Agapi /NEXsteps

Automation Aptitude

To automate or not to automate…

That is the question!

With more and more online engagement, the big question is whether you should use automation tools or not for promoting your presence.

Well, the answer is not always black and white.

Today’s Marketing In A Minute video explores the pros and cons of using automation tools for your business

Please join us now, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you won’t miss any of our upcoming tips.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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The Truth About Content Marketing

October 25, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter content, content marketing, marketing, marketing strategy, online marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, small business marketing, social media marketing, website marketing

Even if you are using content marketing, you might still be missing the boat!

Much has been said about the value of content marketing in recent times. And, yes, most of it is true.

Search engine optimization has always been an important component of being found online. The ability to search has morphed over the years, creating a much easier and more functional way for web visitors to search for topics and items of interest to them.

But these improvements in search ability have been created by search engines changing the way they track information on the Internet. Algorithm changes, especially with Google (who still dominates the search engine world with approximately 87% of the search market), have changed the way that SEO marketers do their business – at least in a lot of cases.

In the early days of the Internet, people were encouraged to drop tons of keywords into their website copy, even if sometimes it didn’t even make that much sense. We were also encouraged to build backlinks to tons of websites, in the hopes of building authority.

Well, while the essence of these tools still works, the practicality of putting it into practice has shifted for the better.

While it’s still important to have backlinks, it’s more important that you have quality backlinks. If you have too many backlinks to questionable sites using questionable practices, this can actually harm your placement. And while keywords are still important, it’s important that they make sense, flow properly, and are used appropriately.

So, yes, content is king!

But make sure that your content is fresh, new, and relevant to your audience. Search engines are getting smarter and smarter and will penalize you if you are plagiarizing other content. There is nothing wrong with sharing someone else’s content on your site, but ensure that you are giving attribution and are sharing the information in a proper fashion.

Gone are the days of static sites. And by that I mean those sites that were built, put onto the Internet, and never updated. Adding new, fresh content on a regular basis is your best way to improve your ranking.

But what’s even more important than your search engine ranking?

Being relevant to your audience! By providing fresh content on a regular basis to your target audience, you will gain authority, followers, and-most importantly-respect.

So write often, post regularly and give something of value to your audience and you will win the battle to stay relevant and preserve your positioning.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Social Media And The Law

October 20, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Infographics agapi marketing, communications, marketing, social media, social media law, social media marketing

What do you know about the laws around social media?

There is no mistake that social media has grown to become one of the most interactive online communication tools in existence.

On platforms like Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter (to name just three of the more popular platforms) users can engage and “converse” in real time. Is it any wonder that these platforms have captured not just the online world, but are also an interactive part of television. Indeed, everything from reality shows to the news – including live shows such as the recent presidential debates – encourage audience interaction via these social media platforms, posting some of the comments on television screens in real time.

But social media, just like everything else, has its pros and its cons. In the pro column, user engagement provides information and opinions about products and services and is able to be responsive immediately to how these products and services are delivered and any updates and/or improvements that are made. In the con column is the fact that these opinions are just that: opinions! And, on occasion, these opinions can be grounded in ignorance or part truths and become viral, causing serious harm to a specific individual or brand.

Today, we wanted to share with you an infographic developed by immediatefuture.co.uk that outlines social media and the law. Although some of this information is a couple of years old, we felt it important to point out that there are legalities associated with the use of social media.

See the infographic:

So familiarize yourself with the laws surrounding the use of social media platforms, and think before you post.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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The Ad-Blocking Conundrum

October 18, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter ad blocking, agapi marketing, branding, building your business, designing a website for marketing, drip marketing, growing your business, marketing strategy, online marketing, online media, science of marketing, social media marketing

It won’t come as a surprise to anyone that ad blockers have become very popular.

Consumers have become fed up with having their digital experience interrupted by pop-up ads, ads showing up in the middle of articles, and just generally having to make do with less online real estate dedicated to the things that interest them.

Just take a look at these statistics released in the “2016 Mobile Adblocking” report from PageFair.

• At least 419 million people (22 percent of the world’s 1.9 billion smartphone users) are blocking ads on the mobile Web.

• Both mobile Web and in-app ads can now be blocked.

• As of March 2016 an estimated 408 million people are actively using mobile ad-blocking browsers (e.g., a mobile browser that blocks ads by default).

• As of March 2016 in Europe and North America there were 14 million monthly active users of mobile ad-blocking browsers.

• A further 4.9 million content blocking and in-app ad-blocking apps were downloaded from the app stores in Europe and North America since September 2014.

The increase of adblocking on the desktop began to slow in 2016, reaching its peak in 2018, before beginning to fall through 2020. However, over the last two years adblocking has started to rise again, with 290 million web users actively blocking ads worldwide in 2021.

