Digital Marketing

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 100 STEP 2: NAME THE RIGHT PRICE FOR YOUR SERVICES Consider allocating a price that varies depending on the lineup of services you are offering. You can opt to offer affordable rates, just make sure that it will not drag your sales and return of investment down the drain. Making your services affordable enough for your customers is great, but avoid going way too low when naming your price. Underpricing your services is harmful to your business. Here’s a helpful tip: Your pricing range should be directly proportional to the value of the services that you are offering. This applies to both online and offline businesses. You should know the item’s value before setting up a pricing range. Another thing to consider is the issuing of discounts and the implementation of promos. Offer discounts and promos only when appropriate. For example, during the holidays, customers love getting great deals over the services or products that they like or support. Discounts and promos help liven up the holiday spirit and serve as a great way to promote your brand. Aside from the holidays, promotions can also be used to show your appreciation to your customers. This works well for company anniversaries, wherein you reward your customers for their continued patronage. STEP 3: PLAN YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH & EXPANSION ACCORDINGLY Building your digital marketing business includes building your unique company profile, building a lineup of products and services that you want to offer, mapping out selling points of your products and services that you want

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 101 to focus on and choosing your target market. It is advisable to think of a unique yet relevant business name. A catchy tagline is also a good thing to be taken into consideration. Once you have all the necessary details ironed out, you can work on building a website for your business. A well-designed website helps make your business more visible and accessible to your customers. It will also serve as a platform where you can promote your services. STEP 4: EXTEND YOUR REACH Reaching out to potential leads, customers, and business affiliates is the next step to growing your business. Once you are done with the planning process and you already have an accessible website, it is time to get connected with other companies belonging to the same niche as yours. Building partnerships with other businesses and companies can be done by directly contacting them either through emails, phone calls and affiliate marketing events. Interacting with fellow business owners is a great way to exchange knowledge and experiences and even possibly get exclusive tips from more established and successful companies. STEP 5: EXHIBIT HOW BENEFICIAL YOUR SERVICES ARE Sometimes, it is not enough to tell people how your services can give them an advantage. A concrete representation can help do the trick. Gather relevant data and statistics relevant to the services you are offering. Statistical data and related research can serve as proof of how effective and beneficial your services are. Encourage product reviews from your target

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 102 customers. More often than not, testimonials from fellow customers are more effective than any other marketing strategy. This applies to your current clients and also to your future clients. STEP 6: BUILD YOUR FOUNDATIONS Hire the most qualified people to do the job for you. It is one of the essential aspects that your Digital Marketing Agency needs. Give them tasks based on their expertise. Possessing a team of highly-skilled personnel serves as a leverage for you to reinforce the very foundation of your business. Build your very own A-Team—a team that will help in improving the services that you are offering. By following the 6 easy steps mentioned in this blog, you can now start establishing your very own Digital Marketing Agency. In order to maintain a solid pacing in a cutthroat competition for digital marketing agencies, it is necessary to understand the important role of digital marketing service providers to the countless of emerging and established brands. Starting a business is crucial. But, by knowing how to allocate your resources and advantages in the competitive industry, you will be able to achieve your goals and reap the rewards of your hard work. The evolution of your business is impossible unless you embrace the fact that marketing strategies are constantly developing. It is not enough to just stick to old advertising methods.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 103 The Top 6 Crucial Roles of a Customer’s Voice in Startups’ Content Marketing Strategy What does the term customer’s voice refer to? How can startup businesses benefit from it? A customer’s voice is a terminology that refers to the positive and negative feedback that a customer has regarding the products and services a company is offering.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 104 There are three different types of customer feedback: Direct, Indirect and Inferred. ● Direct feedback is used to describe a scenario where a customer gives their opinion about a company via the company’s customer service, Net Promoter Score(NPS) and other online surveys. The form of communication could be through phone call, chat, or email. ● Indirect feedback is the term used when a company does not have direct access to a customer’s complaints or favorable responses because they were posted through social media and other platforms. ● Inferred feedback is based on the frequency and quantity of a customer’s purchase. If only every customer feedback is analyzed and responded to, the possibility for a startup business to flourish is limitless. Below are the main reasons why startup businesses can benefit from the ‘voice’ or feedback of their customers: 1. Feedback Enhances Products and Services New products and services may seem to have every unique feature that a customer has been desiring, yet garnering error-free results are still not fully guaranteed. Thus, unsatisfied customers would express their disappointment either through blogs, social media, forums, or customer service.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 105 It is disheartening to receive negative reviews but if the reviews are taken into consideration, business owners will realize that constructive feedback from customers is a treasure worth dedicating their time and attention to. It is the act of using customer feedback to learn the weak points of the products and services being offered by determining the bad points, it helps startup owners and their staff have a better understanding of what should be improved or changed. While people often think of customer feedback as negative, it is not always the case. If a customer is satisfied, more often than not, they will give a commendation and mention the attributes of products and services that they like the most. This kind of feedback should not be disregarded, for it leaves an idea regarding features that are widely accepted by customers. As a result, those features should remain as part of the products and services. 2. Feedback Allows a Company to Stay Ahead of Competitors Customers are smart buyers who customarily compare prices and qualities of a company’s products and services with another. For subscribers, it is easier to gather their reason for leaving when they call or send an email to cancel their subscription. Hence, this method makes it manageable for businesses to adjust to the needs and demands of existing customers. Customers who leave normally divulge their reason for canceling their subscription. The most common reasons given by customers would always involve the cost, quality, or location (e.g. moving to a different state or country).

