How Has eCommerce Transformed Marketing? Time For New PPC Strategies! (Updated)
Dec 26, 2019
10 min read
Table of contents
- 1. PPC In eCommerce Is Ineffective Without Product Page Optimization!
- 2. Try branded & Non-Branded keyword segmentation.
- 3. Keyword Segmentation Is Vital When It Comes To PPC In eCommerce
- 4. Google Showcase Ads: For eCommerce And Digital marketing.
- 5. Do you have an offline store? Utilize Local Inventory ads!
- 6. Are you updating your product pages?
- 7. Invest in good shopping cart solutions.
- 8. Invest in Google shopping ads.
- 9. Focus On Unique Audience Targeting
- 10. Effective PPC ads on Instagram and Facebook
- Conclusion
Ever since the internet came into existence, it has become an integral part of our lives. It has transformed the consumer's shopping experience. eCommerce has grown tremendously, such that it has changed the way of marketing. How has eCommerce transformed marketing? Many businesses have now shifted their focus from offline retail to online retail; they have quickly adopted the eCommerce business model. Hence, we see a dramatic shift in the methods of retail marketing.
Today, the internet has shaped marketing and the strategies through which online sellers target their customers. Online shopping is one of the significant internet activities around the globe. As per Statista, in 2020, e-commerce sales grew up to $4.28 trillion! By 2022, we can expect it to reach a whopping $5.4 trillion market.
Alt IMG tag - Forecast for global eCommerce sales
Various search engines and marketplaces provide the convenience of running targeted PPC ads; these ads are known for quick exposure and drive instant results. PPC ads have become a crucial element in eCommerce and digital marketing. There are numerous benefits of PPC ads over Search Engine Optimization. A famous example of a PPC ads platform is "Google Ads."
The popularity of Google Ads among eCommerce websites has increased significantly; in fact, Google's Ad revenue in 2020 was around $146.92 billion. The internet giant generates a high amount of income via Google Ads Platform that helps marketers display ads, product listings, etc.
It is very critical for eCommerce stores to optimize PPC strategies that fetch them the best results. PPC in eCommerce, if implemented correctly, can allow an eCommerce website to gain more traffic, sales, and revenues. The increasing competition makes it essential to use advanced or latest strategies to stand out from your competitors.
The ever-increasing business competition in the eCommerce space has made it necessary for online businesses to use the latest PPC strategies. PPC in eCommerce is pretty standard; you might be struggling to make your PPC campaign a success. There are several reasons why your PPC strategies aren’t converting; however, multiple advanced PPC tactics can help marketers perform better in online sales and customer acquisition.
Source: Unsplash
1. PPC In eCommerce Is Ineffective Without Product Page Optimization!
One of the most common ways to align your product pages with the latest SEO trends is by optimizing them. Many PPC marketers spend ample time optimizing product pages; it includes optimizing product titles, keyword stuffing, etc. You must consider highly relevant keywords to your products and avoid those that can negatively impact your website. Make sure to add those keywords in your description.
All in all, you must recognize inconsistencies in your PPC strategies that can lead to wastage of your PPC spend. Your content team should produce unique, relevant, and engaging product descriptions. It is always fruitful to hire a professional SEO team or expert with the prerequisite knowledge of the latest PPC strategies for product page optimization.
2. Try branded & Non-Branded keyword segmentation.
Keyword-based text ads enable retailers to analyze the intent of their customers. Hence, it helps them to optimize ads accordingly. Although the shopping ads were developed on a product-based bidding model, Google's auction chooses products displayed for a particular search result. Due to this model, crucial elements like optimization and bid control aren't in the retailer's hands. Why? Because they can't bid separately on a customer throughout their buyer journey. As a solution, you can utilize keyword segmentation.
3. Keyword Segmentation Is Vital When It Comes To PPC In eCommerce
You can then use shopping settings and campaign priority to manage how much you want to bid. With campaign priorities, you can include the same product in many other campaigns. You can evaluate which campaign should take part in the auction for a specific product with a campaign priority that can be low, medium, or high.
4. Google Showcase Ads: For eCommerce And Digital marketing.
Showcase Shopping ads came in 2016. It is a better solution for online retailers, eCommerce, and advertisers; Google Showcase ads can be a dedicated digital storefront. For customers, it acts as a window-shopping feature. You can easily group multiple eCommerce products and showcase them using high-quality pictures. You can even group your major products with various smaller products to form a "me-too" product combination and provide customers with a significant discount offer.
The Google Showcase ads are often used to target non-brand queries that show up on mobile search results. On search engine result pages, the ad showcases brand-specific product images relevant to the search queries. Users can click on them to see the custom description that portrays the brand and ten other products. Showcase ads also deliver the maximum cost per engagement. Hence, marketers can set a high amount after which they'll be charged when a user expands the ad for ten seconds. Google Showcase ads are best for developing an upper-funnel tactic.
