Digital Apprenticeships

Email Marketing 101

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Email campaign

Email Marketing plays a crucial role in any digital markers marketing campaign. It is a great way to nurture your leads as it allows you to communicate with those who are already subscribed to your mailing list, meaning that you are communicating with those already interested in your company. It can also increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website to ultimately reach your goals.

In 2022, Litmus found that the average ROI (Return On Investment) for email marketing was $36 for every $1 spent. With many different types of emails, you can send to your customers, email marketing is a great way for businesses to reach out to their target audience, It is no surprise that Litmus found that 79% of marketers list email marketing as their top 3 most effective marketing channels.

Getting started with email marketing

Getting started with email marketing is easy but the first thing you must do is work out what you want to achieve from your campaign. Do you want to drive traffic to your website? Convert your audience into leads? Encourage people to sign-up for an event? Establishing your goals is key to a successful email campaign and aligning those goals with your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) means that you can easily measure the success of your campaign as well.

Gmail

Building a mailing list

When getting started with email campaigns companies will need to bring together a mailing list. A mailing list is a list of people to whom you want to send your email campaign. These are the people who have given consent to receive email marketing from your company. If you do not already have a mailing list you will need to start thinking of any which you can get people to sign-up for your emails. You can do this by:

  • Putting links/buttons to sign-up forms on email signatures, your website, your social media pages, the end of blog posts, etc.
  • Making sure that the sign-up form is short and easy to fill in.
  • Providing sneak peeks of your newsletters, this could be in social media.
  • Advertising offers only available through email sign-ups.

When building your mailing list you should also consider segmenting your list. You can put your audience into different categories depending on characteristics they may have stated on your email sign-up form, such as location, interests, etc.

Types of email marketing

Another thing to consider is deciding the type of email campaign you will send to your audience. There are countless types of email marketing and the type you choose to send should align with your goals to achieve a successful campaign. Types of email marketing include:

  • Welcome emails
  • Newsletters
  • Company updates
  • Job advertisements
  • Promotional

Different technologies

You will need to decide what technology you want to use before getting started with email. There are hundreds of different technologies available to create email campaigns, all of which have different factors which set them apart. You should choose the technologies that will help your company achieve its goals and objectives. Some examples of email marketing technologies include:

  • HubSpot – a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform which helps marketing teams optimise their email campaigns powered by CRM data.
  • MailChimp – an email marketing platform used for creating and managing email campaigns. It is best for actionable data insights to improve your strategy.
  • Moosend – an email marketing automation platform designed to send and manage email campaigns. It is best for creating automation and sending personalised emails.

Why is email marketing important?

There are many reasons why email marketing is important for your business. For starters people use email every day and according to Statista there were over 4 billion email users worldwide in 2020, so it is easy to connect and communicate your messages to your audience. It has many benefits, some of these include:

  • Boosting other marketing channels.
  • Keeping your audience engaged with your company.
  • Cost-effective
  • Allows for targeted messages
  • Generates traffic to your website
Email messages

What makes a successful email campaign?

There are many things that can make an email campaign successful, these can include:

  • Relevant to your audience – making your email marketing relevant to your audience, whether that be through personalised/targeted content can lead to your audience driving traffic to your website and making purchases.
  • Engaging subject lines – subject line will be one of the first things your audience sees and this will determine whether or not they will open your email. Making your subject line engaging will help push them to open your email and click on your content.
  • Clearly defined goals – setting goals means that you know what you want your email campaign to achieve and it can help measure the success of your campaign.
  • Optimised for mobiles – according to Adobe in 2018 85% of email users use their phone to access emails.
  • Proofread before sending – by proofreading your email before sending you can check that you have made no errors such as spelling mistakes. Sending test emails allow you to see what your email would look like to your audience and it allows you to test that all links work and go to the right places.

