Online Marketing

Web design refers to the design of websites. It usually refers to the user experience aspects of website development rather than software development. Web design used to be focused on designing websites for desktop browsers; however, since the mid-2010s, design for mobile and tablet browsers has become ever-increasingly important. A web designer works on a website’s appearance, layout, and, in some cases, content. Appearance relates to the colours, typography, and images used. Layout refers to how information is structured and categorized. A good web design is easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, and suits the user group and brand of the website. A well-designed website is simple and communicates clearly to avoid confusing users. It wins and fosters the target audience’s trust, removing as many potential points of user frustration as possible Responsive and adaptive design are two common ways to design websites that work well on both desktop and mobile. What is Responsive Web Design?   Responsive Web Design (a.k.a. “Responsive” or “Responsive Design”) is an approach to designing web content that appears regardless of the resolution governed by the device. This is typically accomplished with viewport breakpoints (resolution cut-offs for when content scales to that view). Viewports should adjust logically on tablets, phones, and desktops for any resolution. Responsive designs respond to changes in browser width by adjusting the placement of design elements to fit in the available space. If you open a responsive site on the desktop and change the browser window’s size, the content will dynamically rearrange itself to fit the browser window. The site checks for available space on mobile phones and then presents itself in the ideal arrangement. Best Practices and Considerations for Responsive Design With responsive design, you can design for flexibility in every aspect—images, text and layouts. So, you should: Take the mobile-first approach—start the product design process for mobile devices first instead of desktop devices. Create fluid grids and images. Prioritize the use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs). These are an XML-based file format for 2D graphics, which supports interactivity and animations. Include three or more breakpoints (layouts for three or more devices). Prioritize and hide content to suit users’ contexts. Check your visual hierarchy and use progressive disclosure and navigation drawers to give users the needed items first. Keep non-essential items (nice-to-haves) secondary. Aim for minimalism. Apply design patterns to maximize ease of use for users in their contexts and quicken their familiarity: e.g., the column drop pattern fits content to many screen types. Aim for accessibility.

रेस्टोरेंट मालिक हैं तो रखें इन बातों का ख्याल अच्छा खाना खाना आजकल किसे पसंद नहीं है। ज़्यादातर लोग टेस्टी और डिफरेंट फूड खाने के शौकीन होते हैं। ऐसे में एक रेस्टोरेंट खोलने का आइडिया आपको काफी फायदा पहुंचा सकता है। लेकिन इसके लिए आपको कुछ बातों का ख्याल रखना होगा। तभी आप एक कामयाब रेस्टोरेंट के मालिक (Restaurant Owner) बन पाएंगे। कुछ लोग अपना खुद का रेस्टोरेंट तो खोल लेते हैं। लेकिन सही योजना न बनाने और ठीक से कार्य न करने के कारण उनका रेस्टोरेंट या तो बंद हो जाता है। या तो ज़्यादा प्रॉफिट नहीं कमा पाता। इसलिए यदि आप भी अपना रेस्टोरेंट का बिजनेस खोलने के बारे में सोच रहे हैं तो इस पोस्ट को अंत तक ज़रूर पढ़ें। इस पोस्ट में हम आपको रेस्टोरेंट खोलने से संबंधित सारी जानकारी देने वाले हैं। जिससे आप आसानी से अपना एक अच्छा सा रेस्टोरेंट खोल सकेंगे और उसे कामयाब भी कर पाएंगे। रेस्टोरेंट क्या है? – What is a Restaurant in Hindi? रेस्टोरेंट एक ऐसी जगह होती है, जहां कस्टमर के द्वारा ऑर्डर किया गया खाना कस्टमर की टेबल पर परोसा जाता है। और खाना खाने के बाद कस्टमर को खाने के पैसे चुकाने (Bill Payment) पड़ते हैं। यहां कस्टमर को वेटर द्वारा एक खाने की लिस्ट दी जाती है, जिसे ‘मेन्यू’ कहते हैं। इसमें सभी प्रकार के खाने का नाम और फोटो होती है। बस कस्टमर को उस मेन्यू लिस्ट से कोई भी फूड ऑर्डर करना होता है। और वेटर उस डिश को कस्टमर के सामने लाकर परोस देता है। आजकल तो रेस्टोरेंट में खाना पैक कराकर घर ले जाने की सुविधा भी मिलती है। या फिर घर बैठे भी ऑनलाइन खाना ऑर्डर कर सकते हैं। रेस्टोरेंट के प्रकार – Types of Restaurants in Hindi रेस्टोरेंट भी कई प्रकार के होते हैं। और अलग-अलग रेस्टोरेंट में अलग-अलग प्रकार के भोजन परोसे जाते हैं। जैसे वेज रेस्टोरेंट में वेज