Month: January 2018
Here are the 7 Kinds of Digital Marketing You Need to Consider
Digital marketing is powerful today
If you have been in the marketing world for a few years now, you may have realized the influence of digital media today. Digital marketing is not very difficult to understand; it is the promotion of products and services to a specific target audience on digital channels and platforms.
But what differentiates digital marketing from traditional marketing is its targeting and interactiveness. While traditional marketing forms like TV ads, radio ads, and out-of-home billboards focused on reaching out to a large mass, digital channels use precise targeting features to reach out to only relevance consumers. In addition, there’s real-time exchange of feedback and opinions on digital media between brands and consumers, thus taking interaction to a new level.
But if you are new to the domain, here are 7 types of digital marketing you should know about:
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The concept of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not new in the marketing world. It is the process of pushing a website’s rank higher up organically on the results page of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The success of SEO strategies depends on a number of factors, but the most important factor to keep in mind is keywords, which are the various terms users type in the search bar. Although search engines have their own ranking algorithms, businesses have to focus on using the right keywords in their web content in order to climb to the top of SERPs.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
While search engine optimization (SEO) aimed at pushing up website ranking through unpaid traffic, search engine marketing (SEM) aims at doing so through paid traffic. Google Adwords is the most popular form of search engine marketing. Here marketers pay Google an amount of money for showing their ad on a spot on the search results page.
Since Google is the most popular search engine today, Google Adwords gives marketers a unique opportunity to drive website traffic and increase conversions. But it’s important to know that success of SEM depends on the use of keywords and advertising budget. Search engine marketing is a form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which requires advertisers to pay search engines on the number of clicks received on their advertisement.
Social media marketing
Ever since social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+, and LinkedIn, etc. have emerged, social media marketing became a new form of digital marketing. Marketers have leveraged the power of these channels to promote and sell their products and services.
The reason behind such a high adoption of social media marketing is simple: these channels allow real-time communication between brands and consumers. But more than this, it can provide insightful data to marketers to gauge performance and take corrective actions. Social media marketing is one great way of increasing brand awareness and building brand loyalty through digital media.
Content marketing
You may have experienced the hype around content in today’s online marketing domain. After all, it’s widely believed that content is the king. This is where content marketing becomes important as a process of delivering relevant and superior-quality content to online users. The objective behind content marketing is simple: to help the business increase leads and sales. But in order to achieve this objective, a business has to create interesting, engaging and relevant content. Content marketing is actually great because it blends outstanding content with other forms of digital marketing like social media marketing and SEO.
Email marketing
Email marketing is considered one of the best marketing channels for increasing conversions. You must have seen the barrage of promotional emails you get in your mailbox. While some people may find it annoying, others actually subscribe to such promotional offers. Email marketing is a great way to keep these subscribers updated with latest offers, content, product, etc. Doing so helps a business form stronger relationships with prospects and consumers, and increase brand trust and loyalty.
Email marketing campaigns help in gathering a list of subscribers earned by providing them with valuable content. Such subscribers are more likely to become actual customers when they move down the conversion funnel.
Affiliate marketing
For those of you who don’t know, affiliate marketing allows you to recruit people who can get leads for your business. These affiliates act as salespeople who you recruit on a commission basis. The amount of commission, however, is figured out by you. While some businesses offer a flat rate, others offer a percentage of sales as commission to affiliates.
Affiliate marketing is perfect for e-commerce, B2C businesses. The best part of this form of digital marketing is that it doesn’t cost you anything. It helps you to track direct sales and where such sales are happening the most. This is one form of marketing that’s gaining increasing importance, especially in today’s age of digital media.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is relatively a newer concept, but it’s certainly profitable and exciting as a form of digital marketing. This form of marketing uses people who have a strong influence on a brand’s target market. It becomes a good way to leverage such influence and generate traffic and sales.
For example, a brand may hire a popular celebrity to endorse it before the target market. This is because the celebrity already has an influence over consumers who are likely to get inspired by them to buy the product. Influencer marketing as a form of digital marketing has become all the more popular after social media came into the picture. It’s a great way to reach out to millions of people without spending a whopping sum.
Digital marketing is a highly dynamic domain. Brands are likely to get ample opportunities to market their products and services more effectively. There’s data, insights, ideas, research and everything marketers need in order to keep pace with the competition. It won’t be wrong to say that the aforementioned formed of digital marketing are blurring the lines between brands and consumers, making the marketing process more interactive, personalized and engaging.
About Crafted
Crafted is counted amongst the top web designing companies in New York City. We specialize in meticulous campaign conception, innovative app and web development, and top-notch visual designs. We aim to create campaigns that take our clients’ business to the next level. We ensure that all our projects meet clients’ budget and scale. We focus dedicatedly on improving the user experience of whatever we create and present complicated business models and products in the simplest fashion before consumers.
