digital marketing Archives - Page 6 of 7 - MIU Your Creative Digital Agency

January 12, 2021July 23, 2023

6 Best SEO Tools That are Free!

With more and more brands going digital everyday, it’s extremely important to maintain your online presence amidst the hundreds of other brands out there offering the same service or product to the same consumers.

That’s why it’s not enough to just have a simple marketing strategy. Whatever content you put out online should also be optimised for search engines to get yourself the exposure you seek. Search engine optimisation (SEO) allows you to show up in more results when consumers look for certain keywords, therefore increasing the chances of them clicking into your content.

There are plenty of SEO tools out there to help you get started. We know it may seem overwhelming to decide amongst the numerous tools — therefore we’ve put down a list of free SEO tools that you can try out before you decide to commit to a paid one, if at all. Here are the SEO tools we think are not only helpful, but great for beginners.

1. Google Analytics

Before you can even plan out an SEO strategy, you need to know what are the areas you should improve on. Google Analytics helps you figure out where the traffic flow to your website is coming from so that you can capitalise on it. Furthermore, you can also look at where traffic flow is in a lull so that you can work harder on the SEO for that particular platform.

With Google Analytics, you would be able to gather in-depth details about your website visitors such as the bounce rate, the amount of time they spend on your website, which page content attracts more visitors, and more. These real-time data can also tell you whether your SEO strategy is effective or not, even as you’re optimising it.

All you need is a Google account to sign in to Google Analytics and connect it to your webpage. You can even pair it with Google Search Console, which helps you understand how Google indexes your site. When you use Google Analytics together with Google Console, you can find out information such as the ranking of the content of your webpage, the keywords consumers are using to find your website, as well as the click-through rate for those keywords. You can even diagnose what, if any, technical errors there are on your website!

2. SEM Rush

SEM Rush assists webpage owners with keyword research, content optimisation, SEO audits, rank tracking, and many more. All their functions are accessible with just an account, which is free to create. Features such as their backlink analysis and link building tool can help by giving you an insight into your backlink profile on your webpages.

Although the free version only allows up to 100 domains in the link building tool, you can still use the data to figure out which are the domains and backlinks that have the highest referral score. This enables you to find out the areas in which you need to improve your link building efforts. With time, you can decide if you want to upgrade to the paid version if you find their features extremely helpful.

3. Ubersuggest

Just as its name suggests (no pun intended), Ubersuggest helps users generate content ideas and keywords for you to employ on your website. This is extremely useful for when you’re running out of content ideas for your website and need some fresh suggestions to fill your content calendar.

Ubersuggest also has a feature that can give you an overview of the keyword you’re focusing on. It will not only suggest content ideas based on your keyword, but also show you related keywords that you can use in your content.

4. Rank Math Plugin

If your website uses WordPress to publish its content, Rank Math is a great add-on to have. It allows you to add meta titles and descriptions to your URLs so that people can see the concise version of your web page before clicking in. It also helps you optimise your content and structure your data more efficiently.

To use Rank Math, you simply need to install the plugin to your WordPress website and let it do the work for you. If you indicate which keyword you’re targeting, Rank Math not only suggests ways for you to improve the keyword ranking, but also gives your content an SEO score. Win-win! You can even identify dead links on your site and redirect URLs to new pages with this add-on.

5. Google Trends

Similar to Ubersuggest, Google Trends can help you generate new content ideas by showing you what are the current trends and topics in your industry. Using this knowledge of popular market trends, you can better craft a content marketing strategy and optimise it based on what would draw the crowd.

In fact, Google Trends can also show you how trends change over time and the search patterns involved around it. All you need to do is enter a keyword, and the tool will show you how much interest was generated around that topic, which regions showed the most interest, as well as other related keywords consumers were using. With Google Trends, you can easily compare various trends over an extended period of time.

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs offer plenty of free tools, from Content Explorer, to Rank Tracker, to Backlink Checker and more. Ahrefs Backlink Checker works in a way that it analyses a website and shows you the top 100 backlinks of that particular website just by entering an URL into their search bar. You can also view additional information such as the number of backlinks, the domain rating, and the number of referring domains.

They also have a Keyword Explorer and Keyword Generator tool which helps you analyse the ranking difficulty of a particular keyword and calculate their traffic potential. Similar to the Backlink Checker, the Keyword Generator will show you the top 100 related keywords or ideas when you put in a particular keyword that you wish to target. You can also find out their search volume as well as the keyword difficulties for the first 10 keywords on that list, and the top 50 questions related to said keyword.

If you find Ahrefs tools helpful, you can even upgrade to the paid version to unlock more features. However, the free version is a great start to understanding the industry trends and SEO for your own strategy.

Having a great SEO strategy not only increases the discoverability of your brand, but also helps you gain more visibility online. After all, it has been found that 88% of consumers research a brand online before making a purchase. Consumers are now getting smarter and more wise about their purchases, and many are increasingly doing their research online. Therefore, it is vital for a brand to keep their online presence strong with an effective SEO strategy so they can reach a wider audience.

Planning and implementing SEO strategies are but one of the services that MIU provides. If these free SEO tools are not cutting it for you, you can also contact us for a free consultation to see how we can help your business. From digital strategies, to branding, to design, we offer a plethora of services that suit your needs. Click here for more information on what we do and the services we provide.

January 5, 2021September 4, 2023

How to Run A Successful Instagram AR Filter Campaign

It wasn’t just in 2020 that the trend of digital marketing became immensely popular. Over the past few years, many businesses have started transitioning to the digital realm to offer their products and services there instead.