खाना परोसा जाता है। नॉन-वेज रेस्टोरेंट में नॉन-वेज खाना। और इसी प्रकार से चाइनीज रेस्टोरेंट, इटालियन रेस्टोरेंट इत्यादि में उसी प्रकार के खाने को कस्टमर के सामने परोसा जाता है। एक कामयाब रेस्टोरेंट खोलने के लिए रेस्टोरेंट मालिक को क्या करना चाहिए – Do’s for Restaurant Owner यदि आप चाहते हैं कि आप बिना किसी परेशानी के एक अच्छा सा रेस्टोरेंट खोलें। और वह कामयाब भी हो तो उसके लिए आपको निम्नलिखित चीज़ों पर खास तौर से ध्यान देना होगा – (1) अपने बजट का रखें ख्याल (Take Care of Your Budget) – एक रेस्टोरेंट खोलने के लिए आपको अपना बजट ज़रूर देखना चाहिए। क्योंकि रेस्टोरेंट खोलना कोई आसान काम नहीं है। इसमें बहुत पैसों की आवश्यकता होती है। यदि आपके पास पर्याप्त बजट है तभी आप रेस्टोरेंट खोलने के बारे में सोचें। यदि आपके पास ज़्यादा पैसे नहीं हैं फिर भी आपने रेस्टोरेंट खोलने का मन बना लिया है। तो एक अच्छा रेस्टोरेंट खोलने के लिए आप लोन भी ले सकते हैं। (2) अच्छी सी योजना तैयार करें (Make a Good Plan) – बिजनेस कोई भी ही बिना योजना बनाए वो कामयाब हो ही नहीं सकता। इसलिए अगर आप चाहते हैं कि आपका बिजनेस अच्छी प्रकार चले। तो आपको एक अच्छी सी प्लैनिंग करनी होगी। जिसमें आपको रेस्टोरेंट की सभी चीज़ों को क्रमबद्ध तरीकों से लिखना होगा। और किन चीज़ों में कितना खर्च आएगा यह सब एक जगह पर लिखकर पूरी प्लैनिंग करनी होगी। तभी आप समझ पाएंगे कि रेस्टोरेंट में आपके कितने पैसे लगेंगे और आपको कितना प्रॉफिट मिलेगा। (3) लोकेशन का रखे ध्यान (Take Care of Location) – एक सफल रेस्टोरेंट में रेस्टोरेंट की जगह (Location) बहुत महत्वपूर्ण होती है। इसलिए हमेशा एक ऐसी जगह पर ही रेस्टोरेंट खोलना चाहिए जहां पर आपको ज़्यादा से ज़्यादा कस्टमर मिल सकें। इसके अलावा आपको इस बात का भी ध्यान रखना होगा कि वहां पर बहुत ज़्यादा रेस्टोरेंट न हों। नहीं तो कॉम्पटीशन अधिक होने के कारण आपको सफल होने में समय लग सकता है। (4) लाइसेंस और परमिट ज़रूर ले लें (Must Take License and Permit) – रेस्टोरेंट खोलने से पहले उससे जुड़े कई कानूनी लाइसेंस और परमिशन भी लेनी पड़ती है। यह एक बहुत ही महत्वपूर्ण कार्य है। यदि आपने यह कार्य पूरा नहीं किया तो आपके सामने कई प्रकार की समस्याएं उत्पन्न हो सकती हैं। (5) अच्छे कुक का करें चुनाव (Choose Good Cook) – यदि आप चाहते हैं कि आपका रेस्टोरेंट जल्द से जल्द सफलता की ओर जाए। तो आपको ऐसे कुक को अपने रेस्टोरेंट में रखना होगा जो बहुत अधिक स्वादिष्ट खाना बनाकर आपके कस्टमर का दिल जीत ले। (6) मेन्यू का रखे ध्यान (Take Care of Menu) – आप अपने मेन्यू में डिफरेंट-डिफरेंट टाइप की चीजें रखें। और यह भी कोशिश करें कि आप कस्टमर को ऐसी डिशेज उपलब्ध कराने में सक्षम हों। जो दूसरे रेस्टोरेंट में न मिल सके। इससे आपके कस्टमर उस स्पेशल डिश को खाने आपके रेस्टोरेंट में ही आएंगे। (7) इंटीरियर को बनाएं आकर्षक (Make the Interior Attractive) – आजकल लोग खाने के साथ ही रेस्टोरेंट की सजावट को भी महत्व देते हैं। इसलिए आप टेस्टी खाने के साथ ही अच्छे इंटीरियर का भी ख्याल रखें। यह आपके कस्टमर को आकर्षित करने में एक अहम भूमिका निभा सकता है। (8) कर्मचारियों का चुनाव (Staff Selection) – रेस्टोरेंट में आप पर्याप्त मात्रा में कर्मचारियों को रखें। जिससे कि वो आने वाले कस्टमर को ठीक से संभाल सकें। हमेशा ऐसे कर्मचारियों का ही चयन करें जो कुशल स्वभाव के हों। जिन्हें अपनी ज़िम्मेदारी का एहसास हो और साथ ही वो भरोसेमंद और ईमानदार हों। (9) रेस्टोरेंट का करें प्रचार (Promote the Restaurant) – रेस्टोरेंट का मालिक होने के नाते आपका यह कर्तव्य बनता है कि आप अपने रेस्टोरेंट का प्रचार करें। जिससे कि अधिक से अधिक लोगों को आपके रेस्टोरेंट के बारे में पता चले। यह काम आप न्यूज़पेपर, पैम्फलेट और ऑनलाइन सोशल मीडिया के द्वारा बड़ी ही आसानी से कर सकते हैं। (10) खाने की कीमत हो आकर्षक (The Price of Food Should Be Attractive) – एक रेस्टोरेंट की सफलता में उस रेस्टोरेंट के खाने का मूल्य भी बहुत महत्व रखता है। एक आकर्षक फूड प्राइस कस्टमर को अपनी ओर आकर्षित करने में अहम योगदान देता है। इसलिए आपको

Marketing in Business: Strategies and Types Explained What Is Marketing? Marketing refers to the activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of its products or services. Marketing includes advertising and allows businesses to sell products and services to consumers, other businesses, and organizations. Professionals who work in a corporation’s marketing and promotion departments seek to get the attention of key potential audiences through advertising. Promotions are targeted to certain audiences and may involve celebrity endorsements, catchy phrases or slogans, memorable packaging or graphic designs, and overall media exposure. Understanding Marketing Marketing as a discipline involves all the actions a company undertakes to draw in customers and maintain relationships with them. Networking