Email marketing regulations

It is important to note that there are rules to email marketing. Since 2018 there have been GDPR regulations introduced that restrict whom you can send emails to. People must have given consent to receive emails from your company, whether that be by signing up for or opting in to email marketing. This means that companies need to be careful when sending email campaigns and make sure that everyone on their mailing list has opted-in to receive and has not unsubscribed.

Email marketing is a great way to connect with your target audience and it is a technique that all digital markers should consider in their marketing strategy as it is easy to do with little cost.

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3 Free Digital Marketing Tools Every Marketer Needs 2023

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Digital Marketing, Tools, Digital Marketer, digital marketing tools, tools 2023, free tools, free tools 2023

When starting your career in digital marketing, have you ever thought about tools and software available to use? Free Digital Marketing Tools have evolved in 2023. There are so many options out there from time management tools to SEO guidance which is why its important to take a step back and really decide what works best for you. This blog will provide some useful free tools below to help get you started. 

Google Keyword Planner

Understanding which keywords to use when creating different content, for example blogs or google ads can seem like a difficult task. However, Google keyword planner is so easy to use. This free tool allows you to discover many new keywords associated with your business/ industry. It works by and offering estimates of the number of times specific words/ phrases were searched. Usefully, the keyword planner actually tells you how much it costs to target. Overall, this free digital marketing tool is fantastic for all digital marketers who are looking for a keyword planner.

CapCut

Free digital Marketing Tools generally enable creating engaging short-form video content. Since 2022 there has been an increase in the popularity of videos via platforms like TikTok and Instagram. CapCut is a multi-purpose video editor which removes complex editing, so it is essentially the perfect tool for new professionals in the industry. Something that differentiates CapCut from other video editors is you can extract audio. For example take a trending sound from Instagram and import the video into CapCut, click extract audio and then you have an easy way to create perfectly timed transitions. 

Digital Marketing, Tools, Digital Marketer, digital marketing tools, tools 2023, free tools, free tools 2023

Canva

An Important tool for a role as a digital marketer is Canva. Canva is basically a source for all your graphic design needs, which is super helpful having this all in one place not to mention convenient. Canva pretty much allows you to create anything from social media content you need to upload, to banners for your new website and it also provides a helpful system of templates to help you incorporate all of this into your outputs.

We all know starting to create content from scratch can seem extremely daunting and this tends to put many new digital marketers in a predicament, knowing tools like this are out there and available free to use by anyone creates so much relief! Because once you know this life gets so much easier. Canva is able to take this to a whole new level by displaying inspiration from various previous creators and the different internal tools and features such as the drag-and-drop feature which makes the experience streamlined.

Summary of Free Digital Marketing Tools

To conclude, a range of free digital marketing tools readily available are so easy to find when you have the web at your finger tips. Don’t be afraid to jump deep in when comes to digital marketing as there are so many useful resources out there that will make your journey as a marketer super easy! It is important to know which ones will help develop your skills, however it is just as easy to find out which ones are best for you by simply trial and error.

These 3 free digital marketing tools will help you to build your best skillset now and in the future as technology advances and trends keep changing. Overall, understanding what tools will drive your development and progression is important for creating successful strategies and campaigns.

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The Power of Social Media Marketing for Apprentices: Why It’s an Essential Skill to Master

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Level 3 Apprenticeship Unleashing Your Creativity The Benefits of an Advanced and Creative Hair Professional Level 3 Apprenticeship

In today’s digitally connected world, social media marketing has become a must-have skill for professionals across various industries. For apprentices looking to develop their careers and stand out in a competitive job market, mastering social media marketing can provide significant advantages. In this blog post, we will discuss the reasons why social media marketing is a powerful skill for apprentices and how it can help them succeed in their chosen fields.

social-media-concept-with-smartphone
social-media-concept-with-smartphone

Enhancing Personal Branding and Networking Opportunities

As an apprentice, establishing a strong personal brand is crucial for attracting potential employers, clients, or business partners. Social media platforms provide an excellent opportunity to showcase your skills, knowledge, and personality. By actively engaging with others in your industry, sharing relevant content, and building a professional online presence, you can increase your visibility and expand your network, which can lead to new opportunities and connections.

