Tag: Examples

How to Write Perfect Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives (With Examples)

Having a marketing plan isn’t enough for success. You need strategic marketing objectives to help you set, plan for and achieve your business goals. And you need to have them not just for your overall marketing plan but also for specific portions, such as paid social media marketing.

This guide will offer you a detailed breakdown of what marketing objectives are, what are the best practices for creating effective marketing objectives, and a few examples of what successful marketing objectives look like. 

We have also included tips, tricks, and strategies to make your marketing plan more efficient with tried and tested marketing objectives. 

What Are Marketing Objectives?

Marketing objectives are a set of trackable, measurable, clearly defined goals to help you expand your business. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Profit-based goals: making sales
  • Growth-based goals: increasing subscribers, fans, etc.
  • Awareness-based goals: gaining unique visitors

Such marketing objectives often use a popular method of goal setting known as SMART. SMART stands for:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

You should tailor your SMART goals to your unique situation, but here’s an example to get you restarted on your marketing objectives:

Smart Goal Structure

S – Specific: Visits, Leads, or Customers

Do you want to increase traffic, nurture traffic into leads, or convert leads into customers?

M – Measurable: Provide a Number

Decide on an exact number to measure and increase.

A – Attainable: Understand Benchmark

Research your past analytics to make sure the goal is realistic with your resources.

R – Relevant: Relates Back to Overall End Goal

Make sure each goal relates back to overall end goal.

T – Timely: Include a Time Frame

Pick a date that is realistic to reach your goal.

Why Is It Important to Set Paid Social Marketing Objectives?

When you launch a paid social media marketing campaign, it’s essential to start with solid marketing objectives so you create a strong strategy to meet or exceed your marketing goals. 

For example, if you want to increase your newsletter subscribers, focus on building a robust email sequence and craft marketing content in a way that should convince your audience to hit subscribe. Having this marketing objective clarifies your key goals and can help you build an effective social media marketing strategy. 

If you don’t have any marketing objectives, you may end up wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong marketing campaign (for example, increasing passive visitors instead of engaged subscribers). 

To better direct your resources toward building successful ad campaigns, you need to understand the types of marketing objectives you can set and what they mean for your business. 

10 Types of Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives are crucial to clarifying and meeting your business goals. This section is here to help you narrow down your choices and dig deeper into what each type of marketing objective looks like in practice. 

1. Marketing Objectives to Increase Brand Awareness

This is one of the most common types of marketing objectives. No matter how great your business is, if customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you. That’s why paid social media marketing objectives aimed at increasing brand awareness often come first, especially for new business owners. 

Like other marketing campaign metrics, these can be customized and measured according to your key business needs. For example, if you’re a new brand looking to increase brand awareness, you need to tailor your social ad campaigns to attract new visitors. 

Here are a few examples of what a brand awareness-based marketing objective could look like:

  • Increase social media visitors by 25 percent.
  • Improve page visits by 50 percent.
  • Increase the number of target demographic visitors by 20 percent.

The metrics to track these marketing objective plans are pretty straightforward. For instance, here is an example of keyword metrics tracked by Ubersuggest.

Your website’s analytics page will offer you all the details about your progress (or decline in growth) so you can adjust your marketing objectives and strategies accordingly. 

If you notice you’re falling short of the goals too frequently, it may be a sign you’re setting unrealistic goals. Try to reduce the number and see what happens. 

2. Marketing Objectives to Increase Repeat Visitors

Attracting new visitors isn’t enough; you must find a way to make them stay (and eventually convert). If you’re at that stage, you can create marketing objective plans to improve on-page retention and increase your number of regular visitors.

Here’s what that goal could look like:

  • Improve click-through rates from existing visitors.
  • Increase social media engagement among regular users. 
  • Reduce bounce rates to retain customers. 

This graphic by CXL explains how to calculate your click-through rates.

Fortunately, most websites today track visitors, making it easy to see if your marketing objective plan is working. If you find a particular metric is hitting the mark, regroup and consider what needs to be fixed. 

3. Marketing Objectives to Increase Subscribers

Once somebody starts visiting your page regularly, that’s a great time to ask them to subscribe to a premium level of whatever you offer. They’re already a free subscriber showing interest in your products, so they may be more likely to subscribe to your paid service than new users who don’t know or care about your business. 

Marketing objectives to increase subscribers could look like:

  • Increase subscribers by 15 percent over the next month. 
  • Reduce unsubscription rates by five percent over the next three months. 

You can track these metrics from your subscription services’ analytics page to see what is working and what needs to change. 

4. Marketing Objectives to Promote a New Product

When you launch a new product or service, you have an opportunity to create a timely and relevant paid social media marketing campaign. 

If you’ve just launched (or are planning to launch) something new, here are a few marketing objectives you can set:

  • Increase new product landing page visits to 100,000 per day.
  • Boost social media engagement related to the new product by 40 percent. 
  • Sell 25 new units per day through organic traffic. 

Such marketing objectives and strategies are often time-bound and only last for a few weeks or months, but you should track them like you would a long-term campaign to learn what works and what needs to be improved upon for the next time you run a short campaign. 

5. Marketing Objectives to Increase Sales

Now that you’ve launched your new product and successfully promoted it, it’s time to focus on increasing sales. Most companies across several industries think of increasing sales when they discuss marketing. 

Although marketing can serve several purposes, most businesses primarily use paid social media campaigns to boost sales, so this step is quite important. 

If you’re at a stage where you’re prioritizing sales, here are a few examples of marketing objectives aimed at boosting sales:

  • Increase conversion rates by three percent in the next three weeks. 
  • Connect with 25 influencers to increase social media sales.
  • Increase affiliate sales by 12 percent in the next month. 

These marketing objectives can be directly tracked by how many units or subscriptions you sell. We recommend keeping track of your results to know which marketing objectives and strategies work best for you. 

6. Marketing Objectives to Increase Revenue

Even if your sales have increased, it doesn’t mean your revenue necessarily has. If you notice you’re not meeting your revenue goals, it’s time to devise new SMART goals, such as:

  • Increase profit margins by 1.5 percent.
  • Reduce marketing costs by two percent per month. 
  • Bring down customer acquisition cost to $5 per new buyer. 

Here’s an example of how these marketing objectives can be tracked, explained through a graphic by Chorus.ai. 

7. Marketing Objectives to Optimize the Conversion Funnel

Once you’ve set practical marketing objectives and begun working on your paid social media marketing campaign, you may notice the customers still aren’t converting. Maybe you’re attracting ample visitors, but your repeat customers are low. Perhaps you have a growing number of subscribers, but your customer acquisition cost is too high. 

In these cases, it helps to set marketing objectives to optimize your conversion funnel. Here are a few examples:

  • Identify and fix one weak spot in the conversion funnel per month. 
  • Increase conversion by 15 percent by spending a fixed sum on marketing. 
  • Reduce customer acquisition cost by three percent per month. 

You can track these metrics by closely observing your conversion funnel. Note which step of your funnel is losing visitors and aim to fix that with one of these marketing objectives.

8. Marketing Objectives to Grow Your Digital Presence

Today, 2.14 billion people shop online, making digital marketing essential. If you have a successful brick-and-mortar business and want to expand your digital reach, this marketing objective could be right for you. 

Here are a few helpful examples of what digital reach marketing objectives could look like: 

  • Post four blog posts per month to drive audience engagement.
  • Increase social media followers by 25 percent.
  • Reach 150 new users daily. 

These marketing objectives can be tracked by recording and comparing your social reach. 

Most social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram offer free analytics to help you understand how your audience interacts with your content. Use this data to adjust your marketing objectives and strategies. 

9. Marketing Objectives to Reach International Audiences

If you’re launching a new product or service that could benefit users abroad, create a marketing objective to reach geo-targeted audiences. Once you’ve defined the demographics you wish to reach, you can set the following marketing objective plans:

Understanding international markets can be tricky, so you may have to experiment with marketing objectives and strategies before finding something that provides the best return on your investment. 

10. Marketing Objectives to Increase On-site Time

Once you have an effective conversion funnel that meets your sales, revenue, and engagement goals, you can look for ways to increase each users’ on-site time. The more time somebody spends on your page, the more they’re likely to come back and buy something from you. 

For this, you can set marketing objectives like: 

  • Reduce bounce rate by 4 percent every month.
  • Increase user reading time up to 30 minutes per visitor.

You can track how long visitors stay on your page through your website’s built-in analytics tool. Measuring your marketing objectives solely through on-site time can be tricky, though, as many people leave their tabs open or are too busy to give their full attention to your page. So, we recommend you don’t focus on this objective too heavily unless you’ve completed all the others we discussed above. 

How to Pick Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

Now that you understand the 10 essential marketing objectives, it’s time to choose one for your company. 

  1. Consider your business goals

    When selecting a marketing objective, consider your business goals. Ask questions like: Do you need to increase sales, or should you prioritize social engagement?

  2. Get perspective

    Consider the entire team’s perspectives before honing in on one goal. 

  3. Narrow it down

    Narrow your options to the top three choices you can work with. 

  4. Test your goals

    Start with one to see what works and what needs to change. If your goals aren’t supporting your overall growth plans, tweak and try again.

  5. Repeat the process with new objectives

    Setting goals should be an on-going process, not a one-time deal.

Tips to Help You Meet Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your paid social media marketing objectives, make sure you:

  • Periodically check in with your team members to make sure everyone’s on the same page. 
  • Track your progress toward SMART goals to identify problems and possibilities for growth.
  • Include external experts’ suggestions to improve your process.

FAQ about Social Media Marketing Objectives

This guide covered a ton, but you’ve still got questions. Here’s a quick FAQ to help you get started.

Can my business have more than one marketing objective?

How many marketing objectives you set depends on your business goals and planning capacity. Larger businesses with bigger teams may be able to plan and execute multiple marketing objectives and strategies at once. In comparison, newer businesses with smaller teams might perform better by working on one goal at a time. 

Who should set the marketing objectives for a successful social media ad campaign?

When you launch a new social media ad campaign, involve everyone in the decisions about marketing objectives. The leaders and managers should specify the big-picture goals, while the marketing team can dig deeper into the details of how to execute your businesses’ marketing objective plans. 

What are the most important marketing objectives?

Every company prioritizes different goals at different stages of its growth. Creating brand awareness and expanding your digital reach could be solid marketing objectives to aim for if you’re a new business. If you’re an established company, increasing sales and profits may better serve your key business goals. 

What to do if my business isn’t meeting any marketing objectives?

If you notice your company is consistently falling short of your marketing objectives, it’s a sign warning you to change strategies. If you’re significantly behind your goals, it may be better to change your marketing objectives entirely. Track your goal metrics, see where your plan is failing, and set SMART marketing objectives to improve accordingly. 

How often can you change your marketing objectives? 

For your marketing objectives to succeed in accelerating your business growth, they have to be effective and profitable. If you notice you’re spending increasing time and effort trying to meet your goals without seeing great returns, reconsider your marketing objectives and perhaps swap them for new ones. 

Social Media Marketing Objectives Conclusion

Setting SMART marketing objectives can truly change the way you reach your target audience and encourage them to do business with you. 

You need to be especially SMART about your objectives when creating paid social media marketing campaigns, as you’re spending money regardless of how well things go.

Marketing objectives help clarify your message and simplify your goals while making them more effective in the long run. 

Which marketing objective will you choose for your business today?

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Distribution Channels: What They Are, Types, & Examples

Have you defined the distribution channels that will be used by your company?

If not, it’s time.

In short, distribution channels determine the path goods will take from the manufacturer to the final consumer.

Thus, they have direct impact over sales.

There are many types, formats, and levels of distribution channels.

The first step is to understand each of them.

To help you with this task, this page will go over the main things you need to know about distribution channels:

  • what distribution channels are
  • the three types of distribution channels
  • three distribution methods
  • distribution levels
  • the main intermediaries
  • how to define them

What Are Distribution Channels?