And it’s not hard to see why. Internet penetration is at an all-time high right now, with the majority of people consuming social media voraciously. In fact, the Digital 2020 report from Hootsuite and We Are Social shows that almost 300 million people came online for the first time over the last 12 months. More than 4.5 billion people use the internet today, with at least 3.8 billion of them on social media.

Not only are there plenty of users on the internet, but they spend a great deal of their time on it as well — a potentially large audience to tap into, so why wouldn’t businesses jump onto that opportunity? Statistics show that we are spending an estimated time of 6 hours and 43 minutes online everyday. To put that into perspective, that’s more than 100 days a year! Of this, the daily social media usage of internet users worldwide averaged out to 144 minutes.

With Instagram being the fastest growing social media platform, many brands are turning towards the app to market themselves in order to stay relevant. Just on Instagram alone, 80% of users follow at least one brand while 60% of users regularly discover new products on the platform. Additionally, 75% of them have taken action (such as visiting the website) after seeing the brand content.

This, alongside the rising popularity of Instagram Stories, means that brands are sure to up their social media game to produce better and more engaging content. Facebook has even revealed that there are 500 million daily active users just of Instagram Stories alone. After all, we know that video posts are more popular with consumers and often receive twice as many comments as image posts.

So what can we do with all this information? Well, perhaps it’s time to take a look at how brands can use Instagram Stories to their advantage. Evolve your online video strategy to stay ahead of the times and remain savvy. What do we mean?

Instagram’s augmented reality filter campaign.

Yes, you heard that right. Instagram recently partnered up with Spark AR to allow users to create their own custom AR filter. Not many brands have made use of Instagram’s AR filter function which is really a pity since it could very well be the future. Want to know how to run your own AR filter campaign successfully? Here’s how.

1. Define your objectives

Are you aiming for more conversions, engagement, or just increased brand awareness? Having a goal guides your creative team and makes it easier for them to settle on a clear design for the filter, depending on what you want to achieve. Remember to also keep in mind which audience you want to appeal to. Build out a persona for this group so that you can provide them the value they seek.

2. Get familiar with Spark AR

Facebook has a free downloadable programme for users interested in making their own AR filter. Brands can use this to experiment and find the best filter that works for them. The app also has plenty of pre-made templates to help beginners who are just starting out.

Alternatively, you can outsource the task to a talented filter creator. As a creative digital agency, MIU has the capability to design for you a captivating filter made specifically for your audience. While it might be more of an investment, the end result would be worth it if your brand manages to stand out amongst its competitors. AR filters or otherwise, we take pride in our work. Click here to contact us for more information today!

3. Include a call-to-action

The end-goal of every marketing plan, a CTA is important to nudge your audience into taking the necessary next steps you want them to take. Otherwise, you might miss out on reaching the objectives you set.

Ask yourself this: what will your filter enable the user to accomplish, and how does it support your business objective? Whether your CTA is just to raise awareness for a certain issue, your brand, or to increase engagement, you need to keep it in mind so as to push the audience to take a certain action, be it subconsciously or otherwise, and reach your objectives — even if it is just to grow awareness.

4. Promote your filter

Once your filter is completed, it will be published directly to your profile and you can use it on your own Stories and Highlights. It can also be accessed via a dedicated filter tab found under your Highlights reel once it goes live. When you use said filter in your Stories, you can add a ‘Try It’ button for your viewers to test out the filter themselves. Anyone who uses your filter will automatically have a button linked to your filter so that their followers can easily try it out for themselves as well.

If you have a branded AR filter, your business partner can also promote your AR filter through their Stories! Branded AR filters also gets access to metrics (including impressions, captures, and shares) to allow brands to keep track of how their filters are performing. Furthermore, every Instagram AR filter has its own unique URL that can be found inside your SparkAR hub or from Instagram itself. Post this link across your social media channels and website to drive even more engagement.

Another efficient and effective way to promote your filter is by entering into a partnership with Instagram influencers. Reach out to those who are popular in your industry and you could work something out! Otherwise, you could also set up a paid promotion which allows brands to partner with influencers as business partners as well.

5. Check your ROIs

Even as your filter has been officially launched, your work is not done. Measuring your metrics and watching analytics is but part of the job. In order to know what works and what doesn’t, it is important to keep track of how your filter is faring and if it’s meeting the objectives you’ve previously set. This will allow you to better optimise your filter for future reference and improve on your marketing strategy.

That said, the world of social media is evolving ever more rapidly with new techniques and tools constantly being introduced every single day. It is up to you, as a brand and a business owner, to learn to stay with the times and keep your brand relevant. Hopping onto new trends early not only expands your marketing possibilities but also gives you a competitive advantage.

With the wide variety of tools that Instagram offers, it is the perfect platform for launching new social media campaigns. From Stories to Highlights to filters and so much more, these functions allow your brand to be even more interactive with your audience. Always keep a close eye on new innovations that surface to boost your business performance and craft a successful social media strategy.

December 24, 2020July 23, 2023

5 Digital Marketing Trends That Will Go Widespread in 2021

The year 2020 has nearly come to an end, and it passed by in a blink of an eye in a way we never expected. With the pandemic affecting everyone around the world, 2020 has brought a new challenge to every aspect of business, including digital marketing. Digital marketers are pushed to their limits to come up with an out-of-the-box strategy in order to keep their business afloat, and this resulted in new marketing trends.

