(P.C.- Unsplash, @ellicia_)

Undoubtedly, the flower business has grown by leaps and bounds, not only in the States but worldwide. Gone are the days, when flowers were a mere accompaniment with the main gift, but today they have taken the center-stage, with beautiful flower arrangements and decors being readily available for different occasions, not only are they aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but carry the emotions of the giver in an effective manner.

Florist business is expected to reach revenues of nearly $16bn by 2023, definitely, COVID-19 has had a negative impact, but it shall pick up for sure, because of the variety, safety and cost-effectiveness they offer. With online flower purchasing going up every year and many competitors entering the fray, it becomes a heavily competitive area and all the more imperative for your business to stand apart from the rest. Let’s see some ways, as o how can you promote your business via different modes:

1. Having a beautiful, easily navigable and a precise website- For any business, existence of a good website is imperative, especially in today’s times where people are using and opting for services which are online centric and if you aren’t there yet, undoubtedly that shall create one too many hurdles for your business. But, fret not because it’s never too late to start, and we at Zivanta Analytics can help you precisely do that. Your website acts as a focal point of attraction for your customers, not only it acts as a representation of your physical store, if any, but also spreads your business on to a wider area and covers wider audience, so a well designed website is of utmost importance in today’s times, because a poorly designed website won’t only convey a negative image about your business but also drive away customers and most importantly wouldn’t rank higher on any search website based on organic search.

        A good website would attract customers to your store and if you offer online delivery services, then it’s best to mention which area and what all related services do you offer, clarity on this shall give your business the desired impetus and a higher search engine ranking. There are certain points which should be kept in mind, prior to designing and launching any website, i.e. the ease of use and navigation, how convenient is the site layout, presence of all important contact details, presence of all other service and business related information, loading speed, aesthetics of the website and most importantly, does it resonate with your business story.

2. Ad listing on Google- Google is one such platform where you can easily generate local ad listings, because for local florists’ location and apt contact details are the whole and soul for your business. It’s a pre-requisite to have a Google My Business account, and the information mentioned here is up-to date, because your business can suffer on many accounts if certain vital information pertaining to your business is missing then this shall impact your Google rankings, negatively.

        One way to boost your rankings in an organic way is to have many reviews posted by your users, and the more they are positive the better, because, in today’s times, new customers prefer taking stock of honest opinions prior to approaching any business, as they are worried about every penny they spent and there is a genuine trust on past buyers, who post their experiences because a business house can’t manipulate all the reviews. Therefore, if your business has plenty of good reviews, then your rankings will definitely rise up and in case, there are any complaints, then solve them as soon as possible; this shall reflect a prompt, attentive and diligent customer service as well as create a positive image of your business.

3. Apt use of Social Media- Social media is where you can use multiple platforms and different market your content and business, as per the demands of the audience and thus target a wider range of people. For instance, you can promote your content with posts and suitable pictures on Facebook, post pictures of your different flower arrangements on Instagram with catchy slogans and bouquet of pictures on Pinterest, the latter two options being on your primary list, because your products are related to visual merchandising and these two platforms solely cater to that aspect, as well as they help you target the demography you are aiming for, i.e. more of teens, youngsters and women because they are the ones who make the most of such purchases and this is the demographic having a higher and responsive presence on both these platforms.

    For instance these are some ideas which you can channelize to boost up your Social Media presence and engagement:

• Posting business info online
• DIY tips on a regular basis
• Tips to beautify your home with the help of flowers
• Flower gifting ideas every month
• Customer reviews and feedback
• Offers, discounts, and promotions on a regular basis

4. Using data analytics – With the continuous increase in the volume of sales via online mode, the door of opportunities for the business won’t ever close for you, and here is when you can use the inputs generated via business analytics to your advantage. Many companies across different sectors, track consumer behavior to predict the trends and earn higher revenues, by targeting their next move and anticipated preferences. For instance, tracking an incomplete purchase on your website or monitoring the past purchases of your customers, can help you remind them of the placing an order, the same time next year or by keeping them in the loop with various promotional activities from your end, so as to maintain your customer base.
5. Creating attractive blog content – With you being in a business where visual effects carry immense importance, you can re-post and re-share your posts posted on Instagram and photos shared on Pinterest with an attractive article on your website. A well researched and a well-written article, with proper research done for boosting SEO performance, shall definitely create wonders for you. Not only shall this increase the consumer traffic on your website and make it more popular, but also posting worthwhile content regularly, for instance on topics like designing ideas, home décor trends related to your business, gifting ideas, etc. shall create a loyal customer-brand relationship, if they find these blogs engaging and productive.

These were just some of the ideas to get you started for promoting your business online, if not already there and if you are already having an online presence, then you can use these ideas to further leverage and gain traction.

With COVID-19 hitting the people like a bolt out of the blue, the severity and the anticipated impact wasn’t which was accounted to. The landscape of how the world operates has changed dramatically and so has that of the USA due to the virus. People across the globe had been laid off unexpectedly across various sectors, be it the hospitality or the aviation or telecom, etc. The list is endless, but there are some businesses which have not only retained their clients but have also grown during the pandemic. With people learning to adapt to the new normal, some traditional businesses which had taken a backseat earlier have also come to the fore-front yet again, for instance home-made food delivery, health-care services, etc.

      (P.C.- Unsplash, @jakaylatoney)

      Let’s take a look at some of the businesses which have sustained themselves successfully during such demanding times:

1. Supermarkets- With the pandemic hitting the habits of the people to eat outside on a regular basis, they were now looking for options to prep their meals by selves and have healthier meals to remain in good health. With the take home and delivery of food business still remaining as it is, even going up higher in terms of business volumes generated, but the super-marts had seen a tremendous increase in their revenue footfall, be it for sales regarding with purchasing of daily essentials as well as food items. Some of this was even a result of initial panic buying but people who had time in their hand, explored different avenues and tried their hands at baking or cooking exquisite meals, some items like the flourless cakes or Dalgona coffee were major social media trends during the pandemic.

