The good news is that getting loyal customers is not that hard. In fact, 56% of customers are ready to spend more money on brands they are loyal to, even if there are cheaper alternatives. 

Thankfully, there is an easy solution to creating a loyal customer base. All you need to do is build an adequate loyalty program, and people will start following. Actually, this will not only build you a loyal customer base but will also help increase your reach and boost your sales. 71% of Gen Xers, 70% of Millennials, 63% of Baby Boomers, and around 62% of Gen Z customers say they would choose a brand with a loyalty system over one without such. 

So, needless to say, you need a Loyalty program. Now, let’s talk about what a Loyalty program is, what types there are, and how to build one that will secure all the benefits. 

What is a customer loyalty program?

As the name suggests, a loyalty program is a system that rewards your customers for their loyalty. In essence, you stimulate them to take different actions by giving them additional benefits like discounts, exclusive access to products or services, or others. 

Many coffee shops that value their customers offer a stamping card with the promise that every tenth cup of coffee will be free. This may sound like a waste of money to some business owners. But a cup of coffee every now and then will pledge you a customer’s loyalty, which is essential for a business in a highly competitive niche as operating a coffee shop. This way, you push your customer to disregard convenience and choose practicality. Thus, the coffee shop will retain a valuable customer, who will continue spending with them for at least another 9 coffees.

The rewards are usually based on a point system, where each point gets you closer to the desired prize. The program will increase your sales among your customers without fail, as buyers tend to spend more and do it more frequently. 

Of course, you are not creating a loyalty program out of the goodness of your heart. You are doing it because it’s highly beneficial to your business in more than one way. 

Why do you need a loyalty program?

A customer loyalty program is not just a whim. It’s a secure way to ensure your customers will remain engaged and will come back for more. From the outside, it may look like you are wasting money, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, you are investing in several benefits that will bring you exponentially more profits in the long run. 

Better customer retention

88% of customers who feel appreciated will stay loyal to a brand. Additionally, 83% of customers will spend more on a brand they are loyal to. This means that a loyalty program will not only increase your customer retention drastically but also increase the customer lifetime value (CLTV). Done right, a loyalty program can hook a customer for the long run, make them happier, and build your own unique relationship with the set customer. 

It’s highly cost-effective

Usually, businesses calculate the customer’s value by subtracting the CLTV from the Customer acquisition cost. Many companies, especially with low-price products, often spend more on acquiring a customer than they gain from a single purchase. Thus, retention is a must. A research has shown that acquiring a new customer is between 5-25 times more expensive than providing your customers with additional value.

Thus, loyalty programs are far more cost-effective than constantly producing ads or brand awareness campaigns. A single discount card will do wonders for customer retention, provided you satisfy the customer’s expectations in the first place. 

More reviews

Customer reviews, as you already know from our dedicated article, are essential to your business’s success. They boost your SEO, impact your sales, skyrocket your credibility, give your products invaluable social proof, and attract attention. So, a customer loyalty program that will incentivize writing reviews will bring a lot of value for what’s essentially a small gift. 

More customer referrals

A good loyalty program spreads like wildfire. Your customers will always brag about the great deals they land. Offering them a loyalty reward that will make them feel valued will certainly push them to tell their friends and family. Many novice business owners entirely disregard the power of word-of-mouth marketing. However, this type of advertising currently drives nearly 6 trillion dollars of customer spending per year. Not to mention, every person is about 90% more likely to trust a brand recommended by a friend or family member. 

What types of loyalty programs are there?

There are several types of loyalty programs, each one working best for different types of products and services. Naturally, the loyalty program type you choose depends heavily on your desired outcome. 

Point-based programs

By far, it is the most common type of loyalty program. Its cost-effectiveness is unparalleled, as customers receive points for every purchase. This means they get rewards based on how much they have already spent. After the loyal customer has acquired some points, they can exchange them for a reward. Typically, the rewards are freebies, discounts, or exclusive experiences and offers. 

Most often, these points have an expiration date. Naturally, this incentivizes customers to spend more in a predetermined period. For example, you can offer a 90% discount on Black Friday if a customer has 100 points. If they get 10 points on every 100 dollars spent, they will have to pay 1000 dollars to earn the 90% off reward. Of course, don’t take this example point blank. As you will see in a bit, building a successful loyalty program strategy needs more than copying a template.

Starbucks is an excellent example of a point-based program. Their customers get points (“stars”) for various reasons, such as purchasing food or drinks, installing their app, or other special activities. Once they get enough points, they can exchange them for a free drink, some food items, priority in mobile ordering, and even a free birthday drink.  

Tier-based programs

This type of program divides customers based on their purchasing habits. For example, if someone buys your product 3 times monthly, they get into the first tier. If they purchase it six times, they get into the second tier. For nine or more purchases – they go to tier three. Naturally, each tier offers exceedingly more lucrative benefits. For example, tier one may receive a 10% discount, while tier two receives 25%. Tier three, in this case, will receive 40%. This way, you incentivize your customers to spend more regularly on your products. 

Hotels and airlines most often use this strategy. They successfully managed to implement several tiers. Marriott Bonvoy, for example, offers six tiers of loyalty benefits. The first one is the basic benefits like free Wi-Fi and point earning. The second one offers Bonus points, room upgrades, and early check-in/late checkout. The highest sixth tier offers the first- and second-tier bonuses plus lounge access, a complimentary continental breakfast option, personalized welcome gifts, guaranteed Platinum upgrade, and bonus points on all eligible spending and all bonuses from previous tiers.

Cashback program

This program is often associated with credit cards and other banking and financial services. However, it can be implemented in various other niches. This loyalty program aims to push customers to reach a certain spending. For example, if you spend 200 dollars, you will get 10% back. This means that the customer will actually spend 180, but if the average spend before the loyalty program was 150 dollars, that’s a 30-dollar increase in your revenue. As you can see, this is a great way to boost your customer value. To top it all off, you can give back the cash in the form of a gift card, which will ultimately end up back to you. 

Rakuten’s loyalty program is a great example. The program offers cashback percentages on purchases made through their platform at thousands of partnered retailers. Users earn cashback simply by clicking through the Rakuten website or app before purchasing at selected stores. Essentially, they offer immediate value through tangible cash rewards, cater to the convenience of online shopping, and provide a seamless user experience. Most importantly, they offer a passive reward for customers using their platform by giving them back a percentage of the spending in PayPal or a gift card. 

Paid program

This program requires people to request to join and actively pay a subscription fee. As you can imagine, this program must give exceptional additional value to customers; otherwise, they will simply disregard it. Naturally, the benefits of such a loyalty program should be on par with the payment. 

Amazon Prime is a great example. The annual subscription is quite expensive, currently at about $140. However, it offers some pretty sweet benefits to the users. They offer free two-day shipping, free same-day delivery, free release-date delivery, free no-rush delivery, or choosing a weekly delivery day. Moreover, loyal customers get streaming services, free music, and games, along with the opportunity to borrow ebooks and audiobooks from a rotating selection of titles, unlimited photo storage, exclusive deals, and so much more. 

So, if you are going to use paid programs, you better make sure the deal is lucrative enough. 

Coalition programs

This program is ideal for those who operate in more than one niche. This way, you can offer points, which the customer may redeem at various locations. For example, if you provide boilers, furniture, carpets, woodwork, and other home decorations, a purchase in one of your businesses can translate into a discount at any other location. This will promote your other businesses and make sure a client won’t stray from your reach, regardless of their needs. 

This can also be done as a collaboration between various small businesses that aim to boost their customer base. 

Gamified programs

The gamified programs use game mechanics, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, to motivate customers to engage with the program. Casinos and retailers most commonly use those types of loyalty programs. You can add a simple game like spinning the wheel and receiving a reward based on what you get. It actually enhances the customer’s engagement and experience, which is a win-win. 

Though there are other types of loyalty programs out there, those are the basic five, which are most commonly used and have a proven record of bringing success. Regardless, creating a unique loyalty program is not out of the question. On the contrary, building a great loyalty program requires a healthy dose of innovation. But before you get there, you must still follow the 10 steps of creating a genuinely astounding loyalty program. 

How do you create a great loyalty program?

Creating a successful loyalty program is not an easy task. It requires time, tests, and, above all, a lot of data and analysis. So, let’s start from the very top. 

Be creative with the name

This may sound like a dumb place to start, but the name of your program is everything. If you think about it, every loyalty program has a great, brandable, and catchy name. It’s the flagship of your brand. It’s the place where your loyal customers will gather. So, take your time and try to think of a catchy name with a dose of humor representing your brand, style, and values. Also, try to add some powerful words, like exclusive, royal, and ambassador. Naming your loyalty program simply “Brand name loyalty program” shows a lack of imagination. Thus, even though your benefits may be great, you will miss the opportunity to get even more customers. 

Analyze your customer’s behavior

Well, the name might be the most important aspect, but a close second is whom you will be targeting with this loyalty program. You need to know your customers inside and out. You must understand what drives them to purchase, what makes them hesitate, what is most important to them in their customer journey, and how you can improve their experience with a loyalty program. For example, you need to know your average CLTV, how much a customer spends on a single purchase on average, at what stage of the customer journey they are ready to purchase, what their feedback is, and whether it was an impulsive purchase or whether it was a calculated one. Answering all these questions and more will give you invaluable insight into your customers’ behavior and how to manipulate their actions with your loyalty program. 

Define the program’s goals 

Next in line is defining the goals of the program. Just like with anything else, the point of loyalty programs is to enhance your business in some way. So, determining the goal is the cornerstone of creating a successful campaign, which will deliver success.

One of the most common goals of a loyalty program is to increase CLTV. However, there might be other aims as well. For example, you might want to boost your credibility by receiving more reviews. Or you might want to increase the average spending on single purchases. You can even aim to generate more money for charity. Defining your goal will allow you to make the correct decisions in the rest of the points on this list. 

Choose the loyalty program type that fits your business.

Once you have done your homework, it’s time to decide on your loyalty program type. Now, you can mix and match all sorts of types or come up with a unique way to engage your loyal customers. Still, make sure your loyalty program fits your business and your customer’s expectations. For example, a paid loyalty program on an e-commerce brand offering second-hand products is not customer-friendly. If someone is willing to buy a second-hand item, they clearly don’t have excess money to spend. So, instead, give them a cashback, which will be far more valuable to them. 

Personalize the loyalty program

As we’ve discussed multiple times in our 2024 trends series, personalization will be huge. So, naturally, the same goes for loyalty programs. For example, if a customer is interested in a particular sports equipment, like skiing, personalizing their loyalty program will lead to a much higher interest. You can even add a specific loyalty reward based on their hobby. For example, “Share a picture riding your [brand name] ski on your favorite slope, tag us, and get a 25% discount on your next purchase”. This will enhance the customer’s loyalty, boost your popularity, and drive your word-of-mouth marketing to new heights. 

Add a variety of rewards based on actions

Though your loyalty program has a primary goal, that doesn’t mean you can’t aim to cover other aspects of your business. So, make sure your loyalty program rewards your customers for more than just purchasing. For example, give a special reward for downloading your app. Give another reward for leaving a review or bringing a referral. 

Also, make sure you offer a variety of rewards. Earning just loyalty points can become boring over time. You don’t want that. You must keep your customer’s hype constant. So, it’s a good idea to add special occasions when loyal customers can earn an experience, a special offer, or anything else that will enhance their enthusiasm for participating in your loyalty program. 

Make loyalty points valuable

This should come without saying, but if you want your customers to enlist in your loyalty program, you must make it valuable. You can’t offer just a smile on the radio in exchange for their loyalty. Your customers must receive a noticeable reward. Only this will incentivize them to continue choosing you over your competitors. 

Naturally, using a cashback system is the most straightforward way to show the value of each purchase. But if you choose points as your currency, make sure to clearly state the value of each point. This way, your customers will know what they have and how much you are willing to give back. 

Go beyond monetary value

With Gen Z becoming the driving force behind the economy, the entire conversation with the customers will shift toward values. While previous generations were attracted by the best deal, the most cost-efficient choice, and all sorts of discounts, brand values are the driving force when it comes to Gen Z. This goes for loyalty programs as well. Today, around 66%  of customers are adamant that brands should have a social stand and join in the conversation of social and political topics. 

So, make sure to go beyond monetary value with your loyalty program. Add a cause that your customers can stand behind. Identify a social cause your customers feel strongly about and give them the opportunity to join your efforts in solving the problem. For example, you can create a program where a percentage of each loyalty program customer purchases goes to a particular charity. Or you can take the hands-on approach and invite your loyal customers to plant trees when they get to certain points. 

Don’t put strong barriers

Putting barriers in place for someone to join your loyalty club is not ideal. Still, if you want to claim that the club is exclusive, some sort of barrier is a must. However, even if you do put some barriers, make sure they are almost transparent. Loose barriers will retain the exclusivity notion but won’t deter customers from joining in. For example, if your customers spend on average 150 dollars, don’t make your cashback goal 500 bucks. The cashback scheme aims to push your clients to get 1 or 2 items on top, not to bleed them dry. So, make the target price 180 or 200 dollars. This way, you will convince more than a few customers to raise their spending on your website. 

Make it engaging

A loyalty program is only as good as it is engaging. After all, the main point of this system is to push users to be more engaged with your business, so it stands to reason to make the loyalty program dependent on their actions. For example, you can ask your customers to get every day in your app to gather more points. Or offer special discounts for visiting your website for 7 consecutive days. You can give bigger rewards to people who share your brand on social media. 

The only thing you need to follow is giving your customers something to do, preferably every day. The more they spend with you in their mind, the higher the chances they spend their money on your website. 

What else do you need?

