Five Ways to Detect Click Fraud
When you are running a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign and have taken pains to create excellent ad copy and appealing landing pages, the last thing you want to encounter is a flurry of ad clicks that do not lead to conversions and sales. However, that is what happens in click fraud. Your business competitors, ad publishers, or fraud rings may employ individuals, software programs, and bots to click on your advertisements and drive up your advertising budget without getting the return on investment you deserve.
Unless you make regular attempts at detecting ad fraud, you could end up hurting your business. Let’s say that you have a daily advertising budget of $500. Google will only allow clicks on the advertisements up to that limit, and so the PPC ads will turn off after reaching the budget threshold for the day. That means, in case most of the clicks are fraudulent ones, you will have wasted your budget, and the click fraud will have prevented your target customers from clicking on your ads and reaching your website.
Five ways to detect click fraud
The growth of online click fraud has paralleled the increase in advertising revenues. By detecting ad fraud early on, you can take actionable steps to protect your investment and your business and stay competitive in your industry. Here are five ways to detect click fraud:
- Monitor user activity
After you launch a PPC advertising campaign, it is essential to monitor user activity as often as possible. There can be a spike in traffic for various reasons, including seasonal trends, reduced competition, and campaign optimization with better keywords, new targeted countries and languages, and a higher budget. However, you want to look out for repeat visitors who keep clicking on the PPC advertisements but do not take action on your website. For example, they do not buy or download your products or services.
Such unusual peaks in ad clicks may indicate click fraud since they are wasting clicks and not displaying any interest in becoming customers.
- Read web server logs
After you set the webserver configuration to activities per the combined log format, the logs can record all the webserver activities. By reading the web server logs, you can get information about the IP addresses of the people clicking on your advertisements, the date and time when they clicked on them, and the user agent details such as which device, browser, and operating system they used.
However, keep in mind that IP addresses may not always be unique since some internet service providers dynamically cycle IPs among their users and some establishments use proxy servers. Use IP addresses in tandem with other activity information to detect click fraud.
- Check Google Ads account performance
Familiarize yourself with the campaign performance and the account performance features that Google Ads offers. They can help you customize your performance data and gain essential insights into how individual ad groups have fared. You can check if there has been an extraordinary rise in impressions or the number of times your advertisements appear on search results pages and the number of clicks on the advertisements. If the increase in impressions and clicks does not show a corresponding rise in conversions and page views, it might be click fraud. You might want to notify Google of the number and percentage of fraudulent clicks at once so that you do not end up paying for them.
- Invest in click tracking software
The click tracking software can be a time-saver as it can sift through thousands of web server logs every day and gather user information. You will have an easier time reviewing the IP addresses and detecting fraudulent activity.
- Use the Google Traffic Quality program
Its automated detection system uses deep research, complex algorithms, automatic filters, and machine learning to detect fraudulent click activity in real-time. That can save you from getting charged for invalid clicks. Additionally, the program maintains a team of experts to review and analyze search result impressions, advertisement clicks, and website traffic. It takes steps to keep fraudsters out of their network. That way, they can protect advertisers and help them get the appropriate return on their investment.
A Beginner’s Guide to Voice Marketing
For every business, marketing is key to success; without potential customers and clients being able to find a business’s products and services, they will find it very difficult to survive. Businesses need to know every option available to them, so that they can make an informed decision for their business’s success.
Voice marketing is a relatively new marketing field, although most would think of radio when thinking of voice, but in this case, voice is using digital platforms that help build their brand online with the help of a voice marketing agency.
What is Voice Marketing?
Voice marketing allows businesses, brands, and influencers to reach their ideal audiences through recorded or live audio content on platforms such as podcasts, voice applications, and digital assistants.
Most of the western population already listens to podcasts, and many even listen to more than one in any given week. While AI assistants have been booming in the last few years, with several billion expected to be active between 2022 and 2023. This gives them a lot of opportunities to find an audio platform that will be highly responsive to the marketing for their brand, services or product lines.
Voice marketing has an appeal over video marketing because there is a lot less investment that needs to go into it. Businesses don’t need to worry about expensive video recording equipment, time in a sound studio, or any of those bells and whistles as they can often just record their audio with a mobile device, or even just hand a script over to the podcasters doing the recording themselves. It’s ideal to provide a transcript if a business provides their own audio for a podcast or other platforms, for those that are deaf, or hard of hearing.
Trends in Voice Marketing Techniques
When it comes to voice marketing techniques suggested by a voice marketing agency, there are three primary options: podcasts, clubhouse/twitter spaces and voice assistants.
Podcasts
Podcasts have one of the broadest ranges of listeners because if one looked, they could find a podcast for almost any genre or topic. Between 2020 and 2023 it’s expected that podcast audiences will double, giving even more powerful opportunities for marketing for any company.
A business or brand producing their own podcast is a much more involved process, although the process can be simplified with the help of a voice marketing agency. Despite initial investment costs, a branded podcast will be more likely to bring in the business’s targeted audience more easily, although they take more time to establish a foothold.
