Tag: online business

The Era of Digital Marketing

Almost 60 percent of the world population has access to the internet, which accounts for 4.66 billion active internet users in the year 2021. With the help of internet we can pay our bills, shop online, book tickets, even get an academic degree and much more. The possibilities are endless.

Other than that people also use internet as a medium of recreation such as for watching videos, playing games and most importantly spending their time on social media. In today’s time, an average internet user spends 7 hours of their day scrolling social media, answering emails, browsing websites for information, content, so on and so forth. Gone are the days when people had to physically travel to get their work done or just for entertainment. Now, everything is a click away, be it an important payment, or learning a skill, or playing any games.

The internet revolution also gave rise to a lot of industries and one such industry is of digital marketing. The rise in people buying smartphones and computers has essentially increased the numbers of people on the internet, and hence the era of digital marketing is growing at a phenomenal pace.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing refers to a branch of marketing at caters to use the internet and other online technologies such as mobile phones, desktop computers and other digital channels such as search engines, social media, websites, email, etc., to sell or promote their products or services. The development of digital marketing goes hand in hand with technology. Digital marketing is considered to offers a wider range of pros as compared to traditional marketing.

  • Digital marketing helps in targeting the required audience.
  • Digital marketing is more economical.
  • Digital marketing allows marketers to track the performance of the products or services, in every way possible.

However, in spite of the rise in digital marketing, traditional marketing still play an important role.

Digital Marketing and Online business

Online business is the first thing that comes to our mind when we think of digital marketing. As the digital era is growing, the need for offline businesses to also have an online portal signifies the power, digital marketing holds. Digital marketing offers small scale businesses to reach maximum number of people without investing a lot on advertising.

During the pandemic, there has been a rise in the number of small businesses, and their primary way of promoting their business has been on social media by creating content, such as posting photos, reels and so on. If a particular reel or photos gains popularity, this would mean more customer interaction and eventually will lead to more selling of the product or service.

Jeff Bezos once said, “It’s hard to find things that won’t sell online.”

Digital Marketing as a career choice

Digital marketing has been growing at an unprecedented rate and the growth is an ever expanding one. And it only makes sense to invest in a career that yields lucrative results. The most convincing part of digital marketing is that, it is for everyone. No degree is required, just a bit of creativity and passion for marketing, that will help strive for a successful digital marketing career.

Digital marketing can get as specialised as social media marketing to email marketing, SEO, etc., and can be an all-encompassing field as well, which also benefits entrepreneurs to propagate their own ventures. The possibilities are never ending. Hence, choosing digital marketing as a career option can be called a safe bet.

Digital marketing as an industry is here to stay, and it would ripe benefits if used to its fullest content. The era of digital marketing is at its glory and its never too late to be a part of it.

The impact of Social Media Influencers on Sales

The way social media influencers directly or indirectly influence publicity and promotion somehow also influence the sales of a brand. Some of the ways in which social media influencers impact sales are:

1. Help in Consumer Research Phase:

Nowadays, market is mostly “consumer-oriented”. Consumers search and research, read reviews about a brand and hence they want someone trusted and experts who will voice their opinions, concerns and recommendations. Influencers play a vital role in spreading the word of mouth and recommendations thereby increasing sales.

2.Help in increasing Return on Investment:

Social Media Influencers help in achieving a relatively high Return on Investments than other factors. It is because of low capital investment. Other forms of advertisement or marketing tools require huge capital whereas dealings with Social media Influencer can be fixed just on a simple phone call.

3.Content Creation helps in increased Sales:

Influencers create meaningful and exciting content that sometimes evoke interest in the viewer to buy the product. Apart from this, Influencers also work on multiple social media accounts and this helps them to reach wide and diverse audience. This is also very helpful for increasing sales in a business.

In a recent survey by Mediakix, a famous influencer marketing agency, about 89% of respondents say Return on Investment from Social Media Influencers is better than other channels.

In another survey by Tint, 71% of respondents told that they rely on social media referrals for purchase decisions.

