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  • A Shoe Manufacturer’s Success Story

    ‘How Local SEO helps small retailers and manufacturers survive and thrive in a competitive world.’

    Shoe manufacturers success story-Local seo

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    David and Goliath: the victory of small over big, the triumph of the nimble entity over the ponderous entity. In his time David did it with a well-chosen stone. Today, the Davids of the world turn to SEO.

    Despite the potential generated by one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the world, small businesses in India struggle to keep up with sales and are often overwhelmed with the cost of running traditional businesses. The wonders of the Internet, the way it can boost business at breakneck speed, has barely penetrated this market. It’s not totally the fault of small business and manufacturing entities in India. There has been scant strategic support from associations or regulatory bodies to raise awareness of all things digital, and the first steps taken by by local bodies to educate small businesses have yet to bear fruit.

    But there are Davids in the Indian e-commerce industry to point out, demonstrating the potential and success that’s possible by utilizing the immense power of the Internet and its all-encompassing nature. How else to explain Flipkart rising dramatically in a world dominated by the Goliath Amazon?

    The small players in the world of Indian manufacturing will either have to embrace change and start harnessing the power of the Internet or remain just another player satisfied with what it has while not wanting much change.

    Some Stats

    Retail Industry in India

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    Unorganized Retail vs. Organized Retail Market in India

    unorganized vs organized retail market in india

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    A Short and Simple Story

    Lalu Dass Shoe Maker, a small shoe manufacturer located in the heart of Bangalore on Brigade Road, specializes in custom made leather shoes for men and women. While Mr. Lalu Dass has been in business for the past 60 years, very little has been known about him online until very recently. In the brick and mortar world, however, his reputation is monumental. Customers speak at length about the quality, comfort, and price of his shoes as well as the humility of this great artisan.

    I have known Mr. Lalu Dass for quite some time, and for all the right reasons. Despite our relationship, I have found it very difficult to help this shoe manufacturer (generally what we refer to as a ‘cobbler’) understand the world of online business and the potential it represents to elevate the fortunes of small business enterprises. No matter how hard I tried I could not persuade him to use his brand ‘Name’ for his own merchandise online. His rigidity in thought, his desire to maintain status quo, simply would not give way.

    Then I used another tactic. It’s one that works with almost everyone. I proposed that if he allowed me to use his brand ‘Name’ online, I would double his business. “Money talks and nobody walks,” as the saying goes. I can say I won at least the preliminary round.

    Results within 2-3 weeks

    1. Google Page 1 Take Over

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    seo

    1. Conversion Rate: More business enquiries from online, almost 10X customer enquiries (than the offline customer footfalls), out of which 3X more customers placed orders. This is a whopping 30% Conversion Rate.
    1. Branding & Awareness: Lalu Dass Shoes has become a brand name by itself online. Search for it and you will get all the relevant details.

    Just by doing a bit of Local SEO in whatever time I had

    1. Researched Conversion Keywords:

    It is important that you quickly check what your online audience is looking for. How they will find you is the question needing an answer. Google AdWords helped me cut through the Keywords with moderately high search, comparatively low competition and high conversions.

    2. Research on Competition and Relevant Directories:

    While keywords are important, it is crucial to know where your competition is. I quickly Googled a few directories with relevant categories and included the shoe business and descriptions.

    • Create email Ids, Title, Business/Product Descriptions, Phone Numbers, Address, Keywords, Product Specifications
    • Make sure the directories you include your business in are Mobile Friendly. Quite a large number of your audience search through mobile devices. So do not ignore them at any cost.

    local seo

    3. Created Image Gallery of the shoes:

    Took pictures of the shoes with my Android phone and uploaded them on directories. A few of them rank on Google image search

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    Screen grab of an Optimized Directory Listing

    4. Created Google Business Page and verified details:

    Google Business Page

    5. Initiated Facebook Page and conversation with audience:

    Started conversation with 80/20 rule. 80% content of what audience needed, 20% about the products/services/promotions

    6. Market Research for 2 Weekends:

    • Went to the shop and mingled with customers. Quite a few of them were from the elite class and I asked them to write reviews for the Shoe Maker
    • Learned about different styles/types of leather shoes – this helped me write about different shoe features
    • Watched shoe making techniques/tools – It’s interesting to see how shoes are crafted. It’s a totally different art altogether.