Digital Marketing Trends for 2018
2017 is almost over and digital marketers are already anticipating what’s going to happen in 2018. Well, 2017 was a year when digital marketing saw several changes happen. While it was a year in which foundation for advancements was laid, 2017 also brought many vulnerabilities of the industry to the surface. Since digital platforms were plagued by extremist content and fake news in 2017, brand safety assumed a significant position, becoming a new urgency for marketers.
The changes that took place in the digital marketing scenario in 2017 are likely to exert their influence on the industry even in 2018. Changing regulatory dynamics and emerging capabilities will determine how brand marketers reach and engage with prospects and consumers next year. If you are amongst the many anxious digital marketers, then you should check out the following trends for 2018:
Data will drive marketing
Like always, the focus will be on data. A marketing environment driven by data is what is likely to come about in 2018. Marketers will have to gain a thorough understanding of the customer journey by leveraging data. They have to analyze how marketing data translates into a consumer’s journey. Marketers have to know where their consumers will be at every step of their conversion funnel. It’s very important for them to know what appeals to them and plan their marketing efforts accordingly. This is only possible when marketers will use the power of data to gain meaningful insights about consumers.
Augmented reality (AR) will become all the more prominent
Salesforce conducted a research that showed that the use of artificial intelligence by brand marketers is likely to increase more than 50 percent in the next two years. Artificial intelligence is expected to become the key to personalization in 2018, making it easier for marketers to know the likes and dislikes of consumers, determine the kind of content they should be served, and track their overall purchasing journey.
Artificial intelligence is likely to be integrated with social media more deeply and powerfully in 2018. Brands are looking to leverage artificial intelligence to engage more deeply with consumers. For example, a brand may use a consumer’s location to serve them with AR content that can be accessed at the location, at that particular time. As such, artificial intelligence is likely to gain more prominence in the digital marketing space in 2018.
User interfaces will become more conversational
Interactions in the digital space have already become very conversational, especially with applications like Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, chatbots and many others. These conversational interactions will continue to exert their influence in the digital marketing space even in 2018. Consumers are likely to make such user interfaces a part of their daily digital activity.
Conversational user interfaces are a great way for brands to establish meaningful relationships with customers. It also provides a good amount of data to help marketers understand consumers better. Not only are these interfaces expected to become more interactive, but also very entertaining in the coming year.
Targeted ads will have a specific purpose
It has always been a challenge for marketers to appeal to consumers because of their low attention span. Consumers are already barraged with a slew of advertisements every day, making it all the more difficult for marketers to promote a brand. Targeted ads have always been there. But these ads are likely to be driven by a specific objective in 2018. Whether it’s mobile or desktop, targeted ads will become more purposed in the coming year so that brands continue to reach a relevant pool of audience. No matter what, the growth of mobile ad platforms will surely change targeting strategies of brands in 2018.
Contextual targeting strategies will replace old strategies
Talking about targeting strategies of brands, 2018 is likely to transform them to a great extent. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can complicate cookies-based user behavior tracking for ad tech vendors. But that’s not all. Contextual targeting strategies are likely to replace audience targeting strategies. This kind of targeting ensure that consumers are targeted with ads that is similar to the content on the page they are browsing. As such, this is going to make it mandatory for marketers to know what the context of each page is so that targeting becomes more accurate and safety of the brand is maintained.
There will be greater integration between digital and offline experiences
Digital has been used to supplement other channels for some time now. But 2018 will perhaps integrate digital into consumer’s offline experiences. Digital marketing will no longer be alone in the game but will become a part of consumer’s real-life experiences. Esports, for example, is likely to become really big in 2018, and brands are jumping on the bandwagon to leverage them as marketing channels. Such an integration is expected to help marketers reach consumers between 16 to 25 years of age. It’s also likely to give brands great sponsorship opportunities owing to its reach.
Live video is expected to stay
No video is not moving out of the game anytime soon. It will continue to remain an important part of marketing strategies. But there will a difference—professional live videos will replace shaky, hand-shot videos. Today’s social media platforms are plunging into live video owing to a number of reasons. These platforms are continuously adding new features and stepping up brand-consumer interactions. Live videos are a great way for brands to connect with consumers. But the focus will be mostly on the quality of the video so that the brand’s communication remains impeccable in 2018.
Personalization will gain more importance
Last but certainly not the least, 2018 is going to make it important for marketers to personalize their ad messages. Impersonalized ads and emails are slowly losing relevance, and brands are resorting to highly personalized and hyper-targeted interactions with consumers. 2018 is expected to make personalization important at every stage of a consumer’s journey so that challenges like low attention span of consumers can be tackled easily. As such, personalization will hold the key to digital marketing success in 2018.
