Dress To Impress With AR and VR In Fashion Branding

AR and VR In Fashion Branding

Fashion is sophisticated and complicated, being at the forefront of creating trends and pushing boundaries to pursue beauty. Many praise the fashion industry for innovation and criticize its ethical standards.

You’re familiar with these challenges if you’re running a fashion business. But could AR and VR in fashion bring your business’s sustainability to the next level?

We say yes!

Contemporary fashion thrives on innovation and technology, and industry professionals like yourself know that technology is constantly changing. According to the Consumer Market Outlook, the lucrative fashion industry fetched around 1.46 trillion USD in 2020. To maintain this revenue, fashion brands must innovate.

So, what’s the next big thing in fashion tech? Experts have said it’s augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Using AR and VR in fashion sounds far-fetched, but the market already uses them.

We’ll show you a few splendid examples for inspiration here, so stick with us till the end!

How Do AR and VR In Fashion Work, Anyway?

 

If you’re reading this article and wondering what AR and VR are, here’s a summary. AR and VR are the technologies used to create alternative or enhanced digital reality. It includes adding digital elements to real world backgrounds (AR) or immersing customers in entire virtual worlds (VR).

More specifically, AR enhances the physical world by enhancing sight and sound. It highlights specific real world features or overlays digital elements on them.

Viewers can access AR technology on their smartphones through an AR app.

VR is a complete simulation experience in a digital world created from scratch. It introduces viewers to an all-rounded computer-generated artificial environment with interactive elements.

Users can see, hear, and interact with the virtual environment in real time. They use a virtual reality headset to engage with the VR world.

AR is generally more widely used than VR because of its high accessibility on smartphones.

But both AR and VR in fashion provide a unique and memorable customer experience for your brand. They enhance the shopping experience with awe-inspiring graphics and keep your customers engaged.

So why do AR and VR matter in fashion retail?

Fashion retail is going ‘phygital’; more customers interact with retail brands using a hybrid of physical and digital mediums. AR and VR help to bridge the gap between both forms. They offer virtual fashion experiences just as good as physical brand interaction.

AR and VR technology used in the market are changing how customers interact with brands.

 

3 Ways AR and VR In Fashion Will Impact The Retail Industry

3 Ways AR and VR In Fashion Will Impact The Retail Industry

1.   Improved Sustainability

The fashion industry has faced criticism for its unsustainable practices and wasteful consumption. But not all is bleak because AR and VR in fashion could be the key to positive change for many fashion businesses.

Augmented reality in fashion industries helps reduce unnecessary product shipping. Customers can try products on before they buy them, reducing impulse purchases.

Globally, there will be less production and consumption of fashion products, decreasing the number of wasted apparel and resources. It’s better for the environment and a step in the right direction for fashion businesses.

 

2.   Reduced Costs

AR and VR reduce unnecessary shipping costs so that you can save on freight charges. It also decreases spending on traditional advertisements like print and television because you can market online.

With AR and VR, you can take advantage of free social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Use social media to host your AR technology and reach out to more customers at a much lower cost.

 

3.   Increased Sales

Customers are more likely to purchase something when they know what they want. On traditional online shopping platforms, customers can only see 2D product images. They need help to visualize what the actual product looks like realistically.

With AR and VR, they can see and interact with a life-sized version of the product. Instead of estimating the color and size of a garment online, they can try it accurately with AR filters. AR and VR experiences give customers more accurate product information to make better decisions.

Using AR product marketing on e-commerce websites and social media platforms for luxury brands will significantly boost sales.

Nearly 80% of Burberry’s purchases in China happen on mobile devices. Experts predict that around 80% of luxury goods purchases will occur online by 2025.

So, the market for AR and VR in fashion is growing and has excellent potential for many fashion brands.

Augmented reality technology is also excellent for online retailers without physical stores. If you have an online business, customers can’t view your products in an actual store. They can use AR filters as a substitute dressing room to virtually try on your clothes before buying them.

Cool! Now Show Me Some Real-Life Examples Of AR and VR In Fashion

These are some of the most innovative uses of AR and VR in fashion. Take notes from these luxury brands to use their strategies for your business too!

 

Try Before You Buy

AR VR in Fashion woman searching clothes

Computer-generated 3D imagery has come a long way since VR’s early days. Modern 3D virtual models are more advanced and look like actual products. It’s because AR and VR digitally simulate hyper-realistic colors and textures of clothing on virtual models.

Customers can virtually apply clothes on AR human models to see how it looks on a human body. Interestingly, they can even customize the human model to look like them. It’s one of the most convenient benefits of using augmented reality technology in fashion.

For instance, Gucci collaborated with Snapchat in 2020 to create a ‘try-on’ feature for shoes. Users could overlay AR shoes on their feet using the Snapchat application. Customers were able to try the shoes without going to the shop. They could buy the product if they liked the shoes in the filter.

ASOS also launched a 2020 AR feature on their app that allowed customers to try clothes on different body sizes. The application offered sixteen animated models of varying skin tones and body sizes. Customers could even test the outfits and human models in realistic outdoor environments.

You can launch small-scale AR filters to showcase your products on a social media platform. Users will have fun trying the clothing filters, and it’s excellent publicity for your brand too!

You can even create virtual fitting rooms offering a head-to-toe makeover for users’ virtual avatars.

 

Interactive Navigation And Display Screens

Interactive Navigation And Display Screens AR VR in fashion

Earlier, we mentioned that fashion retail is becoming ‘phygital’, so remember to care for customers at your physical stores too.

Use AR and VR to improve your customer experience at the physical shop. Technology can track the shopper’s location in the store. When they access an AR app on their phone, it shows them a live navigation map. It’s helpful for customers visiting your shop for the first time.

Renowned fashion brands like H&M and Zara also use AR display screens to enhance customers’ shopping experience.

Some display screens include virtual fitting rooms, mirrors with 3D avatars, and touchscreen outfit selection. It attracts attention and enhances customer interaction with the brand.

