All Entries Tagged With: "email marketing"
Pop Ups: Don’t Block ‘Em, Unlock ‘Em
Whenever we hear “pop ups,” admittedly our minds still think of pop ups from the early 2000s – back when Windows had that gloomy grey color scheme and all pop ups felt like scams.
Today, we’re reinventing the pop up. They don’t have to be annoying, or scam-y, and they can be a digital marketer’s best friend if you do them correctly. In fact, when done well, users really enjoy relevant pop ups.
So why should you use pop ups?
Well, the largest pull to use pop ups is that they are a great way to generate warm leads that actually want to consume your content. Pop ups are actually proven to drive sales, and websites that have them outperform competitors who don’t. Think about it – by signing up with their email address through your pop up, they’re saying “yes, I want to receive updates from you in my inbox,” which drives sales.
When a user is presented with a pop up, they have to take action – whether that’s saying “yes, here’s my email” or by clicking out of the dialog box. So there’s a 50/50 chance they’ll give you their email address… and an even higher likelihood if you accompany your pop up with some kind of deal.
Pop Ups Best Practices:
- Offer something. A great way to generate leads is by offering a discount, access to your blog or newsletter, or downloadable content, say… a free Ebook to whoever subscribes. Think about it in terms of your own habits – how likely are you to just give a website your email address? Probably pretty unlikely. You’d have to be offered something or be really interested to trust the website enough to give your email address away.
- Don’t make it look pop up-y. There are so many ways that pop ups can look like a beautiful, cohesive component of your website. Be creative and make your ads bold and bright, and make sure it looks nothing like the pop ups we all remember and loathe from the 2000’s.
- Don’t put too many on your site. While users may enjoy relevant pop ups, they don’t enjoy constantly having to click out of several of them while they’re surfing your site, or having the same ones pop up again and again.
There are a few different kinds of pop ups.
- Entry Pop Ups are the ones that show up immediately when you enter a website. These are most effective if you’re a retailer, and we suggest you accompany them with a discount. Caution: an immediate pop up has the potential to deter guests from your site, so you have to be careful and offer a good deal!
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Timed Pop Ups pop up after a certain amount of time the user spends on the site. These are usually really effective because users have already stayed on your page for a certain length of time, so you know they’re interested in your content. Timed pop ups like “Want content like this sent to your inbox?” or “Download our free Ebook to learn even more” are usually very effective.
- Scroll Pop Ups occur once the user has scrolled down on your webpage or blog post a certain percentage of the page, and won’t pop up before. These are said to be the most effective type of pop up because you know that the user is interested, since they’ve already taken the time to consume your content that much! These will generate the “warmest” leads, or leads that are most likely to end up making a purchase.
Here’s to reinventing pop ups!
And the Future of Digital Marketing Is…
Mobile Apps! That’s right – they’re about to take over in the next few years and here’s how you can jump on board with this trend.
Remember when TVs were SO expensive? How about VCRs and Digital Cameras? In our world (business and marketing) we can easily look back just 10 – or even 5 or 2 -years ago and remember how crazy expensive websites were to build. As technology continues to evolve (at the speed of light lately – especially in this case) Apps are becoming more and more popular because they’re also becoming more affordable to build. And, the use of mobile devices – smart phones AND tablets – has continue to rise. Have you heard the expression ‘everyone carries a TV in their pocket today’? Even how we consume TV has changed and is driven more and more by…yup, you guessed it, Apps! Who here binged on the new Gilmore Girls on Netflix this weekend? Have you seen Narcos, Bluebloods, or The Crown? Do you use Verizon Fios for cable? If so, you probably downloaded the App on your phone so you can watch your favorite shows wherever you are. And it doesn’t just stop at watching video. From weather apps, to games, to loyalty cards, apps are a mobile users best friend. In fact, recent data reports that 90% of consumer’s mobile time is spend in apps. From doctor’s offices, to golf courses, to hotels, to plumbers…there’s an opportunity to build out an App!
Want even more proof? Check out this great article with tons of statistics: http://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
How do we know that Apps are here to stay?
How about this prediction? “According to Gartner, by 2017 mobile apps will be downloaded more than 268 billion times.” And, “Non-game app downloads are estimated to grow 23% in the next five years, exceeding $182 billion in 2020.” That’s a huge amount of money and these predictions are coming to fruition at faster speeds than even anticipated with no signs of slowing at all.
What are the benefits of having an App for your business?
While the uses can vary, there are many universal benefits to having an app for your business. Push notifications, while small, can be a great way to connect with your consumer. Apps help you stay top of mind on a device that they’re already on all the time – without them having to stop and search for you. You’ve created a way for your customers to instantly have access to your brand, products or services in a controlled environment. While we love the internet, there is so much out there sometimes your message can get lost. However, people are selective about what they download to their mobile devices. By living on someone’s phone, you’re much more likely to cut through the clutter.
On top of that, think of all the information you usually have to give to register for the apps you download. Apps can be a great way to collect emails or phone numbers to continue your marketing efforts.
Need App ideas?
Committing to creating an app is one thing. Figuring out what to put in it is another. Some popular ideas include loyalty cards, business updates, sales promotions, menus, or coupons. Just to name a few. Do you own a golf course? Maybe your App creates a robust user experience by providing everything from an easy scoring system to tips on the different holes. A retail location? Keep your shoppers updated with the best place to find coupons, sales or previews of new topics. Do you write fashion blogs? Maybe your App gives out trending fashion tips and gives special discounts to boutiques you’re featuring – sounds like a win/win/win for everyone! Have a new product or service launching? Use your app to sell it! Just want to inspire? Fill your app with inspirational posts or pictures that your clients can come back to time after time. Take some time to brainstorm what will be most useful to your clients or customers to create an app experience truly customized for them.
