Therefore, businesses that wish to reap these benefits must weave effective digital transformation strategies to stay ahead of the competition and drive the right results. However, building the right strategy for digital transformation that can help enterprises realize their vision and gain a competitive edge is not easy. So, how would you create the right strategy for digital transformation? Let’s describe it in the below segment.

7 Key Steps to Create a Successful Digital Transformation Strategy 

The essence of digital transformation is that you are invisible if you are not online. This approach requires precise strategy and preparation. Whether you are an emerging startup or a huge enterprise, a successful digital transformation strategy is essential to drive growth and success. Here are the seven easy steps to create one for your company, regardless of your business size and type. Alternatively, you can partner with a reputed IT consulting services provider to build a successful digital transformation strategy for your company.

Define Your Business Goal

The first step to creating any strategy starts with identifying your business goal, and a digital transformation strategy is no different. Determine whether you want to optimize your work processes, improve customer experience, increase employee performance, drive efficiency, automate operations, expand your offerings into the market, or have any other vision. Setting a realistic business goal will help you create the right strategy for your business.

Evaluate Your Current IT Infrastructure

The next step is to evaluate market conditions and access your current technology infrastructure, processes, applications, and employee skillset. Doing so will help you find out your technology strengths and weaknesses so that you can focus on the areas of improvement.

Identify Investment Areas

After analyzing your technology maturity, you need to determine the investment areas that align with your business goals. It can be anything like investing in emerging technologies, upgrading existing systems, migrating the IT infrastructure to the cloud, exploring agile methodologies, and so on. Whatever investment approach aligns with your organizational goals, take respective measures to ensure the ongoing success of your business in the digital age.

Nurture a Digital Culture

Weaving an effective digital transformation strategy is not only about accessing your technological efficiency; it is a broad term that also includes changing your organization’s culture, optimizing operations, and creating new behaviors. Therefore, when creating a digital transformation strategy, you must ensure that all your initiatives are aligned with your organizational goals that bring value to your business.

Take Small and Steady Steps

Start your digital transformation journey on a small scale with a pilot project, then gradually scale it across all the processes within your organization. At this stage, you need to identify the short-term initiatives that align with your long-term business goals. Track each small initiative closely, seek insights, learn from them, and improve your scaling efforts as you move ahead in your digital transformation journey.

Define Success Measures

Just creating a strategy to transform your organizational processes is not enough; you need to set specific metrics to measure your success. It means you should closely monitor your digital transformation strategy and take prompt actions for improvements whenever needed. As you implement changes in your company, take a step back to track your efforts and make adjustments.

Reevaluate and Refine Your Strategy

Digital transformation does not have a finish line; it is an ongoing process. Thus, a successful digital transformation strategy is one that can efficiently adapt to technology advancements, seek improvements, and embrace innovations. Once you have created a plan for your company’s transformation, reevaluate it to check if it requires modifications. An agile methodology allows you to reset your strategy whenever needed. 

These are the seven essential steps to create a digital transformation strategy for your company, helping you gain tangible benefits and take your business to greater heights. Remember, a successful strategy is often evolving; thus, make sure you can adjust your plans when necessary.

Ready to start your digital transformation journey?  

Creating a successful digital transformation strategy is time-consuming and challenging. However, with the right IT consulting services, you can easily weave the right strategy for your company and drive the right results. When you partner with a reputed IT consulting company, you gain access to highly skilled IT professionals, business analysts, quality assurance engineers, software developers, project managers, and other ancillary experts who ensure the smooth delivery of your strategy that aligns with your business goals.

However, since the world has progressed rapidly, companies are also adopting the latest forms of technology. Therefore, digital business cards are the newest marketing weapons out there.

The global digital business card market is expected to reach $242.3 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.2%.

If you have a small or medium-sized business and wish to know how to promote yourself through digital business cards, then this article is just the right place for you. So come on, let’s start reading!

1. What is a digital business card?

Before you start thinking of how useful a digital business card might be, it’s more important to understand what this tool is.

It is a virtual method of sharing your company or designation details with someone else, mostly through a QR code.

The recipient scans the QR code and gets redirected to your company website or any other link you want them to visit.

However, you can also produce digital cards like NFC ones. Let’s now see what these two types of cards are.

a. QR code business card

As already mentioned, this card contains a specific QR code. Anyone with a smartphone can open their QR scanner and scan the code on the card.

The best part about a QR digital card is that you can easily generate them online without needing help from a professional!

Moreover, you can make different QR codes on the same card to redirect customers to different links.

b. NFC business card

NFC or near-field communication business cards are physical cards made of metal or plastic. They contain a small NFC chip that can be tapped against the recipient’s smartphone.

Many business owners prefer NFC cards to QR-based ones since the former looks more professional and stylish. NFC cards can also be carried conveniently and designed according to your preferences.

2. Why should you use a digital business card?

Now that you have a brief idea of how a digital business card works, you must wonder about its importance.

Well, here are a few of the many reasons why you must ditch paper-based business cards and switch to their digital counterparts!

a. They are convenient to carry

Imagine a messy situation where you carry a full stack of paper business cards, but they get wet in the rain, or some food or drink gets spilled.

Not only will you be unable to distribute these cards, but you’ll also have to spend a fortune reprinting the same stack.

But you won’t have to worry about annoying spills when it comes to a digital business card!