(P.C.- Unsplash, @imants72)

2. Meal preparation and delivery services – With people opting for home-cooked meals or preferring food from outside which is prepared in a well sanitized and a safe environ, a demand for services related to ready to eat meals and food delivery services have risen up, dramatically. Many local food joints have seen a rise in demand of meal prep services and are witnessing a surge in orders, as well as have seen an increase in their customer base.

 (P.C.- Unsplash, @lightphonics)

3. Tutoring and online education platforms – With children being unable to attend schools and youngsters unable to attend universities for a long time, parents across USA were rightly worried about their children’s future, that couldn’t be held at stake. Therefore, the sudden rise of online education portals and hike in the demand for private tutors didn’t come as a surprise. With the demand in safety and precautions on the rise and avoiding public interface being a priority for people, the preference has risen for limited contact amongst people. That’s why parents prefer at home tutors who can supplement the virtual education being taken by their children. Many at home tuition services have hired tutors who can teach young children at their homes.

 Virtual education platforms like Chegg etc. are also offering education-related services to help children on various aspects to overcome the lag in education which rose up due to the pandemic.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @mohammadshahhosseini)

4. Behavioral health practitioners, psychiatrists, psychologists, et al. – With the COVID -19 impacting people in a negative manner, i.e. people losing their jobs as a result they suffer from financial distress, suffering from depression, familial issues, societal pressure, isolation etc., therefore all these things have taken a toll on the mental health of the people, as these cases have risen across USA, they have taken re-course to psychological and behavioral counseling. To help people, many psychologists, therapists, psychiatrists have taken to virtual counseling methods. Rise in the apps like Talkspace, Betterhelp, etc. have acted as distress relievers for the people, more-so because they are convenient, economical and flexible to use.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @anthonytran)

5. OTT and Entertainment Portals- With people staying at home for long and WFH becoming norm for the day, modes of entertainment had been limited to a few due to obvious reasons. As people couldn’t venture out for even a walk in the park, use of entertainment portals like Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc. have seen a spike, with the latter adding 16 million new subscribersduring the first quarter of 2020.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @molliesivaram)

6. Sports and Fitness equipment Industry- As people were confined within the four walls of their house, fitness in general had taken a backseat, and was even a harsh time for fitness enthusiasts and regular gym goers, as any such public centre was closed, and still haven’t returned to the Pre-COVID levels. People across USA have turned to home gyms, wherein they are ordering fitness equipments like yoga mats and other products, demand for which are on the rise.

Fitness companies are offering virtual classes to people where they can watch recorded or live sessions as per their convenience as well as there are rising tech start-ups that offer internet-connected fitness equipment for instance, Mirror, Fightcamp, etc.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @krakenimages)

7.  Delivery Services- With people hardly stepping out of their homes or only when it was needed the most, delivery services of both essential and non-essential goods had picked up. There has been seemingly a hike in the professional delivery services across States, especially in the food and corporate retail delivery services, for instance, delivery of groceries, medicines, etc.

8. Sanitizer and Mask Production – Though, the last on the list but probably the most important sector which has skyrocketed, be it in terms of sales or identity; irrespective of the company size, all companies engaged in this business have seen a visible jump in their production capacity and resultant revenues, as well as, there has been an opening for new entrants as well, who tapped the market at the opportune time.

 As per the claims of Chicago based Terraboost Media’s they have emerged as an objective based OOH Media advertizing agency, which successfully created a network of more than 72k hand sanitizing billboards, which dispensed sanitizer and wipes, along-with displaying messages and advisory to the consumer, who entered Super-marts, pharmacies, groceries, etc. These high engagement figures indicate the essential need and demand of the sanitizers; As per Terraboost Media’s CEO Brian Morrison “In today’s current environment, people are using them everywhere they go. Its guaranteed engagement; almost every person uses a wipe. The engagement is almost equal to foot traffic,” Morrison added. “The hand-sanitizing billboards reach a vast audience, and 94% of shoppers have positive opinion of company sponsoring them.”

The mask making industry has also picked up steam, till a while ago, the usage of the same was restricted to emergency and other healthcare services, prominently, but with COVID virus being transmittable, masks have come as a first shield of defense, which are indispensable; therefore, not only are big companies from across the globe are manufacturing masks, but even small tailors, boutique owners, fashion designers are coming up with specially designed masks, to suit the tastes of the customer, since nowadays it has become an essential need, which is mandatory to be carried at all times.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @taiscaptures)

We have seen examples of such businesses that waded the COVID waters successfully, there are many more to the list, but successful management of the business depends on a carefully thought out process, as well as proper implementation of marketing strategy. Though the pandemic has now come down from what it was from the starting of the year, it’s never too late to pick up and race ahead, because that’s what business and entrepreneurship are all about.

(P.C.- https://jbbakery.com/about/our-story/bakery-collage/)

With the food and baking industry spanning across the country, especially during the lockdown when people harnessed their talent and started their own boutique bakeries, nor only has the competition risen on the horizon but also provided more options to the consumers, who will now have plethora of options to choose from, thus, acting as an incentive for you to further evolve and become creative with not only your products but also your marketing tactics. The baking industry generates more than $30Bn approximately, every year. Though the industry is highly fragmented and dispersed, but still there are a little more than 6000 retail bakers and approximately 3000 commercial bakers, operating across USA, this goes on to show the humongous size of this industry. As creative is the bakery sector, so shall be the numerous ways of reaching out to people, let’s look at some ways it can be done.

Website and Social Media Marketing-

1. Images and Content – Sharing delectable pictures of your bakery products; won’t only tempt your website visitors but also create positive imagery regarding your products and prompt willingness to try your offerings. Being in a creative field, your website should depict the same, i.e. it should be bright, colorful, and easily navigable but most importantly should be real, because stock photos won’t do much good for you and your business, as well as create trust deficiency between you and your clients.

     The content or the description of your products on your website should always be there and shall be accurate, this helps those users who might have some issues in loading pictures present on your website as well as placing SEO keywords, would help you rise up organically on Google Ad-word search rankings.