As consumers, this trend proves that we were not alone in our dislike of online advertising.

But if you are a publisher or an advertiser – or even a small business owner trying to promote your business – these alarming statistics are cause for concern.

Over the past couple of decades, mainstream advertising has shifted its focus to the online world. After all, where can you get such broad reach for so little money? As social platforms and other forms of online advertising have grown, more and more screen real estate has been given over to revenue generating ads. In fact, some reports have stated that it won’t be long before organic reach is completely decimated in favor of paid results.

But it is clear that our patience and our tolerances have reached their limits and ad blocking has become the norm.

The biggest social media platform, Facebook, is fighting back. They are attempting to change their algorithm to manipulate ad blocking software and, in effect, creating unblockable ads. They’ve also instigated a program allowing users to exercise a bit of control over the advertising that they see. Obviously, online advertisers are watching how these techniques work to see if and how they can shift their strategies.

So back to the conundrum; as a consumer you hate the ads but as someone trying to grow your brand and convert visitors into customers, what can you do?

Well, organic search isn’t dead yet. And by using some techniques strategically, perhaps these strategies will maintain and improve the effectiveness of organic versus paid.

Try these quick tips to see how to improve your organic social reach:

1. Make sure that you are using your social sharing options on content pages. When users share your content this way the algorithms do not have the same impact.

2. Try to engage your visitors a little more by encouraging more user generated content such as on boxing videos or asking for reviews and comments.

3. Since people are more likely to read and interact with content from their peers, encourage employee advocacy.

4. Influencer marketing continues to be a great way to promote your brand. Leverage your influencer marketing as much as possible.

5. Create and share great content. Make sure that it identifies and solves your site visitors pain points.

6. Consider a referral program rewarding users for sharing your content.

7. If you are not including your social sharing options and handles in your emails, start doing so immediately.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Allocating Your Search Budget

September 27, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, growing your business, how to grow your business, marketing, marketing strategy, online marketing, pay per click, PPC, search engine marketing, small business marketing, social media marketing

Does deciding how to allocate your search budget seem like a daunting task?

Should you use Google PPC or social PPC?

This question comes up often, especially amongst entrepreneurs and small business owners who are trying to manage their online marketing budgets themselves.

There is of course no right answer, and it’s hard to know right off the bat which of these avenues will provide the best return on your investment. Therefore, let’s take a look at a couple of determining factors to help make your decision.

First of all, like every other marketing initiative, you must identify your goals and the metrics you will use to measure the success or failure of your undertaking. What is the purpose of your online campaign? Are you looking for an awareness campaign that will generate clicks to your page? Is your focus on getting leads? Are you looking to advertise at the lowest possible cost per lead? Or maybe you’re simply looking to increase your following on various social media platforms.

Once you’ve identified and clarified your goals, see which platform is the best fit for your target audience. Based on what your product or service offering is, some social media channels make more sense than others. For example, LinkedIn is more of a business/professional network, as opposed to Facebook or Twitter which are more social in nature.

The next thing to do is to define your budget. Paid search has improved greatly over the years, and allows you to drill down to a finite definition of your target audience. And, in some cases, you can even designate what times of day your ad will appear. Remember that some of your keywords may be more competitive than others, and more competitive they are the more expensive they will be. Remember to set your daily spend a limit so that you do not blow your budget.

Once you got this figured out, my best advice is to run a small test campaign. Allocate a small portion of your budget to each of the areas that you have determined are a good fit for your target audience and run the test campaign for three days to a week. Check your metrics on each platform to determine which is working the best for you. Once you have learned what is working, focus your efforts on that area.

Remember that there may be a benefit to advertising on a specific platform even if it’s not the most inexpensive choice. Organic search rankings can be augmented by paid search ads, regardless of whether it is on social media platforms or on search engines. Weigh the pros and cons; only you know if the cost of running a small paid campaign will help you attain your goals.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Snapchat for Business?

August 4, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, communications, marketing, online marketing, small business marketing, snapchat, social media, social media marketing

What? Snapchat can be used for business?

Yep, believe it or not, you can leverage this platform for your business.

This social media platform allows you to take and share videos. But the videos disappear after a short period of time. It was initially very popular with teens, but has now expanded its reach and proven itself to have applications that can help your business.

If it’s appropriate for your business, don’t hesitate to think outside of the box. There’s nothing wrong with making your advertising fun.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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5 Ways To Ensure Your Ads Are Effective

July 28, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter advertising, adwords, agapi marketing, building your business, how to grow your business, marketing strategy, online advertising, small business marketing, social media marketing

What do users think of your ads?