Since they will either be stored on your phone or be made of metal or plastic, they’ll be completely water and spill-proof. This feature makes them very convenient to carry around.

b. They cost less

You might think that digital business cards cost a fortune compared to traditional cards, but it’s the opposite!

You might have to spend more money initially, but you’ll save a lot in the long run.

Since you won’t have to reprint the cards, your customers can use the same card multiple times without losing or damaging them.

Therefore, you can forget about spending any extra money on business cards. These funds can be used elsewhere to promote your brand.

c. They are interactive

Yes, conventional business cards can look cute, but digital cards are always preferred when it comes to being dynamic.

You can include various links to one card, right from the link to your website to hyperlinks to your social media accounts and Youtube channel.

Since these cards are interactive and fast, they strike a chord with customers. The card’s recipient understands that your company believes in keeping up with the latest technological trends, which can boost your sales greatly.

d. They contain a lot of information

This is perhaps why many companies are switching to digital business cards.

When you’re ordering paper business cards, you have to ensure that you keep limited information on the card.

They can only hold basic details, such as the company’s name, your name and designation, and the company’s contact details.

But if you order digital business cards instead, you can fit unlimited information into a single card. This way, you won’t have to shrink your company’s information.

e. They are environment-friendly

Today, more and more companies are figuring out sustainable solutions for their company’s problems.

No matter how successful your business is, you must consider the environmental implications of every step you take.

Unfortunately, paper-based business cards cause millions of trees to be cut down yearly and are also discarded irresponsibly.

But when it comes to digital ones, customers are much less likely to throw away digital cards, which can be reused differently.

f. They can stay around for longer

Another major advantage of a digital business card is that they are never easily forgotten by the recipient.

Traditional business cards are thrown away or forgotten in a few days or weeks.

But if you hand out digital business cards to someone or ask them to contact you via a QR code, you can be sure that the other person will remember you for a long time.

You won’t also have to bother with printing new stacks of digital cards every month or year, which can again save you a lot of trouble.

g. They can be easily updated

There’s nothing more frustrating for a business owner than to receive their shiny new card stock and then realize that there has been a glaring typo error.

Or maybe you have recently shifted your office address, but the stack of cards already has your earlier address printed on them.

In this case, you’ll either have to throw away the cards or find some way to recycle the paper.

On the other hand, digital business cards can be updated with just a click! You won’t have to go through any complicated procedure to update the information there.

3. How to calculate metrics using digital cards?

One cool feature of any digital business card is that you can easily keep track of how many times a certain customer has swiped your card or scanned your QR code.

You can connect your digital business card to any kind of data analytics or business software and get a rough idea of how well your business is doing.

If you see that many customers have been using your card to purchase from your website or simply visit it, your sales and organic traffic will increase.

However, if that’s not the case, then you can take steps to identify the problem and resolve it.

4. Who can use digital business cards?

As the name suggests, any business owner can use digital cards to boost company sales.

Here is a list of some of the most common professional fields where you can use a digital business card:

a. Newly-opened business

This is quite obvious, but many small businesses prefer promoting their website or products using conventional business cards.

If you’re fairly new, you can make your brand stand out by distributing digital business cards at conferences and conclaves.

b. Real estate

Many real estate agents also prefer handing out digital cards to their clients to ensure seamless communication. You can form strong connections with your clients by ensuring great service if you have a real estate firm.

And digital business cards will further guarantee your good work by effortlessly redirecting clients to your brand page.

c. Healthcare professionals

Using a digital business card can be a game-changer if you are a part of the healthcare industry, such as a doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.

Healthcare professionals mostly use these cards to prove their credentials by scanning them and taking the recipient to their healthcare license or other documents.

Moreover, you can also use them to connect with sponsors and establish a strong partnership.

d. Artists and content creators

A large number of artists, right from musicians to painters, are handing our digital business cards to promote their profession.

If you’re also working in the fine arts industry, you can reach out to many people by pasting your website or portfolio’s homepage QR code on public places. Stick these posters on phone booths or bulletin boards.

e. Job applicants

An individual looking for a new job can use digital business cards well. For example, adding the QR code on your resume can make you stand out among other applicants.

Or, if you have an NFC-based business card, hand them out to headhunters or potential employers to prove your efficiency.

Conclusion

Even though digital business cards are relatively new, they are here to stay. So don’t wait anymore and order some for yourself today!

Lower Costs

Cryptocurrencies are a great option for small businesses because they lower transaction costs. Typically, credit card processing companies charge up to 25 cents per swipe, which adds up quickly for small businesses. Cryptocurrencies reduce these costs to less than 1%. Additionally, they open the doors to international sales. One small electronics retailer specializing in electronic components and supplies was able to sell more than $300,000 in 40 different countries. According to OKX, another advantage of using digital currencies is eliminating the need for middlemen. If a customer lives within the same network, they can pay the shopkeeper directly. Because there are no middlemen involved, digital currency transactions are generally cheaper than physical ones. Moreover, there are no physical wallets required. This allows businesses to keep a smaller amount of digital currency on their premises and lowers overall transaction costs.

Transparency

Transparency when using digital currencies in business is an important issue to consider. As a result, financial institutions should begin planning now for their future in the industry. Unlike traditional financial transactions, which can be subject to fraud, digital currency transactions are entirely transparent. But they do pose some risks, including the potential for money laundering. One of the most common concerns about cryptocurrency is privacy. There is also the issue of security. This is why global regulatory oversight of digital currencies is necessary to avoid regulatory arbitrage. Some countries, such as India, have begun exploring the idea of a national digital currency. This would help ensure the safety and transparency of transactions.

