All posts by brainwork

Over the last year, social media and business marketing trends have undergone vast changes and evolution. The race to achieve the most attractive feature and most exciting business ad, gets more nerve-wracking than ever. To help the new businesses grow, marketing experts share their predictions and give the advice to help you prepare their social media marketing plans.

Engage and create Bonds – In this era of everything becoming digital and the increased importance of having an online presence, social media has been indispensable. It is important to develop a relationship with your customers and constantly engage them on a consistent basis and have them interested in our brand, this is an important way of obtaining a long relationship with your customers

Give them a Voice – As a brand, you focus on providing value. Rather than thinking of it in a commercial way, we will from a philanthropic point, focus on improving our customer’s lives and giving them value in the form of a product or service. Give your clients a voice and they will stay engaged for a long time.

Be available Everywhere – We will not just market using Facebook and Instagram but we will also be reachable on applications our customers use every day, like messenger and Whatsapp. Whatsapp business allows you to create automated replies and you can share your business catalogue to each and every customer on a personal basis and broadcast messages whilst using special tools to send rapid automated messages and replies.

Use Google as well – Google businesses will help you be more visible on Google searches. This is huge as people use google for some reason or the other every day and making you visible on such a compelling and popular search engine will help you gain exposure and reach a larger user database.

Trust – As online shoppers, we must always be sure of our purchase and even the slightest chance of fraud or mishappening may sway our opinion in the other direction. This is why we must always focus on reviews, previews and reviews! Reading the story of another customer and hearing about their experience makes us feel safer and comfortable proceeding with that purchase.

Start small – We must first target our surroundings to have better communication and more engagement. This also means if it’s snowing outside, it’s probably a good idea not to open an ice cream stall. Try helping your fellow workers and take advantage of the festivals and gatherings in your surroundings and create engaging content using SEO tools.

Lastly, Loyalty – Digital media marketing is not only to attract users but it’s also to make them stay, retain them. Creating a loyal fanbase and customer group will make people and communities trust you. A loyal customer is good for further purchase and also for being your own organic brand ambassador.

Emerging technologies have already changed the way businesses are being operated and executed. More and more businesses have started releasing the importance of online marketing and the power of social media platforms. Now is the time to gather your skills and put them into the right action and take your business to the next level.

Digital Marketing, SEO, SEO Services India, Social Media

Top Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2022

June 2, 2021 brainwork Leave a comment

With advanced technology, everything is digitalized. Almost all industries have gradually started shifting or widening their scope using online platforms. Online platforms are more convenient, easy, accessible, and less time-consuming. Thus, digital marketing can be seen as an upcoming career option in numerous fields. Some of the top digital marketing trends are listed below.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence or Al is slowly dominating new software products and services. Knightscope K5 robots are used to monitor parking lots and outdoor areas to report suspicious behaviour. With the inbuilt data, it is possible to analyse different patterns and produce efficient and effective conclusions.

Chatbots

Another version of Al, chatbots provide instant messaging to chat. They are available 24/7 and provide the best customer service as they promptly respond to queries as well as remember your past purchases. You don’t have to wait anymore for your doubts to be clarified!

Video Marketing

As the number of mobile users has increased, it has become difficult to read articles on a small screen. Due to this video marketing has risen to the forefront. Product details and specifications when recorded in a video make it easier for the consumers to understand and receive information quicker. They also provide incentives to buy certain products as reviews might also be given.

Social messaging apps

Social media started out as a platform to connect and keep in contact with people. But with different brands creating their accounts, marketing is possible even through social media. Social messaging apps allow one-on-one personalized interaction between buyers and sellers thus, boosting sales.

Pinterest Lens

Pinterest Visual Search tool is a super helpful tool that lets you pin your desired contents or posts. They have modified this feature to a Pinterest Lens that lets you take a photo of a product to either buy it online or to find similar pins or products. They have also brought out features like Pincodes, Lens your Look, Shop the look, etc to help the consumer receive their desired look and product.

Voice Search and Smart Speakers

Too tired to type out the whole thing and read them? Digital marketing has enabled quicker and efficient ways for SEOs to market their products to interested customers. This feature enables customers to receive all the necessary information through audio content. Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, and many more function using this principle.

Interactive Content

They are contents that require the consumers to actively take part in the procedure. Since it is an interactive process, more data is shared between users which increases all of the consumer’s knowledge. Some examples of interactive content include quizzes, polls, surveys, infographics, calculators, etc.