2. Easy to Navigate – Your website shall not only be aesthetically designed but should also have strategic placement of all important information related to your business, be it your work hours, location, products and services offered, contact form, etc. You can facilitate this process for your visitors by providing navigation and search bars on the top of your web-pages as well as have drop down menus, to help the users go through various snippets of information present on your website. We at Zivanta Analytics can help you come up with some really quirky and creative web designs, to give your business a Midas touch.
3. Online buying facility – Due to the COVID-19, people avoid going to public places an opt for home-delivery services, thus, if you offer online buying facility, then it should be mentioned on your website, as well as, if there are any specific instructions or information regarding the same, then that shall be mentioned clearly on your website, too. You can place your number or address, if there is a physical store and/or an e-mail id, where customers can reach out to you easily and can get quick responses.
4. Let’s talk about your USP – Your USP can be anything, whether it is your success story or your passion or some secret recipes passed over generations…anything that gives your brand a magical touch and makes it different from your competitors. Customers are always attracted to something which is unique, as that gives them a feeling of satisfaction and being part of a niche’ crowd. It always helps to have done your SEO research before-hand, by placing long-tail keywords and attractive images to help you push up on the search rankings of Google and other search websites.

(P.C.- Unsplash, @sutanto)

5.  Social Media – Social media is one such tool, where you can promote your content to a larger audience and that too at economical rates or even free if you are just starting…the plethora of options available on social media are endless as well as there is no dearth of options, be it Instagram or Facebook or Pinterest, where you can post your pictures and content easily and regularly.

But it should mean that you are respecting the time and privacy of the users and not constantly pester them with your posts, as that might irritate and alienate them from your brand for being too intrusive and generating a  negative connotation for your business. The way to win over and stand apart is by adopting a healthy mix of conversation, user engagement, promotion, and content, and this can be determined suitably by gauging your market, customers, and business mix and the resultant matrix.

Offline Marketing

 This form of marketing is very effective for those who have a physical store and would want to expand their business with the help of all accessible channels;

1. Entice your customers – This is the strategy which isn’t only free but most effective to build a relationship with your customers, just open the doors and let the aroma of your products waft through the streets, not only will this tempt the consumers but give them a chance to enter your store and make a purchase. It is here where you can strike up a conversation and tell them about your services and products offered, for instance if you offer healthy vegan options, gluten-free cakes, etc., thus, anything and everything which gives you a chance to connect and establish a relationship with your customers. For Instance that’s how Starbucks or Costa Coffee or many major cafes place themselves to entice the walking customers with the aroma of coffee and freshly baked goods.
2. Offer free samples – Who doesn’t like good and tasty stuff …that too free? It does sound an amazing offer and people will mostly be up for trying your products, the best part is that not only you and the other people get to know about your business, but you can experiment with the product variety offered by you and get a genuine feedback on those products, this shall give you a first-hand idea about what the customer wants and how successfully are you meeting the demands. Not only this, let’s say if 100 people try your products and even 10 return back to buy something from you, that implies new business opportunities.
3. Offer classes to learn baking and patisserie items – One way to tap into what people like and getting to know them as well as generating a personal touch is where you can offer baking classes, where you can teach them how to bake certain items famous from your bakery. This will help build a close knit relationship with some of your customers, generate positive word of mouth publicity and give you an insight as to what your consumers want. You can try this on a pilot basis, if this turns out to be successful, then you can create some packages to attract people, this shall help in cultivating a positive brand image for your bakery.
4. Offer discounts and sell custom merchandise products – Offering products at reasonable rates or at discounted rates is always a great idea to attract customers and generate curiosity regarding your products amongst the people. For instance selling Macaroons at baker’s dozen for $10 won’t be the same as getting 7+6 Macaroons for $10, the difference lies in perception and how well are you able to market upon that. As a bakery business owner you need to continuously come up with strategies and tactics, that enhance the value of your business, offer tremendous growth and outreach and at the same time is cost-effective, for instance offering coupons, free samples etc. on a regular basis to maintain the interest of your consumers and attract new ones.You can offer customized merchandise to your customers, as many customers like supporting and patronizing local businesses, therefore you can offer them mitts, aprons, mugs, cooking trays, chopping boards, etc. all embossed with your logo, or conduct events from time to time and give these products as free giveaways to make the customers feel special.
5. Work with the community or volunteer groups – Self volunteering and/or engaging with local community to help them better their lives, is always a good idea to be associated with, not only does this make your brand value more positive, enhances your relationship with the local community. So you can go ahead and align yourself with the goals that sounds most favorable with your audience and this you can do by analyzing their preferences.

We have presented you a mix of ideas to further your bakery business, by incorporating a healthy mix of online and offline methods, the matrix to be followed shall depend upon your business needs and resource availability. As the bakery business is booming, so shall the needs for smart and strategically crafted Digital Media strategies.

With the COVID-19 pandemic creating a negative impact on all sectors, education too has been negatively impacted; schools, colleges, universities al have been shut down, thus creating a poor impact on children, worldwide. Because of the sudden emergence of the pandemic, an undeniable repercussion on children’s future had to be mitigated and thus, was realized the importance of virtual education, which till recently was a close second to traditional methods of teaching. With the re-opening of educational institutions still being debatable till the arrival of vaccine, home-grown schooling with the help of ed-tech companies is on the rise. Ed-tech education is not only time saving, convenient and tailored to suit the needs of the students but is also cost effective and impactful.

The USA in the present times has a strong higher education sector, with over 77 million students; USA prior to COVID-19 had the largest online degree business, with approximately 3M students pursuing a course totally via online modules, the total market cap of which was around $20Bn and is still expanding, despite some turbulence seen due to the pandemic.

(P.C.- Unsplash, @bramnaus)

Marketing Strategies that can be effective for the Ed-tech companies

1. E-mail based marketing – Despite the fact, it is one of the oldest forms of marketing, yet its effectiveness hasn’t diminished with time. The efficacy of this form of advertizing surpasses for the Ed-tech sector, as compared to others, provided that the mails are targeted to correct audience, focused on interests and point of concern of the people, thereby, eliciting maximum engagement rate. Before sending mails, it is important to note to avoid being marked as spam mails as well as have a low bounce rate and this can happen only if you are clearly able to understand the different decision makers you shall be targeting and how helpful will you be solving their issues, i.e. selected and optimized content for the segmented audience.
2. Video Marketing- Video marketing is an interesting way to capture the interest of your audience as well as target them effectively. Video marketing works with the help of visual imagery, which creates a deep impact on the recall memory of the potential customers. Video marketing is a fluid tool, which can be shared across different platforms and with multiple users at once, but all this happens if the video has been designed thoughtfully. Why is this an important tool of marketing, that’s because it accounts for approximately 69% of the internet traffic, thus, capturing a substantial part of viewer engagement.