Ability To Execute Transactions Across Borders

For businesses that want to expand internationally, the ability to execute business transactions across borders is a critical element. It will allow them to provide the best possible payment experience for their customers and attract their return business. The process can be complex and involves working with a PSP who understands the intricacies of international payments. To facilitate business transactions across borders, PSPs can help merchants set up multiple bank accounts, enabling seamless payment processes for both customers and merchants. PSPs that offer more payment options help reduce the cost of international payment processing. They also ensure that the payment transaction is secure and comply with PCI DSS Level 1 standards. Cross-border payments allow companies to participate in the global economy, whether it’s buying raw materials, contracting skilled workers, or partnering with another company. Whether it’s a large or small international business, the ability to accept payments from multiple countries helps maintain the integrity of professional relationships across the world.

What Is Digital Marketing?

The term “digital marketing,” which is synonymous with “online marketing,” describes all of the marketing operations that take place on the internet.

When it comes to connecting with existing consumers as well as those who may become customers in the future, businesses utilise digital channels such as search engines, social media, email, and other websites.

This also encompasses the exchange of information via text messages or other forms of multimedia messaging.

Why Is It Vital To Market Through Digital Channels?

You are able to target customers who are more likely to purchase your product or service by using digital marketing, which allows you to reach a wider audience than you would be able to use traditional marketing approaches.

In addition to this, it is frequently more cost-effective than classic forms of promotion, and it enables you to measure your progress on a daily basis and adjust your strategy accordingly.

How to Generate Leads with Your Digital Marketing

• Use Paid Social as a Leverage
• Optimise Your Website for Search Engines in Your Area
• Segment Email Marketing

Lead generation can be broken down into different sets of marketing activities that correlate with different stages of the buyer’s journey. The first step in lead generation is to generate traffic, followed by the conversion of visitors into leads, and finally the conversion of leads into customers.

According to the findings of the 2018 State of Inbound research, the primary focus of a marketer should be on increasing the number of leads that are converted into paying customers.

Even though there is a wealth of software designed specifically for lead creation, most businesses still find that generating leads is one of their most difficult tasks.

According to the data, 88 percent of customers conduct research about their purchases on the internet before purchasing something. As marketers, we need to construct a digital marketing campaign that generates qualified leads in addition to traffic and gives value to the customer throughout the research process. One important aspect to help achieve this is by using lead generation databases. That could help businesses to identify potential customers and target new sales leads.

In the following paragraphs, we will provide you with four pointers that will assist you in constructing a well-oiled machine for digital marketing and lead creation.

Make Your Mark in the Industry with Content Marketing

If you haven’t already begun producing content, you should make this one of the first steps in your strategy for generating leads if you haven’t previously.

According to the findings of a survey conducted by Demand Gen Report, 96 percent of B2B buyers desire content to include more input from industry thought leaders, and 47 percent of buyers examined three to five pieces of material before connecting with a sales agent.

Becoming a subject-matter expert on issues or pain points that your service or product solves can help you take the lead in your industry.

Maintain a consistent publishing schedule for blogs, industry news, and helpful hints. In addition, you should write comprehensive guidelines and make them available for download on your web.

This gives you the ability to collect data from individuals who download your guides, allowing you to enrol them in lead nurturing programmes and maintain their engagement by providing them with additional information regarding your product or service. You could even be able to sell products to them.

Remember to advertise the content that you publish utilising internet marketing strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and email. If users are unable to locate the content, its quality will be of little consequence.

According to a survey conducted by FormStack, organic search is the primary source of high-quality leads. Because of this, you should make sure to spend some time optimising your content and incorporating a custom domain so that it can be found by search engines.

Use Paid Social as a Leverage

The production of leads can be greatly aided by utilising social media as an effective avenue. Cultivating an active audience on social media takes time and work, but it’s necessary if you want to be effective at acquiring leads through that channel.

Once you have an interested audience, you can convert members of that audience into leads. Finding the tool that is most suited for your company is the first obstacle that you will face. You may publish sponsored social content on Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, and even Pinterest if you pay for the privilege.

Because the majority of people who use the internet are on Facebook, around 84 percent of marketers prefer to use this platform in order to generate traffic and leads.

Facebook Lead Ads are one of my personal favourites for generating leads for businesses. This type of advertisement makes it possible for contacts to give their details without ever having to leave Facebook.

Lead Ads is a fantastic platform for remarketing campaigns, as most website visitors will see the ad and you can utilise this opportunity to create an incentive to lead them back to your sales funnel with phrases like “Subscribe to Our Newsletter” or “Limited Time Offer – 10% Off Your First Purchase.”

Facebook gets rid of friction and reduces the cost of acquisition, which results in a significantly more pleasant user experience and, hopefully, more leads for your business.

Optimise Your Website for Search Engines in Your Area

Organic search is often considered to be one of the most significant lead creation tactics in the long run. However, because there are over 200 elements that influence how Google will rank your website within SERPs (search engine results pages), it can be challenging to determine where to begin.

Spending time on local search engine optimization is, in my opinion, one of the most effective ways to generate leads. WordStream found that seventy-two percent of consumers who conducted a local search visited a retailer that was located within five miles of the place from which they conducted the search.

Your company will be able to connect with the community that is immediately surrounding it, and local SEO will make it easier for users to find you when your services are required the most.