5. Do you have an offline store? Utilize Local Inventory ads!
As per Google, 80% of the purchasers will quickly visit a store if a retailer sells the exact item they want to buy. When we talk about online searchers, utilizing local inventory ads is best to meet buyer expectations. It is one of the most effective ways to drive visitors to the store, capture, and engage them by featuring products they can buy from nearby stores. These ads feature on mobile queries too! They usually have a local search intent (e.g., “Blazers near me”) and influence purchase decisions within a radius of a physical store.
The moment your potential customer clicks on the ad, they are redirected to the Google-hosted storefront page. You can customize your storefront page’s product description with images and links to your website. Ensure to add your contact number, hours of operation with a map that helps your customer with the directions to the store.
Your customers can also purchase the product directly from your website. If you have a physical store, then you must update your inventories and in-store availability. Once a marketer sets up a local inventory campaign, they can use Google Analytics to monitor these metrics to optimize your campaigns further.
Source: Unsplash
6. Are you updating your product pages?
As discussed in the first section, your product page should be updated at regular intervals. Imagine a user visiting a product page on a holiday or a weekend. If they find your page not updated, you might lose a chance of converting them into your customer. Hence, you must invest time in revamping your product pages with the perfect sales pitch. The first section discussed how keywords and content play a massive part in optimizing product pages.
However, pictures or images have a significant influence on product page optimization. You must ensure that you have clean, precise, and engaging photos of your products. If you can add a product video, that can help increase your sales by adding visual information to the product page. Adding a video of your product adds value to your webpage, which increases the chances of sales!
Apart from that, you must optimize the key benefits of your shopping website like free shipping, quick delivery, no contact delivery, cash on delivery, etc. You must also get reviews of your product under the review sections because having reviews on your PPC ads can increase the conversion rate of your pages.
7. Invest in good shopping cart solutions.
According to a study, in 2020, cart abandonment rates were severely high! Did you know that almost 88.05% of the online shopping carts go abandoned as they don't convert into an actual purchase? One of the key reasons behind a high cart abandonment rate is poor shopping cart software. A shopping cart is like one software on the website that allows the customer to purchase a product. Shopify, Woo-commerce, and big commerce are the most common shopping carts that are great for SEO and paid search. If there are any issues with your shopping cart, you can approach the support team for quick fixes or optimization.
8. Invest in Google shopping ads.
When you Google Search “Floral Shirts,” the results pop up under the “shopping tab” are Google Shopping Ads. If you are already running Google shopping ads, you must optimize them based on the results you fetch from your analysis. You can utilize eCommerce tracking setups to see your revenue generation or ROI on each product. In this way, you’ll be able to spot ads that aren’t doing well.
9. Focus On Unique Audience Targeting
Google and Bing offer great tools like demographics, retargeting, customer match, etc. Advertisers can also utilize features like custom messaging, bid scaling that can be used whenever they want to. Google can evaluate a category of people who are searching for a particular product. You can use these tactics to target a less obvious audience. As a jewelry brand, your competitors would be targeting the same chunk of the population. However, you can target a unique audience; you can target men trying to buy gifts for anniversaries, weddings, or birthdays. As a result, you’ll be able to target an audience in a low-competition zone.
10. Effective PPC ads on Instagram and Facebook
Social media advertising provides a wide range of channels through which marketers can run their PPC ads. If you can target users on Facebook and Instagram, you can find the right kind of sales. Facebook ad targeting offers some powerful features like:
- Marketers can see the recent buying behavior of Facebook users.
- Marketers can leverage Life Events Targeting.
- ?Marketers can nurture leads with Facebook Custom Audiences.
- Tap into lookalike audiences.
- Get Granular and layered targeting options.
Conclusion
How has eCommerce transformed marketing? We hope you got the answer! However, it is very important for eCommerce stores to optimize their PPC strategies if they want to get the best outcomes. Mastering your PPC strategies can help you accomplish your desired business goals. With above mentioned powerful PPC strategies, your eCommerce website can tap into high-purchase intent audiences. If you have been searching for proven PPC tactics to outshine your competitors and generate more leads, then you can consult Saffron Edge's Paid Marketing experts. We curate successful paid marketing solutions that can increase your eCommerce website's visibility and conversion.
