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    The customer buying journey explained

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    With the accessibility of the internet and vast amounts of information available, the modern shopper is now more informed than ever. Because of this transition, sales conversations are in the hands of the buyer. With no pushy salesperson to push the features of a particular product like it used to be, instead, online businesses must adapt to continue to target their audience on their path to purchase. This is known as the customer buying journey. 

    What’s the customer buying journey?

    The customer buying journey is everything that happens on their path to purchase. Since people don’t usually just wake up and decide to make purchases on a whim (this can happen!) the process in which they become aware of a product and/or service, consider and evaluate that product and/or service, and decide to purchase that product and/or service is known as the customer buying journey. Understanding the experience of the customer buying journey can help business owners to influence their digital marketing decisions and allocate their budget to a service that best reaches their consumer audience.

    What are the stages of the customer buying journey?

    There are three steps in the customer buying journey:

    1. Awareness: The buyer because aware of a problem or something that they need
    2. Consideration: The buyer defines their problem or their needs and considers options that might solve it/them
    3. Decision: The buyer evaluates and devices on the right provider to administer a solution—this includes elements like price, delivery time, reviews, etc.

    The awareness stage applied:

    The buyer is experiencing a problem with pain in their back and their goal would be to alleviate it. They may then decide to use online resources to understand and frame the problem. For example, “Why is my back hurting?”

    The consideration stage applied:

    The buyer has defined that their back pain is a problem and they are committed to researching and understanding all of the available approaches to solving their problem. For example, “How do you treat back pain when you sit at work?”

    The decision stage applied: 

    The buyer has decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach. Their goal now is to compile a list of available online vendors, and ultimately, make a final purchase decision. For example, “Is better chair support needed? Should I get a sit-stand desk? 

    How to tailor your sales process to better meet the customer buying journey

    With everything mentioned above, it remains important for sellers to know that buyers don’t wish to be pursued and simply want to rely on your knowledge when the time feels right. We recommend utilizing services like social media marketing and search engine optimization as a way to get noticed, display your knowledge, and await sales.

    Did you have any further questions about the customer buying journey? If so, drop them below for a prompt response.

    How to set up an Instagram shop

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    It’s one thing to have an Instagram account for your business allowing your target audience to interact with your brand. It’s another thing to curate a list of shoppable products and services that are directly accessible for purchase through your profile. Instagram for business is more than relatable posts, it’s about using the app to make it easy to sell and be discovered by potential customers too! Are you looking to learn the basics of setting up an Instagram shop to drive sales? Here’s everything you need to know.

    What’s Instagram Shop?

    Instagram Shop is part of the Instagram for business setup, offering brands the ability to showcase their product and service catalog to reach customers on the platform. By allowing business owners to curate a list of shoppable products that are directly accessible through the “View Shop” button on their profile page, Instagram is making it easier for these brands to increase traffic and sales on their websites. 

    Instagram Shop is also featured on the app’s Instagram Shop tab—a part of the main navigation menu that filters items based on user interest. As a streamlined way for users to discover shoppable products on Instagram, it’s a great tool for any sized business.

    How to set up Instagram Shop

    Setting up an Instagram Shop is quite easy, but here’s a step-by-step guide for reference:

    Step #1: Make sure you’re eligible

    Your business profile needs to meet the following eligibility requirements to set up with Instagram shop:

    Step #2: Convert to a business account

    Congrats! You’re eligible. Now you will need to switch to a business account to set up Instagram Shop. Follow these steps to convert your account. Once your account has made the switch, you can then add relevant business information, including a link to your website.

    Step #3: Upload your product and/or service catalog 

    Instagram Shop requires you to have a product/service catalog that consists of all your products, inventory, and descriptions. 

    There are two ways to create this catalog:

    • Catalog Manager: The “do it yourself” method that’s found with Meta Business Manager 
    • E-commerce Platform Partner: An integration through a certified e-commerce platform such as Shopify 

    Step #4: Account review

    Once you’ve connected your product/service catalog to your Instagram, you will then need to submit your profile for review.