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 106 There are times when customers directly mention that another company’s offer is better; thus, questions should be elicited properly in order to gain a better understanding of what another business is offering. In this manner, ideas that enhance customer retention will be created. On the other hand, businesses that don’t have subscribers can find the reasons customers prefer another product and services by collating indirect feedback. It is deemed important to check forums, social media posts, and blogs as these platforms have active customers who inform their readers regarding the advantages and disadvantages of products and services offered by specific brands or companies. 3. Feedback Identifies Customers Interest and Perception When starting a business, the needs and wants of customers should always weigh over the needs and wants of the entrepreneur. There are cases wherein in-depth surveys were administered at various locations yet later on, business owners discover that the information gathered is still not sufficient to determine what a customer’s interests are. Customer interests vary over time as trends change. One method to identify what buyers want is to solicit comments through a one-on-one interview. It is more effective to interview buyers who have purchased products from different businesses. This approach may be costly, for the right prospects have to be identified and they have to be persuaded to agree for an interview. In addition, researchers have to brainstorm suitable questions, and the location of the business and the customers that will be interviewed has to be considered.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 107 Regardless of how tedious and challenging it may be to solicit valuable feedback from customers, startup owners must remember that uncovering the truth will ultimately play a huge impact in learning the desires of buyers. As a consequence, a company’s marketing department will have the capability to innovate ideas that will surely capture their buyers’ attention. 4. Feedback Gives Ideas About the Startup’s Future Content or Strategy As mentioned previously, the customers’ interests and perceptions are vital to the growth of startups. Item number three likewise proposes conducting a face-to-face interview to obtain the wants and needs of buyers. This method also gives useful insights in relation to the next strategy that has to be executed to entice more customers to purchase products and services. Even if a product is already widely accepted by many buyers, it is unwise to be complacent. There are risks coupled with staying too relaxed especially when several other startups are growing rapidly. What should be done is to motivate innovators in a company to invariably break new ground to remain relevant in the competitive market. Before doing so, customer feedback has to be analyzed and grouped into the following categories: product and brand health, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, sales, and customer preference. It is fundamental to incorporate customer feedback in every fresh or new content that will be introduced to the free market as this implies that business owners are listening and receptive to what customers demand. For this reason, customers will be impressed and they will likely continue to be loyal.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 108 5. Feedback Allows Companies to Acquire Customer Testimonials TechValidate disclosed that customer testimonials was evaluated by 94 percent of B2B marketing and sales specialists as extremely effective. Positive customer testimonials strengthen a startup’s public reputation. It will also help persuade new buyers to purchase from a particular startup with a considerable number of positive customer reviews. What they have in mind is that a company’s products and services have been proven to be effective, and thus they feel ensured that their money will not be wasted. Every constructive feedback has to be collected and be posted by a company’s representative either on their social media page or on the section of the website where customer stories or testimonials are featured. Constructive feedback is not the typical, short positive or negative comment. Instead, it includes detailed and useful information about the products and services, which, in turn, compels other customers to hit the purchase button. The useful information should include the benefits, help boost the brand’s credibility, list concrete and objective comparisons between the startup’s product/service and the ones offered by competitors, and most of all, support a company’s claims. 6. Feedback Gives Tips On How To Win Previous Customers Customers leave if they are dissatisfied and there are many reasons that can make them feel frustrated with a company’s products and services.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 109 By using tools and software designed to analyze customer feedback, all the information that customers have posted on different channels will be collated. This information will give an insight to people in-charge of customer retention regarding the various reasons behind why customers have seized to purchase from a particular brand. At the same time, company representatives can systematize each reason and strategize how to recover lost clients. If the reason is about pricing, offer discount coupons (ex. one month free subscription for new customers). If the reason involves one or more of the product’s features, solve the problem and send an email marketing explaining the process of fixing the issue. If the reason is about customer service, train customer service representatives to handle calls professionally and ensure that every customer concern is resolved efficiently. The bottom line: Ignoring customer’s feedback may hinder a company from maximizing its sales. “A customer talking about their experience with you is worth ten times that which you write or say about yourself.” ― David J. Greer, Wind In Your Sails Billions of funds are spent to market a company’s products and services. This, in turn, increases brand visibility and boosts conversion rates. The customers’ voice is very crucial to the growth of a business as it helps lessen the chance of failure. Moreover, it is an effective tool for marketing strategy.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 110 Truly, it is not the companies’ claims over their products and services that matter, but rather it is the voice and words of their customers that holds the weight of truth and validity for how effective and wonderful their products and services are.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 111 Online Gaming Email Marketing Tips to Convert Leads into Customers 99% of consumers check their email every day. Online gaming is considered to be a lucrative business because of the rapidly increasing number of video gamers. There are currently over 2.5 billion players worldwide—proof that there are a large number of players that online gaming businesses can reach through email marketing. Email marketing allows businesses to target specific groups or individuals as a way of developing and maintaining a good relationship with prospects and customers. Albeit exceeded by instant messaging and social media, emails are more formal and personal in nature. When an email is delivered to the inbox of target recipients, the chances are people will usually take the time to go through the email’s content. In contrast, promotional content or ad shared on social media has a higher tendency of being ignored or scrolled through by