Purchasing ad space in an established podcast is a relatively easy process, with the only investment being the writing of the ad copy and paying for the advertising slot. This will reach a broader audience and it could bring in a large number of customers quickly, especially from a large podcast.
Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces
Clubhouse is an audio social network that is invitation only, where discussions can be joined in on, or listened to by groups of people. It’s similar to a panel at a conference, where a speaker is talking to a large number of people about a singular topic in a live setting. Although clubhouse is rather new, many companies are testing the waters in terms of paying for advertising space on these discussions or hosting their own discussions.
In a similar fashion, twitter is rolling out Spaces, as a means for twitter users to speak to each other in voice chat rooms in order to provide “emotion, nuance, and empathy often lost in text.”
Voice Assistants
Alexa, Google Home, and many other AI assistants are making their way into homes, vehicles, mobile devices, etc., and this is providing marketing opportunities for businesses. While generally companies can’t just buy advertising space, they can create apps on the Google Home platform, or Amazon Alexa platform that are related to their products or services that users can use for home entertainment purposes.
While many consider voice marketing still in its infancy in terms of modern technologies, opportunities are rapidly evolving, and companies should be considering voice marketing as more than just a short fad but rather, becoming a major marketing segment that a voice marketing agency can help them capitalize on.
It doesn’t matter what kind of business you run, what size it is or how niche the product line is, it can easily take advantage of voice marketing to put it ahead of the curve, and stand out amongst the competition with the assistance of a voice marketing agency.
Tips for Hiring a Reliable Video Production Company
Hiring the right video production company in Miami can make a difference in whether your content is successful or not. But finding the right agency can be an arduous task.
There are many players in the market, so finding the right one isn’t easy. You need to ensure you hire the right team for the job. Professional video production requires a leap of faith.
So how do you hire a reliable agency to produce a video that will effectively market your business? We share some tips below to help you.
1 Define the Types of Video You Want to Produce
First thing first. Before searching for a video production company Miami, have a clear idea of why you want a video, what you will use the video for, and your target audience.
Knowing what sort of video you need will help the video producer to create a quality product. Consider the company culture of the agency and whether it meshes with your own.
Also, make sure the video production studio can connect with your product or service and identify what makes your business special. The more they can do so, the better the outcome of your video will be.
2 Learn What A Video Production Company Does
You cannot hire the right video production company in Miami if you don’t know what it is they do. You shouldn’t expect the agency to define your project scope, audience, or marketing goals. That’s not what a video production studio does.
However, you can expect the agency to:
● Write the script.
● Cast and scout the location.
● Help with creative direction and storyboarding.
● Provide crew and equipment such as lighting, grip, camera, and sound.
● Provide editing of final footage.
● Include animation and visual effects, audio, and music.
When recruiting a video production studio, make sure you know their expectations for any element not listed above.
3 Decide on the Budget
Having a clear idea of your budget can significantly influence which agency you will choose. Pricing varies widely between video production companies. So, ask for quotes from multiple first before you make the final decision. Regardless of your budget, you can always find a video production company in Miami that is right for you.
If you have a tight budget, go for a new video production studio. But if you have the money to spend, splash out on an experienced agency to make your video a success.
4 Ask for Timeline
Don’t assume that every video production company in Miami will start your project immediately. Most studios will draw up a contract to kick-off your project on a particular date in the future.
Ideally, an agency takes 6-8 weeks to produce a live-action or animated video. Do not forget to discuss a potential timeline with the studio in question and keep track of it to ensure the deadline is met.
Live-action videos can take more time than animated ones. Talent issues, bad weather, obtaining location permits, and delayed feedback often put production on hold. So, the video production company in question should provide you with a list of potential hiccups that they foresee for your project.
5 Ask for Examples
Ask the production company you plan to hire for examples of past videos to get a good idea of the quality of the work. Also, ask for examples of previous scripts and video productions from their first draft to their final version to evaluate how they evolved.
Go through their website or finding their YouTube or Vimeo channels to find the finished videos they produced in the past. The most recent videos will give a clear idea of the audio and lighting equipment and the quality of talent they have available can bring to your shoot.
6 Take a Look at Their Design Assets
Ask the production studio in question for examples of their assets used for previous clients. If you plan to produce animated videos, ask whether the animator will create custom designs or use stock characters. Also, how many voice-over options will be available to choose from. Ensure you have a web or broadcast and perpetual license over any of the music and voice-overs used in your video to avoid copyright strikes.
Do you have any questions?
Three Key Ingredients to Lifecycle Marketing
Marketing is important to a successful business strategy because it helps to attract consumers. Attracting consumers is a critical step in selling products and services to an intended audience, but it is only the first step. Utilizing a lifecycle marketing agency is what all business strategists or owners should use to take their business to the next level. This will work to ensure the continued success and future growth of their company.