    To do this:

    • Go to your Instagram profile and tap the menu icon
    • Select “Settings”
    • Sign up for shopping
    • Follow the steps to submit your account to be reviewed
    • Visiting “shopping” in your settings to check on your status—account reviews typically take a few days to complete

    Step #5: Turn on shopping

    Once your account is approved, you can then turn on shopping features:

    • Go to your profile and tap the menu icon
    • Select “Settings”
    • Tap “Business” and then tap “Shopping”
    • Select the “product catalog” that you want to connect to the account
    • Select “Done”

    And just like that your Instagram Shop is live for all to see. If you need help with Instagram for business or you have more questions, please contact the Trek team!

    Have you ever purchased anything off Instagram? Drop a comment below to let us know what it was!

    2 Halloween-inspired marketing ideas to boost your online sales

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Since Halloween continues to be a popular annual tradition, your digital marketing efforts should mirror the same tricks and treats. Similar to the spending habits that are exhibited during the holiday season, customers enjoy shopping throughout the spooky season, even if it isn’t for terrifying props and knick-knacks. Even if your e-commerce business doesn’t sell products or services that are specific to the season, we recommend utilizing Halloween digital marketing ideas to get into the spirit and embellish your brand’s creativity. Here are some suggestions.

    Advertise a bone-chilling sale

    You don’t need to be selling costumes or candy to host a Halloween sale. In fact, all you need to do is organize a discount or special promo around October 31st and ensure that your advertising efforts are Halloween-inspired. That way your business gets a bit of the action. Be sure to change up your verbiage to align with the holiday as well. It’s not easy to stand out from the competition, but seasonal offers are a great way to try!

    Ex. “This Halloween Our Prices Are Being Slashed By 15%”

    It’s not easy to stand out from the competition, but seasonal offers are a great way to try! Be sure to offer some grim and dramatic explanations of your products and/or services as well.

    Give your website, emails, and social media posts a spooky look

    It’s important that you take every effort to boost your sales and conversions at given opportunities, which is why it’s time to gear up and make your Halloween digital marketing ideas come to life. 

    For starters, overhaul the design of your site’s homepage to include colors and images that embellish Halloween festivities. Even if you aren’t hosting a sale or some sort of promotion, decorating your website according to the season offers great incentives for business owners, as customers who love the look and feel of the website tend to purchase twice as much as they need due to satisfaction.

    Be sure to mirror these efforts in your e-newsletters and social media posts. Not only will this offer consistency across all of your business platforms but these services offer a huge outreach to your target audience, which will be happy you chose to do something spooky to celebrate the season. Since today’s customers prefer personalization, utilize your company’s email by luring clicks through creep-tastic antics. We also recommend decorating your social profiles to create strong messaging for Halloween and sprucing them up with visuals, GIFs, and videos. 

    *Note: The web development company that we work with offers an exciting design, development, and marketing asset package that includes a custom homepage design, newsletter image, and Facebook promo so that you can advertise your Halloween sale across all of your desired platforms. Learn more here.

    Which digital marketing effort will you be focusing your attention on this Halloween? Drop a comment below to share with our readers. 

    4 tips for making the most out of your digital ad spending

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Since digital marketing spans a variety of channels—websites, streaming content, and more—it’s important to direct digital ad spending towards an assortment of media formats, including text, image, audio, and video. This allows businesses to achieve their goals across the marketing funnel, which include brand awareness, customer engagement, and driving repeat sales. This surge in popularity means that you should be working with a professional and skilled digital marketing agency that will ensure that your ad spending remains focused on the areas where your business will get noticed. Here are four tips for getting the most out of your digital ad spending. 

    Keep the focus on your target audience

    The internet is a competitive space that’s dominated by both marketers and consumers. However, before you can identify your reach to achieve greater engagement, you must first identify and target the right audience. 

    While a service such as email marketing can be a great driver of customer retention and acquisition for businesses, your brand’s audience might keep the focus on social media as well. This means that aside from emailing your list, you should also be targeting them on their respective social sites if you hope to exceed your performance goals.