Local search engine optimization can make a significant difference in attracting more clients to a business, especially as mobile usage continues to dominate.

To get started, check to see that your NAP information (name, address, and phone number) is the same across all of your online listings, including those on Tripadvisor, Facebook, and Google My Business.

You should also make it very simple for customers to submit reviews of your company by either asking pleased clients to do so or providing an environment in which this is very simple to do.

Reviews left on third-party platforms can enhance the likelihood that your business will be discovered by interested customers without requiring any financial investment on your behalf.

In addition, you should check to be that the Title Tag of your website has the primary keyword for which you want to rank, in addition to your city, state, or neighborhood (for example, “Marketing Agency in Singapore”).

After some amount of time has passed, you should evaluate your company by Googling for your keywords and determining where it ranks.

Email Marketing Based on Segmentation

When trying to attract leads or upsell existing clients, email marketing may be an extremely useful tool, despite the fact that it is one of the more traditional marketing strategies. It is critical to modify your email marketing approach in order to target certain subsets of your client database by personalising the content of your messages.

The use of marketing automation as a tool to assist marketers in automatically sending targeted marketing emails to leads is now a viable tactic. After submitting a form on your website, potential customers can be added to a workflow that is synchronised with your customer relationship management system.

This allows the leads to be nurtured with information that is tailored to their individual preferences. This might include sending a follow-up email with excellent content and a call to action (CTA) asking readers to subscribe to your site.

As you gain more information about each lead, you will be able to customise the messaging you send to them in order to bring them farther up the funnel.

As per Forrester Research, businesses that foster their leads see fifty percent more leads that are ready to be sold at a thirty-three percent lower cost than their competitors who do not nurture their leads.

Marketers have been able to become far more astute regarding the inbox as a result of the capability to collect data from website visitors and pair that data with behavioral triggers.

Even though we’ve only mentioned a few different ways to generate leads, it’s important that you keep testing no matter which approach you decide to try out next.

You will acquire a more in-depth grasp of how to properly develop and conduct digital marketing initiatives with the help of this, which will impact the bottom line.

1. Use Strong Passwords

Passwords are everywhere. Make sure yours is one that no one can easily guess:

• Avoid words found in dictionaries (in any language)
• If it isn’t at least 12 characters long, consider increasing its length
• Use numbers, capital letters, symbols, and upper- and lowercase letters
• Don’t use keyboard patterns like qwerty or standard substitution methods like @#$%^&*

Also, remember not to share your passwords with anyone—ever! If you must write them down, keep them in a secure place where only you have access. Never store passwords on your computer or mobile device. It’s best not to store them electronically—use a password manager instead. It might seem tedious now but will make life much easier later on when you need to log into multiple accounts frequently throughout your day. Meanwhile, you can attend Ayahuasca retreats Los Angeles for spiritual growth.

2. Update Your Software Regularly

One of the best defenses against computer viruses is up-to-date software. Hackers are constantly writing new viruses to take advantage of vulnerabilities in software, so make sure you’re updating yours regularly, especially your web browser. It’s good to set your web browser to update itself automatically—you’ll never know when new threats appear.

The same goes for other programs on your computer, including those that connect with servers online (e.g., Skype). If an automatic update isn’t available for these programs, check for updates at least once a week.

3. Use a Password Manager

Using a password manager is one of the best ways to protect your data, as it helps you manage all your different passwords in one place. If your account information is hacked or leaked, a password manager could save you from serious trouble by letting you know immediately. They are free or cheap for personal use and easy to set up—look into Google Authenticator, Last Pass, or 1Password.

You can install password managers on any device: PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet. While you’re at it, consider enabling two-factor authentication on any accounts that offer it. It will add an extra layer of security on top of your username and password.

4. Use Multifactor Authentication

Make sure that you’re using multifactor authentication for all your accounts. The best way to do so is with a security key, which you can purchase for $20 and above. These use cryptography (aka math magic) to secure your data if anyone steals your password or gets into your account. They’re easy, affordable, and secure—what more could you want?

Google has some good resources for setting up your keys if you don’t have one already. If a security key isn’t possible, two-factor authentication apps like Authy are great options. However, hackers have their ways, so playing your cards close to your chest is crucial. For example, never store sensitive information like bank details or credit card numbers in your password manager—only store logins. Also, make sure you don’t write down your key and keep them offline somewhere safe!

5. Keep Your Devices Locked

Locking devices makes it harder for someone to access your information if they steal your device or if you lose it. Most mobile devices have an option that locks after a specific time, so be sure to set it. If you’re using a laptop or desktop computer, find out how to shut these.

You can also install software on your devices that will automatically encrypt them when they are locked. It’s vital for laptops and other computers where data may be saved on hard drives even when not in use.

6. Turn Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth When Not in Use

It’s common for people to leave Wi-Fi on when they don’t need it, thinking it only saves battery life. The truth is that both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth send out signals even when not in use, which can give hackers access.

Turn off both of these features when you aren’t using them to keep your personal information secure. That way, you won’t have to worry about someone getting a hold of your private data while enjoying a good book at Starbucks.

7. Don’t Use the Same Password for Everything

While it may be convenient to use one password for all of your accounts, you’re much more vulnerable if you do. Experts recommend that you have unique passwords for each of your online accounts with upper-case letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. If a hacker gets access to one account, they won’t be able to access any others. That is especially important when using public Wi-Fi or logging into financial institutions from unsecured networks.