What Is Lifecycle Marketing?
Lifecycle marketing is the communication strategy that integrate different channels to move customers through the path to purchasing and ongoing engagement. It refers to the lifecycle of a customer through their marketing experience, from attracting the customer to selling to them and then providing a great experience, so that they return. Depending on the needs and make up of your target audience, this can be done in a variety of methods. As lifecycle marketing can be challenging without the help of a lifecycle marketing agency, it is something that is valuable and that should be taken into consideration when you are looking to grow your business.
Three Key Ingredients to Lifecycle Marketing
1.Define the Target Group
Knowing who to target is the first step in the entire lifecycle process. Businesses must know and define their target market. Knowing who their customers should be is critical to the success of the cycle. Businesses will then be able to identify the needs of their consumers and the best methods of engagement with them. If they get this part wrong, their entire marketing lifecycle will never get off the ground. All businesses should consult with a lifecycle marketing agency to help with this key step.
2.Choose Communication Channels
How can a business communicate with its target audience? It is important to realize what channels they have available to them, such as SMS, email, web, social, etc. Turning to a lifecycle marketing agency for assistance with this will allow all options to be explored. While listing out all the possible avenues is a task in itself, there is another aspect to take into consideration. This can also be a challenge as businesses must consider what channels are the best to use based on their target group. Where is their audience? What works to reach one audience may not work with another. Each target audience has their own unique needs and set of demographics. They spend their time in different places and will have varied preferences for information gathering and shopping purchases. An example of that would be if the target market of a business is teenagers: they may want to steer away from Facebook and look to utilize social platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat, because they have a higher percentage of teens on those platforms than are on Facebook.
3.Content Creation
We have all heard that content is king because it is. Ensuring a business has the right information in their marketing message is key to ensuring their customers convert to sales. This can be a challenging part to overcome, but if a business is aware of what large corporations are doing to be successful, they will see that their content is what turns potential customers into customers. It is essential to create content specific to your consumers. Again, what is successful with one group may not be with another. To create the right content tailored to a business’s target market, a lifecycle marketing agency can make all the difference.
Marketing is a one-dimensional aspect of gaining customers. Lifecycle marketing is more of a 360-degree view of drawing in potential customers, converting them to customers, and keeping them as returning customers so that businesses can continue to sell to them in the future. It is much easier to convert an existing customer than it is to convert a new one, so managing the entire marketing lifecycle is important when wanting to generate continued revenue. To ensure the growth of their business, owners should work with a professional from a lifecycle marketing agency who can help to alleviate the burden of managing all the different aspects of this immensely powerful method.
Advertising on Weibo: Which Weibo Advertising Option is Most Effective for You?
Popularly called China’s Twitter, Sina Weibo is a popular social media channel in China. Though people compare it with Twitter, in practice, Weibo is a lot more in its features. Companies who want to establish their social presence in China should not miss Weibo Advertising. According to Statistics, Weibo has currently850 million users, among which 82 percent shop online. This explains the potential of Weibo and what makes it a not-to-miss source of advertising for marketers. Another main advantage of Weibo is you can reach the whole audience on the channel and not just your followers or fans. Here we present different options in Weibo advertising so that you can choose which one is best suited for you.
Fan Headlines
• What is this: Here you can promote your brand/ad/post/message through headlines. You can either opt for promoting through your brand headlines or leverage the profile of influencers or people with a huge number of followers.
• How it helps: This method works effectively because fans can share the headlines with their friends. The reach that this method offers is simply amazing.
• Works best for: Companies with huge fan followers.
• Pros and cons: Might be costly if you want to promote through influencers or if you are targeting a huge number of followers.
Targeting by Demographics
• What is this: In this Weibo advertising strategy, companies target a specific range of customers by researching their interests and habits. The attributes considered in this approach would include age, salary, hobbies, pastime, number of children, type of job and organization, role in the organization, etc.
• How it helps: This approach helps companies to target their audience seamlessly. Because the homework is done while choosing the audience demographics, the ads or your post will hit straight the targeted audience.
• Works best for: Any brand that is targeting to increase its conversion rate.
• Pros and cons: Comparatively cost-effective way to target customers and increase the conversion rate.
Fan Tunnel
• What is this: You can advertise using this strategy and the ads/post will be displayed in your target audience feed.
• How it helps: This method helps to reach more audiences than just your follower group. The ad is displayed at the top of their feed, which makes it easy for sharing with others.
• Works best for: Companies with fewer followers and want to enjoy more reach. This is one of the easiest ways to draw the attention of non-followers and turn them into your fan base.
• Pros and cons: Besides for normal brands, Fan tunnel helps for the promotion of apps in an effective way.
Display ads
• What is this: You can design ads based on selected keywords that reach your target audience effectively.
• How it helps: This strategy works to its fullest on search engines. One of the tried and tested strategies for reaching a wide audience based on a location and specified demographics.
• Works best for: Companies with a tight budget and want to promote their brand cost-effectively.