Omnichannel Marketing

This type of marketing involves marketing using various platforms like social media, emails, blogs, and many more. as numerous channels are used to connect and deliver messages, there is worldwide accessibility with enhanced personalized user experience.

Progressive Web Apps

What do you do when you need to download an app but your phone storage is full? Progressive web apps are a solution to this problem. They are websites that function like mobile apps. They load faster than websites and can work offline. This is an upcoming trend as mobile users started increasing.

Privacy Marketing

Privacy and personal information are some of the most important things that most brands focus on. Brand credibility is gained by earning a customer’s trust. A customer would always want to know if their personal information is safe with the seller. As this is a concerning issue, privacy marketing is considered quite important and extremely necessary in the present world.

When it comes to digital marketing the options are wide thanks to the different areas that can be focused on digitally. This is another reason why start-ups have gained much prominence. As it includes almost all areas, anyone with interest and tech-knowledge can try their luck in digital marketing.

Digital Marketing

Social Media Marketing Trends for 2022

June 2, 2021 brainwork Leave a comment

With the digital age taking over, it is crucial to market yourself and your business online and uses various social media marketing tactics to grow and stay relevant in such dynamic and competitive conditions. We will discuss various effective strategies that can help you grow your social media following.

Instagram (Reels and SEO) – Reels are short videos like TikTok that have suddenly become a very big trend on Instagram. Seo is Search Engine Optimisation that is the practice of strategically placing and using certain keywords and terms that place your content on the top of the list in algorithmically working search engines like google and Instagram. SEO drives organic Instagram visibility by the use of strategic captions and hashtags, combined with catchy and entertaining reels, this tactic could drive organic Instagram visibility and make your content/brand more reachable and attract new followers who can ultimately turn out to be ideal customers.
Reels (Instagram exposure) – Reels are short videos and have become a viral trend on Instagram that is incredibly useful at reaching greater audiences. Instagram used stories and posts to gain attention for the longest time but with the feature to upload reels, the viewing rate has increased more than tenfold. Reels can contain texts, special effects, catchy quotes, popular music or dance steps, clever marketing for products and literally anything you can imagine, you can create a visual reel and market it to the right audience using the right SEO tactics.
Online shopping feature – After the pandemic, most of us have gotten lazy and used to shopping online, Instagram has taken advantage of this fact and its huge user database and has come up with its own eCommerce Instagram shop feature that allows us to not only use Instagram and see products along with posts but also directly buy them, isn’t that just simply genius? We can also use the advantage of this and market your products and services and make use of this huge user database.
Brands – Brands have used this huge platform and in conclusion, not only has business increased by threefold, brands have now been humanized and the increased transparency, authenticity and vulnerability has been a blessing in disguise for brands as people now view them as an entity that is humanitarian rather it’s earlier offline and rigid presence.
Facebook Advertising- As the market place continues to be more saturated and Facebook advertising costs are on the rise, advertising on these foundational and fundamental sites and running campaigns are now more important than ever. Facebook is giving more prominence to reels on Instagram and has proven that video ads are more effective than photo ads. A good Facebook campaign can do wonders for your business.
Flexible Strategies on Facebook – With the unprecedented economic impact last year, it is essential to have a good grasp of Facebook Advertising Fundamentals so you can formulate strategies, it is also smart to control privacy restrictions and most importantly, be flexible.

Over the last year, social media trends have undergone vast changes and evolution. The race to achieve the most attractive feature, gets more nerve-wracking than ever. To help the new businesses grow, marketing experts share their predictions to help them prepare their social media marketing plans.

SEO, SEO Services India

Why SEO Solutions are Crucial for Legal Professionals?

January 5, 2021 brainwork Leave a comment

Lawyers and digital marketing! What have bar professionals and attorneys go to do with search engine optimization or SEO? All other industries, be it Business-to-customers (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) and direct-to-customer (D2C) are involved in appeasing search engines worldwide. Why, then, legal professionals not as involved when it comes to getting their websites and online presence optimized for search engines?

The relation between SEO and a law firm is no different than it is with other businesses. Optimizing your site for search engines is one of the time-tested methods to get the firm more clients – organic clients.

The legal profession is one domain where word-of-mouth and recommendations work a lot. Firms that are able to make a solid reputation for themselves in the market are able to command higher fees from clients; and vice versa. In the times of digital marketing and the internet where people search for almost everything online, your law firm needs to be one of the tops recommended by search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo to get the attention of the searcher and motivate him to click on the link appearing in the search results.