Knowledge is indeed the cornerstone of creating a robust and successful loyalty program. But, of course, knowing how to build it is only the first pillar in this endeavor. A good loyalty program must have a fast, secure, and reliable infrastructure behind it. Otherwise, your efforts will simply fail. 

HostArmada is the perfect choice for anyone looking for the ideal infrastructure for their website and loyalty program. Our hosting services offer lightning-fast speed, robust and proven security features, and a 99% up-time guarantee policy. Check out our plans, and choose the one that best fits your needs. And don’t forget, a robust, secure, and fast hosting infrastructure is behind every successful online business. 

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Moreover, the industry will be worth 15.7 trillion dollars by the end of the decade. If you think that’s outlandish, just take a look at your smartphone. Whether you like it or not, if you are using a smartphone, you are most probably using Artificial intelligence as well. Actually, around 97% of users interact with AI daily.

So, the question is not whether you should use AI but how to utilize it in your best interest. Is it worth giving a shot when creating a website, and in what aspects can it reduce your work and help you create a stunning online home? In short, let’s discuss how to utilize AI when building your website.

Can AI do everything from A to Z?

Before we get started, however, let’s address the elephant in the room. You might think you can build a website just by telling an AI what to do. Wouldn’t that be something? Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. AIs are not yet smart enough to create such complex things independently. They will need your guidance and your ability to share your vision clearly. The AI will also need refined instructions on how to proceed with some aspects, as it tends to be stubborn in doing things its way or in no way.

What AI can do, however, is help you with the heavy lifting. The manual job, which usually takes days, can now be done in mere seconds.

Searching through the internet, you will find several AI-powered website builders who will promise you a great website in a few minutes only by asking you a few questions. And indeed, these are great if you have absolutely no vision whatsoever of how your website should look. However, at least for now, such platforms build generic websites that lack personality and flair. That’s enough to chase most customers away.

Still, that doesn’t mean you should entirely disregard this marvel of modern technology. On the contrary, you should take full advantage of the AI’s capabilities when building your website.

Use AI in web design

Just a few years ago, this was more like a science fiction than a reality. Today, we can bear the fruit of the tireless development of Artificial intelligence and its strive to take web designers out of business. Jokes aside, AI is far from being able to substitute an experienced web designer, but it can help first-time website owners know precisely what they want. In other words, AI is great at giving you an idea of how your website should look and what elements it should have. To top it all off, it includes complimentary color schemes that perfectly align with your brand.

In this regard, DALL-E can be of great help. Instead of souring for hours across various platforms, searching for something that might be up your niche, you simply write a simple request like, “Create a website design layout for an {industry name} in the {niche name} niche. The website is for {brand name}, and the target audience is {target audience}.” You will receive several versions of great-looking websites.

Uizard is another outstanding AI tool dedicated to creating exceptional web designs. Unlike DALL-E, it creates full-blown mockups like the one below:

Just share what you want to create, add your categories and your needs, and the AI will do the rest. You can also use screenshots or sketches of your design, and Uizard will transform them into mockups you can use for ordering a website to a designer.

Now, as you can see, these AI tools won’t build your website but will help you get a clear idea of what you want and what you have. After that, you can make it yourself on WordPress or hire a designer to do it for you.

However, before that, you will need to work on your brand.

Use AI in building your brand

Now that you have a design in mind, it’s time to improve your branding. First and foremost, you will need a logo. There are many logo generators out there. Those that are free to use are pretty good but will only generate a standard logo. It’s good enough if you are just starting, but hiring a designer for the job might be a better idea if you are dreaming of going big. Otherwise, AI generators like Looka will create a stunning and elegant logo based on several questions and preferences. The entire process takes less than 2 minutes. After that, you can get your logo for a small fee.

Smashing Logo is another great tool in this direction. It creates various types of logos based on your preferences, industry, and niche, as well as your personality. Still, in the end, if you want to get a web-ready logo, you will have to pay a hefty price. Yes, you will have it instantly, but alternatively, it won’t be any cheaper than hiring a designer on Fiverr to create one for you.

There are many more logo generators, but at least for now, they are far inferior to having a designer create your logo. Still, they are handy to give you an idea of what logo to order. However, there is a far more valuable use for AI when it comes to branding. You can use it to find your perfect target audience, determine your buyer persona, and align your brand voice and personality to your target audience’s expectations. This is invaluable for your website creation process, as it’s instrumental to building your brand personality from the very beginning. In this regard, Chat GPT and Bard are irreplaceable partners.

Use AI in creating content

Speaking of Chat GPT and Bard, they can be of great help in creating content for your website. Especially with Google’s Gemini and Open AI’s Chat GPT-4, AI engines are truly on the verge of being able to create stunning copy for your website independently. Unfortunately, though, that’s not even close to enough.

Indeed, AI assistance is of great help, but if you want an honest, genuine connection with your audience, you must write from the heart. Most users can easily recognize AI’s refined and to-the-point style, devoid of any personality. You can’t force a machine to mimic empathy or human emotions, as it can’t understand them. You can’t forge genuine experiences, which, again, AI can’t have.

Still, AI can help you a lot with creating content. On the one hand, AI can inspire some great ideas on how to build your landing page. It will give you the best practices and even provide you with examples.

Furthermore, it will streamline your work by making the research process infinitely easier. A great example is researching your target audience and their characteristics. Instead of reading 20 articles and 30 papers, you can just ask an AI model to summarize all of them and give you direct answers to the relevant questions. Not sure what the relevant questions are? No problem, ask the AI to help with that as well.

Artificial intelligence can work miracles in the background. Still, don’t be greedy and write the actual copy and content yourself. Otherwise, your communication with your audience will remain just that – artificial. And believe it or not, users feel the difference.

Use AI in maintaining a blog

While we are talking about content, AI can help you greatly in writing your blog post. Though it’s pretty tempting to use Chat GPT or Bard to generate blog posts, this is definitely not a good idea. Even if you utilize the paid version of Chat GPT, you will still struggle to provide a unique perspective on an issue. You will simply paraphrase other ideas, which is not the point of having a blog at all. Your blog, along with being a great SEO tool, aims to showcase your professionalism and understanding of the industry you are in. It grants you authority. Thus, using AI to create blogs is disgraceful, to say the least.

Moreover, although Google doesn’t penalize AI content per se, it insists on sharing personal experiences with your audience. As we already discussed, however, AI does not have and will never have personal experiences, as it’s a machine. So, naturally, blog posts written by a well-versed in the industry writer will always be better for your SEO. They will also be better for your communication with customers, as well as for establishing your authority.

This being said, AI does have some excellent implications regarding blogs. First and foremost, as we already mentioned, it’s a great way to gather information faster. Still, if you are using the free modules, be careful, as they don’t always tell the truth. Chat GPT’s free version’s knowledge was cut off in September 2021, while Bard often feels the gaps in its knowledge with interpretations that are not always true.

Still, AI can be extremely useful for finding relevant topics, creating content plans, fast-tracking research, editing and proofreading your draft, and, of course, checking for plagiarism. Even this blog post uses some AI help. Almost all writers nowadays use Grammarly to avoid typos.

Use AI in SEO

You might want to dial down your expectations when using AI for SEO. Though utilizing AI will optimize your workflow and cut your work time in half, you still need to know the basics of SEO research. In other words, once again, AI won’t do your job. It will simply assist you in making it a bit easier and faster.

Before you get to the AI tools, building a good and winning SEO strategy is still your job. Yes, AI can help you with gathering and analyzing data, but the creative work will be left to you (or your team, of course). Still, utilizing AI to find trends within your data is more than a good reason to employ AI in your SEO.

Moreover, robots can also take over keyword research. For example, you can use Semrush’s Keyword Magic tool to help you find the right keywords for your needs. That’s, of course, vastly different than asking Bard to find you 20 keywords for your eCommerce niche at the last moment.

AI can also help you make your text SEO-friendly. There are a ton of guidelines that a writer should follow to create an SEO-optimized text. While most professional content writers know them by heart, most people don’t even know they exist. Thankfully, with AI, you don’t have to read through dozens of pages and try to guess what Google had in mind when writing paragraph 3.

We’ve talked about the Yoast SEO plugin, which uses AI to pinpoint problematic aspects in your texts. You can use this tool to polish your text and make it Google’s favorite.

So, just like with everything else, AI can help you a lot in your SEO efforts, but it will certainly not do the entire job on its own.

Use AI in customer relations

Though it might only play a supporting role in website building and content creation, AI takes the spotlight when it comes to customer relations. Utilizing Artificial intelligence will significantly boost your business in this regard, as AI will practically save you money, time, and effort. The easiest example is customer service.

AI customer support allows even small businesses to offer 24/7 support. What’s more, these AI interactions save you money from hiring an entire support team. Moreover, they effectively take care of over 90% of all queries, as they are most often something that can be found in the FAQ section or elsewhere on your website.

The best part is that the AI can store and analyze data from these interactions and help you position yourself better on the market.

More advanced AI can even make customer recommendations based on their online behavior. For example, if a customer is looking for a vacuum cleaner, the AI can also offer them some filters. Or they can pinpoint the color scheme of products they spend more time looking at and offer them similar products in the same colors. The opportunities are as vast as your imagination.

Use AI in eCommerce

Finally, let’s get to the most practical use of AI on your website – e-commerce. As we’ve already explained in our e-commerce trends for 2024 blog post, AI will be everywhere. It will be the catalyst behind the customer-centric offerings in e-commerce in 2024. It will also empower more and more brands to follow Amazon’s lead in offering personalized related products. The retargeting potential is sky-high when utilizing AI, which can increase your sales significantly.

Moreover, AI can help you create a much more efficient sales process, boosting your productivity, revenues, and customer satisfaction. With artificial intelligence, you can create individual and highly personalized customer journeys based on the user’s behavior. This is significantly better than having one customer journey to fit them all.

For example, if a customer has entered your website through Google by clicking on a blog post, they are in a vastly different stage of their customer journey than those who clicked on a specific ad for a specific product. Thus, their customer journey on your website can’t be the same. With the help of AI, you can segment your audience even further, making the entire sales process much more personalized. Naturally, this will lead to better results.

All of this will decrease your spending and increase your overall revenues. Naturally, you will have to find the best tools to do that. If you are after a customized AI tool, you will have to invest a significant amount in building and teaching it. Still, the investment is well worth it.

Conclusion

As you can see, AI can significantly help when building your website. All you need to do is know how and where to utilize it. Hopefully, you will no longer have illusions that a machine can do the job while you kick back, relax, and take all the profits without lifting a finger. Unfortunately, the Technotronic era, as envisioned by Zbigniew Brzezinski, is not as close as the Polish American political scientist believed. So, you will still have to put in the hours to build up your business.

The first step, as usual, is to secure your infrastructure. Yes, even when creating your website from scratch, you need a solid foundation on which to build it. We’re talking of course about your service. No website can exist without a server hosting all its data. Luckily, this is not something you will have to take care of alone.

All you have to do is take a look at our plans and choose the one that best suits your needs. We at HostArmada pride ourselves on our top-of-the-line cloud-based hosting services. We offer lightning-fast loading time, top-notch security, and something no AI can guarantee (at least for now) – a 99.9% uptime. Remember that no matter how good your website is, it only counts if it’s out there on the internet for others to see. With our hosting services, that’s guaranteed.

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Building a marketing strategy is not an easy task, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the digitalization of everyday shopping has skyrocketed, and naturally, new trends in digital marketing appear every single month. Some of them work, others fall into oblivion. So, today, we are here to make sure you implement the right trends in your 2024 digital marketing strategy. We’ve followed the market and pinpointed at least 8 highly promising trends that will dictate user behavior and your digital marketing efforts throughout the following year.

Sustainability Reigns Supreme 

With the extreme weather in the past decade, it’s becoming harder to ignore climate change and the need to take some action as a society. Even if you disagree with this statement, the majority of users would agree, and when it comes to marketing, that’s all that matters. Becoming sustainable has become more than just a trend in Western societies. It’s become a way of life. Actually, about 78% of consumers in America declare that sustainability is essential to them. So, each brand that wants to appeal to this colossal majority must identify with their understanding.

Furthermore, most leading brands have already hopped on the bandwagon and, following Google’s lead, created their own versions of net-zero goals. While the idea of advertising your brand as sustainable is not something new, in 2024, users will expect some results. Brands will no longer be able to just put a sticker on or talk the talk. In 2024, brands will have to walk the walk. This will be even enforced for those of you who do business in the EU. The European governing body has issued The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive mandating new reporting standards for European businesses, which will catalyze the sustainability commitment on the continent and amplify the significance of sustainability in marketing practices.  

The modern consumer, increasingly conscientious and discerning, seeks more than just products and services. Environmental and social responsibility have become paramount considerations, urging brands to align their values with those of their audience. 

So, to tackle this trend, you need to focus your messaging on your sustainability goals and the results of your efforts so far. Showcase your new eco-friendly pack, highlight your environmentally cautious delivery methods, and underline your preservationist initiatives, like planting trees, using local materials, etc. 

Value is no longer what it was

As you can see, there is more to price and quality when it comes to successfully advertising your product. With younger generations becoming economically active, changes are bound to happen. In 2024, the value will become less and less about the actual product and more about what it represents. Millennials are now in the prime of their economic life, so even luxury brands were bound to change their stagnant and conservative marketing practices. Thus, you can now see car brands like BMW, Rolls Royce, and Bentley producing highly-expensive and luxurious electric cars. Such a notion was entirely impossible if the market was left to Gen X or the Boomers. So, as Millennials become richer and Gen Z starts entering into the workforce and start taking their first steps on the market, marketing trends will inevitably change.