 

FashTech To Expand Your Brand Experience

FashTech sounds like a big fancy word, but it simply means ‘fashion technology.’ It includes using AR and VR in fashion to expand customers’ brand experiences.

Use FashTech to expose your customers to more content from your brand. Big-label fashion brands like Coach use FashTech VR to give customers exclusive access to fashion show footage. The luxury brand installed virtual reality headsets in its stores. These headsets allowed consumers to browse looks from their latest runway events.

Fashion week runway shows are only available for a limited audience. But with VR technology, they’re made more accessible to everyone.

Customers experience a different aspect of your brand when you use VR. They can buy limited-edition products and even personally experience events in which your business participates.

You can use VR to give customers exclusive access to fashion week shows, limited-edition brand collaborations, and photoshoots.

Interestingly, VR allows you to build alternate fantasy worlds to complement different fashion themes. You’ll save production costs of renting a physical photoshoot location because you can create it virtually.

How about a virtual runway in a virtual showroom? Bring your customers to digital fashion shows without losing any of the real-life glitz and glamor.

A VR showroom lets your customers experience the feeling of walking down a runway, elevating the fashion experience. Isn’t that a grand idea for fashion week events?

AR and VR will revolutionize the fashion shopping experience for brands globally. Smaller fashion businesses can take inspiration from luxury brands’ strategies and launch mini AR and VR campaigns.

So, implement AR and VR in fashion marketing to elevate your customers’ experience of your brand and products. Dress them to impress, and you’ll also dress them for success!

Also read: How AR and VR are Transforming the Future of Businesses

No Influencer To Promote Your Brand? Do It Yourself!

No influencer to promote your brand? Why not do it yourself? Brands and consumers have gone digital with their consumption and marketing, making the digital marketplace more lucrative and crowded. Businesses generate digital content daily and must compete with each other for consumer attention. Your brand is no exception because it needs to cut through the noise to stand out. Your business must adopt new advertising strategies to retain high conversions and advertising performance levels in the competitive digital landscape.

Statistics show that consumers prefer content over advertising. In Germany, about 50% of consumers install adblockers. 99.5% of digital advertising impressions are ignored by audiences and fail to create increased conversions. Research by Pulse Advertising has found that original creator and user generated content give brands an advantage over others. Many consumers seek authentic and original content over superficial traditional advertising.

Influencer marketing strategy is a powerful tool to harness the benefits of original content creation. It is because influencers produce native content that resonates well with potential consumers. Native content creation enhances your business’s marketing campaigns and creates increased conversions.

Remember to consider the importance of influencer marketing for business to generate interest in your products. Even if you don’t have an influencer to promote your brand, you can still use an influencer marketing strategy to succeed.

Why Do Brands Work With Influencers?

Collaborating with influencers helps brands to improve audience engagement and increase conversions. Interestingly, influencers enjoy the attention of their followers on social media. They have the ability to influence consumer behaviors and consumption patterns. Engaging a successful influencer with more than 250,000 followers creates the same impact as a celebrity endorsement.

Influencer marketing strategy is essential for successful digital marketing and sales. It is evident in the example of the American beauty brand Glossier. Over 70% of Glossier’s sales come from referrals and influencer shares from its Instagram ambassador campaign. Through this campaign, Glossier engaged many macro and micro-influencers who created original, relatable content to promote the brand. Glossier has now become a billion-dollar enterprise, even though it only started in 2014.

You don’t need to work with influencers to enjoy the same benefits. Your brand can use similar strategies to enhance its advertising performance and conversion rates. We’ll show you how to do so in this blog.

 

Know Your Target Audience

Influencers succeed because they have a target audience interested in their content niche. They establish relationships with their target audience by providing content that caters to them. For instance, micro-influencer mayzunewin from Myanmar owns a tour company, and her target audience is people who love traveling. She uses personal travel experiences on her Instagram account to share helpful advice with her followers. She builds a strong relationship with her target audience by creating content that appeals explicitly to travel lovers.

Similarly, identify and attract a target audience for your brand. Have a thorough understanding of your target audience’s needs and wants, and address them in your original content. Establish close relationships with your target audience to make your marketing strategy more focused and impactful.

 

Build Brand Loyalty By Increasing Trust

Build Brand Loyalty By Increasing Trust

Micro-influencers’ authenticity and honesty help them gain the trust of their audience, turning a follower into a loyal fan. Similarly, small businesses should create strong brand loyalty to attract dedicated customers and increase conversions.

For instance, Glossier’s product team built brand loyalty by increasing the trust of their audience. The company promised to deliver products based on what consumers wanted. They created candid, transparent content that was true to the brand motto. They featured honest product reviews from many customers, shared product inspiration photos, and considered product ideas from customers. It increased customers’ confidence in the business’s honesty and reliability.

Build brand loyalty among your customers by creating authentic and honest content. Take customer feedback seriously and make content that is genuine to your brand image and values. Make customers feel involved and valued by being transparent about your production processes. It increases trust and brand loyalty among your customers, leading to increased conversions.

 

Engage The Youth And Increase Content Interaction

Creating exciting and engaging content is crucial because Gen Z comprises 40% of global consumers. Research from Marketing Charts shows that visual content can best engage Gen Z. They enjoy tapping, swiping, and clicking on interactive elements such as polls, stickers, and comments. They also want short, bite-sized content that creatively relays information. Influencer samseats collaborated with Feasty to link his Tiktok video content to the food app. His video was concise, presenting his recipes creatively, and was even visually appealing. The link lets users click and scroll to view the full recipe on the Feasty app.

Replicate this with your brand by producing interactive visual content that increases engagement and conversion among younger users. Include links, stickers, and filters to make your content more captivating and exciting.

Gen Z consumers also love content that is relatable and memorable. For instance, Bretmanrock is a Filipino beauty influencer famous among Gen Z audiences for his funny makeup videos. Some audiences have even turned his reaction videos into viral memes. His content is relatable and memorable because of his humor and wit.