We Are So Thankful…
We are so very thankful, everyday.
We feel grateful daily for the work that we get to do, the people that we work with – both our team and our amazing clients – for the beautiful space in which we work (at The Hive RI in the historic Mill at Lafayette) and of course for that 4 legged creature, Hubble, that keeps us happy and balanced!
The work we do…
We have made a commitment to ourselves and to each other to only do work that makes us excited to get out of bed every day. When one of us finds ourselves not feeling that way we stop and evaluate why we are not feeling energized and excited and we re-align our focus or pivot our strategy! We are insatiable and love to learn and innovate all the time and this work that we’ve chosen, that changes constantly, certainly feeds that appetite.
The people we work with…
Our team here at Hub Digital are rockstars! Whether we’re talking about our core group or our many strategic and collaborative partners they are all smart, kind, interesting and amazingly cool people. Our clients! We realized awhile ago that our sweet spot, where we really thrive, is when we are working with people that are really great at what they do. People that know their businesses, are committed to growth and focused on doing the best they can in their chosen industry but understand the value of bringing in external support in areas where they are not the experts. We are deeply committed to working closely with our clients to build campaigns and strategies specific to their individual growth needs.
The space in which we work…
What can we say here? We have a waterfall outside our door, wildlife visible through our oversized (and original) window, brick walls and ginormous ceilings, a park for walking or running in the woods (full of ponds, brooks and woods), an amazing supportive community chock full of all kinds of professionals and businesses and history all around us! We are a mile from Wickford Village and a hop, skip and a jump to the highway. Not the worst place to create fulfilling and helpful work.
Then there’s Hubble…
Many of you might not know where the ‘Hub’ in ‘Hub Digital’ comes from? Hubble, named after Robert Redford’s character in ‘The Way We Were’ NOT The Hubble Telescope as many tend to assume, is the most handsome 4 legged boss ever. He’s cute, wise beyond his 5 years, blond and has us wrapped around his cute little paws. When we’re feeling less than motivated, stressed out, or the dreaded creative block…all we have to do is take a brief ‘Hubble break’ like a walk in the woods or just snapping some pics of him to post on social media and our batteries are immediately re-charged! He’s so much more than just our logo…and often reminds us of those little things that we should always be thankful for.
Wishing you and yours all the best on this, our favorite, holiday. Whether you’re with friends or family, near or far, may you be enjoying all that you have to be thankful for.
In gratitude,
The Hub Digital team
Why Your Website is the Foundation of Your Marketing Strategy
Let’s think about what your marketing strategy/campaign might look like? Integrated marketing as defined by the Direct Marketing Association (or DMA): “Integrated Marketing is an approach to creating a unified and seamless experience for consumers to interact with the brand/enterprise; it attempts to meld all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, and social media, through their respective mix of tactics, methods, channels, media, and activities, so that all work together as a unified force. It is a process designed to ensure that all messaging and communications strategies are consistent across all channels and are centered on the customer.”
You get the gist…all of your messaging needs to be seamless so it’s super easy for your potential customers, and your referral partners, to ‘get’ what your brand is all about. This all starts with your website and consistently refers back to it, sends back to it (those valuable links embedded in your posts, blogs, emails, etc.) and depends on (drumroll please) yup, you guessed it…your website being that firm and supportive infrastructure!!! Once you have a solid website everything else you do can, will, and should point back or rely on it.
Networking & Email campaigns…
Networking? How and why does this have to with your website being so important? We’re not going to lie here…we believe that even though we’re ‘digital marketing experts’, it always has been and always will be about people and relationship based marketing. After all, what we really do is help our clients understand who their audience is, then we identify the best and most effective ways to communicate with them. When you’re at a networking event and you make a solid connection (vs. shoving a business card at someone and/or having that done to you), you usually exchange business cards and follow up afterwards with a personal email or phone call. (At least you should!) Do you then go to their website, check out and connect with them on their different social platforms? We’re guessing here that they’ll be doing the same with you. Then, we’re hoping you add them to your email database/list, and that you’ll be consistently in front of them so you stay top of mind. Well, a solid email campaign will be (hopefully) sending your audience back to your website for more! That website that really speaks clearly to them about what you do and of your unique value proposition…
Blogging & Social Media…
We often blog, post and talk about the importance of a solid content marketing campaign, and we will most certainly be discussing this in more detail tomorrow on our weekly Facebook Live (every Wednesday at 1:00 we will discuss that week’s blog – among other things)!
So, to sum it all up, do you have a solid foundation? Is your website agile and easy for you to post weekly blogs to? Is it optimized for SEO with the appropriate tags and backend data? Or…did your cousin’s friend at college build your website or maybe your retired uncle from IBM that used to write code? We can’t tell you how many times people come to us with websites that are antiquated, not mobile friendly, not user friendly, not optimized for SEO (AT ALL)…and on and on!
When it comes to investing in your business some things are truly worth the investment and well designed websites are definitely one of them!
Some things to check out like a Q & A blog by Seth Godin on ‘What works for websites today?’. He wrote it in 2013 but it’s timeless! and another great (albeit extremely short and to the point) blog by Seth.