Actually, they have already changed, and in 2024, you need to be aware that about 82% of consumers are adamant that the brand’s values should align with theirs. What’s more, if there is a value mismatch in their values, 39% of shoppers will boycott their favorite brand regardless of product satisfaction. Some call this “cancel culture,” but it’s nothing more than basic marketing. If you want to sell something to someone, you must persuade them you are the same. 

So, be creative and give your products and services additional value. Quality and price are no longer enough to grow your brand. You need to add value. 

Twilight of the search box

The search box has been your trusted friend for almost 25 years now. With Google celebrating its quarter-century on the market, one thing is clear: Search engines are here to stay, at least for now. Moreover, they will retain the basis of your organic traffic. What is currently changing, though, is the way people search. In 2024, we will enter the Twilight of the search box era. Still, don’t be too hasty to change your entire direction. The search boxes will be here to stay for at least another five years. However, their use is rapidly declining. Today, more than half of approximately 26 billion monthly searches on Google are done with alternative methods. More than 20% of searches in the Google app are done using voice search. Experts predict that users will make at least 8 billion monthly voice searches in 2024.

Moreover, Google Lens is rapidly growing in popularity, and in 2024, predictions suggest that nearly 12 billion people will use this handy functionality. 

So, where is the problem if everyone is still using Google? Well, mostly in the keywords and how you optimize your SEO. Generally, people speak a bit differently than they write. For example, when searching for car tires, you will write a much more direct question with specifics in the search box. For instance, “Winter tires, 195/65 R15” is much easier to type than to pronounce. So, the same search will sound more like “Winter Tires for Toyota Auris 2012” in voice search. Thus, you must optimize your SEO for both if you offer winter tires. 

Furthermore, adding your items as visuals so Google Lens can recognize them will open the door for another 12 billion potential searches. 

The Rise of the Machines is now

The rise of AI is inevitable. Chat GPT was a game changer, and despite its many flaws, it became a new beacon in digital marketing. It also sparked the AI revolution, and countless other AI generators, like Google’s Bard, Dall-E, Alli Al, Paradox, and others, appeared shortly after. Google Gemini is now also on the market, but it’s expected to boom in spring after the program has been perfected. This shows that the biggest IT brands are working tirelessly on developing AI tools to improve user experience. 

Moreover, the AI market has grown by 20% each year since its inception. Furthermore, projections show that by 2030, this relatively young industry will be worth 15.7 trillion dollars. But perhaps the most important factor you must consider is the usage. About 97% of smartphone users interact with an AI on a daily basis. It’s evident that AI is the future, and if you haven’t utilized it in your marketing strategy in 2024, it will be a must.

The good news is that AI will make your work much easier. For starters, utilized the right way, AI will streamline your work and increase your productivity exponentially. It can help you with every aspect of your marketing campaign. However, it’s way too early to trust machines completely. Make sure you check their work and implement a personal touch. For example, if you want ChatGPT to create a blog post, you must revise and include some personal experiences and examples. Otherwise, Google will sanction your content and drop you from the search results front page. 

Optimizing your SMM campaigns is still not a grand idea either. Though users predominantly use AI daily, they still feel conflicted and doubtful when faced with an AI-generated or enhanced ad. So, using AI is a must, but be cautious. 

Conversation becomes key

With AI and the new generations of consumers flooding the market, we will witness a rise in conversational marketing success. Conversational marketing is a dialogue-driven, customer-centric marketing strategy. Its main goal is to drive up customer engagement and enhance customer experiences. Usually, conversational marketing is based on one-on-one interaction with customers in real-time. It’s much like a consultant in a techno store, but online. In the past, customer support or sales took over this job, where an army of employees was ready to answer every question. This strategy had tremendous success, as customers could communicate all their concerns with the brand. This builds trust and gives them peace of mind that they are getting the right product for their needs. 

Unfortunately, this marketing practice was reserved only for big brands that could afford it. Small and micro businesses rarely were able to afford 24/7 communication with customers. Even so, communication delays were common, building frustration and hindering the trust-building process.

Today, with AI, small and micro businesses are no longer bound by these limitations. A well-trained AI can answer all FAQs flawlessly and at a moment’s notice. This way, the majority of clients will satisfy their queries directly from the robot, while the rest could be redirected to a live customer support agent. Naturally, this makes conversational marketing much more affordable, opening the door to this highly successful strategy even for freelancers. 

So, in 2024, we expect conversational marketing to hit an all-time high, and if you want to be competitive in the market, we suggest you join in the trend.  

Hyper-personalization will make you big

AI will open other doors as well. The one that will boost your growth significantly, however, is the opportunity to tailor personal experiences to all your customers. Hyper-personalization is a relatively new concept, previously used exclusively by luxurious brands. With mass products, it was entirely impossible to create a personalized journey for every one of your users. However, with the help of AI and the vast collection of tools that gather your user’s data, you can now tailor your audience’s experience precisely as they will like it. 

This corresponds with the current trend of luxury becoming more mainstream. While luxuries were reserved for the wealthiest in the world in the past, with the rise of social media, people got a taste of the ultra-luxurious life. Thus, today, everyone prefers to spend more but receive special treatment.

A great example of a mass hyper-personalization strategy is Amazon’s dynamic product recommendations. In a nutshell, Amazon would suggest products based on what you searched for, what you bought, and what can complement your purchase. 

Another great example is using location-based marketing. This way, whenever you enter a particular area, you can receive a push notification about a product or service you previously searched. Restaurants and local shops often use this hyper-personalized strategy.

AI can help you go beyond these examples. It can enhance your efforts and help you target your audience based on dozens of their preferences. For example, if users spend significant time on a traveling YouTube channel, you send them an email showcasing how your product will complement their passion. 

In 2024, this will become the norm. So, to remain relevant, it’s best to start adopting. 

Short Videos for the win

With Gen Z entering the market with full force, it’s time to start tending to their specific tastes. One thing that’s vastly different from all previous generations is the attention span. Thanks to TikTok, Instagram stories, and YouTube Shorts, the attention span of Gen Z users is 8 seconds on average. Moreover, unlike its predecessors, this generation prefers to consume information in short, entertaining videos rather than reading. 

So, in 2024, you must allocate a sufficient budget to create high-quality short-form videos. Furthermore, if you haven’t already, you must start TikTok and YouTube channels and produce regular content. This way, you will guarantee that your messaging will bombard the Gen Z user.

Another specific of this generation is the focus on What rather than How. In other words, Gen Z users expect direct and quick answers without too much digging into the How and Why. So, your 5-8-second video should be straightforward, without explanation and additional fluff. Still, it must capture attention and act on the user’s emotions. The only way to do that is through the visuals. Using high-quality, strategically gathered visuals can help you relay the additional value we already discussed in a previous point. 

So, in 2024, if you want to tap into this new generation that’s becoming increasingly active consumers, you must invest in short-form, high-quality videos, and profiles on popular platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and others. 

First-Party Data Is the New Standard

The diminishing reliance on third-party cookies, attributed to the phase-out by major web browsers and the global implementation of stricter privacy regulations, has paved the way for marketers to turn their attention to first-party and zero-party data. This shift is not merely dictated by compliance with consumer privacy regulations but is driven by a commitment to more reliable and ethical sources of customer insights.

In a nutshell, first-party data is the information you gather directly from your customers and audience. Thus, most brands have already switched to using it in building their marketing strategies, as it’s the most reliable. Still, that’s not the only reason why first-party cookies will become the new standard in 2024. Privacy regulations worldwide and the push for more ethical use of personal data will be at the forefront of this major change in digital marketing next year.

As privacy regulations multiply, the marketing landscape will witness a cascade of enforcement actions. Governments, led by the European Union, are expanding their focus on consumer privacy, with more states in the U.S. adopting legislation akin to the California Consumer Privacy Act. 2024 is likely to see an escalation of fines and an increased investment by companies in privacy compliance tools, adding complexity to marketing measurement and reinforcing the significance of first-party data.

So, to address this changing dynamic, we’d advise you not to build your marketing campaign around third-party cookies, as they will most probably disappear entirely within several months. 

Time to build your strategy

Now you know what to expect from the digital marketing landscape in 2024. It’s time to build your strategy around the ever changing customer behavior and the brand-new players who only recently joined the consumer audience. With the growing economic input by Gen Z, digital marketing is bound to follow their behavior closely. Still, as they are still young, their behavior is not yet cemented, as they will evolve both in preferences and taste. 

Regardless, as fluid as digital marketing is, talking about predictions for more than 12 months at a time is pointless. So, for now, stick to these eight trends, and you are bound to grow your business. 

Naturally, regardless of how good your digital marketing strategy is, if your website’s infrastructure is poor, nothing can help you. Imagine having the perfect campaign that attracts hundreds of thousands of potential customers only to lose about 70% because your website takes ages to load. Then, you lose another 10-15% due to a server breakdown and another 10% because you lack the proper security. Speed, reliability, and security are the three pillars of your website that can make or break your success. 

HostArmada offers you a cost-efficient solution for all three main pillars. Each one of our plans offers lightning-fast website load speed, top-of-the-line security features, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Remember, your digital marketing strategy is only as good as your hosting company allows it to be. So, check out our plans and choose the one that will fit your needs perfectly.

The post Digital Marketing Trends for 2024  appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

While this doesn’t seem like a big deal at first glance, in fact, Christmas decoration has a huge impact on customers’ behavior. In other words, these God-awful Mariah Carey songs actually boost profits. Now you might be thinking, why not add these ear tortures to your website as well if it’s so profitable? Well, consider how intrusive they are while you are in a store, and then think of how your audience will react if their speakers suddenly start blasting, “All I want for Christmas is you.” Yes, not the best idea. 

Still, some Christmas decoration on your website is not only recommended, but a must if you want to capture at least part of the massive Christmas spending. So, today, at the start of December, we’ve gathered the best Christmas plugins that will bring holiday cheer to your website and boost your sales and profits as a result. 

How does that work?

The Christmas spirit is not just a myth. Several research studies over the years have proven that people react positively to Christmas decorations, resulting in approximately $1000 on average spending on Christmas shopping alone. About 64.9% of this spending is dedicated to gifts for family, friends, and coworkers. It stands to reason that you will buy Christmas gifts from a decorated place, which gives special attention to the holiday. Not that you are keen on listening to Wham, but rather because your brain follows the path of least resistance. Shopping during the Christmas holidays is stressful, and your brain instinctively pushes you to finish it as fast as you can. So, naturally, you are attracted to the places where it’s most likely to find some Christmas presents.

You might be skeptical of this method, but US holiday sales have grown each year for more than a decade. Moreover, with 96% of Americans buying gifts for their families, this trend is not about to change anytime soon. 

What about online stores?

But why would you care about what offline stores do? You are running an online store. True, but about 63% of Americans purchase their holiday gifts online. So, yeah, you need them. Moreover, there are several other factors that can persuade your audience to spend more than a few dollars on your website. For starters, the Christmas decoration on your website works on two fronts.

On the one hand, it reminds customers that they are in the season of generosity, so buying one more gift or a more expensive item is a sign of benevolence. On the other hand, they feel pressured that Christmas is around the corner, reminding them that everyone is buying gifts, so their child’s new bike may go out of stock at any moment. The famous FOMO (fear of missing out) affects rational thinking and pushes customers to buy. 

The biggest advantage of the Christmas decoration on your online store, however, is the over-stimulation your customers will experience. This results in the so-called ego depletion, which unfortunately doesn’t mean your customers become humbler. This phenomenon actually affects people’s ability to make rational decisions. So, when they see your flashy, new, colorful website look, themed after one of the most beloved holidays out there, your audience’s rational decision-making is hindered, and they are pushed to finish a purchase without feeling buyer’s remorse.

As it seems, having some decoration on your website will definitely benefit you. As a WordPress user, you’re in luck. There are a ton of plugins that will make your website as bright as a Christmas tree. So, let’s have a look at the most useful ones in WordPress’s vast library.

8 WordPress Plugins that will make your website a Christmas fairytale

WordPress, as usual, has hundreds of plugins dedicated to making your website more festive. Many of them work fine. However, only a few can help you achieve the main goal of giving your website a Christmas makeover. We gathered our favorite 8, which are stunning and will help you achieve the already-explained customer response. 

Snow Storm

Let’s start with the basics. If the name is not revealing enough, this plugin will add a romantic snowfall to your website. This way, you can sing to your customers, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but our prices are so delightful,” or “Baby, it’s cold outside.” Jokes aside, this small touch will add a nice feeling to your website and make it season-appropriate. 

The plugin itself is highly customizable. You can adjust the color of the snowflakes, how intensive the snowfall is, and the animation interval. You can also enable some additional effects like Melt and Twinkle. Finally, you can even make the snow start gathering at the bottom of the window, which is an excellent touch. 

This is truly an essential plugin, so you can use it on pretty much all sorts of websites, regardless of whether you are monetizing by e-commerce or otherwise. 

Rocket Fireworks

This one is for those focusing on the New Year’s event. For example, if your primary audience is non-Christian, it stands to reason you’d want to showcase the New Year Celebration.  

This relatively lightweight plugin adds a fairly basic but highly effective fireworks animation. As discussed, this will overwhelm the customer’s senses and throw them into ego depletion. The best part of this lightweight plugin is that it’s straightforward to set up, and even if you are new to WordPress, you can add it without any hassle.

Once installed, it will blast multicolor fireworks directly on your website, making it festive and extremely attractive. 

Christmas Greetings

This is perhaps the best plugin to enhance your relationship with your customers. Essentially, this plugin will display greetings and messages to your audience. There are only a few customizations available, but they are quite enough to spread cheer and make your customers feel warm and fuzzy. But what’s a Christmas wish without a Christmas present? That’s why Christmas Greetings allows you to stick promotions to store products or coupons with Woo-commerce. Now that’s a genuine early Christmas gift. Naturally, you can personalize the messages, depending on what data you gather from your customers. 

