be a lot lower than a standard Pay Per Click ad campaign, both can work in tandem with each other to really reinforce the message of who you are.

Running remarketing ads on Google and Facebook is a great combination.

Book a Practice Growth Session

If you feel you need some support in getting your website optimised with a paid for digital marketing campaign, then get in touch with us today.

We also run Practice Growth Sessions which are tailored for businesses keen to grow and ready to invest in a digital marketing campaign to achieve their goals. You can book a session with us for £95.

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