The safest option is to create a different password for every account and store them in a secure place like 1Password or LastPass. If you don’t want to go through that trouble, at least consider changing up your passwords every few months.

Conclusion

As modern society spends more time online and sharing data with companies, everyone must protect themselves by ensuring personal information stays as private as possible. While you can never be 100% certain your data is safe from hackers or spies, you can take a few steps to protect your identity. The above small steps can significantly protect your data and keep it safe from intruders. Take these tips into consideration when gaming, looking for a new job, making online transactions, or finding a new hobby—and you may keep your identity safe.

Whether you are a start-up or a well-established digital marketing agency Melbourne there are certain marketing challenges that can be tough to overcome without proper marketing tactics and correct understanding and knowledge of the digital marketing world. In this article, we have listed down the top digital marketing challenges or difficulties that most digital marketing companies face throughout their business journey and ways how you can overcome them effectively. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

1. Find more customers

Every business organization needs customers to earn money and survive in the marketplaces and digital marketing agencies are no exception. You must make sure to understand your target audience and what types of customers you like to offer you digital marketing services. You must also keep a check on your competitors to know their marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition and attract more customers.

2. Consistency 

Most marketing agencies tend to lose customers due to a lack of consistency in their marketing strategies. It is extremely important to make your customers aware of your services, ongoing discounts, additional services, and more to attract their attention and make them choose your agency over the competitors. You must also make sure to hire talented employees to help you build strong foundations for your business.

3. Scaling the business

Right management is a key to the success of your business organization. Scaling your business can be a quite daunting task in a person-centered industry like digital marketing. To overcome this hurdle you must make sure to hire employees who possess knowledge in various areas of digital marketing strategies and hand them the responsibility of those areas. This will help you maintain proper work discipline and drive proactive solutions quickly.

4. Managing client relationships

Your existing clients play a much more important role than new or potential clients. Existing clients have higher chances of converting into leads or loyal customers compared to other types of clients in the market. You must make sure to fulfill all their reasonable demands and build a strong relationship with them throughout your business journey. Keep them updated with ongoing trends and inform them about new services available.

5. Staying updated 

Whether you are a full service digital marketing agency or specialize in certain marketing tactics, new SEO tools or marketing algorithms can impact or bring huge changes to your business. Therefore it is extremely important to stay updated and implement new technologies in your marketing services. You can hire a group of experienced and knowledgeable professionals to keep track of new tools and changes that take place in marketplaces.

6. Adoption of new technology 

Once you have discovered the new tools, technologies, and algorithms that are significant for your marketing business growth you can now move ahead to implement the same in your business tactics. Not all SEO tools and technologies are necessary for your business. You should make sure to implement only those tools that can help you achieve greater results and milestones in your business.

7. Changing the approach of content 

With the implementation of new tools and technologies, you might also have to bring certain changes to your work environment and the approach to marketing content. Old marketing tactics and services might not bring effective solutions to your client. Changes can be difficult to implement, however, they play the most important role in the success of your business.

8. Increased competition 

Lastly, as your business grows the number of competitors also increases. You must always be prepared to deal with various types of situations and competition levels throughout your business journey. Staying prepared beforehand will always help you overcome a number of marketing challenges.

A good marketing agency should always be willing to adapt to effective changes in their business and offer creative solutions to their clients in order to survive and stay competitive.

Without this first step, your business cannot possibly succeed. But if your site is underperforming, it can be one of the most expensive mistakes for your small business.

Online visibility is a must for any business that expects to remain competitive and profitable. It’s a substantial investment – if you do it right. And one of the biggest mistakes in this area is doing it in-house rather than handing it over to a professional digital agency.

Here are six reasons to hire a professional digital agency for better online visibility:

1. Keep Everything of Track

Developing and managing a website in-house can be very costly, especially when making mistakes.

You’ll need to hire designers, programmers, copywriters, and editors, as well as managers, to keep everything on track. And if something goes wrong – which it inevitably will – you’re the one who’s going to pay.

2. Always Professional

Even if you’re a workaholic, it’s simply impossible to keep up with all the latest updates and techniques in multiple fields: web design, development, and user experience (UX), SEO, and more.

If you don’t have the expertise, you must hire a trusted online agency. Otherwise, your site will suffer both in performance and design. These agencies remain updated and professional in everything that keeps you free from any worry.

3. Constant Upgrades

More than three-quarters of small businesses have never even planned to update their website, let alone made one. And the older it gets, the harder it is to maintain or upgrade.

Problems with slow load times or outdated designs can be devastating for small businesses. An effective web presence requires constant upgrades to stay competitive, but it’s tough to do without the budget for this in-house.

Being successful on the web requires being aware of all its latest developments, from UX design and mobile applications to new updates and enhancements to CMS tools. Trying to keep up with all these trends in-house is a daunting, if not impossible, task.

Handing this responsibility over to an experienced digital agency guarantees that you’ll be able to take advantage of the latest trends – and stay ahead of your competition.

4. Outsourcing Makes You More Competitive

According to statistics, 75 percent of people form their opinion of a website based on its aesthetics.

Small businesses are increasingly aware of how vital online visibility is. Many are now outsourcing their web design needs because they know how important it is to focus their time and energy on what they do best in running their business.

Do you use WordPress or Wix, Bootstrap or Foundation, JavaScript or jQuery? These are some of the many questions you’ll face when choosing which platform and design framework to use for your site.

