How To Use Pay Per Click For Startups In An Effective Manner

Every year, huge amount of startups fail due to lack of effective marketing, poor product planning lack of organisation, etc. Of all the reasons, one that stands out in my view is marketing. It is also called Hubris:

“All too many entrepreneurs believe that “if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.”

Unfortunately, this is not the case in the real world. Although it is not the only solution, but in a growing industrial hub like Virginia, Google Adwords or PPC Marketing can be a great channel for startups to spread the word about their new product and have a shot at success. Here are five reasons start ups should be utilizing Pay per click.

1. Provide the Solution Everyone is looking for

Search advertising is all about providing a solution to the specific queries asked by people. People tend to turn to a search engine more specifically when they’re not sure what they need. A bright possibility, as a start up, is that your product is the solution to their problem. But as you are a new person in the market, they can’t search for you. They can only search for potential substitutes.

Startups can use PPC Marketing and Google AdWords to be the answer to that query. Analyse what solutions your target market would be searching for. Guess what, this is a start of your first keyword list too. PPC is a great channel for getting your solution introduced to the market.

2. Quick Results

SEO though really effective, they take time before they start to show results. With PPC, it is easy to catch the eyes, no matter how competitive the keyword is. You can then analyze your performance by studying the data in any way possible. So if you get demotivated easily and need numbers on the chart from time to time, PPC is a good fit for you.

3. Flexible Budgets

Start ups typically live on the edge when it comes to money. PPC is very flexible and hence is the best option in the beginning. You can have a  budget as small as $1/day, or as big as the big marketing campaigns run by big brands. Also, there are platforms that allow you to share your budget across multiple campaigns so you can spend wisely and in the manner you are most comfortable with.

4. Social Sharing could be a huge help

Remember, search is not the only option. If you know your target audience well, social media can be a better way to get beyond the keyword. Social networks are the best way to reach your target audience in a meaningful way. You can boost your content on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. It not only boosts your content, but helps you to gain any number of different engagement stats and reach beyond your original audience. The possibility of virality is very high and return on investment can go to really high levels.

5. Amazing Testing Channel

Do not take PPC as a source of increasing your target audience. Give it some time and with proper planning you can come up with a sound advertising strategy that helps you leverage the impressions, clicks, and potential conversions as more than just a glorified bull horn. These analysis  can actually help you in making difficult decisions in future.

10 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Beneficial Over Traditional Marketing

“The best marketing does not feel like marketing.”

So why Social Media Marketing?

Technology has opened new doors to reach your customer base. Digital marketing and social media pose a significant impact on day-to-day purchasing decisions of people and, hence any business that does not adapt to this changing trend,is in grave danger of losing out a part of its revenue to the competition. However, as they say “Old is Gold”, I am not asking you to discard the traditional ways entirely but a blend of both can help you yield maximum results out of your business.

Pics From :::::::::::::: http://goo.gl/75qqBX

Need more points to believe us? Being one of the best SMO Services Agency in Virginia, here are 10 benefits of Digital Marketing over Traditional Marketing that you can not ignore.

1. Common Platform to compete

A small business can make a big name and compete with big businesses with a sound digital marketing. Online, only a crisp well thought out website with a painless customer journey and satisfying service is the king and not the size of your company.

2. Cost Saving

It does not involve high costs but has huge potential to replace expensive marketing avenues such as Yellow Pages, radio, magazine and television. Not only this, eventually an effective online marketing can help you earn revenue.

3. Easy to Measure

Imagine you can see in real time, what is or is not working for your business online unlike traditional methods. So now, you can adapt very easily to improve your results. Tools like Google Analytics is used to measure traffic to your website. You can measure specific goals you want to achieve for your website or blog. Email marketing solutions provide good insight into tracking how many people open, read and reacted to your email.

Pics From ::::: http://goo.gl/Kd8pAF

4. Results in Real Time

No need to wait weeks for that boost in your business. You can track increased subscriptions, peak trading times, conversion rates and many more at a single click.

5. Targeted Strategy

The real time feedback leads to real time changes in the strategy leading to a customer centric strategy. With every lesson learnt, the business would reap benefit from this targeted strategy.

6. Build your Brand Efficiently

Social Media Marketing is the  best way to connect to your customer, become their friends and build your brand.

7. More Eyes to Catch

Now go global with a nominal amount of money. With a global presence, it is now easy for you to reach anybody, anywhere and build your brand even before you have reached there.

Pics From ::::::: https://goo.gl/g51ZxO

8. Virality Factor

Here, your content is the king. The focus has to be on making your customer click the SHARE button and you can go viral. How cool would that be? This can not be achieved with traditional marketing.

9. Not Obtrusive

The UNSUBSCRIBE option is the powerful tool to build confidence of your customer and give a simple message, “We are not trying to impose anything. If you do not like us, you can unsubscribe us.”

10. Engaging not Imposing

Social Media Marketing is an interaction with the customer where customer is actually the king. He can give negative or positive feedback. He can publicise you in front of his friends. This kind of word of mouth marketing was never so powerful till now.

Role of Online Reputation Management Services in Making or Breaking your Brand Image

Since a long time, there have been a lot of misconceptions regarding Online Reputation Management (ORM Services). Many believe it is nothing but social media monitoring, yet others think it is related to public relations and there is a bunch who is totally clueless about it.