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Why Your Dental Practice Needs More Shareable Content
For as long as we can remember, businesses have relied on advertisement medium to capture their majority audience. But much like dinosaurs and cavemen, the traditional TV and media advertisements have become a thing of the past. Today, where in a world of 7.7 billion people, almost half of the population uses internet to look for businesses and everyday things, it has become extremely important for businesses small and big alike to have and maintain an online presence. For potential customers, one of the most important aspects of learning about business has shifted from traditional advertising and consultation. Businesses now rely on content marketing to engage their audience in the digital sphere. Adopting a carefully crafted content marketing strategy can result in greater audience engagement and leads for any business imaginable. What Is Content Marketing? To better understand why content marketing has become a go-to strategy for marketing professionals, it is important to learn what content marketing is. Content marketing a carefully planned marketing approach that focuses on the creation and distribution of content that is relevant, unique and valuable to attract, engage and retain targeted audience with the aim of generating and converting potential profitable leads. Simply put, content marketing is any type of content, whether blogs, videos, infographics or visual content created and shared with the goal of attracting, engaging and retaining audience. Content Marketing For Dentists Everybody knows that they should be visiting a dentist regularly in order to maintain oral hygiene and a healthy smile, but what dentists don’t know is that 51% of their potential patients use internet search engines to look for a dentist. Just acknowledging the above fact is sufficient enough to realize how important it has become for dentists to ensure they are among the top results of search engines. Now that you have fully absorbed just how much important it is for your dental practice to have an online presence, it’s time to look at how you can make sure to appear in the results when a potential patient is looking for a dentist. Most people, when looking at content marketing focus on placing and using keywords throughout their websites. However, this is not a strategy that can yield long term effects for your dental practice. The simplest way to understand how a reader or searcher can become a potential customer is to realize that the people searching for dentists online are human. Only providing human connection and building a relationship with your reader is the way to build trust and ensure they choose you. If you have a dental practice business or are a dentist, and are still not convinced on why you should be looking at content marketing to bring in more business, here are a few reasons why content marketing can do wonders for you. Why You Should Consider Content Marketing For Your Dental Practice? 1. Improved Visibility Unique and engaging content can provide you a better opportunity to optimize it in a way that will boost visibility. If you focus on creating content pieces that are informative and valuable, you will show up in search engine search results for when people are looking for similar topics you have covered. Once hooked, readers do not refrain from sharing the content. Valuable content creation does not limit your visibility to search engines, in fact if you post unique, engaging and informative content on your social media, people might share it with their friends and family bringing more and more visitors to your website, and we all know what more visitors can mean for your business. 2.Reach Target Audience One of the perks of using digital media for marketing your dental practice is that you can create specifically targeted content that can hit home run. Traditional ways of advertising have become tiresome, expensive and ineffective. With content marketing, you can target people looking for a dentist with effective content marketing strategy to attract your target audience, hence, filtering out people who actually are interested in your services so you can convert and retain them as your patients. 3.Build Trust Choosing a good dentist is not less than choosing a life partner. It can have a huge impact on the quality of your life. Which is why, you need to let your audience know that you are trustworthy and knowledgeable, and that they can trust you to take care of their smiles. When you create and post content that is informative, it shows the people searching for a dentist that you are not only experienced but you believe in sharing information for the greater wellbeing. Investing in good content can help your potential clients build trust in your knowledge and to show how passionate you are about your profession. 4.Build Reputation Nobody wants to go to a dentist that doesn’t have good reviews. Everyone including you and me look for referrals when it comes to choosing a dentist or any health practitioner for that matter, which is why you should be working on building a positive reputation among your patients. Using content that talks about authentic information and facts, gives out tips and tricks, and other essential information can help your dental practice build its reputation online. Once your audience identifies you as a reputed business, they won’t be hesitant in coming to you for their oral hygiene or recommending you to friends and families. 5.Stand Out From The Crowd Accepting the fact that almost half of the world’s population is online, it is assumable that there must be several other dentists with online presence, looking for potential patients. Now, if everyone is already online and out there, how do you make sure you attract your fair share of the audience. Here comes quality content. Investing in quality content will help you get noticed by your potential patients. Content that provides value instantly becomes a valuable asset that you are willing to share with your target audience and if you are willing to share the knowledge without any interest or gain, automatically sets you apart from the rest. Your audience soon recognizes you as a valuable connection to their dental health practices. 6.Provide Value Using digital media doesn’t mean that you have to attract and retain only new clients or patients, but it can also help you keep your existing patients well informed and interested. Creating and sharing valuable content provides value for your existing patients which ensures that they will keep choosing you for your services because of the value you provide to your existing patients. It’s a win-win for all. 7.Boost Growth/Increase Number Of Patients Effective content marketing strategy can help your dental practice attract and increase followers that may in turn convert into profitable clients. Creating shareable content gives you an edge over your competition because the more times your content is shared, the more audience it reaches creating a follow back link to your website. 