    Offline Activities, which also attributed to sales

    • Got business Cards and small Hoarding done for the shop with contact details (mobile, email ids, etc.) and Google business page URL
    • Land-line Connection in working condition – This was done mainly for customer follow-ups and tracking online customer requirements. Quite a few prospective customers call the business directly when they find contact details online.

    There is lot more to do. There are many Local SEO white hat techniques to easily increase your sales online.

    BTW, Mr. Lalu Dass is my Father-in-Law and I am happy to see the big smile on his face every time I meet him. Ironically, Mr. Lalu Dass still owes me a pair of Oxford Leather Shoes which he promised as a part of the deal. But that’s another story, the one about the cobbler’s children.

     

  • Google Phantom 2 Algorithm Update

     ‘What does it mean to the businesses and search marketers?’

    Google’s on a roll. From the “Mobilegeddon” update last month to its recent secretive “Phantom 2” algorithm update, it’s delivering the best possible search results to users. And then going back for more. Google silently tweaks its algorithm much frequently than most marketers imagine.

    While the Mobilegeddon algorithm update was designed to boost the rankings of mobile friendly sites on mobile devices, Google’s Phantom 2 update will penalize sites with low quality content, specifically impacting “how-to” style content. Additionally, the impact will be felt by the entire domain not just standalone low quality website pages.

    What “Phantom” should mean for Search marketer?

    It’s a swift silent punisher of sites with thin content. They will lose the bulk of their rankings, traffic and conversions overnight.

     google phantom 2 update

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    What does Phantom do to the actual business?

    • Your entire website is punished or sand-boxed
    • You rapidly lose a lot of traffic
    • You can’t see your high traffic ranking keywords on Google search results pages (SERPs)
    • Traffic conversions drop faster than you think
    • Your Return on Investment (ROI) disintegrates

    Essentially, you lose almost everything online you were working on the site (whether intentional or unintentional).

    It sounds scary, right?

    Reasons why a website is hit by Google Phantom 2 algorithm

    1. Sites with Low Quality Content

    Google has been cautioning everyone for quite some time now with Panda algorithm updates. Sites that add very little or no value to the audience are hit with the Phantom 2 algorithm update. This includes poor representation and lack of uniqueness in the content to the users.

    2. Engagement

    If your website content is not able to provide value to the audience, the engagement level is bound to be low on the website. The Phantom update emphasizes this fact. And the current Phantom 2 updates are a lot more strict than Panda updates

    3. User Experience (UX)

    • While content is one major aspect, others include the website load time, 404 errors, user flow, page architecture (design), color combinations, user navigation all of which should be taken very seriously by the webmasters. Make sure the website functions perfectly without distracting your audience and the search engines
    • Supplement, template content or using auto generate content tools slanders the uniqueness and the usefulness of the content for users. Marketers should be very careful and should maintain the relevance of the content for the users
    • Use of distractive and/or sponsored ads: Ads are meant to help users make the right decisions or provide information they intend to use during the buying process. Many businesses overdo by forcing users to click on these ads
    • Affiliate networks, which keep on bombarding and showcasing users with irrelevant ads
    • Sometimes ad links and content are in the same flow & color and users can’t determine the difference. Applying these tactics hurts the sites rather than helping. Remember, Google has already included human bots in deciphering these tactics
    • Pop-up’s annoy the audience if not used judiciously. Google algorithm has been optimized to identify these
    • Pages only containing images and videos without considering the theme of the webpage or over exposing the aspect of rich media are a negative impact
    • Pages with just links that point to subdomains or other websites with less/no content, are of little help. No more old school link farm techniques

    4. No Corrective Action Taken

    If your website has been hit by Google Panda or had elements hit by the update earlier, and you have done nothing to make content more appealing, fresh, and unique to the users, Phantom 2 will definitely have an impact.

    5. Duplicate Content and Canonical issues

    Happens frequently but often ignored by webmasters. Make sure you remove duplicate pages/content. Just remove them or block duplicate content from search engine indexing. Use proper canonical tags to make sure that one version of pages exist.