Some Examples:

1) Glossier, USA.

The USA based beauty brand has built its brand image by entirely relying on Social Media Influencers and other forms of digital marketing. They rely heavily on influencers as they send new products to influencers before the products are even launched so that influencers identify the flaws and suggest improvements (if they require) and thereafter the brand makes the changes accordingly.

2)Daniel Wellington, Sweden

This company was able to tap the “business opportunity” and it proved out to be quite fruitful for them. They broke into the Indian market by solely relying on Social Media Influencers. It is a watch brand company sends its new products to big social media influencers in India and enjoys extreme profits and sales. They were able to see India as a good market due to the country’s vast population.

Conclusion:

Social Media Influencer marketing or the Influencer marketing has become the fastest growing trend in communication in last few years. The key factors involved to be a good influencer are trust and credibility in the message. Latest studies and research have proved that social media influencers contribute to a business’s growth in a very positive manner in terms of promotion, publicity, sales and ROI. Many assume this marketing tool is temporary and will extinct in few years, however only time can say it.

Twitter vs Instagram. What’s better for business?

Before we get into the details about marketing on Twitter and Instagram, let us learn quickly about some of the key features of both Twitter as well as Instagram.
Twitter was launched in 2006 whereas Instagram was founded in 2010. As of 2020, there are 1.3 billion twitter accounts out of which only 330 million are monthly active users globally whereas there are 1.2 billion Instagram accounts out of which 1 billion are monthly active users globally.


About 293 million Instagram users are aged between 15 and 24 and 338 million users are aged between 25 and 34. Talking about Twitter, 80% of its global population is below 50 years old. Twitter ranks slightly behind Instagram when it comes to users 60+ users.

When it comes to the worldwide gender split, about 51% of Instagram users are female and 49% are male and when we talk about Twitter 62% are male and 38% are female. 85% of India’s Twitter audience is male, ranking the country third highest for male-to-female ratio.

With the help of the above graphs, we come to know that Laos has highest female ratio when it comes to Instagram and for Twitter its Philippines with highest female ratio.

1. USER ENGAGEMENT REACH

One of the commonality between Instagram and Twitter is that maximum of their active users are aged between 18 and 29. And if a business is looking for a young audience, then surely it has to select both Instagram and Twitter.
From the above two graphs, it is quite evident that user traffic is much higher on Instagram than any other platform.
However, it is important to note that maximum Twitter users are inactive and Instagram users are mostly active with over 500 million people using Instagram daily whereas only 330 million Twitter users are active monthly. So if a new business wants to enter the market and wants easy and quick promotion, Instagram is a better option any day.

2. Sales

Instagram has separate business profiles specifically for collaborations and business deals. Email, contact number can be directly attached on profiles whereas same does not happen with Twitter.
Another important characteristic where Instagram leads over Twitter is its “Trackable” feature. Sales and Leads can be tracked through Instagram Advertisements and hence we can see clear Return on Investment.

According to Shopify, an e-commerce platform, average price tag for a sale referred from Instagram is $65 and it is $55 for Facebook and $46 for Twitter.
With Instagram settings, we can link our profile to other social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter but the same is not possible with Twitter and this can indirectly help in increasing sales.

Instagram being a more visual platform with variety of formats available is doing better than Twitter in driving sales.
In the graph below, it is found that traffic on Instagram is more than Twitter. So it is obvious, Instagram is ahead of Twitter when it comes to generating sales.

It is also important to note that Sales on social media platforms also depend on the country and the business field one is in.
After analysing the below three graphs, we will be able to understand that it is better to avoid using any of these applications for our business if our target audience is not into these fields and countries.

3) Return on Investment

Providing a link on our Instagram bio can fetch a lot of traffic and doing the same on our Tweets would also increase our traffic. Making good investment on Instagram sponsor advertisements and Twitter advertisement also increases our user traffic dramatically as Twitter shows our advertisements on “TRENDS” while Instagram shows our advertisements on stories.
Mostly, influencers prefer Instagram over any other platform since it is easy to handle and even users like Instagram posts as compared to other formats. And at the end all a business wants to do is to increase sales and earn profits. This is possible more on Instagram due to its unique yet diverse formats, high user engagement and efficient promotional techniques, so definitely ROI is bound to be more in Instagram than on Twitter.