What are distribution channels?

Distribution channels are the path products take from their initial manufacturing stage to selling them to consumers. The main goal of these channels is to make goods available to final consumers in sales outlets as soon as possible.

Distribution channels directly impact a company’s sales, so you want to make them as efficient as possible.

The Three Types of Distribution Channels

There are three ways to make sure a product gets to the final consumer.

1. Direct Channels

With direct channels, the company is fully responsible for delivering products to consumers. Goods do not go through intermediaries before reaching their final destination. This model gives manufacturers total control over the distribution channel.

This is the case with people who do catalog sales, for example.

Since the manufacturer alone is responsible for delivering products, this channel generally makes it impossible to have a high number of customers.

At the same time, it’s possible to offer lower prices, since the company does not have to pay commission to intermediaries.

2. Indirect Channels

With indirect channels products are delivered by intermediaries, not by the sellers.

Who are these intermediaries? They could be wholesalers, retailers, distributors, or brokers, for example.

In this case, manufacturers do not have total control over distribution channels.

The benefit is that this makes it possible to sell larger volumes and sell to a range of customers. However, products have higher prices due to the commissions paid to intermediaries.

3. Hybrid Channels

Hybrid channels are a mix of direct and indirect channels.

In this model, the manufacturer has a partnership with intermediaries, but it still takes control when it comes to contact with customers.

One example is brands that promote products online but don’t deliver them directly to customers.

Instead, they nominate authorized distributors.

Three Methods for Distribution Channels

There are three different delivery methods for distribution.

Basically, they concern who will be allowed to sell your products.

1. Exclusive Distribution

With exclusive distribution, intermediaries take the company’s products to specific sales outlets.

This is usually done by a sales representative.

This means that only exclusive retail outlets will be able to sell the items to consumers.

Depending on the quality of the product, this is a great strategy not only for manufacturers but also for the retail outlets or chain stores selected.

2. Selective Distribution

With selective distribution, the company allows sales to a specific group of intermediaries who are responsible for selling items to final customers.

An important factor in how succesful this strategy will be is the reputation of the intermediaries since they have a direct impact over the company’s performance.

In this case, the intermediary becomes the real consultant for consumers, answering questions and recommending appropriate products for their needs.

3. Intensive Distribution

In intensive distribution, the manufacturer tries to place their product in as many sales outlets as possible.

The manufacturers themselves, sales teams, and commercial representatives are all involved in this method. They are responsible for distributing products to sales outlets.

This distribution method is generally used by manufacturers of low-cost products with a high frequency of consumption.

Distribution Channel Levels

Besides the types and methods of distribution channels, they may also operate on different levels.

Their levels represent the distance between the manufacturer and the final consumer.

Level 0 Distribution Channel

In this level, there is a close and direct relationship between the manufacturer and the client.

For the company, the costs of the relationship with the consumer are higher.

Level 1 Distribution Channel

In level 1, the manufacturer sells the products to the distributor, who might sell it to consumers via retailers or wholesalers.

The distributor keeps some of the rights to the product, but not all.

The distributor is also responsible for the costs of sales and transportation to sales outlets.

Level 2 Distribution Channel

Level 2 is similar to level 1.

The difference is that in this case, the distributor delivers products only to retailers, who sell them to consumers.

Level 3 Distribution Channel

Level 3 channels are a traditional distribution model.

The product’s journey from the manufacturer involves distributor, retailer, and customer.

The costs relative to sales and marketing are divided between the parties.

The advantage of this model is that it’s possible to reach a larger number of consumers.

On the other hand, products have a higher price because of the operational costs of all the parties involved.

The Nine Main Intermediaries in Distribution Channels

After finding out more about operation details, it’s time to see who are the main intermediaries who take products to consumers.

1. Retailers

Retailers are intermediaries used frequently by companies.

Examples include supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, and bars. Each of these types of businesses has full sales rights.

Generally, product prices are higher in retailers.

2. Wholesalers

Wholesalers are intermediaries that buy and resell products to retailers. Wholesalers sell to those who are going to put products in their own stores.

These intermediaries generally don’t sell small quantities to final consumers, though there are exceptions, like supermarkets that sell in the wholesale model.

Prices are lower because sales involve large quantities.

3. Distributors

Distributors sell, store, and offer technical support to retailers and wholesalers. Their operations are focused on specific regions.

4. Agents

Agents are legal entities hired to sell a company’s goods to final consumers and are paid a commission for their sales.

In this case, the relationships between intermediaries and companies are for the long term.

5. Brokers

Brokers are also hired to sell and receive a commission.

The difference between agents and brokers is that brokers have short term relationships with the company.

That’s the case with real estate agents and insurance brokers, for example.

6. The Internet

To those who sell tech and software, the internet itself works as the intermediary of the distribution channel.

The consumer only has to download the material to have access to it.

E-commerce companies also use the internet as a distribution intermediary.

7. Sales Teams

A company can also have its own sales team who are responsible for selling goods or services.

There is also the possibility of creating more than one team to sell to various segments and audiences if the company has a wide range of products.

8. Resellers

Resellers are companies or people who buy from manufacturers or retailers to later sell to consumers in retail.

9. Catalog

Catalog sales, as the name indicates, is when a salesperson is connected to a company and sells its products using a magazine. Salespeople in this model also usually earn a commission for their sales.

This type of sales is common in the beauty segment, with brands like Avon and the Brazilian Natura.

Reverse Distribution Channel

Now you know the types and methods available for products to reach customers. But what happens when consumers need to return items to manufacturers?

Consumers need to rely on reverse distribution if they receive defective products or need to return clothes or shoes they bought online that don’t fit.

In this case, the consumer is responsible for returning the items and needs to find information from the manufacturer about how to do this. Usually, consumers find information about returns on the site for the product.

How to Define Distribution Channels for Your Product

How to define distribution channels for your product

Now you know the different types of distribution channels and intermediaries. But all this is of no use if you don’t know how to select the appropriate channel for your company.

Next up are seven essential tips to help you make this decision.

1. Benchmarking

First, you must look at your competitors to find the best practices they adopt.

This kind of mapping is known as benchmarking.

The idea is to figure out how your competitors are distributing their products and adopt a similar model.

2. Project Review

So you have mapped out best practices in the market and identified solutions that could work for your business.

Great.

The next step is to review the project/channel you created.

Check if there are errors and how processes may be optimized and adapt the project to the needs and characteristics of the type of sales you make.

3. Costs and Benefits

When we talk about distribution channels, one important factor is the cost associated with them.

Always look for the best cost-benefit ratio.

To do this, it is not enough to have a vague idea of the costs. You must record all costs and analyze if the benefits of the channel you selected are worth it.

4. Company’s Daily Routine

Another relevant factor is the business’ routine.

What are the projects, processes, and activities in your business?

The distribution channel must be aligned with all these details.

Otherwise, you might have logistics problems that result in product delays that damage your relationship with customers.

5. Market Potential

Before selecting a channel, you should also consider the market potential of intermediaries.

After all, unless you choose to use direct channels, they will also be responsible for sales results.

Analyze intermediaries’ market participation, reputation, and performance to only then try to select the most appropriate option.

6. Logistics

Consider logistical questions like:

  • How will products be transported?
  • Is there security for when the products are in transit and/or where they are stored?
  • Where will goods be stored?
  • What will be the delivery time, on average?

Considering all stages of logistics is crucial to avoid problems taking goods to sales outlets.

7. Location

Finally, consider the location of intermediaries, whether they are resellers, retailers, wholesalers, or distributors.

After all, your product must be sold in the region where your target audience is, especially if you supply a specific niche of the market.

Managing Distribution Channels

How should you manage your company’s distribution channels? This is usually the responsibility of marketing departments.

To do it, it’s essential to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

Carry out regular assessments of reports with metrics and indicators related to distribution processes.

Monitor sales indicators, for example, analyzing the performance of each channel the company uses.

Also, carry out satisfaction surveys with consumers, especially when customers are dissatisfied with the selection and availability of goods or when sales volume is below expectations.

Examples of Distribution Channels

Examples of distribution channels

Before concluding this reading, how about we get to know two examples from great companies?

Coca-Cola’s Distribution Channels

The largest soft drink manufacturer in the world uses different sales channels with franchisers, distributors, and retailers.

For example, soft drinks get to different retailers thanks to distributors.

This includes bars, restaurants, and supermarkets, who sell directly to final consumers.

Natura’s Distribution Channels

Cosmetics brand Natura basically uses catalog distribution, though today there are sales outlets as well.

The company has a network of consultants that sell to consumers using magazines showing the products.

Distribution Channels Conclusion

Are you ready to define and manage distribution channels for your company?

Follow the steps I mentioned in this article, from benchmarking to sales outlet analysis.

Consider the cost-benefit ratio of each channel.

And regardless of your choice, always monitor indicators and metrics.

This analysis makes it possible to check the efficiency of the distribution channel so you can optimize it constantly.

Did you like the tips in this article?

Leave a comment with your opinion or any questions you may have.

How to Write Perfect Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives (With Examples)

Having a marketing plan isn’t enough for success. You need strategic marketing objectives to help you set, plan for and achieve your business goals. And you need to have them not just for your overall marketing plan but also for specific portions, such as paid social media marketing.

This guide will offer you a detailed breakdown of what marketing objectives are, what are the best practices for creating effective marketing objectives, and a few examples of what successful marketing objectives look like. 

We have also included tips, tricks, and strategies to make your marketing plan more efficient with tried and tested marketing objectives. 

What Are Marketing Objectives?

Marketing objectives are a set of trackable, measurable, clearly defined goals to help you expand your business. These can include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Profit-based goals: making sales
  • Growth-based goals: increasing subscribers, fans, etc.
  • Awareness-based goals: gaining unique visitors

Such marketing objectives often use a popular method of goal setting known as SMART. SMART stands for:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

You should tailor your SMART goals to your unique situation, but here’s an example to get you restarted on your marketing objectives:

SMART goals structure related to marketing objectives

Smart Goal Structure

S – Specific: Visits, Leads, or Customers

Do you want to increase traffic, nurture traffic into leads, or convert leads into customers?

M – Measurable: Provide a Number

Decide on an exact number to measure and increase.

A – Attainable: Understand Benchmark

Research your past analytics to make sure the goal is realistic with your resources.

R – Relevant: Relates Back to Overall End Goal

Make sure each goal relates back to overall end goal.

T – Timely: Include a Time Frame

Pick a date that is realistic to reach your goal.

Why Is It Important to Set Paid Social Marketing Objectives?

When you launch a paid social media marketing campaign, it’s essential to start with solid marketing objectives so you create a strong strategy to meet or exceed your marketing goals. 

For example, if you want to increase your newsletter subscribers, focus on building a robust email sequence and craft marketing content in a way that should convince your audience to hit subscribe. Having this marketing objective clarifies your key goals and can help you build an effective social media marketing strategy. 

If you don’t have any marketing objectives, you may end up wasting time, money, and effort on the wrong marketing campaign (for example, increasing passive visitors instead of engaged subscribers). 

To better direct your resources toward building successful ad campaigns, you need to understand the types of marketing objectives you can set and what they mean for your business. 

10 Types of Paid Social Media Marketing Objectives

Marketing objectives are crucial to clarifying and meeting your business goals. This section is here to help you narrow down your choices and dig deeper into what each type of marketing objective looks like in practice. 

1. Marketing Objectives to Increase Brand Awareness

This is one of the most common types of marketing objectives. No matter how great your business is, if customers don’t know about you, they can’t buy from you. That’s why paid social media marketing objectives aimed at increasing brand awareness often come first, especially for new business owners. 

Like other marketing campaign metrics, these can be customized and measured according to your key business needs. For example, if you’re a new brand looking to increase brand awareness, you need to tailor your social ad campaigns to attract new visitors. 