Technology has changed the way that we target and advertise to our business prospects.

More and more, we are living in a digital world. And, more and more, we are relying on digital advertisements.

PPC (pay per click) and social media advertising have changed dramatically in the past few years. Learning to advertise online and to hone in on your ideal client is becoming easier, but it can still be tricky. Competitive keywords and business sectors can be very expensive and, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can watch your online advertising budget evaporate before your eyes.

Because of this, it often makes sense to hire someone who is well-versed in online advertising.

But, as I always say, it is in your best interest to always know and understand a little bit about every function within your business to ensure that you are getting good value for your money. No, I’m not saying that you need to be an expert, but having a general understanding will ensure that no one is taking advantage of you.

One of the first things you must do is discover where your target audience is most likely to be reached in the global marketplace. Once you have determined this, determine a budget for your online advertising spend.

It is now possible to really drill down and hone the audience that will see your ads. But you still must find that balance between using the keywords that are most likely to get results, and how much it costs per click for those keywords.

Once you have figured out your target market and your daily spend, it is also important to create ads that will appeal to your target audience. After all, there’s no point in advertising online if people aren’t clicking and converting.

The following five questions will help you learn what people think of your ads:

1. What is the mindset of someone who comes across your ad for the first time?

If you understand a bit about the psychology and the motivation of the people you are trying to reach, you are more likely to create an ad that will attract their attention.

2. What is it that people notice about your ad?

Finding out what draws them in, and what they like and dislike will help you develop on and that is more likely to obtain clicks from your target audience and convert them to clients.

3. Are your ads appearing helpful or do they look “spammy”?

People are more likely to click on an ad that appeals to them in some way and is not overtly cramming a sale down your throat.

4. What is it about the design or the phrases that catches the user’s eye?

Remember that design will attract or repel, and make sure that your wording entices people to engage.

5. If you are using Google AdWords as part of your strategy, what entices users to click on your ad?

Google still dominates the land of search, and it can be difficult to be noticed, so make sure that you are designing your ad in a way that will be noticed.

A properly managed online advertising campaign can be very effective. But it can also take some time to determine what keywords and what strategy works best to attract and convert the appropriate audience. Allow about three months of trial and error before you expect a great ROI, but after you find what works, you can find this to be an effective advertising tool for your business.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Using Facebook Live

July 5, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, communicating with clients, facebook marketing, growing your business, livestreaming, marketing, online marketing, social media marketing

As you are probably aware, Facebook is now offering live-streaming.

This addition to Facebook is not a surprise. Tons of social platforms offer livestreaming.

We all know that video has become a very popular way of sharing information. It has become a preferred way of communicating with people online as it tends to be more engaging – and, one hopes, more entertaining as well.

However, it is important to make sure that you are not just chasing the latest shiny bauble when utilizing video for your marketing needs. You must always keep to the fundamentals of marketing; Who is your audience? What is your message? What is the best social platform to engage and reach your audience?… You get the idea.

Livestreaming provides an opportunity to engage your audience in real time. Whatever platform you choose, be wise when planning your livestream.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Choosing The Right Social Media Platform

May 24, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, business, communications, entrepreneur, marketing, marketing strategy, small business marketing, social media, social media marketing

In our last article, we discussed how technology and social media have changed the way we communicate and how we market our businesses.

As technology evolves, the way we communicate also evolves, and social media is a prime example of this.

It appears that social media continues to be a popular choice for businesses, as it has proven itself to be a highly effective way to reach prospects. So now, more than ever, it’s important to position your business through at least one social media platform.

A recent study showed that as of January 2016, over 70% of folks in the United States had at least one social media profile. And it’s predicted that by 2018, the number of worldwide users will increase from 2.1 billion users to 2.5. Currently, Facebook claims over 1 ½ billion active monthly users, with YouTube posting and even 1 billion, an Instagram claiming 400 million.

Clearly, with the number of people on the various social media platforms, it only makes sense for you to ensure that your business is connected to at least one of these platforms.

Which raises the question – what platform, or platforms should you be on?

It doesn’t make sense, from a time or budget perspective, to choose too many platforms or to choose them randomly.

What is it that your company does? The social media platforms that your company should be on depends on your niche, as well as your target audience. Are you B2B, or B2C? Does your product or service lend itself to images? If so, an application such as Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook would be a good choice or your business. On the other hand, if you specialize in a specific product or service selling to other companies, an application like LinkedIn would make more sense.

One of the advantages of using social media to reach your target audience is that it is relatively inexpensive. There are a number of free tools out there, such as HootSuite, that can help you schedule updates and posts to your social media platforms, allowing you to create content for posting ahead of time. Of course, these applications also have premium versions at a cost, depending on your requirements. There are also several companies that will manage and monitor your social media on your behalf, but unless social is a big part of your final, you should be able to manage this yourself, at least in the early days.