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 112 target leads. In short, there is real value in email marketing that online gaming businesses should employ if they truly wish to build a stronger rapport with their existing audience and convert more leads. Before we delve into the tips, let us find out the various types of effective email marketing that your business can send to leads and customers. What are the Different Types of Email Marketing? 1. Digital Magazine or Newsletter contains the summary of articles published on your website. It contains visually appealing images with headlines, introductions, and CTAs to encourage recipients to continue reading. 2. Welcome Email is used to express your appreciation to customers for choosing your business as their provider, subscribing to a newsletter, or signing up to a free trial. A Welcome Email is the right time to inform readers about your brand, products and/or services. 3. Event Email informs prospects and customers of an upcoming event which your business will be hosting or joining. To entice people to join the event, it would be best to inform them of the main reason they should be attending. 4. Tutorial Email bears instructional and educational content because of how it provides email recipients with new knowledge on how to improve their lives more effectively. 5. Review Request is sent to customers who have had a great user experience with your brand. Their positive testimonials are then posted to social media sites to help build the trust of potential customers. 6. Receipt Email is the order confirmation sent to customers after completing a transaction. It provides an effective channel for including offers which may

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 113 interest customers including products or services related to their last purchase or discount coupons. 7. Limited Offer Email notifies customers of a promotion that is available for a short period of time only. Email content with limited offers and a sense of urgency instantly captures the attention of customers and keeps them engaged. 8. Re-engagement Email is sent out to customers who have exhibited a low level of engagement with your brand. Discount emails with the subject line “We miss you”, “Are you still interested” or “come back” are the best ways to capture the attention of those who are going to receive the email. Now that the top 8 different emails that should be regularly sent to leads and customers have been identified, it is time to shift the focus towards the strategies you need to integrate with your email marketing campaign to make it as personalized as possible. A personalized email makes customers feel more valued and is therefore useful in convincing them to become buying customers. The 10 Effective Email Marketing Tips for Online Gaming Businesses 1. Determine your Audience Online gaming is known to audiences of all ages: baby boomers, millennials, and especially GenZers. However, there are specific demographics significantly more enthusiastic about playing online games than the rest of the population engaging in online gaming. It is crucial to find out and define who your audience is. It is best to execute demographic segmentation based on age, ethnicity, family size, gender, religion, income, and educational background of target audiences to ensure individuals who are truly interested

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 114 in your business will be targeted. By isolating the market into smaller categories, your business can solely focus on a defined market; thus, you will be able to create campaigns that would fulfill their needs. 2. Identify the Motivating Factors of your Core Audience After determining your core audience, analyze the factors that will motivate online players to click the email you will be sending along with the corresponding call-to-action (CTA). It may be challenging and surprising to find out what prompts players to check your email if there are no online game players in your team. Supplement your email marketing content with interviews as well as surveys related to your audiences’ interests and the features that your business offers. 3. Find out the Best Time to Send Emails Online gamers tend to stay awake until dawn or late morning to play games. Some choose to skip meals just so they can focus on completing a quest or upgrading their characters’ skills. While it might be tempting to send emails during the night, it would still be better to conduct the necessary research on your audiences’ lifestyles to ensure that the email will get the highest click-through rate (CTR). Review patterns on your email’s open rates to pinpoint hours where engagement is highest or lowest. You may also have the choice of experimenting through a trial-and-error method by sending the emails at various times to discover your customers’ schedules. 4. Give the Best Offers It is without a doubt that once players find your games to be interesting, these players will be unstoppable. It is easy for them to develop an attachment to your games especially if they find the games to be visually appealing and

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 115 interactive. Their connection and loyalty with your brand will prompt you to create more engaging games that you have to introduce to them. With this in mind, you can feature a point-system or exclusive incentives in your incoming emails. The goal of the incentives is to encourage existing customers to try your new games or test additional features and offers. 5. Analyze Behavior It has been mentioned that demographic segmentation is important for your business to find its target market. However, you should not merely rely on that if you want to make your email marketing strategies more efficient. While your email recipients belong to a similar demographic, their level of engagement will still vary. Some are new while others may have not played games for quite a while; thus, it is impossible to send the same emails to all recipients. It is advisable to diversify your approach according to each recipient’s gaming behavior. If a player has not been active, incentives can be offered. But, if the player is new, an introduction to the different games and freebies is more appropriate. 6. Provide Helpful Insights A voucher is a surefire way to attract online game players to open their emails. This has been used by small to large-scale businesses as it is proven to be effective. On the other hand, online players also seek informative guides, facts, or tips to either motivate them to play better or teach them the best ways to be at the top of their game. This is the reason why it is essential to have interviews with a pro or create tutorial videos that will level-up their gaming experience. Remember, it is important to quench their thirst to keep them from seeking information from your competitors. 7. Add Spice