• Pros and cons: This requires a precise study of long-tail keywords and the analysis of targeted customers along with their demographics.
So, what’s next?
Digital marketing in China is a little different compared to in the Western World. Chinese search engines have strict rules for non-Chinese brands to step into the digital arena. If you are an outsider, you will need to satisfy many criteria and pass stringent regulations.
Thus, to start advertising on Weibo or any social media channels in China, for the fact, it is wise to take the guidance of a social media marketing agency in China. They will help you navigate the strict rules and Chinese documentation which may pose problems in terms of language. Also, the customer’s mindset in China is slightly different from the rest of the world. They support and trust the products or brands that their dearest friends and well-wishers share.
To capture the pulse of the audience, it is hence important to work with local agencies who know better than you. To choose a proven digital marketing agency in China, check their portfolio and the campaigns they previously succeeded in. Besides, having worked with non-Chinese brands and bringing successful results should add brownie points to the agency. Good luck with your Weibo campaign!
The Importance of a Video Marketing Strategy
According to a report by Techcrunch, people across the world watch nearly one billion hours of videos on YouTube every day. These statistics are not at all surprising, as videos are always dominating the digital marketing world for quite a while now. It is already mentioned that video marketing popularity will enhance over the coming years. That is why it is significant to hire the best video marketing agency to include video distribution in different platforms through digital marketing techniques.
Different Varieties of Videos to Implement
There are a variety of videos that digital video marketers can use to promote a company, product, or service. Below we have shared some of the most successful video formats you can include in your digital marketing processes.
• Interview Videos
These videos include content about a short interview with the company employee, to give an inside business view while maintaining the professionalism level.
• Live Facebook Videos
This kind of video gets the unedited and raw view of the business the company wants to display on this popular social media platform. In Facebook lives, clients or viewers can also directly react and comment on the video in real-time.
• Informational video with live animation
It is the most common type found in the digital marketing process. It includes all the primary statistics about the business while displaying short video clips or stylish photos, together with playful transitions and funny graphics.
• Explanation videos
This video assists the people to know more about the products and services with proper instructions to use, other applications, and customer service activities.
• Demo and product review videos
The company brand ambassadors can make the demo and product review videos in exchange for the free products. If you have anyone from the industry who wants to boost their social following, this can be one of the best ways to get free advertisement for your company. Product review videos include lots of comments and engagement and act as a type of market research.
Importance of Video Marketing Strategies
There are thousands of reasons why a digital marketer will create videos, but some of the most impressive ones that demonstrate the significance of the video marketing strategies are as follows.
• Search Engine Optimization
According to Cisco, nearly 80% of the organic traffic will be due to the videos by the end of this year. Search engines consider videos a high standard content, thus implementing videos on your home page or the main pages might work wonders for Search Engine Optimization. It is only applicable if the video is optimized properly, which means including suitable meta description, keywords, and a title.
• Getting Personal
Cisco has also stated that live videos will be responsible for almost 13% of the total traffic. Thus if you are a digital marketing executive, you need to know how to produce videos and optimize them accordingly. Snapchat and Instagram stories are perfect to offer short glimpses of what you are up to by using your creative tools. The most interesting thing about these videos is they will be live only for a day to give the viewers the feeling of real-time. It also provides the Video Marketing Agency to create ads primarily focused on time-sensitive endorsements.
• Educating and Informing
97% of the digital marketers claim that the videos help their audiences to understand any product better. The customers are nowadays doing a quick search to find out the finest products in the neighborhood. Here they can order them online whenever they want. To end this approach, most marketers require approaching the audiences with a value-dependent offer in place of sale. Videos also help the customers to get a close look at the services, products, or a person.
• Remain Competitive
81% of the business all around the world is implementing videos for digital marketing purposes. Videos are perfect for getting outstanding messages. If you think about the practicality, unique, short, and well-explained videos can create a lot of difference. It is especially applicable when it comes to the question of educating audiences on the pros and cons of a product or the services.
What are the Four Types of Weibo Ads?
Weibo is one of the most lucrative platforms for advertising in China. With over 521 million monthly active users, the app offers unprecedented marketing opportunities.
It can create colossal exposure for your brand with numerous advertising options that you can choose from. The app allows you to select your targeted audience to increases the efficacy of your marketing efforts and focus on the targeted demographic.
If you have a clear understanding of your company’s goals and objective, you can get the maximum returns from Weibo Advertising. Weibo can help you build an online clientele that you can interact with.
There are four types of Weibo Advertising strategies that you can choose. Let us discuss them in detail so that you can decide which strategy can help you get maximum returns on your Investment.
- Display Adverts
Display adverts have been there for quite some time now and are efficient in grabbing customer attention. It is an open-screen advertisement. As soon as the user opens the app, they can see the advert on their screen.
The banner can be accessed in various dimensions and is responsive enough to adjust to web page versions and mobile devices. The Display adverts catch user attention instantly, and the retention value of these adverts is also very high.