If you are nowhere there on the topmost page, as a legal professional, it means two things for you:

Your digital presence is not working as your spokesperson in the online world;
Your chances of expanding the business are negligible because new and potential clients have no knowledge about your firm.

Before we go deep into finding the reasons why law firms need SEO solutions, let us understand that investing in the right SEO approach helps your prospective clients obtain information about your services, your specialty areas, what are your areas of expertise, your experience, your success ratio, and so on. A well-planned and sound SEO solution is prepared, keeping the target audience in mind, and done in a way that only such people arrive on your site that is looking to hire attorneys and lawyers in your specific area of expertise. Remember that you have two ways to generate traffic to your site – first, paid form like advertising, and second, organic traffic that is free and unpaid for, and yet is one of the most cost-effective ways to get leads and traffic to your site.

Reasons why you should invest in effective SEO solutions for the website of your law firm

Let us first look at some key statistics:

– 96% of people who wish to seek legal help first use a search to gain information about law firms.

– Of these, about 74% are motivated clients because they visit the lawyer’s site so that they can take things forward.

SEO helps you reach to a wider audience, thereby bringing in more publicity

While word of mouth works in a geographically limited context, SEO has no physical boundaries. Even a potential client searching for a legal professional, in a far-flung area gets to know about your firm if your site is well optimized to attract the search engine. Remember that the internet is used by millions and millions of people who are searching every minute for some or the other information. Of this, even if a small percent is able to come to your site for specific services that you are expert at, imagine the kind of publicity and leads you can get with the right SEO solution.

More leads mean the likelihood for more business

This is quite simple to understand. In the virtual world, your website is your brand ambassador. Higher the number of people who interact with your site, the better the chances to convert them into sales. In your case, sales mean making them your clients. This means that if your site is thoroughly optimized to get augmented leads, your website gets to interact with more number of prospects. This directly means that you can boost your productivity or clientele by convincing these leads to avail of your services and hire you as their legal representative. Since people looking and searching for law firms are usually in the advanced stages of the sales funnel, you need to have not only an impressive website to convince them but an impressive track record too so that these leads can start engaging in conversations with you. When they talk to you either through emails, phone, or chats, you have the highest chance to make them your clients.

Your law firm can boost ROI by planning SEO properly

This point is inter-related to the previous two points. Higher traffic means increased chances of conversions, which in turn means better revenues. This impacts your return on investment. It needs to be reiterated here that people who arrive at your site – thanks to a flawless SEO strategy – are generally people who are looking for professional help in the respective area pertaining to their keyword search. So, they are already motivated and maybe in their final stages of research to appoint a legal representative. Since the profession of law is a specialized area of work, your chances of client conversions are always high when you get good leads, thereby earning good revenue for your business.

You stay ahead of your competition

Every business has competition – you may have in your nearest vicinity or in the next city. One of the best ways to beat your competition and stay ahead is to approach a digital strategy for your law firm. What should this strategy involve? An optimized website, social media handles, paid marketing, and other such tools. A website that is meticulously made with SEO in mind, should be your first priority. The objective should be to rank at the top of the first page. Once you are there, you are assured of a seamless flow of interested clients who can then be worked upon to convert as your business clients.

Conclusion

One thing that legal professionals need to remember is that SEO is not a one-time investment; neither is it a short-term tool. It is a strategy, a weapon in your hand that will work for as long as search engines exist and people use these search engines to look for information. You, therefore, need to understand the true essence of SEO before you decide to go ahead and invest in it.

News

Google December 2020 Core Update is Live- Here Is What We See Now

December 28, 2020 brainwork Leave a comment

Seven months ago, in May 2020, Google had announced its last core updates. Ever since the pandemic broke out and things got rough for many worldwide, professionals in the digital marketing realm thought that this was probably the final core update for this year. With only a few days left for the year to end, it was obvious for everyone to think that the next core update from Google would come now in 2021.

The surprise Christmas gift was announced and rolled out by Google on 3rd December 2020. The broad core algorithm update is named the December 2020 Core Update. The official handle of Google took to Twitter to announce the rollout. The handle mentioned that though the rollout had started on 3rd December, it would take about one to two weeks for the complete rollout to happen. Truly a Xmas gift, the rollout would finish off by the time the final week of the year is here.

Early signs

It is the third core update announced this year. Before the official announcement came through, there were signs that this update could be substantially more impactful than the earlier one.

Start of rollout

The rollout was live from 1300 hours on 3rd December 2020.