with potential or past clients is part of the work too and may include writing thank you emails, playing golf with prospective clients, returning calls and emails quickly, and meeting with clients for coffee or a meal. At its most basic level, marketing seeks to match a company’s products and services to customers who want access to those products. Matching products to customers ultimately ensures profitability. Formal Definition: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. ” —Official definition from the American Marketing Association, approved 2017. What are the 4 P’s of Marketing? Product, price, place, and promotion are the Four Ps of marketing. The Four Ps collectively make up the essential mix a company needs to market a product or service. Neil Borden popularized the idea of the marketing mix and the concept of the Four Ps in the 1950s. Types of Marketing Strategies Marketing is comprised of an incredibly broad and diverse set of strategies. The industry continues to evolve, and the strategies below may be better suited for some companies over others. Traditional Marketing Strategies Before technology and the Internet, traditional marketing was the primary way companies would market their goods to customers. The main types of traditional marketing strategies include: Outdoor Marketing: This entails public displays of advertising external to a consumer’s house. This includes billboards, printed advertisements on benches, sticker wraps on vehicles, or advertisements on public transit. Print Marketing: This entails small, easily printed content that is easy to replicate. Traditionally, companies often mass-produced printed materials, as the printed content was the same for all customers. Today, more flexibility in printing processes means that materials can be differentiated. Direct Marketing: This entails specific content delivered to potential customers. Some print marketing content could be mailed. Otherwise, direct marketing mediums could include coupons, vouchers for free goods, or pamphlets. Electronic Marketing: This entails the use of TV and radio for advertising. Through short bursts of digital content, a company can convey information to a customer through visual or auditory media that may grab a viewer’s attention better than a printed form. Event Marketing: This entails attempting to gather potential customers at a specific location for the opportunity to speak with them about products or demonstrate products. This includes conferences, trade shows, seminars, roadshows, or private events. Digital Marketing The marketing industry has been forever changed with the introduction of digital marketing. From the early days of pop-up ads to targeted placements based on viewing history, there are now innovative ways companies can reach customers through digital marketing. Search Engine Marketing: This entails companies attempting to increase search traffic through two ways. First, companies can pay search engines for placement on result pages. Second, companies can emphasize search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to organically place high on search results. E-mail Marketing: This entails companies obtaining customer or potential customer e-mail addresses and distributing messages or newsletters. These messages can include coupons, discount opportunities, or advance notice of upcoming sales. Social Media Marketing: This entails building an online presence on specific social media platforms. Like search engine marketing, companies can place paid advertisements to bypass algorithms and obtain a higher chance of being seen by viewers. Otherwise, a company can attempt to organically grow by posting content, interacting with followers, or uploading media like photos and videos. Affiliate Marketing: This entails using third-party advertising to drive customer interest. Often, an affiliate that will get a commission from a sale will do affiliate marketing as the third party is incentivized to drive a sale for a good that is not their own original product. Content Marketing: This entails creating content, whether eBooks, infographics, video seminars, or other downloadable content. The goal is to create a product (often free) to share information about a product, obtain customer information, and encourage customers to continue with the company beyond the content.