In 2021, we can expect digital marketing to spearhead most business strategies. The trends that we see in 2020 will most likely evolve and be brought over to the new year. In fact, we have listed 5 digital marketing trends that will boom in 2021 and the reasons why you should incorporate them into your very own marketing plans.

1. Video Advertising on Social media

We have witnessed many changes and updates on social media platforms this year, and it is a big improvement for marketers. From Instagram Reels to Twitter’s Fleets, each platform worked endlessly to put out the best features where users can express themselves through videos.

This is not only for the individual user, but is also a huge opportunity for brands to use this to their advantage in their marketing plans. Not only promote products but also to engage with the community. Video advertising can, however, help to explain about your product or service in a better way than most other formats.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Business

When we talk about AI, we all agree that it is something that will occur in the future. But in fact, AI has been used in the industry for years, not only in terms of technology development but also for business as well.

AI has been implemented in different ways all across the marketing process — just look at AI for content marketing for instance! With advanced software and hardware development, it would not be a surprise to see AI as an integral part of many brands’ marketing strategy in 2021.

3. Google-verified listing for local search engine optimisation (SEO)

Local small-owned businesses are arguably the ones that faced the hardest time fighting against this pandemic. Having a presence on the Google My Business profile is the best way for such businesses to have a digital presence — even if they are not previously active on any digital platform.

Having a profile on Google My Business gives you more visibility to users searching for a particular product or service that you offer by suggesting your shop’s geographical location to them. It is also important to verify your Google listings and keep them up to date to ensure visitors see the most recent and relevant content to them. Such a profile will also help local businesses ensure a better chance of making it as the top search result on Google.

4. Voice search

The rapid development of Google Home services, Alexa and Siri has made our life easier by using voice-controlled technology to perform various actions. Next year, it is possible for business and marketer to optimize their presence for voice search. Features sich as using natural-sounding language, forming queries into question phrases, targeting long-tail keywords, and having a mobile-friendly website will ensure easy usage for consumers using voice search.

5. Social E-Commerce

We have seen the shopping tabs features added on Instagram and it surely helps businesses to promote their product. The latest addition sees the shop tags included in Instagram’s Reels videos as well. This not only allows brands to engage with their community but also for the community to shop directly from the video.

Linkedin is another platform which has also included a new function, the ‘Products’ tab, on company pages, which helps them to highlight their featured products. This update, coupled with the increasing amount of time people spend on social media, is a great opportunity for businesses to spread their presence across all available platforms.

These five trends listed above might not encompass the entire spectrum of trends for digital marketing that will happen in 2021, but they are worth watching for and perhaps even to adapt to them. These trends can help your business grow in terms of increased site traffic, lead generation, or increased sales, to name a few.

At the end of the day, businesses need to adapt with the upcoming trends and come up with a bulls-eye strategy in order to succeed in their marketing. Defining the perfect marketing strategy might be hard for some businesses, but there is always a way. As a digital creative agent, MIU helps businesses find their way toward success. Want a more detailed and tailored approach for your business to welcome 2021? Contact us now!

December 22, 2020July 23, 2023

5 Easy Tips for Hosting a Powerful Digital Event

Events may have taken a back burner in most businesses’ marketing plans, but that will soon change. Despite Covid-19 having held everyone back at the start of 2020, many companies soon learnt to adapt and make the most out of the situation at hand.

Slowly but surely, we’re seeing a rise in event marketing again. This time, events are going digital.

You may be wondering, what are the differences between holding a physical event versus a digital one? Are there any benefits or costs to doing so?

Well, this is the right article for you.

In the current economic situation, we have seen plenty of brands starting to go digital ever since Covid-19 changed the way businesses were run. Industry events are perhaps one of the areas most affected by this change in the business landscape.

Perhaps the biggest issue here is the concern that not every physical event will be able to translate into a digital event seamlessly. Certain events such as expositions or live demonstrations rely heavily on the face-to-face aspect to succeed.

That being said, it is not entirely impossible to conduct a virtual event and still manage to reach your promotional goals. Before you start planning, let alone marketing for your event, ask yourself this question: Am I providing timely and relevant content to my audience? Will hosting a virtual event help my business reach its goals?

If the answer is no, you might want to reconsider hosting a digital event just for the sake of promotion and sales. However, if you answered yes, feel free to carry on reading.

Now that we’ve cleared that out of the way, it’s time to delve into the steps that you can (and should) take to make your virtual event a success. After all, your event is only as good as the guests that attend.

Multifaceted marketing plan for digital events

1. Create a unique event page

Having an event page for your event is so important as it gives attendees a place to go to for more information. This could very well mean a lead conversion! In fact, your event page can also act as many things including drawing potential attendees who are curious but still yet undecided about your event.

The last thing you want is for people to click away from your event because they were unable to find more information about it or buy tickets to attend. Make sure your event page is user-friendly and has a simple but enjoyable user experience. It would also be preferable if you were to include a clear call-to-action to help confused users navigate your site. Read our post here for how to create an effective CTA button!

2. Create content that promotes your event

Although you should take note of SEO (search engine optimisation) at every step of the way, I daresay this is the part where it will benefit you the most. From large content chunks such as blog posts and articles to bite-sized content such as a brief description, SEO can go a long way in promoting your event.

Knowing the keywords that people use to search for events allows you to optimise your content to include those keywords. Keyword Tool is but one example of a tool that can help you get started on your research. You can always browse Google for more if the Keyword Tool doesn’t address your needs!