8.Brand Awareness Among all of the digital media marketing aspects, investing in good content marketing strategy is crucial as it creates a platform for your target audience to build an association with your brand name. If you create content that has valuable information and sticks with your audience, they’ll automatically associate the piece of information with your brand name. This effect creates a beneficial word-of-mouth marketing platform that you won’t even have to work on forever. Now that we are convinced on the wonders content marketing can bring to your dental practice, let’s take a look at how you can actually approach content marketing in real life. How To Approach Content Marketing For Dentists With everything in life, strong planning and execution are the keys to having desired outcome. And content marketing isn’t any different. For this blog, let’s learn from the pros. The experts at CoSchedule have broken down the content marketing process into four big buckets. Planning Publishing Promotion Measurement Let’s look at all of these buckets one by one. Planning We can’t stress enough on the importance of planning in the whole process of content marketing. Smart planning is the key and will definitely save you a lot of mistakes and hurdles later on. Identify Your Audience One of the first steps in planning a content marketing strategy should be identifying your target audience. To help you figure this part out, just answer the four questions below: What problem does your product solve? Who is your current audience? Who is your competition? How are you different from your competitors? Once you’ve successfully answered these four questions, congratulations, you are now on your way to understanding: What content you need to create? Who are you creating the content for? What content are your competitors creating? How can you set your content apart from your competitors? The answers to these questions will help you create your content core. The mixture of the content regarding what you do, and what your audience cares about. This will become your content core for all of the upcoming content pieces that you will create for your company’s content marketing strategy. Establish SMART Goals We won’t go into much details about SMART goals, instead we’ll just move on to the importance of establishing goals that specifically state: What you’re going to achieve? When you’ll achieve it? Develop Your Content Strategy It’s time to finally get on to developing your content strategy. To simplify, here are the questions that will help you create your content marketing strategy for your dental practice. What content will you create? Why will you create the content? How will your success be measured? Create A Content Evaluation Strategy Once you have a content marketing strategy in place, you also need to figure out how you’re going to evaluate and decide what is working and what is not? To help you perform regular content audits, Pam Neely has shared a comprehensive guide which doubles as a content audit template. Generate Ideas For Content The final step in your extensive smart planning phase is to generate a list of possible content ideas to help you create content that becomes an instant hit among your readers. Content Publishing Phase Getting your content planning done means you get to move on to the next step that is executing the plan that you’ve just made. Let’s see how your content planning will come to life. 1. Understanding Keywords And Keywords Research One of the most important aspects of creating content is to understand how keywords and keywords research work. Keywords help you understand what your audience wants and how you should focus your content on keywords to reach maximum number of audience. But if you have not done keywords research before, don’t fret, because here are a few tools that can be of extreme help to research keywords you can rank on based on difficulty and competition. Google Keyword Planner Moz’s Keyword Explorer Ahrefs Keywords Explorer Keyword Studio Serpstat 2. Creating A Workflow To make sure your content marketing strategy is executed flawlessly, it is recommended that you create a content calendar to plan out your dental content pieces in advance. Next, create a workflow so you and everyone on your content marketing team knows what to do and when. A simple workflow can be crucial in accomplishing success in your content marketing strategy. Content Promotion Phase Now once you have planned and successfully executed good content marketing strategy, next comes the step to promote it so it is shared now and again resulting in growing audience and potential leads. Let’s take a look at how you can promote your dental practice content pieces. 1. Identify Social Media Platforms One of the major platforms to use to share your content created for your dental practice are social media platforms. Use your social media accounts to create a following and then to share the content and bring back traffic to your website. Prioritize social media platforms on their purposes to better engage your audience with relevant type of content. Use the following infographic to help you understand the importance of social media platforms depending on their purpose. 2. Email Marketing And Search Engine Optimization As stated by Campaign Monitor, Email marketing is 40% more effective for acquiring customers than social media, and it shouldn’t be hard to accept because it delivers 4,000% ROI. Search Engine Optimization is nothing short in yielding lasting benefits after your social media and email marketing course has been run. It is so effective that a well-crafted SEO content strategy can boost up your traffic by up to 500%. 3. Outreach Last but not the least, use a traditional PR / Outreach technique to promote your content to the audience directly that might be interested in your content. The key to not sound hard core sales personnel, try this guide to PR by Neil Patel. With your quest to outreaching to your audience directly, focus on building contacts and relationship rather than your customers, because according to Heather Anne Ritchie-Carson, cofounder of <Onboardly, it’s time to put back the human in PR relationships. 