If you have the expertise of an online agency, you’ll be able to answer these questions immediately and implement precisely what your site needs.

5. You’ll Save Time and Energy

Hiring a digital agency to take on the responsibility for your website will save you time and energy.

You won’t have to worry about recruiting, training, or managing staff, nor will you have to spend hours learning complex coding languages or trying to keep up with the latest trends.

You can focus on what you’re good at and leave the website development to the experts.

6. An Agency is a Trusted Advisor

An experienced online agency will act as a trusted advisor for your small business, helping you make the most of your online presence and ensure that it meets all your business goals.

They’ll also be able to offer impartial advice on the best tools and techniques to use, as well as keep you up-to-date on all the latest online trends.

In short, if you’re looking for better online visibility, it’s time to hire a digital agency. They’ll save you money, time, and energy while helping you make the most of your website.

Partner with these agencies today and find all the success you need online.

Better Quality Images

But photo camera manufacturers have been putting up a fight, pushing the envelope on features and technology where the smartphone – limited by the available space in a hyper-thin smartphone body – simply can’t compete. Better image quality is a big one.

Catching light is still a largely physical process. One that is much better achieved by the larger lenses and the larger sensor of a digital camera. These sensors would simply be too large and too expensive to fit into a smartphone.

Smartphones usually fit a 1/1.7” which is 20 times smaller than a full-frame camera’s 35mm sensor. The latter packs more and larger pixels which deliver an infinitely better image quality. The difference is especially noticeable as soon as light conditions are anything less than perfect. Smartphones very quickly introduce grain in their image.

Preview Images At Eye-Level

Digital cameras have a viewfinder, that little vizor you push your eyeball against before you snap away. In any photo situation that goes beyond the quick selfie or the Instagram shot of your poke bowl, a viewfinder is essential. A viewfinder helps you better gauge the composition, framing, focus, colors, and lighting of your image. That’s a lot! And in the case of sports photography or wildlife photography, the viewfinder lets you locate and track your subject easily. The physical stance you take with a viewfinder also keeps your camera more stable during shooting, improving your chances of getting a great shot.

With smartphones, you need to hold the device away from your eye and your body. Daylight and reflection in the front glass will make it harder to assess your shot, track your subject, or keep a steady hand.

DSLR And Mirrorless Cameras Provide More Lens Options

There’s a damn good reason why there are so many lenses out there and why photographers barely give it a second thought to shell out thousands of dollars on “glass”. You simply need different lenses for different photo situations. In cases where smartphone photographers end up slipping their device back in their pocket, like standing too close or too far from the subject, DSLR and mirrorless camera photographers just swap lenses to be able to take on the subject.

Because smartphones rely on digital zooming, most of us don’t even bother pinching to home in on our subject. We know we’ll just lose too much image quality. The lens-toting crowd uses optical zoom. They can zoom in as far as their longest lens allows with minimal quality loss.

Smartphone cameras are great, and they’re getting better with each new model. Most importantly, it’s the camera you always carry around. But if you are serious about your photography, or you are looking to make money shooting events or stock photos, you are going to have to pick up a good old DSLR or mirrorless camera.

This pressure multiples when you consider that businesses are reopening amid the easing down of the pandemic restrictions and brands are looking for fresh ways to reach their potential and existing consumers.

Consider this discussion as a review of where your digital advertising strategy stands, and any touchups you need to apply to it.

Digital Advertising in Numbers:

Digital advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry. According to Statista, global digital ad spending stood at over $378 billion in 2020 – the pandemic and social distance regulations fueling its growth. In 2021, this number is projected to cross the $445 billion mark.

These numbers are staggering and here are a few more to keep you hooked.

1. Mobile ads resulted in over 162 billion calls to businesses in 2019.
2. 51% of consumers made purchase decisions based on social media ads in their feeds.
3. Ads that have the highest retention rate are playable ads.
4. 40% of internet users get annoyed when they receive online ads that are based on their search history.
5. 49% of digital media experts stated third-party cookie deprecating as their top digital marketing challenge.

Dos:

Here is a brief list of some of the most critical marketing practices that you must incorporate in your larger brand strategy for 2021.

1. Incorporate Machine Learning

We used to call them next-gen technologies. Yet the speed with which these technologies have taken over our current media landscape, I’m no longer sure if that moniker still applies. Machine learning, along with artificial intelligence, is an exciting technology that brands and marketers are using to inform their marketing strategies.

ML is great at interpreting large sets of data and predicting results. Based on these results, you can measure your ad campaign efficacy, structure your retargeting efforts, and build validation frameworks. Instead of throwing darts in the dark, these technologies can help predict numbers that you can match with your results to spot gaps in your ad campaigns, refine your strategy, and launch more targeted campaigns that bear great results.

2. Optimize For Mobile

Your online ads need to be optimized for mobile. Data indicates that if brands succeed in providing an excellent mobile experience, 90% of B2B buyers are likely to return to the company to make a repeat purchase.

If you are an ad or branding agency looking to get more clients, optimize every single detail in your online ad. This means optimizing your advertising logo, the copy, the duration of the ad, the images in the ad – the whole thing.

3. Optimize For Local And Voice Search

The data, again, is strongly in favor of local SEO and voice search options. With the people increasingly using their mobile devices to start searches and to make purchases, they are using phrases such as ‘near me’ to find restaurants, bars, stores, and other local businesses.