    6. Doorway Pages

    Doorway pages–Don’t try to deceive Search Engines and create similar pages to gain multiple rankings on SERPs. Google is smart enough to identify these and punish websites accordingly. Read here

    7. User Generated (spam content)

    Make sure user-generated conversations are relevant and checked for spam. Lots of low quality and thin ineffective user generated content raises an alarm and will be hit by the Phantom update. Ensure that community/forums are not used as junkyards for link and ad promotions. Have guidelines for the users to comment. Do periodic checks and edit/remove comments, which have negative user experiences.

    More to consider

    • Understand Your Target Audience/Personas before you write content. Attribute content across the funnel of the buyer’s journey
    • Have in place a content marketing strategy and plan. Make sure you generate genuine and unique content for the users, not for search engines
    • Try to develop a mix of content/asset types to keep users engaged. Distribute your content to relevant channels where your target audience generally visits. Content is King, but Distribution is ‘Queen’
    • Start with small. If you have constraints generating content, take small steps. Use Social Media to interact with your audience
    • Optimize your online channels Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc., and reach out to your audience
    • Generate small content pieces. The traditional rule for audience engagement is 80/20. Eighty percent of your content should be for your audience, and 20% should be for your business (sales, marketing, self-promotion, etc.)
    • Have a social calendar in place to communicate with your audience
    • Regular Website Health Check up – Make sure all the technical aspects of the website are taken care of like page load time, design, navigation, etc. Regular checks on website hygiene ensures removing any major issues and creates better user and search engine experience
    • Make sure you track your content performance using analytical tools
    • Conduct regular analytics audits to make sure you are on top of your user engagement metrics. Understand what your audience needs and generate content accordingly

    At Position2 we utilize an Integrated Digital Marketing Approach to make sure our clients achieve premium results. Our proprietary Website Calibrator™ technology, a 41-point technical SEO audit, keeps our client websites equipped for any Search Engine algorithm updates.

  • Best of the Week | Deep Dive Into Google’s App Indexing, and much more…

    This week’s hot news, events and videos from the online marketing and social media world.
    Personalized Search
    From the Position² Blog This Week:
    Deep Dive Into Google’s App Indexing
    Have you ever wondered how apps are indexed by Google just like websites? Read this blog to learn how Google’s App Indexing works.
    Top Stories this Week: Social Media
    Top Stories this Week: SEO, PPC and Digital Media
    A Universal SEO Strategy Audit in 5 Steps - Whiteboard Friday Best of the Week Video
    Why wait for eight seconds for an external page to load when you can read the article with a single tap within the comfort of Facebook? Check this video for how Facebook’s Instant Articles works.
    Persona Based Lead Scoring: The Mystery and the Method
    Download this White Paper and learn:

    • Classify leads based on behavior and demographic details
    • Develop a consistent methodology to proffer quality leads to sales
    • Employ data integrity and tracking
    • Deploy marketing automation to improve efficiency and cut costs.?

    Download the complimentary persona Based Lead Scoring White Paper now

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  • Facebook: Where There Is No Outside

    Facebook wants its 1.44 billion active users to stay put. It sees each link out as a potential loss that undermines Facebook’s business model. To keep its users inside Facebook identifies all the likely content and experiences that users seek or pay for, those digital opportunities that take users out of its sphere of influence, and then recreates them inside the blue walled Facebook ecosystem.

    Consider Pages

    Facebook introduced Pages in 2007 with the intention of replacing business websites which were seen as inconsistent silos trumpeting incomplete information. In time Pages overwhelmed websites with cover photos, Timeline, maps, reviews, business hours, messaging channels, and many more rich features. Pages created a wealth of content for Facebook. Thousands of digital marketing professionals jumped in to build strategies, create content, media and links to maximize utility and engagement value. Facebook became a destination, a one stop shop for information on any brand. Nike.com might provide information about the latest shoes, but by visiting the Nike Page in Facebook a user got that information and, with News Feed amassing user targeted information in one endless scroll, exposure to much more — a band’s tour dates, the latest movie in a nearby theater, etc.

    Plugging the Leak

    When a users click on a News Feed preview, the link takes them outside the gates of Facebook. And they may not come back. Facebook responded by moving down the stack, from subsuming the authors to subsuming their content.

