Just How Important is Email Marketing for Small Businesses?

With a Return on Investment of a staggering 4,300%, email marketing is about the most effective marketing tool, small business owners and entrepreneurs can leverage. 

Have you ever come across those junk emails that do nothing but irritate you, and the next thing you do is to look for the ‘unsubscribe’ link? Well, the senders of those emails hardly have any email marketing strategy in place. Gathering hundreds or thousands of emails, by whichever means, and sending sales pitches while hoping some customers will respond or purchase a product from you is by no means email marketing. If anything, using this method will guarantee you a spectacular failure regarding click-through and conversion rates. It would be best if you were more strategic in your email marketing campaigns. In other words, success in email marketing is not a function of trial and error or chance; it is a result of precision in terms of content and timing. 

Here are three tactics you can use in your email marketing campaigns for higher ROI.

Timing is cardinal: Target the senses and consider the time you send your emails

Your customers don’t have all the time in the world to read every email that hits their inbox. It is estimated that the average number of emails that hit the inbox of an average busy person daily is 97. How many of these emails do you think can be read? With that in mind; if you are lucky, your email might be opened.

For an email campaign that is untargeted and/or sent at the wrong time, the most likely place it will end up is in the trash bin.

No matter how big your brand, most consumers will not spend more than a few seconds trying to figure out whether the email before them is worth opening and reading. You only have a small window of opportunity to seduce your subscribers to open your email.

Unfortunately, many marketers and small business owners squander this golden opportunity by sending their emails at the wrong time and using generic texts and images. Your success hinges on reaching and resonating with the recipient at the right time and delivering the right message.

When is the right time to send emails?

The long-standing advice to email marketers about the best time to send email has always been, “Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, between 8.am and 10 a.m.” the logic behind this notion is that people tend to open their inboxes in the mornings. However, that may not always work as much as you would like. As it turns out, there are other unconventional times to unleash your campaigns.

Let us look at some important email marketing trends and stats. This will give us an idea of when the best time to send email would be.

  • According to an Experian study, most emails are opened at night with unique open rates averaging 21.7% between 8 p.m. and 11.59 p.m. and 17.6% between 12. a.m and 4 a.m. Moreover, click-through rates during these times are 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively. Return on investment per email is also highest between 8.00 p.m and 11:59 p.m.
  • Experian quarterly email marketing benchmark release also showed that emails sent on Monday have the highest ROI even though emails sent on Fridays have a higher click through rates. Ironically, fewer emails are sent on Saturday and Sunday despite the fact that these days experience higher click-through and conversion rates. According to Experian, unique open rates for Saturday and Sunday is 17.8%, which is higher than any other day of the week.

Based on these findings, you should send your emails at unconventional times, such as on weekends and during late hours (between 8: p.m and 11:59 p.m). You can also capture the early birds by sending your emails between (12:00 a.m and 5: a.m).

While this is not a blanket ban on conventional email sending time, it would be a brilliant strategy to counter the competition and stand out from the crowd. 

In other words, try not to send your email campaigns when most others are sending. 

Mjrvisuals can help you increase your reach out of that content through our expertise. We run the gambit of visual imagination, including video production, digital marketing, video editing, print design, advertising, graphic design, graphic animation, motion graphic and media design.

We believe everyone has a story; the question is; who is telling yours?


Effective and low-cost marketing tips every marketer should consider

Many marketers have found themselves in a situation where they are spending a lot of money in advertising and marketing but end up wasting their money. According to Forbes, almost 50% of advertising is wasted. That is a lot of money, considering the fact that companies spend billions of dollars to gain customers. So how do you ensure that your marketing efforts are strategic, practical, and low-cost? Here are some tips you need to consider.

Know your market

It is imperative to have a clear understanding of your market if you are to succeed in online marketing. Before you even start spending on marketing, you need to figure out your market. That invariably entails knowing your product very well. Once you know your product and how it can help solve your clients’ needs, it will be easier to identify your target market. Once you can identify your target audience, it easy to design a winning marketing strategy without even having to hire an expensive marketing agency.

Your advertising decisions should be based on research

No one goes into the battlefield without designing a winning plan. The case is no different when it comes to marketing and advertising. It is essential to come up with a well-researched and well-thought-out marketing plan. 

The plan you come up with will help you to determine the best and most effective marketing channels to reach your audiences. 

Things like demographics, bounce rate, conversion rate, acquisition, and audience should be familiar to you. It is important to know how each marketing channel will contribute to your overall growth if you want to make a difference and reap big from your efforts.

Networking 

Did you know that networking is one of the most effective marketing tools you can use without the need to break the bank? Join a local business community and be an active participant. If they like your brand, they will tell their friends, colleagues, and relatives without even your knowledge. 

People are your greatest assets. Do not underrate what they can do for you.