Voice searches are also gaining momentum. In 2020, nearly 35 million US consumers made purchases using smart speakers. And this growth shows no signs of a slowdown.

Numbers like these make it quite evident where you need to make the most investment. Creating online ads that are optimized for local searches and voice searches will not only increase your ad reach but also improve conversions and brand awareness.

4. Omnichannel Marketing

While each brand has its favorite advertising channel – mostly because of the presence of the brand’s target market there – creating a strategy that uses omnichannel marketing is critical.

You want your brand to be everywhere. But more than that, your ads and posts should be tweaked to match the culture and voice of each platform. For example, when advertising on Instagram, you need to be heavy (but subtle) with aesthetics. Put your best images there, the highest quality possible. On Twitter, pack your ads with a healthy dose of wit and the best one-liners. On YouTube, a touch of explainer video vibe will do you much good.

Omnichannel marketing allows your brand visibility on all relevant platforms. It tells your audience that you know what you are doing and you plan to do more of it.

5. Targeting And Retargeting

Understanding your customers and knowing what has brought them to your website is instrumental in creating an effective ad campaign. When your campaign is properly targeted to attract your ideal consumers, it leads to better click-through rates and more conversions. Therefore, invest in understanding your consumers and create buyer personas.

You can then choose a variety of different keywords and target variations of your buyer persona, essentially resulting in several smaller and different ad campaigns. This makes your ad strategy more focused, and open and helps you find fresh new ways to reach your target audience.

Don’ts:

Even the best of us make mistakes, but what are some of the mistakes that you should never make when it comes to online advertising?

Let’s see.

1. Don’t Be Intrusive

Facebook might be the biggest digital ad platform, but God be my witness, it seriously tests my patience when I’m watching a funny video, minding my own business, and suddenly a video ad invades my space and then it goes on and on – no Skip sign in sight.

The same problem, albeit on a smaller scale, is present on YouTube.

As I mentioned a stat at the start of my post, nearly half of the Internet users find such ads intrusive and annoying. Do you then think they endear the brand to the consumer? The opposite happens.

Therefore, as you sit with your team to discuss your digital advertising strategy for the next quarter, make sure to find better ways to get people to click on your ads.

2. Don’t Ignore Your Website

Your website is the most precious piece of digital real estate for your brand. When people click on your ad and decide to visit your website to see what you are all about, is it doing justice to your brand or undoing all the hard work done by your marketing team?

Whether you are creating display ads, video ads, or playable ads, you always have to make sure that your website is updated with the most relevant and authentic information. It should be quick to load, designed with the most modern aesthetics, updated inventory, and must offer a satisfying user experience.

3. Don’t Jump In Without A Strategy

You need a campaign strategy all planned out before you even think to create your ad. What is the purpose of this particular campaign? What is going to be its performance metrics?  Will the ad be launched in multiple formats? Which advertising channels will you use and in what order of importance?

The more you know your reasons for favoring one campaign decision over the other, the stronger your strategy will be and clearer your thought process.

It will also reduce your ad spending and may help in getting better results with a more focused approach.

4. Don’t Be Too Salesy

This one is for copywriters on your team. When you are writing copy for a digital ad, it must never contain ad-speak. Use everyday language, be funny, and never try to sell.

See, customers know that you are trying to sell your products, so instead of hyping your product up, focus on the customer. Make it all about them. Tell them what your product can do for them, how it can improve their lives, and what specific problems it solves for them. Your customer needs to be the focus, not your product.

When you engage consumers and talk to them about what they need, your product will naturally come into the conversation and will have a better chance of ending up as a successful sale.

5. Don’t Forget About Customer Experience

Great customer experience is the ultimate marketing tool. Even a slight increase in better customer experience results in a significant increase in sales and brand equity.

If you are a marketer, customer experience should be on the top of your mind when you are creating your ad. Think of its timing, duration, and context. Even if it’s a popup display ad it should be timed perfectly. Instead of forcing people to look at it when they are browsing your website, perhaps wait and only display it when they are done with their primary task – signing up, for example.

Personalized engagements, great aesthetics, ease of finding the right information, a clear and focused sales funnel – all of it improves customer experience and may be the thing that makes people click your ad instead of your competitor’s.

Challenges:

1. Customer Exhaustion Of Digital Ads

Ad fatigue is a real thing. According to digital marketing experts, a regular internet user sees between 6,000 to 10,000 digital ads every day. That’s a LOT.

It’s too much noise, and customers are getting rightly exhausted. The customer exhaustion of digital ads is becoming a top concern for marketers. You see this exhaustion affecting your campaigns when your click-through rates drop while your ad frequency increases.

If you are monitoring the performance of your ads and you see this taking place, know that your customers are seeing your ad way too much – they are getting frustrated and annoyed. Worse, they may be tuning you out.

The way to fix it is to keep an eye on your metrics and when you see the balance of CTR and frequency getting out of shape, step in and reduce your ad frequency. You can also create variations of your ads and publish them in rotation. Changing ad colors, wordings, and other details can also help combat ad exhaustion.

2. Privacy Concerns

Another challenge that you have to work through to make your ads clickable is the growing concern for online privacy. Major mobile browsers – Firefox, for example – no longer allow third-party cookies. Apple’s Safar doesn’t allow it, and now neither does Google.

Recent regulations now require advertisers and businesses to take proper consent from the user before you track or store any of their data. You must also be open and transparent to your intended use of this data.