 Though, one thing has to be kept in mind before promoting your videos, i.e. which platform to opt for because all have their own pros and cons, for instance promoting on open platforms like Youtube would give you a wider exposure, would be economical but has too much of ads which might disrupt the viewer experience, whereas you can use other platforms but they might not be economical nor that famous, but can give a seamless user experience, so it all depends on what your priority is.

For instance, there’s Khan Academy, which is one of the world’s most successful Ed-tech companies, having approximately a million teachers registered on their platform, the reason why they are successful is that they prioritize students learning at their own pace as well as have built a platform to facilitate learning crafted as per the users’ individual style.

1. Use of Social Media- Social media is the most convenient and effective platform to reach out to various segments of your target audience, it’s more useful because most people across the world who have internet access are somewhere present on one or multiple social media platforms, therefore, making your outreach easier. For Ed-tech companies, it’s an effective tool because not only can they post their content on various social media groups and pages, but at the same time, they are cost effective and time saving. The only thing to be kept in mind before progressing ahead is to make sure that the content posted is impactful, solves queries of the target consumer as well as at the same time, not abusing the power of free access, as that might create a negative reputation.
2. Importance of SEO – Ed-tech companies can offer customized solutions to various interested parties, i.e. be it teachers, students, parents, etc., who shall be on an active lookout for services they need. Being in the tech sector, the companies would definitely know the prowess of internet as a tool and how technology can influence the decision of the interested parties and thereby, how you can enhance your marketing techniques. Thereby, it is of utmost importance to focus on SEO, thus, your website and the subsequent content should be designed as SEO friendly, which makes your website rank higher on Google search and various other search engines for selected keywords.
3. Pay per click marketing – If your search results aren’t yielding satisfactory results organically, then the right way to go ahead is to invest wisely for PPC advertising, and we at Zivanta Analytics can help you drive up your search results organically by optimizing various parameters to enhance lead generation for your business, for instance strategically placing and designing your ads to target the specific consumer segment.

 Having seen some of the digital marketing strategies, let’s have a look whom to target with these tactics:

1. Students- Many companies design their programs to target students, by focusing on their needs and making the study plans more economical, flexible and easy to understand, as well as helping them solve their problems, for instance Chegg or Quizlet.

2. Teachers- Teachers play a pivotal role in success of any Ed-tech company, by ensuring that if they are convinced f their services and offered products, they will encourage and propagate its use, not only amongst students, but also amongst parents, higher authorities and their respective social circle, thus, involved in positive word of mouth publicity for your company. You can offer basic or premium services to the teachers based on their requirements, for instance MasteryConnect and Evernote are two such popular tools amongst teachers, to help them track students performance and other parameters.

3. Parents- This is an example of direct-to-consumer business approach, which involves directly targeting customers like parents, who act as the end consumer. Offering a service or a product that intends to cater to students and teachers can be a great opportunity to attract parents as customers.

4. Schools/ Educational Institutes – Although, it involves a steady and a tough approach since a major part of getting schools and other such institutions on-board is the fact, that if they are convinced of the products and services offered by the Ed-tech companies based on the feedback of educators and students, then only they shall go ahead and invest their resources in such a product. One such successful business model was adopted by TeachBoost, they directly approached the school principals’ who were played a pivotal part in such decision making.

5. Partnering with other Ed-tech companies- one major way to grow your business model is by partnering with similar Ed-tech companies and work in collaboration with them, or sell your products to those companies, one such company which successfully achieved its target is Clever, who as per their claim say that 89 out of the top 100 school districts use it.

 Finally, it is very important to assess your buying cycle for your sector, thus, prior to moving ahead, you should take into consideration the buyer needs, their journey and how you can use that information to strategize further, which though, might be time taking, but once properly thought of and implemented, it can help you fix future flaws easily and give you a ready framework in place for a long time.

Source: KISSmetrics

With the pandemic changing the normal way of life lived earlier, Ed-tech companies have a long way to prosper ahead, but along-with growth come challenges and resistance. Having said that, it can all be worked out conveniently if all the interested parties are brought on-board and at the same time, your marketing strategy is effective and is in place. It should be noted that it won’t be a bed of roses, but with the undeniable impact of education on everybody’s life, adopting the right approach can help you get a buy-in from the target audience and the right time.

Aesthetics for any and everything always have an impressionable presence, which aids in not only creating a positive aura of that particular object but also reflects the style of your business entity. With a plethora of businesses having their online presence, the competition to stand apart and creating your own unique identity is gaining traction day by day, therefore, it is important to stand apart from the crowd and that shall happen if you invest in creating and building your brand aesthetic.

Why is brand aesthetic important?

A brand aesthetic refers to the visual appearance of your website or blog, which helps to identify and recognize the personality of your brand. Brand aesthetic helps in aligning your social channels to ensure and maintain consistency. Having a unique and personalized style aids you in standing apart from your competitors, especially on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, where visual content plays a major role, in registering your brand presence in the minds of the people. Having  a collective style and pattern across different social media channels leads to credibility for your consumers, as well as keep the employees on the same page regarding any changes and that ensures consistency.

Tips to create brand aesthetic

1. Know your business and target audience – The first step in creating a brand aesthetic is knowing your brand persona and if that’s clear as a crystal, then voila you know how to create your brand aesthetic. It depends how you want to convey your brand as, something chic, modern, bold, joyful or serious and what values do you want your consumers to gauge of you. It’s always a better idea to mix and match your styles and regularly update your brand aesthetic…not only it helps in creating novelty but also lends different interesting hues to your consumers, by pleasantly surprising them.