Impact of the last rollout

Websites felt the effects of the last update in May all across the domain within the first 24-hours. It took about two weeks approximately for the full-blown impacts to be felt by almost every site.

First core update

The first core update for this year was launched in January 2020 and was aptly called the January 2020 core update.

Key takeaways

Any Google core update remains the talk of the town for a long time to come. The bad timing of the December Core Update is also being viewed quite agitatedly amongst the SEO community. The timing is not so right, for sure! Christmas is around the corner. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have passed. To top it all, this is 2020, which has seen many upheavals already. The last thing website owners and the SEO community wanted was an upheaval in their site rankings!

Before we move onto understanding the effects being felt by the top websites due to the updates, here are the key takeaways:

Google comes with its advice that it always gives out after the release of every core update.
Google says that site owners need to invest their time and money in the generation of quality content. Content remains the core of all activities, and Google wants websites and SEOs to follow industry best practices and stay focused on creating good-quality content.
Use structured data responsibly and relevantly so that the search engine can identify the right content for every search query.
Keep monitoring the SEO activities and ensure that all issues are handled and rectified at the site, there and then.

Google says that different sites will face a different type of issues. Some of the sites will experience recovery as the core updates get fully implemented. However, suppose the site is experiencing negative effects due to the December Core Update rollout. In that case, SEOs and site owners must keep working on the content and SEO practices to enhance the content.

Towards this end, Google says that such site owners and their SEO advisors need to:

Run a full site audit so that any existing issues, be it major or minor issues, are addressed effectively.
You also need to monitor the ranking of your site online closely. Use a smart ranking tool to ensure that the site’s visibility is not affected adversely due to the Core Updates.

Effects on Rankings felt in the short-term ever since the updates were announced.

Most sites on 4th December registered higher volatility, even sites, and categories like Books & Literature as well as Real Estate that were otherwise unaffected the next day of the rollout.
Industries that usually are not susceptible or experience volatility due to such core updates also reported a few adverse effects.
Websites that belong to industries like Real Estate, Health, Law & Government were the most badly affected. It was seen across mobile and desktop platforms.
Travel and Finance were two other verticals that registered higher volatility rates on the first day in desktop-related searches.
In mobile-related searches, Jobs & Education as well as Pets & Animals, were adversely affected.
It has also been seen that bigger domains have been the worst hit. About 33% of the worst-hit are sites that have more than 10 million visitors every month.
Sectors doing good and have registered positive impact are sectors like – Internet, Telecom, Business & Industrial, Beauty & Fitness; of which Business & Industrial domain is doing the best. Some examples are – LinkedIn, eBay, and Yahoo.
Amongst the losers are Online Communities, Shopping, News, People & Society, Arts & Entertainment, Health, and Games. Jobs & Education and Law & Government are the worst affected. Examples of sites that have lost SERP are – yellow pages and urban dictionary.

Google Core Updates – what website owners need to know

Google algorithm updates are done almost daily. Most of these changes are barely conspicuous. Sometimes, however, the changes are much more than noticeable – they are announced by Google so that concerned stakeholders like webmasters and owners can act or respond relevantly.

As the December 2020 Update, core updates contain a substantial amount of broad changes in the algorithms. The purpose of the core updates is to enable Google to remain synced and aligned to its mission to offer authoritative and relevant content to users. Such updates impact sites notably. Core updates are about improving the overall system of assessing content and is not targeted at any particular site or page. Sites that are negatively affected by such updates should not conclude that there is anything wrong with their site, or, there are any issue needs to be fixed. Many a time, there is nothing to fix at all.

Pay Per Click

How Videos Can Improve Your Next Email Campaign?

December 17, 2020 brainwork Leave a comment

There is no doubting the fact that email marketing can deliver awesome business results. Contrary to what people believe, the return on investment of email marketing is incredible. For every dollar that brands spend on email campaigns, they typically earn a return of almost about $42. This stat alone is enough to prove the immense popularity of email marketing.

How about videos? Videos are the most effective medium when a message needs to be communicated. The human brain is capable of processing visual information at least 60,000 times faster than textual messages.

What about including videos in your email marketing campaigns?

It should work wonders since both aspects are so very powerful. This means to say that if marketers and brands use videos optimistically, they can boost the performance of their email campaigns.

Look at a few of these statistics:

– Marketers report to get at least 66% more useful leads when they use videos in marketing campaigns; and 90% of online marketers make use of videos.