3. Use email lists to your advantage

With an email list already in hand, your first step to promoting your event is easily in reach. But don’t just mass email to everyone on your email list — use it to your advantage.

Email marketing is one of the places where it makes it easiest to segment your audience. Know your consumers’ preferences and what they want to see. Through information like this, you can market your event to those who you know will be interested in it. If your event is going to touch on multiple topics, segment your audience into groups based on demographics, shopping history, or other factors.

By personalising the emails to suit your audience’s needs, it sends the signal that your brand cares about its consumers and wants to bring value to their lives. This would help your brand gain a more favourable impression in the long run.

4. Leverage co-branding opportunities

Also known as co-marketing, this is a trick that works often for virtual marketers — as such, it is fairly common to see it being used in the marketing plans of most businesses. Partnering with another brand or a sponsor to promote the event can help increase exposure for it.

Through lead-share marketing, both brands associated with the event stand to gain. This allows both companies to get access to the same leads that would be generated during the event itself, driving registrations and sign-ups. In fact, this is not the only way to widen your audience — you can also ask brands affiliated with your event to promote it on their channels. Win-win!

If you want to go a further step, you can even seek out individuals such as professional speakers or anyone in your network to speak at your event. The more people that post about your event, the greater the word-of-mouth marketing will be.

5. Share on your social media

Make sure to generate as much buzz as you can around your event. Social media is the key driver for word-of-mouth marketing, which in turn translates to more press. Make sure to link your event page in all your posts so that visitors know where to go for further information. It is also best to include a CTA in your posts as well to nudge them to take the next step as soon as possible.

You can even ask your employees and colleagues to share about the event or even just pass the link around. However, it helps to go an extra mile and send them images, videos, as well as coverage of the event in order to boost a variety of different promotions. Provide incentives by hosting contests that reward individuals for such solid event promotion to encourage them to share healthily!

Here’s an extra tip: when it comes to promoting your event on social media, it goes a long way to create an event hashtag for it. Of course, branded hashtags will always help no matter what you’re promoting — but this is particularly so for events. Having an event hashtag will tie all your social media campaigns together and help potential attendees quickly find your social media channels.

We get it — hosting an event is not easy, be it a physical one or a digital one. It may seem like there are plenty of steps to take. Why not let someone else handle the details for you, while you sit back and reap the benefits? At MIU, we focus our marketing efforts on getting our clients to achieve their goals — be it awareness, sales, conversion, or lead generation. If hosting an event is what you believe your brand needs, we will be there to help you in every step of the way. Click here to get a free consultation from us — no hidden conditions!

December 10, 2020June 14, 2021

Marketing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

If you’ve scoured through many marketing articles, you have no doubt picked up on the fact that digital marketing is the new form of marketing. As internet penetration soars at a record high – and is still rising, the number of users on the internet is expected to increase.

Digital marketing provides brands with a way of reaching out to an audience that they might not traditionally have access to. As social media becomes a highly popular platform for everyone to connect on, businesses are able to use this opportunity to grow their audience and brand.

While digital marketing can span plenty of aspects, from SEO to PPC to email marketing, this article will discuss the details of social media marketing in particular. Read more if you want to find out how to use social media to your advantage!

Digital marketing on social media

Social media as a marketing strategy is all the rage right now. It has been proven that social media is often the driving factor (and one of the most influential) behind word-of-mouth and evangelist marketing.

In the information age, consumers often turn to the internet to seek answers to their problems and pain points. While this may be the best chance for your brand to put itself in the spotlight, it can also be a double-edged sword if your brand does not have much of an online presence — or worse, a negative one.

This is where marketing can step in to help. Managing your brand’s online presence is no easy feat, but it is possible to do it — and do it well. Of course, it helps if you understand what each social media platform is meant to do and how it aligns with your brand. Here are some tips to help you get started.

Facebook

Facebook is one of the most versatile social media platforms as it is widely used not only for personal use but for professional matters as well.

Businesses can use Facebook to connect to their followers by sharing photos, updates and general news on their page. Fans of your brand may visit your Facebook page to explore events, check updates and more.

As of April 2019, Facebook was reported to have 2.38 billion monthly active users worldwide. It is an absolutely useful place to start building a fanbase for your brand. Remember to engage with your audience bty posting status updates, photos and more! Start by publicising your page and linking it everywhere, including your website.

Share your products, offers and services to keep your followers informed about your brand. Better yet, if you can invite them to engage in your posts by including things that nudge them to like, comment or share your content, it would do wonders for your brand.

Although you might be running a business page, it’s important to remember that plenty of your followers also use Facebook as a personal network to connect with their friends and family. Make sure your brand fits into this atmosphere rather than constantly hard-selling your products and services. This way, people will be more interested and engaged in your brand.

With Facebook Ads, you can check details like social graphs and activities to better understand your buyer persona. Knowing the preferences of your page visitors will go a long way in helping you market your brand, be it on social media or otherwise. Use this information to tailor your content to your main audience and turn them into leads!

Instagram

While it may have started as a personal social media platform, Instagram is quickly turning that around. Since it has been bought over by Facebook, plenty of business-oriented functions have been introduced to the app to help brands connect better with their audience.

With 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a fantastic place to market your brand and improve your online presence. In Singapore itself, there are 1.9 million total active users — a huge audience that you can potentially market to!

Since being bought over by Facebook, Instagram has introduced many tools that can help businesses market themselves more efficiently in a non-salesy manner. From polls to FAQS, such tools supported by the platform itself can simplify the customer service process so much more — so take advantage of it!