9 reasons why a website is important for a business? A professional website opens your business to opportunities and helps increase revenue. Let’s explore how a website can help reach more customers and expand, even globally. 1. Establish credibility and build trust In 2011, Google introduced the Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT, which focuses on how consumers research online for information and make purchase decisions. A website helps your business interact with consumers at ZMOT to establish you as a credible and trustworthy business. Just like a pamphlet or a brochure, a website can share credible information about its business. Furthermore, it helps create a brand image in the eyes of new customers by showcasing your values. 2. 24×7 sales channel A website enables customers to purchase from your business outside business hours. It allows you to reach consumers globally, making your website a powerful revenue channel. The website is always at work serving potential and existing customers from the comfort of their space. 3. Cost-effective A website costs less to develop and maintain compared to a physical store. You can easily set up a website using low-code or no-code CMS like Web flow, Shopify, or Wix. You can use your website to announce a new product or service launch, host sales, or share relevant content that benefits your customers. 4. Business expansion A website helps your business build brand awareness and reach new customers. It showcases your products or services and generates awareness about them. You can do SEO to increase your online visibility, reach the right audience and further expand your business. 5. Increase organic traffic If you follow SEO best practices, your business website may show on the search results when people search for keywords related to your product or service. You can reach a new audience with consistent efforts to grow your online presence. With more people visiting your website organically, you can build trust, increase revenue, and rise as an industry leader. 6. Improve customer experience Consumers can also use your website to raise queries regarding a particular product or service using contact forms or chatbots. The feedback, survey, or contact forms connected to a CRM help you manage leads, address inquiries, improve business and generate sales. In addition, having an easy-to-use and up-to-date website allows customers to see all of your products, services and special offers in one place, helping them make an informed decision. 7. Complement digital marketing efforts A responsive and user-friendly website helps facilitate digital marketing efforts. It helps you create an email database for marketing, content strategy to improve organic traffic, and develop landing pages for ads. You can reach a broader audience through Google Ads and Facebook Ads and direct them to your website for conversion. 8. Create a local presence If you are running a local business, a website can help reach a relevant audience searching for your products and services. According to Safari Digital, 97% of users use search to find local businesses. Being visible online will help your business increase revenue and visibility in local markets. Read more: How to Rank on Google Local Pack 9. Attract potential business partners Whether you sell products or services, a website can help you find new partners that can help you expand your business. Marketplaces and service providers may find your business on search engines and contact you with a proposition. A website helps them understand your company, values, and products and identify collaboration opportunities.