Content marketing

One of the most effective forms of marketing is content marketing. It is not only cheap but a very effective way of building relationships among people who are genuinely interested in your products. Serious marketers and small business owners have a blog. When writing your blog (or using video and/or podcast) try to offer genuine information to your audience. 

It shouldn’t always be about advertising your product because you don’t want to come across a salesman who is only interested in selling his/her products.

Leverage social networks

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all popular networks that you can take advantage of to market your products and services. They can be a great source of traffic if you share interesting stuff. 

By creating and sharing great content, you will grow your audience. However, it would be best if you were patient as it can take years before you build a strong following. 


5 Reasons to Stop Using Stock Videos (and to use a Videographer instead

Using video for marketing content is becoming increasingly popular. Simply put, stock videos lack the soul that an original videographer can give your marketing content. Often companies spend a lot of time developing an original look and feel of their brand personalities and their owned media, such as their websites. However, in my experience the same level of attention to detail to originality isn’t placed on making marketing materials that are unique to you. Here are the 5 reasons why I would avoid using stock videos and rather focus on hiring a videographer instead.

Reason 1: Lack of Originality

Despite the fact that there are huge amounts of stock content on the Internet, you’d be surprised by how little there is that’s relevant to your specific product or service. The window of stock videography is often quite small for companies that have unique offerings. This means that there can actually be an embarrassing overlap between the stock video content you use and the video content your competitors use.

Reason 2: Lack of Authenticity:

I believe that real video footage creates a real sense of authenticity between a company and potential customer. I feel there’s a level of wariness when they don’t see genuine content created by the company.

Reason 3: Never the Perfect Fit

While stock videos can be okay sometimes for limited use, there is rarely a stock video for every occasion. If you use stock videos for long form content, your finished piece will look like a patchwork quilt of disconnected and unrelated video slots.

Reason 4: Editing Time

Often if you use stock videos your editing time will be substantial and your finished product may not even be one worth the investment. This is why it’s better to use actual recorded video that allows better editability.

Reason 5: Expensive

Good stock is rarely cheap, and it’s easy to spend several hundred on just a short video for the stock you need, as well as the video distribution rights. While it may be costlier initially to get a videographer, it’s well worth the investment when the finished product is a long-term piece of content you can use over and over on various platforms.

Next Steps:

While it may seem like you’re saving money on your marketing content by using stock videos, you might be doing so at the price of your brand respect and potential customers. I believe that people crave authenticity and respect a company that is willing to put time and effort into their marketing content.

We are a boutique production company; we create creative and imaginative visual solutions.

MJRvisuals is ignition defined.


4 Costless Inbound Marketing Ideas You Should Try in 2018

Are you just getting started with inbound marketing? Have you been doing inbound marketing for sometimes now? How long do you think it should take one before they start seeing results? If you are getting started with inbound marketing, you will definitely find it very challenging. Many marketers wonder how much it could cost to regularly generate content, improve social media outreach and all aspects of inbound marketing.

The good news is that there are countless ways you can increase your inbound marketing activities without having to break the bank. In other words, the basics are not out of your reach. From writing your own content to utilizing thousands of available website tools to help you reach your potential customers, here are 10 no-cost inbound marketing ideas you can try.

  1. Create high quality free content

Publishing high quality content remains the key to successful inbound marketing. If you want to attract customers to your website, you must publish high quality, valuable content. Content can be in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, white papers or tweets, among others.

At the very least, dedicate a few minutes of your time to create well-written content that is relevant and useful to your audience. of course if you are unable to produce the content yourself, you can contract a marketing agency or freelance content producers to help you publish the right content that will not only be right for the search engines but also one that your users will love.

  1. Create a loyalty program

You can develop a simple strategic partnership with your prospects through loyalty programs. A good example is B2B referral software known as Advocate Hub. This software allows users to build a loyalty program so that the firm can trigger customer enthusiasm and boost referrals of qualified leads.

Loyalty programs are done by incentivizing partners, customers and employees so that they become brand ambassadors of your target audience. Incentives can range from discounts to reward for content created such as guest posts and online reviews and testimonials.

  1. Use social media networks

Social media networks have become the cornerstone of inbound marketing, thanks to their global outreach. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Google­­++ can be used to promote and share content, products as well as special offers. Social media also allows you to not only interact with your customers, but also create brand loyalty.

Remember to keep track of your social media interactions both on your website and on your social media profiles/fan page.