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 116 Some online gaming fans find ways to relax. They aim for games that give them pleasure or entertainment. When sending emails, make it a point to add a touch of creativity to continue piquing the interest of your target audiences. Instead of sending daily news or predictions related to the gaming industry, strategize the schedule of sending different types of emails such as vouchers, informative articles, and personal messages on a weekly or monthly basis. 8. Create a Player Community Generally, gamers prefer single-player titles, but this fact should not hinder you from creating an inclusive community where players can interact. Players need to feel that they belong and that they are accepted by being able to communicate with other players through posting, commenting, having discussions, giving pieces of advice, or collaborating on quests. When you promote a shared community for your players, it will also be easier to send emails in bulk. These emails are intended to encourage players to participate and help strengthen the bond they share with you, the game developer and their fellow players. 9. Think of Exclusive Offers Whenever there are newsworthy events, all media reporters exert every effort to have exclusive footage of that particular event and provide the necessary information to the public. Once the exclusive news is aired, viewers tend to stick with the channel to learn more about the said news, thereby driving a higher viewer rating for the broadcasting channel. In a similar sense, the viewers represent the online gamers while the high viewer rating symbolizes the click-through rates and conversions earned by your business. Your email marketing strategy is represented by the exclusive footage and gripping information broadcasted by you, the ‘reporter’.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 117 It is possible that you may share the same email marketing strategy with a competitor. The only way for you to stand out is if you can find a way to bring viable information and promotions to your audience more quickly than your competitors can. 10. Avoid Spam Your business should be keen when sending emails to online gamers since these players are sure to have filtered the emails they receive. Emails that include “free” and “prize” can immediately alert spam filters. Hence, no matter how legitimate your email may be, it is still best to steer clear from these filters. Find ways to send emails that will go right into the inbox of the recipient. Test and try different approaches and constantly monitor open and engagement rates for each content. Analyze and discriminate between emails that your target audience deems favorable from those that they find least interesting or unimportant. Use this as your reference for how you can project your brand and reach out to your audience better through emails. Wrapping it up Email marketing is not dead. If you want your business to continuously thrive in the huge gaming market, leverage email marketing to your advantage. Use it as the steering wheel that prompts recipients or customers to take the necessary action in order to drive them towards the bottom of the marketing funnel. Take note: It is also important to combine email marketing with social media marketing to achieve that holistic digital marketing approach for your business. Make the proverb “prevention is better than cure” the inspiration for planning and sending emails to your leads and existing customers. A well-equipped email marketing tactic should be carried in the most efficient way possible to

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 118 gain leverage over your competitors. Once your business is able to achieve its desired result, you will come to understand how crucial your email marketing strategies are for your brand.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 119 5 Ways to Increase your Video Game Users Through Social Media Marketing Social Media is a powerful yet affordable marketing tool that is widely used by entrepreneurs from startups to large-sized businesses. Every second, new product, services, content, and trends are introduced into the market, and those that stand out are the ones that elicit a buzz on social media. With that, marketing your business through social media is the easiest way to boost brand awareness. Social media marketing is also the most affordable option to sell your video game. By simply posting interesting information about your video game, at the right time and right place, you would be surprised with the popularity it can

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 120 gain over time from different users worldwide. Provided it has amazing and unique features and easy user interface, you can be certain that the popularity it will yield will result in sales. So, what are the right steps to have a successful social media marketing campaign? Is it really all about posting content to social media, or is there something more? Arousing the interest of potential users may seem uncomplicated when we think about simply sharing content; however, there are more strategies to consider that would allow your marketing campaign to achieve greater heights. 1. Make an entertaining, cinematic video game trailer Video games have a way of stimulating players through their cinematic style. Given this fact, it is of utmost importance to create stunning trailers where users would feel as if they are the characters in the video game, and can visualize themselves being in that world. No matter what kind of video game you offer, take into account the different graphical styles when creating a trailer as it acts as a first impression to users. Likewise, it shows what users can expect from your game. Most importantly, your video game’s trailer has to have the vibes of energy and anticipation. After polishing the video game’s trailer, post on your social media accounts and groups to reach a maximum number of the target audiences. Don’t forget the call to action (CTA) that will guide players on what to do next. Also, consider delegating social media experts who can instantly reply to queries or messages about the video game as well as analyze the performance to improve your social media marketing strategy.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 121 2. Establish a social media brand voice, and start building long-term relationships Every game has its own personality, similar to a company having its brand personality, where it separates the brand from the saturated industry. As such, determine if your game’s nature is amusing, dorky, bold, or serious. This is important as it will serve as your guide when creating posts for social media or blogs, as your voice should be consistent with the genre of your game. Upon identifying your voice, stay active on social media sites where most users interact, such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Focus on video game groups that allow you to have a closer and stronger relationship with users. In retrospect, social media was created for interaction; thus, encourage users to respond to your written content, photos, and videos and when they react, acknowledge their response by joining the conversations. 3. Leverage content marketing Storytelling is not limited to video creation; written content infused with striking words is sure to set fire to the minds of players and would penetrate their emotions. Keeping this in mind, it is best to employ professional content writers, who can create compelling content in a fast and efficient manner. You can ask your content writers to create edgy pieces of content about how you created the features of the video game. Potentially they can make an interactive blog asking users if there are any features they would love to see. Doing this would make players anticipate additional elements that would add thrill to their gaming experience. Additionally, they would feel included in the video game which would result in increased brand loyalty.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 122 Other than sharing web content, content marketing can also involve uploading a sneak peek of the video game, including its character design and gameplay on social media sites. Choose the most visually compelling aspects that would encourage users to share your post, comment on your post, or download your video game to amplify your advertising campaign. 4. Be consistent with your social media marketing campaign. Have you ever come across a social media page that is empty or that has content but lacks adequate information which makes it less engaging? How did it make you feel? If you want to stay ahead of your competitors, regularly posting fresh text-based and visual-based content is the key, and it is recommended to post 1-2 times per day. The schedule of posting time should be strategically planned to gain the attention of users. To help you plan the best time to post on social media, here is the updated data from Hootsuite: Social Media B2B Brands B2C Brands Platforms Facebook Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. 12 p.m. EST (Monday, Tuesday, EST (Tuesday, Wednesday, or Wednesday) or Thursday)