– Simply including the word ‘video’ in the subject line of the email is likely to increase the open rate by almost 6%.

(Reference: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2020/02/surprising-video-email-marketing-statistics/)

So videos and email campaigns are a sure-shot way to success, but is that so easy?

There are technicalities involved and the entire process can be problematic – you need to either embed the video in the email body, or you can upload the video on say YouTube and then email the link, or alternately, you can create and host a video on your website or blog, and email your subscribers a video thumbnail and the link to visit your site. The point is that if you strategize to include videos in your emails, you need to do so in a well-planned manner.

What can videos do to make your email campaign effective and productive?

Video emails are engaging. Emails are generally ignored by receivers; but by incorporating videos or thumbnails instead of filling it up with all textual matter, or even use of images, your email is bound to get greater attention, thereby increasing the chances of being opened and watched.
Video emails are easy to understand for the receiver. Hence, it makes the entire process time-efficient and simple.
Video emails, if done the right way, can go viral fast; can be shared and forwarded multiple times. Thereby helping you reach a bigger audience faster and effectively.
Videos boost your SEO. The presence of a video on your landing page is a good practice as far as search engine optimization techniques are concerned. Remember, doing this you will be able to attract the search engine more productively than your competition.
One of the best ways to promote events for local businesses is to go in for video email marketing. You can send a professionally made video presenting the highlights of last year’s event and focusing on key points of this year’s. Instead of a textual based email, the video email can do wonders for your event.
One of the important ways that video email marketing can be used is to send happy customer narratives and stories. to your audience. If you use videos that your customers have sent you or those that have been filmed on your customers, you can make it all look quite authentic and impressive.
Many times brands use video email marketing to speak to their existing customers. From new launches to upselling products, there are various ways that you can catch their attention and make a point.

What can marketers do to make optimize their video email marketing campaigns?

Set up a goal for the campaign

Just like everything else, it is important to start with goal-making. The goal has to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Oriented). In other words, it should be realistic and futuristic. Once the goal has been set, define the scope of work. Research to dig out information about your customer, your market, and your competition! And, finally, decide your budget.

Choose the method of including the video in your email. Whether you are going to embed it, create a landing page, and incorporate the video there, or are you going to choose YouTube to upload the video, needs to be decided first. The ideal option is the second one because here you need to add a video to the landing page on your website. Also, remember to add a Call-to-Action button here so that when the viewer is watching the video is the best way of getting the viewer engaged.
When it comes to choosing the video format and length of the video, you need to be very careful because a lot depends on these two factors. Videos that are part of email marketing should be small in size – as they say, keep it short and sweet. The two most popular short video formats that are chosen are GIF and PNG. Make thumbnails or short snippets of the video to include in the email body.
Make several videos so that you have a choice. You would need to first test the videos made with your colleagues, friends, and in your peer group. Feedback is important- whether it is positive or constructive.
Once the video to be featured is finalized, ensure that you share it across all possible channels, for example, your social media accounts, YouTube, and so on. this is to get you more mileage and reach.
Do make sure that the email subject line contains the word ‘video’.
Until and unless it is not necessary, abstain from using auto-play. Such videos start to play the moment the viewer clicks on the link or the email. Give the viewer the power of choice.
Remember to use video email marketing campaigns to create a direct connection with your subscriber or target customer. Personalize the content; keep it relevant and honest.

Conclusion

Video email marketing is catching the attention of most brands and marketers today. Ensure that the campaign is planned well and executed meticulously so that it bears productive results.

Digital Marketing, ecommerce, Internet

The 5 Things Your Business Listings Must Have

November 5, 2020 brainwork Leave a comment

There are reasons why some businesses succeed and why some fail. In the online world, it is way more challenging. The ones that succeed surely are doing something distinctive and special that the others are not doing. Online businesses that are doing well have several common components and one of the top ones is that they take care of their business listing. It is not merely about listing your business online. It is about doing it in the right and the most optimized manner.

From having a website to being active on social media, you need to ensure that your listing online is done with finesse. There are hundreds of places online where your business can be listed and at each place, it requires to be done with accuracy to get better traction.

Google Business Listing is one of the first things you need to do so that the chances of your ranking in the local SEO are high. Therefore, you need to claim your Business Listing on Google and update it immediately.

There are five things that all successful businesses must ensure online for optimized Google Business Listing.

Own your business listing on Google

One of the first tasks that you need to do is to claim your listing on Google and ensure that the information here regarding your business is complete, accurate, and professionally done.