  1. Lead nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of ensuring that your prospects are ready to buy before directing them to your sales team. Sometimes your sales department can waste valuable time and resources on leads that are not qualified. Here are some tips on how to ensure successful lead nurturing:

  • Ensure the timing is right: do not rush your prospects such that you start bombarding them with your sales emails soon after they hit the subscribe button or like your page. It is important to take your time to bring them closer to wanting to open their wallets
  • Constantly and consistently refine your messaging: know the kind of information your prospect wants to hear based on the data you have collected. By ensuring that you keep giving them the right and relevant information, you will be building rapport and trust with your customers.
  • What do you want to give them? State what you want to provide them and what they stand to gain from your offer.
  • Videoproduction on demand or VPD can be one of the brightest ideas of 2018. VPD gives you the ability to produce broadcast quality visual imagery for your business.  We provide Video Production, Graphic Design and Audio Video services.  Instead of being left with the question of how much does it costs, you now can ask the questions when, where, and why.  Mjrvisuals invites you Get started today ! Click here to learn more. Video production on demand by Mjrvisuals

 

 


Why Online Marketing is Essential for Your Business

Online Marketing is Essential for Your Business

Are you thinking that the business world has become so competitive that it has almost reached the limit of competition? The bad news is that it is not about to. You are still going to witness more rival business set-ups opening operations and more websites designed to sell the product you are selling being created. Just imagine that whatever line of business you are; whatever industry you are in, there are thousands, sometimes millions of others offering the same product as you are. What do you think will make a customer to choose you over others offering the same services or products? In this century, it is suicidal for any business owner not to have an online presence. It is part of the strategies of remaining relevant and being competitive, as well as attracting new customers, globally.

Why Being Online Matters

It doesn't matter whether you have been in business for the last five decades or you are just starting out. The internet has actually leveled the playing ground for both the big boys and the small fish; in other words, when a customer is looking for a product online, it doesn't matter who is selling the product. What matters is whether the customer is able to find your site and can trust you. Essentially, those businesses which are not yet online are in for a big trouble because sooner than later, they will be out of business if at all they aren't already. 

You need to get noticed through Search Engine Optimization

If you are online, the biggest headache is getting noticed. You cannot afford to be ignored if you want to make a fortune online. As they say, creating a website is the easiest part-the hardest part is pushing your site as far up the search engines as possible. Remember, for very niche, there are millions of other individuals, and businesses who are scrambling to get noticed in the search engines.

That is why you need a professional marketing company to help you reach your potential customers. Search Engine Optimization companies are doing a wonderful job to assist businesses undercut competition by pushing their sites up the search engines. Otherwise, if you just create a site and sit back and relax, you are not going to see substantial number of unique page views from your site. Does this explain why many people who created blogs and website with anticipation of carrying home a fat AdSense check are left disappointed?

Optimizing your site isn't a simple-one-day-event as some optimists think. It requires skills, dedication, professionalism and patience for you to succeed at it. Therefore, it is important that you get a professional SEO company to pull your site out of the murk and make it recognizable in the local or global search engines. It is time to let a SEO expert company perform search engine optimization for you as you concentrate on your core business.

Of course there are many other marketing strategies you can apply to grab the attention of the potential customers such as social media, email marketing, pay per click marketing, among others. For optimum results, you ought to apply all the available marketing strategies, depending on where your target customer base is located.


Emotional Branding and How to Build a Lasting Memory in Your Customer’s Mind

Emotional branding is defined as the successful attachment of a specific emotion to a brand.

At one of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) conferences in Chicago, Jay Baer asked a room full of roughly 1,000 B2B marketers, “Are you more interesting than my wife?”

Can you think of the people you have had an emotional connection with in your life? How did they impact on your life? Now think about the brands and see the common threats among them.

It is true for brands as it is for people: to break through in modern marketing, small business owners in Australia need to be more interesting and relevant in the moment.

Brands need to connect with people in the way a close friend would—through emotion—in order to build, long-lasting, and quality relationships. There are huge opportunities for retail stores to take advantage of emotional branding.

According to one research, smell is powerful when it comes to persuading someone to buy a product. Stores using certain scents in their stores have been found to have a 30% increase in sales.

A study by University of Wollongong and Murdoch University in 2012, emotional branding is becoming widely used globally. According to Dr Steve Bellman of Murdoch University’s Audience Labs, marketers are tapping into customer’s feelings to market their brands. Another study shows men who show love for their brand beer purchase 38% more beer than the average.

Therefore, emotional branding can lead to substantially more sales without companies having to rely on discounts and promotions. On the flip side, however, creating that emotional connection can be a difficult task.

How brands can connect emotionally

  • By telling a story that inspires an emotional connection: according to Beth Comstock, General Electric Chief Marketing Officer, you can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything. Every brand has stories to tell.

Example: look at this video by Google. In it, you well sense deep emotional connection with the product.

  • By allow their audience to be the real heroes: imagine who emotionally connected your brand would be by showcasing how your product has changed lives. Simply give your audience a voice, a platform and face to be heard.

 

  • By being authentic:don’t be afraid to embrace your inner geek. Remain who you are and don’t try to be like who you are not. At Bizify, we try to remain true to ourselves. We try to help startups find their feet and we intend to remain true to that mission.