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 123 Twitter Between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. (Monday to EST (Monday or Thursday) Wednesday) LinkedIn 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 7:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m., p.m., and 5:45 p.m. EST and 5:45 p.m. EST (Monday and (Wednesday) Wednesday) Instagram, which is visual-based, is a bit different. For the Media & Entertainment niche, it is suggested to post from 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For B2C businesses 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays is when you can experience the highest customer engagement! Keep these times in mind when planning your social media schedules to achieve the best results. 5. Consider Media Exposure While social media is an effective medium for marketing promotions, you should constantly search for other ways to increase brand awareness. One way is by collaborating with influential individuals or publications that have the competence to further boost your video game. There are many online publications specializing in mobile gaming that accept contributions from video game companies and developers. Doing this requires effort, as publications sort the best-written content from the rest; therefore, ensure that the content you are submitting is a striking article or blog that numerous readers would want to read time and again. When sending your finished article to various publications, create a short personalized pitch for each and include the reason or purpose of your email. Pitching is similar to selling to video game players and customers; hence,

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 124 even though the message is short, make it engaging and interesting so it arouses curiosity within the receiver. Furthermore, if your video game has an interesting, funny, or shocking story, reach out to reporters from broadcast media, as they always look for fascinating or intriguing subjects to feature for their viewers or listeners. Pro Tip: Most writers or reporters are more active on Twitter. Build a relationship with them there, before pitching your story or content. Final words Having a strong online presence by following the above-mentioned tips when promoting your video game will undoubtedly gain you more customers worldwide. There is one more important factor which you have to consider — your video game should be easily downloadable. Remember that we live in a fast-paced and competitive industry. People have shorter attention spans and prioritize easy and convenient products, making your product readily available will give you a competitive advantage.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 125 Top 4 Benefits of Utilizing Social Media in Ecommerce Gateways Social media optimization is a surefire method to increase the ROI of an eCommerce business. The advancement of technology has introduced abundant digital tools that business leaders can use to reach their core audience. Today, most businesses gain customers by reaching them through social media. It is considered as the most widely used platform where socially active users communicate. It seems evident that social media has become influential in a customer’s shopping preferences; hence, it is necessary to leverage social media in relation to marketing and selling eCommerce products. Human interaction is still a necessity for businesses to thrive in a dynamic and fast-paced industry. As such, businesses with an active online presence are preferred by most online shoppers since it enables them to communicate with the company’s customer service representatives with ease. Customers

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 126 who are quite meticulous when buying products online may need to know a few more details before they make the final purchase. Keeping this in mind, it would be essential for businesses to have support representatives ready to engage directly with customers and assist them while they are on the website. This would result in a better shopping experience for shoppers and a higher conversion rate for eCommerce businesses. As social media has become an integral part of humanity, businesses must continue to have a better understanding of how to use social media as a marketing strategy. Knowing how social media can play an integral role in growing a business essentially paves the way towards reaching a wider audience who may have an interest in a brand’s lineup of products. To be knowledgeable of the importance of utilizing social media means acquiring feasible strategies to attract potential customers. If you are a business owner who is fairly new to the marketing potential of social media, the top 9 benefits of utilizing social media for your eCommerce business are outlined below. 1. Social Media Builds Customer Community People sharing the same interest make up a community. That said, it is crucial to building a community for potential and existing customers, where they have the freedom to interact with one another as well as with the people involved in the business itself. Start creating an interactive social media page that your target audience can easily relate to. Create valuable content related to your product and your core audience’s interest such as informative articles, engaging photos, and educational videos that will increase your followers and build loyalty. Establish rapport by initiating conversations. Generally, polls and questions are effective in encouraging customers to interact with your page. People love

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 127 to share their thoughts, especially if the polls or questions are relatable to their life experiences or timely to what is currently trending at present. In creating timely surveys or questions, your team should be updated with the latest events and news in the business world as this serves as a guide for brainstorming an engaging theme. 2. Social Media Affects Buyers’ Decision It has been mentioned that creating valuable content to attract your audience’s interest is vital. Your social profile should not lack valuable content that most people seek. Maximize on the products and content that generates that most engagement and value and post it on your page. Meanwhile, a page that has a cluttered look would seem unappealing. Unorganized content leaves the impression that the page was not designed for business. To prevent driving away potential customers from your page, start by analyzing your marketing strategy. Research compelling content related to your product that will capture customers. Next, conduct a trial-and-error approach to see which ones would have the highest engagement. Evaluate data through social media monitoring. If videos have higher engagement compared to photos, concentrate on creating different types of videos. Produce a diverse array of video content by including webinars, live streams, explainer videos, testimonials, event promotions, and infomercials. 3. Social Media Strengthens Brand Image A positive brand image increases customers’ trust for it provides them the assurance that you are true to your mission. Consider the following pointers to ensure the success of establishing and strengthening your brand image:

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 128 ● Know your core audience. Identify your target audience. Your target audience includes your customers, business partners, industry analysts, and employees. This will pave the way to a better marketing strategy that targets their unique needs. ● Identify your business goals. Determining your short-term and long-term goals will help you decide how you want to be perceived. ● Build out your brand persona. Your brand persona is the trait or human characteristic that appeals to customers. It is the way your brand speaks or communicates. ● Create your key messaging. A core message that’s simple, believable, easy to understand, and is also supported by concrete evidence is what customers expect to hear. ● Post your brand reviews. Share on your profile positive customer reviews, feedback, testimonials, and case studies to boost your credibility. 4. Social Media Enables Promotions and Discounts Promotions and discounts make real engagement possible as customers can comment on the posts as well as like and share them. Put simply, it is a simplified and practical approach to raise brand awareness, given that social media currently has billions of users. Besides, there is no doubt that people, even those who do not have any intentions of buying, are enticed to shop when they realize that they can save a few dollars with the different types of retail sales promotions that you offer, such as: ● Discount promotion – n% of anything is typical yet one of the most effective types of retail promotion that absolutely persuades customers to shop. As a matter of principle, discounts in odd numbers convert into sales. ● BOGO – Buy One Get One (BOGO) works either by making a customer purchase one item and get one free item with it. It can