4. Measurement To guarantee that any strategy is working, evaluation is important. To gauge how effective your dental content marketing strategy has worked, measurement through analytics tools. Using some of the most common analytics tools is the easiest way to measure the growth of your dental practice. Here are a few common ones to get you started: Google Analytics Piwik Heap Kissmetrics 5. Reporting Schedule Evaluating your content marketing strategy regularly is the only way to learn about its effectiveness. Therefore, setting up a reporting schedule is important. But if you are even slightly like us (forgetful, shh), you can even set up automatic measurement schedule with this guide from Google. Content Marketing Strategies For Dentists Now that we have created a fair understanding of content marketing and its important and the process, let’s dive into some of the most commonly used content marketing strategies that have proven effective for a lot of dentists and other medical professionals along with hundreds of other businesses. 1. Blog Posts Creating a great blog post is the first step in your content marketing strategy, but wouldn’t it be sad if only a fewer people were reading the awesome blog post that you wrote? Having a proven blog posting strategy like the one here can ensure your efforts and valuable knowledge is reaping benefits for both you and your readers. 2. EBooks, White Papers and Case Studies Creating and publishing in-depth researches are a great way to show your readers that you are passionate about ongoing learning in your profession. This helps the reader that has crossed the initial engagement period with your blog and is looking for more information to build their trust in your services. Sharing case studies prove that you are open to learning from your mistakes as a dentist and believe in growing forward with sharing transparent information that the reader can ponder upon. 3. Videos Remember when we talked about building relationships with your customers and providing value? Using videos are a great way to do just that. Creating an informative video or a learning guide can, not only give your existing patients a gentle reminder of things they should remember minus the embarrassment of asking again, but it is also a lucrative way to attract more new patients. 4. Infographics Much like videos, visual content gets maximum share due to their readability and the ability to pack complete information in a short space. Infographics are easily becoming a go-to content marketing strategy because of their potential to become share worthy. They only key to producing a shareable infographic is to keep it simple, readable, reliable with references and focusing on visual content. One of our favorite tips to creating an effective infographic is the one by Neil. 5. Podcasts Another great type of content to give a little oomph to your content marketing strategy for your dental practice is to invest in creating podcasts. These little podcast episodes can become the bridge between your potential patients and you. It is a great way to connect with your audience and share valuable content. 6. Guest Blogging Guest Blogging is a proven tactic to build credibility for yourself as a professional while getting a follow link to your website to increase traffic. A lot of websites and blogs are almost always ready to accept in-depth, well researched articles by guest authors because as stated by Social Marketing Writing, “62.96% of peopleperceive blogs with multiple authors to be more credible.” While planning out content marketing strategy for your dental practice, including to acquire guest blogging opportunities should be a must. 7. Media Publications Everyone knows that being featured in a media publication is kinda a big deal for any business because it means popularity and exposure. As much as this sounds like a dream, Jayson DeMers, founder of AudienceBloom has given some fool proof tips to help you plan on getting your dental practice featured in media publications. Mistakes To Avoid While Content Marketing For Dentists Creating and sharing content to market your dental practice in the hopes of attracting and acquiring new patients can become overwhelming. And with possibilities of reaching your content marketing goals come a fair share of mistakes you’ll make learning on this journey. But you don’t have to make all of the mistakes yourself, which is why we are listing down a few common content marketing mistakes as stated by Jeff Bullas that dentists can avoid in their content marketing strategies to grow their online presence and business. 1. Failure To Plan This is a no-brainer as we all know that if we fail to plan, we are planning for failure. This is the most costly mistake you can make in your content marketing strategy. It is crucial to plan clearly as to what the business aims to achieve through content marketing and exactly how it has to be executed to avoid maximum chances of failure. Our only tip is to spend sufficient time in planning to avoid failing. 2. Unclear Purpose Many a times, businesses can fall trap in figuring out their true purpose when considering content marketing. It is important that you remember the reason why you’re creating the content and only focus on providing value to the reader and build relationships, the rest will follow. 3. Unprofessionalism Understanding the need of content tone and style for your business is utmost important. If you create content that works for a specific industry, one cannot trust it to work for your industry as well. You need to remain professional while writing or creating content in language that is correct, clear and concise. The best thing is to keep your audience in mind, the people who you want to read your content. 4. Lacking The Social Signals The importance of using social media to share your content cannot be neglected. However, maintaining a balanced usage is critical. Some businesses lack the use of social media for their content marketing which means they miss out on a huge chunk of prospective audience. But, at the same time, over using social media can move you away from your content marketing results. Do not rely heavily on social media platforms to market and promote your content rather create engaging, and valuable content that is share worthy. 5. Avoiding The Organic Search Factors One of the major reasons to use content marketing for your dental practice is to enhance your search engine rankings to improve online visibility. However, if the latest SEO techniques are not incorporated within the content defeats the entire purpose of content marketing for dentists and all other professions. If you do not feel confident in your skills to optimize your content with SEO techniques, it is always better to engage a professional to help your maximize growth through content marketing and SEO. Conclusion Content marketing is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness and grow your online presence in the age where if you’re not online, you’re losing business. Dentists and other medical practitioners have come to realize just how important it is to invest in content marketing for their dental practices. Thus making sure they know content marketing benefits, processes and strategies can boost their online traffic and conversion rates by ten folds. ...
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How Automation Boosts Your Sales and Marketing?
