The visual identity continues to be a very important factor in every brand. Remember that it encompasses everything that can differentiate a company from the rest, both visually and conceptually. In this case, the logo is a way to express the essence of a brand, it will be the first thing users will see and what could attract them completely or scare them away. Precisely for that reason, in this note, we have made a compilation of simple logos with a great scope.
Visual identity: Top 7. Simple, but successful logos
Next, you will see a couple of logos that you may have already seen, but you probably do not know the background of their creation. So let’s start as soon as possible:
1 # Zara
Its simplicity has led this brand to be one of the most recognized and attended worldwide. In this case, we can see that it is a typographic logo, it is a simple, direct, and concise name.
Even when it is considered one of the most simple and graceless logos in the fashion industry, Zara has been able to position itself in the mind of the consumer. And is that users who have not even bought in these stores, see the logo, and immediately recognize the brand.
Reason? Zara has been in charge of maintaining a very neat visual identity. In the shops, everything is white, and the staff wears black. In this way, it maintains a visual coherence with the name of the brand.
2 # Nespresso
We continue highlighting the typographic logos. Nespresso, through its typography, demonstrates clarity and precision in its message, the black color gives it a touch of elegance and formality. The name of this brand is memorable: easy to pronounce, delicate, synthetic, and powerful.
In this case, it merges two clear and powerful concepts: Nestlé – Nescafé and Espresso What is your goal? Show that your product has premium quality.
3 # Apple
This neat and simple design has been able to polish Apple’s visual identity. It is very difficult for a common user to see the isotype (it is only an image, without text) and not know what the brand is dedicated to and what its name is.
Although Apple started with a completely different logo, from 1976 onwards, it began to show what it wanted to show the public. It was not until 2013 that he defined what would become one of the most recognized logos worldwide.
Today, this simple isotype demonstrates the design values of this brand: simplicity, attractiveness, and beauty.
4 # Google
Although Google has broken some specific rules of branding to use tonalities that break with each other, the brand has managed to penetrate the mind of the consumer. To the point that their representative colors are easily memorable. This logo has become the awakening of users, it is the first thing they see on the web when they open the browser.
5 # Amazon
It is impossible not to mention the giant of e-commerce in this selection of simple visual identity, but successful. Do you know what the arrow that is under the brand name refers to? Amazon has managed to take its objective as a very present brand, in a few words, it indicates that in its platforms they can get everything … Yes, from A to Z, that is the meaning of the arrow.
With this simple logo, the company has managed to create very powerful brand recognition, to the point of standing out among the rest. And we know that there is no other e-commerce that exceeds the experience that is achieved with Amazon.
From its logo, we obtain two meanings: its purpose as a company and a simple design that seeks to highlight the main objective, without disguising the message.
6 # Nike
First, it started being an Isologotype (combination between name and graphic) until it was in an isotype, the current image of this sports brand. The iconic Nike popcorn was selected by its co-founder, who commented that he did not like it, but that he would get used to it.
Without thinking about how many years later this logo would end up becoming one of the most recognized worldwide, its simplicity shows elegance, movement, and speed, a description given by its founders.
7 # Adidas
We close this selection with the Adidas brand. This Isologotype was created by its own founder, who used the three stripes for the first time in Adidas footwear. Since its inception, the shape of the logo has changed, but its essence has remained. Its bars emphasize the challenges that the brand must overcome to achieve the desired goals.
These samples of visual identity through different logos have achieved the recognition of brands worldwide. Did you know them?
There are different ways to communicate and also different means to establish this communication. When we think of clients, this is even more evident, since your audience can look for you in many communication channels. For this reason, it is important to know how to identify the best way to transmit your message to each person and each channel. Thinking about that, we select here the 7 main online channels that can help you in your business.
What are the communication channels?
Communication channels are tools used by companies to establish a relationship with their audience and communicate with them. The channels enhance the experience between the client and the brand, strengthening relationship marketing and providing recognition to the company and impact on sales.
Through them you can:
Present your clients with a new product or service;
Keep people informed about everything related to your area of action;
Answer your questions and comments;
Share materials that can bring your audience closer to your brand.
Therefore, when choosing the channel you will use, it must be one that provides information, that helps your audience adding value and offering solutions.
Know what are the pain points, the doubts, the wishes, and the objectives of your consumer. In this way, you will be able to create useful content to establish a relationship with it.
What are the communication channels for?
Communication channels help build and root your brand with your audience, intensifying sales, and helping you understand their behavior. They function as a bridge between you and your audience. Therefore, knowing how to work in each channel is as fundamental as choosing your buyer persona, because your digital marketing strategy will be built on that.
There is no specific channel that brings you a bigger and better result. Everything depends on your business and the profile of your customers. But since there are several communication channels, it is recommended that you be in more than one. In this way, the public will have more than one customer service option and you will have more opportunities to strengthen your relationship with them. Ideally, opt for a form of communication that is related to the culture of the company and that manages to dialogue easily and adequately in each channel.