This plugin is designed for e-commerce users who want to enhance their communication with their customers and offer some promotions with an unmistakable Christmas vibe. 

MMX – Make me Christmas

When it comes to making your website Christmasy, MMX is the full package. It’s an all-in-one Christmas plugin that offers header, body, and footer options. You will be able to cheer your audience with snowmen, snowfall, various types of garlands, Christmas trees, stockings, and presents. There are ten types of Christmas hangings. 

The best part is how easy it is to set up, and it comes with great features. The bad thing is that if you want access to the best, you will have to pay a small amount. Still, it’s not a huge price for spreading some cheer. 

Xmas Lights

This is another low-key Christmas decoration for your website. Essentially, you can add a string of holiday lights to welcome your visitors over the holidays. This neutral celebratory plugin will be effective for business owners with a culturally mixed audience. It does remind you of Christmas, but it doesn’t shove it in your face. 

The plugin is seamless to set up, as all you need to do is install the plugin. There are no additional settings or any other complications. The best part is that these Christmas lights are a great attention grabber without insisting on your attention per se. 

Random Christmas Fact Widget

This is among the more interesting and cultivated holiday plugins. It attracts attention not only with vision but also with exciting content. Essentially, the plugin displays one of 40 random Christmas facts in your sidebar. Each time a user refreshes the website, they will get a new fact. 

When installed, the widget will appear without any CSS formatting so that it can blend perfectly with your website’s style. 

This is an excellent way to grab attention and push your customers to interact with your website. Still, you will have to use a theme with a sidebar to use this plugin. Still, it’s perfect for all sorts of websites, regardless of their functionalities and aims. 

Christmasify

If you want to give your visitors the Christmas market experience, then Christmas is definitely the plugin for you. You can add snow, music, flying Santas, Christmas decorations for your images, and Christmas hangings. You can do this only on your home page or all across your website. The only thing missing will be the sweet aroma of eggnog, but you can always add one as a present in each order. 

The best part is that the plugin is compatible with CSS3 animation, and you can use it through a JavaScript snippet. On top of that, it’s lightweight, easy to use and free. What more can you need? 

Santa Press

Finally, we have what’s, in our opinion, the creme de la creme of Christmas plugins – SantaPress. This plugin offers individual advent calendars on your website. This way, you can give small but meaningful gifts to your customers each day. Naturally, this will stimulate customers to come back every day until Christmas just to get their small presents. In terms of this, it will build brand loyalty, and as usual, the longer someone stays on your website, the higher the chances of them buying something. 

The plugin is masterfully designed and offers eight distinct and stunning layouts. To top it all off, Santa Press also includes various features like Snowfall, WooCommerce integration, hidden mode, external links, and others. If you want to add to the fun, you can even introduce a quiz, which your audience will have to fill out if they’re going to get the price of the day. Santa Press truly gives your website a holiday spirit. 

So, think of 23 small prices that are relevant to your business. They might be small discounts, a special offer, 2 for one coupon, or anything in between. It all depends on your business and what you are ready to give. The rest is up to Santa Press.  

The only downside is that this outstanding plugin is paid, and you will have to prepare around $40 to get it. Still, it’s well worth the price.  

What to avoid

As you can see, you can make your website a genuinely stunning place. Still, there are some things you might want to avoid. For starters, don’t overdo it. Making your website practically a user’s nightmare just because you want to be more flashy, will be counterproductive. So, avoid rapidly flashing lights, as they may cause physical harm to some groups.

Moreover, don’t overuse religious symbols, especially if you are targeting not-so-religious communities. Yes, Christmas is celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. Still, it’s also a family holiday, celebrated by people who don’t go to church every Sunday but instead are only brought up in the Christmas traditions. 

Next, be sure to know your audience. For example, if you are advertising to Muslim or Jewish communities, Christian religious symbols won’t do you much good. Instead, opt for celebrating the new year, as this tradition is universal across the entire world (well, maybe not China, which has its own thing going on). 

Finally, don’t destroy your user experience by adding heavy plugins that will compromise your loading speed. After all, nothing is more important than your website’s load time, as a 1-second delay will cost you significantly. 

So, if you want to make your website into a Christmas fairytale, you need a robust, fast, and secure hosting service. 

HostArmada is just that. We offer lightning-fast load speed, robust security, and 99.9% uptime, making your website the best place to shop this Christmas. Check out our plans and give yourself, your website, and your customers the gift you undoubtedly deserve.

The post 8 Christmas Plugins for WordPress To Boost Your Online Sales appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

However, the video format is not one-size-fits-all. While there are some extreme lengths on both sides, we will not talk about Micro and XXL videos today as they deserve a far longer explanation. Instead, we will focus on Long and short videos. More accurately, we will explore their pros and cons, who needs them, and whether they fit your necessities well. But before we get down to it, let’s talk about the media as a whole.

Why use a video?

As we already mentioned, people today expect to see a video, especially when choosing a product or service. Customers typically will avoid reading when possible. They prefer easily digestible videos to convey information about the product or service they are interested in. Naturally, the video will increase engagement significantly. It will not only draw traffic but also increase your conversion rate by 80%. Moreover, 88% of those who go through an entire video will finish a purchase, which leads to an 87% income increase.

Furthermore, using video will significantly decrease your bounce rate and keep customers on your website longer. Users will spend 88% more time on your website if you offer them a video.

Adding a video to your website will also enhance its visual appeal, instantly making the information you are trying to convey more understandable and better received.

As an added bonus, Google prioritizes videos in their search engine, especially if they are hosted on YouTube. So, adding an embedded video from your YouTube Channel will skyrocket your website in the Search Results. As you already know, being at the top of Google’s Search Results is a highly beneficial position, leading to much higher CTR, better traffic, immensely enhanced performance, and, most importantly, much better ROI.

This SEO optimization alone is a brand awareness gold mine. Still, when it comes to video content, it will boost your brand authority and awareness significantly. Studies have shown that people are twice as likely to share video content than an article or an infographic.

So, it’s obvious that adding video to your content mix is a no-brainer. The question remains, though. Is long-format or short-format better for your needs? Let’s find out.

What is a Long-format video?

A long-format video is any video that exceeds the 10-minute mark. While there is no strict cap on how long these videos should be when it comes to the purposes and the delivery, we consider content above 30 minutes as XXL videos. They have an entirely different appeal than those below 30 minutes, so it’s good to differentiate them.

Most commonly, long-format videos are about 10-15 minutes long. They are educational videos that solve a problem or give an answer to a burning question. That makes them perfect for increasing your SEO efforts. Naturally, this will enhance your visibility and engagement. Still, you need to have some pretty good SEO knowledge to pull it off.

The rise of the long-format video is evident by the current trends on YouTube, the world’s biggest and most popular video platform. More and more YouTube channels are increasing their production value and offering longer videos, regardless of whether they are educational, entertainment, or otherwise.

Of course, to create a successful long-format video, you need to be able to keep your audience entertained. Just like with blog posts, adding minutes for the sake of having a longer video is counterproductive and will lead to the opposite effect. So, don’t bulk your production on purpose. Instead, focus on being thorough with your explanations and examples.

When done correctly, Long-format videos are a great way to enhance your authority and boost your brand awareness.

Benefits of long-form videos

The advantages of long-form videos are plentiful. They can be of great value to your overall marketing strategy if used correctly. Let’s look at some of the compelling benefits of incorporating long-format videos on your website.

Branding and Recognition

Long-format is great for establishing your brand personality and brand voice. Due to their length, they are great for storytelling and building a narrative showcasing your values. This way, your customers will have the chance to see you as something more than a mere brand. Building your brand identity through your long-format videos will allow you to stand out in your industry and build a loyal customer base that’s not just interested in your products but rather your opinion.

Enhancing Brand Authority

Naturally, higher-quality videos discussing industry-related topics in detail will showcase your knowledge and establish you as an authority in your field. This will enhance your influence on the market and allow you to lead it instead of following it. Naturally, this will lead to immense benefits to your overall performance.

Better Conversion Rates

Long-form video content has been shown to boost conversion rates significantly. In fact, research conducted by Vidyard indicates a 34% increase in conversion rates when video content is included in advertising campaigns. But there is more to it. Long-form videos not only attract more customers, but their quality is better. This means that in the long run, you can count on much better quality of customers if you keep them well-informed.

Promotes Significant Engagement

Long-form videos can captivate and immerse your audience, leading to more social shares and audience interaction. Moreover, they have a longer-lasting impact on the customer, making them more likely to return. This makes long-form videos a gold mine for high-quality customers, who most likely will spend more over time.

Increased Customer Value

Long-form videos are an effective way to provide added value to your customers. By delivering comprehensive information, insights, or educational content, you establish your brand as a trustworthy and authoritative source in your niche. This, in turn, enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Naturally, whenever they need a solution to a problem, they will most likely look for your solution. For example, if you offer cleaning services, creating a video explaining how to make your home sparkling clean will give audiences a glimpse of your work, and they will see the result firsthand. Naturally, if they are looking for someone to clean their home, the risk of hiring someone who already has proven their abilities is only normal.

Enhanced SEO and Visibility

Probably the most significant benefit of long-format videos is the boost of your website’s SEO. Long-form videos will always keep customers engaged for an extended time. For Google, this is a sign that you offer quality content, and naturally, it pushes you forward in its search results. Of course, the longer the content, the more keywords you can add inside. While in a 1-minute video, you can only add one long-tail keyphrase, in a 10 or 15-minute video, you can add much more. Moreover, you can give a far more detailed explanation, giving you an extra SEO boost.

Building Connections

Long-form video allows you to establish a deeper connection with your viewers. By telling a more extensive story or sharing in-depth knowledge, you can forge a lasting bond with your audience. The longer format allows you to establish a personality rather than just shoot out facts. But most importantly, it will enable you to showcase your lovable personality and win not just customers but also fans.

More Backlinks and Shares

Longer videos provide the opportunity to delve deeper into topics, making your content more shareable. Viewers are likely to share comprehensive, insightful content, leading to more backlinks, increased website traffic, and amplified social media presence.

Adds significant value to your website

The biggest benefit of long-form videos, however, is the added value to your website. Long-form videos are ideal for presenting detailed demonstrations of products or providing in-depth educational content. This is particularly valuable for easing doubts, explaining features and benefits, and setting realistic expectations for your audience.

Downsides of Long-form videos

Unsurprisingly, long-format videos have their fair share of drawbacks as well. Here are the main points to consider before investing time and money in creating long-format videos:

Increased Time and Budget Requirements

Speaking of money and time, that’s one of the main things to consider before going for a long-form video. Creating high-quality, long-format videos requires a huge amount of resources. Even if you save money on production costs like screenwriter, production team, and others, you will have to spend days creating one such video. This can be a significant drawback for businesses with limited resources, especially if they aim to produce a consistent stream of content.

Shortened Attention Span of Viewers

With the rise of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and other short-form video platforms, the viewers’ attention span has significantly decreased. The average customer attention span is 8 seconds. This means your content will exceed this norm significantly. So, to retain their attention longer, your video should not only have high-quality imagery but also have one outstanding script. Even so, your viewer’s count will be significantly lower in sheer numbers. However, those who remain to watch will most likely convert at the end of the video. So, there is a silver lining.

Niche Audiences only

Expanding on the previous point, long-form videos are not meant for the broader audience. They are targeting people in the middle or even towards the bottom of the marketing funnel. This means your video will be of interest to a small niche audience that needs additional information. However, while this may limit your reach, it can be advantageous for targeting a more engaged and qualified audience further down the purchasing funnel.

Needs some content marketing knowledge

Long-form videos must be done correctly to be effective. Many beginners who attempt to create a high-quality video for a broader audience end up smushing several shorter videos into one long. This breaks the narrative and interrupts the continuity of the storytelling. So, to create a 15-20 minute informative and engaging narrative, you need to have some knowledge of content writing and the reader’s psychology.

So, consider your abilities and resources before going for a long-form video. However, more importantly, consider if you really need this format.

When do you need a long-form video?

Long-format videos are not meant for the broader audience. They are predominantly used for B2B websites, where decision-makers insist on having all the information before taking action.

Moreover, long-form videos are used for warm and hot audiences who are already on the brink of buying but need that extra push. Thus, an educational video, a detailed review of a product, or a podcast detailing the benefits of the product can be immensely beneficial.

Finally, long-form videos are most commonly used to add an additional layer to your brand personality. If you are new on the market, showcasing your mission, personality, and values can be beneficial. Still, if you are a bigger brand or you want to grow out of your shell, long-form video is a must.

Long-format videos are extremely valuable for highly-niched products with a tight and knowledgeable customer base. Also, luxury brands and those selling highly expensive products like cars, bikes, and others must also incorporate long-format videos on their website.

Before you rush to produce your long-form video, let’s first have a look at what short-format videos can offer.

What is a Short-format video?

Short-format videos are typically 30 seconds to 10 minutes long. Shorter videos are micro-videos used for social media advertising and are rarely used on websites per se. Micro-videos are lead-generation videos, while short-format videos aim to convert. Most commonly, short-form videos last 2-5 minutes. This is just enough time to persuade someone to buy without starting to look desperate. While typical advertisements last for up to 30 seconds, short videos have a different mission. They must expand on what you’ve seen in the ad and add extra value. This means that in these 2-5 minutes, the narrator must explain the benefits of the product or services, who they are for, and what they will achieve. This will set realistic expectations for the customer without overextending their welcome.