Once the user clicks on the advert, they are directed to the home page of an advertiser. The display banners work on push technology which means they have a 100% arrival rate.
The pricing for the adverts depends on the dimensions, page placement, and keywords. The use of keywords allows you to select your target audience.
- Weibo search engine promotion
Another popular method to advertise on Weibo is search engine promotion. Unlike display advert, it gathers an audience for your Weibo account.
Weibo has an advanced search feature that allows its users to search for pages, accounts, and posts. The search bar is preloaded with hot and trending topics and keywords. Most people on Weibo are interested in these trending results, which increase user attention and interest.
The strategy for search engine promotion is similar to google search. It can increase the traffic to your account. The pricing for search engine promotion depends on the popularity and competition of chosen keywords.
Weibo search engine promotion is great for your visibility and brand reputation.
- Fan headline
A fan headline is the fastest way of enhancing the exposure of your account and post, based on daily updates and the social network of your target audience. The promoted post appears on top of the user’s feed within 24 hours and has a vast reach.
The three types of Fan Headlines on Weibo are:
Fan headline for posts
If you want your post to be seen by a large number of people, you can use Weibo Fan Headlines for posts. You can promote your post to not only your existing followers but your potential followers based on the relationship of original followers, interest, and industries.
Fan headlines for others’ posts.
It is similar to the previous method except that you promote other people’s posts and not your own. The promoted post of another account appears on top of your follower’s feed.
Fan headline for accounts
In this method, your account is recommended to Weibo users for a limited period of 72 hours. The target audience includes people who are most likely to follow you.
- Fan tunnel
Fan tunnel advertising is another popular advertising method on Weibo. It is one of the focused and effective ways to reach potential customers and followers.
The method is similar to Fan headlines as it promotes Weibo accounts and specific posts. With this technique, you can target the entire Weibo community and not just your followers.
The method works exceptionally well for new brands that do not have a large number of followers. The promoted accounts and posts will appear on top of your targeted audience’s feed. You can define your target audience based on gender, age, location, interests, etc. You can also select relevant accounts to target their audience.
These are four types of advertising methods on Weibo. Now that you are aware of these adverts you can choose the one that suits your brand needs.
Weibo Advertising in 2021: The Ultimate Guide
Weibo is one of the most popular social media platforms in China. It currently boasts around 523 million monthly active users (MAU) and has a userbase of almost a billion. This means an immense opportunity for advertisers.
With such impressive numbers, you might be wondering how to run advertising on Weibo to leverage the massive audience for your benefit.
Well, that’s exactly what our Weibo advertising (adstochina.westwin.com/Weibo-Advertising) guide will teach you. So, let’s dive in right away.
A Brief Introduction to Weibo
Weibo is a microblogging social media platform that allows users to easily share text, images, and videos on their timelines.
It is known as China’s Twitter but is actually a much more effective social platform in terms of advertising opportunities than its western counterpart.
The social media platform was initially launched as “Sina Weibo” way back in 2009 by the Sina Corporation. And in 2014, it was spun off into a dedicated social network known as Weibo.
Why You Should Advertise on Weibo
Clearly, the massive userbase and MAU are the primary reasons why Weibo is a sought-after social media platform for advertisers. But there are more reasons why you should start Weibo advertising.
1 Niche Audience Targeting
Weibo comes with a wide range of demographic targeting options to help you fine-tune and direct your messaging. You can target by the following criteria:
● Gender, age, and location
● Device (laptop, desktop, mobile, etc.)
● Interests or hobbies
● Competitors
● Specific followers
2 Perfect Entrypoint to Chinese Market
With such a mammoth user base, Weibo offers a great starting point for you to make a splash in the Chinese market.
Weibo advertising is cost-effective which means you can test the water before ramping up full-scale campaigns and putting down all your money and time.
3 Helps Grow as An Organic and Paid Channel
Just like Instagram and Twitter, Weibo is not all about paid advertising only. In fact, much of the traction you will create could be organic in nature.
Paid ads will help you have a massive following on Weibo which means you will have reduced reliance on paid channels later on.
Types of Ads on Weibo
Before you start initiating Weibo advertising, you should know that there are four major ad types as mentioned below that you can use with Weibo to communicate your message.
Fan Headline
It is an ad placement located at the top of a user’s personal timeline for 24 hours. It helps you target your existing followers along with their personal connections.
There are three variations of Fan Headlines as mentioned below:
● Fan Headline for Posts: This helps position a post at the top of the targeted users’ timelines.
● Fan Headline for Other’s Posts: Similar to the above, but the only difference is that you can pin another user’s post.
● Fan Headline for Accounts: This will suggest your profile to Weibo users to bring in new followers.
Fan Tunnel
It is similar to the Fan Headline but the major difference is that Fan Tunnel helps you target all of the Weibo community and not just your following and their connections.
It could be very effective if you have a small following and want to reach a large audience quickly.