Engage Gen Z audiences with content that has a strong sense of humor to make your brand approachable and charismatic. Produce content like memes, social media challenges, and comedy videos. Create a fun and memorable content consumption experience for your brand’s younger audience. Viewers might attempt the social media challenge or share your memes and videos with others. It improves content interaction and increases brand awareness. Your funny content might even go viral as a social media trend!

Also read: Enhance Your Brand Experience With AR/VR

 

Increase Brand Awareness Through Competitions And Giveaways

Increase Brand Awareness Through Competitions And Giveaways

Influencers host giveaways and competitions to engage their followers and generate interest. Bretmanrock hosts giveaways encouraging his followers to vote on their favorite products and tag their friends. It spreads the content as his followers tag new audiences in the comment section.

Host public giveaways and social media competitions to generate interest in your page. Also, encourage audiences to leave their votes in the comments. Invite them to tag friends to bring more attention to your page and introduce your content to new people. It increases digital engagement and provides good publicity for your brand. With greater brand awareness, you will increase the number of likes and comments on your social media posts. It improves your social media page rankings and increases visibility as well.

You must pair your great product or service with a solid marketing strategy. Use an influencer marketing strategy to grow your brand and upgrade your advertising. Adopt the mindset of an influencer in this digital landscape to increase brand reputation, improve audience engagement and increase conversions. You can do all these and more, even without an influencer.

 

Data driven marketing: An Entrepreneur’s Way To Success

data driven marketing

Businesses no longer plan their marketing strategies based on assumptions or hunches. You need solid conclusive research information. Such data aid companies make sound and resolute business decisions, thereby gaining more profit and measurable success. Businesses offer solutions to problems, which should be in tandem with what consumers seek. It means that the answers should be of the intended value to your target consumer base. Else, the entire marketing effort will reap nothing. And that is why your business shouldn’t ignore this potent tool data-driven marketing.

Why Every Business Need Data-Driven Marketing?

Because businesses seek sustainability and profits, customer data from various research-backed sources is a boon for companies. Consumers are constantly bombarded with multiple advertisements and campaigns, so it is crucial to hone in on a data-driven strategy. No longer are companies going by the guesswork of what products or services buyers want. They have realized that their marketing strategies must be more optimized to learn about their target customer needs. That has to be at the right time and will eventually help expand their customer base. Let’s examine why businesses are hopping onto the data-driven approach bandwagon.

 

Know They Customers

consumer behaviour is one of the reason why businesses are hopping onto the data-driven approach

Every business has its unique ways of understanding its consumers. Understanding customers is the key to getting your hands on the market’s nerve. You cannot arrive at any strategy without knowing your customers. That’s the basic requirement and you must have an in-depth understanding of your customers.

Interestingly customer behaviour is never constant, so strive to be updated about their likes, online/offline buying patterns, needs, other factors. All this information would help tailor the suitable marketing campaigns for a more consumer-centric approach. Analytics tools are valuable for studying derived data and understanding your target market. These metrics identify businesses’ opportunities and highlight areas where they should improve. Therefore, know your customers to map out your strategy well.

 

Personalized Channels

Data may show more than just the preferences of target customers. Customer data will also give you a profound understanding of your targeted audience’s behavior. Additionally, it could recommend the best platform for any brand to find its target audience and engage them optimally. With this knowledge, they might place the message at the right place and time. For example, Gen X and Y are more active on social media such as Instagram, Snapchat or Discord, whereas Gen Z is more active on Facebook. Of course, older audiences are comfortable with print communication mediums, such as magazines or newspapers. Once your target audience characteristics are identified from here, you can zero down on more effective strategies. It will fetch you more from the time, money and effort you invested and all of these increase sales.

Learn more about: Why should brands consider short videos as part of their content strategy?

 

Campaigning for Success!

The marketing teams would then focus on promotional campaigns using relevant information from their data collection. The advertising strategy would be well planned with crucial data points from various data sources. This will ensure that the promotion meets its expected goals and stays within your budge. Marketers have a far better idea about the content and timing of marketing messages. The do that with well-examined data. When you know what your consumers require – products or services; content and campaign will resonate well with them. In this way, the appropriate message reaches the right group of people and in the proper time. These campaigns are of their interest, and they boost customer interactions with optimal engagement. Thereby, it creates value by providing a solution to their need. Thus, it establishes a trust chord.

 

Better Customer Experience

customer experience is one of the reason why businesses are hopping onto the data-driven approach

There is no shortage of products or services, and despite that, why will customers purchase what you offer? When you hover over this thought, you will find the acute solution – customer experience. It is the experience that customers use to differentiate between different brands. Businesses can use data to know their customers in and out. This will help them to zero down on offering the right products or services with precision,

Marketing teams would benefit from customer value analytics data. The data, it can identify ways to shorten the sales cycle without sacrificing individualized service. Big data and in-depth customer analytics allow marketers to design more effective campaigns with individualized messaging. It improves customer experience by making it consistent. Customers receive the same whether they contact a business via social media, phone, or in-person interactions. Brand trust and improved brand perception follow more user engagement and credibility, which eventually results in more sales, loyalty, and advocacy.

 

Continuous Upgradation of Brand Image

Data-driven marketing strategies allow you to create more targeted content, which people appreciate and thus boost engagement. Users are more inclined to like, share, and engage with your material when it addresses their needs. That’s the brilliance of marketing messages. Brand trust and improved brand impression correlate with higher user engagement, which eventually results in more sales, loyalty, and advocacy. Big data tells how users interact with your business by tracking websites, social media platforms, and customer digital footprints. When managing your brand’s reputation or enhancing its image, big data is a big help. Data solutions fundamentally mean that businesses can keep an eye on their social proof and react to problems that can be promptly fixed.