Keeping Up with Industry Trends and News

Staying updated on the latest trends, news, and developments in your industry is essential for personal and professional growth. Social media platforms are a treasure trove of real-time information, with industry experts, influencers, and organizations sharing valuable insights and updates. As an apprentice, regularly engaging with social media can help you stay informed and aware of the latest advancements, enabling you to adapt and thrive in a constantly evolving professional landscape. This knowledge not only sets you apart from your peers but also equips you with the information needed to make informed decisions and contribute meaningfully to conversations within your field.

Demonstrating Adaptability and Digital Savvy

In an increasingly digital world, employers value professionals who are adaptable and possess a strong understanding of digital tools and trends. By mastering social media marketing, apprentices demonstrate their digital savvy and willingness to adapt to new technologies. This skill set can make you a more attractive candidate to potential employers and help you stand out among other applicants.

Complementing Traditional Marketing Strategies

Social media marketing can be a powerful addition to traditional marketing strategies, providing apprentices with a well-rounded understanding of both online and offline marketing techniques. This comprehensive knowledge is beneficial when working with clients or employers who require a versatile approach to promoting their products or services. Additionally, social media marketing skills can help apprentices identify creative and innovative ways to integrate online and offline campaigns, maximizing their impact and reach.

Future-Proofing Your Career

As social media continues to grow and evolve, its importance in the business world is only set to increase. By developing social media marketing skills as an apprentice, you are effectively future-proofing your career. Regardless of the industry you choose to work in, the ability to create engaging content, analyze data, and leverage the power of social media will remain a valuable asset in the years to come. By staying ahead of the curve and continuously honing your social media marketing skills, you can ensure that your professional development remains relevant and adaptive to the shifting digital landscape.

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Conclusion

Social media marketing is undoubtedly a powerful skill that apprentices should strive to acquire and refine. By mastering this skill, apprentices can enhance their personal branding, expand their professional network, stay informed about industry trends, complement traditional marketing strategies, and future-proof their careers. In an ever-evolving digital world, the ability to harness the power of social media will be an invaluable asset, setting apprentices on a path to success in their chosen fields.

More Information on Digital Marketing for Apprentices standards

Check out our other Article on The Benefits of an Advanced and Creative Hair Professional Level 3 Apprenticeship here

Dos and Don’t of using Ad Intel

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Are you looking for the ultimate guide to using Ad intel? This is a great tool for researching the global competitive advertising market for both Ad spend and creatives. But you might find it hard to use the platform. We have come up with Dos and Dont’s help you navigate the way around the platform. Continue reading to find out more!

What is the database?

This a data base that allows you to run selective reports and adds media channels, new dates, brands and spending across the time that is suited. It requires planners, to research and gain exposure on competitors for client requests.

Please see Apprenticetips for more information on using digital tools and overall apprenticeship research. Find at ApprenticeTips.com

DO

Use Ad Intel for in-house planning, buying and media decisions. This will include building in-house reports to understand the competitive market.

Don’t

Another key point is not to share the data, in a raw format – it will lead to it being manipulated in another way.

DO

Also, Feed data into dashboards or reports for client use.

Don’t

Generate reports with any spot level granularity. Including reporting by channel, publication or sharing data outside the business.

DO

But, do use your own login at all times. This is to save copyrights and people taking credit for your work.

Don’t

Lastly don’t, share any data on your own websites without permission.

Why this matters?

These Dos and Don’ts allow you to be the best researcher you can be for your business and solve your client requests. Being a good researcher helps meet business goals and pushes your company to: Better understand your customers, design new business opportunities and identify problem areas.

To use these Dos and Don’ts head onto the Ad Intel website to become a pro at Ad Intel UI UK (nielsen.com)

Conclusion

In summary, we hope this gave a good overview on the sharing guidelines of Ad Intel. By following these tips, you will be showing a better understanding on Ad intel and can take what you have learnt back to your business and show your clients you are a research expert!