    Be persistent 

    If you think of advertising as telling a story, then your digital ad spending is the surefire way to increase interest and reach your potential customers. As a big component of successful digital advertising, it’s important to keep your message consistent and be persistent with what you deliver.

    Ensure that your content is easy for readers to understand

    While “simplicity” is often determined by your demographic, on-the-go content is easiest for all to consume, as it puts the responsibility in the hands of the customer. This prime opportunity is only achievable when the content is easy for readers (or listeners) to understand, enabling brands to connect more intimately with their audience, and allowing the audience to choose when and where they connect with said brand.

    Don’t be afraid to ditch what isn’t working

    There’s nothing wrong with trying something new. Equally so, there’s nothing wrong with ditching a strategy after a reasonable amount of time if it proves to be ineffective. We don’t want you wasting your digital ad spending on efforts that don’t offer a return on investment (ROI). 

    On the other hand, please keep in mind that efforts such as search engine optimization (SEO) can take several months to fully develop. So, be sure not to ditch your efforts too early.

    We hope these tips provide you with invaluable success in your advertising!

    What do you do to properly allot your digital ad spending? Drop a comment below to share.

    8 ways to level up your Instagram bio

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    The bio section of your Instagram page is comparable to a cover letter. With limited character space to introduce yourself and your business, it’s important to utilize this space to convey your value. But what details should be included? Instead of writing what comes to mind, why not be strategic and level up by using the following Instagram bio ideas to ensure that you make a lasting impression?

    What’s an Instagram bio?

    An Instagram bio is the text section that sits directly beneath your profile picture. Users use this space to describe the contents of their page, business or personal.

    The following information is often included:

    • Their display name (business or personal)
    • Pronounce (she/her, he/him, they/them)
    • Page category
    • 150-character description
    • One external link
    • Contact information

    As the first touch for your new and returning visitors, your Instagram bio is the area where users communicate who they are and what they offer.

    What makes a good Instagram bio?

    A good Instagram bio has the power to attract new followers or encourage them to “tap” away. With only 150 characters to set the stage, you must keep this area short, sweet, and informative. That said, this space also offers an opportunity to take action by attracting users to click through to your website or your personalized and branded hashtag. 

    8 Instagram bio ideas

    It’s time to learn what it takes to create a killer Instagram bio! Listed below are eight tactics that will help to make your business (or you) stand out from the crowd:

    • Share your story: Think of your bio as a 150-character sales pitch. This space needs to be used to speak to your target audience and detail your business story or personal journey.
    • Include targeted keywords in the name field: Did you know that the name field in your Instagram is separate from your username and can be used as a valuable SEO tactic? When users search on Instagram, you can improve your visibility by utilizing this section to appear higher on the app.
    • Use a link: Instagram allows one external link, so be strategic when using it. This could link users back to your website or a specific landing page.
    • Add an actionable button: Action drives engagement. This is your opportunity to offer a promo or resource that may be of interest to your customers.
    • Share your contact information: While DMs are a great way to contact someone, email and phone number can often be quicker methods. Be sure to include this on your Instagram bio.
    • Choose high-quality, relevant profile pictures: When it comes to social branding, your profile picture is what authenticates you. This is a great spot to add a company logo or a good shot of you doing what you do.
    • Tag related accounts and add your branded hashtag: Hashtags are the powerhouse of Instagram, so if you can come up with something unique to attribute to your business or brand, your Instagram bio is the place to put it. 
    • Utilize Instagram stories’ highlights: Since highlights appear directly below your Instagram bio, they’re almost an extension of it. Show off your personality and spotlight your community and create something catchy. 

    Trek Marketing’s social media marketing service includes Instagram. Are you ready to get started?