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 129 also be implemented by offering discount-priced items in exchange for purchasing a particular product. Before pushing through with this sales strategy, it is best to do a test run first and discover which one would work best for your business. Also, try not to overuse BOGO in an attempt to increase sales. BOGO-free marketing strategies generate higher conversion rates for eCommerce business; making it more applicable as a limited-offer promotion instead. ● Free Shipping – Offer free shipping for all of your products. You can also offer free shipping for certain products, or for individual orders or purchases that have collectively amounted to a specified price range. ● Try-before-you-buy – When customers are not able to see and feel the product personally, it affects their buying decision. The try-before-you-buy initiative enables customers to have a closer look at the product. Offer to ship products with high satisfaction ratings to customers and give them a trial period. Initiate an agreement wherein if customers are unable to return your item within the specified trial period, they will be charged for it. In this manner, you protect your business from unwanted losses. It is highly recommended as well to secure your customer’s credit card information (with their consent, of course) in your system should the need to make necessary changes as a consequence of breaching the trial agreement arise. The Bottom Line: Social Media Marketing is a Must It cannot be denied that people are more inclined to browse social media pages and websites when searching for specific products that they need as it provides convenience. They can browse for their desired items for hours even while sitting comfortably in their home, car, or office. If they decide to purchase an item, they can use social media messaging to gain real-time answers to their queries—a factor that is crucial for customers to make a final

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 130 purchasing decision. For these reasons, utilizing social media to your advantage will result in long-term business’ growth.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 131 Social Media Monitoring: Why Do Startups Need It? Social Media Monitoring (SMM) is the use of available digital tools to keep track of customers’ or competitors’ activities and conversations which may affect a startup either positively or negatively. Keeping a keen eye and ear on what trends affect both the business and its target customers helps pinpoint effective marketing campaigns. As such, it is advantageous to use social media channels to fine-tune with what customers demand. To have a better insight on the important role of SMM to startups, below are the five benefits that monitoring social media channels can bring to small businesses:

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 132 1. Brand Monitoring Brand monitoring involves tracking various web channels or media as a way to understand the customer’s perspective. The practice of monitoring how customers perceive the products and services offered by a company prompts strategic responses that help foster trust. SMM helps startups determine the best way to protect their image and enable a smooth transition for their business as it continues to flourish through digital marketing. Brand managers should take note of both positive and negative mentions of their brand across various social media platforms. There are also other factors that should be observed to enhance one’s brand reputation: ● Brand Advocates ● Brand Detractors ● Direct and Indirect Questions from Customers ● Influencers ● Product Misuse 2. Competitive Intelligence The phrase “survival of the fittest” helped revolutionize the way entrepreneurs handle their businesses. Today, there is too much competition among businesses. Those who are able to conform to drastic market and economic changes are the ones that survive while ventures that are incapable of keeping up with the trends are most likely fail. The question now is, what is the strategy used by thriving businesses that startups can adapt? The answer is simple: Monitoring competitor strategies lets a business determine the strengths and weaknesses of more established businesses.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 133 Startups can leverage that information to boost their existing strategies, particularly with how they use social media to reach more customers. Through SMM, startups can check whether competitors have negative mentions on any of their social media pages and use that information to optimize a solution for the competitor’s unhappy customers. Awareness of competitor strategies likewise paves the way for generating ideas on trends and product innovations that appeal to people. 3. Lead Generation and Sales Lead generation refers to the gathering of prospective consumers and converting them into interested parties that will want to avail of a company’s products and services. Lead generation, especially for sales, serves as the “meat” of every business that pushes it to continue prospering. The absence of leads and sales is equivalent to the downfall of one’s enterprise. Thus, it is essential to consistently have a concrete and stable audience who will support the company closely and will greatly need the products and services offered by the business. Upon generating inquiries of target audience, a company or startup’s brand strategist can think of the most ideal way on how to address each question sent by customers and possible leads. Providing a definitive answer to customer questions can inform the target audience more about what the business is all about. As a result, the consumer will be enticed to engage with the enterprise, knowing that there is a high chance that they will get their money’s worth. More importantly, generating leads and obtaining relevant audience information provides business owners with a thorough idea of how to design new product concepts that customers will react to on a positive note. 4. Customer Service

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 134 It is inevitable that startups and even established businesses may encounter problems caused by unsatisfied clients. The saying, “customers are always right” may hold some truth to it, but it may not always be the case. Regardless of how right or wrong a customer may be, they will always have questions about a business’ services. Social media monitoring helps businesses fine-tune between big and small customer concerns. Nowadays, complaints from angry customers can be posted on social media. When not settled quickly, it can escalate into uncontainable proportions. It can likewise reach prospective clients and discourage them from availing of the services. Settling customer concerns swiftly and excellently will reflect on the business’ online branding and social media pages. Indeed, there are negative comments that are baseless and purely made up. Some may even argue that bad exposure is still good exposure. However, it is best to work towards staying on the customers’ good side. 5. Crisis Communication Crisis Communication is the ability of a company’s PR team to protect the business’ reputation and branding through quick decision making. Among the most common types of crises that companies experience encompasses the following factors: ● Company Staff or Personnel ● Finances ● Natural Calamities/Disasters ● Organizational Conflicts ● Technological Issues