Also, as mentioned before, Instagram Business profiles provide each and every detail about insights, engagements, and sales and as a result it gives better information regarding ROI in comparison to Twitter.
Two examples of Sales Tracking, User Enagagement and ROI information are given below.

Conclusion: Both Instagram and Twitter are doing well when it comes to marketing strategy and business. If we talk about situation half a decade ago, Twitter was leading but in 2020, Instagram is unbeatable winner.
Growth of the business also depends on the industry, for example fashion industry will do better on Instagram while News Industry will do better on Twitter.

Advantages of Online Business

With the development and growth of technology in today’s world, people go for much easier and faster ways to do absolutely anything. Nowadays everything can be easily done with just some clicks here and there. From paying your bills to shopping for your birthday, from wanting to eat a small burger to planning a huge party, almost every single thing is possible online. 

Do you want an Android mobile phone, or do you want a flight ticket to go meet your family? Name it and you got it. Are you still stuck in your mind thinking “Should I start a business online?” If yes, then go nowhere else. We are here to clear your doubts about it and persuade you to just go for it. So yes, you should do business online. Now let’s see why. 

Why Should You Do Business Online? 

We will tell you all about why to start a business online. We are going to shoot you some persuasive points to start a business online. 

  1. Extremely inexpensive

When starting it will be a little expensive but just to fuel the process. Once you have started an online store or maybe an online blog, then you just need a website with a domain name and your business will take off in no time.

  1. Flexibility of time

Depending on the type of online business you wish to start, you will have the flexibility of time and work. You can choose what time of the day you want to work. But this does not mean you relax all the time thinking it is going well. You need to work according to what your business requires. But you can do that at your own convenient time.

  1. Choose your location

In an online business, you are not forced to sit at a desk all the time. You can work from the comfort of your home. You don’t need to spend hours daily stuck in traffic to reach your office or you don’t need to ask for a weekend off to go for a trip with your family. You have the freedom to choose from where you want to work.

  1. Huge income and growth potential

Before starting an online business you should know that your income won’t be defined by the number of hours you work. It solely depends on the amount of progress and productivity of your work. Try to work on the important parts and reduce your time of work. The main focus should be on consistency. Unlike those 9 to 5 office jobs, online business runs even when you relax for some time.

Photo by Michael Burrows on Pexels.com
  1. In action all the time

Online businesses can run all 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It does not require you always hovering over your screen to work all the time. Keep track of what important is going on and relax for a bit. It provides the owner, flexibility in how they want to work.

  1. Outsourcing your work

As you grow in your online business, begin to earn some money you can start to outsource your work to other contractors or hire them. You can also hire some employees to help you ahead in your journey. Outsourcing work does not cost a lot of money instead it helps you grow your business more and at significantly higher levels.

  1. Focus on important things

One of the most useful perks of starting a business online is that it allows you to focus on the most important aspects of your life rather than just working 24/7. You can build a platform for yourself by sharing your information and ideas with like-minded people. You can spend quality time with your friends and family. You can also guide other individuals thinking of starting an online business too.

  1. Creates long term financial security

An online business that you started just as an experiment of a new thing, can be grown to become a stable, well-established business in the market. It can become your main source of revenue as well. It will provide you with financial security for a longer period than you expected. And not just one, you can add more businesses along the way.

  1. Less overhead and financial commitment

To start a business, people usually take loans, property leases are signed, and what not is done to start the business. But the advantage of online business is that it requires a less overhead and financial commitment. This is also a great path for young entrepreneurs to chase their passion and find stability at a young age.

  1.  Easy to excel

 It has become much easier to be successful in online businesses than it is in others. There is much scope in many different types of businesses around the world. 