    Clicking on a YouTube video in Facebook took the user out to You Tube where upon completion of the video the user was encouraged to watch more non-Facebook content. Adding injury to insult, these videos would also display Google Ads. No revenue there. Facebook responded in December 2013 with Auto-play Videos. You could upload clips directly to Facebook and users could watch them without pre-roll ads or pop-overs. Six months later, between May and July 2014, auto-play video views grew 50%. By September, Facebook hit 1 billion video views per day. By January, it was 3 billion. And it’s over 4 billion today. Who’s to notice video ads appearing among all those organic clips?

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    Reader reactions and posts by the people involved on the latest news: Facebook’s Trends pages

    Got the message?

    Who needs email when there’s Facebook Message? At the March 2015 F8 conference, Facebook announced its new Messenger Platform. Users will be able to create and share content with third-party tools, and communicate directly with businesses rather than calling or emailing them.

    Facebook targets other popular apps:

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    facebook rooms

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    facebook messenger

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    One Click Instant Purchase

    To counter being whisked off by ecommerce ads to an outside website where a user keys in payment and delivery details Facebook provided the Buy Button, a particular boon to anyone using a mobile device (which is pretty much everyone). Rather than clicking away to a merchant’s site, the Buy button lets the user complete the entire purchase flow within Facebook, which could boost conversion rates and further endear retailers to the social network.

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    App install ads, Facebook’s cash cow, accounted for a major part of the $2.4 billion it made on mobile ads last quarter. Here, Facebook has tried pop-up App Store windows in-hopes of letting users download without moving out of the realm of Facebook.

    Facebook’s Instant Articles

    Why wait for eight seconds for an external page to load when you can read the article with a single tap within the comfort of Facebook? Rich media tools within Instant Articles allow marketers to add audio captions and zoomable videos to their copy. Publishers keep 100% of the revenue if they sell the ads that appear within Instant Articles, while Facebook keeps 30% if it sells the ads.

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    Best to Keep Facebook in Mind

    While these features appear to make life easier for Facebook users, they also keep them inside the blue zone. Which is the point, after all. Some features have been controversial, but controversy comes and goes. Commerce is forever. If one out of 1.44 billion Facebook users buys something, or books a room somewhere, or the flight to get there, best they do that business within Facebook than somewhere, well, outside. With Messenger and Group products remaining totally free for over 500 million users, advertisers have begun to rethink their global strategies, presumably with Facebook in mind.

  • Deep Dive Into Google’s App Indexing

    What is App Indexing?

    Google’s App indexing allows webmasters to connect pages from web sites to specific content within Android apps. An Android smartphone user with a company app installed will be able to open it directly from mobile search results in Google.

    App indexing

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    How it Works?

    “The App Indexing API provides a way for developers to notify Google about deep links in their native apps and allows the Google app to drive re-engagement through Google Search query auto completions, providing fast and easy access to inner pages in apps. The deep links reported using the App Indexing API are also used by Google to index app content and are surfaced in Google Search results.”  From Google’s App Indexing API site.

    Make It So

    • To connect company app to website enable deep linking of app from the Developers Console. Make sure the app is set up to work with Google Play Store
    • Developers must set up actions called “intent filters” that tell Google when a user is viewing a section of content, what the content’s title is, and if there is a Web page on your site that has the same content
    • When a user views content in app, Google will be notified via their app indexing API that the content exists in the app
    • By querying Google search for the corresponding content on the website a user is offered an option of viewing content in the app
    • Currently, Google doesn’t analyze any content that keeps track of content location in website and app

    Where Are We Today?

    Google’s Mobile App Indexing API helps users navigate to content located deep inside an app. The API also helps Google discover and analyze new content.

    Google has a hard time determining whether or not the app’s content outranks the competitor’s webpage content. But if Google already knows that the content on your site outranks a competitor’s content it will direct a user to read the content on your app rather than on your own site because it’s a better experience.

    And so begins a major shift in search. Apps will now start competing with traditional websites for rankings and traffic. Brands need to understand the importance of optimizing their app content so it shows higher in Google’s search results.