These evolving privacy regulations mean that you need to forget about third-party cookies and be open and upfront with your users. Also, invest in local SEO and reach out to your local consumers. You can then use that data along with the data of your existing consumers and leverage AI and ML to analyze the data and make predictions.

3. Market Saturation

We talked about it earlier but it’s worth mentioning again. Almost every business is doing digital ads. The pandemic has pushed even the most reluctant businesses to try and test the digital ad waters. All of this has created an extremely noisy and saturated market.

To keep your head above this rising water, your ads need to be something that no other ad is. Create stories in your ads. Increase personalization. Invest in technology and use the power of analysis to find out customer behavior patterns that others may be missing.

4. Lack Of Competition

On one hand, there are too many brands and marketers crowded the digital advertising landscape. Yet, on the other hand, there are too few advertising platforms and not enough choices available to the marketers.

A Techxplore article argues that the dominance of the market by just a handful of companies (Google and Facebook) has created an environment where lack of competition has kept marketers in the dark. All the strategic roles during the advertising chain are occupied by these few companies and marketers have to play by the rules these companies set out.

This lack of competition may be encouraging unlawful practices such as:

• Undue favors to their own products
• Being a barrier to access, and
• Creating a monopoly of higher rates

5. Fraudulent Traffic

As businesses come under pressure to use all available channels – including digital marketing – to tap into newer markets, inexperienced marketing agencies may indulge in unsavory practices to meet the needs.

Buying or creating fake traffic for businesses is a challenge facing the digital ads market. It not only hurts the brands and other media agencies but also forces the ad platforms to create more regulations and impose more restrictions to keep things transparent.

Bottom Line

The rise of digital advertising was already going at an unprecedented rate but the pandemic just accelerated everything. Now, more than ever, marketers need to analyze best practices in their industry and see if they still stand true.

Through this post, we have tried to put things into perspective and give some pointers that can help marketers create and execute better digital ad strategies.

But with the emergence of digital signage solutions, offline marketing has come alive. As it has been giving new opportunities to brands of integrating social media with digital signage.

Be it retail stores, restaurants, hotels, corporate offices, healthcare systems, educational institutions, or gyms, digital signage can be implemented anywhere and can enhance user engagement big time.

Make your way to the end of this blog to know what digital signage is and who are the best solution providers that you can use to implement it successfully.

What Is Digital Signage?

Digital signage is an outcome of digital transformation.

There is no denying the fact that competition has shot up in the digital world, and in order to keep up with the competition, brands have to try different and unique ways of promoting their business, resulting in the use of digital signage.

It can be used across industries to attract, engage and convert your audience by displaying social media feeds on the digital signage displays. It helps brands in increasing their reach, grow trust, sales and communicate better with the crowd.

Who Are The Top Digital Signage Solution Providers?

1. Taggbox Display

Taggbox Display is a result-driven marketing tool that can cater to your needs irrespective of your industry type. It helps you collect content from across 15+ social media platforms, curate, moderate, and customize it as per your preference. As well as it includes a Taggbox Studio through which you can add some more useful content with different social media channels.

With Taggbox Display, you can choose to showcase any type of content on any screen be it TV, projectors, jumbotrons,  Fire TV Stick, Android, etc.

Moreover, you can also easily enhance its look by adding customizations from amongst 12+ premium themes available and make it look as per your liking.

Being the best UGC platform, it not only effortlessly aggregates and displays content but also provides robust analysis to track performance.

2. Easy Signage

EasySignage offers cloud-based digital signage solution that are crafted to be simple, secure, and jam-packed with features.

It is easy to use, affordable, and reliable. All the android based digital signage screens are supported by Easy Signage.

In case of network errors, it can be used to work offline and also provides statistics about media playback and provides reports that can easily be exported and can be utilized further to build powerful marketing campaigns.

3. Pickcel

Pickcel is yet another cloud-based digital signage solution that is convenient to use and boasts features that are powerful and can fulfill any digital signage requirement.

Pickcel also facilitates hosting players like Fire TV Stick, Android, etc, and also supports displaying content from infotainment apps and other types of content from social media, news, etc.

Pickcel supports both corporate-level digital signage to facilitate internal communication and digital out-of-home advertising.

4. Viewneo

It is a user-friendly, cloud-based solution that facilitates industries irrespective of their scale to use digital signage screens in minutes.

Brands can showcase any kind of content on any screen to be able to advertise better, inform and interact with visitors.

One intriguing feature of Viewneo is the Viewneo FR-Cam which allows you to align your content with visitors. As it can know the type of viewer, if they are more adults or children and can adjust that content to match the audience. Viewneo makes AI simple which can further be accessed with utmost ease.

5. Yodeck

It helps in designing, scheduling, and displaying content professionally from the web in a cost-effective manner. It makes it easy for businesses to fetch attention via videos, images, PDF files, documents, and social media platforms.

Yodeck also provides a drag-and-drop editing feature that enables users to rearrange content in a format that is interesting, engaging, and captivating. Moreover, it provides organizations with security and control.

Over To You

Digital signage is emerging as a robust technology for brands that is enabling them to captivate users’ attention in a potentially better way, keep them hooked to the content that is being shown, and make them want to know about the brand more.

It is a no-brainer that the competition is growing exponentially, deciding on strategies that can make an impact is rather essential. Using digital signage displays can help you thrive effortlessly.

Leverage what the top digital signage provides and amplify your business smartly.