Email Marketing Help 5 Useful Tips To Up Your Game

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Email Marketing Help Overview

We’ve carefully selected and condensed the most useful advice into 5 key tips to optimize your email marketing strategy. This Email marketing help guide provides invaluable insights to enhance your email campaigns, covering essential topics such as personalization, testing, metric tracking, and avoiding common pitfalls. By actively implementing these tips, you can develop highly effective email campaigns that actively engage your audience and significantly increase conversions.

Tip 1: Personalize Your Emails

Personalize your email campaigns to stand out. Use the recipient’s name and tailor content to their interests. By personalizing your email campaigns, you can significantly increase the likelihood of your emails being read, while driving up engagement and conversions.

Additionally, segment your list based on factors such as location, age, gender, interests, or past purchase behavior. This way, you can send targeted messages that are more likely to resonate with your subscribers and drive action.

Tip 2: Test Your Emails

Testing your emails is crucial to ensure that they look and perform as intended. Check for broken links or formatting issues, and see how your emails will look on different devices and email clients.

You can also conduct A/B testing to compare the performance of different versions of your email. Test different subject lines, calls-to-action, or images to see which ones drive more clicks and conversions. This can help you optimize your campaigns and improve their effectiveness over time.

Tip 3: Monitor Your Metrics

Tracking your email marketing metrics is essential to understand how your campaigns are performing and identify areas for improvement. Monitor metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates.

Analyze your data to see which emails or campaigns are performing better than others, and why. This can help you refine your strategy and optimize your future campaigns for better results.

Email Marketing Help so you can Send quality emails to anyone anywhere

Tip 4: Don’t Send Generic Emails

Steer clear of sending generic emails that lack personalization and fail to cater to your audience’s interests and preferences. Instead, craft targeted messages that address the specific needs and pain points of your subscribers.

Use a compelling subject line that entices the recipient to open the email, such as “Exclusive offer for our loyal customers” or “Limited-time sale: 50% off all products”. Crafting a compelling subject line can make or break the success of your email campaign, as it can significantly impact whether or not your email gets opened.

Tip 5: Don’t Spam Your Subscribers

Avoid sending too many emails or irrelevant content to your subscribers. This can annoy them and lead to unsubscribes or spam complaints. Instead, only send valuable content that is aligned with their interests and preferences.

Make it easy for your subscribers to opt-out of your emails if they no longer want to receive them. You Must Include an unsubscribe link in every email, and honor unsubscribe requests promptly. This will help you maintain a good reputation and avoid being labeled as a spammer.

Conclusion

To conclude, implementing email marketing as a strategy can significantly enhance engagement with your audience and increase conversions. Incorporating the following five valuable tips can empower you to develop impactful email campaigns that provide your subscribers with value and support you in achieving your business objectives.

Thanks for reading our blog post on email marketing help! For more information on becoming a digital marketer, check out the assessment plan HERE. Or click to go back to the homepage HERE

6 Dos and Don’ts of using Social Media in Digital Marketing

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Image Credit = Campaign Asia

Millions of businesses around the world are using Social Media now more than ever to reach their target audiences, to connect with their customers and to promote their products/services. We can understand why, because in today’s time, Social Media is constantly evolving and is a massive part of our consumer’s lives. Therefore, a good online presence on Social Networks can quickly help businesses reach the maximum number of users possible whilst also open up different advertising opportunities.

There are thousands of platforms, each with different features and rules, but there are some basic tips and guidelines you can follow to develop a good use of social media in your digital marketing strategy. Even if you aren’t a business owner, if you have a passion for social media and are keen to understand and grow your knowledge of it, this will be a useful read to help you knuckle down on the basics.

We’ve rounded up a list of key do’s and don’ts when using social media as part of your digital marketing strategy and explained why they are important.