You would be surprised to note that not even 50% of online businesses have their information updated on Google listings.
The other important data that has come from Womply states that businesses that ensure that they are listed accurately on more sites run the chance of making more money by at least 58%.

Google My Business Listing is free. Completing it with data and information about your business is a simple task. You simply need to make sure that the information is entered in each relevant field and it is updated.

The other thing about keeping your Business Listing on Google updated is that you should keep checking the listing information once every week or twice every month. You would be surprised to know that many businesses do the task as a one-time event, later on, to realize that the information displaying on their Business Listing is redundant, or critical information is missing. As a result, potential customers are unable to reach them or emails are bouncing and the competition is benefitting.

Make sure that the Google Listing has updated images of your business, products, or services

Make it a point to include a few top-quality photographs and images in your Google Business Listing. Why? It is because people who come to your website would like to see images of the inside and the outside of your office, factory, workshop, shop, and workplace. It is considered to be one of the best practices for conducting online business.

While we all have smartphones and smart devices to capture good looking images, it is also advisable that you use the services of a professional photographer to get the most impressive pictures for your business. The focus should be on using high-resolution images.

Ensure that the images uploaded give a 360-degrees view of your business, branding, products, and services – the objective is to create a desire in the customer to visit your website or offline store.

Customer reviews should be a mandatory part of the Listing

When do Business Listings come into play? When a potential customer is looking for a business type like yours; with customer reviews a part of your basic profile, you can use the opportunity to make a positive impression on the client. Make sure that you display reviews that have good ratings. However, also do ensure that the reviews come across as honest feedback and not promotional.

Remember, the customer today is highly aware and sensitive – so display comments that respect consumerism in the right manner.

Another key feature that many online businesses miss out when they go in for Business listing is to show the potential customer an interactive dialogue between you and the customer reviewing your services. When the Google map included in your profile is clicked, new customers can drill down the different reviews featured on your listing and go through the entire conversation happening between your business and the customer. This feature shows to the customer how serious you are about your customer reviews and the extent to which your brand is involved in customer engagement.

While updating the contact details on your Listing, remember to update the description of your business too

A short description is what you are allowed on your Google Business Listing. Make use of the space smartly. You may not have to use the best of language or display your English skills, but ensure that this space is used in the most relevant manner to speak to the potential customer who does not know you. It is not your website; this is the platform that is going to be the first point of interaction between you and your customer.

Do not forget to fill up the optional fields too

This helps you in providing more information about your business to your prospective customers. Many businesses shy away from filling up these fields. This is a lost opportunity to impress and strike a chord with your would-be customer.

Remember the more detailed the information is about your business online at the Listing page, the higher the chances of the search engine finding your site and ranking it high on the search result page. Also, it gives a very professional look that most customers expect from businesses that they are keen to buy from or work with.

Conclusion

Following these five steps whole-heartedly can help your business remain at the forefront of rankings on Google SERP.

Simultaneously remember to make your business listing strong and accurate on other sites like Bing, Apple Maps, Facebook, and so on. Be everywhere, wherever your listing can help you get maximum traction from search engines.

Whatever information you put up, ensure that it is one hundred percent correct and consistent across all channels. From minute details like spellings to greater detailing like high-res pictures, do it all to leave a good taste in the minds of the customer.

Digital Marketing, ecommerce

Even in Lockdown State, We Stand by E-commerce Businesses

October 5, 2020 brainwork Leave a comment

Just after the lockdown was announced in the last week of March 2020 in India, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced that not only physical stores dealing in essential commodities will be allowed to open shop; for e-commerce companies too, the guideline issued mentioned that they could deal in essential goods only during the lockdown.

In a series of guidelines issued by the MHA then on, it was clarified that e-commerce companies and firms were being allowed to open their shops for the ordering of essential commodities while the non-essential commodities segment remained closed throughout.

Even though the e-commerce firms were prohibited from dealing with non-essential commodities, the fact that they were allowed to carry on with their home deliveries of essential goods throws light on the growing significance of this sector in the Indian economy.

The lockdown during COVID did come with its share of chaos where initially not much clarity was there amongst the public about how essential items like grocery, dairy products, drinking water, etc. would be supplied to their homes. When the e-commerce firms came into the picture, things got much smoother and easier because the entire purpose of the lockdown now looked like it could be realized successfully.

