Tag Archives: tips

E-Commerce vs. Online Marketplaces: Which is Better for Your Business?

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In light of the Etsy strike, it’s important to discuss diversifying your sales and why having both an Etsy shop and an e-commerce website – as well as selling through social media marketplaces – is beneficial. Similar to having a marketing strategy outside of social media, you need to have multiple sales strategies for your online business. Let’s go over each so you are better informed on your options going forward!

Etsy Marketplace has a trustworthy reputation, and overall the platform is reliable. It is free and easy to set up, so you can get started selling right away! However, there are listing and selling fees, meaning when you add a product to your shop and when you sell a product, fees are incurred. Additionally, it lacks customizability, so you have limited brand awareness. You have a greater potential for reach and exposure, but the site is highly competitive, so it’s crucial that your SEO is spot on in order to be found. 

An e-commerce website, such as WordPress or Shopify, takes time and money to set up and maintain, but it is fully customizable and you have more control over branding and shop policies. There’s no overhead on your individual products, just payments to register the domain name and keep your website up.

Similar to Etsy, social media marketplaces (Facebook Marketplace, Instagram Shopping, Google Shopping, etc.) are easy to sell on and easy to set up, especially if you already have an active audience there. However, competition is high and it’s easy to get lost in the abyss. Additionally, there are fees for each sale made.

Having an e-commerce site as well as selling in online marketplaces is beneficial because if one shop goes down, you have a backup option and can keep your business running. Or, in the case of Etsy, if fees increase more than you are comfortable with, you can pivot your strategy to focus on your e-commerce website and other marketplaces instead. Ultimately, it comes down to not having your eggs all in one basket and doing what works best for your business.

If you need help with your e-commerce website or have any questions about selling online, reach out to us today for more information.

3 Reasons Why Your Ads Are Underperforming

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If you have encountered ads that are underperforming, it can be frustrating to not see a return on investment. Even after giving your account proper time to optimize, there are a few common reasons for underperformance that can hinder your success.

1. Your Campaign and Website Pages Are Not Aligning

Be sure that when linking your ads, they direct to a specific landing page for consumers to easily convert. The home page has all the generic information about the business, but a landing page is better optimized and customizable for conversions. Once you have an established landing page, make sure that your campaign descriptions, headlines, and landing pages have seamless messaging that all compliments each other. This allows for a consumer to resonate with your service or products all the way from web searches, clicking on the ad, and through the website experience.

2. Call to Action is Not Clear

The call to action in your ad needs to match up with the ad copy, along with a relevant landing page. Be sure to show the benefit of your product or service, how you differ from competitors, and implement an easy process for customers to move through the purchase funnel of awareness, interest desire, + action.

3. Budget Is Constrained

Having a low budget that is less than the recommended amount can prevent you from getting traffic. Make sure you are allocating at least $20/day PER campaign to be able to scale and optimize your campaigns properly.

If you are having issues and need support navigating your ads, reach out to us today for more information.

Cutting Edge Earned Media Strategies

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Although brand and agency PR and earned media efforts have been rocky over the past couple of years, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to see a great ROI in 2022 with these trends.

Affiliate Marketing 

You’ll want to make sure you have a solid affiliate marketing strategy for 2022. Because of COVID-19, it is no surprise that businesses are investing a lot in their digital affiliate marketing programs. The popularity of influencer marketing has seen its highest jump since 2015. 

If you’re not looking to break a budget trying to reach large influencers with huge audiences, micro and nano influencers are currently dominating the affiliate market as they continue to grow their loyal audiences. 

Podcasts 

Podcasts are becoming a great earned media strategy as more and more people use them to listen to shared stories or to learn more information while being easily accessible. 80% of podcast listeners listen to all or most of an episode from their favorite people. It is a great tool to hone in your target audience. 

Decentralized PR

The days of journalists depending on one source for press releases and mass media blasts are over. 

Decentralized PR allows the use of corporate social media and personal profiles to share important news. This helps foster direct and more personable connections with the consumers on those platforms. 

If you need any help navigating new trends or earned media strategies, reach out to us today for more information.

Google My Business Customer Service Updates

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There can be many common issues that business owners face while utilizing Google My Business. You may have logged in to your Google My Business dashboard, had a question, comment, or concern, and needed to contact customer service on short notice. Over the past year, Google My Business has combined all of their previous contact forms into one form available here.  Additionally, there have been more updates to ways to get in touch with Google My Business that we outline below.

Google has done away with the ability to call their toll-free customer support number, and they have made it very difficult to find their email support. Here is how to email Google customer support through your dashboard:

  • Click the support link in the bottom left of the Google My Business Dashboard
  • Select contact us
  • Answer the support questions and Google will direct you to a help center document or give you the option to email Google My Business customer service support
Contact Us

Social Media

There are also other ways to get Google’s attention through social media. If you go to their Facebook Page and comment on their posts or send them a message, their customer support team will be in contact with you. 

Google My Business

Additionally, you can contact Google My Business through their Twitter account either through private messages or by sending a tweet and tagging them @GoogleMyBiz. 

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Google My Business tends to have personalized and fast responses on social media, so it may be more convenient if you are an avid social media user. 

If you don’t want to wait for a customer service rep to get back to you, you can also check out the Google My Business Help Center, which has more detailed information about common issues Google My Business members stumble across while using the platform. If you’d rather someone else help solve the puzzle and work with Google on your behalf, contact us to set up a call and we will take care of it for you. 

Canva Vs Graphic Designer

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Canva, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop are each platforms that are used for design work. While Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are more versatile in content creation and can be used for branding, photography, graphic design, etc, it tends to be Canva that we often see businesses try to use for every design need.  

Canva is easy to use and often utilized to create custom templates for social media, presentations, and other marketing materials. Trying to use Canva for logo creation or graphic design doesn’t allow for much original design or creativity due to the nature of the pre-made templates on the platform. That means the design wouldn’t be very unique or high quality. 

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop have a higher learning curve than Canva so it takes time to use each platform to its full potential. They also are more expensive. The reason behind this is Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop give the designer freedom to build a design completely from scratch. The product is always high quality if the designer is doing it right. 

Having a designer who knows what they are doing is extremely important, with all platforms! When we have our Graphic Designer create something on Canva vs our Administrative Assistant, the results are wildly different. (see below) 

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    Graphic Designer
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    Administrative Assistant

If you have the capability to learn Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and have an eye for design, we encourage you to purchase the platforms as it may be worth your while in the long run. Remember, Canva is great to use for template work but won’t do your brand justice if you use it for logo or other graphic design needs. Professional designers have the ability to listen to your needs and turn your ideas into a design that matches your style best. We think it’s worth it to have a design created you will use for years to come.

Reach out to us today if you have any further design questions.