 

Stronger Connections

business networking

Customers will benefit from well-planned campaigns because they provide what they seek. Data-driven marketing helps you to create more targeted content. It strikes the right cord with the audience; they appreciate it and engage more. They will come back to you for more. Gradually and after a few cycles, they see you as comfort. That’s how connections work; once you can establish a meaningful relationship with your customers, it becomes an effortless process. That’s how data-driven marketing strategies magically satisfy customer demands and build a stronger bond between the brand and      its customers.

 

Loyalty = Profitability

Loyal customers are your best brand ambassadors. With consistent influences, quality and commitment to customer satisfaction, loyalty comes with ease. It fetches your brand sustainability; isn’t that every business strives for? You can lose new and existing clients if you miss quality or fail to respond to customer needs. While devoted clients are willing to stick around for the long haul, neglecting them for too long will force them to go. So use data optimally to know your customer base, track their changing buying behaviors, and plan and execute accordingly.

 

Be aware of the competition

You can use the same technology for social monitoring to track and evaluate the marketing tactics of your competitors. Such a measure will help you to manage your reputation online, and you will be able to learn more about your target audience. Another reason for using big data analytics tools is finding creative ideas, improving current procedures, and learning from peers’ mistakes.

Data-driven marketing is necessary for the current marketplace. It is primarily because of rapidly rising customer expectations, diversifying communication platforms, stringent market competition and more. Businesses that use data effectively in every marketing campaign can boost sales and revenue, enhance client loyalty and sustain the outcome. Marketing efforts to reach its targeted demography would be more probable. The more businesses utilize data for their marketing efforts, the better they can tailor client experiences, maximize spending, and increase ROI, because they would have substantial scientific information to know what works and what doesn’t.

The importance of guest blogging (Top 11 benefits in 2021!)

Importance of Guest Blogging

Perhaps you are already working hard at growing your blog and wish to let the world know about your services or products. Or maybe you are heading a company’s marketing division and want to bring in more clients. In both these cases, as in many others, guest blogging can help. In this article, we are going to learn about the importance of guest blogging.

Yes, guest blogging seems to be in the rage these days. But believe it or not, there was indeed a time when almost no one knew of the power of this marketing strategy.

For instance, in 2006, when Brian Clark was laying the foundations of the now-famous Copyblogger.com, he experimented with guest blogging as a marketing strategy. He began writing for other websites. In the beginning, he took whatever guest blogging opportunity came his way, but soon he was writing for some of the best web portals having some of the highest footfalls on the web. In time, he got insane amounts of organic traffic from his efforts.

Or take the example of Gregory Ciotti, who used this strategy to get more than 36,000 new email subscribers.

Or consider Brian Harris, who uses just one guest post to kick-start a business that now earns him a recurring $15k a month.

Today, the strategy is used by bloggers, website owners, companies, freelancers and content marketers.

So why is guest posting so effective? We’ll find out in this article. Read on!

11 Benefits of Guest Blogging

You get instant exposure

Whether or not you get a link back to your website, the guest post should always be interesting and informative to readers. It should have something which is not yet there in other sources on the internet. If the post is of high quality, organic traffic will start pouring in soon. Traffic is essential for any business on the web, as it is for blogs. Writing a guest post is a one-time thing, but its benefits are forever as long as the post stays up. And the longer it stays up, the more traffic you continue to get. So look at it as a one-time investment! To boost traffic conversion, optimize your landing pages, your CTAs, and the other elements on your site.

It increases your network

Guest blogging has made it easy and more streamlined to connect to top influencers. It was not like this all the time. Today, many websites accept posts from both new and experienced bloggers and even have a community of dedicated writers in their chosen niches. Other sites have email discussions where post ideas are brainstormed. You can even plan to co-author posts with others. Whatever the structure is, you can always leverage your authority to seek out partnerships with top influencers. To do this, you need to be active in the community. Provide help and valuable comments. Additionally, you can also invite your chosen influencers to contribute to your blog.

Get social media shares

One of the top and proven ways to extend your reach on the web is by generating social media shares. It would help if you stimulated social media shares since the more shared your content is, the more it will be shared and seen as valuable. Guest blogging is helpful for this. For instance, if the blogging site is like Entrepreneur.com, you won’t need to lift a finger most likely to stimulate social media shares. But for smaller portals, you may have to make some effort. Consider incorporating infographics and videos with your content to get 3x engagement.

Nurture and grow your social media following

Guest blogging even helps you grow the existing list of your followers’ count and accelerate lead generation. When you write for an authoritative blog like Huffington Post, you get readers to see your brand as trustworthy. Thus, you get the trust of your readers, which you can turn into social media followers. To nurture them, give regular updates and helpful information.

Guest posting boosts your online authority

You may not be getting many organic leads and social media followers if your online authority is not strong enough. If people don’t trust you, it won’t make a difference if you write the best content on the web. One way to strengthen authority is through guest blogging. You can do this by regularly contributing to authoritative sites.

Guest blogging strengthens your backlink profile

Most blogs won’t give you a monetary reward for contributing, but they allow you to give at least one link back to your website. You need to mention a bit about your brand and provide an SEO keyword-optimized link. This aids search engines in discovering and indexing your website.

It builds your brand awareness

There have been many success stories of people hitting it rich with just guest blogging, even though they were virtually unknown before. Guest posting, if done right, establishes you as an authority in your niche. When that happens, people flock to you for advice and more awareness about your brand, products and services.

Guest blogging gives you qualified leads

This is one of the most significant benefits of this marketing strategy. The leads you get from guest blogging are already qualified beforehand. When you post on niche websites, you ensure that only interested parties will be reading and then reaching out to you. Thus, you connect with only qualified leads, which increases the chances of a sale.

It shortens the sales cycle

With a guest post, you introduce your brand to readers directly. It familiarizes them with your brand and makes them more receptive to your offers.

You get valuable feedback from readers

Feedback is always important, especially when it comes to running a business. You need to know what your readers and customers are thinking about your products and services. Guest posting gives you this benefit. With their feedback and comments, you can refine your marketing strategy for more leads and sales.