Short-form videos are punchy and to the point and constantly increase tension, relieving it only at the end of the video. In contrast, long-form videos need several ups and downs throughout the video to retain the customer’s attention.

Benefits of short-form video

Adding a short-format video to your website is almost a must. While several years back, this would have separated you from the pack, today, having short videos on your website, promoting your product, and giving extra information is the norm. The good news is that it has some lucrative advantages.

Cost-Effective and Easy to Create

One of the key advantages of short-form videos is their ease of production. Creating a brief video, whether for marketing, entertainment, or informational purposes, requires significantly less effort compared to producing lengthy, hour-long content. Short videos involve minimal editing, writing, color correction, and exporting, making them a cost-effective and efficient choice for small-time businesses who want to be on par with the big dogs.

Quicker Consumption

In an era where attention spans continue to shrink, short-form videos cater to today’s audience’s fast-paced, instant gratification demands. The majority of customers are social media scrollers who prefer quick and worthy videos. Thus, a short video has all the necessary elements to promote your product without losing your customers’ fragile attention.

Maximizing Engagement

Short-form videos are adept at holding the viewer’s attention. With shorter durations, they minimize the likelihood of viewers clicking away or debating the value of watch time. The format encourages continuous engagement, often enticing viewers to explore more content or eagerly anticipate what comes next in a video series.

It attracts a much broader audience

As you have guessed, short videos are targeting a much broader audience. Usually, it is meant for the top of the funnel, where people are slightly engaged and need persuasion to go down the funnel. Naturally, the conversion rates are not as good as in the long-form videos, but then again, they have a different task.

Cross-channel exposure

The best part of short video content is that you can use it for cross-channel exposure. It is just as viable for your website as it is for YouTube and social media like Linked In, Facebook, and other platforms. Naturally, this will benefit your SEO efforts. However, the biggest benefit will be to your organic traffic, as short videos are highly shareable due to their un-demanding length.

Downsides of short-form video

Of course, short-form videos are not immune to drawbacks. Thus, you need to consider them before you go ahead and start shooting. Here are the main downsides of short-form videos:

Complexity limits

One of the biggest disadvantages of short-content videos is the limit on how complex a topic should be. For example, if you want to talk about your brand’s history, 2-5 minutes is definitely not enough. You must convey what problems you faced, what you learned from them, and more. In short-form videos, this is impossible. Just like you can’t explain whether one should choose long or short form videos in a short video.

Short videos excel at conveying messages rather than explaining reasons, so stick to that.

Engaging but without depth

Short videos can’t establish a narrative. There is no storytelling, no emotions, just messages. Of course, they manage to convey some emotion, but they fail to create a long-lasting connection. This means that the audience loses the build-up interest the moment the video ends. There is rarely hype, and more often than not, the content has barely scratched the surface of the topic. Of course, while this may be a downside, it depends on your goals. If you are targeting the correct audience, this method of conveying information is quite sufficient.

Short Lifespan

Short videos often have a shorter lifespan. As they don’t delve too deep into a topic, people don’t need to come back and rewatch them. This means that once the hype from the video is gone and its shares have decreased, you need to create a new video. This can be a significant drawback for businesses seeking long-term impact, as ongoing efforts are required to keep content fresh and engaging.

Limited Creativity and Storytelling

The brevity of short-form videos can also limit creativity and storytelling. Developing compelling storylines or characters within a brief video can be challenging, making this format less effective for marketing campaigns that rely on intricate storytelling. Thus, it is inefficient for industries to rely on good storytelling to sell their products, such as luxury brands.

When do you need a short-form video?

Despite the small drawbacks, short-form videos are an irreplaceable tool to drive customers from the top of the funnel to the middle. They are pretty effective for companies trying to appeal to the mass audience. Relying more on entertainment than on in-depth information they can boost your traffic and build your audience, which you must later analyze.

Businesses targeting B2C customers should definitely use short-form videos, especially those offering everyday items and unique solutions to broader problems.

Short-form videos work exceptionally well with industries like sports, fitness, real estate, beauty and fashion, and others where impulse buying is probable.

Which one is for you?

So, which one is for you? Well, if you’ve carefully read our explanation, you already know you need both. Both have their unique appeal and target different audiences. Still, if your product is highly niched and targets highly knowledgeable audiences, then you may skip the short form and go straight to the long videos. For example, if you offer specialized dental products and your customers are dentists, you can’t explain your product’s sophisticated design in just a few words. You need to go into details. Moreover, no dentist will buy a product for their patients without knowing the ins and outs of how it functions and operates.

On the other hand, if you offer mass products like hats, for example, completely detailing stitching and production is pointless, as that’s not what your customers are looking for. Moreover, if you are just a retailer, your brand is unimportant to the sale, so investing in a long-form video will be nothing more than a waste of money.

Most often, however, the solution is a healthy mix. 1-2 long videos, accompanied by several short ones, that constantly change. Of course, playing videos on your website needs high-speed hosting, as otherwise, you will lose your audience’s interest while the video is loading. Even if embedded, the faster load speed guarantees your audience will not bounce before pushing the play button.

This is where we come into the spotlight. HostArmada is the best solution for your website hosting needs. We offer lightning-fast internet, 99.9% uptime, and state-of-the-art server security. Check out our hosting plans and choose the best fit for your needs. If you have any questions or doubts about whether a plan will be sufficient for long-form videos, just contact our team. We will help you choose the best plan for your needs.

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Naturally, building such a strategy is not a mere stroke of luck. It’s a carefully crafted system that allows you to maneuver depending on the business climate. As usual, we are here to help, as your success is our success. So, let’s go through our step-by-step guide to building a winning sales strategy.

What’s a sales strategy?

Just like any building needs a written construction plan in the form of a blueprint, so does every company that aims to sell products or services. In other words, your sales strategy is essentially the blueprint to your success. A well-designed blueprint will account for unexpected disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods. Thus, the building will stand tall through them. The same goes for your sales strategy. If it’s done properly with enough data and strategic planning, it can become resilient to most unexpected changes in the market.

So, a sales strategy is basically a document outlining the rules of conduct between the sales team and the customer. It’s a fundamental cornerstone of the overall business strategy. Its main goal is to guide the sales team in their efforts to generate revenue and grow your business.

Why do you need a sales strategy?

First and foremost, you need a sales strategy so you won’t be shooting blind when it comes to offering your products. Utilizing data and statistics in your sales process is the only secure way to have more sales, better revenues, and business growth. Of course, a sales representative should be free to do their craft, but it shouldn’t be limitless. They should stick to a predetermined plan based on facts, not feelings.

Moreover, a good sales plan will efficiently allocate your resources and won’t waste them on audiences that have little to no interest in your product or service. For example, if you offer prime beef, promoting it to Vegans is absurd. Still, offering it to low-income homes, though counterintuitive, is not that crazy. If the stats show that your beef is being sold predominantly by low-income neighborhoods, your gut feeling that this is not right is meaningless.

Moreover, a good sales strategy will help you polish your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), giving you an immense competitive advantage in your niche.

Most important, however, is your consistency in your messaging and offering. Consistency is key to establishing authority, credibility, and loyalty. Those are the three pillars of business growth.

So, the question is not whether you need a sales strategy. The question is how to build one that can achieve the desired results.

Building such a strategy can roughly be divided into three major phases.

Phase 1: Preparation

The first part of building your winning sales strategy is undoubtedly the most important. A mistake in this phase will render your entire strategy useless. So take your time and don’t rush through it. It’s essential to be punctual and data-oriented. In the preparation phase, you will gather a lot of information and have to make informed decisions about your product, business, and strategy. There are six key steps you need to take during this phase.

Define your sales objectives

This is the first and most crucial step in building your strategy. A precise objective will give you a clear picture of what you must do next. So, most sales experts prefer to go with the SMART method. This means that your sales goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-based.

Specificity is instrumental to your success as this won’t leave any gray area and place for interpretation by the team. Give a specific, measurable number so there is no confusion about the goal. This is what makes your goal measurable. You can pinpoint your progress at any given moment by adding quantifiable values.

To make your goal achievable and realistic, you must address many other factors outside the sales department’s scope. If you are a small business and you take care of the marketing, sales, and finances, this is somewhat easier, as you have a full scope of the resources and capabilities of your company. However, if you have a bigger company with different departments, you must make an all-hands-on-deck meeting. There, the different stakeholders can communicate directly and develop achievable plans for their own divisions.

From a sales perspective, the strategy should account for the marketing goals (meaning how many leads they plan to provide), the financial situation of the company, and, naturally, the product department’s plans. For example, if the marketing team is planning on providing 300 leads, you can’t expect your team to make 400 sales. If finances are cut, and you can’t support eight salespeople, you should account for how many deals one can make daily. Finally, if the production department plans to produce 20 units of your product, you can’t expect your team to sell 25 units.

Most often, sales strategies have a one-year scope, so it is better to stick to that.

Identify your Ideal Customer Profile

Once you have your goal, it’s time to look at those who will help you achieve it – the customers. After all, it’s them you need to impress.

Every product or service is based on a customer’s needs. Naturally, each product has a target audience that shares specific characteristics and problems. The more detailed these characteristics are, the tighter your audience will get. However, a narrower audience will allow you to customize your sales messaging precisely and increase your conversion rates.

So, even if you offer products or services for broad consumption, such as bed sheets, you must examine and determine your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). This will help you narrow down your audience and know whom to address.

Naturally, the process of identifying your ICP is anything but easy. Start by examining market trends, search engine trends, and customer feedback. It would be helpful if they are your customers, but you can also tap into your competitor reviews to see what kind of people primarily communicate with them. Once you identify a specific group of people, ask yourself what is their main problem and whether your product solves it completely. This will help you improve your product and messaging in the later phases. Once you’ve identified your ICP, make sure to create a profile. Give them a name, specify their age, education level, and profession, and add a picture. This will help your sales team visualize who they are communicating with.

Analyze your competitors

Your next step is to analyze your competitor’s sales strategies. Naturally, you won’t have all the information, but through their messaging, you can deduce whom they are targeting. Most importantly, you can identify some of their mistakes and avoid them. The best way to do that is to read their customer’s feedback and learn from their mistakes.

By analyzing all aspects of your competitors’ strategy, you can find their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you find a niche where you can thrive instead of competing with others where they are strongest.

Define your Unique Selling Proposition

All of the work you’ve done so far leads to probably the most crucial decision you will have to make in your entire sales strategy. This is the one that can make or break your business. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is what gives you an edge over your competitors. It’s the thing that should speak loudest to your customers.

Naturally, listing your product’s features is far from enough to create a winning USP. Instead, focus on the benefits the product or service will bring your customers. So, for example, if you are offering cordless vacuums, featuring their engine, how big their container is, and what their battery is, won’t do the trick. You need to show the benefits. Mentioning that your customers won’t have to deal with cables or that they can clean their apartment three times with a single charge is far more appealing. So, find that extra feature on your product that helps customers like no other product can. Focus on the benefits rather than the features, and make it memorable and compelling.

Set a numerical definition of success.

Setting KPIs or specific metrics used to measure performance and efficiency is crucial for monitoring your success and fixing problems on the go. This will give you an unembellished view of your team’s performance. More importantly, it will show you where they need to improve. For example, if you place a KPI of 10% annual sales revenue, and for the first quarter, the increase is just over 2%, then you must adjust your strategy.

KPIs can be revenue-oriented, conversion-oriented, sales-stream-oriented, or customer satisfaction-oriented. The revenue KPIs are most often a number that is usually a percentage higher than what you earned last year. For example, if you made 1 million and want a 10% increase this year, at the end of the year, you should have earned 1.1 million.

The conversion rate has much to do with the quality of the marketing team’s leads. So, setting a higher conversion rate often requires going into a tighter niche or updating your sales messaging. Regardless, this is something that involves the marketing team as well, as they are the ones who provide the leads, and it’s their job to forward only quality leads.

Another type of KPI can be directed towards the increase of income streams. For example, if you enter a new market, you may set a specific goal and KPI for this market alone. For example, if you are a US company but you’ve just branched out to the EU, you may set a specific goal to retain US sales and focus on expanding your market share in the EU.

Finally, we have customer satisfaction KPIs. They most often target the repeat purchase rate, showing what percentage of your customers buy from you again.

Invest in a motivated sales team

The only way to grow your business is to have your team’s dedication to the task. Now, many brilliant managers will insist that money is not everything, but money is the main pillar of your relationship with your employees. So, offering a bonus upon reaching the annual sales goals is a great way to motivate them. This is a small investment that’s practically paying for itself. If the sales team brings higher revenues, they will get a cut. If you are tight on money, you can offer other preferences, like additional vacation days for the best salesperson, a special retreat for them and their family, or anything to boost morale.

Most importantly, don’t blame the sales team alone if they are not reaching their monthly quota. Instead, find out the problem and fix it without raising your voice or threatening anyone with termination. No one works well with a gun against their heads.

Sometimes, investing in a motivated sales team is just giving them the proper respect they deserve and building an environment of trust and cooperation.

Phase 2: Analysis

After you are done with building the infrastructure within, it’s time to plan where you will implement your strategy.

Segment your Market

First and foremost, you must understand that your niche can be segmented even further, no matter how tight it is. Yes, you will target everyone in your niche, but segmenting your market into various characteristics, like age, sex, demographics, specific needs, and so on, can help you personalize your sales messages even better. Imagine you are selling women’s scarves. This is a pretty tight niche already. Still, you can segment your audience further by age and location. For example, the younger generation may like brighter colors, while the older generation may prefer more stylish dyes.

Moreover, you can target your customers based on the occasion on which they will wear the scarf. For example, they will need a more formal scarf if they are going to a wedding. However, if they need one for leisure time, walking the dog, or just keeping warm at home, they might go for a more colorful or playful dye.