Here are a few examples of what a brand awareness-based marketing objective could look like:

  • Increase social media visitors by 25 percent.
  • Improve page visits by 50 percent.
  • Increase the number of target demographic visitors by 20 percent.

The metrics to track these marketing objective plans are pretty straightforward. For instance, here is an example of keyword metrics tracked by Ubersuggest.

Paid social media marketing objective for apple

Your website’s analytics page will offer you all the details about your progress (or decline in growth) so you can adjust your marketing objectives and strategies accordingly. 

If you notice you’re falling short of the goals too frequently, it may be a sign you’re setting unrealistic goals. Try to reduce the number and see what happens. 

2. Marketing Objectives to Increase Repeat Visitors

Attracting new visitors isn’t enough; you must find a way to make them stay (and eventually convert). If you’re at that stage, you can create marketing objective plans to improve on-page retention and increase your number of regular visitors.

Here’s what that goal could look like:

  • Improve click-through rates from existing visitors.
  • Increase social media engagement among regular users. 
  • Reduce bounce rates to retain customers. 

This graphic by CXL explains how to calculate your click-through rates.

Click through rate calculation for paid social marketing objectives

Fortunately, most websites today track visitors, making it easy to see if your marketing objective plan is working. If you find a particular metric is hitting the mark, regroup and consider what needs to be fixed. 

3. Marketing Objectives to Increase Subscribers

Once somebody starts visiting your page regularly, that’s a great time to ask them to subscribe to a premium level of whatever you offer. They’re already a free subscriber showing interest in your products, so they may be more likely to subscribe to your paid service than new users who don’t know or care about your business. 

Marketing objectives to increase subscribers could look like:

  • Increase subscribers by 15 percent over the next month. 
  • Reduce unsubscription rates by five percent over the next three months. 

You can track these metrics from your subscription services’ analytics page to see what is working and what needs to change. 

4. Marketing Objectives to Promote a New Product

When you launch a new product or service, you have an opportunity to create a timely and relevant paid social media marketing campaign. 

If you’ve just launched (or are planning to launch) something new, here are a few marketing objectives you can set:

  • Increase new product landing page visits to 100,000 per day.
  • Boost social media engagement related to the new product by 40 percent. 
  • Sell 25 new units per day through organic traffic. 

Such marketing objectives and strategies are often time-bound and only last for a few weeks or months, but you should track them like you would a long-term campaign to learn what works and what needs to be improved upon for the next time you run a short campaign. 

5. Marketing Objectives to Increase Sales

Now that you’ve launched your new product and successfully promoted it, it’s time to focus on increasing sales. Most companies across several industries think of increasing sales when they discuss marketing. 

Although marketing can serve several purposes, most businesses primarily use paid social media campaigns to boost sales, so this step is quite important. 

If you’re at a stage where you’re prioritizing sales, here are a few examples of marketing objectives aimed at boosting sales:

  • Increase conversion rates by three percent in the next three weeks. 
  • Connect with 25 influencers to increase social media sales.
  • Increase affiliate sales by 12 percent in the next month. 

These marketing objectives can be directly tracked by how many units or subscriptions you sell. We recommend keeping track of your results to know which marketing objectives and strategies work best for you. 

6. Marketing Objectives to Increase Revenue

Even if your sales have increased, it doesn’t mean your revenue necessarily has. If you notice you’re not meeting your revenue goals, it’s time to devise new SMART goals, such as:

  • Increase profit margins by 1.5 percent.
  • Reduce marketing costs by two percent per month. 
  • Bring down customer acquisition cost to $5 per new buyer. 

Here’s an example of how these marketing objectives can be tracked, explained through a graphic by Chorus.ai. 

Marketing objective to improve revenue chart

7. Marketing Objectives to Optimize the Conversion Funnel

Once you’ve set practical marketing objectives and begun working on your paid social media marketing campaign, you may notice the customers still aren’t converting. Maybe you’re attracting ample visitors, but your repeat customers are low. Perhaps you have a growing number of subscribers, but your customer acquisition cost is too high. 

In these cases, it helps to set marketing objectives to optimize your conversion funnel. Here are a few examples:

  • Identify and fix one weak spot in the conversion funnel per month. 
  • Increase conversion by 15 percent by spending a fixed sum on marketing. 
  • Reduce customer acquisition cost by three percent per month. 

You can track these metrics by closely observing your conversion funnel. Note which step of your funnel is losing visitors and aim to fix that with one of these marketing objectives.

8. Marketing Objectives to Grow Your Digital Presence

Today, 2.14 billion people shop online, making digital marketing essential. If you have a successful brick-and-mortar business and want to expand your digital reach, this marketing objective could be right for you. 

Number of online shoppers for setting marketing objectives

Here are a few helpful examples of what digital reach marketing objectives could look like: 

  • Post four blog posts per month to drive audience engagement.
  • Increase social media followers by 25 percent.
  • Reach 150 new users daily. 

These marketing objectives can be tracked by recording and comparing your social reach. 

Most social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram offer free analytics to help you understand how your audience interacts with your content. Use this data to adjust your marketing objectives and strategies. 

9. Marketing Objectives to Reach International Audiences

If you’re launching a new product or service that could benefit users abroad, create a marketing objective to reach geo-targeted audiences. Once you’ve defined the demographics you wish to reach, you can set the following marketing objective plans:

Understanding international markets can be tricky, so you may have to experiment with marketing objectives and strategies before finding something that provides the best return on your investment. 

10. Marketing Objectives to Increase On-site Time

Once you have an effective conversion funnel that meets your sales, revenue, and engagement goals, you can look for ways to increase each users’ on-site time. The more time somebody spends on your page, the more they’re likely to come back and buy something from you. 

For this, you can set marketing objectives like: 

  • Reduce bounce rate by 4 percent every month.
  • Increase user reading time up to 30 minutes per visitor.

You can track how long visitors stay on your page through your website’s built-in analytics tool. Measuring your marketing objectives solely through on-site time can be tricky, though, as many people leave their tabs open or are too busy to give their full attention to your page. So, we recommend you don’t focus on this objective too heavily unless you’ve completed all the others we discussed above. 

How to Pick Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

Now that you understand the 10 essential marketing objectives, it’s time to choose one for your company. 

  1. Consider your business goals

    When selecting a marketing objective, consider your business goals. Ask questions like: Do you need to increase sales, or should you prioritize social engagement?

  2. Get perspective

    Consider the entire team’s perspectives before honing in on one goal. 

  3. Narrow it down

    Narrow your options to the top three choices you can work with. 

  4. Test your goals

    Start with one to see what works and what needs to change. If your goals aren’t supporting your overall growth plans, tweak and try again.

  5. Repeat the process with new objectives

    Setting goals should be an on-going process, not a one-time deal.

Tips to Help You Meet Your Paid Social Marketing Objectives

If you want to increase the effectiveness of your paid social media marketing objectives, make sure you:

  • Periodically check in with your team members to make sure everyone’s on the same page. 
  • Track your progress toward SMART goals to identify problems and possibilities for growth.
  • Include external experts’ suggestions to improve your process.

FAQ about Social Media Marketing Objectives

This guide covered a ton, but you’ve still got questions. Here’s a quick FAQ to help you get started.

Can my business have more than one marketing objective?

How many marketing objectives you set depends on your business goals and planning capacity. Larger businesses with bigger teams may be able to plan and execute multiple marketing objectives and strategies at once. In comparison, newer businesses with smaller teams might perform better by working on one goal at a time. 

Who should set the marketing objectives for a successful social media ad campaign?

When you launch a new social media ad campaign, involve everyone in the decisions about marketing objectives. The leaders and managers should specify the big-picture goals, while the marketing team can dig deeper into the details of how to execute your businesses’ marketing objective plans. 

What are the most important marketing objectives?

Every company prioritizes different goals at different stages of its growth. Creating brand awareness and expanding your digital reach could be solid marketing objectives to aim for if you’re a new business. If you’re an established company, increasing sales and profits may better serve your key business goals. 

What to do if my business isn’t meeting any marketing objectives?

If you notice your company is consistently falling short of your marketing objectives, it’s a sign warning you to change strategies. If you’re significantly behind your goals, it may be better to change your marketing objectives entirely. Track your goal metrics, see where your plan is failing, and set SMART marketing objectives to improve accordingly. 

How often can you change your marketing objectives? 

For your marketing objectives to succeed in accelerating your business growth, they have to be effective and profitable. If you notice you’re spending increasing time and effort trying to meet your goals without seeing great returns, reconsider your marketing objectives and perhaps swap them for new ones. 

Social Media Marketing Objectives Conclusion

Setting SMART marketing objectives can truly change the way you reach your target audience and encourage them to do business with you. 

You need to be especially SMART about your objectives when creating paid social media marketing campaigns, as you’re spending money regardless of how well things go.

Marketing objectives help clarify your message and simplify your goals while making them more effective in the long run. 

Which marketing objective will you choose for your business today?

5 PPC Business Ethics Examples and Best Practices

It’s no secret that competition in online advertising has become super stiff. In a bid to beat the competition, it’s easy to cross the line and employ shady tactics; tactics that may be unethical.

However, unethical PPC practices will do more harm than good for your business. They can also get you in trouble with the law.

That’s why as a digital marketer, you must always prioritize business ethics in all you do, including in your PPC ads.

Business ethics play a huge role in the success of your business. That’s why today, I want to focus on the topic from a PPC ads perspective.

The Importance of Business Ethics in PPC Ads

Business ethics refers to the moral principles that serve as guidelines for the way you conduct business. This includes everything from how you attract customers (via advertising) to the way you transact with them and everything in-between.

Business ethics are based on values like honesty, fairness, transparency, and social responsibility. An ethical marketer builds their PPC campaigns based on both moral and business perspectives.

In short, your PPC campaigns must help your prospects, not trick them into making a purchase, and they should also benefit your business. For some, walking this fine line is the most challenging aspect of running effective PPC ads.

Now, what’s the importance of business ethics in PPC ads?

Business Ethics Help You Build Strong Relationships With Customers

One of the most important reasons to practice business ethics in your PPC ads is to help you build strong relationships with your customers. People trust ethical brands as they’re authentic and transparent. They know they’ll get exactly what the brand promises in its ads.

As a marketer, put people before clicks (and profits). It will help you build strong relationships with your customers, leading you to enjoy higher retention rates.

Business Ethics Help You Develop a Good Reputation

Your reputation is one of your most important assets as a business. Two good reasons you must prioritize having a good reputation include:

  • Create brand ambassadors: When a person clicks on your ad and gets a positive experience, they’re highly likely to recommend your brand to their family and friends.
  • Improve your ad performance: Your brand’s reputation has an impact on the performance of your ads. Many users perform their own brand research before deciding to make a purchase. In today’s highly connected age, a poor reputation easily shows in the form of negative reviews.

Every business needs a good reputation to thrive, especially in a competitive environment. And good reputation management starts with employing good business ethics in all your activities, PPC ads included.

Ignoring business ethics in your PPC ads can only lead to wasted ad spend and a ruined business. With that out of the way, let’s quickly dive into the top five ethics you should follow as you create and run your PPC ads.

5 Examples of Business Ethics Principles You Should Follow in Your PPC Ads

To ensure your PPC ads follow business ethics principles, here are five best practices to keep in mind:

1. Don’t Advertise Misleading Products

One of the most unethical practices you must avoid as you steer your business towards ethical practices is giving your customers misleading information. Sadly, this is a common practice in the advertising industry, and some brands still utilize misinformation in a desperate bid to drive clicks. The internet abounds with examples of misleading ads; yours shouldn’t be one of them.

business ethics - don't advertise misleading products

One of the most common examples of misinformation in PPC is advertising misleading products. This could be anything that includes:

  • advertising products you can’t supply
  • using a high-traffic keyword that’s not relevant
  • using hype to infer your product does what, in reality, it doesn’t

There are many more ways unethical advertisers use misleading information to drive clicks. However, no matter how desperate you are to get people to click on your ads, don’t mislead your customers.