When consumers are satisfied with their customer experience, they will naturally have a better impression of the brand and are more likely to patronise them again.

Twitter

Twitter’s 310 million users may pale in comparison to Facebook’s and Instagram’s user statistics, but make no mistake. The social media platform is a concise way to connect with your audience by serving them bite-sized information that they can consume on the go. In fact, 175 million tweets are generated in a day, making up for what Twitter lacks in the quantity of its platform users.

With 280 characters or less in each tweet, Twitter is a sea of content waiting to be read, followed, and re-tweeted. By allowing you to share quick bites of information and photos, the social media platform is a perfect vehicle to drive people back to your landing pages.

Since each tweet is often short and sweet, people tend to scroll through them quickly in an effort to consume as much as they can. When marketing on Twitter, make sure your content is enticing enough to capture your audience’s attention and make them pause on your tweet.

Try incorporating quotes, photos, GIFs or even polls related to the link you’re tweeting to get people wanting to read more. Remember to build relationships with followers — while people may follow you because they enjoy what you have to say, it is important to engage them in conversation as well.

Like you would on Facebook, ask and respond to questions, respond to mentions and direct messages. This not only personalises the brand but is a good way to show your customer service as well.

An important marketing function that you can adopt is to use hashtags on Twitter. They allow you to reach a wider (and more targeted) audience, as people who are searching for specific information often turn towards hashtags to find what they are looking for. Conduct some research to see what your buyer persona is hashtagging to make sure your posts will be found by the right people.

YouTube

Since it was bought over by Google in 2006, YouTube has become the leading video-sharing platform in the world. As one of the world’s most used search engines, Google has since incorporated its advanced technology and algorithm into YouTube as well. YouTube is now but another platform that the search gives priority to in its search results.

It is no doubt proven that videos are a lot more engaging and shareable than text content. Not only that, but they also help your search rank in Google. Talk about killing two birds with one stone!

Creating videos for YouTube therefore matters a lot. You want to make sure that there’s a purpose and value to the video you are uploading, so as to provide high quality content for your audience. Keep in mind your production value as well. Both the video and audio of what you upload should be crisp, clear, and easy to understand. No shaky cameras!

YouTube gives you a gateway to be an educator in your industry. Upload webinars or videos speaking on important topics that further the education of your audience. When you position yourself as the source of important industry news, people will naturally flock to you for trusted updates and information. In return, your brand will gain a reputable name for itself.

Hashtags on YouTube are also another important aspect that you can take note of when posting your video. Though they are not often talked about, hashtags can actually help your video go a long way in finding the exposure that it needs. Read more about our guide to YouTube hashtags here.

All in all, no matter what social media platform you choose to engage with, the best tip is to use whatever is available to you at hand while keeping a customer-centric view. Your brand will go much further this way and your consumers will thank you in the long run.

December 8, 2020July 23, 2023

6 Simple Tips for the Most Effective Headline

While I was researching what makes a good headline, one question kept resurfacing: what is the difference between a headline and a title? I think it is important to answer this question before looking into the elements that make up a great headline.

You see, headlines and titles serve similar functions and are similar in many ways, so there is plenty of overlap between the two. Many marketers can easily make the mistake of assuming they are both the same, but there is one aspect that sets the two apart.

I’m sure you’ve seen the title of this article before you clicked on it. The title serves to tell you what this article will be about — it is more for the benefit of the reader. Headlines, while also meant to grab attention, have an implicit aim of getting the reader to take an action — it is more for the benefit of the marketer.

Here’s a twist — the title of this article is also the headline. As I mentioned, there is quite a bit of overlap between headlines and titles, and this manifests in the way that titles can be headlines, but not all headlines are titles. To put it simply, titles fall under the umbrella of what headlines are.

So how does one differentiate between a headline and a title? Generally speaking, titles are used for articles and any type of long-form content. Headlines aren’t as restricted to the content that they are attached to. For example, imagine the banner of your landing page, which contains a short phrase that is meant to instantly hook your visitors. That may not necessarily be considered a title, but it is your headline.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the next step is to look at the elements that make up an impactful headline. Headlines are so omnipresent in marketing that it is important to do them right. From landing pages, to blog articles, to social media posts (really, the list is endless), headlines are everywhere. So here’s what we found about what an effective headline should include.

1. Use numbers

Headlines with big, obscure numbers at the start tend to do much better than those without. Almost every headline guide will agree on this. In fact, A/B testing has been conducted previously on the same exact headline, the only exception being one has the number written out and the other has the number spelt out. And the one with the number written out always wins.

2. Put impact words at the front

Trigger words like how, why and what tend to draw in more readers than most other words. Especially when placed at the front of your headline, it is more likely to enable or persuade someone to click on your article and read it. Just make sure that your headline either starts with trigger words or numbers, because it rarely works well if you try to do both at the same time.

Here’s a really good example to help you decide which to choose should you ever face a similar scenario:

Simple Tips for the Most Effective Headline

The two titles, “10 Simple Communication Tips That Can Help You Ace Your Job Interview” and “How to Ace Your Job Interview with These 10 Simple Communication Tips”, both mean the same thing. However, on mobile devices such as the email inbox, long headlines are very much likely to get cut off. Subject lines get truncated after about 45 characters in the mobile inbox. Similarly, headlines get truncated after about 60 characters in search results. This is why it’s extremely important to put the keyword within the first handful of characters in your headline. Readers would be able to see the benefit and value of clicking into your article clearly.