One of the biggest issues with social media is that, although it has become more and more integrated into our lives, it is still very difficult for businesses to measure their return on investment, or ROI.

My response to this issue is that you have to be clear with social media marketing, just like every other type of marketing, what exactly it is that you are looking to measure. What is your goal? Is your intent to use these social media platforms to drive website traffic, develop broader exposure for your business, or are you looking to make sales through the platform?

Social platforms are equipped to provide you with analytics. You can find out how many people have been exposed to your posts, how they are responding to them, as well as how many people are clicking on your website links. By taking a look at the analytics, you can find out what is the best time of day to post to reach your target audience, as well as which platforms are performing the best for you.

Be sure that if you take the time to develop social media profiles for your business that you do not waste that effort by ignoring those channels. Create a calendar, or at least make a commitment to post on a regular basis. Whether it is once a week or twice a day, be sure that you commit to this schedule and maintain it. Your followers and prospects will begin to anticipate your posts, and your audience will grow.

Also, remember that social media is about being social, not just about your own products and services. Be sure to interact with the people you are attracting to your platforms, and include posts that will be of interest to your followers, even if they are unrelated to your business.

Creating your social media profiles may be free, but remember that, just like everything else, there is still a cost attached. In order to be effective, you’ll have to invest some time and perhaps a bit of money into it to make sure that you are not wasting your efforts.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Content Marketing Made Easy

April 28, 2016September 4, 2023 Nancy Boisvert Newsletter agapi marketing, building your business, communicating with clients, how to grow your business, marketing, marketing strategy, science of marketing, small business marketing, social media marketing

Providing informative, useful content should be the driving force of your marketing.

We all know that the face of marketing has changed significantly over the past several years. Sure, at its core the fundamentals and the principles of marketing remain the same. But how clients and prospects engage has shifted, thanks to the advancement of technology, and content marketing is the best way to reach them online.

Clients and prospects now, more than ever, have control over what they see. TV remotes and DVR’s have allowed us to skip advertisements and channel surf to find those shows that we find most engaging. Traditional cable is also suffering, as more and more people see the advantage of streaming the shows and content that they want to see, without being locked into packages and programming that is dictated to them by the cable companies.

Savvy marketers who have kept up with the times understand that they need to adapt to this ever-changing landscape to keep their clients relevant within their niches. And one of the best ways to do this is with content marketing.

Simply defined, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. The purpose of content marketing is to attract and retain customers through the consistent creation of relevant and valuable content intended to sway or enhance prospects behavior towards your business.

Content marketing is not something that you do once and walk away. Just like the more traditional forms of advertising, repetition is important. By providing consistent, interesting and valuable information to your clients and prospects, you develop an engaged audience that learns to trust your authority.

But remember, content marketing is not about selling; it is the art of communicating with your clients and prospects. Rather than pitching your products or services, the focus is on providing information that helps make your prospective client more intelligent. This strategy is based on the belief that through the delivery of consistent, ongoing content that provides value to your prospect, you will be rewarded with their business and loyalty.

And history has shown that this strategy works! Content marketing is being used successfully by some of the largest global organizations. But the beauty of content marketing is that you don’t have to be a big player to implement this strategy successfully. Properly developed and executed by small businesses, content marketing has proven itself to work over and over again.

Content marketing represents the current and the future state of marketing.

Remember our earlier definition of content marketing?

The key difference between content marketing and other types of marketing is that content marketing is not focused on selling your “stuff”.

Keep in mind that companies are sending us information all the time. But is it relevant? Most of the time it’s not, so clients and prospects become conditioned to delete so much of this. What makes content marketing so in trading in today’s marketing space is that one key point of differentiation – relevancy. Good content marketing engages the audience, changing the way they think and behave in reaction to the materials they are being sent.

You just can’t market without great content.

I’m sure you are using many different types of marketing tactics. But regardless of what you are doing, be sure that content marketing is a part of these processes not something distinct and separate.

Indeed, quality content is a part of all types of marketing. Consider the following:

• Social media marketing: integrate content marketing into the posts on your social media profiles
• SEO: Search engines love businesses that publish quality, consistent content.
• PR: Successful PR strategies address issues that people care about. PR is not about selling.
• PPC: PPC is an expensive experiment that is unlikely to give you a proper ROI without great content behind it.
• Inbound marketing: to drive inbound traffic and leads, you need good content.

To be effective at content marketing, it is essential to develop, create and follow a documented content marketing strategy. We can help you with the development of this strategy.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.