In today's dynamic business environment, organizations are always looking for strategies to help them cut costs and increase productivity and profitability. One area that has seen significant advancements in recent years is sales and marketing automation. This technological revolution transforms how businesses interact with customers, manage leads, and optimize their sales processes. Let's explore how sales and marketing automation are changing the business world. What is Sales and Marketing Automation? Sales and marketing automation refers to using technology to streamline and automate repetitive tasks within the sales and marketing processes. This includes automating email campaigns, lead nurturing, customer segmentation, and more to help businesses engage with leads and customers at scale. By using automation tools, businesses can save time, increase efficiency, and personalize communication to drive better results and conversions. Netflix is one example of a company that successfully implemented sales and marketing automation. Their platform effectively uses automation to deliver personalized email recommendations and targeted content to subscribers based on their viewing habits, preferences, and engagement with the platform. This approach has contributed to increased customer retention and enhanced user satisfaction. Why Focus on Sales and Marketing Automation? The answer is in numbers. Marketing and sales expenses usually account for 15% to 35% of corporate costs. This significant part of the budget offers an excellent opportunity to increase sales and marketing automation efficiency. Furthermore, in today's service-oriented economy, the value created by marketing activities may be even more than that produced by the product or the workforce involved. This is because other factors such as product characteristics, availability, and delivery play a significant role in influencing the price of a product in the market. All of them are related to marketing and sales activities, which can be enhanced by automation. Studies also revealed that companies that have adopted these technologies have recorded sales growth of between 10% and over 30%, with investment returns typically above 100%. Understanding Marketing and Sales Productivity (MSP) Systems Marketing and Sales Productivity (MSP) systems are at the heart of this revolution, a key component of sales and marketing automation. These specialized networks are designed to support various aspects of marketing and sales operations. Let's break down some key components of MSP systems: Salesperson Productivity Tools: These help with tasks like planning and reporting sales calls, expense reporting, order entry, inventory checks, lead tracking, and account management. Direct Mail and Fulfillment Systems: These manage mailing lists, customize communications, track leads, and manage literature inventory. Telemarketing Support: These systems maintain calling lists, track leads, rank prospects, and provide scripting support for sales and customer service calls. Sales and Marketing Management Tools: These offer automated sales management reports, help design and manage sales territories, and analyze marketing and sales programs across various criteria. The Dual Impact of Sales and Marketing Automation Sales and marketing automation drives productivity improvements in two crucial ways: Task Automation: By automating repetitive tasks, these systems free up sales and marketing staff to focus on high-value activities. For example, Xerox reported a 10% to 20% gain in sales force productivity after implementing a sales and marketing automation system and significant cost savings in marketing support and overhead. Improved Decision-Making: These systems provide executives with timely, high-quality information for strategic decision-making by centralizing and analyzing marketing and sales data. This data-driven method allows for more targeted and effective marketing efforts. The Strategic Advantage of Sales and Marketing Automation By harnessing the power of automation, businesses can streamline operations, optimize customer engagement, and drive impactful results. Let’s explore the transformative potential of sales and marketing automation and its role in propelling businesses forward in the digital age. 1. Enhanced Customer Understanding Sales and marketing automation systems build a comprehensive view of customer behavior and preferences by tracking every customer interaction across various channels. This deep understanding allows for more personalized and effective marketing strategies. 2. Improved Resource Allocation With detailed insights into the effectiveness of different marketing channels and campaigns, companies can optimize their resource allocation. This ensures that marketing budgets are spent where they'll have the most significant impact. 3. Faster Market Response Automated systems allow for quicker implementation of marketing programs and pricing changes. For example, Du Pont's Remington Arms division used sales and marketing automation to reduce the time for a national rollout of pricing and promotional programs from two weeks to less than two days. 4. Cross-Channel Coordination In companies with multiple marketing channels, sales and marketing automation ensure coordination and prevent conflicts. This synergy between marketing efforts (e.g., direct mail, telemarketing, and personal selling) can lead to significant cost savings and improved effectiveness. By leveraging automation technologies, businesses can unlock new levels of productivity, customer insights, and overall competitiveness in the marketplace. Key Considerations Before Implementing Sales and Marketing Automation: Here are some key considerations for businesses looking to adopt these systems: 1. Define the Scope Start by auditing your marketing and sales tasks to determine which processes need immediate automation, which can be automated later, and which should remain manual. This will help focus the automation effort and ensure measurable results without sacrificing flexibility. 2. Focus on Customer Value Prioritize automation of tasks that can add value for the customer. Whether streamlining order processes or providing better product advice, the goal should be to enhance customer experience while reducing costs. 3. Account for Hidden Costs and Intangible Benefits When budgeting for a sales and saas marketing automation system, consider the direct costs of hardware and software and hidden costs like system customization, consulting, and training. Similarly, while some benefits (like increased selling time) are easily quantifiable, don't overlook intangible benefits like improved decision-making and customer understanding. 4. Conduct Realistic Tests Aim for a multifunctional subset of your marketing organization rather than testing single functions in isolation when piloting a sales and marketing automation system. This provides a more realistic picture of the system's performance in a complex, integrated environment. 5. Define Roles and Responsibilities Clearly outline the roles and duties of those tasked with selecting, designing, and operating the system. Collaboration between marketing teams and IT experts is crucial to balance functional needs and technical aspects. 6. Prepare for Organizational Change Successful implementation of sales and marketing automation often requires technological and organizational changes. Invest in training and demonstrate the system's benefits to end-users to ensure adoption and maximize the return on your investment. The Future of Sales and Marketing Automation Automation in sales and marketing is expected to expand even more. These technological advancements, especially in artificial intelligence and machine learning, create new opportunities for predictive analytics, customization, and automated decision-making in sales and marketing automation systems. Businesses that adopt these technologies early on will be well-prepared to adjust to evolving market circumstances and customer demands. Through advanced sales and marketing automation, they can deliver more personalized experiences, make data-driven decisions faster, and ultimately drive stronger business growth. Conclusion Sales and marketing automation significantly enhances customer engagement and revenue generation by streamlining processes and employing effective strategies. However, sales and marketing automation is not just about the new technology to be used but about a new approach to sales and marketing. It demands strategic planning, process optimization, and an openness to reshaping existing workflows. Are you ready to elevate your sales and marketing strategies? At Saffron Edge, we specialize in cutting-edge sales and marketing automation solutions tailored to your unique business needs. Schedule a demo for a personalized consultation and take the first step towards transforming your business growth through the power of automation. ...