3. Incorporate emotional words

Using powerful adjectives will draw out emotion from your readers, which might then nudge them into taking an action. Words such as free, incredible, effortless, and painstaking all have high emotional value in them. When emotional adjectives are used to describe pain points, your readers would be more likely to feel a sense of connection to you and/or the topic at hand.

The Advanced Marketing Institute (AMI) has created a headline analyser that looks at the emotional marketing value (EMV) of your headline, which is a gauge for how likely your headline will be able to elicit an emotional response from a reader. By eliciting emotions, you are more likely to get your readers to like, share, and engage with your article.

In fact, studies show that headlines that elicit positive emotions are more likely to get your reader to take the action you want them to. This is as the positive emotions give readers an additional boost and help them imagine a better outcome.

4. Create a sense of urgency

Developing urgency in a headline by including words such as ‘now’ or ‘today’ is more likely to push your readers into taking action. For instance, “10 Ways to Boost Your Career Today” is a lot more compelling than “10 Ways to Boost Your Career”. In a fast-paced society, everyone desires instant gratification and wants to see immediate results.

You can also create urgency by implying the effects of ignorance, as seen in the headline “5 Mistakes You are Making Right Now”. This offers the reader something that they can do or change right now to give them the efficiency they are seeking.

5. Use power trigrams

Trigrams are groups of three words. In the marketing field, there are many common trigrams that appear in headlines. But which ones are actually effective?

A few years back, Steve Rayson of Buzzsumo conducted a study where he looked at typical trigrams that appear in headlines. When looking at how it correlates with social media engagemen, he found that certain trigrams encourage more social engagement.

6. Write multiple headlines and read them aloud

This is basically self-explanatory, and while it isn’t something tangible that you can include in your headline, you should always follow this step. Having multiple headlines allows you to compare and contrast, whereby you might be able to notice what’s lacking in the ones that don’t seem to flow as well.

Ultimately, headlines show up everywhere. From your blog title, to your subject line, headlines are the ones doing most of the work. They are your opener; the attention grabber. Marketing would not be marketing without a good headline. Find out more about how you can improve yours by connecting with us.

December 3, 2020October 5, 2023

Traditional Marketing Versus Digital Marketing

In this war between digital and traditional marketing, the former seems to be winning.

Looking at marketing patterns over the last decade, digital marketing has clearly pushed to the forefront. When it comes down to a choice between digital versus traditional, marketers have slowly but surely turned away from traditional platforms in favour of digital marketing.

Between 2018 to 2023, digital ad spend in the US is expected to increase by 85%. That’s because consumers are increasing their screen time, and it is a trend that is only predicted to continue. It is no wonder marketers are turning to digital platforms to achieve their marketing goals.

But why exactly is digital marketing winning the popularity race? And what does this mean for marketers?

Before we take a look at the consequences this has on marketing, it is best to understand what the differences are between the two.

Benefits of digital marketing

Digital marketing has risen to the top in recent years due to many reasons. For one, it offers a higher ROI as compared to traditional marketing, in part due to the potential for engagement. With traditional marketing, it tends to be a one-way communication channel where audience feedback is slow or cannot be collected. Furthermore, digital platforms provide options (e.g. share button) where it is easier for the audience to pass around a particular piece of content — traditional platforms do not offer this option.

It should also be mentioned that digital platforms are a lot more flexible as they allow changes to be made on the spot, whereas the content in traditional marketing cannot be easily updated. It may take days for news to reach consumers.

Another thing to take note of is the reach of traditional marketing. While it is great for connecting with your local audience, if you desire to broadcast your content to an international audience, traditional marketing has its limits. This is where digital marketing excels in.

Additionally, digital platforms also allow marketers to sort out their targeted audience based on their location, interests, purchase history, recent site activity, and many other factors. This ability to filter out different consumers allow marketers to tweak their strategy to be even more specific to the group that they are targeting, ensuring a higher rate of success.

Benefits of traditional marketing

That being said, ttraditional marketing provide certain factors that digital marketing do not. Although digital marketing encourages two-way communication and is a much more cost-efficient method, there are aspects where traditional marketing beats out its digital counterpart.

For one, traditional marketing is a much more personalised approach. This is as traditional marketing generally involves a real person-to-person relationship. On the other hand, digital marketing can feel less personal because of how digitalized everything is, particularly if things are automated or assisted by any other kind of AI software or programme such as a chatbot. This is a pretty common sight to see on most websites today.

Research has also shown that it is easier for our brains to process and recall the information that we read in print. In fact, neuroscientists overwhelmingly agree that the benefits of reading from paper shouldn’t be dismissed lightly.

One study used eye-tracking technology and EEG to measure ease of understanding, persuasiveness, and attention in people exposed to ads on paper and on a digital medium. They found that content on paper is 21% easier to understand and that people reading paper ads are 70% more likely to remember the company which placed the ad.

When we put this in business terms, it’s evident that people are more likely to remember your offer if they’ve actually held a piece of paper promoting it. Although most of us are used to reading off screens, it can’t be denied that physical material engages with our spatial memory networks more than its digital counterpart. It also produces more brain responses connected with internal feelings, which suggests greater “internalization” of the ads. Since it involves more emotional processing, this may help memory and brand associations more than digital marketing is able to. Not to mention, traditional marketing is also easier to implement.

Content creation for each platform

Writing for traditional marketing can therefore differ a lot from writing for digital marketing. For one, marketers have to make sure that the content they write for traditional platforms are up-to-date and as accurate as possible since the content cannot be changed once it is published.