What is Digital Marketing and Benefits. Digital Marketing Digital marketing typically refers to online marketing campaigns that appear on a computer, phone, tablet, or other device. It can take many forms, including online video, display ads, search engine marketing, paid social ads and social media posts. Digital marketing is often compared to “traditional marketing” such as magazine ads, billboards, and direct mail. Oddly, television is usually lumped in with traditional marketing. Did you know that more than 3 quarters of Americans go online on a daily basis? Not only that, but 43% go on more than once a day and 26% are online “almost constantly.” These figures are even higher among mobile internet users. 89% of Americans go online at least daily, and 31% are online almost constantly. As a marketer, it’s important to take advantage of the digital world with an online advertising presence, by building a brand, providing a great customer experience that also brings more potential customers and more, with a digital strategy. A digital marketing strategy allows you to leverage different digital channels–such as social media, pay-per-click, search engine optimization, and email marketing–to connect with existing customers and individuals interested in your products or services. As a result, you can build a brand, provide a great customer experience, bring in potential customers, and more. What is digital marketing? Digital marketing, also called online marketing, is the promotion of brands to connect with potential customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This includes not only email, social media, and web-based advertising, but also text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel. Essentially, if a marketing campaign involves digital communication, it’s digital marketing. Inbound marketing versus digital marketing Digital marketing and inbound marketing are easily confused, and for good reason. Digital marketing uses many of the same tools as inbound marketing—email and online content, to name a few. Both exist to capture the attention of prospects through the buyer’s journey and turn them into customers. But the 2 approaches take different views of the relationship between the tool and the goal. Digital marketing considers how individual tools or digital channels can convert prospects. A brand’s digital marketing strategy may use multiple platforms or focus all of its efforts on 1 platform. For example, a company may primarily create content for social media platforms and email marketing campaigns while ignoring other digital marketing avenues. On the other hand, inbound marketing is a holistic concept. It considers the goal first, then looks at the available tools to determine which will effectively reach target customers, and then at which stage of the sales funnel that should happen. As an example, say you want to boost website traffic to generate more prospects and leads. You can focus on search engine optimization when developing your content marketing strategy, resulting in more optimized content, including blogs, landing pages, and more. The most important thing to remember about digital marketing and inbound marketing is that as a marketing professional, you don’t have to choose between the 2. In fact, they work best together. Inbound marketing provides structure and purpose for effective digital marketing to digital marketing efforts, making sure that each digital marketing channel works toward a goal. Why is digital marketing important? Any type of marketing can help your business thrive. However, digital marketing has become increasingly important because of how accessible digital channels are. In fact, there were 5 billion internet users globally in April 2022 alone. From social media to text messages, there are many ways to use digital marketing tactics in order to communicate with your target audience. Additionally, digital marketing has minimal upfront costs, making it a cost-effective marketing technique for small businesses. The benefits of digital marketing Digital marketing has become prominent largely because it reaches such a wide audience of people. However, it also offers a number of other advantages that can boost your marketing efforts. These are a few of the benefits of digital marketing. A broad geographic reach When you post an ad online, people can see it no matter where they are (provided you haven’t limited your ad geographically). This makes it easy to grow your business’s market reach and connect with a larger audience across different digital channels. Cost efficiency Digital marketing not only reaches a broader audience than traditional marketing but also carries a lower cost. Overhead costs for newspaper ads, television spots, and other traditional marketing opportunities can be high. They also give you less control over whether your target audiences will see those messages in the first place. With digital marketing, you can create just 1 content piece that draws visitors to your blog as long as it’s active. You can create an email marketing campaign that delivers messages to targeted customer lists on a schedule, and it’s easy to change that schedule or the content if you need to do so. When you add it all up, digital marketing gives you much more flexibility and customer contact for your ad spend. Quantifiable results To know whether your marketing strategy works, you have to find out how many customers it attracts and how much revenue it ultimately drives. But how do you do that with a non-digital marketing strategy? There’s always the traditional option of asking each customer, “How did you find us?” Unfortunately, that doesn’t work in all industries. Many companies don’t get to have one-on-one conversations with their customers, and surveys don’t always get complete results. With digital marketing, results monitoring is simple. Digital marketing software and platforms automatically track the number of desired conversions that you get, whether that means email open rates, visits to your home page, or direct purchases. Easier personalization Digital marketing allows you to gather customer data in a way that offline marketing can’t. Data collected digitally tends to be much more precise and specific. Imagine you offer financial services and want to send out special offers to internet users people who have looked at your products. You know you’ll