    Do you have more Instagram bio ideas? Drop a comment below to share with our readers. 

    instagram bio writing idea

    3 of the best PPC ad networks

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    In terms of access to pay-per-click ad networks, the choices have boomed in recent years, with an opportunity to choose between traditional search engine results pages, native advertising on popular websites, and a wide variety of social platforms. Since PPC ad networks are expansive, it’s important to consider all avenues before allocating your business’s marketing budget. Listed below is a selection of the best PPC ad networks to use to strengthen your digital marketing strategy.

    Google Ads 

    As one of the biggest players in the game, Google ads possess a huge market reach which includes the following PPC ads:

    • Search engine results pages (SERPS)
    • Display Network (ads and videos on partner websites)
    • YouTube advertising
    • Google Play app store advertising
    • Gmail in-app advertising
    • Google Shops advertising

    If you’re after one of the above ad placements, you will need to bid for it. Listed below are examples of some Google PPC bid options:

    • CPC (automated and manual cost per individual click)
    • Enhanced CPC
    • CPM (cost per mille)
    • Target ROAS (targeted return on ad spend)
    • Target CPA (targeted cost per acquisition) 
    • Maximize conversions
    • Maximize clicks
    • Target Outranking share
    • Target Impression Share

    Since the cost of Google ads can vary massively, you should first need to calculate your budget before considering this investment.

    Microsoft/Bing Ads

    Next to Google is Microsoft Advertising, also known as Bing Ads. Offering business owners a cheaper price tag than Google, Microsoft Ads are also associated with a wide assortment of formats, including:

    • Xbox
    • Windows App store
    • MSN
    • Outlook Email
    • Websites for display and native advertising managed by various sales partners

    Although not quite as comprehensive as competitor Google, Microsoft Ads also require bidding:

    • Enhanced and Manual CPC
    • CPM
    • MaxClicks
    • MaxConversions
    • Target ROAS
    • Target CPA 

    With the lower volume and less competition, your bids are bound to be cheaper, which offers a greater opportunity to stand out on the Bing Ad network.

    Facebook Ads

    With the ability to add some targeting potential, Facebook Ads is one of the best PPC ad networks on the market, especially with Instagram as an extension—offering marketers and business owners alike the potential to reach those with specific interests, demographics, education, age, and location data. 

    Facebook Ads can appear on:

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Facebook Messenger
    • The Facebook Audience Network (apps and websites on the partnership network)

    Even cheaper than Bing, Facebook Ads pricing is based on cost per thousand impressions (CPM) or cost per click with the option to target CPA (cost per action) and Target ROAS. Moreover, since Facebook Ads aren’t activated by searching, businesses have an opportunity to get in front of their audience much easier.

    All of the best PPC ad networks can be managed by the PPC team at Trek Marketing. Comment below to get started!

    What did you find most interesting about this digital marketing service? Drop a comment below to get connected.

    How to craft an effective social media marketing strategy

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    The social media content that you choose to formulate and post holds great power for your brand. However, aimlessly posting is not the best method for turning followers into fans, which is why it’s important to develop a social media content strategy before you can fully explore the potential of each platform. Since it can be challenging to get noticed on the wide web, the best way to stand out on social media is to identify your specific goals and distribute them across the right platforms. This ensures that each post is valuable, aligned with those goals, and measurable, which allows you to fine-tune your strategy over time. Since there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to crafting an effective social media marketing strategy, you must first access your industry and audience, then build a plan that promotes longevity and growth for your brand. 

    Identify and set your goals 

    The first steps toward having a long-term social media marketing strategy are to set goals for your content. This includes the type of content you will post, how often, what time, and so forth. Having goals in mind helps you to plan, create, and facilitate content that embellishes brand values and reaches your audience. While you can start by making some generic marketing goals, such as increasing your following, it’s best to create a lasting social media marketing strategy that serves all of your goals long-term. Specifics allows you to tailor content to better meet your goals and to convert high sales by moving followers to a landing page as part of your marketing funnel. 

    Plan out your social content

    Once your goals are clear, it’s time to look at the content that you’ve created so far and make note of which posts are performing well and what platforms are getting the most recognition. Appropriately tagging your content will allow you to utilize analytics to achieve a holistic view of your social media content’s performance. Many social platforms also allow businesses to view page analytics directly. 