Guest blogging strengthens your skills in content marketing

To be successful, guest blogging requires you to research, use the ideal writing voice, write for a particular audience, do influencer outreach, and more. By using guest blogging, you learn more about content marketing.

To sum up

Guest blogging is undoubtedly beneficial. It comes with a slew of benefits that are hard to ignore. If you are taking your business online, you cannot overlook the importance of guest blogging.

You can contact MIU for effective advertising.

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Are your demands screaming at you or inspiring you every morning to start your day and look forward to it? Both of these indicate a separate set of minds and result in different moods at day end. They have a different effect on you, even after you have achieved your goals. 

Are you wondering why am I saying this when the headline read something related to Facebook marketing tips? 

Most of us own a small business or intend to have one within this lifetime. Don’t you? It is an aspiration and uncharted demand of our lives that we have subscribed to. You may name it as one of your life goals or anything else. It is this demand that I spoke of at the very beginning. Some of us sell our self-made products too. That might be a tiny scale business, but trust me, it is business indeed, and many people do that. It is for this reason that you need to promote it well. Facebook is the first option that we can spontaneously think of. Thus, Facebook comes into the frame. 

All you need to do is have a Facebook business page. It will open your venture to a sea of possibilities because this social media giant has an enormous data bank. Got my point?

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Has Facebook’s Enormous Popularity Affected Its Effectiveness As A Promoting Platform?

Innovations and everything new attracts people. Facebook has been a hugely successful social media platform that now serves as an excellent channel for marketing. However, its popularity has made it familiar, and critics often question its effectiveness as a promotional platform. 

Such speculations are expected fallout of sky-high popularity, but you don’t have anything to worry about yet. 

Let’s understand this; the market doesn’t have any specific geographic periphery. It is as wide as the world is. That’s your market, and there is no shortage of potential customers. An enormous number of Facebook users might have made your task more challenging. To reach your target audience, you will need to prepare sharper strategies than before and increase promotional activities. This never means you have lost your target audience; it just got a bit tougher than before. Local businesses can now reach their target audience with minimum effort and increase their sales. 

On the other side, Facebook tools and utility features give you crucial insight into user data. This is a huge advantage for brands for creating effective strategies. Accurate data feed strategies, it has been proven to be highly effective for increasing sales and brand impression. You can also use exclusive Facebook marketing tips for enhancing your brand strategies. 

One of the most effective ways to promote your business to local buyers is through a relevant Facebook group. You can join as many as you want as long they serve your purpose and have your target audience. Make it a point to interact with the members of the group every day if possible. Through regular interaction, you can build customer trust, know their preferences and serve them accordingly. Thus, a massive number of Facebook users is an advantage for your brand. 

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses On A Budget

With increasing popularity, the business prospects of Facebook flourished. Currently, organic content on business pages doesn’t reach a wider audience as it did a few years ago. Change is inevitable, and sometimes it might not be in your favour. 

Ideally, you must share content every day on Facebook. However, posting a paid content regularly is challenging for small businesses. That’s why I am sharing some tried and tested practical marketing tips for organically promoting your business page. 

Firstly, spare some time to know your audience and understand them. Standard promotional tips and hacks might not work for every venture always. Be very mindful while creating the content for your Facebook page and experiment with the type of content. Audiences love good content and will engage with a brand that offers it to them. So, make it a point not to offer your audience regular stuff; try to keep it as exclusive as possible. 

Secondly, keep your content relatable and thus acceptable. No audience will entertain foreign content. It is, in fact, why some beautiful and heavy-weight pages go unnoticed. When you know your audience and understand them, you can create relatable content. To experiment, you can create a Facebook story every day and track their performances. It will help you in finding relatable content ideas. 

Thirdly, you need to have a concrete plan or a good content strategy for your brand. Make sure you prepare a content calendar for it and materialize your goals accordingly. This will include types of posts, blogs, articles, Facebook ads, Facebook advertising, and even campaigns. However, make sure to update this calendar from time to time because preferences change within a short time. Audiences are exposed to a wide variety of content from different sources. So make it a point to stay updated with the changing trends and offer unique content to your audience. 

Fourthly, take time out to organize the tabs on your business page. These are a few minor details that can create a difference in customer experience. On your business page, you will find different tabs. Wisely choose the tabs that help them to interact with your brand easily. When you care to save their time and effort, they will prefer you over difficult brands to communicate with. 

Fifthly, besides your business page, create a Facebook group in line with your page. Study Facebook insights to know about your content performance and other details. Based on your findings, you can create engaging content and promotional campaigns. For organic marketing, you need to progress step by step for effective and sustainable results. 

The idea is to provide value; it never goes out of fashion. The best part of using Facebook for business is it takes your products or services to the largest possible audience. You can create prospects and convert them into customers with good content with appealing calls to action. It’s irreplaceable. 

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Tips For Creating A Sustainable Brand

Success without sustainability doesn’t live for long. If you are planning for a business, focus on creating a sustainable business. Let me take you through a few easy and practical ways by which you can make a sustainable venture. 

  • Build a business based on your strong belief:

Having a business, surviving the challenges and earning from can test your patience and is immensely tough. The odds will challenge your motives and try to change many things. They can change a few or more things but cannot alter your core belief. Instead, it will keep you motivated and anchored to your business despite the odds. 

  • Embrace the change and never resist it:

Progress and development are the other names of change. It is easier to stick with successful ideas and processes, but that won’t help you to improve your business. Improvement is to move ahead of your existing position. So, it is always wiser to embrace change and related prospects rather than resist them. 

  • Make value a priority:

You may offer great products and services but someone may offer much better than what you have been doing. What’s exclusive today might not be so tomorrow. However, things are different when you offer value with every purchase or subscription. It will bring people back to you and earn you customer loyalty. It can buy sustainability for your brand. 

  • Don’t be uncomfortable out of your comfort zone:

    We all love what we are comfortable with. It is fine for stability, but it can even make things stagnant and prevent you from achieving more. I am sure you don’t want that to happen. If you want to sustain your business and its profitability, then you must take chances. 