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Top 7 SaaS Content Management Systems For Your Business in 2024
Do you know what SaaS marketing is? One needs to focus on the marketing task fully to achieve the desired results. Whether you are creating your own content or working with a full-service digital marketing agency like Saffron Edge, it is important for your SaaS company to stand out with relevant content. This can be difficult if your focus is on managing your website. A content management system can help you by handling the infrastructure, making it easy for you to build and maintain an appealing site without paying for any developers and designers. This blog will discuss how investing in a SaaS content management system can benefit SaaS business while exploring the top 7 CMS options for building a SaaS website. What is a SaaS CMS? A SaaS CMS is a pre-built content management system that works completely in a cloud environment. This type of system can be accessed online and doesn’t require installation, updation, or maintenance. The SaaS provider handles all the processes, such as hardware setup, server management, storage, virtualization, and much more. The vendor’s ongoing improvement or updates can also benefit you. You need to purchase a subscription to get a licence to use the SaaS CMS. Some examples of SaaS CMSs include ButterCMS, Salesforce, and Box.net. Types of SaaS CMS If you want to establish an online presence without hiring high-budget developers, SaaS CMS is your go-to choice. In this section, we will discuss the different SaaS CMS types: Open-source vs. closed-source: Open-source CMS can be accessed via the Internet or downloaded at zero charges. However, you will need to pay for other features such as customization, support, training, add-ons, plugins, etc. On the other hand, a closed-source CMS requires structured coding, and you need to purchase a licence or monthly/annual subscription to access support and updates. Some examples of Open-source include Kentico, Pulse CMS, and Joomla. Some examples of closed-source include ButterCMS, Rivista, Haven Nexus, and Metro Publisher. Legacy/Traditional CMS: This type of CMS generally includes a technical architecture that connects the frontend and the backend with each other, providing everything from a database for content to a presentation layer for publishing. Hosted vs. On-premise CMS: A hosted CMS software requires you to purchase a license from a vendor, similar to on-premise CMS, but a hosted CMS can be hosted remotely through a third-party host provider, or you can rent it from a vendor. In contrast, you are accountable for all the infrastructure required to run the on-premise software. It is clear that you own the software, but for the hosted, as the name says, you need to host it remotely, not physically, unlike on-premises. Headless CMS: We have another category of SaaS CMS Known as Headless CMS. A headless CMS is mainly a back-end system that is responsible for managing and structuring your content without a frontend layer. What are the benefits of investing in a SaaS CMS? The main benefit of SaaS CMS is that it does not require companies to install and run applications using their own computers or data centres. SaaS products don’t require support, maintenance, or uptime. Companies need not worry about these concerns; they can focus on giving a better customer experience and quickly improving their services based on customer cues and insights. It doesn’t matter if you are a Small or medium-sized business that wants to spin up a site fast or a large organization that wants to support multiple brands across different regions and languages. These SaaS products offer many significant benefits: Accelerating Time-to-Value As the old saying goes, "time equals money" and it holds more significance than ever before in the B2B SaaS marketing strategy. A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform expedites the deployment of your experiences, facilitating swift installation and quick takeoff. However, the actual benefits emerge when you're soaring and empowered to launch new experiences in a fraction of the time compared to traditional on-premises solutions. Emphasis on Core Competencies By outsourcing software management to a SaaS provider, organizations can focus on improving their core competencies and pursuing strategic initiatives rather than being looked down on by software development and upkeep. This strategic shift enables businesses to allocate resources more efficiently, directing efforts towards activities that foster growth, a key component of any SaaS marketing playbook. Streamlined Maintenance and Management Consider the time your organization invests in monitoring applications. Transitioning to a SaaS Content Management System (CMS) typically entails the vendor assuming responsibility for system maintenance and ensuring its security and scalability. With Sitecore's SaaS CMS, inclusive support ensures that maintenance and infrastructure concerns are promptly addressed, leaving you with a reliable infrastructure capable of adapting to future market dynamics while optimizing every stage of the SaaS marketing funnel. Accelerated Innovation The SaaS CMS model empowers marketers with accelerated speed to market and minimized friction through features like out-of-the-box templates. Routine tasks such as content publishing or updates are expedited while adapting to evolving market trends and improving marketing automation becomes seamless. Sitecore's SaaS CMS offers marketers user-friendly templates for content creation and updates, streamlining the content creation and deployment processes and enabling quicker asset delivery. Seamless Upgrades and Improvements With a steady stream of software releases and upgrades from your SaaS vendor, you can rely on having the latest software version without the need for reimplementation. Consequently, a SaaS CMS presents a convenient and cost-effective solution for managing website content, eliminating the need for hefty investments in traditional infrastructure or software upgrades. Cost Friendly SaaS negates organizations' need to invest in costly hardware infrastructure and software licenses, as it typically operates within a shared or multi-tenant