Ecommerce offers an alternative to traditional storefronts, but there are advantages and disadvantages to a business using e-commerce. You might be tempted to create a website and start selling your products online, but it’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into. E-commerce is a great choice for many business owners, but it may not be the best route for your particular business. One thing you have to consider is how many resources it takes to build an e-commerce website, especially if you have to hire a professional. On top of that, you have to add a picture, title, and product description for each of your products. Plus, you have to keep an eye on your website to make sure there are no bugs or glitches that could put customers’ data at risk or cause hiccups in payment processing. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of a business using e-commerce? In this article, we’ll talk about what e-commerce is, the pros and cons, and whether it’s right for your business. What is e-commerce? So, what is e-commerce exactly? E-commerce refers to business transactions — such as the sale of a product — that occur online. E-commerce websites typically include a virtual storefront that has a title, picture, and description for each product. When a customer finds a product they want to purchase, they can add it to their shopping cart and check out using their debit or credit card. Some payment processors even allow you to accept payments via cryptocurrency and other alternative payment methods. There are several advantages of e-commerce for business owners who don’t want to set up a physical storefront. Thanks to e-commerce, you can build an affordable website and sell your products online. You can also drive traffic to your e-commerce store to reach a larger audience. Here’s a full breakdown of some of the biggest e-commerce benefits. Advantages of Ecommerce Website 1. Reduced overhead costs Running an e-commerce store is a lot more cost-effective than running a physical store. You don’t have to rent commercial real estate — instead, you can pay an affordable fee for web hosting. You don’t have to invest in security for your commercial property, plus you don’t have to worry about paying rent for a warehouse or hiring employees. With an e-commerce store, typical costs include your domain name, your web hosting, and the cost of building your website, as well as your inventory. That being said, most e-commerce websites spend some money on marketing as well. 2. No need for a physical storefront There are so many difficult aspects to running a physical storefront and using e-commerce means you don’t have to face most of those obstacles. Renting a commercial property can be expensive, especially if you’re in a big city. You also have to pay for electricity, water, and internet to ensure your space is up to code and can handle your business. There’s also security to consider; if you want your physical storefront to be secure, you’ll need to invest in cameras and other surveillance equipment. With an e-commerce store, you can simply build your website and start selling your products online without worrying about setting up a physical storefront and spending as much money. 3. Ability to reach a broader audience Perhaps the biggest advantage of e-commerce is the fact that it allows you to reach a massive audience. Your physical storefront can only get so many visitors in a day, especially if you live in a smaller town or a rural area. With an e-commerce store, you can reach potential customers all throughout the world and show them your products. Even if you’re not selling your products overseas, you can still reach shoppers all the way across the United States to boost your sales. This expanded reach has even allowed a handful of smaller e-commerce stores to become massive brands over time. 4. Scalability Of the advantages and disadvantages of a business using e-commerce, scalability is one of the most practical advantages for long-term growth. If you have a physical storefront, your business can only grow so much before you have to move to a larger storefront. You also have to move inventory and equipment from one location to another, which makes it even harder to scale your store with the growth of your business. With e-commerce, your website and store can grow as your business does, and you don’t have to spend a fortune moving to a new physical space. 5. Track logistics Keeping track of logistics is an essential part of e-commerce and retail marketing, and it’s significantly easier with e-commerce than it is with a physical storefront. You can outsource fulfilment logistics so your customers can enjoy benefits like 2-day shipping and easy returns processing. You also have an electronic record of everything, which makes it easy to track sales and look for trends that help you grow your business over time. There are advantages and disadvantages of a business using e-commerce, so it’s important to know about the potential drawbacks as well. Running an e-commerce website can be particularly challenging for people who aren’t familiar with computers and technology. Here’s what you need to know about the potential downsides of e-commerce.      

Is Social Media Marketing or Traditional Marketing Better for Your Business? Media marketing is one of the most popular and frequently employed methods of business marketing. Electronic media, such as television, radio and newspapers, can be an offline or online medium, unlike print. Nowadays, most internet users carry out a web search before purchasing a brand or product. Additionally, social media plays a big part in product research. Despite this, it is incorrect to assert that more conventional forms of marketing strategies are no longer used. We continue to view TV advertisements, outdoor billboards, and other “conventional” advertisements. Can we truly argue that social media marketing, as well as internet marketing in general, differs from traditional marketing? Social Media Marketing: What is it? If you use social media sites, you will undoubtedly come across advertisements, recommendations from influencers, or hashtag searches that target your demographic. The goal of social media marketing strategies is to advertise a service or product and draw in new clients by utilising social media platforms. You must adhere to the following three standards if you want to be successful with social media marketing for business: Authenticity Transparency Honesty Every effective social media marketing plan begins with creating and supporting interaction between the brand and its followers. Traditional Marketing: What is it? Traditional marketing involves promoting and selling a product or service using conventional media such as print, broadcasting, direct mail, and other outward lead-generation strategies. Print advertising was created when newspapers were a thing and firms began placing their advertisements there. But traditional marketing strategies really took off during the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution periods. During that time, the world learned about product demos, celebrity endorsements, and product differentiation. Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing It is critical to fully grasp each idea to comprehend how social media marketing differs from traditional marketing. Any marketing technique used before the internet’s rise is considered traditional marketing, often known as offline marketing. It includes tactics and strategies based on print media, including broadcast and television ads, mailers, door-to-door pamphlets, and newspaper and magazine ads. On the other hand, social media marketing is an integral aspect of the broader idea of digital marketing, which is a catch-all word often used to refer to online marketing tactics based on the capabilities of the internet. Social media marketing, as the name implies, makes use of the popularity of social media sites. What advantages do social media marketing strategies offer? The social media landscape is quite varied. With the right approach, you can quickly grow engagement. The issue is that social media platforms are extremely competitive, making it difficult to stand out among your competitors. What can you do, then, to make your brand more distinctive? The easiest way to enhance your marketing game is to convey a story