    Here are a few factors to consider right now:

    1. While Google can point a user to content within an app, the ranking itself is primarily based off the Web version of the content. There’s no hard proof as yet that elements like whether the user has already downloaded the app and how much time he/she spends in the app factor into the ranking as well.
    2. While unlikely at this point it is possible that content inside an app doesn’t have a corresponding Web page, in which case the app content could outrank other Web pages.
    3. Google can determine if Web content is high-quality and worthy of a number one ranking by looking at links, user behavior, social activity, page structure, site themes, and many other indicators. With apps, a lot of those same signals don’t yet exist.
    4. Currently App SEO is less about optimizing the app and more about optimizing the Web-based version of the content, and linking that to the identical content within the app. This helps Google  determine which version of the content to show to the user/searcher, depending on the device and user behavior.

    Let us know what you think of App Indexing, a new generation of SEO. Contact us to get your App Store Optimized.

  • Google Responds to Mobile Dominion

    When Google announces that “more Google searches takemobile vs desktop place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan,” you can rest assured that mobile has arrived. During a live stream of the annual AdWords Performance Summit in Half Moon Bay, California Google Vice President of product management, Mr. Jerry Dischler, spoke of the, “I want to know, I want to go, I want to buy” moments and the raft of new products Google is rolling out for its AdWords clients.

    Consumers using mobile devices are in a hurry and have exacting demands. Digital marketers have to meet those demands in the moment to even get noticed. Google has been studying the situation, weighing feedback from throughout the world, and has begun tweaking its search capacity to meet consumers’ expectations for relevancy and spur of the moment shopping. The core issue — how do people search for information on mobile  — has led to a whole new generation of ad experiences Google promises will be richer and more engaging. And designed for screen-swipes, not mouse-clicks.

    Here’s a primer on the shape of things to come, courtesy of Google

    Automotive Ads

    Paraphrasing Dischler – over half of automotive searches happen on mobile. So Google is rolling out two new types of ads in the auto vertical: automotive ads for OEMs, and dealer ads. The new ad format links to a carousel of images of the exterior/interior of the car, all swipe-friendly. Tapping on any image brings up more relevant information. Tapping on the “Dealers” link in the new ad or the landing page takes you to a search results page listing nearby dealers.

    Hotel Ads

    Hotel ads, launched last fall for both desktop and mobile, has been revamped globally, according to Google. People searching for hotels on Google will see all the relevant information — location, availability, rates, user reviews, et al — and high resolution photos and Google Street View. Going forward Hotel Ads will show up for all of Google’s hotel partners worldwide. “Book a room” ads provide special information pages from the hotel information repertoire or from reputable online travel sites.

    Mortgage Ads

    The Google Compare feature that debuted earlier this year has become a big hit with the auto insurance industry. Google will be adding mortgage to the lead generation service later this year.

    Consumers will be able to compare mortgage rates from multiple mortgage providers using Google Compare. Users will be able to review and customize criteria such as interest rates, terms of loan, fees, etc. Applying with a lender or calling up an adviser is just a ‘tap away’ from the Google search ads.

    Gung-ho about automation

    Google continues to invest in automation for both bidding tools and creative execution. A new reporting dashboard for automated bidding has been designed so advertisers can gain greater visibility into bid strategy performances over time. New simulation tools show the relation between cost and volume at multiple cost-per-acquisition targets.

    New measurements tools offered to marketers accurately measure performance across various customer touch points including across apps, devices, calls and in-store engagements.

    Reckoning Cross-device conversions

    Consumers today click on an ad on one device and then complete the activity on another. This makes return on advertising spends difficult to reconcile. But Google intends to change that for good. Estimated cross-device conversions data will soon be available for automated bidding strategies. This will help advertisers accurately judge transactions started in-app but completed on the web, or vice versa.

  • Best of the Week | Drip Marketing vs. Lead Nurturing, and much more…

    This week’s hot news, events and videos from the online marketing and social media world.
    Drip Marketing Vs. Lead Nurturing
    From the Position² Blog This Week:
    Drip Marketing vs. Lead Nurturing, and much more…
    Few things are more important to marketing than lead nurturing. Find out how lead nurturing varies from drip marketing. If done the right way, lead nurturing can help build a strong brand. Read to beget top-of-mind awareness now.
    Top Stories this Week: Social Media
    Top Stories this Week: SEO, PPC and Digital Media
    Common mistakes to avoid your text Ad Best of the Week Video
    Check this YouTube video for quick do’s and dont’s for text ads in Google AdWords, before you go ahead with your PPC campaigns.
    White Paper: The Rapidly Changing World of SEO
    Get a head start in your quest for search engine optimization by going through this insightful white paper. Download this White Paper to know:

    • How important SEO is & why it should concern you?
    • Various ways in which you can deploy SEO
    • How to combine Social Media with SEO?
    • SEO best practices and a road map to getting there

    Download the complimentary SEO White Paper now

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  • SEO: It Gets Personal

    Google launched Personal Search in early 2005, initiating a new search paradigm that didn’t depend on the user being signed on or not. Going forward, search results would be weighted on the user’s search history, not just keywords. Algorithm updates followed, one after the other, like the Venice update in 2012 and the introduction of Google Now in 2012. At this juncture it’s safe to say Personalization is more than a major factor among many. It will dominate Search in the near future.

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    Most Internet users don’t have a clue that their Search results are being personalized. Where Personalization initially made use of context and relevancy, localization now heavily influences the behavior of Search. Google’s algorithmic changes to Search over the years have locked in Personalization. With the Humming Bird update in 2013, we saw how search results could be tailored to individual needs by judging and understanding the entire context of search terms, not just individual words.

    Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has said, ”Google search will continue to become more personalized, getting away from the ‘10 link’ approach that we see in search results today.”

    How Does Personalization Affect SEO?

    1. Web-pages/websites focused only on keywords and intended only at improving links will no longer gain prominence
    2. User-centric content with a high “like” factor and greater probability of being shared among users will elevate in search results
    3. Branding will be significant enough that businesses need to build brands and not just websites
    4. Relevancy of content underscored by proper social relevance, asset optimization and syndication is vital

    Factors that affect the personalization of search results

    1. Users’ location

    Google — or any other search engine — knows exactly where a search query originates. With logged in users add age, sex, places travelled recently, et al. to the list of retrievable personal data. The increased use of smartphones has substantially increased the personal data flow into Google’s servers.

    1. Search & Web History

    User’s behavior on the web, the type of search queries made, the websites visited can be mapped to the kind of search results a user experiences on Google.  Google collects data about logged in users to understand the kinds of websites a user favors and browses. Another key factor is the user’s profile on Google+. Likes and ratings to web-pages, product reviews, etc. all factor into the search results. And so do links a user likes that get pushed to people in his Google+ circles who then make a Google search.

    Position2′s PoV

    Three things you can do to win at the Personalization game

    1. Relevant & Fresh Content

    Don’t just write for Search engines. Make your site content relevant to users. Fulfill a need. Continually update web pages to cater to users’ search behaviors.

    1. Social Sharing

    Regularize social posting and sharing activity. Utilize all social channels, but focus on Google+, Google Local and YouTube.

    1. Focus on Content Syndication

    Users reliably click on videos, infographics, and other rich-media assets much more than they click on editorial-heavy web-pages. So leverage your rich-media assets for content distribution.

    The Personalization of Search: that’s the future of SEO. Let us know what you think.

  • Drip Marketing vs. Lead Nurturing

    Old marketing aphorism

    He who confuses drip marketing for lead nurturing will see no results from either.

    Use drip marketing to nurture leads. But use lead nurturing to push those leads all the way through the buyer’s journey to its successful (for you) conclusion.

    While both campaigns benefit by automating and maintaining sustained engagement with prospects with direct email and social media — Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. drip marketing engages a prospect and lead nurturing takes it from there by understanding the behavior of the prospect, their associated needs and other interests, all in service of developing a better, more qualified sales opportunity.

    By understanding the basic difference between these two you will improve your marketing programs, and your bottom line will swell. Organizations drive prospects and renewals by nurturing prospects in all stages of the lead life cycle. What’s important is a continuous process of education and engagement at every stage of a buyer’s journey, be it event communications, free trials, employee communication programs, etc.

    Drip Marketing

    Drip campaigns begin when people engage in common activities like signing up for an account or simply visiting your site. The people become a self-defined group and the drip campaign enables you to stay in touch. These campaigns typically consist of batches or triggers that change the nature of communication depending on the engagement or lead response. Every email originates from an archive of pre-written emails that are blasted using an automated process that allows for personalization of the name of the lead, the name of the organization, and much more.