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 135 Divulging the issues and critical moments encountered by a business through social media can leave investors and future business partners to hold off any future engagements with the said business. On the other hand, consistent monitoring of potential threats through SMM can effectively assist a business. Efficient crisis communication boosts a company’s immunity and preparedness over critical challenges that it may face as it continues to prosper.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 136 Immediately Gain Positive Media Exposure for Your Startup Journalists and editors are incessantly pursuing impressive stories that are guaranteed to be well-received by a wider audience. A great deal of their ideas and articles have been thoroughly researched before they were written for publication. In some instances, journalists and blog sites accept articles from contributors, for as long as their work fits the type of content that they feature.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 137 In addition, their workpiece contains relevant information which will be welcomed by many readers. Contributors can either be freelance writers or content writers from startup businesses. The media-pitching process is a rigorous one; considering the millions of emails that media personnel receive every single day. Shortly after receiving pitches, a journalist may either decide to discard those or respond to those offers. Getting media coverage, however, is still the best technique for startups to gain popularity as well as foster immediate trust from their target audience. Today, there exists several young businesses that have successfully captured the attention of prominent media networks simply because of the effective approaches for audience reach implemented by these businesses. Below is a breakdown of some of the most effective strategies that have helped startups gain favorable public exposure: 1. Engage with Individual Journalists Instead of focusing one’s attention on pitching ideas to distinguished media outlets, it is more effective to communicate with every writer who possesses the right expertise. Thorough research should be executed to have a comprehensive list of target writers. After which, it is necessary to build personal presence by communicating with these prospective writers.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 138 Social media is an effective tool which can be used to connect and establish rapport with renowned writers who are based in different areas of the world. The most effective method is to follow all of their social media accounts from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to Instagram. This is the easiest and most effective way to establish a connection with them by sharing or tweeting their posts, showing expertise by giving incredible answers to their questions and liking and replying to their posts. In the course of time, one’s business will gradually gain its online presence as prominent writers will be more curious about the background of their new and incredible follower. They will be more compelled to check out what kind of business they might be running. Without realizing it, one’s name or business is already being mentioned by writers. This is the appropriate time to pitch stories that have valuable content and would surely benefit everyone in the media and publication pyramid; and that includes writers, readers and fellow business owners. 2. Send a Concise Email Pitch Journalists have hectic schedules as they cover many events in one day and they also have tons of deadlines to meet. As such, one can only imagine their frustration when they receive an email that is too long and the goal is vague.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 139 It is deemed necessary to send personalized pitches that are brief and straight to the point. Write a pitch that contains two paragraphs and arrange information and ideas in bullet form. This way, the writer will easily have a clear understanding of what is being sold to them. Email pitches should have a business’ amazing own story and must therefore contain: ● A catchy introduction ● The reason for pitching the journalist ● Relevance of the story ● Benefits or advantages that the journalist will receive in exchange for working with the business ● Sender’s contact information The information listed above will define the potential value that a business can bring to the world. It is very important to include specific customer problems or pain points that the business are working to help solve at the present moment and the impact that it can bring to the general public. Before sending an email, it is also important to be aware of the so-called “golden moment” for the email not to be rejected. First, send a message to a writer’s social media account asking them whether it is alright to send them an email. Otherwise, after sending an email, it would also be good to message the writer informing them of the email that has just been sent. Ideally, this should be done once rapport has already been established with the writer.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 140 3. Dominate Social Media Through Powerful Content Marketing Campaigns Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that involves creating valuable free content. The content usually includes videos, blogs and social media posts to attract and retain target audience and encourage them into becoming repeat buyers. It is a type of marketing in which contents that are related to a business’ products and services are included and highlighted. It serves as a testament to the level of expertise provided by the employees in the business. Using content to market a business’ products and services increases brand visibility. Higher visibility paves the opportunity for these contents to reach target writers who have been looking for stories related to their specialty. Here are the steps in creating a strong content marketing campaign: ● Create buyer persona. Include target demographic details, behavioral and buying patterns, pain points, goals, and motivations. ● Add variety to the content by creating blog posts, podcasts, infographics, videos, and case studies. ● Maximize the use of social media. Here’s a tip: Share every valuable content on Facebook groups as well as on the business’ page. ● Try focusing on contents should have stories that feature human interest. ● Create timely content. ● Publish content regularly. ● Engage with influencers or celebrities to get more advertising and exposure.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 141 4. Share the Business’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Story People have high regard to brands and personalities that are aware of their responsibility to society. Thus, customers prefer to buy from companies that extend their help to the community whenever possible because customers know that these companies’ purpose is not solely to sell products and services to earn profit. This statement is supported by the nonprofit organization, Better Business Bureau (BBB). BBB has mentioned that around 88% of consumers prefer to purchase from companies that seek to make a difference in society. It is no secret that being involved in social programs increase brand visibility. Hence, companies need to understand that social programs are becoming an integral part of every business. Participating in socially beneficial programs provides an opportunity for companies to inform the public regarding their core values. As a result, the business will be able to establish trust. One example of a company that gives back to the local community is New Media Services, a company specializing in providing Business Process Outsourcing services. It launched its NMS Cares Organization which aims to support deaf children through skills development, sign language training and community support. This advocacy enabled the company to reach commendable writers in various industries. The exposure likewise helped NMS gain free media coverage.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 142 5. Exclusive Content Exclusive is the term used to indicate that a writer or a media outlet was the first to report or publish content with exceptional originality, importance and excitement. As a result, they become the center of attention. This is the reason why most, if not all media personnel are keen on getting exclusive contents and stories to feature. To generate exclusive content, companies should start brainstorming newsworthy events or stories about their business that would benefit writers and media outlets as well as the broader public. After which, these businesses should craft a stunning and personalized email pitch coupled with a killer subject line. Within 5-7 days without any response, it is best to follow up by sending a short email. Next, send another email after 7-10 days in the event that the writers who are the email’s target recipients have remained silent. It is recommended, however, to find other media outlets if after the last email, the targeted writers have still chosen to ignore the emails.