While you may get the clicks you want, the long-term effects of such unethical business practices are not worth it. For one, you’ll lose your customers’ trust. Even if they click on your ads, they’ll be so disappointed they won’t purchase what you’re selling.

No matter what products or services you’re advertising, be honest about the features and benefits. There are always people looking for what you have to offer.

Exaggerating the benefits of your product or service is tantamount to making a false claim. Promising your prospects a level of quality you can’t deliver will only ruin your reputation.

2. Only Include Honest Links in Ads

Business ethics, especially in PPC, demands that the message in your ads and the link destination must match.

Anything else is dishonesty.

Unfortunately, many unscrupulous businesses send people who click on a link in their PPC ads to a different destination. They advertise one thing and send visitors to a different landing page. Pulling a bait and switch like this goes against good business ethics. More than that, it leads to you losing your integrity as a business.

Besides the loss of integrity, dishonest links can lead to you being penalized for unethical practices. When your link takes customers to a page unrelated to what you’re advertising, your ad is considered a fake ad, and Google will take it down.

Dishonest links are prevalent among marketers who get paid using the cost-per-impression (CPM/CPI) model. They try to rack up impressions on their ads by creating their ads around popular keywords that attract a lot of traffic. When users click on the link, they’re directed to a different product or business.

As an ethical marketer, such tactics should never even be mentioned in your strategy and planning sessions. No matter how competitive your space may be, stick to ethical business practices.

3. Sell Your Products at Fair Prices

While some business ethics are clear-cut, others are not. Ethical pricing is one of those that isn’t so obvious.

If you’re wondering, ethical pricing means charging an amount that’s fair for your products.

It’s pricing your products in a way that allows you to make a profit without defrauding your customers. Doing so is not always easy as there are many factors that you have to consider to price your products fairly. The most significant are:

  • market factors
  • your competitors’ pricing
  • availability

Besides fair pricing, you must also ensure to practice ethics in your PPC ad campaigns as a marketer. Make sure you’re fully transparent about all the costs your customers will incur when purchasing your product or services. There’s nothing as frustrating as thinking you’ve found the best deal on a product, only to click on the ad and discover the advertised price wasn’t genuine.

From shipping to discounts and everything in between, your ads must be clear about the final price your customers will pay for your product. Doing so is essential to building trust with your customers. It’s also critical to reducing cart abandonment as undisclosed shipping costs are one of the leading causes of cart abandonment.

business ethics - Sell your products at fair prices

The bottom line is, sell your products at a fair price and make sure you’re transparent about pricing in your PPC ads and landing pages.

4. Don’t Plagiarize

As a marketer, you probably look for inspiration from ads that have performed well, but that’s as far as competitor research should go.

Never plagiarize other brands’ ad copy.

For your brand to do well online, you must follow Google’s search evaluator guidelines, the most significant being the EAT guidelines. Google’s EAT guidelines have a huge bearing on how you ethically create your PPC ad copy. Here’s what the acronym stands for and what it means to your ad copy creation:

Expertise

Your ad copy must reflect your expertise in your niche or industry. Show your customers why you’re the best. However, make sure not to stretch the truth as that would be dishonest and unethical.

Authoritativeness

People want to buy from brands that have built a reputation for themselves. A good reputation is born out of practicing good business ethics. Let your authority shine through every piece of content in your sales funnel—especially your ad and landing page copy.

Trustworthiness

Trust is one of the most significant factors that drive clicks to your ads. To build trust with your audience, you must be authentic. Avoid plagiarizing other brands’ ads or any other assets that have had a positive impact on their ads.

With so many brands vying for the same customers, authenticity and originality are essential to helping you stand out from the crowd. Following Google’s search evaluator guidelines will help you ensure your content does just that.

Your ad copy will have your unique personality and highlight your particular area of authority, thereby allowing you to attract your ideal buyer persona. More than that, it will help you rank well and drive clicks to your offer.

5. Don’t Use Click Fraud

One of PPC’s strengths has become a loophole that devious marketers now exploit. Yes, I’m talking about the cost-per-click (CPC) model and how some marketers commit click fraud.

What is click fraud?

Click fraud is when an individual exploits PPC ads by repeatedly clicking on them to generate fraudulent charges. As a result, the advertiser’s ad spend shoots through the roof while their conversion rates tank. Not to mention that crucial data said advertiser uses to create better iterations of their campaign gets skewed.

The main reason unscrupulous marketers leverage click fraud as part of their business strategy is to exhaust their competitor’s ad budget. Once their budget is spent, their ads will decrease, giving the unethical marketer a better shot at driving traffic to their ads.

Marketers also sometimes use click fraud on their own ads to “game” paid search advertising. By generating more clicks on their ads, they boost their quality score on Google Ads.

Your quality score depends on many factors, with the main two being ad relevance and the click-through rate (CTR) the ad generates. Both are factors that can be manipulated through click fraud.

Why would a publisher commit click fraud on their ads?

Simple. A good quality score is critical to marketers as it results in:

  • lower CPC
  • lower acquisition costs
  • better rankings for ads

While the advantages of having a good quality score are massive, you shouldn’t stoop to click fraud to get them. Improve your score as best you can, but make sure it’s within the confines of good business ethics.

Business Ethics in PPC FAQs

Can I Use Hype in My Headlines?

Using hype in your ad headlines is unethical. It’s the same as clickbait and should never be used to move people to click on your ads.Using hype in headlines goes against business ethics
Instead, use benefit-driven headlines as they’re more truthful. They also address your target audience’s pain points, resulting in better conversions.

Is It Wrong for a New Business to Gain Traction by Manipulating Ad Clicks?

The type of foundation you lay for your business determines its outcome. Once you start using unethical business practices, you’ll use them every time you need a “quick fix.” So, yes. It’s wrong to manipulate clicks at any stage of your business, even for the sake of just gaining traction.

Business Ethics Conclusion

Despite the economic atmosphere being cutthroat, you must ensure you conduct your business ethically.

That’s especially true for your advertising tactics.

People don’t like being scammed, and unethical PPC ads fall on the dark side of false, misleading, and spammy advertising. While you may initially get some traction using deceptive advertising, you won’t succeed in the long run.

To build a sustainable business, you can only do so based on implementing good business ethics. Be ethical on social media, in your content, your PPC ads, and everything else you do to boost your business. This way, you’ll be able to build a good reputation and grow your loyal repeat customers.

What other business ethics examples and best practices do you think PPC advertisers should follow?

Product Life Cycle: What It Is, the 5 Stages, & Examples

If you work with sales, knowing about the Product Life Cycle model is almost mandatory.

The model describes the stages a product goes through in its journey from creation to discontinuation.

Why do you need to know this?

Because products in different stages demand different strategies, be that for physical products or for services.

Do you think you can attract customers to a new product using the same actions used for products that have been on the market for years?

Best case scenario, it will be a wasted opportunity. At worst, a total failure.

To get to know the stages of the Product Life Cycle, examples, and how to employ this concept, don’t forget to read this article until the end!

What Is the Product Life Cycle?

The Product Life Cycle is a management tool that makes it possible to analyze how a product behaves from its development to its withdrawal from the market, also considering its launch, growth, and sales maturity.

It is like a product journey, or to refer to a more well-known example in marketing, the customer journey.

The mind behind this concept is Theodore Levitt, a German economist who lived in the United States and worked in the celebrated Harvard Business School.

Levitt proposed a five-stage model that he named the Product Life Cycle.

The stages are development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.

Before I explain each of them, it’s interesting to understand why Levitt thought defining this model would be useful.

During his research, he discovered something that seems obvious but hadn’t been mapped until then: the characteristics of a product change a lot during its life cycle.

All the strategies around it need to consider the specific issues and characteristics of each of these stages.

This applies to sales and marketing, but also to product development and decision-making in the management sphere.

For example, when is the right moment to invest so a product explodes in the market?

When is time to step on the brakes and maybe even replace an item that was very successful on another occasion?

These are the questions you can answer with a Product Life Cycle analysis.

The 5 Stages of the Product Life Cycle

The 5 Stages of the Product Life Cycle

It’s time to explore more deeply the Product Life Cycle model.

Now that we know the stages, we will see what are the characteristics of each of them, and also the best practices to achieve your marketing goals.

1. Development Phase of the Product Life Cycle

Product development is always a very sensitive stage.

The project is still able to be iterated. You can have great expectations for it, but before the product starts generating revenue, you still need to improve your proposal, carry out tests, validate the hypotheses, and make necessary changes.

This stage is naturally integrated into the process of startup companies but is not restricted to them.

For example, an automobile manufacturer does not launch a new car without first having a consistent project and studying its insertion and acceptance in the market.

To present a real example, you might have seen the collection of leggings for dogs the Walkee Paws brand released at the end of 2018.

Development phase of the product life cycle example - legging for dogs

We can imagine that this launch was preceded by careful planning, which resulted in the shape of the pieces, the material used, and the patterns selected.

When a product is in development, it doesn’t require sales efforts, but promotion should already have begun.

Imagine the success potential of a marketing campaign from Walkee Paws announcing this novelty to dedicated dog lovers.

It could involve fun posts on social networks, generating curiosity and encouraging engagement.

There may also be press releases, billboards, or even interactive actions on the streets, among other types of marketing.

The fact is that the company must consider all this even during the development stage.

2. Introduction Phase of the Product Life Cycle

The Walkee Paws example is about the introduction.

That’s when the product goes through all development stages and is considered ready to be launched in the market.

Every day we are introduced to new items in this stage of the cycle.

For big brands, TV is a choice for promotion.

Proof: you only need to turn on the TV for a few minutes to see ads for a new flavor of soda, a different motorcycle model, a smartphone that promises new and superior features, etc.

It is no accident that this stage of the Product Life Cycle is the one that demands the most marketing investment from the company.

In fact, it is not uncommon to get negative financial results at this stage, even if sales have already started.

This is also a result of the production costs related to product distribution.

To reduce the damage, it is imperative to define the target audience and persona that represents the ideal customer profile for your products.

This exercise makes it possible to optimize your marketing investments, using the right platforms to convey the best message and reach the exact audience you want.

A good practice is to bet on inbound marketing and, by means of relevant content, ensure the user discovers the company and what it offers

This strategy is also how potential consumers are persuaded to confirm sales.

3. Growth Phase of the Product Life Cycle

If the Product Life Cycle works as it should, the next step is the growth stage.

The main characteristics of this stage are scalable sales and the maintenance of the amounts invested in marketing.

It is not possible to predict precisely when it happens, because that depends a lot on the details of the product and the market it’s in.

But it is worth repeating: if you follow the plan correctly, you are likely to reach your goals even if it takes a while.

So don’t get discouraged before you get to the growth stage.

Your investments must continue, either because of expanding your participation in the market or keeping production/output up with your sales rates.

This applies to sales of anything from marketing services, to salespeople training, to physical products.

Many companies fail at this stage and their products’ sales decline without having ever experienced maturity.

You might remember a beer brand that made fun tv ads with a short and chubby actor with a mustache as the protagonist.

For a long time, it was one of the leading brands, and the advertisements generated comments in the only social network in existence back then: word-of-mouth.

The product is still in the market, and there is no news of changes to its formula, but it was swallowed by the strong competition that is peculiar to the industry.

Lower investment in marketing would certainly be high in a list of possible reasons for this change.

So the lesson is clear: if a product is in the growth stage, it is important to have a strategy to keep it there even as new competitors start fighting for its audience.

4. Maturity Phase of the Product Life Cycle

Maturity is the peak, the highest point of the Product Life Cycle.