    What is important here, is all the audience to whom you are catering to, what choices and preferences do they have and most importantly what kind of behavior do they reflect towards your brand aesthetic and here is where analytics can play a very important role to help you gauge the correct metrics and we at Zivanta Analytics can help you exactly do that.

2. Opting for attractive color palettes or filters- Visual imagery is all about creating impressionable posts, by displaying attractive colorful pictures and providing uniformity to your posts. To improve the look and feel of your posts, you can opt for various hues or filers on your feed for instance opting for retro or contemporary hues, whatever suits your brand persona. You can build your own business identity by using color palettes by mixing and matching different colors, to give a consistent feel to your posts.
3. Posting content that gels with your brand identity- It always pays to display your content in a quirky yet impressionable manner, so why not display pictures of your products or services in a flat lay off manner to attract the attention of your customers. If your posts are catchy enough to gain attention and resonate with your followers, then you might be in luck as they can act as your brand ambassadors, if they re-post your content on their Instagram account, then not only your customer interaction base increases but also you’ll have user generated content that’s organic and real. You too can do the same, when you post content of your customers and followers, that’s called as UGC (User generated content), this helps in building a healthy relationship based on trust and awareness; UGC offers amazing benefits for your business, as these days many prospective customers are first likely to evaluate original experiences of the users who have used your products or undertaken your services, and if it is all positive, then this makes you trustworthy and authentic.
4. Having a toolkit ready for your aesthetic resources – Once the basic toolkit of your preferred and chosen fonts, designs, styles and colors is selected, for your brand aesthetic, it’s important to have them all in one place. If you have a ready toolkit for your workers, associates and yourself then you can easily access any ready templates, formats, fonts and fillers for posting your content. There are many free and economical resources to save and create your library of images, for instance you can use Google Drive, Dropbox, Citrix or Onedrive, etc. Here you can build catalog of your different posts and save them securely.
5. Create a branded Hashtag for your business – A branded hashtag acts as a differentiating factor for your business apart from other business entities and helps you reach out to new customers, as well as help in generating higher social media engagement. For instance, in Redbull’s #PutACanOnIt campaign, in here the company engaged its customers by asking them to put a creative spin on Redbull cans and take pictures of the same. This not only encouraged other brands like Pepsi, Perrier, etc. to come up with something that interesting but also showed successfully the overwhelming popularity of organic campaigns and user-generated content.

Let’s have a look at some successful examples of Instagram Brand Aesthetics:

1. Nike @ 122.7 Million followers

Nike quite often features sportsperson for their campaigns, which not only beautifully captures the human emotion but also creates a relationship between the customers and brand.

2. Colourpop Cosmetics @ 9.8 M followers

Colourpop is a cosmetic brand based out of LA and cleverly delivers what their customers would want to see on Instagram; they have a variety of product-related posts, swatches, tutorials, influencers using their product, etc. Their images are colorful, catchy, and leave an impression on the users.

3. Doug the Pug @ 4M followers

This is undoubtedly one of the most famous dogs’ Instagram handle worldwide, this dog is known for its unique pictures with colorful costumes and droopy tongue, thus engaging the users with their cute content.

4. Fabletics @ 1.7 M followers

Having established self as trustworthy, performance-oriented, focused on good quality, and being contemporary at the same time, knows how to use Instagram well for their promotion and user engagement. The main point of posting pictures on their Instagram handle is the fact that they promote positive imagery by posting pictures of their customers looking good, while they are exercising.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @rupixen)

Why Digital Marketing for Credit Unions is the need of the hour?

Credit unions have always had it tough to demarcate themselves successfully when it comes to facing competition and because they offer more or less similar services like banks and other financers, there target population remains the same more or less and so shall be the approach of targeting the consumers. Therefore, the rules of the game have to be changed and re-molded in such a way that combining an effective use of technology along-with the specialized set of services offered, not only help in customer retention but also in gaining traction amongst new customers.

Before going ahead with your digital marketing strategy, you should know your audience, i.e., one who knows about you and one who doesn’t. For the ones who know about you, it’s always easier to keep them in the loop because of brand familiarity leading to closer relationships. Here the main target is how to attract those customers who aren’t aware about you, even remotely. With so many similar organizations modeled on the same way like yours and having common names with financial and federal, the list of confusion for the unassuming customer grows, unabated. Therefore, our team at Zivanta Analytics shall happily assist you in going ahead with your future endeavors as well as helping in sustaining those successfully cultivated past relations.

Strategies to design your digital marketing approach –

It is important to design a holistic marketing strategy to target customers from all ends, and being impactful but also minding the fact, that it’s not too much of into-my-face advertising and there are tools to help you to achieve the same, let’s have a look at a few of those:

1. Use of AI and Big data to personalize the user experience – With excessive user data at the disposal of financial institutions, and credit unions being no exception, this data can be channelized to have a consumer-targeted marketing strategy. For instance using simple regression or data algorithm to suggest products or services to a particular customer, based on their past behavior or suggesting them specific loans or mortgages as per their financial history. During the current times, when so much confusion is prevailing, it is important to offer constructive advice and help to your customers and therefore designing or suggesting your customers a personalized financial plan to help them overcome the financial stress that is facing, would go a long way in building your reputation as well as creating a lifelong relationship.
2. Creating a breezy customer experience as a priority in your marketing strategy – Creating a convenient and a quality rich consumer experience would help your credit union to grow, be it creating a wonderful virtual experience or providing them with a facilitative experience at your physical workplace. The marketing strategy should be so designed that it focuses on creating a positive, helpful, and quality experience for every customer, whenever they interact with your credit union. Thus, having a consumer-first policy shall go a long way in building a good reputation and long term sustenance of your organization.
3. Having a digital app in the first place – The importance of having a digital presence can’t be emphasized more, with nearly 77% of the U.S. population having access to social media, therefore, the logical conclusion from the same is that these people would prefer something which is on-the go; offers convenience and ease of usage, which not only saves time but is also safe at the same time. With the current change in scenario due to COVID -19, people prefer digital interactions rather than face to face ones. This is a golden opportunity to further push your app and refine it as per consumer demands; you can use it for multiple purposes be it marketing or personal banking and financial services, offering safety precautions, and tutoring customers regarding your services from time to time. This shall create a relationship of ease and trust between you and your customer as well as target new generation customers. We at Zivanta Analytics can help you in developing a facilitative and aesthetically designed app for your business needs, thus giving you a point of leverage against others, in the fray.
4. Personalizing Consumer outreach – With every business now aiming to enhance their consumer outreach, credit unions aren’t far away and rightly shouldn’t be so. Connecting with consumers in person definitely has a humane touch rather an online one, but it’s imperative to add real value to the outreach, for instance offering on a time to time basis real time consultations, financial planning and advice, personalized customer based financial plans or whatever is applicable to your local demography. What should be kept in mind is the fact that these outreach events aren’t events for creating a sales pitch, thereby, your representatives should remain warm, welcoming and friendly, thereby, focusing on offering valuable suggestions and advice, because the idea is to help the community at large and forging meaningful relationships.