1. DO identify your brand voice:

Understanding how you want your brand to be perceived online is important and is determined by how formal or informal you want your online presence to be. This will largely depend on your target audience and what kind of language or tone they would expect. For instance, if you manage social media for a makeup brand which mainly aims to market their products towards younger demographics, then you may decide to use more informal language, fun emoticons and take part in viral trends. However, if you’re managing social media for engineering firm, you may decide to have more educational content and a more professional tone within your content.

2. DON’T use the same content across all social media networks:

Consistent branding and tone of voice across all social media networks is important. However, recycling the same content and using it across all of your brand’s social networks is bad practice. This is because each social media platform is different and as such will have different set of guidelines which are considered ‘best practice’. We suggest using original content and messaging for each platform but keeping a consistent theme throughout. For example, if you are promoting ‘50% off all Beauty lines’ then it could be a good idea to have different product images on your Instagram and Facebook with a slightly different caption.

3. DO capitalise on trends:

The best part about social media is that there is almost always a viral trend or conversation which could be relevant for your brand to join in on. It is important for all businesses to pay attention to trending content which appeals to the audience they’re trying to reach and to take part in it, if possible. Captalising on these trends is key and can help push your content to even more users than usual and prompt them to engage with it.

A good example of a brand capitalising on trends is the popular beauty brand – Fenty Beauty. As a makeup brand, the main aim of their social media strategy is to convince customers to purchase and try their products. A popular type of content on TikTok is tutorials. Fenty Beauty utilise TikTok to post makeup tutorials showcase new products and how they apply and wear throughout the day. This has proven to be an effective content strategy for the brand as they tend to see high levels of engagement and build up a lot of positivity around their products.

4. DON’T use poor spelling and grammar within your content:

Human error is normal. However, it is important to take precautions to avoid your brand putting out content or copy with grammar mistakes and spelling errors because it reduces your credibility and looks unprofessional. To avoid this, it is a good idea to create your social media updates offline first in a document or spreadsheet. That way, you are able to proofread them before posting online for your followers to see. There are numerous tools which could be helpful in automating this process and add that extra layer of protection. For example, Grammarly is a great content marketing tool because it also proofreads your copy but also allows you to set your writing goals based on the type of writing you do, making it a useful tool for copy.

5. DO set objectives:

Going viral on Instagram and TikTok is great for your brand. However, it is important you set out some key short term and long term objectives to understand what your business wants to achieve from your social media strategy. It is good to think ahead and be aware of what you want to do with the engagement you see from your followers.

For example, in terms of potential short term objectives for a clothing brand, you could be having a flash sale and as such, would want to focus on using social media to boost sales. In terms of longer term objectives, as part of your digital marketing strategy you may want to use social media to build up awareness and establish yourself as a credible brand with an engaging online presence.

6. DON’T excessively use Hashtags:

A common misconception about social media platforms, in particular Instagram, is that using a #hastag with each sentence will push your content out more. This could not be further from the truth. Excessive use of #Hashtags is one of the most unprofessional and irritating practices and its worth avoiding. Using appropriate hashtags connects your post to related posts but it should be used, within reason, for this purpose only. Instagram’s algorithm has changed over the years and posts with too many hashtags actually seem to be less favoured by the platform and by audiences.

This is where understanding each platform and what works is important. Research how many hashtags are appropriate to include in posts on different social media platforms and use this information to influence your decision. Opting for less but niche hashtags instead of several generic ones is that it will be more likely to help you reach your desired audience and will result in more exposure.

Conclusion:

To conclude, we hope this gave you some insight into 6 do’s and don’ts when using social media in digital marketing. Incorporating social media into your digital marketing strategy is key for a successful online presence and will help you boost this in a productive and effective way.

Pursuing a Digital Marketing Level 3 Apprenticeship would introduce you to the basics of using Social Media as part of a digital marketing strategy and also help you kick-start your career within the industry that is constantly growing.

More information on this apprenticeship can be found here. Alternatively, check out our range of useful articles and blog posts here to find a suitable Digital apprenticeship for you.

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The Art of Digital Marketing: Tips and Best Practices for Success

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A graphic image of various elements within Digital Marketing.