It’s when the product reaches its maximum potential and sales stabilize.

Once the summit is reached, it is no longer possible to grow, but the company can act to avoid significant setbacks.

The challenge at this stage is to maintain good results over time.

There isn’t a simple way to make this happen.

All the famous brands that come to mind now are where they are today because they invested in this stage.

For example, Coca-Cola doesn’t leave the media even though it “doesn’t depend on marketing.” The company understands that brands are not forever, being subject to market instabilities and behavioral changes in the audience.

Imagine if a competitor developed a new soft drink and people discover that that flavor is essential for their weekend family lunches.

With no visibility, Coca-Cola would lose space in the market, and in that situation, possibly even its place as the leading brand.

5. Decline Phase of the Product Life Cycle

It’s interesting to even imagine the end of Coca-Cola, a company with over 100 years of existence and so much financial success.

But even Coca-Cola will end one day. Maybe not the company, but its main product.

This might take 100, 200, or even 1000 years. It’s impossible to predict.

But every product reaches the end and concludes its life cycle.

When that happens, the company must recognize the painful truth shown in its performance indicators and prepare a replacement product.

If everything contributes to the idea of discontinuing the product, investing heavily in marketing to try to revert the situation tends to be too dangerous.

It might work, of course. But what if it doesn’t?

The company as a whole, and not just the product, may be endangered.

Why It’s Important to Understand the Product Life Cycle

If you’ve made it this far, you hopefully understand the concept of Product Life Cycle and the characteristics of each of its stages.

You should also understand why it’s important to apply this model to your business.

To eliminate any questions, here are the main advantages and benefits of what adherence to the Product Life Cycle model can do:

  • allow decision making with better support
  • optimize marketing investments
  • qualify sales efforts
  • offer more control over results
  • give better long term strategic planning
  • offer better organization and process management
  • provide more longevity for products
  • give more appropriate preparation to face competition
  • leading the market becomes a feasible goal

Does the Product Life Cycle Only Apply to Products?

This is an interesting question about this tool.

If it were restricted to products, the audience who would be able to make use of it would be much smaller.

On one hand, the idea that the Product Life Cycle works better for physical products is correct considering its characteristics.

On the other hand, it’s possible to be creative and think about adaptations of the model.

Let’s take a large company with subsidiaries in different towns as an example.

Each one of these units may be considered a product when applying this Product Life Cycle model; all you have to do is analyze each one’s performance individually.

Another example is a company with many brands, each with their own products.

To understand this better, take a look at the Procter & Gamble website, where you will see that the company has several active brands in the USA market.

product life cycle on products - Procter & Gamble example

In which stage of the cycle is each of these brands?

Are they planning new brands that are currently in the development stage?

To conclude, let’s look at another example.

Could services replace products in the model proposed by Theodore Levitt?

Depending on the activity the company performs, this is perfectly possible.

Let’s think about a home renovation company, for example.

It may offer a great variety of construction services, such as installing floors and tiles, painting, plastering, providing electric and hydraulic works, masonry, and more.

When using the Product Life Cycle method, you can observe the life cycle of each of these services to assess the type of investment each of them requires and the possibilities for returns in each case.

Practical Examples of the Product Life Cycle

How does the Product Life Cycle work in practice, in real cases?

We are going to take a look at two cool examples: Havaianas and Coca-Cola.

The Product Life Cycle of Havaianas

Examples of the Product Life Cycle -havaianas
  • Development: the traditional flip flops were inspired by Japanese sandals made of wood or straw; in Brazil, rubber was selected as the material because it was believed to have the most acceptance with the audience
  • Introduction: deliberately or not, its introduction in the market was a great success with classes C, D, and E
  • Growth: Havaianas flip flops were in the growth stage for most of their existence, eventually dominating over 90% of the market for flip flops
  • Maturity: maturity only came in the ’90s, with new product design, aimed at a different audience, and great marketing investment, especially with the now-classic TV ads that were fun and always starred famous actors
  • Decline: up to this moment, there are no signs that Havaianas flip-flops may go through this stage in the short term

The Product Life Cycle of Coca Cola

Examples of the Product Life Cycle -Coca Cola
  • Development: very little is known about the development of Coca-Cola and how they created the mysterious formula
  • Introduction: by 1886, the year of its foundation, the brand already seemed to have the right project
  • Growth: less than ten years after its launch, Coca-Cola was already consumed in all the U.S. states
  • Maturity: it’s impossible to say exactly when the brand reached maturity, but it’s safe to say that it has spent most of its history until now in this stage
  • Decline: since 2012, the net operating revenue of Coca-Cola has fluctuated towards decreasing; while a small decrease is within what’s expected for the maturity stage, investments in marketing and new products must continue

Product Life Cycle Vs. BCG Matrix

A product is born, grows, declines, and dies.

Isn’t this model the same as that of the BCG Matrix?

If you thought of that, you were very astute.

The BCG Matrix is another amazing management tool, created by the Boston Consulting Group (the model is named after their initials).

The BCG Matrix is very similar to the Product Life Cycle, though there are some differences.

First, there are four instead of five stages: Question Mark, Star, Cash Cow, and Dog.

Second: these curious names relate to specific characteristics of the stage in which the product is, not necessarily analyzing the entire life cycle.

Are you confused? I’ll explain.

Take a look at the table below:

Product Life Cycle vs BCG Matrix

Question marks are new products that don’t have a market yet but have great potential for growth.

Stars, as the name indicates, are at the top: they generate good revenue.

Cash cows are the future of stars: their performance has peaked, but their decline is expected.

And dogs are a problem: products at the end of the line, that no longer sell well and are unlikely to recover their space.

In general, question marks and stars demand marketing investment, cash cows no longer need investment and dogs will not recover even with investment.

Product Life Cycle Conclusion

By now you should understand the Product Life Cycle and the characteristics of each of its five stages. You also learned tips for creating an appropriate strategy for each of them, even if you’re a digital marketer and you aren’t selling physical goods.

If you need digital marketing help throughout any of the stages of Product Life Cycle model, let our agency know.

Now it’s time to dedicate yourself to reach maturity and extend it for as long as possible.

Speaking of which, in what stage is your main product? Leave a comment and share the article!

10 Examples of Brands Using TikTok Stitch and TikTok Duet for Marketing

Have you been debating using TikTok to grow your business?

With so many social media platforms out there, many businesses are hesitant to embrace yet another site. However, features like Stitch and Duet might make the platform worth the investment.

Here’s what those features are, why they matter, and a few examples of them in action.

What Is TikTok Stitch?

Stitch is a TikTok editing feature that allows people to trim and edit other people’s videos and incorporate them into their own content.

For example, you might be posting a video on how to dominate on social media, and you see I’ve got a great video on the same subject. With Stitch, you can take a short snippet of my video, add it to your post and say “Look my boy Neil says this, so it’s something we should be doing with our marketing.”

One of the ultimate aims for social media marketers is for a piece of content to go viral. Normally this is achieved through people sharing your content and perhaps adding their own comments.

Stitch allows a piece of content to go viral in a very different way by incorporating video snippets directly into their posts.

What Is TikTok Stitch

Since the original creator gets credited, it has the potential to amplify your reach. This adds to the viral nature of TikTok, making it a powerful tool for marketers.

What Is TikTok Duet?

TikTok Duet works on the same principle as Stitch, allowing you to use other people’s videos on your own. The difference is, with Duet, the two videos play in a split-screen format.

TikTok Stitch and Duet

Returning to the previous example, rather than cutting to a clip of me talking about social media marketing for your video, we can be on the screen at the same time, sharing the stage.

Like TikTok Stitch, Duet takes sharing to another level and encourages viral content. Rather than just sharing my video to your page (as you might on Facebook), you can add your comments and flourishes, and then amplify the message to your audience.

This can be an incredibly useful tool for marketers, and it’s another example of the innovative features that are attracting people to TikTok. (Here are my thoughts on why you should be marketing on TikTok.)

Why Should You Use TikTok Stitch and TikTok Duet for Marketing?

Your social media marketing goals rely on three key ingredients: reach, engagement, and action.

You want to reach as many people as possible, get them engaged with your content, and encourage them to take a desired action.

Simple, right? Well, as we all know, it’s not always that simple.

That’s why features like Stitch and Duet that boost engagement and increase your reach are extremely welcome.

You don’t have to dig too deep to realize why users love Stitch and Duet. Social media brings people together, and what better way to do that than through collaboration? People can get even closer to their friends, celebrities, influencers, and brands; and this is the basis of viral content.

For brands, it’s an opportunity for people to engage with your content in a different way, and when they Stitch, you get the credit, plus the free brand exposure that comes with it.

What Kinds of Companies Should Use TikTok Stitch and Duet for Marketing?

A big part of marketing is reaching your target audience where they “hang out.” With 689 million active users (and growing fast), there’s a good chance your market is on TikTok.

One thing to consider when choosing which social media platforms to use is demographics. TikTok has a much younger active user base than other platforms like Facebook (60% of users are from “Gen Z,”), so you need to understand how to market to this group.

Even if your target audience is slightly older, don’t be quick to write off TikTok. Facebook gained its popularity almost exclusively among the younger age groups, and look where it is now.

By embracing features like TikTok Stitch and Duet now, you’re getting in ahead of the competition and growing your profile on a platform that’s expanding fast. As TikTok continues to roll out features, it’s offering more for marketers.

10 Examples of TikTok Stitch and Duet for Marketing

How can you make TikTok Stitch and Duet work for your marketing? These brands incorporated Stitch and Duet into their marketing to create viral videos and reach more people.

1. NBA: Tell Me You’re an NBA Fan Without Telling Me You’re An NBA Fan

This NBA video style is a common way of getting people to stitch your video. Your brand gives people a prompt, in this case, “Tell me you’re an NBA fan without telling me you’re an NBA fan,” and your followers stitch it into their video before responding.

Here’s the original video from the NBA:

@nba

First time #NBAAllStar Zach Lavine wants to know what makes you an NBA Fan! Stitch your reply to this video! ⭐️NBA All-Star, Mar. 7 6:30pm/et on TNT!

♬ original sound – NBA

Your followers see the prompt and create their own video with their responses. Here’s how Chicago Bulls mascot Benny the Bull responded using Stitch (sorry, Detroit fans.)

@bennythebull

#stitch with @nba #NBAAllStar

♬ original sound – Benny the Bull

It’s a simple format, but it’s a great way to drive engagement. Every TikTok Stitch is free publicity that expands your reach.

2. Amazon Prime Video: Michael B. Jordan Clip

Amazon Prime is undoubtedly perfectly placed for TikTok Stitch. After all, it has access to an endless amount of video.

This clip of Michael B. Jordan certainly got the viral effect, gaining a lot of traction around TikTok.

Here’s a stitch with over 73k likes (remember every time your clip is stitched, you get credit).

@mckenzibrooke

#stitch with @amazonprimevideo I think he scared my dog… LMAO 😱😅 #primevideo #withoutremorse #ad

♬ original sound – McKenzi Brooke

Amazon clearly has access to lots of star names and iconic videos, but the principles remain the same. In this case, the original clip makes people wonder what is going on in the scene, and then people use Stitch to respond by acting out the rest of the scene on their own.

3. Urban Decay: Prince 4 Ever Collaboration

Makeup brands tend to do very well on TikTok, and Urban Decay is no different. The Prince 4 Ever Collaboration release is a great example of how TikTok Stitch can be part of a product launch.

Here’s the original video:

@urbandecaycosmetics

FIRST LOOK at the limited-edition Urban Decay X @prince.4.ever collaboration. 💜🕊 Link in bio #UrbanDecay #UDXPrince #Prince

♬ UD x Prince available May 27th – Urban Decay

It’s just a quick look at a new product, but it built excitement, and people got behind it, stitching clips into their videos:

@urbandecaycosmetics

FIRST LOOK at the limited-edition Urban Decay X @prince.4.ever collaboration. 💜🕊 Link in bio #UrbanDecay #UDXPrince #Prince

♬ UD x Prince available May 27th – Urban Decay

If you’ve got unique products, this can be a powerful way to create a buzz around a new release.