Consider also the type of audience that is more likely to engage with traditional platforms. These generally come from the older demographic, which means that the type of content you write may have to be altered towards their preferences.

There are also points to consider when writing for digital marketing. As the best channel to reach gen-Z and millennials, content on digital platforms has to stay fresh and trendy.

In recent years, numerous studies have reported on the potential impact of smartphone use on different aspects of cognitive functioning, particularly in terms of attention span. This means that the content written for digital marketing has to be short, to-the-point, yet attention-grabbing. We can see this manifest in how paragraphing in articles have become shorter in order to accommodate to the increasing number of mobile users (longer paragraphs will look more cluttered on phones and lose the reader’s interest!). Therefore, it is vital to understand not only how your content has to be adapted to the platform you use, but its intended audience as well.

What type of marketing should you choose?

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that it isn’t always one or the other. Both methods can go hand-in-hand with each other, and may even perform better. By digitally sharing traditional campaigns, you can take your offline marketing and promote it online.

Since both digital and traditional marketing has their own benefits, implementing a strategy that uses a blend of the two will inevitably bring about greater results. Wondering what kind of digital and traditional marketing strategy you should adopt? Contact MIU and transform the way you think about marketing today.

November 24, 2020September 4, 2023

Evangelism Marketing a la Burger King

This early November, we were surprised by Burger King. Their latest social media campaign was a shout-out to McDonald’s. Yes, you read that right. In Burger King’s latest marketing campaign, they shone the spotlight not on themselves, but on another fast food chain. But it wasn’t just McDonald’s — Burger King asked their loyal customers to patronise other fast food chains as well. Such an unconventional marketing method cause the campaign to soon become viral.

More than a just shoutout

Many people who read Burger King’s campaign poster believe that it is in fact acceptable behaviour from Burger King to give a shoutout to their competitors. The reason behind such a move was due to the F&B industry being hit hard with the recent pandemic. Many fast food outlets had to stop operating in order to keep the business alive, which meant that many employees lost their jobs. Burger King’s campaign therefore gave courage to people around the world; to support each other through difficult times.

But some people believe that Burger King’s marketing campaign goes beyond just a simple shoutout. Marketing experts dub Burger King’s strategy as “Evangelism Marketing”.

Evangelism Marketing is commonly known as word of mouth marketing and relies on customers to deliver marketing messages to other potential customers. This is not an easy feat as not every company can turn their customer into an evangelist of their brand.

So what is the reason for Burger King’s latest campaign being categorized as part of Evangelism Marketing? In their campaign itself, Burger King acted as the brand evangelist for McDonald’s by encouraging others to buy from them. It’s almost as though they were positioning themselves as a customer and promoting McDonald’s products for them.

There are at least five traits for a customer to be considered a brand evangelist:

Regularly buys their products and believes in the brand
Recommends the brand to family, friends, and coworkers regularly
Gives the products as a gift for others
Offers praise and other feedback without being asked
Participates in the brand, making the customer feel like they are part of something larger than themselves

Burger King Hidden Messages behind Viral Marketing

The shoutout campaign by Burger King indeed went viral after they posted it. Millions of social media users read the message and Burger King’s loyal customers reposted the content. This way, Burger King also manages to gain brand exposure and brand engagement even as they are giving the spotlight to McDonald’s.

But behind the campaign, Burger King placed a hidden message which actually still promotes their product. The last statement of the poster reads, “Getting a Whopper is always best, but ordering a Big Mac is not such a bad thing”. The underlying message seems to hint to us that Whopper is the best choice for a burger, whilst Big Mac is second to it. Such a subliminal message cleverly markets Burger King’s burgers while seeming to promote McDonald’s products on the surface.

Burger King has done such a big campaign with this current condition. Getting a shoutout from a big brand is not an easy thing — moreover, getting a shoutout from a rival is miraculous to say the least. Our faith in humanity is definitely restored by Burger King through this supportive campaign in trying times.

November 12, 2020July 23, 2023

Top 3 Tips for an Effective Landing Page

A good company will invest in their website design, but a smart company knows to invest in their landing page.

Sure, a great website design will make visitors more likely to remember your brand, but landing pages are equally if not more important, as these are the pages in which marketing campaigns will drive traffic to. Rather than visits on your homepage, conversions on your landing pages are the core marker of what makes your marketing campaign successful.

So how does one design a good landing page?

For a landing page to be persuasive and successfully convert visitors into consumers, they should check the following points. Read on for our tips on how to design a compelling landing page.

1. Come up with a strong headline

The first thing that visitors will see when they access your landing page is your headline itself. Due to the research done on visual hierarchy, experts have found that users often scan information on a page in either a F-pattern or a Z-pattern. That means, the most crucial information should be placed right at the top.

This may explain why headlines are often big and bold, and occasionally come paired with a banner. But it isn’t enough for headlines to just be big — they have to stand out in terms of their content itself. Having a headline with a high emotional marketing value is guaranteed to capture your visitor’s attention. Be sure to use emotive words, adjectives and verbs. These are more likely to speak to the pain points of your specific audience.

2. Use a clean and minimalistic design

Remember the F- and Z-pattern. The truth is, no visitors would want to click into your landing page just to see a bunch of text and images trying to sell you their product. In fact, they are most likely to briefly scan the information on the page before clicking away. Hence, you only have a few seconds to truly grab their attention and turn it into a conversion.

Content on your landing page should be bite-sized and straightforward, so that it doesn’t waste your visitors’ time. When you are succinct, visitors are more likely to understand how your product or service will be able to help them.