environment. Instead, businesses can opt for a subscription-based SaaS service, paying a regular fee, often on a per-user basis. This shift minimizes upfront expenditures and trims operational budgets earmarked for software maintenance and upgrades, making the SaaS model particularly appealing to SaaS marketing in a startup. Improved Integration Capabilities SaaS applications are engineered to seamlessly integrate with other software and systems, fostering smooth data flow and bolstering productivity. Many SaaS providers furnish APIs or pre-built integrations with popular tools and platforms such as ERP systems or email clients, facilitating effortless connectivity across diverse systems and streamlining workflows. Top 7 Content Management System 1. WordPress It's not surprising that WordPress is at the top of the list. According to W3Techs, WordPress is used by almost 43% of all existing websites and has over 64% of the market share. It is a beginner-friendly CMS with over 58,000 plugins and themes to design any website you require. It is the perfect choice for small or medium-sized businesses with a light to medium workload. Advantages: User-friendly interface suitable for beginners. Extensive selection of plugins and themes available. No requirement for technical expertise or coding skills. Engaging community resources like WPBeginner Engage and dedicated WordPress courses for learning. Disadvantages: Specific plugins and themes may be unreliable, and bugs may occur frequently. Being open-source, WordPress lacks a dedicated customer support team. 2. Wix Wix is a drag-and-drop interface offering several pre-built templates. It ranks after wordpress, making it the second best CMS option available, which covers almost 9.43% of the total market. Although it is a paid platform, it also provides a free limited plan to help you look for the pros and cons of the platform. It is best for smaller businesses, but ecommerce businesses might want to check Shopify's CMS. Advantages: Simplified operation facilitated by a drag-and-drop interface. Convenient on-the-fly editing capabilities. Access to ready-made templates tailored for desktop and mobile use. Extensive integration possibilities with various applications via the Wix App Market. Disadvantages: Once a template is selected, it cannot be easily changed. The free plan offers limited features, notably lacking an eCommerce store and payment options. Downloading or exporting data can be challenging, requiring manual copying and pasting. 3. Drupal Drupal is an open-source and flexible CMS built for expert web developers. It is the perfect CMS option for UNICEF and Pinterest Business. The API architecture allows to create big sites comprising large data within it. It allows you to choose any site template or create a website from zero. Advantages: Drupal websites typically attract more traffic than other commonly used CMS platforms. Improved security measures are ensured through regular security assessments conducted by the CMS. Comprises over 48,000 modules and 3000 themes, Drupal offers a a lot of customization options. Free to use. Disadvantages: Expertise in PHP, CSS, and HTML is required. Drupal is not user-friendly for beginners. Implementing upgrades on Drupal sites can be a time-consuming process. 4. Joomla Joomla is a robust free, open-source CMS that combines Drupal's flexibility with WordPress's user-friendly interface. It can be used by CMS developers and professional web creators, Joomla comprises a lot of out-of-the-box features, making it a best choice for those seeking versatility. Advantages: Over 6000 extensions in its offline directory, including eCommerce solutions. Bolstered by an active and vibrant community, offering abundant learning resources. Improved security through 2-Factor Authentication. Streamlined document editing functionality. Disadvantages: Compatibility issues may arise among certain modules, plugins, and extensions. Joomla may lack some additional extensions. Beginners may find Joomla's learning curve steep. 5. Magento (Adobe Commerce) Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform acquired by Adobe, have a big clientele, including Coca Cola, Ford, and Nike. It is known for its expertise in various features like security, SEO optimization, and flexibility for customization, Magento is often considered one of the top choices in the eCommerce industry. It particularly suitable for larger online stores with substantial sales volumes, adeptly managing high product counts and order traffic. Magento offers Adobe Commerce, a premium platform providing complete hosting services and support. Advantages: Easily customizable with various third-party extensions. Handles heavy workload. Multiple integrated payment options. Disadvantages: Pricing may be high. Locating and hiring Magento developers can be both complex and costly. Setting up and configuring Magento stores can be time-intensive affairs. 6. CMS Hub HubSpot's CMS Hub is a fully integrated content management system for marketing and business owners. This CMS is widely used by 100,000 sites, and it offers accessibility to individuals with minimal technical expertise thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop editor.CMS Hub extends its functionalities into marketing automation, as well as sales and service tools. Advantages: Built-in security features, including a global CDN and Web Application Firewall. The drag-and-drop editor requires minimal technical skills. Seamless integration with email tools and HubSpot's CRM Disadvantages: Limited availability of plugins and themes Absence of direct technical support 7. Shopify Shopify is an all-in-one Content management system. Its package offers hosting, installation, and website management. Its drag-and-drop interface is best suited for eCommerce retailers. As it is not an open-source platform, it does not offer many customizable options. Advantages: Integrated multiple payment options like Debit card, Credit Card, Paypal and more. If your sales go higher, it doesn’t ask you to upgrade. Comprises more than 70 themes and over 5700 free/paid apps. Disadvantages: It doesn’t have many functionality additions. Integration of third-party apps can increase your bills. ...
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