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DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 144 5 Reasons Why Content Marketing Is A Must For Startups In 2020 A recent research from Review42 stated that 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing as one of their strategic approaches to gain leverage in this generation’s cutthroat industry. For starters, content marketing is a marketing technique that involves the creation and sharing of various forms of content throughout the internet for an intended audience. Content marketing is often done to generate leads, entice target audience or prompt a call-to-action that will benefit the business.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 145 Content used for marketing often ranges from blogs/articles and social media posts to infographics and videos. As opposed to other marketing strategies, content marketing does not explicitly introduce a particular brand. Instead, it delivers messages that stimulate the interest of viewers to the business’s products and services. It is undeniable that with the current generation where almost half of the globe is stuck within the grasp of a screen, content marketing can be a great solution that can help aspiring entrepreneurs who are still looking for ways to rise and stand out among a sea of competitors. With that being said, here the 5 reasons why startups need to use content marketing: 1. CONTENT MARKETING KEEPS ANY WEBSITE FRESH Building a website helps businesses gain more recognition and enhance customer impressions. With a generation that is hooked to online purchasing, having a website can be a great advantage. However, if a business website looks old and outdated design-wise, customers will think that the services and products they are bound to receive will be typical or lackluster. By providing updated content relevant to present-day dilemmas of customers, it will result in generating a fresher-looking and more credible website. 2. CONTENT MARKETING AMPLIFIES A BUSINESS’ IDENTITY

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 146 Diving right into a business niche in a highly saturated ecosystem that can cause a varying result between success and failure. That is why it is important for businesses to define their brand identity in a more thorough manner. It is important to let the customers know the purpose and personality of the brand. These two factors should also depend on the kind of market that the business aims to penetrate. Whether a business caters to children, adults or fellow businesses, content marketing ensures that its objectives are clearly conveyed. 3. CONTENT MARKETING HELPS IN BOOSTING TRAFFIC TO THE WEBSITE Content marketing can help make it known to the digital world that the business exists. This advantage applies to both driving conversions and endorsements. Promoting content across social media platforms and even on websites that allow guest posting helps businesses interconnect and expand their network of potential business partners. Moreover, the more frequently a business’ content is encountered by customers online, the more familiar they become to the message and call-to-action included in the content. 4. CONTENT MARKETING HELPS IN MAXIMIZING ROI Many business owners usually think that working with content marketing can cost them a fortune. This is nothing but a myth. Contrary to this assumption, content marketing is way cheaper than traditional marketing methods such as TV & radio advertising, cold-calling, and tradeshows. It can be conveniently distributed online, even with minimal money shelled out. 5. CONTENT MARKETING IS NOT RISKY

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 147 In using content marketing as one of a business’s strategic approaches, the usual risks of introducing a new business are often minimized. Content marketing as a strategy is less expensive to the point where it can fit even the most limited budget of startups. In addition, content marketing is flexible and highly adaptive to the dynamic market, making it easier for businesses to follow trends Content marketing is a must not only for startups but also for well-established businesses. It is a flexible and convenient method of creating a closer connection with target audiences and setting up the business for better and more effective branding.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 148 How Content Moderation of UGC Driving Ecommerce Brands to Grow Did you know that customer feedback and user content are now more powerful than ever? Thanks to the broader scope and influence of the internet, people are given the freedom to express their personal experiences and opinions about brands across different industries. Although user-generated content (UGC) has unlocked multiple advantages for entrepreneurs and businesses, it also meant that brands became more vulnerable to public criticism and scrutiny. The mere thought of how much ripple effect a single negative feedback can bring is terrifying enough that it is essential for businesses, particularly retail brands, to shift their focus on the relevance of ecommerce content moderation services.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Collated Articles to Help Your Digital and Marketing Agencies 149 Yes, Ecommerce and UGC go hand-in-hand in the digital branding universe. How so? Spare five to seven minutes of your time and you will get just the answers you need by reading this blog! 5 Ways in Which Content Moderation Helps Your Ecommerce Business Grow In a nutshell, user content and Ecommerce businesses are in a symbiotic, give-and-take relationship. Businesses earn favorable user feedback by providing commendable service and living up to what they promise about their brand. In return, customers give their support and loyalty, all while helping the former gain more exposure, attract leads, and boost credibility. A business without an exclusive community of followers backing them up is difficult to trust and hardly anyone would feel compelled to buy with advertisements that lack concrete proof. Indeed, user content can be misused, but for the most part, people also need to have an authentic, first-hand experience with a company’s services for fellow customers to believe them. 1. The presence of UGC means there is organic engagement. If you want to project credibility, you need to rely on UGC as an alternative form of advertisement. Even to this day, word-of-mouth is still a more convincing source of information for buyers that it holds more weight than commercials. If you want to project credibility, you need to rely on UGC as an alternative form of advertisement. Even to this day, word-of-mouth is still a more convincing source of information for buyers that it holds more weight than commercials.Ideally, Ecommerce brands should allow the presence of as much UGC as they can gather on their social media pages, platforms, websites, and anywhere else where they can build and expand their presence