 

  • By embracing the opportunity to surprise and delight: surprising and delighting customers can be an effecting marketing strategy. Use social media and mobile to spark moments of happiness in customers and you will be surprised at its effectiveness. Coca-Cola has really perfected this art.

Other Important Branding Tips

  1. Creating an irresistible value proposition

A value proposition is a statement that explains what value you provide to your customers and how you do it uniquely. Establishing a substantive value proposition is critical if you want to stand above the crowd. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs loose out because they fail to articulate a unique value proposition.

Be clear on what your business stands for. What is your promise? How will you put out a consistent and passionate messages that attract the right candidate? This will also help you to hire the right people and develop products and services that are aligned with your unique value proposition.

  1. Be careful with launching too many brands

The big problem for many businesses is they think more brands will make them more successful but they have neither the architecture nor the capacity to manage a multiplicity of brands well. Businesses can increase profits by deleting none-performing brands.  Even though revenue may fall in the process, reducing the number of brands will be beneficial in the long run.

Multi band strategies are likely to suffer from dis-economies of scale because of the hidden costs. By letting go off weak, declining and marginally profitable brands, you will be freeing resources to make your few remaining brands better and more attractive to customers.  Thus, killing some brands in your portfolio may sometimes be the best way for your business to serve the customers.

  1. Package your products

Packaging is an important element when it comes to marketing. How you package your products can attract or repel customers. Is your packaging visually attractive through shape, color, design and does it communicate the right brand ideals. If not, it might be time to revamp the way you package your products.

  1. Create a slogan

Let us consider Apple for example. As they became big, they adopted the tagline “Think Different.” This was a perfect fit for their marketing strategy because a large portion of their customers didn’t want to use PC’s like everybody else. Choose a slogan that is consistent with your brand and fits your market slogan.

Take care of your staff

You need to build your reputation to attract the right staff and customers. So treat your staff well because they are one of the most important people in your business. Ex-employees are important for leads and new business. Also, reward them for not only making sales, but for being great ambassadors for your business.

 


Quick Website, social media and Blog Marketing Tips

One of the easiest ways to grow your social media community the whole day is to post consistently. Studies show that different audiences react to different posting frequencies, so you need to make sure that you have tested the optimal frequency with your own audience and look at the engagement levels in comparison with your other audience. The minimum post frequency on Facebook should be once a day and 4-6 times a day on Twitter. Also be mindful of the time of the day you post to increase engagement. You can automate the process by using tools like Buffer and Sway.

Use Images When Posting to Facebook

Including photos in your Facebook and Twitter posts will generate more engagement. According to various studies, posts with relevant images generate 50% more likes than the average text post. When you want to post about an offer or an announcement, include an image. This will significantly increase click-through rates.

Increase Exposure of your Communities With Social Buttons

Embed social media share buttons within your site and within your marketing communication to increase engagement. Does your blog have social sharing button displayed prominently within the posts to encourage leaders to share the article. Some of the places you need to consider include:

  • Footer of the website or blog
  • Header of the website or blog
  • In your newsletter
  • In your email signature
  • Within your blog posts

Run a Launch Rock Campaign

What is a Launch rock?

Lauch rock is a free service for gathering email addresses of people who want to get an early access to the launch of a new product, service, app or really anything. A lauch rock can be an effective marketing tool because it encourages word of mouth. One can integrate social buttons within the subscription process which is a very powerful component when it comes to turning a campaign into a viral marketing channel.

Here is an example of a launch rock:

The idea is to offer a free give-away or some other offer which works on friend-bring-a-friend model.  Make sure the message has a powerful incentive.

Invest on infographic

Over the last few years, infographics have become very popular. A professionally designed infographic is a very potent traffic generator. A professionally designed infographic can cost you anywhere between $100 and $2,000 but will be worth the investment. 

Write amazing headlines

The headline of a blog post carries a lot more weight than what many people think. No matter the quality of your content, a bad headline can drive away visitors. Here are some tips for optimizing your blog titles:

  • Use every day, simple language
  • Keep it short and catchy. Leverage common psychological traits like fear, urgency, desire, etc.
  • Use negatives such as Never Do This, Don’t, Avoid, etc.

Create Micro Content

Many people are now suffering from information overload, which means that they have less time and patience to consume content. A growing trend which Australian marketers and business owners should consider is the creation of micro content for easy consumption. A great service that has mostly been used is the Vine and SoundCloud.

Host a Twitter Q&A sessions

One way to keep your social media fans engaged is hosting a periodic Twitter Q&A sessions. The idea is to encourage your community to ask questions and seek clarifications concerning your product, industry or business. You can provide answers, take their feedback and even create a blog post from that. Over time, more people will begin to take part and slowly your brand and audience will grow.