    During this phase, be sure to look closely at the language and tone you’re using on the underperforming content. It’s important to use your brand’s authentic voice so that followers know what to expect from your content. 

    Build a content calendar

    Part of distributing great content is planning, which is why it’s now time for you to build a social media content calendar. This allows you to have a space to organize and visualize your ideas so that they can be strategically executed.

    When planning, don’t be afraid to repurpose content and schedule it across different platforms at different times. This allows you to learn more about your audience’s engagement so that you know when and where you can get the most reach. 

    Promote and distribute content

    Since your social media marketing strategy goes beyond what you post on each channel, you will want to set up distribution allowing your posts to be shared widely. If you actively blog, be sure to post a snippet of this content on your social channels. If your audience admires what’s written, they may choose to share it among their friends, which offers you free distribution to new followers. Another way to effectively promote and distribute your content is to remember to ask questions. Encouraging people to share their answers on your post increases your engagement rate and keeps the post active.

    While posting content to go live immediately is a great way to show your followers that you’re an active business, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity. Pre-scheduling content and utilizing hashtags create a further reach, which allows you to network with others within your niche. You can also join other pages and link your comment in the comments section if it relates to the conversation. 

    Are there other methods that your brand uses as part of your social media marketing strategy? Drop a comment below to let us know.

    5 advantages to Amazon selling

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    When it comes to online shopping, it’s no secret that many consumers order off of Amazon. With its convenient delivery methods and free shipping options, it’s a great way to introduce small e-commerce businesses to shoppers worldwide. This very attractive sales channel is an opportunity for vendors everywhere, however, it’s important to see if the advantages of Amazon selling are worth the cost for you. 

    Is Amazon selling right for your business?

    Amazon has brilliantly established itself as the world’s largest online retailer and while this company has a lineup of basic products under its name, most of what it sells is from other retailers. 

    That said, what are the pros of Amazon selling that draw in so many vendors?

    • More sales 
    • Gaining new customers
    • Possibility for international expansion
    • Low marketing costs
    • No stock

    More sales 

    Millions of active customers visit Amazon each month in search of products making it the number one place to shop online.

    By listing your products on Amazon, it’s far easier to gain credibility and trust with the consumer. That’s because of the great policies and customer service set in place. Rather than buying from a company a customer has never heard of, they purchase from that company with Amazon as the middleman. This ensures Amazon’s promise and excellence. 

    Gaining new customers

    As mentioned above, it’s likely that Amazon will help e-commerce businesses increase their sales and with that, build up their customer base. Since most users who utilize Amazon focus on finding the perfect product rather than who sells it, it works as an advantage for businesses who want to gain a wider audience. Plus, once they make their first purchase, they can be retargeted for other products by your company in the future. 

    International expansion

    As a globally trusted selling and buying platform, it makes it easy to branch into different markets. Shipping to over 100 countries worldwide, Amazon selling allows businesses to bridge new markets. 

    Low marketing costs

    Since Amazon already attracts millions of customers to its website daily, you don’t need to spend as much money to access them. Depending on your niche and how crowded the market is you can make significant marketing efforts will little effort or spending. After all, who does want to piggyback on Amazon’s success?

    No stock

    With 175 fulfillment centres around the globe, you can ship your products in bulk to Amazon and they will store your inventory, package it, and ship it when customers order. This allows business owners to not get bogged down with shipping so they can spend more time sorting through other important elements of managing business operations. 

    While Amazon selling is a great way to advertise your products, there are other ways you can utilize the platform to target new customers. Our digital marketing team knows the ins and outs of Amazon selling and would be happy to help you achieve your online sales goals on a budget. 

    Are there any advantages to Amazon selling that we missed? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    Reach vs. impressions: What’s the difference?

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Are you working towards building brand awareness? Have you done what seems like everything possible to grow and influence your audience using a wide variety of digital marketing services and tools? If these explanations resonate with you, it’s critical for you to better understand the difference between reach vs. impressions. Since each metric requires a different strategic approach, accurately measuring these metrics will help you to find areas to increase your efforts without wasting time and money. 