Digital marketing has become a crucial aspect of modern-day businesses, with more and more companies relying on digital marketing techniques to connect with their audience and increase their revenue. However, becoming a great digital marketer takes more than just posting content on social media or running ads on Google. It requires a comprehensive understanding of the industry, a keen eye for detail, and the ability to adapt to ever-changing trends and technologies. In this post, we will discuss some tips on how to become a great digital marketer.

Build A Strong Foundation

To become a great digital marketer, you need to have a strong foundation in marketing principles. You need to understand the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. This knowledge will help you create effective marketing campaigns and strategies that align with your brand’s goals and values. Additionally, it’s essential to understand your target audience’s needs and behaviours, as this information will guide your marketing efforts.

Stay Up To Date With Industry Trends

The digital marketing industry is constantly evolving, with new technologies and trends emerging regularly. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to keep up with these changes and adapt your strategies accordingly. Follow industry blogs and social media accounts, attend webinars and conferences, and read books and articles on the latest marketing trends. This knowledge will help you create innovative campaigns that resonate with your target audience.


Image source link: https://www.vendasta.com/blog/10-steps-digital-marketing-strategy/

Focus On Creating Engaging Content

Content is the backbone of digital marketing, and creating engaging content is crucial to the success of your campaigns. Your content should be informative, entertaining, and shareable. It should also be tailored to your target audience and align with your brand’s values. Consider using different formats, such as videos, infographics, and podcasts, to appeal to different types of learners.

Utilise Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are powerful tools for digital marketing, and you should use them to your advantage. Choose the platforms that are most relevant to your target audience and create a consistent brand voice across all of them. Engage with your followers by responding to comments and messages, and use social media analytics to track the success of your campaigns. Additionally, consider using social media influencers to promote your brand and reach a wider audience.

Optimise For Search Engines

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a critical component of digital marketing, as it helps your website rank higher in search engine results pages. To optimize your website, use relevant keywords in your content, optimize your website’s structure and navigation, and ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Additionally, consider using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive traffic to your website.

Track And Analyse Your Results

To be a great digital marketer, you need to track and analyze your results continually. Use tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, conversion rates, and other key performance indicators (KPIs). This information will help you identify which campaigns are most successful and which ones need improvement. Use this data to adjust your strategies and improve your campaigns continually.

Stay Organised

Digital marketing involves many moving parts, from creating content to analyzing data. To succeed, you must stay organized and prioritise your tasks effectively. Use project management tools like Trello or Asana to keep track of your to-do list and collaborate with team members. Additionally, create a content calendar to plan your content in advance and ensure that it aligns with your brand’s goals and values.

Conclusion

In conclusion, becoming a great digital marketer takes time, effort, and dedication. By building a strong foundation in marketing principles, staying up to date with industry trends, focusing on creating engaging content, utilising social media platforms, optimising for search engines, tracking and analysing your results, and staying organised, you can create effective marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience and drive business success.

Remember to keep an eye out on our blog page for further tips!

Do’s and Don’ts of Email Marketing

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An email icon with two notification on a mobile device

Email marketing is a strategy for the promotion of commercial messages and is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate sales. With people regularly checking their emails and opening on average 34% of promotional emails Constant Contact (Jan, 2023), email marketing is an easy and affordable way to share content and messages to a mass audience at one time.

Check out some of the do’s and don’ts below that will help you reach success in the implementation of your email marketing campaigns.

A woman sat at a desk in front of a laptop on Mail Chimp, a email marketing provider
A woman sat at a desk in front of a laptop on Mail Chimp, a email marketing provider

1. DO keep your emails short and concise

Statista (2021) found that on average people spend 10 seconds reading emails from brands. Therefore, is it important for the content of your email to not only draw people in with compelling copy but to be short and sweet. Recipients should be able to scan the emails you send and get the gist relatively quickly.