Display Ads
Weibo helps you run display ads on its platform. Unlike other platforms, you will get a targeted approach with selected keywords to increase your brand or product’s visibility on user searches.
You can also display advertisements on other featured accounts to increase advertising.
Weibo Search Engine
Weibo comes with a real-time search engine which makes it stand out from its rival WeChat.
It helps users to search for posts, other users, and brands. Just like Google Ads, you can choose to be placed in the results for particular search terms which makes your brand’s positioning and targeting much more seamless to manage.
Payment Models
Weibo comes with flexible pricing models. It offers two payment models that are:
CPM(Cost Per Thousand Impressions): You will be charged based on the number of times your ad is displayed within the feed of Weibo users.
CPE (Cost Per Engagement): You will be charged based on how many times your ad is engaged with by users.
So do you have any questions about Weibo advertising?
What Exactly Does a Lifecycle Marketing Agency Do?
Every business spends time, energy, and a lot of money on attracting new customers. They hire the top marketing agencies to help them hone their strategies in order to find and secure new business. For many businesses, the customer relationship ends with the first sale. To become truly successful, businesses need to retain existing customers as well as attract new ones. That’s where a lifecycle marketing agency comes in.
What is Lifecycle Marketing?
In a nutshell, lifecycle marketing is the idea that a business’ relationship with a customer goes beyond the initial purchase. The goal of a lifecycle marketing agency is to engage the customer at every step of the customer lifecycle and retain that customer for as long as possible.
Using the concept of a customer lifetime value will help any business better understand the importance of a lifecycle marketing agency. For example, a customer who makes a one-time purchase of $100 has a customer lifetime value of $100, but a customer who spends $100 three times a year for 10 years has a customer lifetime value of $3,000. If that same customer then refers business from friends and family, that lifetime value increases exponentially.
Stages of the Customer Lifecycle
Lifecycle marketing agencies create strategies that focus on the different stages of the customer lifecycle. These stages include:
1) Awareness
Awareness is the initial lifecycle marketing stage that attracts new customers. When most people think of marketing, this is what they are thinking of. Lifecycle marketing agencies use strategies that include digital, print, television, radio, and billboard marketing to reach new customers.
2) Engagement
The next stage, engagement, is where a business provides potential customers more details about the goods and/or services that they offer. A lifecycle marketing agency targets their marketing strategy in ways that will entice customers to learn more.
3) Evaluation
Before a potential customer makes a purchase, they evaluate their options, make comparisons, and weigh their needs and wants. A lifecycle marketing agency markets in a way that inspires customers to move to the next stage: purchasing.
4) Purchase
Traditional marketing ends at the purchasing stage. A customer purchases the product or service and their marketing experience is complete. A lifecycle marketing agency does not see this as the end stage. They want to help their clients retain customers for multiple purchases over many years.
5) Post-Purchase
The post-purchase phase is an important stage for a lifecycle marketing agency. Once the hard work of attracting new purchasing customers has been completed, retaining the customer is essential for long-term and reliable returns on investment.
6) Advocacy
A successful lifecycle marketing agency can turn a purchasing customer into an advocate for their client’s business. Word-of-mouth, referrals, and loyalty programs are all part of the advocacy stage. Engaging fully with customers and allowing them to take some emotional ownership of their brand relationships is a priceless marketing strategy that allows repeat and expanded business for years to come.
7) Return to Engagement
A lifecycle marketing agency is successful when their client’s customers return to the engagement stage and move through the steps repeatedly. Each time a customer moves through the stages, they make a purchase or purchases and refer the company to more new customers. Lifecycle marketing is a loop that, when done properly, increases customer retention substantially.
It is essential that a lifecycle marketing agency pinpoints the target audience for each stage of the marketing campaign. Engaging with the customers where they are is imperative for each stage of a customer’s lifecycle.
Agencies that Focus on Lifecycle Marketing
Agencies that focus on lifecycle marketing value every stage of the customer lifecycle equally. It is just as important to attract new customers as it is to retain them. A successful lifecycle marketing agency is able to create an all-encompassing plan that brings together marketing strategies for each stage into a cohesive and appealing campaign. Customers become emotionally invested in the brand and continue to purchase and refer for many years.
A great lifecycle marketing agency has experienced and talented team members in all forms of marketing. They use every marketing strategy at their disposal to ensure that customers remain engaged through every stage.
Why you should be Considering a Sports Advertising Agency?
Every product or service needs to get their name out there to some degree. Your team or organization is no different! But unlike a new movie or a new outlet store, advertising in sports has so much more opportunity to be had. Sports advertising agencies can help you take your business to the next level!
Branding
Creating and crafting a recognizable name brand is an important part of any company! Sports advertising agencies are the experts at getting your name out there. Your brand is an integral part of creating a fan base, and fans are the name of the game in any sport. A dedicated fan base is the fastest way to monetize your team’s name. Sports advertising agencies will be able to advise you on how best to represent your brand, and they will come up with creative and effective strategies on where and when to use your own name to your advantage.