via your brands and products. While social media platforms provide a variety of content possibilities to interested users, you should aim to connect your story to a relevant experience for your followers. Another benefit is that social media can increase your visibility and present you to the globe if you are new to your sector of business. This is made possible through hashtags, which will promote awareness of your brand. Although hashtags are used on every social media platform, some platforms rely on them more than others. When you think about hashtags, social media websites may come to mind because all popular subjects are optimised, using them to aid in better tracking. What are the benefits of traditional marketing? Traditional marketing is still efficient at enhancing your brand, even though digital marketing has replaced it in many businesses. A wide audience can also be reached through traditional marketing in ways that digital marketing cannot. To connect with clients personally and reach local audiences, traditional marketing is crucial. More than ever, modern customers depend on relationships. They will pick companies that they believe genuinely care about their welfare and quality of life. Attempts to connect with your intended audience will feel less commercial and more natural as an outcome. The public remembers traditional marketing techniques better and for a longer period. The same television advertisement, flyers, business cards, or brochures can be used more frequently. As a result, you do not need to create added content as frequently to market your goods or services, suggesting that traditional marketing methods are more sustainable. Which is better for your company: a social media plan or a traditional marketing approach? Although social media marketing and traditional marketing have similar objectives, they each require a different strategy to achieve them. Additionally, the two strategies employ KPIs in diverse ways. KPIs are measures that assess the effectiveness of various consumer engagement strategies. Social media marketing frequently employs KPIs that gauge relationships with current clients because of their interactive character. While traditional marketing uses KPIs that gauge client expansion, such as foot traffic to a retail establishment, Traditional marketing focuses on offline media, whereas social media focuses on interactive social media platforms. While traditional marketing strategies are typically more static and target a wider audience, social media enables more flexible and individualised content.        

Social Media Marketing (SMM): What It Is, How It Works, Pros and Cons What Is Social Media Marketing (SMM)? Social media marketing (also known as digital marketing and e-marketing) is the use of social media—the platforms on which users build social networks and share information—to build a company’s brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic. In addition to providing companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones, SMM has purpose-built data analytics that allows marketers to track the success of their efforts and identify even more ways to engage. Within 18 years, from 2004 (when Myspace became the first social media site to reach one million users) to 2022, the dramatic growth of interactive digital channels took social media to levels that challenge even the reach of television and radio. Why Is Social Media Marketing (SMM) So Powerful? The power of SMM is driven by the unparalleled capacity of social media in three core marketing areas: connection, interaction, and customer data. Connection Not only does social media enable businesses to connect with customers in previously impossible ways, but there is also an extraordinary range of avenues to connect with target audiences—from content platforms (like YouTube) and social sites (like Facebook) to microblogging services (like X). Interaction The dynamic nature of the interaction on social media—whether direct communication or passive liking—enables businesses to leverage free advertising opportunities from EWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) recommendations between existing and potential customers. Not only is the positive contagion effect from EWOM a valuable driver of consumer decisions, but the fact that these interactions happen on the social network makes them measurable. For example, businesses can measure their social equity—a term for the return on investment (ROI) from their social media marketing Customer Data A well-designed social media marketing plan delivers another invaluable resource to boost marketing outcomes: customer data. Rather than being overwhelmed by the 3Vs of big data (volume, variety, and velocity), SMM tools have the capacity not only to extract customer data but also to turn this gold into actionable market analysis—or even to use the data to crowdsource new strategies. How Social Media Marketing (SMM) Works As platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram took off, social media transformed how we connect and how businesses can influence consumer behaviour—from promoting content that drives engagement to extracting geographic, demographic, and personal information that makes messaging resonate with users. SMM Action Plan The more targeted your SMM strategy is, the more effective it will be. Hootsuite, a leading software provider in the social media management space, recommends the following action plan to build an SMM campaign that has an execution framework as well as performance metrics: Align SMM goals to clear business objectives Learn your target customer (age, location, income, job title, industry, interests) Conduct a competitive analysis of your competition (successes and failures) Audit your current SMM (successes and failures) Create a calendar for SMM content delivery Create best-in-class content Track performance and adjust SMM strategy as needed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Compared to traditional marketing, social media marketing has several distinct advantages, including the fact that SMM has two kinds of interaction that enable targeted customer relationship management (CRM) tools: both customer-to-customer and firm-to-customer. In other words, while traditional marketing tracks customer value primarily by capturing purchase activity, SMM can track customer value directly (through purchases) and indirectly (through product referrals). Shareable Content Businesses can also convert the amplified interconnectedness of SMM into the creation of sticky content, the marketing term for attractive content that engages customers at first glance. This gets them to purchase products and share the content. This kind of word-of-mouth advertising not only reaches an otherwise inaccessible audience but also carries the implicit endorsement of someone the recipient knows and trusts—making the creation of shareable content one of the most important ways social media marketing drives growth. Viral Marketing Another SMM strategy that relies on the audience to generate the message is viral marketing, a sales technique that attempts to trigger the rapid spread of word-of-mouth product information. Once a marketing message is being shared with the general public far beyond the original target audience, it is considered viral—a very simple and inexpensive way to promote sales.  