    Reach vs. impressions: What’s the difference? 

    In terms of digital marketing, “reach” refers to the total number of people who see your content, whereas, “impressions” refers to the number of times your content is displayed, no matter if it was clicked or not. This is a metric primarily that’s used in social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising.

    Since every social media follower can’t see all of the posts that you publish organically, if your goal is to increase engagement on a particular platform to ensure content is delivered to your target audience, reach and impressions are great analytics to examine.

    Let’s dig a bit deeper

    There are many similarities between reach and impressions, however, there are some underlying differences as well. Let’s use an example to further your understanding. If your company has 1000 followers on Instagram and you publish a post, if every one of your followers sees that post, you have a reach of 1000 users—along with 1000 impressions. However, if you update your post and all of your followers, once again, see your post, your reach doesn’t change, but you now have 2000 impressions. This is partly why you may notice that your impressions can be higher than your follower count.

    Learning more about engagement

    Building brand awareness is about getting your message to the right people. This can be done by improving your reach and impressions. To ensure that you get the most out of each social platform and ad campaign, you will want to analyze the metrics offered by each network. While it would take many pages to break down the process for each social media platform, for this blog, we will focus on Facebook.

    On Facebook, reach falls into three different categories:

    • Organic: The number of unique people who see your content in their news feed.
    • Paid: The number of unique people who see your paid content (ex. Facebook Ad).
    • Viral: The number of unique people who see your post or page mentioned in a story published by a friend. These stories include actions such as liking, sharing, or commenting.

    Similar to reach, Facebook impressions are also split into the same three different categories:

    • Organic: The number of times your content was displayed on someone’s news feed.
    • Paid: The number of times your paid content was displayed.
    • Viral: The number of times content associated with your page was displayed in a story published by a friend.

    A great understanding of building brand awareness must be before engagement, reach, and impressions can drive your target audience to take action. If you’re ready to get your social media marketing and pay-per-click marketing on track, please contact Trek Marketing’s Sales Team to get started.

    What did you find most interesting about the above blog? Drop a comment below to share with our readers.

    Increase web traffic with these 4 strategic services

    Posted on by Alex Wilks

    Every online business wants to increase website traffic to drive sales and conversions. After all, an attractive website amplifies brand awareness and revenue. However, it isn’t easy to get noticed in the vast depth of organic search results, which is why we have four digital marketing services to strategically bring quality traffic back to your website. 

    Search engine optimization (SEO) 

    SEO encompasses a wide range of tactics for helping your website rank well in search engine results for relevant keywords and phrases. Since organic searches are most likely to begin via search engines, this digital marketing service has the potential to dramatically increase the quantity and quality of your website traffic by attracting users who’re interested in completing a sale.

    Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

    PPC advertising drives traffic to your website through the use of paid advertisements. These ads are strategically placed on search engine result pages (SERPs), social media sites, and other websites. While digital marketers are in charge of creating and managing these ads, with PPC advertising, businesses only pay when the ad has been clicked, making this a cost-effective way to increase website traffic. 

    Social media marketing

    Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are an excellent way to grow your brand, expand your audience, and drive more website traffic. By creating a social media following you offer added opportunities for users to link back to your website, which increases traffic and incentivizes viewers to learn more about what your business has to offer. 

    Content marketing

    Blog post submissions, infographics, videos, and podcasts are all elements that fall under the realm of content marketing. Whether you choose to create and publish content that aligns with the interests of your audience or keep things simple by outsourcing content marketing to a digital marketing agency, it’s important that you be strategic to increase page session times and conversions.

    Did you know that the following content marketing is more likely to drive website traffic?

    • Long-form content (more than 2000 words)
    • Informational pages
    • Product and service pages
    • Guides

    Trek marketing offers all of the above strategic digital marketing services, so perhaps it’s time that you found out more?

    If you had to prioritize, which digital marketing service would you try first to increase your website traffic?