Thus, segmenting your market will allow you to create better, more targeted messaging. Naturally, how you will divide your market niche depends on your product and the data you’ve collected.

Choose the proper sales channels.

Once you know your market niches, you must choose the proper sales channels to contact them. For example, people over a certain age are far more prone to watch television, while the younger generations are primarily on social media. Analyzing your target audience will help you determine which communication channels to use. Naturally, you can always allocate some resources to pushing through a new channel and creating a new income stream. That all depends on your vision and financial capabilities.

Create various sales messages.

Now that you’ve established your customer segments and channels, it’s time to build your messaging. Creating a sales message is a long and hard process that involves a lot of testing. Don’t expect to hit the jackpot on your very first try. Depending on the channel, the message will have various components, and each must be tested. The A/B testing is probably the best way to go for it. Write about 10 sales copies, make 10 pictures, create 10 videos with different messages, and try which one will bring the most revenue. Analyze the results and see if you can pinpoint the common factors that drive your customers to click the Buy button. Note that there is no such thing as a perfect copy. Conversion rates of 100% are impossible. So, don’t go for perfection. Go for “good enough.”

Perfect your sales process

While building your strategy, don’t forget to check if you can improve your sales process. Your sales process is a step-by-step guide that leads your sales team to closing deals. Look at the steps they are taking, the milestones, and the key actions that are set in this process and determine if you can optimize them. In this regard, your team’s feedback is invaluable, as they are the ones doing the selling. So, be open to suggestions from your team and test them out in the field to see if they are good enough.

When you are done perfecting your sales process, it’s time to implement your strategy.

Phase 3: Implementation

Many newbies falsely believe their work is done once you set your strategy. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Just as the market is fluid and every aspect is in constant motion, so should your sales strategy. So, here are four crucial things you should be doing while the strategy is being implemented.

Monitor and measure progress.

Monitoring the progress of your sales team doesn’t mean you should stick behind their backs, looking to see if they work. That’s what the KPIs are for. You should keep taps on your sales team’s success on a weekly basis and follow patterns. For example, if the sales team makes 12 on Monday but on Tuesday and Friday they make only 2, you need to see the cause of this anomaly. If that reoccurs each week, you can even take advantage and focus your resources on the day with the most sales while cutting back on the bad days. Measuring your sales team’s performance will give you invaluable information on how your product is selling. This will be of great help when you are updating your strategy or when you are creating your next one.

Implement Customer Relationship protocols

Don’t be fooled that once you’ve finalized a sale, your job is done. If you aspire to have loyal and returning customers, you need to have stellar customer relationship protocols. These will define the rules of conduct post-sale. Though they are not the seller’s job, they are still within the realm of the sales team, as they are the ones who communicate with the client. In B2C transactions, that’s not a huge deal, but in B2B sales, maintaining a relationship between the salesperson and the customer is crucial.

So, make sure to have personalized follow-up sessions, excellent customer support, and always reply to feedback, regardless of whether they are good or not.

Encourage feedback

Speaking of feedback, just replying is not enough. You must actively invite your customers to leave reviews and comments on your website or a third-party website. Reviews are the single most persuasive argument in your sales arsenal, so don’t disregard them. Even bad reviews are essential, as you can see where to improve.

Review and update your strategy.

Building a successful, winning sales strategy is an ongoing process. You can’t just drop a piece of paper on your sales team’s desk and expect them to do the job. You need to actively review and update your strategy to answer the changing trends in the market. For example, imagine if you were a masseuse. In late 2019, you made your 2020 sales strategy and started tackling it from the first day of the new year. In March, however, the Covid crisis closed everything up. If you hadn’t responded, you’d waste resources, as other factors outside your control changed the market.

While this is an extreme example, marketing changes happen ever so often. So, reviewing and updating your strategy every quarter is a good idea. This way, you will have enough data on whether the plan is working and where you can improve it. Naturally, your plan could be running smoothly, and you may not need any changes. But you can’t know that without properly reviewing all the collected data and feedback from your team.

No, it’s not easy

Building a successful sales strategy is not easy, and it doesn’t become any easier, regardless of how many you’ve made. The market is way too fluid to stick to any winning practices. Following the frame we gave you is one of the few constants to help you navigate the turbulent waters of sales strategies. Another constant is your need for fast, reliable, and secure web hosting so your sales team can intercept leads and not have them bouncing on the first touch with your website.

Thus, HostArmada is a must for any growing business. We offer high-speed hosting solutions, 99.9% guaranteed uptime, and state-of-the-art security for your client’s data. Check out our plans and choose the one that fits your strategy best. If you use your website as a sales stream, you may consider VPS Cloud Web hosting. So, do your business a favor: let us deal with your website’s hosting while your sales team is busy implementing your winning sales strategy.

The post The three phases of building a winning sales strategy appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

Building a proper, well-designed, and informative website is the first step and the easiest way to attract paying customers without breaking the bank. Naturally, you need to provide the audience with all the right information. And while a one-pager is quite enough for a starting freelance gig or a nanobusiness if you want to go big and become a full-time freelancer, having a full-blown multi-page website is the way to go. There, each page has its own mission. Of course, how many pages you will create is entirely up to you. It depends on your business plan, your industry, and your vision. Still, there are five pages each freelancer must have on their website if they want to be successful. Let’s have a closer look at the what, why, and how of these web pages.

About page

As a general rule of thumb, each page you create is for the benefit of your audience. This means that no matter the page, it must serve a purpose. It needs to bring value to the users, thus converting them into leads. The About page makes no difference. Many freelancers go into lengthy tales about their childhood dreams, stories, and lives. Unfortunately, no one cares about these aspects of the freelancer’s life. What users are interested in are the freelancer’s qualifications, experience, and motivations. So, naturally, this should be the highlights of your About page.

On the other hand, some freelancers disregard the About page as a waste of time and effort. They couldn’t be further from the truth.

Why do you need an About page?

The About page serves multiple purposes at once. Probably the most important one is establishing credibility. For instance, if you are a freelance SMM specialist, a customer will have to give you access to some funds and their Social Media profiles. Naturally, the potential client will want to know who you are, where you come from, your expertise, and who you have been working for. Consider it a job interview where your About page answers all the questions.

Furthermore, the About page builds trust and connects with your audience. Imagine being at a social event or a workshop where you wanted to find a business partner. You’d like to know their background, hobbies, and personality. You’d like to see if you are compatible as partners and if they can be trusted.

The About page is much more than that. It’s a platform where you can showcase your personality. This is your key advantage against big companies that dwell within your niche. Customers often prefer the personal touch, which most companies can’t give because they follow standards. When ordering from a company, you’re not talking to a decision-maker. When talking to a freelancer, you talk directly both with the owner and the worker. This is a communication homerun.

Last but not least, the About page is an SEO goldmine. Google loves it when they can verify who’s behind a website. Thus, though not explicitly stated, About pages give you a slight bonus for your SEO. Moreover, the more credible your website, the better your ranking will be. So, what should your About page have?

How to make it work?

In short, you need to show your understanding of your target audience’s problems and, more importantly, your knowledge and experience in solving them. But first things first. People should be able to find your About page effortlessly. Make it visible and add a link in the main menu and your homepage. A great idea is to add a small About section on your homepage with a link to the About page.

Firstly, a successful About page is always customer-centric. That means you must focus on traits and aspects of your personality, business, and services that are interesting to your audience. What you find interesting about yourself is irrelevant if it doesn’t serve the About page’s purposes listed above.

This, however, doesn’t mean you should avoid talking about yourself. On the contrary, the About page is all about you. However, focus on being convincing and trustworthy rather than interesting. For example, wingsuit flying will definitely make you look cool. However, it will also instill doubt about your credibility, as taking risks is not a great B2B model. So, choose carefully what is beneficial to disclose and what can remain hidden.

Furthermore, on your About page, you must address the problem that drove your audience to your website. Share your story, your credentials, and your qualifications. Share how you found a fix and what makes it better than all other solutions. In other words, give your unique sales proposition.

Most importantly, make your About page memorable. Create a lasting impression through your content, imagery, and page design. Don’t hesitate to incorporate interactive elements. Moreover, this is the best place to add some humor. Still, don’t go overboard and keep it professional. After all, you are offering a service. Speaking of which…

Services page

Of course, your entire website’s main point is to offer your audience some services. While this can be done on your home page, a far better solution is to have a dedicated Service page. If you are offering more than one service, it’s a good idea to have a separate page for each one of your services.

Why have a Service page?

Your Service page is, of course, the highlight of your website. This is the place you want all your audience to end up on. A good marketing strategy will funnel traffic from various sources. A dedicated Service page will accommodate the hotter and warmer audience, usually via paid advertisements and Search engines. These people have a particular problem, and they are looking for a solution. If you offer multiple services, sending them on your home page will only dilute their resolve to use your service. On the other hand, if they land on a dedicated Service page, you can build a tailored customer journey for this segment of your target audience.

Moreover, a separate Service page will immensely benefit your SEO efforts. Offering a solution is what Google is all about. So, if you nail your SEO optimization, a dedicated Service page will be much more valuable than any home page. That’s why each of your services must be separated on a different page. Because each one of them solves a different need and problem.

So, how should you build your Service page?

How to build your Service page?

Your Service page is nothing short of a landing page. It should follow the same structure. It needs to create a customer journey, starting with a strong introduction in your Hero Section and ending with a persuasive CTA. The narrative on your service page, naturally, depends on your industry and service. Regardless, there are some key elements you need to incorporate on your Service page.

Firstly, you must be clear about what you are offering from the very start. This must be the focus of your Headline (H1) in your Hero section. There, you must also add a “quick order button” for returning customers or those who have already decided.

To make the impact even stronger, you must state your offer beneath the Hero section. Be clear and specific. For example, you should add delivery time, ordering process, what information you need, and others. Most importantly, you need to add what your service does not include.

Moreover, you need to address the cost of your service, as this is one of the most important pieces of information for the customer’s decision-making process. Thus, you can explain how the price is formed.

Furthermore, any customer will want to see a sample of your work. Thus, you need to provide a link to relevant examples of your work. While having a small batch of service-specific samples on your service page is good, a freelancer should also have a dedicated portfolio page.

Finally, you must add a persuasive CTA. The CTA should be the natural ending of your customer journey and narrative.

Your customer journey should answer all burning questions about the service you offer. The more detailed your service page is, the less time you will spend answering inquiries without the prospect of becoming paying customers.

Portfolio

You don’t just hire a person because of their charming smile and good looks. If you do, that’s not the most efficient way to run your business. Yes, personal traits play a huge role in choosing your partners and vendors, but any self-respecting business is looking for competence above all else. So, how do you show your experience, know-how, and work style? Through a portfolio, of course.

Why do you need a portfolio?

It’s simple, really. You need a portfolio so you won’t have to create samples for every customer. Your customers will want to know your capabilities, and showing them some of your work will showcase your competence and work both as social and authority proof.

How to build your portfolio page?

Honestly, there is no single rule on how to build your page. It all depends on the service you provide, the samples you want to share, and your personal preferences. If you are a digital marketer, you’d want to share screenshots of successful campaigns and their results. Graphic designers should go for a more gallery-like vision. If you are a copywriter or a content writer, you’d want to showcase some of your published blog posts or articles.

One common mistake many freelancers make is adding all their work to their portfolio. That’s not just unnecessary but can have a negative effect on your goal. In your portfolio, you’d want to share only your best work. Choose 5-10 of your best work examples. Giving too many choices and examples will either become confusing or give the audience enough opportunities to find something wrong.

Still, if you offer more than one service, highlight at least 2-3 examples from each. This will showcase your skills while, at the same time, you can use the same samples as an element in your service page.

Regardless of how much information you share on your website, there will always be additional questions. That’s why you need at least two other pages on your freelance website.

FAQ page

People are not too thorough when searching for information, especially when this information is beautified and not direct. That’s why having a dedicated page where the most common questions can be answered is a good idea. This is the FAQ page. A good FAQ page can reduce pointless inquiries significantly, as the audience will have the means to get their answer without contacting you. But the benefits of the FAQ page are more.

Why do you need an FAQ page?

First and foremost, it saves a lot of time, both for you and your customers. Most customers will have a specific goal in mind, and they wouldn’t want to go through your entire sales page to see if you offer what they are looking for. For example, if you provide writing services but don’t offer SEO research, this may be a dealbreaker for some customers. Thus, stating that on your FAQ page will save you time answering an email on whether you offer SEO research.

Furthermore, it will immensely improve your SEO. The FAQ page is the perfect place for adding all sorts of shot-tail and long-tail keywords. This will help you rank on many more keywords, increasing your organic traffic.

Most importantly, however, the FAQ page demonstrates your expertise. This is the place where you can show off your knowledge of your industry.

How to build your FAQ page?

First and foremost, you need to pick the questions you want to add. At first, when you are new on the market, you won’t have much data. Still, the FAQ section can be filled with everything you consider important to share. Over time, as you start receiving inquiries and communicating with customers, you can add new questions to your list. You can also draw some inspiration from your competitors and Google.

Your next step is to structure your questions. Follow some kind of logic. For example, start with broader questions like “Who are you?” and get into specifics later. Being random with your questions will only confuse your audience.

If your list is far too long, you should group the questions into categories so they can be easily scannable.

When it comes to design, there are no strict rules. You can choose whatever seems most convenient. Still, your FAQ page design should correspond with the rest of your website.

While the FAQ page will significantly reduce the number of pointless emails, you still must give your audience the means to communicate with you directly. This is where the Contact page comes into play.