Purpose of the lockdown

The objective of the lockdown was to keep people home so that the spread of the disease could be kept under check. What the lockdown necessarily meant was that the common man should not be stepping out of their homes except in case of buying essential items. The more people stayed inside; the better could the purpose be solved.

Role of e-commerce companies during the lockdown

While the neighbourhood and the local kirana or grocery store were open, going out of home for people to buy the daily essential was about putting their health at risk. With children and elderly parents part of many households in India, it also meant risking the life of the family member. The best thing was to stay put at home and order online.

This is where e-commerce stores like Flipkart and Amazon came to the rescue of the common man. This seemed to be the safest way to stay indoors and yet ensure that the household requirements were addressed in the right manner.

Even though the grocery, pharmaceutical, and healthcare products sold accounted for a very minuscule percentage of online sales for big e-commerce platforms, most of them were happy to open their stores online during the lockdown.

It is important to note here that while in Lockdown 1 & 2, only essential commodities were allowed movement even for e-commerce companies, in Lockdown 3 from May 4th till 17th, these companies were allowed to sell and deliver all items in the orange and the green zones. Only in the red zones, the prohibitions continued as per the earlier two lockdown phases.

The immediate effect that was noticed in the orange and green zones was that people, though reluctant initially, went ahead and bought non-essential items like smartphones, makeup and cosmetics, grooming-related products, and apparel. Certain companies reported as much as a 50% surge in orders and sales in grooming and hair-related products like trimmers, shavers, dryers, and styling products from Tier 2 and 3 cities in May, compared to March.

It has been now felt that the digital medium and platform has played a crucial role in the way it has eased off some of the challenges that were being faced by the common man.

Opening of the lockdown and resumption of full services of e-commerce activities in India

In the days where the Unlockdown was announced, there was a feeling that the digital platform is going to play a significant role in the way the disease would be fought in the country. This is especially true in a situation where the government and health departments are focussing on social distancing. It is e-commerce that is going to be at the forefront of most commercial activities, in the B2C domain as well as the overall economy of the country.

When the fourth phase of Lockdown was announced in mid-may, many top e-commerce companies like Amazon, Firstcry, and Nykaa opened their full-services in orange and green zones. Some, however, were more cautious about opening all their services and products category.

State of affairs for e-commerce platforms that do not deal in essential commodities

The Lockdown caused some big areas of concern for e-commerce businesses that had nothing to do with the essential sector. Many big, medium, and small-scale firms working solely in the digital platform had no sales to register in the period from end-March to May 2020. For lakhs of online sellers (as per estimates approximately 5,00,000), the Lockdown meant an abrupt stop to sales and revenues. Without sales and revenues, another thing that hit most of the online sellers was the concern that their shipment on the way to the warehouse, or in the warehouse, could get damaged, and hence payments from clients could get further delayed or disrupted. To maintain an effective supply chain, the sellers had to pay their suppliers against raw materials and semi-finished products, which meant that suppliers had to be paid, on one hand; on the other, the payments against consignments that were shipped just before the lockdown were still not received from the clients.

Now, as the lockdown opens, things do not look hunky-dory for these sellers. With many of the stuck shipments returned to them, they do not expect to receive very many orders shortly from the customers – as a result, a financial meltdown seems inevitable. The future of many such businesses, especially those that are not in essential products, or deal in products that are not required for sustenance, things looks quite bleak at the moment.

Conclusion

It would not be unfair to say that the presence of top e-commerce companies helped most people who were following the lockdown guidelines, and was working from home. It also proved to be a boon because e-commerce facilitated people to sit or work at home, a study from home, make essential payments from home, and also entertain themselves through the digital medium, from home.

Digital Marketing, Social Media

Top 25 Benefits of Facebook Advertising

December 5, 2019 brainwork Leave a comment

Facebook continues to remain an important part of our lives and of every business across the globe. The list of benefits of Facebook advertising will leave you wondering why you never attempted it. If you want to use Facebook effectively for your products and services, read the 25 benefits discussed below.

Your audience spends maximum time on Facebook: About 80% of internet users are on Facebook and most of them check their page more than a few times in a day.

It helps target audience: Considered as the most targeted form of advertising, Facebook allows you to advertise based on the age, interest, location and behavior of the audience.

It is cheap: Facebook advertising is the cheapest form of advertising which allows you to reach more than 1,000 people for $5.

It is quick: Unlike other forms of advertising, Facebook advertising is fast. It will show immediate results to your campaign.

It helps build brand awareness: Facebook can help build awareness for a brand. People will become familiar with the brand and are likely to purchase from you.