  • Find your area to excel and focus on it:

Every business is unique in its ways, even if it’s selling standard products or services. Similarly, you can identify what’s working best for your customers and improve it accordingly. You can identify your areas of excellence and work on them for further improvement. It only makes you better from your current best.

Facebook Marketing Tips For Small Businesses

Social media platforms have emerged as highly effective influencers. The popularity of Facebook makes it all the more important for your brand. So, make sure to optimally use Facebook marketing strategy for better sales and business sustainability. You can also contact us for advertising on social media channels that brings result. 

Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal

Brand Revival: Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal

Human civilization is going through one of its darkest and most challenging phases. The days are dotted with unprecedented threats and nights with uncertainty. The coronavirus pandemic blew things out of proportion, pushed us to the brim, where fighting for survival is the only way out. 

Besides health and life, business, too, suffered through a lot of brutal blows. When the world was on the verge of returning to everyday life, the second wave struck. It ruined things with a more significant impact. Repeated lockdowns and forbidden movement affected supply and hit revenue generation like never before. The damage was pretty the same for brands across the globe. 

Despite all, there is hope, and that’s what I will be discussing elaborately here. Robert Kiyosaki, Founder, Cashflow Technologies Inc., said, “When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.” There’s oozing positivity in these lines, and it’s real. We need to push through the limitations; that’s how we overcome them! 

Brand Revival: Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal
Business photo created by rawpixel.com

Marketing In 2021 – Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal Trying To Survive In A Changed Business Ecosphere

Any given crisis hurts the market – consumer behavior. The pandemic triggered by covid19 created an enormous dent in trade and commerce across the world. Brands and marketers working for them are on their feet, trying to find ways to sail out of this crisis. 

Businesses of varying size and age faced unprecedented challenges. They had to ensure the safety of their employees and consumers, modify business operation and management complying with government policies. Besides these, brands had to support the activities with cash and other liquid assets. 

Different lockdown norms restricted the movement; it affected supply, purchase volume and related elements. A lot of people also lost their jobs due to the pandemic. There was a decline in purchase resulting in lesser sales volume and revenue. 

What caused this change was a few dominating factors. 

The inevitable and enforced lockdown affected the livelihood of many. While the enterprises are struggling to survive, smaller ventures and industries suffered significant loss. It even led to the closure of such businesses. It affected the livelihood of many and marginalized their purchasing power. It directly affected demand in a chain reaction. 

Consumers made more conscious purchasing decisions; they tried not to spend their money on anything they are not sure about. They opted for value-based products and services and online shopping experiences. Consumers moved to online platforms and apps for their everyday essentials and luxury buys. 

There was a restriction on the movement of public transport during the lockdown, but even after unlocking, people tried to avoid it. Demand for online service platforms surged high, to unexpected heights, and they switched to remote working or working from homes. 

Covid19 triggered an economic and social crisis that severely affected consumer demand. 

Brand Revival: Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal
Sale photo created by drobotdean – www.freepik.com

Potential Brand Revival Strategies 

You cannot avert a crisis and other challenges, but you can surely overcome them. In the face of a notorious situation, you need to be your strongest self and cut through it. You must commit to bold decisions and execution of the same. The covid19 pandemic and its impact on business is not something that you cannot overcome. 

Ian Davis, a Managing Partner, McKinsey, was recently quoted in an article – “The New Normal”, “For some brands, near-term survival is the only agenda.” He elaborated on the finer details, but it stroked me hard because that’s a brutal truth. Survival is the only goal but stopping there isn’t. The article has meaningful implications for marketers. Brands need to revive; otherwise, they will not stand a chance in the grim market condition. So here I will be elaborating on a few central mechanisms that can make it happen. Stay glued! 

Firstly, you need to harness the power of digital platforms and technology. The internet is accessible to almost every corner of the world, by everyone. That’s the best way to reach the mass, and you have a broader market than you could ever wish for. Why not use these platforms and transformational technologies to connect with customers – existing and potential? Build a complementing infrastructure, even a new team for the groundwork is good, to serve demands through digital channels and apps. Try digital transformation through technology, communication, data, the internet of things, AI, and exclusive networking. 

Brand Revival: Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal
created by stories – www.freepik.com

Secondly, you must pick up accurate data, analyze them correctly, and use it quickly, responsibly and effectively. Data is the key to creating compelling brand strategies, both for sales and branding exercises. Business automation solutions are ideal for making this happen; specifically, a CRM solution will be the best one to serve this purpose. When you implement CRM software, it fetches data from regular interactions, analyzes flawlessly, finds real consumer needs. It also predicts market and product trends. You can use this for offering what the market would need and cash such opportunities. 

Thirdly, what matters are not exclusive products but trustworthy products that meet consumer needs. It is essential, especially when you want to create brands they trust. Invest in good image building exercises because the messages they send are very effective in building your brand image. 

Fourthly, if you want to find a perennial market demand, you will have to be a bold brand. By this, I mean, as a brand, you need to stand up for a cause that makes a real difference and act on it. When you start doing this, you will begin writing a new future for your brand. 

Fifthly, localize your operations and consumer experience. The idea of exported products is not as effective as offering something of their own. Frequent lockdowns have boosted the idea of enjoying local products and experiences. You are restricted to a specific area, so are the producers, sellers and buyers. There are a good number of brands that have benefitted by localizing their marketing exercises. 

Brand Revival: Reimaging Marketing In The Next Normal
Sale photo created by wayhomestudio – www.freepik.com

Social media connected people from different pockets of the world. Similarly, online platforms, technology and digital avenues joined the business to consumers during the pandemic. Whether digital or physical, you must keep supplying to meet the demand. The current situation favors digital or online services, though. The trends and indicators commit to a promising future if you are willing to take that leap of faith and transform your digitally. Trust me; now people prefer home entertainment and home deliveries!