    Drip Marketing Process

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    Drip marketing is an effective way to push leads in a sales-ready direction. You educate the prospects about the product, build interest, and once ready, automatically move them to sales. Drip marketing is simpler and less customizable than a lead nurturing program but with continuous engagement it helps to keep your organization visible.

    Lead Nurturing

    Lead nurturing is about consistent communication with buyers throughout the lead life cycle, addressing key issues right from when interaction with the lead begins to when the lead is ready to purchase. Customers won’t appear overnight. It requires strategic marketing over time for potential customers to educate themselves and begin to build trust with the company. Lead nurturing successfully delivers valuable enough content that your leads remain engaged. Done right, lead nurturing develops strong brand and solution preferences in your prospects long before they’re actively engaged in the buying process.

    The successful lead nurturing program must be: lead nurture funnel

    • Able to maintain contact with the prospect
    • Use appropriate content
    • Target and Segment
    • Survey progress throughout the buying cycle

    To reduce the unsubscribe rate, keep all your communications simple and engaging. All of the content marketing rules for designing and sending effective emails apply to drip marketing and lead nurture. Begin with basic lead nurturing, going through the content on your website and blog to break it down into pieces that leads can easily and quickly consume. You need to map the content according to where your prospects land in the lead life cycle. A lead in the early-stages will have content requirements totally different than a lead in the late-stages. Your content has to be informative. It has to educate. And, to generate meaningful customer engagement, it has to be targeted. .

    Lead nurturing is a powerful way to automatically stay engaged with future buyers. Use targeting and segmentation to leverage prospects and ensure that communications remain relevant. By successfully implementing the nurturing process you gain valuable insights into buyer preferences and gain knowledge of the buyer’s timing and path. None of this is possible, of course, if your lead nurturing program delivers content of insufficient value or interest to your prospects.

  • Microsoft Build Developer Conference 2015

    Microsoft Build Developer Conference 2015

    Evolution just won’t go away and Microsoft has been discovering as much. The company that revolutionized the personal computer with the Windows Operating System, the most dominant desktop platform, finds itself at a crossroads with mobile devices and the cloud weighing as fast moving cross traffic. The choice? Evolve or get run over.

    The Microsoft Build Developer Conference 2015 was, in part, a big shout out to developers that Microsoft was ready to recompile Android and iOS apps for Windows – all of which ups the excitement factor for the Windows 10 OS roll out.

     

    Key Takeaways from the Developer Conference

     

    • Android apps on Windows phone

    Developers can now port their Android or iOS apps on to the Windows platform with minimal adaptations. And once on Windows the apps can then be made “Universal” to run on phones, tablets and even Xbox.

    • Revolutionary Windows 10 OS

    Windows 10 will support seamless cross-device integration and other user-friendly improvements. A new feature, ‘Continuum’, will reshape the OS interface depending on how you intend to use it. Your Windows 10 tablet, for example, will become much more touch-friendly. For convertible devices like Surface Pro 3 your user experience will fit the orientation of your device.

    • Phone takes over desktop features

    A Windows 10 phone showcased during the conference proved that the phone can indeed perform much of the functions of your desktop PC, another Continuum feature. Linked to an external monitor and Bluetoothed to a mouse and keyboard you end up with a Widows 10 phone-as-PC, a feature with huge implications for people constantly on the move and needing desktop-like functionality at all times, as well as for anyone living in mobile-first parts of the world.

    • Edge – the new internet browser

    Microsoft calls its new browser ‘Edge‘. It is a faster, sleeker and much more agile browser. Edge will make extensive use of ‘Cortana’, a virtual assistant, and support existing browser extensions.

    • HoloLens – advanced virtual reality

    Perhaps the most revolutionary advance coming out of the Microsoft Build Developer Conference 2015 is HoloLens. The device can interact with your physical environment in a much more realistic way than any virtual reality device available today. It fits neatly into Microsoft’s vision of a unified Windows 10 platform. Powered by the new OS it can run any Universal Windows app. Using HoloLens you can plaster apps on your walls or other flat surfaces and weave digital content right into your real world.

    • Visual Studio for OS X and Linux

    Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment from Microsoft. Developers on the Windows platform have long used it to design websites, web apps and services. Microsoft will now release Visual Studio coding tools for OS X and Linux users to empower a new community of developers.