4. Demi Bagby: Influencer Power

I could have chosen from a whole host of influencers here because they play such a big part on platforms like TikTok.

When someone with nearly 12 million followers creates content, people get involved. On many occasions, people are using Stitch to share Demi Bagby’s videos.

Here’s one of many examples

https://www.tiktok.com/@joemarimuyong/video/6946526606785629442?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowONUyjWSOPzZ7lgZ50QSPZOIfn1ry7qMF4fxI6qwOXymKFabr%2BCnx7EK773knvNtfGgA%3D&language=en&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAfxb6j_kqOk03cnZi89NW8IWORFdVOABY8mSQ0jYtWqmdDPU2azjFJaLPKjE_N3VX&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=6946526606785629442&share_link_id=DDF80763-F618-4EEF-ADE7-9C454963F632&source=h5_m&timestamp=1620986922&tt_from=messenger&u_code=difk1e8h4k3g56&user_id=6962059548836480006&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=messenger&_r=1

It’s no surprise that brands such as Sony Pictures and Gymshark are sponsoring these influencers to reach a wider audience.

5. John Derting: Everyone Loves Beautiful Scenery

John Derting is a photographer and videographer with over 1.7 million followers on TikTok. His videos offer a unique view of the beauty in our world, and it’s something you can tap into with your brand.

By stitching these amazing videos into your content, you can add something extra to your TikTok presence. If you’re conscious about your environmental footprint and dedicated to protecting the beautiful things we have in the world, then this could be an ideal way to use TikTok Stitch.

@johnderting

Is this the perfect snow storm? 😌👌🏼🤯❄️😍! Way more on my Instagram 😉! #alaska #fyp #nature #calm #epic #art

♬ Cornfield Chase – Hans Zimmer

6. Puma: Can You Recreate the Puma Logo?

It started with an epic fail of a barista trying to make a coffee with the Puma logo on top. The original video earned more than one million views, so Puma did more videos on it, this time using Duet to show their followers attempting the challenge.

Videos don’t have to be complicated to appeal to your audience, they’ve just got to be engaging, and this proved to be the case for Puma.

@puma

🚨BAKERS, ARTISTS, & BARISTAS🚨 Can you recreate the PUMA logo like @1leogonzalez? If so, let’s 👀 it!! Best posts will get featured on @puma 🙌

♬ TWINS – Kaygon

The video has nothing to do with selling clothing, but it’s a brilliant way to increase brand awareness.

7. Vessi: Duet Giveaway

Vessi is a Canadian shoe company, and they’re doing a great job on TikTok.

One of its most successful campaigns has been its duet giveaway.

@vessi

#duet with @agajillian Show us your #vessifootwear and you could win a free pair too! #giveaway #nomorewetsocks #waterproofshoes #tiktokwellness

♬ my strange addiction – Billie Eilish

This is another simple, but incredibly, effective strategy. Your followers do a duet showcasing your products and have the opportunity to win free products.

It’s a win-win. You get to expand your reach and show off your amazing products, and your followers get to win free prizes.

8. San Diego Zoo: #sandiegozooduetsweepstakes

Another brand using duet challenges to increase engagement is San Diego Zoo.

When you’ve got lots of lovable animals hanging around, there’s plenty of great content—but sometimes it takes more than to get engagement.

#sandiegozooduetssweepstakes encouraged people to sing along with noisy bird, Crikey. It’s another example of how you can use TikTok Stitch and Duet to get people interacting with your brand. Take a look:

@sandiegozoo

Duet and tag #SanDiegoZooDuetSweepstakes for a chance to win 4 Zoo passes. Ends Fri 10/09! By entering, you agree to the terms: sdzoo.com/TikTokDuet

♬ original sound – San Diego Zoo

9. ESPN – Dunk Contest with Hoopin_Nate

What do you get when you show footage of a young kid doing some crazy dunks?

Viral content.

ESPN knows the power of incredible sporting feats, and it does a great job of turning short video clips into viral content.

This video expanded its reach through duets like this one:

@funnymangaitlin1

#duet with @espn omg😵

♬ gangstas paradise – favsoundds

10. Fortnite: Getting Involved with Challenges

The #alternativewoahchallenge has 89.3 million views on TikTok.

So what did Fornite do?

@fortnite

Crow Foe Flow? Let’s go! @realadamrose #alternativestothewoahchallenge

♬ alternative woah challenge – Adam Rose

They joined the trend and made their own video using the hashtag.

The original video got over 470,000 likes, and the duet earned it another 310,000 likes.

@realadamrose

#duet with @fortnite sooooo this happened??!! my emote is now available on FREAKING FORTNITE!! #alternativewoahchallenge #fortnite

♬ alternative woah challenge – Adam Rose

That’s a lot of views and a lot of likes.

How to Measure the Success of Marketing With TikTok Stitch and Duet

To get the most out of your TikTok marketing, you need to have a Pro account access their analytics. As with any social media platform, you’ll need to constantly optimize your strategy to make sure you’re reaching as many people as possible, and this isn’t possible without analytics.

How to Measure the Success of Marketing with TikTok Stitch and Duet

TikTok analytics provides insights into how your content is performing, although there are no metrics that specifically measure Stitch and Duet at the moment.

Your analytics can give you a good feel for what content works well and what doesn’t though, so keep an eye on metrics like:

  • total like count of post
  • total number of comments
  • total shares
  • total playtime
  • total video views
  • average watch time
  • average engagement estimates

To get Stitches and Duets, you need engagement with your videos, so use the feedback in your analytics to improve what you’re doing.

TikTok Stitch and TikTok Duet for Marketing: Conclusion

TikTok is growing fast. Which is no surprise with features Stitch and Duet that drive viral content.

These features don’t just work for users though, they’re also brilliant tools for marketers. We all want to grow our social presence and drive engagement, and these tools can help you do just that.

You want to be on the social media platforms that offer the most benefits and increasingly, TikTok is likely to be a top contender.

If you are creative with your content creation and use features like TikTok Stitch and Duet, you have the opportunity to reach a whole new audience.

Have you started TikTok marketing yet? Are Stitch and Duet helping drive engagement?

Influencer Marketing: Examples and Strategies for 2021

You’ve likely heard the term “influencer” thrown around a lot the last few years. It generates mental images of YouTube stars promoting energy drinks and Instagram stars raving about weight loss supplements.

This is called influencer marketing, and it can be a very successful strategy if you execute your campaign correctly. Let’s find out if you should try this strategy yourself.

What Is Influencer Marketing?

Influencer marketing is the process by which brands leverage well-known figures who have influence over their target markets to promote their brands.

This doesn’t mean you need to be able to afford to pay Michael Jordan to promote your new athletic wear line.

In fact, many of the most successful influencer marketers are not extremely famous.

Take, for example, Murad and Nataly Osmann. There is a good chance you recognize the style of their photos:

influencer marketing - example of specific image style

One simple photograph of Nataly leading her boyfriend by the hand has morphed into a massive online following — and a branding empire.

According to Adweek, “They’re working with top marketers like Macy’s and Napa Valley Beringer Vineyards to create compelling ads, and they’re launching a platform to match brands with bloggers.”

The #Followmeto project has also morphed into TV and book deals. The couple hosts a 20-minute travel TV show on Channel One Russia that takes viewers behind the scenes of their online photos.”

Sometimes, the best influencers aren’t people at all. Toast, a well know dog, uses her Internet fame to promote a variety of brands, including coffee, bottled water, and even thigh chafing sticks.

influencer marketing - Toast the dog's Instagram

Instagram isn’t the only place you can find influencers.

Lance Stewart, a well-known influencer, has more than 50 thousand followers on Facebook alone:

influencer marketing - lance stewart facebook

He is also active on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter.

Finding influencers isn’t necessarily about finding the most famous person.

Instead, it’s about finding a person your audience trusts and leveraging that influence to promote your brand.

Outline the Goals of Your Influencer Marketing Campaign

I’ve discovered that influencer marketing works well for brands that don’t have much of a following.

You’re leveraging someone else’s platform for your own gain.

However, before you create the content, before you find an influencer, and before you do anything else, you need to outline the goals of your influencer campaign.

Why?

It’s simple: Every decision you make is informed by your goal.

The platform you choose, the influencer you partner with, the type of content they create; all of these factors come into play.

Let’s work from an example to make this easier to illustrate.

Say you’re working with a client (let’s call them Client A) in the gaming industry — specifically in the smartphone app gaming industry.

Mobile gaming is a pretty competitive industry. iTunes offers 18 categories of games and hundreds of popular puzzle games.

itunes categories of gaming - influencer marketing

Company A has been in business for five years and has a solid portfolio of games of medium success, including one highly popular game that was downloaded 25 million times.

They have a new puzzle game coming out, and they want to leverage influencer marketing to get tons of downloads and create buzz around the new launch. Ideally, this buzz would extend to their brand and give their entire game portfolio a good boost.

How can you help them get the most out of influencer marketing?

First, let’s outline the goal.

The goal should have three parts:

  • find out the influencer’s demographic data
  • determine what the influencer will help you do
  • plan how the influencer will help you do it

Example Goal for Company A’s Influencer Marketing Campaign:

There are a plethora of formats to outline your goals. In this example, Company A has written the goals of the campaign in paragraph form:

This campaign will partner with a young, highly connected influencer with access to the tech-savvy millennial group. Ideally, they will be into technology and use an iPhone because downloads from the Apple Store exceed those on Android.

Through this campaign, we will exceed the download numbers of our last game by 45% in the first 30 days.

The campaign will include at least 1 video of 30+ seconds to showcase how the game is played, and two or three other social posts on Instagram and Snapchat where our demographic is most active.

This goal is detailed. It includes specific numbers and platforms. There is a chance that some of these factors will shift.

For example, you might find out that YouTube is a more effective platform for your video game company to use for influencer marketing.

Changing the details of your goal is fine, but the outline should serve as a starting point for all the other decisions.

This template will help you outline your goal:

Influencer marketing campaign goal plan

Who is the influencer?

Name:

Age range:

Popular on what platforms?

Campaign end goal:

Number of posts:

Which platform:

Special considerations:

Now that you have your goal outlined, it’s time to move on to finding your influencer.

How to Find Effective Influencers for Your Brand

Choosing the right influencer is vital to the success of a killer influencer marketing campaign, but it is far from easy. Ryan Schneider, Chief Brand Manager at Insomniac Games, says this:

[A] lot of leg work goes into finding the right influencer…If I were a PR person, and I was trying to find the right reporter at The Wall Street Journal, I could do that … probably within one Google search or two mouse clicks. Targeting the right influencers can be a lot more complex.

According to Tap Influence, there are four main ways to find influencers: searching manually, using databases, tapping networks, or exploring marketplaces.

Manual Searching

This method requires conducting individual searches, scanning web pages for information, and then adding the information to a spreadsheet. It’s extremely time-consuming and not very effective.

Start by creating a spreadsheet in Google Docs or Excel, then create a column for each piece of information you want to pull about each individual influencer.

Column names will likely include:

  • Name
  • Industry of influence, including the specific niche (for example, if a gaming influencer’s audience is mostly female, or under the age of 16)
  • Total followers (combination of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, or the top platforms your audience uses)
  • Facebook link
  • Instagram link
  • Twitter link
  • Snapchat link
  • Pros
  • Cons
  • Email/contact info
  • Special notes: Do you already have a relationship with them, or do they regularly post about topics closely related to your brand? Add any other information you want to include here.

Next, search Google and relevant social platforms for keywords, mentions of your brand, and related hashtags.