Increase website traffic: Facebook advertising will grow your website traffic and is considered much more beneficial than other sources.

It increases revenues and leads: With effective Facebook advertising, you will see a rise in sales, leads and revenue. Facebook is an effective way of increasing business sales.

It is measurable: The results in Facebook advertising are measurable. You will be able to see details about the impressions, conversions and clicks you receive on the ads.

It increases your customer attribution: Attribution is the number of times the audience sees your brand. Facebook advertising can increase customer attribution. It ensures that the audience interacts often with your business.

It will bring down the cost per acquisition: Individuals who can get Facebook advertising to work for the business will see a decline in acquisition costs.

It can grow offline sales: A lot of clients who are running Facebook ads can see a rise in in-store walk-ins. Some customers will see the ads and visit the location.

It can increase engagement of website visitors: Facebook helps with remarketing where you can advertise to your recent website visitors. It means that if someone visits the website and does not buy anything from you, you can re-engage them with Facebook advertising.

It can drive repeat business: Consumers who have purchased from you in the past can be reached through Facebook advertising for repeat business.

It builds engagement: Facebook can build engagement with the target audience. This consists of likes, interacts and comments on the advertisements. With high engagement, there is a stronger connection with the audience.

It increases referrals: If your ad can reach the right people, they will share it and it will increase referrals for the business.

It can help build an email list: Facebook advertising can help in email marketing efforts and you can direct traffic to an external form on the website so as to build an email list.

It can grow blog traffic: You need traffic on your blog and Facebook ads can help you with the same. You can use it as a bridge to connect audience to your blog.

It increases SEO rankings: Search engines rank websites based on the activity on your social media. It includes likes, shares and comments on the posts. With an increase in social signals, the SEO rankings will increase.

It can help you break into new markets: You can enter new markets with Facebook advertising and get exposure.

It is real-time: You can handle your campaigns real time and if you are not happy with the results, you can make adjustments to the campaign.

Your competitors use Facebook advertising: If you are not using Facebook for business, your customers are going to your competitors.

Get an edge on the business: You can use Facebook ads to crush your competition. As long as the ads are relevant, your ads will perform efficiently for Facebook.

It is mobile: Mobile is the future and majority users are on mobile. Facebook is the largest mobile app today and if you follow the right trends, Facebook advertising will not disappoint you.

It is more effective than organic: Organic Facebook marketing is dead. In order to be successful, you need to use Facebook advertising, promote posts and advertise to grow your community.

It is affordable: You can set your own budget for the ad campaign. You do not need a high budget to build a campaign and you can increase or decrease it at any time.

Brainwork India offers complete digital marketing services for your business in the country and across the globe.

Digital Marketing

Why Digital Marketing Is Must For Your Business Success?

October 31, 2019 brainwork Leave a comment

Digital marketing is nothing but the marketing of services or products using online platforms, mainly the internet, including display advertising, mobile phones or any other digital medium. In today’s world, online platforms have become a trend with multiple users across the world. With the evolution and change in modern and digital technologies, both large and small scale businesses are doing everything that is required to keep up, and no doubt it has opened many doors to success.

Digital marketing is easy to handle, monitor, track and trustworthy which provides good transparency in your business.

Key benefits of digital marketing are:

It helps expand business and popularity of the brand/service

Good advertisement leads to good sales and this is exactly what digital marketing caters you with. It uses smart techniques and strategies that not only attract customers but also helps convert these leads into sales.

Digital marketing allows you to engage with the customers via blogs, social media, and brand websites and maintain a better relationship. It also helps you retain, acquire customers, understand their needs and reviews about the company.
The ability to attract and interact with targeted customers in real-time is another reason why digital marketing is loved over traditional marketing. It allows you to deliver quality, builds the reputation of your brand and provides opportunities to reach bigger markets.

Gives a fair chance to small enterprises

The days when the notion that digital marketing is essential for large corporations is long gone, even the small/medium scale enterprises can get a chance to compete against the big ones and attract their fair share of traffic.
The small fishes in the world of digital marketing can effectively multiply customers without the need for call centers, branches, and physical stores.

Is cost effective and profitable

Another key advantage is that digital marketing offers a more cost-effective marketing channel over the traditional techniques and effective marketing also helps generate better revenues by high conversion rates.
Digital marketing provides better ROI (Return of Investment) than traditional marketing channels. With better branding and revenues, you can easily generate sales or leads from the targeted traffic to realize your ROI faster.