Contact page

You can’t cover every single question your audience will have. Many will have subjective questions about their cases. Others will want to order or book your services after they make sure you are a real person. So, naturally, you must give your audience the means to communicate. The contact page is just that. There, you can present your preferred means of communication. Regardless of whether you prefer to communicate by phone, adding an email address is essential. If you don’t want to share your email directly, you can add a contact form instead. The main point is to allow your audience to communicate without personal interaction.

With the rise of AI, you can even create a chatbot, but that shouldn’t be your priority.

Naturally, make sure to state how long it takes you to reply and stick to it. For example, if the reply time is 24 hours, make sure to always answer an inquiry within that period. Otherwise, you will lose your customer’s confidence.

Moreover, make a schedule of checking your inbox at least thrice daily and state that on your Contact page. For example, check your emails at 10 am, 2 pm, and 6 pm. This way, when someone sends you an email, they will know precisely when you will read it and when to expect an answer. Don’t forget to exclude weekends, though. After all, you didn’t become a freelancer to have a worse work-life balance.

There you have it

Your website is done. Mostly. You still need a gorgeous homepage and a catchy and memorable brand name. However, no matter how excellent you build your pages, if your readers can’t get to them, it’s all pointless. So, the first step towards building your freelance website should be investing in a fast, secure, and reliable web hosting service. Fortunately for you, HostArmada is just that. We pride ourselves in our lightning-fast hosting, boosted with top-notch security. To top it all off, we offer 99.9% uptime, making our service one of the most reliable on the market. If you want to have a successful freelance website, our offers are where you must start your journey. Check out our plans, and if you need any help choosing the right one, don’t hesitate to contact our team.

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There are various kinds of websites on the Internet, and each one has its goal. Today, we will discuss the smallest business website out there – the one-pager. Those are sometimes called business card websites. Mind you, websites are more than business cards, and usually, they must be treated like something unique rather than just an extension of your physical business card. But before we get to how you can create one outstanding online business card website, let’s first dwell on some of the FAQs.

What is a one-pager website?

The one-pager is also known as a business card website. It’s a website that fully represents a business on just a single page. No pages, no blogs, no products or services pages. It’s just a simple landing page that says all there is to know about a brand or a person.

The one-pager should work as both a home page and a sales page. Naturally, the page will host the entire customer journey, meaning you need to have outstanding content. One of the most significant advantages of such pages is the lack of complex navigation, fast and clear content, extreme mobile-friendliness, and lack of complicated designer solutions. In a sense, this type of website corresponds with how people relax. Usually, people scroll through social media. No need to click, no need to divert and get back. This makes the entire customer journey much more relaxing, and your business proposal is much less intrusive.

The best feature of a one-pager, however, is its straightforward and simplistic look. It looks professional, and it inspires trust. However, one-pagers can’t target multiple keywords effectively, as the lack of a blog prevents them from targeting long-tail keywords. Moreover, organic visits are minimal and often are the second or even the third contact with the business proposal. Most often, such one-pagers are used as a landing page for digital marketing campaigns or just as online business cards where you can send leads you find offline. So, this begs the question, who needs such a business card?

Who needs a one-pager website?

As already mentioned, one-pagers are great for anyone who needs a fast and relatively simple introduction to their business. Note that one-pagers are not at all suited to be e-commerce websites, and they are mainly lead generators.

So, if you operate a nano business, a freelance gig, or you offer a unique single product, a one-pager is perfect for your needs. For a nano business in particular, such a website can show off your portfolio, your free hours, your service, its benefits, and how one can contact you. It’s a perfect way to redirect people you meet offline to see if your services will suffice their needs.

Some small businesses or agencies also go for a single-page website, as it’s much cleaner, and their customers can find the needed information much faster.

Still, if you are going for a one-page website, make sure you can fit all relevant information inside. Plastics Unlimited is a small business that tried to utilize a one-pager when it didn’t fit their needs. The website offers too much information to be handled on a single page. As you can imagine, creating plastic is not easy, and if you want to explain it in detail, you will have to create separate pages.

A genuinely visually stunning one-pager is the Neverland agency website. Just scrolling through it makes you feel in a whole other world. Their website is a prime example of how to build a customer journey on a single page.

What sections should your website have?

Each website is unique, and how it will look depends on its goals, the product or service it offers, the audience it will accommodate, and, of course, the owner’s preferences. Still, whatever your website, adding some essential information to your one-pager is a good idea.

Hero section

First off, you need a hero section. This is the title section of your website, where you must represent your product or service thoroughly within one headline and one sub-heading. Follow the visual hierarchy of your target audience. The hero’s section must be straightforward and show your customers precisely what you offer. No need to waste their time with hints or other metaphors of your work. This would be frustrating even for end customers, let alone B2B customers, who value time over anything else.

Product (benefits) section

Next, represent your product or service. Be straightforward and point out the benefits of what you offer. This segment should underline all essential features of the product or service and should push the reader to want to learn more. This will most likely sway them to ask for a free demonstration or a sample.

About section

But before we get to the samples, you need to introduce yourself. This is where the about me (us) section comes along. Remember that this is not a separate page, so make it short and sweet. Be sure to focus on your expertise and your experience, but don’t forget to mention your story, why you love what you’re doing, and why you personally like your product or service.

Portfolio section

The next section should be your portfolio. This is essentially a sample of your work. Not all single-pagers will have a portfolio section. For example, services like cleaning or moving stuff can’t be advertised online. Moreover, if you have a product, you will want to demonstrate it personally, not over the Internet. So, if you don’t need a portfolio, you may use the space for some authority proof.

Authority proof section

Add articles or reviews of your product or service by known websites and experts. If you don’t have any, you can always pay a relevant magazine or other media to feature you, so you can build your authority proof. Here would be the place to share all your certificates, your awards, and anything issued by an authority figure regarding your business and quality. This is the digital representation of the office wall with the framed diplomas and certificates.

Social proof section

Along with the Authority proof, you must add some social proof. That includes reviews from users and adding high-profile companies as your partners. For example, if Coke Cola ordered a new bottle design from you, be sure to mention it on your website. This is where you can add some reviews from third-party websites.

FAQ

Towards the bottom of your online business card, you would want to answer all the questions that are usually asked. Make sure to research and know precisely what your audience is interested in. This is the place where you can share details on your product or service. Be sure to give examples and thoroughly explain everything people would want to know. You can start only with the fundamental questions but track what other questions your potential customers ask over time.

Moreover, the FAQ section allows you to add some long-tail keywords to your page. This way, you will enrich your keyword library and improve your SEO.

CTA

Finally, we have the end of the customer’s journey – the CTA. One-pagers rarely have a “buy” button since they most often offer services or products that can be customizable. So, more often than not, your CTA will push the customer to contact you directly with their needs. Many companies with unique products will offer free demonstrations or a free trial period rather than sell the product outright. Services can also offer free trial periods or a small work sample. In general, however, the main idea behind the one-pager CTA is a lead generation goal.

What about the header and footer

Of course, just like any other website, one-pagers also have headers and footers. Unlike multi-page websites, however, these elements are part of the customer journey, not just a branding tool.

The header must contain your logo, some contact information, and a menu. Place your phone number in the header if you prefer to conduct business over the phone rather than an email. Many customers prefer speaking to you directly rather than seeking an email.

The menu is also a bit different. It won’t lead to a new page but instead will go to a specific section within the home page.

The footer must contain the only two additional pages you must have – the terms of service and your privacy policy. These are legally required, so having them is a must. If you are a freelancer or you personally offer a service, you might want to attach a PDF with your CV. This way, if someone is interested in your experience, they can learn it without asking you specifically.

The footer should also contain a contact form, links to social media, your contact information, and an address if you have a physical location. For example, if you are a doctor or a dentist, sharing your physical location is obviously a must.

Step-by-step guide on building your business card website

Now that you have all the elements, it’s time to build your website. Naturally, this is easier said than done, but we are here to help. We created a comprehensive step-by-step guide on making your first one-pager business card website.

Step 1: Find a great hosting company

Most guides will tell you that you first must create your brand and conduct your goals. We tend to disagree. This is mainly because brands are intertwined with your domain name nowadays, and most domain names, especially the .com ones, are occupied. So, naturally, first, you’d want to find a suitable domain name, which can then become your brand name. But as you will need hosting, and most hosting companies offer domain name registration without extra fees, it’s a good idea to start by choosing your website’s host.

When it comes to hosting, you must look for a reliable, fast, and correct provider. The faster your website is, the higher the CTR and the lower the bounce rate will be.

Moreover, even though you won’t accept payments on your one-pager, you want all your data to be secured. Thus, you want to invest in a hosting company with high-end security features and a proven protection record. Finally, your website must be reliable. Imagine the image blow if you advertise yourself offline, and a potential client decides to check your website only to find an error message. This happens when your server is overloaded or out of commission.

HostArmada is the perfect  solution for your one-page business card website. Our cloud-based technology offers lightning-fast website load time, impenetrable security, and unmatched reliability. Our 99.9% uptime is not mere words. We actually will reimburse you for any downtime over 0.1%. Most importantly, we offer highly competitive prices that otherwise will bring you a lot slower and barely secure hosting service. So, if you want to make a prominent first step in creating a one-page website, then check out our plans. If you need any help deciphering what exactly you need, contact our team, and we will happily help you.

Step 2: Reserve a domain

Your next step is to find a free domain name. You can use our awesome free domain name search engine. It will show you what domains are free and which ones are already taken. Finding the right domain name for your brand is an art form. So, before you go ahead, we urge you to read our dedicated article on how to choose a brilliant domain name.

Step 3: Register your brand and business (optional)

Once you’ve registered your domain name, it’s time to register your business according to the local laws. If you already have, skip this step and go straight to number 4. Naturally, the registration rules vary depending on where you live and operate, so you need to do your homework and learn what it takes to be considered a legal business in your area. Keep in mind that most businesses are reluctant to deal with unregistered businesses. In some states or countries, registering your business may take some time, so it’s good to start the process as soon as you have your brand name. And since we are not qualified to give you legal advice on how exactly to register your business, let’s move along with the more technical steps.

Step 4:Choose a website builder platform

Choosing the right website builder platform is essential in creating a gorgeous website. We prefer using WordPress for more than one reason. Mostly, it’s effortless to use.

Moreover, WordPress is by far the biggest player in the website-building platform market and even bigger in the CMS market. Over 455 million websites, or 42.7% of the entire Internet, used WordPress to build their website. If that’s not social proof, nothing is. Moreover, WordPress has 64.3% of the global CMS market.

To sum it all up, WordPress is the best choice because everyone uses it. They have a vast library and support group when you need help, and with its plug-in-based builder, you can add almost any feature that comes to mind. Still, it’s up to you if you want to go for another builder.

Step 5: Structure your Website

As we already explained, how your website looks depends entirely on what you are offering, your website’s goal, target audience, customer journey, and personal preferences. Still, starting with a Hero Section and adding all the sections we recommend above is a good idea. If you are entirely new and don’t have a unique perspective on how to create your customer journey, we would recommend following the classical structure:

• Hero section
• Product section (benefit section)
• About section
• Portfolio section
• Authority proof section
• Social Proof section
• FAQ section
• CTA

Step 6: Build your website

Building your website can be a bit frustrating if you have no web development knowledge. Even if you use highly comprehensive and easy-to-use page builders like WP Page Builder, Gutenberg, or Elementor, you still must put the right elements in the right spot. You must choose the correct color scheme, build your visual hierarchy, and create an overall design.

So, instead, you can use a ready template from WordPress’s vast library. There are literally thousands of them, and they cover almost any niche and industry. Some of them are paid, but their price is well worth the investment.

So, if you don’t have the time and knowledge to build your website, investing in a template is better. However, if you want to build your unique vision, you can always play around with the page builders and create something special.

Step 7: Test and ask for feedback

Once your website is ready, you can go for a test run. Try to see if all buttons work as they should, check if your website is SEO optimized, proofread your content, and make sure your website is responsive and mobile-friendly.

Also, making a controlled test is a good idea. This includes asking some of your friends and family members for honest opinions on the website. If you have a designer friend, you should definitely ask them what can be improved. You can even ask some strangers on social media groups to check your website and give their opinions as well. Many support groups will happily do you this favor.

Most importantly, don’t expect to nail it from the very first try. Creating a stellar website needs refinement. So once you have gathered your feedback, it’s time to get to the next step:

Step 8: Fix problems

Once you’ve gathered substantial feedback, it’s time to analyze and fix the mistakes. See the mistakes that dominate in the responses and start with them. Some problems mentioned in the feedback will be personal preferences, so be mindful whether those who gave them are within your target audience. Still, any technical and user interface suggestions should be addressed.

Step 9: Advertise

The next step is to start building traffic. Make sure you popularize your website on Social Media and create a PPC campaign to start receiving some views. Follow closely your stats on Google Analytics and Google Search Console. They will give you invaluable data that will help you optimize your messaging, design, UX, and any other aspect of your website.

Step 10: Optimize your website

Once you’ve gathered enough information, you must optimize your initial website design to make users more comfortable. This information will give you an idea of what the users search for when on your website. For example, if most readers go straight to your social proof section via the menu, then you can draw this section right under the hero section and adjust the rest of the customer journey.

Moreover, you can start A/B testing different CTAs, designs, and layouts to see which one works better.

Finally, you will have to optimize your SEO. Once you start receiving some keyword data, it’s essential to change your keywords and adjust your metadata so you can draw even more free traffic.

There you have it!

Your gorgeous one-pager is up and running. Now, all you have to do is build a marketing strategy and start growing your business. Who knows, at some point, you may even outgrow your one-pager when you diversify your business. Still, you are just beginning your entrepreneurial journey, so follow this step-by-step guide and start offering your product or service as soon as possible. That’s the only way you can grow, after all.