Augmented Reality(AR) in the Marketing World

Augmented Reality

The new kid on the block 

In our day-to-day lives, we may overlook the rapid developments of technology. Since the turn of the century, our lives have changed drastically with countless new devices and systems. Even in the world of marketing, modern technology has been implemented and used to significant effect.  

With an ever-growing list of companies vying for your precious attention and, more importantly, your money, marketers have turned to the latest innovations for help. Today, the shiniest tool in a shed is Augmented Reality (AR).

Augmented Reality

AR in marketing

AR in marketing brings endless possibilities and solutions to a wide range of industries. These benefits are countless, especially for creative brands that choose to use this frontier technology in attracting and engaging their target audience. With the ease of application, AR can demonstrate to potential customers how to make full use of specific products and services without spending time on user manuals.

AR technology has been used on particular social media such as Instagram and Pinterest. On those platforms, brands can use the AR filter feature to showcase their product. But when brands want to start their AR campaign on Instagram for example, they need a particular strategy, so they can reach their goal.

Furthermore, AR creates a semblance of ownership of the product for its users before they purchase it. It enables users to see how they would look in a t-shirt or a pair of pants through their smartphone or laptop screen without having to be in the physical store itself. 

This process is already occurring with brands like Ikea enabling AR technology in their app whereby users can place pieces of furniture in their room to gain a better feel for how the product would fit.

With AR now being possible on virtually all web browsers, the entry barriers for users are incredibly low. They do not need to purchase expensive equipment or have the deep technical know-how. All a user requires is their smartphone’s camera, and they are ready to step into the world of AR.

AR in Pizza

The explosive growth in AR-capable devices has revolutionized how companies can promote their customers’ goods and services. The latest example of that would be Pizza Hut’s brand new campaign dubbed “Newstalgia”. Pizza Hut has launched its new brand campaign to bring back nostalgic memories to its customers. 

They partnered with PAC-MAN to offer a limited-edition PAC-MAN box, which features an augmented reality version of the iconic game printed directly on the packaging that fans can play using their smartphones. 

To participate, one must order a large pizza from Pizza Hut. First, they need to scan the QR code on the limited-edition PAC-MAN box and play the retro Augmented Reality (AR) PAC-MAN game. Next, to enter the competition, follow the instructions on their mobile device to share their score with @PizzaHut on Twitter using #PizzaHutARcade #Sweepstakes. Making it all the more tempting, regardless of your high score, you have a chance to win if you shared it.

This is just the latest example of companies employing cutting-edge AR technologies in their marketing campaigns. In 2014, Pepsi installed AR technology in a London bus stop, making it seem like a lion, UFOs, flying saucers, or other objects were headed straight for Londoners.

 This illustrated Pepsi’s playful personality and left the audience with a memorable and fun experience. Through this campaign, Pepsi demonstrated that they thoroughly understood their audience by trusting them to appreciate the demonstration and thus created excitement around the brand.

Where is AR Marketing in Singapore?

Right now, you may be thinking, AR sounds fantastic, but it is not very popular in Singapore. That’s true. Companies in Singapore, albeit creative, have still not completely embraced the use of technology in their advertising and marketing campaigns. Sure, there are countless creative and memorable marketing campaigns like, for example, Shopee Singapore introducing Phua Chu Kang as their brand ambassador in 2020.

 However, we have not yet seen marketing campaigns like that of Pizza Hut’s Newstalgia. Currently, one of the rare uses of AR is at NUS’s Lee Kong Chian Museum, where they have blended this technology into part of their museum where stories are shown through AR. 

That being said, the change could soon be on the horizon. With the implementation of AR growing easier and cheaper day by day, Singaporean companies could soon be joining the bandwagon. 

How you may ask. 

AR technology in marketing tends to be personal and engaging. In Singapore’s case, our companies would probably integrate it into something that’s part of our daily lives. 

With companies doing their best for viral content generation, AR could be a means to this end. Local companies could create an exceptional AR experience for the user that could be easily spread on social media. These experiences are highly personalized by helping users add virtual objects to their faces or environment. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Imagine being able to visualize Bubble Tea falling from the sky when you are stuck at the bus stop waiting for the rain to stop. 

Future of AR

AR technologies in marketing and advertising continue to develop along with technological infrastructure. Companies will continue to adopt AR into their marketing efforts to provide potential customers with an immersive experience and feel of their goods and services. With the potential to dominate in E-Commerce, companies striving to improve their digital marketing will hopefully one day introduce this mode of advertising to Singapore, enabling us to view the world in a new dimension.

 

What is Clubhouse Marketing?

marketing in clubhouse

Clubhouse is the latest app that has got marketers going crazy over it, and here’s why.

Introduction to Clubhouse

As a social audio chat application, Clubhouse first got widespread attention when Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted about it to his 40 million followers. It has since been downloaded more than 2 million times on the App Store.

That’s not even the main reason why Clubhouse continued to be wildly popular. As an invite-only app, Clubhouse gave off that exclusive vibe which drew even more people to it as it symbolises status and elitism. To get in, you would have to get an invite from an existing user — and they usually only have two invites each. Furthermore, the discussions that happen are often live and unrecorded, adding to the exclusive feel.

Clubhouse was initially marketed to Silicon Valley investors, top-tier celebrities and influencers, and industry thought leaders. Drake, Oprah Winfrey, and Elon Musk were the first few high-profile users the app saw.

Founded by Paul Davidson, who once worked for big companies like Google and Pinterest, Clubhouse came at the perfect time when the world is still recovering from the pandemic’s effects.

With everyone having more free time to themselves, spending more time alone, and the popularity of podcasts rising, Clubhouse was a social media experiment headed for success. Launched in 2020, Clubhouse provides users with a great platform to make conversation and create a new type of content.

Having a social chat app allows users to multi-task. More importantly, it cuts through the visual noise of an era where so much of the content we consume is carefully curated, edited, and pieced together. With live discussions happening in real-time, Clubhouse offers unfiltered authenticity in a time heavily dominated by visual content. Rather than showing people what you have and hoping for possible engagement, Clubhouse skips all unnecessary steps and straight away gathers people for immediate and direct engagement.