In a highly competitive industry like mobile gaming, you should go after high-tier influencers so you’ll have the most reach. Compile a list of these people.

The next step is to search on the most popular platform for our target audience. In this case, I head to YouTube.

The most effective strategy is to look at videos with the highest engagement, either from my brand or my competitors’, and then look at who shared or engaged with those posts.

From there, I would be able to find the top influencers.

I am using a fictitious example, so I can’t search for our brand.

Since we are in mobile gaming, I am going to search for Two Dots, a popular puzzle game. Based on a quick search of the brand name, I see a possible influencer:

influencer marketing - using youtube to find influencers

The top video is old and won’t be a good fit for our gaming site.

The second video is from the actual brand Dots. It’s also not a good fit.

The third, from ZoeTwoDots, might represent a good fit. Her videos showcase strategies for different games, her channel is active, and the channel has more than 200,000 followers. Looks promising!

I would add her to the spreadsheet and keep going.

Keep in mind, all this research garnered me just one possible influencer to target.

Manual research is extremely labor intensive. However, for smaller brands looking for very niche influencers, this is likely the best choice.

Databases

These are tools that will do the site-scraping for you by pulling publicly available data. These can be good places to start, but vetting each influencer can prove time-consuming.

Basically, instead of manually doing the searches, databases do the heavy lifting. They’re less time-intensive than manually searching and are cheaper than other options.

One example is Inpowered.

Inpowered has a list of clients it has worked with in the past, including case studies:

influencer marketing - case study showcase

For our mobile gaming company, this doesn’t seem to be a good fit. A more traditional brand might find this database useful.

Lean on Your Networks

This method of connecting with influencers sits in between databases and marketplaces. A network has built relationships with influencers, but you have to go through their profiles to reach out.

Networks tend to focus on specific genres, such as Dad bloggers, lifestyle influencers, or food enthusiasts. Examples of popular influencer networks include Activate.

After a little research, I come across a good fit for our mobile gaming company: MatchMade.

influencer marketing - example network logo

They make it super simple to search for exactly the type of influencer I want, including allowing me to sort my options based on reach, location, subscribers, and engagement.

Another benefit of networks is that they often offer more tracking and analytics. Matchmade offers a full dashboard:

influencer marketing - matchmade dashboard

There are a lot of pros to choosing a network — you are able to select exactly the type of influencer you want based on many different factors. Tracking is included, making it easy to see if you are reaching your goals.

However, this also tends to be the most expensive option.

Marketplaces

A marketplace offers the best features of a database by pulling in real-time information, but it allows you to avoid middle men. Marketplaces tend to offer less tracking, but they are also more affordable.

Examples of market places include Tribe, HYPR, and Brand Snob. Much like dating sites, marketplaces allow you to look at hundreds of profiles of different influencers.

Here is an example of an influencer profile on Tribe:

influencer marketing - using a marketplace

I can easily see her reach and an example of her work. This is much easier than sorting through thousands of Google search results.

Choosing the best method for finding an influencer that fits your needs can be complicated. Ultimately, you are looking for a partner, and just like any partnership, you need to take your time and consider all the options.

The final decision is likely going to be based on what resource you want to spend — time or money.

Getting the Most Out of Your Influencer Marketing Campaign

You have outlined your goals, chosen an influencer, and started to build a relationship with them.

Now it is time to create your actual campaign. Here are tips for getting the most out of your killer influencer marketing campaign.

First, be authentic. The reason traditional ads aren’t as effective today is that people crave authentic connections.

Even though you are paying for the influencer to talk about your brand, you must keep authenticity in mind to be effective.

Shannon Fure of Convince and Convert says it best:

If an influencer doesn’t fit a brand’s ethos, the authenticity factor is going to plummet. Choosing the right influencer is the first step toward maintaining authenticity.

Second, choose the platform you use carefully.

Pay attention not only to where your audience is most active but also what type of content performs best on each platform.

Take, for example, this video created by Harry’s Razors:

On Facebook, the video got three thousand views.

On Instagram, Harry’s chose to post a screenshot of the same video:

influencer marketing - examples on different formats

Even though Instagram supports video, they tend to perform better on Facebook.

According to Murray Newlands, “different platforms are used to reach different audiences and demographics, and the same goes for what product or service you’re marketing: beautiful photos of your product belong on Instagram, while eye-catching videos will perform better on Facebook.”

Take the time to build a real relationship with the influencer. This gives you and the influencer a chance to see if you are a good fit and increases authenticity.

Angela Stringfellow of CODA Concepts suggests:

Start slowly by following them on social media, sharing their content, commenting on their blogs, and engaging them in relevant conversations whenever possible. Establishing a relationship of mutual trust is the key to successfully engaging your market’s thought leaders as brand advocates.

Empower your influencer through information and access to your brand, but don’t take creative control. Ideally, you’ve chosen an influencer who is already engaged with your brand.

If not, make sure they truly understand your brand’s voice and what you stand for.

Invite them to your offices, offer tickets to your events, and share interesting stories about your brand and the people you help.

But remember, they are popular with your target audience for a reason. To keep the interaction authentic, you need to relinquish creative control.

Influencer Marketing Conclusion

Influencer marketing might seem like just another buzzword born of a generation obsessed with smartphones. However, the practice is nothing new.

Put simply, people trust people more than they trust brands. Influencer marketing allows you to leverage that trust to create goodwill towards your brand.

The steps I outlined above will help you find the best influencer and get the most out of your partnership.

Have you implemented an influencer marketing campaign? What were your results?

Landing Page: What is it, Examples, Tips & Best Practices

A well-designed landing page can greatly increase conversions for your PPC or email marketing campaigns.

Rather than directing visitors from those sources to your general website (where they may have a hard time finding what they’re looking for), you can direct them to a specifically designed landing page that steers them in exactly the right direction.

Creating effective landing pages isn’t the same as crafting a successful website or email newsletter. There are certain guidelines you should adhere to in order to maximize your page’s success.

Here is what you need to know to create an effective landing page.

Set a Goal For Your Landing Page

Landing pages, like any other part of your online marketing strategy, need goals. Without concrete, specific goals, there’s no way to create an effective page. Your goal should be clear before you begin designing your page.

For example, your page might be designed to encourage:

  • sales
  • email list sign-ups
  • white paper downloads
  • software trials
  • webinar sign-ups

You also need specific expectations for your landing page, on which to gauge its success. These expectations can be based on previous experience, anecdotal evidence, or simply wishful thinking.

It’s helpful to have a specific number to compare your actual results with. This could be the total number of conversions, or the number of people who make it past your landing page, or some other number, based on your own goals.

A Clear Call to Action is Vital

Once you know what your goal for the page is, you need to come up with a clear call to action. This is possibly the single most important part of any landing page.

Your call to action should be specifically tied to your goal and should be supported by everything else on your page, from headline and body copy to images and overall layout.

37 signals backpack landing page example

The Backpack landing page has a very clear call to action, though they opt to first direct visitors to more information about their plans and pricing, rather than going straight for the signup.

Keep Copy Clear and Concise

Your copy should be clear and concise. It should be persuasive, too. Landing pages are not the place to show off your creativity, unless that creativity is clear, concise, and persuasive. Leave the creative turns-of-phrase for your blog.

It’s pretty safe to assume that most of the people who visit your page are already interested in what you have to say, because they’ve likely clicked through from a PPC ad or email. But just because they’re interested when they arrive doesn’t mean they’ll stay interested if you don’t get to the point.

Every single sentence and word on your landing page should serve a purpose, and that purpose should be to support your call to action. If it doesn’t do that, cut it. Be ruthless in editing your copy. Tell your visitors what they want to know in as few words as possible, and get them to respond to your call to action as quickly as possible.

videowizard landing page example

The VideoWizard example has a simple design with clear copy that has definite goals.

Keep Your Landing Page Form Simple

If your page includes a form, make sure it’s only asking for the most vital information. If you’re trying to get visitors to sign up for an email newsletter, make sure you’re just asking them for their email address. Anything more than that decreases the chances that they’ll finish and submit the form.

If you’re asking them to make a purchase, keep it simple. Just ask for the vitals: billing and shipping information, plus a confirmation screen before placing their order. Wait to ask them for additional information until after their order has been placed.

vitals landing page example

This form only asks for name and email address, neither of which are likely to deter sign-ups.

clickable landing page example

This form, on the other hand, has too many fields. Do they really need a phone number and company name? And wouldn’t it make more sense to just ask for a name in one field, rather than two?

Remove Navigation Elements

The major difference between your normal website and your landing pages is your landing pages shouldn’t include the usual site navigation. Instead, the only clickable links should be your call to action, and possibly a link to more information for those who are undecided.

Linking your logo to your regular home page can also be a good idea.

verisign landing page example

This example shows just the vital links, without a ton of extraneous navigation.

Forget about links to everything else. All they do is clutter up the page and increase the likelihood that your visitors will abandon your landing page (and ultimately, your site) without converting.

Simplify Your Normal Site Design

Your landing page should still echo the design of your regular website, though, to reinforce your branding. This can be done through the graphics, general look and feel, or your color scheme and font choices.

This is important for branding and lets users know they are on the right page.

Choose Long Page or Series of Pages

There are some questions about whether it’s better to use a single page for your landing page that requires scrolling, or if visitors respond better to a series of short pages (sometimes referred to as a “mini-site”).

Mini sites generally have multiple pages with short content that funnel visitors from one step to the next along the conversion process. This has the advantage of getting users in the habit of moving from one page to the next, which can help get them in the right psychological frame of mind to convert.

The downside to mini sites is that they work best for conversion funnels that need a lot of content.

Landing pages, on the other hand, are perfectly suited to shorter content. They also only have to load once, which can be a big consideration for companies targeting people in rural areas or developing nations, where bandwidth and connection speeds could be an issue.

The downside is a lot of content can get overwhelming and can come across as spammy if not well-designed.

cameraplus landing page example

The CameraPlus page is quite long, with all the information you need about the app. (The image above is split, as the entire page would be several thousand pixels long.)

groupon landing page example

Compare this page, which barely fills a single screen, and uses multiple steps to gather information.

Pay Attention to the Fold

While there’s a lot of debate as to the importance of “the fold” in web design, landing pages are one area where the fold is crucial. Make sure that your call to action is located near the top of the page, where someone can click it without having to scroll.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that your visitors won’t scroll down the page to read more information. Hopefully, at least some percentage of your visitors will be ready to buy as soon as they arrive on your landing page, either because the email or link that brought them there already persuaded them, or because it’s not their first time visiting the page.

Putting a call to action right near the top of the page makes things easier on these visitors. (Plus, it can increase your conversion rates.)

hummingbird landing page example

The most important navigation elements are located just above the fold, with the call to action well above the fold.

magnetize landing page example

The signup button is well above the fold here, too.

Below-The-Fold Calls to Action

That doesn’t mean you should neglect those users who scroll. Make sure calls to action appear at regular intervals on your page, tied into the page’s copy.

This becomes more and more important as your pages get longer. Make sure that your users have to do minimal scrolling once they decide to convert.

freshbooks landing page example

FreshBooks includes links to a free trial or tour throughout their landing page.

Use Minimal Images and Larger Fonts

Your landing pages should use only one or, at most, two images. You want to avoid visual clutter on the page, or anything that detracts from the message and call to action.

Larger font sizes are also a good idea to keep visitor’s eyes focuses on what matters and reduce eye strain. Just don’t go overboard and put everything in a headline-size font.

The ideal line length for copy readability is 39 characters, so size your font (and column width) accordingly.

purdue landing page example

The typography becomes a major part of the visuals of this landing page, minimizing the need for graphics.

Start With a Centered, Single-Column Design

Studies show that centered, single-column landing pages convert best. Yet, there are still plenty of marketers out there who are opting for two-column designs.