In order to do so, you want to engage people without being overly pushy. If you come across as too “salesy”, it might end up as a turn-off for your visitors and would not get you the clicks you need. Make sure your landing page is organised and simple, with just the necessary information conveyed. Other tiny details can be communicated across later on.

3. Have a clear CTA

A landing page will not be complete without a proper call-to-action button. Make sure the CTA button is obvious and eye-catching — it quite literally is the whole point of a landing page. The wording in the button should be concise and appealing as well. This will help you get plenty of leads.

All in all, the main point of a landing page is to educate your visitors about your product or service without being overly draggy. By the time your visitors are done glimpsing at your page, they should be able to understand what it is you are offering and how it is able to help them. That way, they will be more inclined to click through.

If you’re still unsure about the best way to go about designing a landing page, why not engage in MIU’s services? From design to content creation, we would be able to go through every process step-by-step until you are satisfied with the end results. For more information, you can look at our portfolio of previous work we have done as well as contact us for a free consultation.

November 5, 2020October 5, 2023

How to Up Your Graphic Design Game in 3 Easy Steps

Graphics are one of the best ways to grab your audience’s attention. Used in essentially all forms of marketing, it has been proven time and again to be a surefire way to boost your business.

Perhaps you clicked on this article curious about improving your graphic design skills. Well, we completely understand. To help you, we’ve compiled some steps you could take on your journey to become a better graphic designer.

1. JOIN A DESIGN COURSE

Plenty of schools in Singapore offer design courses that you could take to help you hone your design skills. There are various courses that focus on different areas of design, depending on what you’re looking for. Here are some of the best design courses in Singapore we recommend:

First Media Design School: Diploma in Media and Graphic Design

With plenty of design-related courses at their arsenal, including branding and animation, First Media Design School might be the institution you want to look at if you’re considering getting a diploma in media and graphic design. This course lasts a duration of 18 months (1½ years), so it may be more suited for students pursuing design as a serious career.

Laselle: graphic design fundamentals

Maybe a full-time course might not be what you’re searching for. Or you might already have a diploma and am still looking for minor ways to refine your designing skills. At $540 a unit, Laselle offers more than 30 different design courses across a range of design disciplines. If you have a strong interest in graphic design, you may want to consider Laselle.

Nanyang Polytechnic: Graphic Thinking and Visualisation in Design

Feeling the hefty price tag on the previous two courses? There’s another alternative. Nanyang Polytechnic is providing a simple yet all-rounded design course under SkillsFuture. If you have some leftover SkillsFuture credits, now is the time to use it! At only $300, this is the perfect course for casual students dipping their toes into the world of design.

2. STUDY THE WORK OF GRAPHIC DESIGN COMPANIES

In order to apply the skills you’ve picked up, it’s important to be able to look at the works of others and distinguish the good and the bad. With a vast amount of design companies in Singapore, there are definitely plenty of examples for one to study.

Hipster inc

From web design to desktop computing and, of course, graphics design and branding, Hipster offers cost-effective digital solutions for your marketing needs. Their speciality lies in their augmented and virtual reality services. Just by entering their website do you see their portfolio of clean and aesthetic designs on display. Look through their case studies and you can see why Hipster is such a successful graphic design company.

Artnexus Design

Positioning themselves as a one-stop solution for creative advertising, branding and packaging label designs, Artnexus certainly strives to cover all aspects of graphic design — and come out on top as well. Under the creative umbrella, the company covers publication design, digital display advertisement, not to mention graphic designing. Take a look at their website to understand why their designs are so popular amongst marketers.

Graphic Masters

Having established themselves in the industry, Graphic Masters’s clientele consists of government agencies, public organisations and private corporations around the globe. These include the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, SAF Yacht Club, and many others. Their services range from publications, advertising and promotions, corporate branding, infographics, and even corporate gifts — to list a few! With a strong understanding of the current graphic design trends, Graphic Masters’s professionalism shines through.

3. UNDERSTAND THE LATEST GRAPHIC DESIGN TRENDS

Besides upgrading your design skills and studying the portfolio of other designers, it is also important to be aware of the latest design trends. Some of the design trends that surfaced in 2020 and are likely to continue in 2021 include but are not limited to the following:

Muted Colour Palettes

Perhaps one reason why muted colours have been so in trend lately is because of their ability to evoke comfort and warm feelings. They also often feel natural and organic, which may why plenty of health and wellness companies are implementing the use of muted colour palettes in their design and marketing efforts.

Flat Icons and Illustrations

Flat icons have become somewhat of a popular trend, particularly when used as a social media graphic. With a simple icon, brands can communicate more by using less. Indeed, they are a powerful tool for communication. This trend is taking over companies by storm, including BMW, Volkswagen, and even Google, all of whom have adopted a flatter, more minimalistic logo for their brand.

Social Media Slide Decks

Slide decks are a great way to break up chunks of information. If you want to convey a lengthy message to your audience but are unsure how to keep their attention focused on you, try having various image slides rather than one single image. This habit has been employed by many brands on virtually almost all social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and Linkedin. Furthermore, the algorithm actually seems to favour posts with multiple slides rather than those with a single image!

If you find these tips helpful, or have a friend in mind who is looking to hone their design skills, why not share this article with them?

As a creative agency, MIU strives to constantly improve itself. Providing digital solutions such as package design, logo identity and brand styling, the list of design services MIU offers runs on. Interested to find out more? Book a free consultation with us today!