Marketing in Clubhouse, is it possible?

So how can marketers use this to further their needs? Well, we can take a leaf from Tribal Worldwide Singapore’s book — they jumped onto the platform and had potential content strategists pitch for a job at their agency via the app.

But that isn’t the only way.

Premium and luxury brands can host branded events on Clubhouse or even sponsor events related to their industry. As a business leader or a professional in your industry, you can host Clubhouse Rooms to discuss a topic related to your brand, service, or product. By setting yourself to seem like a thought leader, you’ll gain more brand awareness and trust and loyalty amongst your consumers.

Not to mention, as the perfect platform to network, Clubhouse is the best way to meet and connect with some of the most prominent entrepreneurs around the world. Currently, Clubhouse has low dilution and incredible reach, although that might not hold for long — so take advantage of it while you still can. This way, you can use Clubhouse to make your brand feel more personal and humanised and build a new following just from the app itself.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned in a Room that his social media company is looking into building its version of an audio platform. And it isn’t just Facebook — Twitter also announced plans for a drop-in audio feature for their app, known as Twitter Spaces. Indeed, the social media audio trend is unlikely to be going away anytime soon.

As such an interactive app, Clubhouse proves to be of great potential with being able to satisfy on-demand consumption of content. Marketers should keep their eyes on the app as there is much more potential for audio marketing trends to be discovered.

If you want to find out more about the new marketing strategy, Contact Us.

How to Avoid and Deal with Negative SEO

How to Avoid and Deal with Negative SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) has pretty much gone mainstream at this point and every business knows they need it to stay competitive. But what a lot of people don’t know is there’s an opposite side of the spectrum called negative SEO or negative reputation.

This can catch companies by surprise and that’s the exact situation our client found themselves in this project:

Negative SEO

They tasked us to help them out of the hole they found themselves in. The success of this project helped us move up the rankings of the company listing site The Manifest. While we can’t talk about the specifics of this project, we can share what business can do to get themselves out of similar situations.

What is negative SEO?

Before you can slay the beast, you need to know what it is. Negative SEO is basically a series of black hat tactics that can either be the result of malicious external attacks or the website owners trying to cheat the algorithm.

It makes the site look extremely suspicious in the eyes of the crawlers and push them down the rankings and into oblivion. Negative SEO is a definite threat to the viability of a website and every step should be taken to prevent it.

Disavow Tools

If a site finds itself already in the midst of a negative SEO hole there are ways to beat it. Google itself has provided webmasters with one such method called the disavow tool.

The disavow tool basically allows websites to upload a list of links connecting to their site and tell Google “Please ignore all of these links”. You can even tell Google to ignore an entire website that’s linking to you.

Watch Your Backlinks

An old but gold method of monitoring the quality of the links connecting to your site. Spam links are the main weapons that malicious entities use to bring websites down. This makes sense because good links bring sites up the rankings, so terrible ones have the opposite effect.

Similar to Google’s disavow, there are tools available online that will help this process and even make it easier.

Purge Duplicate Content

This item is a bit special because not only is it a favourite method of attack by spammers, website owners can actually do it to themselves if they’re not careful. This most commonly happens with big companies that necessarily have dozens of web pages.

Fortunately, the answer to this problem is quite simple. Delete it, or if the content is really something you need, rewrite it. Solving duplicate content is easy, finding it is another story. Once again, there are tools that can help with this, but you’ll need to isolate the content you think is copied first.

Social Media Spam

The social media age brings another wrinkle to this equation. Accounts with the same or close enough name as the website will be put into the same boat by the search engine crawlers. This means anything those accounts do will affect your website for better or worse.

Just like Disavow, there are tools that will alert a website owner of this situation and solve the problem in the same way. Tell Google that those accounts are not your company and separate them from you.

It will take some time before website owners will notice any effects these methods will have, which means they need to get done sooner. Negative SEO is a reality every online business must face. But with our help, you can rest easy knowing there’s someone looking out for you.

Contact us today and only let good SEO enter your website.

Lazada SG Celebrates Its 9th Birthday With Katy Perry, NCT Dream, and More

Lazada is known for having big discounts and huge sales on its site, so it’s no surprise that they are hosting a massive event for their 9th birthday this coming weekend.

Known as Lazada Super Party, this event includes a virtual concert, flash sales, surprise boxes, games, and more. The full performance lineup can be viewed here, although Lazada has already teased us with a few names.

Headlined by Katy Perry and NCT Dream, other local artists such as Jasmine Sokko and Nathan Hortono will also be performing for the virtual concert.

On 26 March at 9:30 pm, Lazada will be streaming this virtual concert via LazLive to countdown to its official birthday which falls on 27 March.

Michelle Chong, Michelle Chong, Michelle Chong, Lee Min-ho are posing for a picture: Lazada Celebrates Its 9th Birthday Sale With A Virtual Concert, Games, Flash Deals, Vouchers

In fact, Lazada will be streaming live performances of various K-Pop idols every Saturday at 8 pm for seven consecutive weeks, starting 20 March. Viewers will be able to partake in games and other giveaways for a chance to win a prize!

Beyond these live streams and performances, Lazada has organised a bunch of pre-sale activities to keep us interested in grabbing ridiculous deals off their site. Before the big day, participate in as many games and activities as you can to obtain vouchers, free shipping, LazCoins and more. These will definitely come in handy during the two-hour storewide flash sale from 12 to 2 am on 27 March!

More than 200 stores are involved in the celebration of Lazada’s 9th birthday, offering more up to a whopping 90% discount on some of their products! The list of participating stores can be found here.

Lazada is definitely going all out for their birthday celebration this year. Indeed, the blend of international celebrities from Katy Perry to NCT Dream to local singers is bound to draw a huge crowd to join in on their festivities.

If you want to find out more about the new marketing strategy, Contact Us.