2. DON’T send too many emails per week

We all know the feeling of receiving too many emails from a company… it can be frustrating as nobody wants to be bombarded with promotional emails every day. We recommend a maximum of 2 emails per week, but it is always good to test what works for your audience and to adjust accordingly.

3. DO optimise emails for mobile  

Email Blaster UK found that in 2018 at least 50% of emails were used on a mobile device, which is a significant amount. Therefore, it is important that you are optimising your emails for mobile use. You can make your emails mobile-friendly by:

  • Using device detection – many email providers such as Mail Chimp and Campaign Monitor offer device detection where emails can detect and adapt to different devices.
  • Length of subject line and pre-header text – It wise to check the length of both the subject line and pre-header text and keep them short and succinct. This will be the first thing a recipient will see before opening an email. If the most important messages are cut off when viewed on a mobile, people may be less inclined to open it.
  • Testing emails – a good way to ensure your emails are mobile-friendly is to send a test to yourself and open it via mobile.

4. DON’T forget to segment your audience

Email marketing isn’t a one size fits all, so make sure that you are tailoring your emails to specific groups. Different demographics will want to receive different information. For example, if you work in e-commerce and were building an email about the women’s online clothing sale, it wouldn’t make much sense to send that email everyone in the database i.e. men. Ensure you are sending relevant emails to the relevant people; you can do this by creating segmented lists for different audiences based on demographics or interests e.g., age, gender, location and interests such as sales, accessories, new season.

5. DO personalise your subject lines

Personalising subject lines typically includes a recipients first and/or last name. By making an email personal it can help to gain the curiosity of the recipient and thus increase email open rates. But don’t just take our word for it, Klenty has found that personalising subject lines doubles email open rates. For non-personalised subject lines, the average open rate they found was 16.67%. For personalised subject lines their data indicates an average open rate of 35.69%. So, the next time you send an email, add a touch of personalisation.

6. DON’T include multiple call to actions (CTA’s)

Depending on the context of the email, be wary of bombarding your email with too many call-to-actions. For instance, a newsletter may include a few CTA’s for people to find out more information, but for more sales-led emails 1-2 CTA’s will suffice e.g. ‘Check out our new sale’ and/or ‘Read our blog on the hottest trends this Spring’.­­

For more helpful tips and tricks on digital marketing, take a look at our other blogs here.

Digital Tools: maximising your marketing

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One of the most important parts of being a digital marketer, if not the most important, is use of data. We are lucky enough to live in a world where access to data is easy and instantaneous. For the modern digital marketer, it is also invaluable. In this blog, I will break down how to maximise the digital tools available at your disposal to ensure that your marketing campaigns work as effectively as possible.

What are digital tools?

Digital tools are the modern marketer’s bread and butter. They include any technology that can be used to improve your marketing, whether that be through creation, optimisation, or results. They are important for making marketing processes more secure, stable, consistent, and effective. There are thousands of different tools out there, and determining which ones are right for your and your business is a huge task where the answer might change constantly.

SEO

There are so many options available for maximising SEO to the point where it can be overwhelming. However, finding a good SEO tool is essential for any digital marketer. For base-level SEO, the Yoast plugin on the back end of WordPress is a great starting point. This is especially true for those who don’t specialise in SEO. Yoast gets updated every two weeks with Google’s latest algorithms, making it a reliable choice to start with. Paid plans offer further customisability and features.

But with two million installations, All In One SEO appears to take the prize for the best WordPress SEO plugin. It isn’t free, but it is personalised. It provides you with an actionable checklist so that you can ensure that you aren’t making any common errors.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics can seem like one of the most daunting tools to conquer. But once you have determined your pathways for using it effectively, it can be a fascinating rabbit hole of discovery. This isn’t to mention that the software is free, whilst also being one of the most in-depth metrics tools that exists. For the modern digital marketer, having a baseline understanding of Google Analytics is a business imperative.

Email Marketing

The good news is, options are plentiful. MailChimp is probably the most popular, with an easy to use interface and a very digestible breakdown of how your campaign performed. Mailchimp also allows for integration with a number of other SaaS businesses.