How to Target new Customers:

1. Use of Social media – As per a study by Forrester social media and digital advertising will form a considerable size of your digital marketing expense, i.e. approximately 40% and there are valid reasons for the same. This is because, advertising on social media gives you an unhindered exposure as well as offering people access to new things and making them aware of the products and services offered by you.
2. Use of Google for display and search advertising – Use of Google Adwords isn’t something new but the importance of who can’t be emphasized less. Running ads on the search engines results pages (SERPs) and on specific websites ensures you are generating greater returns on your advertising dollars. There are some reasons why Google is more helpful for you:

• Targeting the appropriate audience
• Ease of Budgeting
• Traffic maintenance
• Testing of multiple ads to judge the best version

                   Maintaining older Customers:

1. Having an interactive and an aesthetic website: Since most financial institutions get their traffic from consumers landing on their webpage to access their account and for other services, therefore you can use the webpage space available to advertise other services and other products, offered by you. It’s important to understand the value of time, i.e. how to successfully capture the interest of the users in a limited time-frame and that can happen if the banner images so designed and placed are powerful enough to convey the desired messages. It’s important to continuously change the image displayed on the banners and regularly test buttons, CTA’s and tabs; this is important to give variety and a novel experience on a regular basis to your customers.

With the given ideas, you can have a head-start to plan your marketing strategy and tailor it as per your needs and the clientele being catered to. Now some strategies might already be in place for you and some might be new, but the way to stay ahead in the game is calculated marketing investment and creating new but targeted strategies to keep customers in loop.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @campaign_creators)

Irrespective of the type of business you are into, measuring Key Performing Indicators (KPI’s) for it is essential, but with dime a dozen KPI measures available online, it not only creates chaos but also deviates you from the path of strategic thinking and decision-making.

You don’t need to measure each and every KPI, as it is not only unnecessary but also creates a burden on your resources to successfully meet the fulfillment criteria for every KPI which is short of the target, as well as not necessarily you need every metric to understand how your marketing plan is performing. Generic KPI’s aren’t helpful in making sense for your clients and as well as whether they align with the type of marketing campaigns run by your team.

By employing revenue-focused marketing KPIs, you can ably show your team’s valuable efforts while staying aligned with your broad business goals.

Some Key Marketing KPI’s to show your marketing worth

1. Rate of Conversion – Individually measuring conversion rates for every phase of your marketing funnel shall lend you a productive insight into your customer’s journey. While studying that you may across certain loopholes in some phases, which can be a cause of you losing your potential revenue. For every organization, marketing funnels shall be different, and so shall your measuring metrics. It is important to have a well designed webpage to attract your customers and have your landing pages designed into conversion points. It is imperative to test the success of your landing page, so test them and refine them periodically, this is very important to ensure higher rate of conversion.
2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV) – It is important to calculate your customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV), to assess which customers carry value for you. To engage those customers, marketing campaigns have to be designed and adjusted; this can happen once we know which acquisition channels are giving the most profitable customers. CLV or LTV also helps in designing your retention marketing plan.
3. Quality of Leads generated; Bounce rate and MQL:SQL ratio- Lead counts, the higher the number, the better it sounds and makes you feel good, but how are they helpful, if they don’t convert into closed deals, then it just shows a misdirected marketing strategy, as well as results in loss of money, time and resources. The main goal of any lead generation activity is to generate qualified leads, those who are in all probability going to indulge in a transactional activity with your business. In this case, Bounce rate can help you determine, whether you are attracting the right audience traffic to your website, whereas, MQL:SQL ratio acts as litmus test for your sales team, wherein, whether they are successfully able to convert leads into proper customers.
4. Leads generated by Channels – Extracting the most of your given resources, plays a crucial part in determining and developing any marketing strategy. To determine your success rate and highest ROI generated, you can break the results by determining leads by channel, these can be your social media channels, e-mail based marketing, in-bound marketing, content creation, material downloads, newspaper based marketing, etc.
5. Marketing Generated Revenue- This is one crucial KPI as it enables marketing-sourced pipeline to reach the end of the funnel, thereby helping the companies to know the exact figure of the total revenue earned from successful deals that originally were just marketing leads. This metric carries great value as it shows the marketing team’s alignment to the organizational goals as well as determining the overall health of the business.
6. Marketing ROI – This is one of the most important and impactful marketing KPI, especially when one wishes to convey the most important message in a crisp manner, i.e. the impact generated with every dollar spent, which can help the higher management determine the value which marketing brings to the table. MROI also helps in determining important decisions like creating marketing budgets, marketing goals and strategies, future course of action, etc.
7. Marketing percentage of Cost to obtain a consumer (M% of CAC)- Marketing undoubtedly forms a cornerstone of any customer acquisition process, but for any organization it’s important to know what the actual breakdown of the incurred expenses includes, especially if the costs are inclusive of the entire operational costs, as a part of CAC. Though, changes in CAC can provide useful insights to the team but it has to be kept in mind, that there are various factors at play, before determining the impact of Marketing %, i.e. for instance impact of any new marketing initiative, cost incurred to generate new leads and how effective they were, etc.