Make sure that you test single-column versions against any two-column versions prior to committing to a design.

campaignmonitor landing page example

This is a great example of a centered page that makes great use of the available space.

Match the Look and Feel of Your Campaign

If your page is tied to an email campaign or PPC campaign, make sure the landing page echoes the look and feel of the ad or email.

If the designs of the two are wildly different, your visitors may wonder if they’ve ended up in the right place. The easiest way to do this is to carry over fonts, images, and colors from your campaign to your landing page. This is especially important for paid ads, as it can increase your quality score.

Use the Landing Page Tools to Get it Right

If you don’t want to have to use a web designer for your landing pages, there are options for creating great pages without any technical knowledge.

Unbounce is one of the easiest to use and lets you create landing pages without any IT experience. They have best-practices templates available that you can customize (or design your own page entirely from scratch), and flexible pricing (including a free plan for sites with limited traffic). Unbounce also integrates with Google Analytics for tracking your traffic, and Qualaroo for gathering user input.

Don’t Forget To Test Your Landing Page

Creating effective landing pages isn’t a one-size-fits-all project. What works for one site might not work so well for another. Finding the most effective page design is a matter of trial and error.

It’s important to test the different versions of your landing page (called A/B testing)to find the one that works the best for your particular situation. Without doing so, you might be leaving a lot of potential conversions on the table.

A few features to consider testing include:

  • headline
  • CTA
  • button size and placement
  • number of form fields
  • images
  • right, left, or center column design
  • colors

Just remember to test each variant one at a time — if you change five different elements, you won’t know which impacted conversions.

Landing Page Guide

A well-designed landing page can greatly increase conversions for your PPC or email marketing campaigns.  Here’s how to do it.

  1. Set a Goal For Your Landing Page

    Without concrete, specific goals, there’s no way to create an effective page. Your goal should be clear before you begin designing your page.

  2. A Clear Call to Action is Vital

    Your call to action should be specifically tied to your goal, and should be supported by everything else on your landing page, from headline and body copy to images and overall layout.

  3. Keep Copy Clear and Concise

    Landing pages are not the place to show off your creativity, unless that creativity is clear, concise, and persuasive. Leave the creative turns-of-phrase for your blog.

  4. Keep Your Landing Page Form Simple

    If your landing page includes a form, make sure it’s only asking for the most vital information.

  5. Remove Navigation Elements

    Your landing pages shouldn’t have your usual site navigation. Instead, the only clickable links should be your call to action, and possibly a link to more information for those who are undecided. 

  6. Simplify Your Normal Site Design

    Your landing page should still echo the design of your regular website, though, to reinforce your branding. 

  7. Pay Attention To The Fold

    Make sure that your call to action is located near the top of the page, where someone can click it without having to scroll.

  8. Use Minimal Images and Larger Fonts

    Your landing pages should use only one or, at most, two images. You want to avoid visual clutter on the page, or anything that detracts from the message and call to action.

  9. Start With a Centered, Single-Column Design

    Studies show centered, single-column landing pages convert best, so test that version first.

  10. Match the Look and Feel of Your Campaign

    If your landing page is tied to an email campaign, make sure that the landing page echoes the look and feel of the email. 

  11. Use the Landing Page Tools to Get it Right

    You don’t need a masters in computer science to design a landing page. Instead, use tools like Unbounce to create great looking landing pages.

  12. Don’t Forget To Test Your Landing Page

    Creating effective landing pages isn’t a one-size-fits-all project. What works for one site might not work so well for another. Finding the most effective page design is a matter of trial and error.

Conclusion

Landing pages are website pages designed with one goal in mind — conversions. Following the tips above will help you create a powerful page that drives users towards your business.

Just make sure to keep it simple. This is because landing pages have very specific goals and shouldn’t include any extraneous information that might distract your visitors and prevent them from converting.

Are you considering creating a landing page? What is your landing page goal?

A/B Testing: Definition, How it Works, Examples & Tools

A/B testing is a fantastic method for figuring out the best online promotional and marketing strategies for your business. It can be used to test everything from website copy to sales emails to search ads. While it can be time-consuming, the advantages of A/B testing are enough to offset the additional time it takes. Well-planned …

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A/B Testing: Definition, How it Works, Examples & Tools

A/B testing is a fantastic method for figuring out the best online promotional and marketing strategies for your business. It can be used to test everything from website copy to sales emails to search ads. While it can be time-consuming, the advantages of A/B testing are enough to offset the additional time it takes.

Well-planned tests can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Narrowing down the most effective elements of a promotion and then combining them, can create a far more effective marketing plan.

What is A/B Testing and Why Does it Matter?

A/B testing is a marketing strategy that pits two different versions of a website, ad, email, popup, or landing page against each other to see which is most effective.

For example, you might test two different popups to see which drives more webinar sign-ups or two different Google Ads to see which drives more purchases.

On my own site, I spent time A/B testing my popup to find out what encouraged users to engage with my brand.

neil patel A/B testing example

Over time, we found offering a free website analysis (which provides tons of value) was the most effective way to establish expertise and show visitors the value we offer.

Why is A/B Testing Important?

Accurate A/B tests can make a huge difference to your bottom line. By using controlled tests and gathering empirical data, you can figure out exactly which marketing strategies work best for your company and your product.

When you figure that one variation might work two, three, or even four times better than another, the idea that you would run promotions without testing starts to seem a bit ludicrous.

When done consistentyly, testing can improve your bottom line substantially. If you know what works and what doesn’t (and have evidence to back it up) it’s easier to make decisions and craft more effective marketing strategies.

Here are a few other benefits to running regular tests on your website and marketing materials:

  • Helps You Better Understand Your Target Audience: When you see what types of emails, headlines, and other features your audience responds to, you can better understand who your audience is and what they want.
  • Higher Conversion Rates: A/B testing is the single most effective way to increase conversion rates. Knowing what works and what doesn’t gives you actionable data that can help you streamline the conversion process.
  • Stay On Top of Changing Trends: It’s hard to predict what type of content, images, or other features people will respond to. Testing regularly helps you stay ahead of changing consumer behavior.
  • Reduce Bounce Rates: When site visitors see content they like, they stay on your site longer. Testing to find the type of content and marketing materials your users like will help you create a better site — and one that users want to stay on.

How Do You Plan an A/B Test?

The first thing to do when planning an A/B test is to figure out what you want to test. Are you running an on-site test, or an off-site test? If you’re running an on-site test, you’ll want to think of all the sales-related pieces of your website, and then figure out which elements to test.

For example, you might test:

  • headlines
  • calls to action text
  • calls to action location
  • pop up
  • featured images
  • copy
  • the number of fields in a form

With off-site tests, you’re probably testing either an ad or a sales email. Testing ad copy to see which ad drives more conversions can help you focus your advertising efforts. Once you know your ad is converting as well as possible, it’s easier to justify spending more money on it.

The same goes for emails. If you send out two versions to your list (randomly selecting which half gets which email), and then track which one converts better, you can send only that version the next time.

Once you know what you’ll test, make a list of all the variables you’ll test. For example, if you’ve decided to test your call to action, you might test:

  • the location
  • the exact text used
  • the button color or surrounding space

It’s a process, and it’s common for multiple A/B tests to be carried out prior to making a final decision or final change.

Before you start testing, make sure you have a clear idea of the results you’re looking for. You should already know your baseline result, which is the results you’re currently getting. You want to test option A and B against each other, but you also want to know that whichever one does better in the test is also doing better than your current results.

Alternatively, you can use A as your control (leaving whatever you’re currently using) and then use something new for B.

Tests need to be run simultaneously to account for any variations in timing. You can’t test one variation today and the other one tomorrow, because you can’t factor in any variables that might have changed between today and tomorrow. Instead, you need to split the traffic seeing your variations at the same time.

Here’s an A/B testing checklist to review before running your first test:

  • Decide what you want to test.
  • Create two versions of the same ad, landing page, etc.
  • Decide how long your test will run (I suggest at least two weeks, but it may be longer or slightly shorter depending on your traffic and industry)
  • Chose a testing tool to help you run your test. (More on that later.)
  • Launch!
  • After two or so weeks, take a look at the results. Which version won?
  • Rinse, and repeat. A/B testing is most effective when done continually.

What to Use A/B Testing to Test

You can test virtually anything in your marketing materials or on your website: headlines, calls to action, body copy, images, etc. If you can change it, you can test it.

That doesn’t mean you should spend months testing every little thing. Instead, focus on changes most likely to have a big impact on traffic and conversions.

On your website, this likely includes:

  • the headline
  • your call to action
  • any graphic you use in direct correlation to your sales efforts
  • the sales copy or product descriptions
  • feature image

In an email, you might test the title, images, links, CTAs, or segmenting options. In a paid ad, especially a text ad (like a search ad), you have fewer things to change, and so you might test the main headline, the offer, or targeting.

Testing different offers is also important. Just make sure that each person is always offered the same promotion. For example, if a free gift is offered to group A, and a discount is offered to group B, then you want to make sure that group A always contains the same visitors, as does group B.

You can also test the full path of conversion. For example, you might test newsletter A with landing page A, and newsletter B with landing page B. Later, you may want to test newsletter A with landing page B, and vice versa.

This can give you a better idea of what is working, especially if you’re getting mixed results or if the results are very close. Here are a few other tests you can run.

How Much Time Does A/B Testing Take?

A/B testing is not an overnight project. Depending on the amount of traffic you get, you might want to run tests for anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. Remember, you only want to run one test at a time for the most accurate results.

Running a test for an insufficient amount of time can skew the results, as you don’t get a large enough group of visitors to be statistically accurate. Running a test for too long can also give skewed results, though, since there are more variables you can’t control over a longer period.

Make sure that you stay abreast of anything that might affect your test results, so that you can account for statistical anomalies in your results. When in doubt, run the test again.

Considering the impact A/B testing can have on your bottom line, it’s worth taking a few weeks to properly conduct tests. Test one variable at a time, and give each test sufficient time to run.

Can I Test More Than One Thing At a Time?

There are two approaches to this question. Say you just want to test your headline, but you have three possible variations. In that case, running a single test and splitting your visitors (or recipients in the case of an email) into three groups instead of two is reasonable, and would likely still be considered an A/B test.

This is more efficient than running three separate tests (A vs. B, B vs. C, and A vs. C). You may want to give your test an extra couple of days to run, so you have enough results to see what actually works.

Testing more than one thing at a time, such as headlines and calls to action, is called a multi-variate test, and is more complicated to run. There are plenty of resources out there for multi-variate testing, but we won’t be covering that when talking about A/B testing.

A/B Testing FAQs

What is A/B Testing and Why Does It Matter?

A/B testing is a marketing strategy that pits two different versions of a website, ad, email, popup, or landing page against each other to see which is most effective. It’s one of the most effective ways to increase conversion rates.

How Do You Plan an A/B Test?

Decide what to test, create two versions, decide on how long to run the test, choose a tool, then see what works!

What to Use A/B Testing to Test

Any part of a paid ad, website, or marketing material including (but not limited to) pop-ups, emails, landing pages, and featured images.

How Much Time Does A/B Testing Take?

Most tests should be run for at least two weeks, but A/B testing should be continual.

Can I Test More Than One Thing At A Time?

Yes, in some cases. In general, it is best to stick to two versions of the same asset.

What A/B Testing Tools Should I Use?

Google’s Optimize is a free, powerful A/B testing tool. Your email platform, landing page tools, or website plugins may also offer this feature. For paid tools, consider Optimizely.

Conclusion

A/B testing is a marketer’s best friend. It allows you to see, for example, what ads drive the most conversions, what offers your audience responds to, or what blog headlines drive the most traffic.

There are a variety of tools you can use to get started, including Google Optimize (which is free!) and Optimizely.

If you’re looking to get started with A/B testing, you can start by learning how to a/b test in Google Analytics.

Are you considering trying A/B testing? What is holding you back?