About Crafted
Crafted is one of the top digital marketing companies in New York City with a portfolio of meticulously-designed campaigns that meet every budget and scale. Our objective is simple: creating campaigns that stand out. We do so by enhancing the experience of whatever we create. We focus on presenting intricate business models and products before the consumers in the simplest, clearest way possible, thereby creating a win-win situation for both brands and users.
Is Good App Design Necessarily Expensive?
You get what you pay for.
This is something that all of us have heard at least once. Sometimes it does make sense, but there are times when it just sounds patronizing.
In fact, if you’ve been busy looking for someone to design your mobile app, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard this statement in that typical patronizing tone from a dozen developers and designers.
Well, the reason you keep hearing it in that patronizing tone is that it’s true. Good app design isn’t going to come cheap and we’re here to tell you why.
Mobile App Design Doesn’t Just Happen
Every penny that you spend towards the designing of a mobile app is an investment. There’s a lot that goes into coming up with an effective app design, which you may not realize. For instance, designers and developers need to factor in aspects such as user experience and relevance.
What that means is that they need to make sure your mobile app is easy to use and also in tune with the times. Designers have to research and identify trends that haven’t even occurred yet to determine whether your app will be relevant 3 or 4 years from now. That’s the level of thought and attention that goes into coming up with good design.
Plus, good app design, more often than not, comes from skilled, professional designers who’ve undergone a significant amount of training and have acquired years of expertise. They are not Average Joes who just picked up designing skills during their free time.
There’s also a lot of planning that goes into designing a mobile app. It’s just like designing anything else. You need a blueprint to guide you. In the case of an mobile app, designers call it a concept. The concept is what determines what kind of structure your mobile app will have or how the user experience will be. The concept is the foundation of an app. There are objective and goals for each app and a concept helps achieve them.
Then, let’s not forget the sheer number of man-hours that go into designing mobile apps. App design companies have entire teams of designers working every day to produce high-quality mobile apps. Typically, these designers spend an estimated 16 weeks to come up with an operational mobile app.
That’s the time it takes to come up with something regular. If you want more, you’re going to have to wait much longer and the designers are going to have to spend more time. This could very well include a series of sleepless nights and skipped meals.
There are steps that need to be taken such as internal planning, formatting, tweaking, and testing etc. All this must be approved even before the actual designing part of the process starts. Needless to say, all those man-hours are going to be factored into the pricing as well.
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into designing a professional mobile app and that’s why it’s bound to be expensive. Now, this cold, hard fact may not exactly put a smile on your face. But, here’s the good news – an expensive mobile app design is still not as expensive as the losses you might face as a result of choosing “cheap” app design. Let us explain.
The Pitfalls of Bad or Cheap App Design
Before we get into the actual discussion, we’d like to tell you that not all good design is expensive. Sometimes, it is possible to come up with some good stuff for just a few dollars. However, those are exceptional cases. 90% of the time, good app design is going to cost you a fair bit of money and cheap app design can cost you your reputation and more.
Everything we are going to discuss below isn’t 100% representative of cheap or inexpensive app design. However, it’s close enough and that’s good enough to avoid taking a risk.
To begin with, let’s take the example of app design templates. When it comes to cheap app design, there is a strong reliance on using simplistic templates. The problem with these templates is that they are very restrictive in their functionality and format.
As a result, you have to deal with issues such as a rigid design. You have no room left for customization and that can spell doom if you’re looking to infuse unique elements that are reflective of your brand. Plus, the ability to include other features later in the future can also prove to be very difficult.
Rigidity is one thing. With simplistic templates, you also might have to deal with aesthetic issues. Now, not all customers want to see the same thing. Depending on the kind of demographic you cater to, you might need a more visually rich app with graphics and animation or an app with more textual content. The point we are trying to make is, it’s better to have a customizable mobile app that helps you adapt to your customers’ requirements. Simplistic templates don’t offer this.
There are similar issues that affect app design as well.
For example, did you know that 6% of the apps submitted to the Apple App Store are rejected for simply not meeting the user interface standards? In other words, compromising on app design prevents you from even making it into an app store. It doesn’t matter if your app achieves the objective. How your app works also matters.
In a study conducted by Localytics, it was found that around 23% of apps that are installed aren’t used and another 23% of apps are used only once before being abandoned. It’s just the remaining 54% of apps that are actually used.
This is the cost of going in for cheap app design.
As we already discussed, good mobile app design can set you back a little, but the long terms benefits outweigh the risks that come with cheap app design. If you want to make an impact, you shouldn’t hesitate to spend. Sometimes, you just have to give some to get some.
About Crafted
Crafted has been making significant strides in the area of mobile app design. By combining our professional expertise with the latest technological tools, we have been able to deliver the best in mobile application design.
Crafted puts every penny you spend to good use, allowing you to reap the benefits that come with a stellar product.