Moosend is another option, which allows you to optimise the customer journey through personalisation and segmentation. We also have Omnisend, which is easy to use and provides a number of automation features.

Automation Tools

Hootsuite, monday.com, Marketo – whatever your choice, automation tools make life exponentially easier for the digital marketer. Rather than recommending any one in particular, I have found that a marketer’s choice of automation tool oftentimes comes down to personal preference. For example, some are daunted by the thousands of options of integrations that monday.com provides. Setting them up can take some practice and technical expertise. However, doing so properly can reduce a marketer’s workload by a significant amount. Others prefer Marketo, as it essentially functions as a one stop-shop for all your automation needs, whether that be via email or something else. Ultimately, finding your automation tool of choice and leveraging it to its maximum is key to building a strong portfolio as a digital marketer.

Pursuing a Level 3 Digital Marketing Apprenticeship will introduce you to all of the above tools. More information on the apprenticeship can be found here, along with a directory of all the other types of marketing apprenticeships available.

For more on this topic, check out Hubspot’s post on the best marketing tools for digital marketers in 2023 here.

5 Practical Ways To Improve Your PPC (Pay-Per-Click) Marketing

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PPC (Pay-Per-Click) can take your website and traffic leads from 10% to 100% in a small space of time through visibility on the search page for keywords that are relevant to your business. This can be done in many ways but in this blog, I will provide five simple practises you can incorporate to see results in no time.  

1. Keyword research and SQRS (search query reports) 

Keyword research is important for your PPC account to ensure you have a higher chance of ranking higher in the SERP. You can access the search terms by clicking on Keywords and then Search Terms on the left side menu. You can see search terms at the account, campaign and ad group level. This will allow you to run an SQR between search terms and search keywords to work out which ones provide the most traffic and are specific to your brand. 

Main things to take from an SQR: 

  1. New keywords – New keywords are important to compete with your competitors for the top spot on search pages. 
  2. Create negatives – It is important to add negatives as it is pretty wasteful to spend money on searches that are not related to your business if negatives are not set up properly.

2. Do A/B tests on a regular basis

An A/B test allows you to test two variations of ads against one another to determine a winner. This can test multiple things like ad copy, CTAs, landing pages and assets. When you run an A/B test, Google will serve your ads to random people with metrics at the end to show which one had more clicks, a higher CTR and bounce rate. 

3. PPC Account Structure

Whether you are starting with a new PPC account or sorting out existing ones, the PPC account structure is the foundation of having an effective account. Three ways to (re)structure:

  1. How many campaigns are there and why? – These can be reduced as it’s about quality rather than quantity 
  2. How many ads are in ad groups – Is there more or less than necessary? 
  3. Are keywords relevant or too similar to one another? – It is important to avoid similarity or keywords being irrelevant to selected ad group.

When all of this is done correctly it allows the account to become cost effective while having the ability to really home in on different areas and capture more qualified traffic that is likely to convert.

4. Demographics are just as important in PPC 

One of the things that makes PPC so effective is that you can decide exactly who your ads are served to, based on demographics. Demographics that can be targeted within PPC are age, gender, income level, education, geographically and relationship status This is just important as you are able to target certain target audiences more where you see fit. 

5. Optimise ads 

If your ads aren’t enticing your potential site visitors, searchers aren’t going to click on them, resulting in less traffic to your site. You should ensure you continue to optimise your ads in every way possible. You can optimise and tweak your ads in the following ways:

  • Relevant ads can allow your ads to be higher up thus being seen by searchers more by including things like CTAs, USPs and new headlines.
  • Adding sitelink extensions, callout sitelinks etc can provide your ads with more information resulting in more clicks and traffic. 

Changing things like this along with seasonal/promotional ad copy keeps your brand/business in line with current trends and also gives your ads the opportunity to out do competitor ads.

 If you enjoyed this blog, check out our other blog to find digital marketing tools to help you excel in 2023!