 These are just some of the KPI options mentioned, you have to be the best judge, to assess which KPI’s suit your needs, because with so many KPI options available with ease, to aid you in tracking your digital marketing campaigns, it’s easy to get flustered and lose sight of your goal, but the key here is to determine which are important and which aren’t. We at Zivanta Analytics can help you in streamlined monitoring and report generation of your digital marketing campaign KPI’s, because the main aim here is to see and assess which KPI’s are truly the right fit for you, hence, meaning success for your client and the different types of campaigns run by you, to ensure that the data which you have is more streamlined; as a result helps your team in successfully hitting the bull’s eye, instead of wasting time and resources they can optimize and successfully run the campaigns.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @buildingjavier)

With the fitness business revolutionizing every day, it’s important to stay abreast with the latest market trends as well as successfully keep up with rising demands of the consumer. This field is undoubtedly competitive but if you are able to carve out a name for yourself and build customer trust, then no one can stop you from gaining ahead on the road to fame. With people now working and having sedentary lifestyles, emphasis on maintaining good health and physical fitness has gone up by notches.

With the onset of Covid-19, many fitness centers, gyms, health zones and clubs have suffered tremendous losses, because of the need for maintaining stringent social distancing and cleanliness norms, people still haven’t been able to completely let go of the risks associated with the virus and are avoiding public places like these. Undoubtedly, not only has this created a negative impact on the revenues of the businesses but also has had a negative impact on the health of many and now people are actively looking forward towards maintaining a good physical health routine.

This shall prove to be a win-win situation, as now the gym, fitness center owners can market themselves in a unique fashion post the pandemic and attract the consumers yet again, as well as, give a chance to customers to rekindle their trust.

How to use Digital media to rev up your presence

With competition rising up by notches every day, digital media gives you an equal chance to promote your brand and generate awareness, as much as is available to your competitors, so is available to you, then why not make the best use of it. If you are a newbie, then you can start organically and once the results start pouring in, you can opt for aggressive marketing, but the results shall only be visible, if your strategy is  well thought of and well-placed and we at Zivanta Analytics can precisely do that for you.

Use of Digital Media:

1. The first is to know your target audience and their preferences – It is imperative to know whom are you wanting to attract, for instance whether they are professional body-builders, celebrities or influencers, college-goers, working professionals, etc. The marketing strategy shall change for every profile you undertake and wish to target because of their different set of needs and so shall change the information you wish to share with them. It’s very important to understand the obstacles or the challenges faced by your target consumers, for instance whether it is related to flexible time schedules or giving privilege services and facilities or solving gym membership related queries.
2. Making it easy/convenient to schedule appointments – With people using smart-phones at all times of the day, the route to reach up to your business or signing up for your services, shall be easy and convenient. It’s important to have a clear call to action (CTA) route to reach your goal.
3. Have an interactive website – Having an interactive as well as a pleasant website, shall enhance your likability, your website shall not only be easy to navigate but shall answer basic first-hand queries of your potential clients, because that can determine how successfully are you able to convert future leads into proper clients. For instance, you should provide answer to

• What all entails your membership
• List of amenities and facilities offered
• Batches if any, and the timings
• Process of signing up

You should offer some special discounts or free classes or any freebie to attract the consumers, this shall not only incentivize them to come to you but also experience the services offered by you first-hand, and if impressed, can act as local brand ambassadors.

4. Creatively using social media channels to attract your target audience – With nearly every local or big business having social media presence, it’s important to create such messages and ads which shall appeal to your target audience and publicize them on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, etc., wherever you engage with them the most. People surf through these channels to know more about your business and not to forget, the social media ads. You can create brand awarenessand attract new customers in and around your local area with the appropriate social media advertising strategy.
5. Having positive reviews, helps your business grow organically – With people now preferring to gain knowledge about any service or product they wish to buy first-hand instead of believing ads or marketed stories; brands and businesses these days ask their customers to leave a positive feedback for them online on Google, Yelp, Facebook or any such channel, where reviews can be posted.

     Not only does this help the client get an idea about your quality of services but also have a first-hand idea about your services leading to authenticity in a business-consumer relationship, which is the cornerstone for any business or brand to rise up, organically.

Here are some interesting suggestions to retain your existing clients and attract newer ones:

1. Offering special discounts on your Gym Anniversary – Running a special program on your gym anniversary can be beneficial for you in the long run, because not only you can make your old customers feel special again but also attract new customers by offering specialized discounts or some special facilities or maybe some surprise gifts. This will help in cultivating strong relationship between you and the client.
2. Calling local businesses for a challenge – To boost up sales and attract crowd, organizing fitness challenges is a good idea; because business owners and entrepreneurs are competitive per se, offering them an opportunity for friendly competition with other businesses shall encourage everyone to work towards a common goal, and resultantly enhance profits of your gym. The winners in this case, shall be decided fairly because here there runs a risk of being funded or being partial towards one organization. Prizes in this case can vary from offering bulk discounts on gym membership or free training or customized diet plans for all.
3. Featuring well-performing Gym members – Featuring exceptional performers or your loyal customers on your website as well as on-site premises, won’t only act as a source of motivation but also encourage others intrinsically to perform well and enroll with your centre as they would believe in your results, here action would speak louder than words and those featured customers would act as unpaid brand ambassadors for your business. For instance, you can take a photo of that special member while or after their workout, share and post why are they special to you and give them recognition them on your digital platform. You can make it more special, i.e. by creating special gifts like Mugs, key-chains or t-shirts that have a special saying or acronym specially attributed on them. These shirts won’t be made available to everyone but shall have to be earned i.e. only those special or featured members will get them.
4. Having an interactive member interaction platform- In today’s times when everyone is short of time and are running a hectic schedule, it is very important to have a vibrant and a dynamic interactive channel between your business and them, not only to clarify their doubts instantaneously but also make them feel privileged by acknowledging their time crunch. This can be done by posting blogs on a regular basis apart from running a question answer portal. This can be enhanced by you posting personalized videos by coaches, dieticians, successful clients etc. on a regular basis on various social media channels like Facebook or Youtube, this shall also help in spreading your word over a larger geographical area. This unique content not only saves your time, but also helps in improving your website rank for more keywords.
5. Providing customized diet plans – ‘Nutrition and Healthy eating’ are the two key words in today’s times, especially when people have less time to dedicate towards building a healthy lifestyle, of which healthy food forms a huge part as well as the biggest problem is when people don’t even know where to start off from and what to eat. This is the place, where you can step in and offer them guidance to make their lives easier, that’s why it is imperative to generate content that will attract people and keep them with you. So providing your members with a healthy yet tasty meal plan will not only keep them happy but also make them feel that they are cherished and that you are working hard to keep them fit and healthy.