Media Engagement
Media is everywhere in our world, from bus stop ads and TV commercials to social media. But it isn’t enough to just bombard your fans and slap your team logo everywhere anymore. As with many other things in life, it’s not the size of your advertising campaigns, but how you use it. Sports advertising agencies are the experts who can show you how to skillfully and effectively use media to boost your brand.
Sports advertising agencies will definitely come up with marketing strategies that best suit your brand, but more importantly, they’ll create something tailored to your fans. An advertising agency’s job is to do more than just get your name out there, they have to set out to engage with your fans. They might create a more friendly social media presence on Facebook or Twitter rather than a more business-like approach so that your followers will have fun interacting with your organization. They may suggest more tongue-in-cheek advertising that pokes fun at the sport or rival teams, or they might go more for a hard-hitting action-packed type of ad campaign. And they will definitely ensure that, if your team does anything positive in the local community, the best news coverage will be there to cover it.
Networking
Everyone knows that it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Networking is an absolutely critical part of growing and supporting your organization, and sports advertising agencies will help get you there. Their expertise will prove invaluable in the networking game. Established agencies will have access to so many more people than your team by itself, and introductions open doors.
Depending on your sport and local environments, venues might be a competitive situation. Cold calling venue owners can often be a non-starter because it’s really easy to just hang up or ignore someone who is randomly calling your office. An introduction from sports advertising agencies who know the owners professionally can definitely increase the attention your organization is given, and get them to take a much more favorable look at you and your team.
Just as you are trying to grow your own brand, other businesses are out to do the same. Other businesses are out there that want to attach themselves to your brand for a mutual benefit. Sports advertising agencies will be able to navigate the sponsorship and marketing deals between yourself and your possible sponsors. They’ll know who likely sponsors are, and they’ll know which ones to approach. They will also know what level of relationship is the most appropriate between you and your sponsors, particularly regarding how visible they should be on your team’s brand. Fans don’t have a problem with sponsorships, but they don’t want it to look like a fast-food corporation owns your team, either.
Loyal Fans
Sports are in a class of their own when it comes to advertising, they’re not like other products. Sports teams can have almost worshiping fan bases, so your brand can succeed independent of your team’s performance—especially with regards to local teams. People are going to cheer and support their team, even if they are having a bad season. Customers of an electronics brand might find one they like better and switch; customers of a clothing brand might find another that fits more comfortably. Sports fans have their team. They’re die-hard fans. This opens up unique opportunities to take advantage of, and sports advertising agencies will help you recognize them and help you successfully market your team so you can get back to winning the game itself.
Weibo Advertising: Tips for Maximizing Results
Weibo, formerly known as Sina Weibo, is a Chinese social media site very similar to Twitter. It is the biggest social media site and app in china. Initially, like Twitter, Weibo has a 140 character limit. But now the limit has been extended to 2000.
Although it is compared to Twitter, Weibo advertising (adstochina.westwin.com/Weibo-advertising) is a much better platfor. This is because they boast of a total of almost a billion users, out of which over 520 million are active every month.
This is why Weibo is one of the best social media platforms for advertisements, especially for foreign businesses. Weibo lets companies advertise by targeting any following- electronic devices, age, location, interests, and age. Advertising on Weibo is also inexpensive.
Weibo also has an advertisement platform known as ‘Fan connect.’
The platform also has a feature that is very beneficial for businesses. When a user likes or shares a Fan Connect ad or comments on it, the user’s friends also see the ad on their feed. It has been seen that social media users in China would prefer a business if their friend likes or supports it.
For successful advertising on Weibo, follow the given suggestions, and you’re sure to get a great promotion on the platform.
- Make Your Weibo Profile Page Attractive:
A profile page is the first thing users see. The page is a representative of the business’s products, ideology, and creativity. The design of the page must align with your brand and your product. The page should be such that users wish to explore and follow it. Weibo offers several free design formats, or you can design your own.
- Create Creative Content for Weibo Advertising:
A page must have creative and interactive content for its followers. Ensure that your posts are respectful of China, its culture, and its citizens. Make your content entertaining for the current and new followers. You can employ search engine optimization on your posts or hire a social media manager to curate content targeted, especially for Chinese citizens. Also, do not stick to one form of a command. Instead, post a variety of images, videos, articles, reviews, campaigns, and stories. Remember that these posts will make your products and your business popular among-st Weibo users.
- Analyse the Performance of the Posts Regularly:
Marketing and advertising on social media cannot be successful without careful analysis of the posts’ progress. You must monitor how well each post does in terms of the likes, shares, and comments it receives. Weibo has many features that allow page owners to check the level of engagement of the post. The number of words and likes determines it. Strategize the future content based on this analysis to ensure the successful promotion of your business.