There, you have it. You have now got all the motivation you need to start an online business. Make sure to keep these points in mind whenever you have doubts about starting an online business. Hope we threw away the question from your mind. Now, what do you say? Should you start a business online? We hope you got the correct answer. Yes, go for it!

Retargeting versus Remarketing: The Subtle Distinctions

Introduction

Many of us, while scrolling through the labyrinth of the Internet, have come across an advertisement about some product that we had checked out recently. Many assume it to be a coincidence, but is it really so? The online marketing strategists say otherwise. This is, what in common knowledge, known as retargeting, (or remarketing).

Retargeting vs Remarketing

Retargeting (or remarketing) is a very feasible way of advertisement in present times. In this form of online advertisement, the people who already have had some sort of previous interaction with the concerned brand or website are the part of the ‘target audience’. Hence the ‘re’ prefix in the term. The companies prefer this tactic for the better calculation and planning data it provides.

Both retargeting and remarketing serve a very similar purpose, and hence, used interchangeably, but there are differences in their core principles, in terms of:

1. Audience

Retargeting mainly looks over the target audience, which includes anyone who has visited the website or any related product page, including for random surfing, price comparison etc.People see ads of the website or product they visited; the agenda behind this is to remind the audience of their interest in that particular product or service.

On the other hand, remarketing is for a more specific audience, also known as the custom audience. They are those people who have already shown their interest in some products by adding the item(s) in their cart, or have purchased something previously from the website. This audience is more likely to avail the services the host has to offer, and so, the companies approach them with different, yet more persuasive tactics.

2.Means of Marketing

Retargeting uses the cookies on the websites pages to assemble a list of potential customers. The audience is reminded about the website via static(pop up ads) or dynamic(ad videos) means.

Remarketing takes this a step forward and is mainly characterized by generating Emails regarding discounts, offers on the carted items, making it seem like a good deal to the customers. Buyers also have some ground level experience to rely on and hence, are more susceptible to indulge in the given offers.

Modes of Payment

ROI (Revenue on Investment) in an essential factor to consider while advertising. To make a net profit, the income must be more than the investment. One of the major investment on a product is on its marketing. And retargeting has very economic way of payments. Some of them are:

CPM (Cost Per Mille): It is the most common form of pricing, and is calculated on the basis of every thousand impressions served

CPC (Cost Per Click): In this tactic, cost is charged to the investing company on the basis of per ad clicked on.

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): Here, the advertisers are charged on the achievement of the pre decided acquisition action.

In case of remarketing, advertisers adjust their campaigns on the basis of who does or does not opens the email. This is also termed as email retargeting. The purpose of this system is to weed out the uninterested people, and in turn increasing the number of potential buyers. 

Advantages of Online Marketing

  • It is easier and subtle to pitch ads for audience consideration.
  • Unnecessary costs can be reduced
  • The extent of advertisement is vast
  • Peer advertisement is a explorable option
  • Customer and potential customer database is easy to avail

With all the above considerations, it is often advised that remarketing and retargeting, as a whole should be used in tandem with each other to achieve optimum results. And other marketing tactics can also be implemented accordingly.

7 Online Business Anyone Can Start (No Scam No Investment)

Earning money has always been associated with and restricted to traditional ‘offline’ route. With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking to ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

However, you should be careful of the platform that you opt for. While there are numerous ways to earn money online, some of these might be fake, thus taking you for a ride. Also, do not expect to earn a huge amount quickly when using online avenues.

1- TEESPRING

Teespring is a free platform that lets you create and sell over 50 kinds of products with no upfront cost or risk. We handle everything, from printing to shipping to customer service. Teespring is for everyone—from entrepreneurs looking to start their own online business, to Creators wanting to offer awesome merch to their fans, to charities looking for a hassle-free way to raise funds, and everyone in between.

Use Teespring tools like stores, promotion codes, buyer messaging, and more to maximize your sales! We can even list your products within the most powerful global marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and more through Teespring’s Boosted Network.

How do I make money using Teespring?