How App Development Is Being Impacted By IoT
The Internet of Things (commonly referred to as “IoT”) is a big deal today and a topic that’s bound to pop-up even in the most rudimentary discussions on technology. The IoT has influenced a lot of things and one such area is app development.
You see, apps and the IoT are deeply connected. So, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise when one influences the other. Mobile applications today connect people to their devices.
A good example would be fitness bands that help users out with their health-related goals and tasks. How do these bands work? By connecting and syncing data with an app on your phone.
But, it doesn’t just end there.
Today, apps connect us to everything from our car to the refrigerator at home. They are all part of a single network, in which, they transmit data back and forth. This is exactly what we refer to as the IoT – a mass network of connected devices that seamlessly integrate with each other to provide the user with control of everything.
Now, as some of you might have deduced, the IoT cannot exist without mobile applications. In fact, the mobile app is what laid the foundation for IoT. So, it’s only natural that, as the IoT continues to evolve or become more prevalent, it will start to play a greater role in the development of mobile applications.
Well, that’s exactly what we are here to discuss. We’re going to take a brief look at the various ways in which IoT is influencing mobile app development.
Apps Need To Be More Skilled Than Ever
We all know how important it is for us to learn new skills in order to adapt to changing work environments. It’s no different for the average mobile application, especially with IoT on the horizon. Developers will have to start prioritizing adaptability if they intend to keep their application relevant.
To give you an example, the IoT era app must be able to detect a device and connect almost intuitively.
However, for this to happen, developers must themselves become adaptable. They must focus on developing their knowledge and skills.
Apps Need To Be More Function-Oriented
Up until now, when apps were developed, the focus was always on the what the app’s functions were. However, with IoT, the focus must also be directed towards the functions of the device that’s being connected. To put it simply, developers need to acquire a thorough knowledge of the “things” they want their app to integrate with.
Aspects such as data transference, mode of connection, and seamless interaction are some of the areas that need to be prioritized.
This includes understanding merged functionality as well. Merged functionality refers to the functional aspects of multiple devices that connect with the application. To put it simply, developers will have to focus on how multiple devices connected to the app deliver the intended results. So, not only do developers have to acquire expertise on a single device, they have to seek out expertise on every device that is likely to connect to the app.
A Greater Focus On Security
The greatest feature of IoT is that it’s ubiquitous. In other words, it’s going to be everywhere and you’re going to have every device on the planet connected to some app or the other. Now, this might sound great. However, it does come with a few drawbacks, the greatest of them being the increased risk of security breaches.
Cybercriminals depend on endpoints to hack into devices and systems. With IoT, you’re going to have more endpoints than you’ve ever had. So, developers and programmers will have to prioritize security by including it within the core of the application they’re developing.
So, yes, as an app developer, you will have to start bolstering your cyber-security skills. The cyber-security landscape is going to evolve on a massive scale and it’s best to start playing catch up right now.
More Niche Apps
At present, most of the app development is focused on platforms like iOS, Windows, and Android etc. However, with the spread of IoT, there’s bound to be an increase in niche apps. So, the ongoing trend of focusing on specific platforms will have to change. You can’t stick to just one developer for all your requirements.
Businesses will have to begin looking for developers that are skilled in the IoT arena and there’s not a lot of time left to do this.
At The End Of The Day…
IoT is starting to establish the foundation for several new businesses. In fact, some of the businesses that we already know of couldn’t have entered the scene without IoT. As mobile users continue to grow and spend more time on their devices, it’s becoming clear that apps will play a significant role in the IoT era.
Uber is a good example of a company that thrives on IoT. Its success has a lot to do with the fact that it is able to quickly provide its customers with important information by collecting data from all those who use the proprietary app.
Uber practically led the way for app-based cab services by offering a top-notch service that does everything from tracking drivers to estimating the distance between the customer and the cab.
The proliferation of the mobile app has a lot to do with how functional and easy to use they are, and now with IoT offering seamless connectivity, apps are only going to end up playing a central role.
More people are adopting the use of digital devices and by doing so, they’re all becoming a part of the IoT. This has created all sorts of requirements and app developers are already responding appropriately, thereby ensuring that the IoT is secure and trustworthy.
There aren’t many things that can be credited with changing the face of mobile app development. IoT, however, happens to be one of those few things. But, the best part is that the IoT revolution has only just begun and as time passes, we will start seeing it impact app development even more. In fact, the symbiotic relationship between the two is only going to get stronger.
About Crafted
It’s clear from what’s been discussed so far that we’re approaching a critical period in app development. So, it would be wise to find yourself a partner who can adapt to the changing landscape. Crafted is a leading app development firm in New York City that’s been playing the game for quite some time.
At Crafted, we understand the importance of staying relevant in an ever-evolving market and that means we can develop apps that meet all your demands. Whether it’s IoT or whatever new technological revolution that’s heading your way, Crafted is here to offer the support and assistance you need.