- Tweak Your Post and Content Strategy As Per the Results of the Analysis:
Research and figure out the type of posts your target customers like to view. It will help you, garner followers. Social media marketing is all about how many real followers your page has. Interesting content could also garner social media influencers’ interest, also known as Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). These KOLs and promotion through KOLs are very beneficial for businesses as they have many dedicated followers.
- Use and Even Create Hashtags:
The social media platforms use hashtags (#xyz) to link up public posts about a common topic of discussion. Clicking on a hashtag allows users to view all available content on that specific topic. It is advisable to use hashtags to advertise your product as this will enable users to find them easily. You can use pre-generated hashtags or create hashtags related to your product.
- Update Your Page Frequently:
Keeping your page up-to-date is essential for a successful promotion. Post interesting, eye-catching, or relatable content on your page often for the users to view, like, and share.
- Connect with Your Followers by Responding to their Comments and Queries:
Customers appreciate businesses that are polite and responsive. Ensure that you or a member of your team answers any questions in the comments or through direct messages. Acknowledge the users who comment excellent and positive feedback on your posts.
- Utilize Demographics
Ensure that the content you’re creating and posting is relatable and exciting for your target customers. Use demographics and make your ads more appealing.
- Use a Verified Account:
An account is deemed confirmed when the company checks and ensures that the business is credible. It is better to use a demonstrated history as there are many unofficial fan pages or troll and fake pages. A verified account makes your business appear trustworthy.
- Be Innovative
Innovation is the key to good advertising. Try new ways to showcase your product. Weibo advertising is quite creative and ever-evolving.
What Can an Ad Agency Specializing in Financial Services Offer You?
Money truly makes the world go ‘round. Everybody makes money, everybody spends money, and eventually, everybody runs into a problem with money. Bad fortune can happen to anyone, rich or poor, for any number of reasons and without any notice. An unforeseen hospital bill or funeral expenditure can empty your accounts in an instant, which can often cause you to resort to making snap decisions you could later regret. Consulting ad agencies specializing in financial services can help prevent you from making any mistakes when it comes to your advertising expenses.
Fortunately for all of us, there is a wide array of financial services available for all of life’s monetary contingencies. There are loan consolidators for those who are looking to fix bad credit due to a wayward debt; there are credit agencies that can help you raise a dented credit score; there are brokers to help guide us through tough insurance and stock buying decisions; and there are ad agencies specializing in financial services for financial agencies who need marketing help.
Marketing for Financial Services
Of course, getting those in need to consult a financial services company is a task in itself. Like all other services, financial service companies are competing with each other in an often-heated market, and it is up to each one to make themselves distinct from the crowd. Standing out effectively often requires cunning, creative ad campaigns that grab and keep a potential client’s attention turned toward your service, and the most effective way to make it happen is to seek out help from ad agencies specializing in financial services.
Ad agencies specializing in financial services can be a game changer, making the difference between keeping a small client base and experiencing steady growth. For the financial services entrepreneur, ad agencies specializing in financial services can be of valuable assistance in a number of surprising ways.
What Ad Agencies Specializing in Financial Services Can Do for You
1: Knowledge of The Particulars of Your Clientele
Often, creative marketing tactics will be geared toward broad consumption. In cases like clothing or restaurants, usually uplifting, fun advertising campaigns that illuminate happiness can be very effective, appealing to a broad range of people of all demographics, old and young, and across the income spectrum. Financial services can be a little trickier in the marketing department. A financier’s target demographic is not broad, but is actually relegated to a target audience of educated people who are keen to organization. Ad agencies specializing in financial services can tell you that everyday marketing tactics will often not suffice for this target demographic.
This is a key area where ad agencies specializing in financial services differ from their consumer marketing counterparts: teams that specialize in financial services marketing are trained in the specifics of appealing to the right demographic in clear terms, and without having to resort to vague appeals to emotion, which are likely to turn off this client base.
2: Create a Proper Marketing Strategy.
Just as the client base of a financial service differs from that of the broad market, so does the marketing strategy. Marketing specifically for financial services narrows down the set of avenues available for effective marketing. Making use of ad agencies specializing in financial services gives you an edge in marketing with the backing of an experienced team that can coach on the difference between proven marketing strategies in finance and advertising non-starters.
3: Refining and Segmenting Your Target Clientele.
Even though a target base for financial services is much more specific than for most consumer services, it can still itself be a broad base comprising several different categories. As a financial services advisor, ad agencies specializing in financial services can help you work around the differences within your client base. Like any other market, there are ways of segmenting your base to account for trends in age, gender, education level, income, occupation, whether your clients have children, and so on. Having this information makes it much easier to appeal to your audience’s majority share, whether you have to market to boomers or millennials, or to industry workers or businesspeople.
4: Growing Your Potential Base.
One of the most important – if not the most important – functions of a marketing agency is to help grow your client base. For financiers, this is where ad agencies specializing in financial services comes in handy. Having a proper strategy in place and an effective advertising campaign, ad agencies specializing in financial services can be used to track growth, measuring the efficacy of the campaign.