You choose the selling price and profit for all of your products. When a product sells you get to keep the profit. For example, the base cost of a t-shirt is $10 and your selling price is $24; when you sell a shirt you will earn $14. Once the orders are processed your profit will be available for withdrawal in the Payouts section of your Teespring account. Don’t forget the more you sell the more profit you can earn per product per month.

2- Merch by Amazon

Basically, if you have 100 t-shirts in your account, you could expect to make about … This is a conservative estimate, about $150 a month. If you have 1,000 t-shirts in your account, you can expect to make maybe $1,500 a month. If you have 8,000 t-shirts in your account, you could expect to make about $12,000 a month.

Merch by Amazon is a very cool startup type program by Amazon. It is a pod program where you can sell tshirts, sweatshirts and hoodies in USA. Anyone can participate as long as you have payoneer. For Indians, there is a 15% tax on earnings. (No wonder taxation is theft as we have to pay tax on those earnings in India as well. But then IRS are a bunch of thieves)

3- REDBUBBLE

The designers earn royalties from the sale of their creations. They receive a percentage of the profit and the rest of the funds account for the fee paid to Redbubble and the manufacture of the merchandise. The site then handles the inventory and shipping transactions on your behalf.

The designers earn royalties from the sale of their creations. They receive a percentage of the profit and the rest of the funds account for the fee paid to Redbubble and the manufacture of the merchandise. The site then handles the inventory and shipping transactions on your behalf

4- UDEMY

One of the best features of selling classes on Udemy is the fact that it can become an excellent source of passive income. Once you create and post a course, it can earn you money for a long time without additional work. It just might take more work to market your course to potential students.

For example if a student purchases your course using an Instructor Coupon code, either from promotions to your own audience (e.g., your email list or YouTube subscribers) you can make 97% revenue share. Alternatively if the course is sold via an Affiliate, the split is 50% affiliate, 25% Instructor and 25% Udemy.

5- AFFILIATED MARKETING

Affiliate marketing is one of the oldest marketing practice which gains affiliates a commission in the case of sale based on the affiliate’s recommendation. It is one of the cheapest and easiest ways of marketing as you don’t need to create and sell a product. Just one thing you need to do is to enable a linked connection between buyer and seller and take your commission when the sale is made.

As you see, affiliate marketing is a passive income source. It is highly competitive it is true but still it may be so easy to make money online with affiliate marketing. To be successful, you need to learn what works and what doesn’t while promoting your products.

There are many affiliate marketing works. So, you need to be patient. You can feed your website with qualified content to get high ranking positions and raise awareness, attend affiliate marketing events, seminars or webinars and join a discussion forum or online communities to meet new people. All make a great contribution to develop you. Naturally after these contributions you will be more passionate to make money from affiliate programs. If you are patient enough you will make money with affiliate programs. 

6- YOUTUBE AFFILIATED MARKETING

You can make money on YouTube by doing affiliate marketing, which is including links to products you review and use in your videos that will track a purchase. If someone makes a purchase using your affiliate link, you receive a small commission for the sale.

Another thing about affiliate marketing is the payout percentages as well as how these people track your viewers who are clicking on these links. Every time someone clicks on one of your special tracking affiliate links, a little cookie is put onto that person’s computer to track what they purchase. The best part about the cookies is that if you link to a specific product, they don’t have to purchase that product. Anything they purchase on that website, you get commissions for. So they could click over with your affiliate link and that cookie and decide not to purchase that, but purchase a whole bunch of other things, and you get paid commission off it.

7- EBATES REFERRALS

You can still make money without a blog! In fact, you can make some major coin with the Rakuten Referral Program simply by inviting friends and family, using your social media networks to the fullest – including Pinterest – and even promoting in neighborhood groups and forums.

Have friends and family share your link. If you are saving for something special, and they feel like they can be a part of it, they will likely glady share the opportunity with their followers.

Of course, using the strategies above won’t hurt either. Pay special attention to numbers 3 through 5 and remember – have fun with it, but own it!