 Fitness these days just isn’t about going to gym or Zumba classes and losing weight, but it is holistic, i.e. maintaining a healthy lifestyle in all aspects. So as a business owner you should always remember to communicate the right message to the right audience by following the right routes, and this is where Zivanta Analytics can help you directly hitting the target and make you stand apart from your competitors. At the end of the day, just selling doesn’t matter, how you sell and what you sell, as well as what value does it carry for your customers, matters.

(P.C. – Unsplash, @schluditsch)

With the Covid 19 pandemic hitting people across the globe and leaving them paralyzed even for basic day-to-day movement, a cure had to be found out and what better than vaccines for the same, which will have a universal reach as well as be economical for everyone and most importantly give an all-rounded protection against such a complex virus. Developing a vaccine in a short span of time for people across the globe is not only time-taking because of such a huge genetic diversity which but naturally involves lot of R&D which entails humongous cost due to work happening on war-footing. But, now various companies across the globe are coming up with Vaccines as a defense against the Virus and shall start distributing the same, very soon to countries across the globe, major companies like Pfizer, Serum Institute, Amgen, Altimmune, CytoDyn etc. are all involved in bringing these vaccines to the market.

For the vaccine to be successful, it has to be proven effective with proper clinical trials in place, once convinced of the results, it has to be marketed effectively, such that people are genuinely convinced of the results and this shall involve direct and targeted marketing, so we at Zivanta Analytics will enlist some ways to tell how you can use Social Media effectively to target your target customers.

But why did Social Media gain so much of importance?

The reason being, its ease of access and ease of use; with various social media platforms easily available on your smart-phones, there is too much of information at the disposal of the users, some might be wrong and some false; with many articles being shared again and again, many deceptive sources actively work to undermine the ability of pharmaceutical and scientific communities’ to actively work towards immunization.

So how do pharmaceutical companies counter this?

It’s easy; the same way fake information is being spread, thereby, using the same online portals to disseminate actual information and focus on re-imagining and re-invigorating their brand. By placing a calculated and a well-thought of strategy in place, the vaccine manufacturers can spread positive and factual information to the elders as well as the youngsters, and this can be great especially in unprecedented times like these, where there’s lack of clarity on how to counter this virus, which has proved deadly. Therefore, sensitizing people and making them aware of the ill-consequences of not being safe against virus can act as a propeller to go ahead with immunization and be safe.

Impact of Social Media-

1. Interacting with your audience – virtually- Post building trust and authenticity, it’s imperative that companies re-work on the damage that’s been done and work towards improving unfounded fears of the people where there is easy access i.e., digital forum. Millennials being the most active generation on social media, marketing strategies must be so framed, that they are unique and attractive in their approach to consumer interaction.
2. Being Genuine in your interaction – Consumer trust forms the basis of any medical company’s marketing strategy because any such sensitive issue needs to be dealt with caution and trust at all times. With consumers now focusing on authenticity, the duty now lies on the shoulders of the vaccine manufacturers to build on creating transparency by using open communication channels and reputation management strategies to help control the narratives regarding the company’s products and services. In such circumstances, working with known and trusted industry experts shall enhance your credibility and allay people’s fears. The most important aspect here is to work with a skilled digital marketing agency, who can convey the humanitarian aspect of your business to the consumers in a convincing manner and this is where Zivanta Analytics can help you in conveying your complex ideas in a simple and a stratified manner to the target audience and convince them of your values and ideas.
3. Expanding your reach – Sometimes it so happens, that despite your best efforts you are still unable to convey your message to the audience the way it should be and lot of your resources go waste. The best way to reach out to people is via your own platforms and that helps in maximizing your reach to the audience. There are various ways to convey your message to the audience, one such way is to engage celebrities and social media influencers to help spread awareness about your campaign. For long now, this strategy has been used by the anti-vaxxers group where they use celebrities to speak out against vaccines. The other way can be exploring partnerships with popular state officials, established hospitals, healthcare clinics, news agencies, and trustworthy community establishments that will aid in popularizing and personalize immunization campaigns Not only does this deepen the consumer-manufacturer trust whilst boosting reach, resulting in increased sales.

There can be various ways to make your campaigns interesting and effective, some are;

1. Making it funny– This can involve use of cartoons, caricatures, sarcasm or a comic strip to convey the message in a funny yet subtle manner, this is not only effective but also lessens the stress level associated with such a cause.
2. Making it Personal– Quoting personal incidents or bringing successful recovery stories to the fore; will not only convey the understated message but also motivate the target audience and remain optimistic.
3. Talking about the Coronavirus and not the vaccine – It’s always better to talk about the disease and not the vaccine, that way not only does it sound more convincing and appealing but also makes the consumer aware of the seriousness of the situation.
4. Launching a coordinated social media campaign- The one way to bring in mass consciousness is through social media, and this is effective because there is open access of information to people of all cultures, classes and nations, thus, spreading the information on a huge scale. A well-coordinated social media campaign will generate not only generate curiosity but also create awareness amongst the people.
5. Hitting the segmented audience – The main contribution towards the success of any campaign is when you hit the right audience, in this case it shall be the adults who are the main family heads, so that they will be able to convince the children as well as the elderly, this shall be a holistic combination to ensure that everyone is sensitized about the virus and its implications, also are open to vaccination to protect themselves in future.

 Hitting the right chords is the most important thing when it comes to ensuring success of such a sensitive marketing campaign, one that has to be well thought of and equally well-presented so that not only does it come across as sensitive but also a well-meaning campaign, focused on the betterment of the masses.