Director of Marketing, Elwyn. Visionary leader, specializing in brand strategy, creative direction, and hybrid marketing. Visit me here. It’s the time of year when marketers alike attempt to forecast the foreseeable future. As 2024 nears, we spend considerable time and effort planning and preparing how to best reach and connect with audiences and how to make a lasting and impactful impression. Anticipating future marketing trends is a crucial and valuable part of the process and strategy. In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and continuously shifting consumer behaviour’s, staying updated with the latest marketing trends has become paramount. According to a report from VidenGlobe, “The year 2024 … is a time filled with opportunities and challenges we have never seen before.” In other words, running a business today means understanding how innovative strategies can benefit your company’s needs. 1. Conversational Marketing And AI-Driven Interactions As we tread deeper into 2024, conversational marketing is poised to redefine customer interactions. Gone are the days when customers would wait patiently for responses; the modern consumer seeks immediate gratification and instant solutions. Through AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants, brands are engaging consumers in real time, answering queries and guiding purchasing decisions. Such AI-driven conversations provide a seamless and personalized experience, increasing customer satisfaction and, consequently, conversions. 2. Virtual Reality And Augmented Reality Integration The border between the digital realm and reality is becoming increasingly porous, thanks to advancements in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). These technologies offer marketers a unique opportunity to create immersive brand experiences. Whether it’s a VR showroom tour for a car company or an AR app that lets users visualize how furniture will look in their home, the possibilities are virtually limitless. As VR and AR hardware become more accessible, expect to see brands incorporating these technologies into their marketing campaigns. 3. Sustainability And Ethical Marketing The modern consumer is not just interested in purchasing a product or service; they’re keen on understanding the brand’s values, particularly concerning environmental and social responsibility. This trend, spurred by global challenges like climate change and social injustices, has led to a surge in brands promoting their sustainability initiatives and ethical practices. From eco-friendly packaging to fair trade sourcing, marketing in 2024 is as much about value as it is about value. 4. Hyper-Personalization Through Big Data And Analytics Today’s consumer expects tailor-made experiences. With the vast amount of data available from various touchpoints—be it social media, websites or even physical stores—brands can harness this information using sophisticated analytics. This results in hyper-personalized marketing strategies where content, product recommendations and even advertisements are customized for individual consumers. As big data technologies and machine learning algorithms evolve, I believe this trend will only become more refined, making mass marketing strategies increasingly obsolete. 5. Video Marketing And Short-Form Content Dominance While video marketing isn’t new, its dominance has been compounded by the rise of platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts and similar short-form video platforms. The ephemeral nature of this content, combined with its engaging visual appeal, aligns perfectly with the dwindling attention spans of modern audiences. Brands are now leveraging short-form videos not just for advertisements but for storytelling, product launches and even customer testimonials. Conclusion In 2024, marketing will involve an innovative fusion of technological advancements and human-centered strategies. Companies that are aware of the subtleties of personalisation and the effectiveness of short-form content, and who leverage the power of conversational AI, immersive technologies like VR and AR, and the resonance of ethical practices, are going to succeed. Success in marketing still largely depends on flexibility and creativity in an environment that is changing practically every day.