The post How to create a one-pager business website (a step-by-step guide) appeared first on HostArmada Blog.

In recent years, one of the hits among marketers has been using influencers. Ever since Social Media became the place people spend their free time, people have created content and attracted the audience’s attention. These people, for better or worse, have become the modern-day leaders and influencers. Whether they review a product, advertise a service, or give their opinion on a topic, they influence their audience’s choices. Naturally, marketers were quick to capitalize on their success, so now influencer marketing is one of the pillars of a successful digital marketing strategy.

Still, since its inception, Influencer marketing has gone through significant changes. So, let’s give you the latest updates on how to find the right influencer for your business in 2023.

What is influencer marketing all about?

Influencer marketing is rooted in human social instincts. In human society, there are leaders and followers. Leaders are often outspoken, ready to try and test the new and mysterious and let the flowers know whether it’s worth adopting in their lives. This has been the case since the dawn of humanity. Living in the digital era, it’s no different. The only thing that has changed is who we are following. In the earliest stages of civilization, we followed the strongest. We needed protection. Then, we followed the wisest since we were seeking wisdom. Next came the smart as we sought enlightenment.

Today, we seek entertainment, and there’s really no wonder that we often follow the most entertaining people out there. Whether they are actors, content creators, or journalists, we often base our decisions on their opinions. In Social Media, where entertainment is above all else, those who manage to provide infotainment or edutainment are considered the pinnacle of entertainment.

A brief history of influencer marketing

Naturally, marketing followed these trends closely. Influencer marketing is nothing new. Celebrities endorsed products on TV and billboards way before the Internet came along. That’s the earliest form of influencer marketing. However, the pinnacle of this trend came in the early 2010s after Social Media became a standard. No longer just local celebrities and A-listers were considered influencers, but ordinary people who managed to show their expertise in a field in an entertaining way. During this period, platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and later TikTok allowed individuals to share their lives, experiences, and preferences. Naturally, marketers quickly recognized the immense potential, and the fashion industry was the first to hop on the bandwagon. Daniel Wellington, a watch brand, was among the first to build a partnership with various fashion bloggers and Instagram models, kicking off a trend that would soon become the norm.

Why use influencers

Some marketers often ignore influencers since they are a third party and the company has little control over their content and how they will advertise the product. Moreover, they are not a marketing tool you should prioritize. So, naturally, they will always play second fiddle to other digital marketing tools like SEO, PPC, and SMM. Regardless, there comes a time when introducing influencers to your marketing strategy will immensely increase your outreach and, subsequently, your conversions and sales.

In 2022, influencer marketing grew to 16.4 billion dollars. This shows that the interest in involving influencers in advertisements is only increasing. Moreover, the number of marketers that involve influencers in their strategy has risen to over 25%. More importantly, 89% of them are determined to increase their influencer marketing budget in the following years.

If you don’t trust other marketers, you can at least trust the results. 50% of millennials follow product recommendations of influencers, while 33% of Gen Z-ers bought a product after an influencer’s review.

Probably the most persuasive reason, however, is the ROI. Each dollar invested in an influencer will bring you 6.5 dollars in revenue on average. A 550% ROI sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Still, don’t rush to reach out to the first influencer you can think of. You still need to understand some things about influencer marketing before you are ready to build your effective influencer marketing strategy. Probably the most important lesson of all is that not all influencers are the same.

Types of Influencers

Jumping straight to the influencer with the most followers might sound logical, but it’s definitely not the most optimal solution to your needs. It all depends on your goals, your product, and, of course, the influencer’s audience type. For example, a girl who shows off her beautiful body on Instagram will have a ton of followers. Still, if you are offering woodwork tools, most of this influencer’s audience won’t be interested in your product. Moreover, the model will draw attention away from your product, rendering the audience ad-blind. So, audience size is not everything when it comes to influencers. You need to know what type of influencer to get depending on your product, budget, goal, and preferred audience.

In general, there are four types of influencers:

Mega influencer

Mega-influencers are among the most followed on any given Social media. Often, they are celebrities in their own right. For example, Leonel Messi, LeBron James, Taylor Swift, and other stars who’ve become pop-culture icons outside of Social media naturally gather huge audiences everywhere they dwell. Still, some social media influencers managed to gather immense following only through their content. PewDiePie is a highly prominent example, as he had more than 100 million followers in his heyday. How many of those were economically active is another question, but still, PewDiePie has become one of the first influencers to capitalize massively on his social media fame.

Mega-influencers can offer you unparalleled exposure. However, partnering with them may prove extremely difficult, as big corporations often compete for their audiences. Thus, a partnership with a YouTube influencer costed at least 2500 dollars in 2021. With the rise of influencer marketing, these prices went and will go higher in the future.

This doesn’t mean you should disregard this type of influencer altogether. On the contrary, if you are a large enterprise or have a significant budget for influencer marketing, partnering up with a mega-influencer will bring you immense benefits. Moreover, if you are offering luxury and high-end products with higher added value, such a partnership may prove extremely cost-effective. Just make sure to budget accordingly and closely follow your KPIs, as such an investment is highly risky, especially if you haven’t done your research on the influencer’s audience.

Macro-influencers

These are the influencers who have between 100,000 and 1 million subscribers. Usually, these are well-established leaders in their respective niches. For example, Vacuum Wars is a tightly-niched YouTube channel with 284,000 subscribers. The creator behind it has built a reputation as an expert on vacuums, and many people who are looking for a vacuum will consult his videos to find the right one for their needs.

Obviously, macro influencers offer a much more targeted approach. They often represent a smaller group with common interests and/or needs. This will allow your brand to target a specific audience that will certainly be interested in your product. For example, if you are offering a vacuum cleaner, collaborating with Vacuum Wars will give you precious exposure to a tightly targeted hot audience.

Macro-influencers are perfect for startups seeking fast exposure and growth. Non-profit organizations that strive to raise awareness of problems and brands in the tourist industry are also among the companies that will benefit most from macro-influencers.

Micro-influencers

Micro-influencers are often macro-influencers in the making. They typically have a strong presence on at least one social media platform and a devoted follower base of between 10 and 100 thousand subscribers, steadily growing. Some micro-influencers have already reached their peak, but those are typically tightly-niched content creators.

Micro-influencers are an excellent choice for small businesses that have smaller marketing budgets. However, the relatively lower prices of micro-influencers are not their best quality. On average, micro-influencers have about 60% more engagements than macro-influencers and bring about 20% more conversions. No wonder about 56% of all marketers who invest in influencer marketing work with micro-influencers.

Nano-influencers

Nano-influencers are often disregarded as way too insignificant, as they often have less than 10,000 followers. However, nano-influencers often have a tight connection with their followers due to their genuine audience engagement and personalized content. This type of influencer wields strong power over their followers’ decision-making. This makes them great for businesses targeting specific communities or demographics within a tight budget. The nano-influencer is perfect for local businesses, targeting specific communities within larger cities, small businesses with limited budgets that are just starting their influencer marketing journey, and artisan businesses that typically have a much smaller and extremely tight-niched customer base.

How to choose the right influencer

Now that you know the type of influencers, benefits, and downsides, it’s time to choose the right influencer for your business. This can be done in 7 easy steps:

1. Determine your goals

Just like with anything else, your first order of business is to determine what your goals are. Typically, influencer marketing is used to discover new audiences and target new customers. About 35% of marketers use influencers precisely in this sense. 31% will go after increasing product consideration, and 26% will try to increase their sales.

You can go for any goal you want, but influencer marketing is generally excellent at finding warm or hot audiences and spreading the word about your brand. Naturally, depending on your goal, you would want to consider different types of audiences. For driving sales, you must consider micro or nano influencers, as they have much better conversion rates than macro and mega influencers. On the other hand, if you want to invest in brand awareness, mega influencers are the best choice, as they will add immense value to your brand. Still, macro influencers can significantly impact a narrow audience, which may eventually lead to sales.

2. Know who you are influencing

After determining your goal, it’s time to consider your target audience. Each influencer has an audience with specific interests. For example, suppose you strike a deal with GCN, one of the biggest cycling YouTube channels. In that case, you can be sure that advertising motorbike components won’t go as smoothly as it will if you partner with Chaos Causes despite GCN having a 10 times bigger audience.

Knowing your audience will lead you to the correct influencers and will weed out those that sound good on paper but won’t help you achieve your goals.

Moreover, you must consider how much of the influencer’s audience overlaps yours. You don’t want to pay for messaging customers you can already reach on your own. Make sure your choice of influencer will expand your reach. So consider whether you want to hit a different demographic, new geo-location or just spread the word to an entirely new audience.

3. Make your shortlist

After deciding on your target audience, it’s time to make your shortlist. Start weeding out potential influencers based on how much of your audiences overlap, how much your audience respects the influencer, how niched the influencer is, and various other factors. The most important factor is the trust the influencer inspires. It will be pointless to pay someone if they can’t convey a trustworthy message to their audience, let alone new audiences. The influencer’s credibility is best seen by their engagements. If they have a lot of negative comments, dislikes or lack thereof, you would want to skip this influencer.

Engagements will also confirm the follower count, as some influencers will boost their numbers through bots and fake accounts.

Finally, consider the tone. Find someone who has a similar voice to your brand voice. This will blend the influencer’s content into your channels seamlessly, giving you extra value for your money.

4. Research the three Rs

Once your shortlist is done, you can narrow it further by thoroughly researching the three Rs of influence – Relevance, Reach and Resonance.

A relevant influencer will create content relevant to your business niche or industry. If you want to spread your reach, you would want to find someone whose work is not entirely based in your own niche.

Moreover, the influencer must have a significant reach. This means they must have a significant subscriber number and relatively consistent viewing numbers. You don’t want an influencer with one viral video while all their other work has significantly lower views.

Finally, there’s the resonance. A huge follower and viewer count is meaningless without engagement and connections with the audience. So follow closely the influencer’s engagements – comments, likes and shares.

5. Know the influencer’s workflow before you reach out

By now, you probably have up to five candidates for your influencer marketing campaign. It’s time to dive a bit deeper into their work. Research their workflow and how often they publish new content. This is essential to your scheduling, as you won’t see results immediately. Moreover, if the influencer posts thoroughly researched videos only once a month but is in the middle of promoting a new product, you can’t wait another month or two for their next video. The same goes for seasonal products. So, learn how often they publish, how long it takes them to create new content, and any specifics to their work. For example, do they do product reviews, make advertising in the middle of their video as part of their content, or add a product placement in their content?

6. Reach out personally and privately

There are two ways to go about buying a partnership. The first is strictly business, where you extend a direct offer. Still, if you have the time, starting slow is a good idea. Like their content, comment when appropriate and show interest in their posts. You can even share some of their work on your own page if it’s relevant to your industry. When you are ready to enter into a relationship, a DM is the perfect place to start. Make the DM personal and not business-like. This will show you are serious about your partnership. Moreover, influencers also choose the businesses they will work with, as they also have a brand to protect. So, sharing some of their content and acting like a genuine fan of their work will bring you closer to a partnership.

In your initial message, be blunt about your intentions. Provide as much information about your business and yourself as possible, and make clear how the influencer will benefit from your partnership beyond the payment.

7. Clarify your goals and terms

During your conversation, you must clarify your KPIs, expectations, and in what cases you will pull out your support. For example, when Kanye West went on an anti-Semitic rant, many of his sponsors dropped him. If they hadn’t placed such clauses in a contract, Kanye would have had the chance to go to court and most probably win. So, make sure to clarify that you won’t tolerate behavior that will antagonize your core customer base. After all, the point is to enlarge your audience, not shrink it.

Most importantly, do not try to micromanage or dictate their work. You are partnering up with a content creator, and they are fanatic about their work and creative freedom. Any input should be delivered as a suggestion, not a demand. This is the biggest problem with influencer marketing. You have little to no control over how your brand will be represented.

Moreover, many influencers will refuse to work with you if you insist on them making fabricated reviews. This goes double for reviewer influencers, who build their audience precisely by giving honest opinions. So either play their game or just don’t waste your time trying to sway them otherwise.

What influencers to avoid

While searching for the right influencers, you might stumble on some content creators that seem perfectly fine at first glance, but they might be harmful to your brand. These toxic influencers will hinder your marketing goals and may even destroy your reputation. A common red flag is when an influencer predominantly uses their body as an advertising tool. If you are a fashion or a make-up brand, you can definitely take advantage of such influencers, but be sure that their audience predominantly consists of people interested only in the influencer’s body.

Another red flag would be extreme political views. As a brand, you should avoid any political affiliation, but even if you do support a political party openly, avoid going to the extreme. This will alienate a huge chunk of your potential customers. So, you should also avoid influencers with radical political views.

Moreover, avoid influencers who are not assertive. For example, if an influencer uses mostly “should”, “may,” or “could” instead of the more assertive “will” and “must”, this shows they are uncertain of what they speak of, hindering their credibility.

Finally, avoid influencers that plagiarize other people’s work without adding an extra value of their own. This is a clear sign that they can’t create anything good about your product, so don’t waste your money on them.

What else do you need

So, when you finally have your influencer and your partnership is up and running, you can sit back, relax and wait for the results to come. Naturally, you need to keep track of how your campaign is performing and how many people from the affiliate link are coming in. Needless to say, you can expect an influx of visits, so you might want to consider upgrading your HostArmada plan. Our lightning-fast, secure and reliable hosting will give you the opportunity to meet all your new customers and reduce your bounce levels significantly. So, check out our plans, and if you need any assistance in choosing the one most suited for your business expansion, contact our team, and we will be happy to help.

The post How to find the right influencer for your business in 2023  appeared first on HostArmada Blog.