Online Reputation Campaigns are carried in Virginia by various brands for building their brand image and reaping the benefits of it in future. Being in ORM services for a long time, here is a guide to ORM.

You Have Been Talked About

Gone are the days when there was a one way communication between the companies and the customer. Today’s customer is the engaging one. No matter what is the size of your company, they are talking about you. They are leaving a comment on your blog, tweeting about your latest product, posting a Facebook update about their experience and so on.

A bitter truth. You cannot skip this.

Pics From ::::: https://goo.gl/N8NU7N

TRANSPARENCY

Now what do we mean by transparency?

• Establish 1-to-1 communication channel.

• Feedback is important. Ask for it.

• Allow your employees to talk about your company and product.

• Address the criticism publicly rather than hiding from it.

I know. Easier said than done. But you cannot afford to make these mistakes:

• Reacting Aggressively : If someone has posted a negative comment, please do not argue rather apologise politely and try to fix it. An apology can go a long way. It shows you care.

• Not Paying Attention : Whatever is posted online stays forever and negative comments can spread like fire, especially online. So do not think, people will forget about it, they won’t. You need to do damage control rather than not paying attention altogether.

• Reacting Unnecessarily : There are two types of reactions : a reaction that is not necessary and the reaction which is too late. So judge the situation and react at the right moment.

Pics From ::::::: http://goo.gl/r6cAOW

Having said this, here are 10 things you need to keep in mind while managing your online reputation:

1. Try to gain respect: Try to gain trust by becoming their friend. Making people respect you is most important.

2. Be transparent: Be transparent in your policies and products. Don’t try to hide and raise negative sentiment against your business.

3. Monitor people’s reaction: This is important not only to decrease negative sentiment but also to gain more customers.

4. Polite and quick reaction is the key: A swift and prompt reply apologising for the inconvenience and that you are already trying to address the problem is better than a late reply.

5. Address critical reviews on priority: A “Thank You” can still wait but a “Sorry” has to be immediate to stop the negative sentiment to prevail.

6. Your Google page is your business card: In digital world, people do judge many books by their cover. If the words “rip off” and “scam off” are associated with your brand, it is a call for immediate action.

7. Understand the haters: Understand your audience and try to come up with a better message in future.

8. Identify and eliminate Illegitimate attackers: This is important to prevent anybody from tarnishing your image.

9. Learn from past mistakes: Anything done once can be a mistake but repeat it for the second time and you are a fool. Try to improve and take lessons.

Ask for help: If you think you would not be able to handle this yourself, take help from professional. There are many companies in Virginia providing ORM services.

Find out Which Logo Design Style is Right for you

“You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” – Will Rogers

The logo of your company represents its mission, core values and capabilities. It is an act of making an impression on the minds of customer instigating them to purchase the company’s products. Choosing a logo that suits the need of your company is very important. Many companies hire professionals for Logo Design Services.

Virginia, being the hub of growing businesses has a lot of Logo Design Service providers. Logo design styles are of 5 types. Here is an explanation of each type with some tips on how you can choose your logo.

WORDMARK (Text)

Source : http://goo.gl/KRUIWh

In the recent study of logos , 37% logos of top 100 brands in the world consists only of text stylized in a unique font.

These types of logos work amazingly well when the name of company is unique , simple and easy to remember. The big names like Yahoo, Google and Pinterest have used simple fonts as your logo.

Your take: If you are a small company who are getting their feet off the ground, this kind can be a perfect choice. It is not a bad idea to use your name when you want people to know about you.

LETTERMARK (Initials)

Source : http://goo.gl/es9vvR

This type is all about simplicity. Similar to wordmarks, but only highlight the initials of the company. Examples in this category are big names like IBM, CNN and EA. Lettermarks are a good way to provide an indication of your brand’s name in a small space.

Your take: Have a difficult and lengthy name? This kind of logo is for you. It is appealing and easy to remember.

BRANDMARK (Symbol or Icon)

A picture speaks louder than words. It is a perfect way to represent your company’s ideology without using words or letters. It can be a perfect choice if the name of your company is long and does not fit in the abbreviation form. However, it can be a risky move as it is only a symbol and the person looking at it won’t know what is the name of your company. Out of top 100 brands, only 6% has brandmark logos.

Your Take: If you are a company willing to go global or is already global, this can be a perfect choice. As language won’t be a barrier and everyone would be able to relate to it.

COMBINATION MARK (Text and Symbol)

Source : http://goo.gl/jVxg6w

56% of top 100 brands is this type. I guess nothing much to say after that. It is the best of both and hence becomes the popular choice of the companies. You are using your company’s name along with the symbol representing the company’s ideology. This type is complex and hence more thought, effort and time in designing but once done can be one of its kind.

Your Take: Whatever kind you are, small, big or a startup, you can go for this type if you have the vision of what exactly you would want it to represent.

EMBLEM (Text Inside Symbol)

Source : http://goo.gl/3llrBK

It involves placing text inside of a symbol so these two are inseparable. These logos resemble a badge or a seal. Starbucks, Harley Davidson are some of the popular brands. It is the compact packaging of the name inside the symbol or vice versa.

Your Take: If the name of your company is very long, you need to think it through before choosing this type as fitting the whole text could be a tedious task.