You must be wondering what are the most used channels, right? Then let’s start.
1. Social Media
Social networks are widely used as a strategy to strengthen the relationship with the customer, because they allow you to interact directly with the public, in addition to increasing their involvement with the brand. In it, you can respond to comments and offer relevant content in various formats, such as photos, videos, and texts. It is worth remembering that each audience in each network has different behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to create content related to each medium.
To learn more about the topic, read our post about types of content for social networks.
2. Blogs
This is the most used means to provide educational information on various issues. With blogs, it is possible to build a cycle of publications and create new ways of approaching your audience. The idea of the blog is to expose your knowledge showing not only the subject in which you have recognized authority but also covering general topics of interest to your audience.
When you offer educational content you create a relationship with your audience, as you answer their doubts about different issues related to the market. This also helps to transform you into an authority in your market.
It is important to keep the blog always updated. In this way, you create a dynamic, since your audience knows that you will always publish texts. That increases your visibility, loyalty to your visitors, and conquer the confidence of your client. In addition, there are several other strategies behind a blog, from the insertion of a banner with sponsored links to the inclusion of a space for questions and suggestions related to your business. It is worth exploring all these opportunities.
3. Email marketing
The email marketing is a communication channel that allows deliver personalized message for a base of leads and customers. This channel is widely used for its low cost, and for speaking directly with an audience that already showed interest in your business. You can use it both to talk about your brand, to send a promotion, give ads or offer rich content for your client. Today, there are various email triggering tools that automate the entire process, from creation to measurement of the result. One of them is the MailChimp , do not forget to know it.
4. Customer service
This sector, which is often the gateway for the user, goes beyond customer service to clarify their doubts and solve their problems. Quality care transforms customer pain point solution and can turn a defender of the brand. In addition to anticipating possible difficulties, through customer service you can identify bottlenecks and discover your main doubts and needs. You can offer this service via email, phone or chat.
The important thing is to have a qualified team, with a high level of knowledge about your business and to provide good service to your customers.
5. Videos
This format of disclosure that grew significantly in recent times is among the consumer favorites for the public today. Today, videos are not used only for entertainment or dissemination of products and services. They are also produced and thought for didactic and educational purposes. This type of content, in addition to being fast and attractive, facilitates the understanding of the message.
Just as the communication channels presented are important, so is creating a content marketing strategy for your video. Your audience needs to have a true experience that is interesting to take it to the main objective of the video, whether it is selling or reporting something.
6. Discussion forums
Widely used by online course students, the discussion forum is a digital channel focused on collective interaction. In it, all users manage to communicate and exchange experiences, both good and bad. It is exactly for this reason that it is interesting to be present in these communication channels, mainly if there is a forum about your business. Having knowledge of this, you can mediate the discussions on a certain topic, you can clarify doubts to enhance the understanding of the content, or even understand the problems of a dissatisfied customer.
7. External complaint channels
Since not everything is flowers, it is very common to have unsatisfied customers who claim your product or service in communication channels that you do not necessarily control. Web pages of claims services or customer service are used to show that dissatisfaction and it is important that you not only know everything that is being placed in them but also that you respond to complaints. Thus, you manage to understand your client and you can even take measures to change the perception he has of your business.
Why use more than one communication channel?
Choosing the appropriate communication channels for each situation is very important for the success of your business Believe us, you will have to use more than one channel, in the end, your audience can be in all of them and you will never know it if you do not use them. But if you work alone, or do not yet have a team that can help you in each channel, do not run trying to use them all.
It is important to answer questions and receive suggestions from your customers, and when you have many channels to communicate the task can be long and difficult to control.
Thus:
Define strategies
Observe all the communication channels used to keep them always up-to-date. It is important to post new content at least once a week and have an editorial calendar to help you in that.
Investigate
Stay updated! Create a daily reading routine to keep you informed of the main events of your digital market. That helps when it comes to producing your content.
Manage all your communication channels
It is very easy to forget about some communication channel, which will make your clients’ messages accumulate. So that does not happen, create a management routine and verify all the comments that your business receives.
Identify your buyer person
The person is a fictitious character that represents your ideal client. She has all the characteristics of the people for whom you intend to direct your product or service. Unlike the target audience, when we create a person, we look for more detailed characteristics, such as habits, personality, desires and needs. The creation of the person will direct your product to the right people, in addition to showing which are the channels of communication with which your audience interacts more. This way, you will really understand where you need to be present to talk with your audience.
Appearing in the top 10 results in a Google search is what every brand wants, but do you know what you should do to stay in it? Increasing your CTR. Position yourself on the first page of Google. But not only is it necessary to improve your SEO, but it also imports your CTR to keep you in it. Believe it or not, the click rate of users in a certain link will cause it to go up or down in the list of results. That is why it is very important to ensure that our result is maintained. How? Very simple, with these different techniques to increase your CTR. But, let us start at the beginning.
What is CTR?
The CTR is a percentage that tells us how many times a user clicks on one of our links. Calculating it is as simple as dividing the number of clicks between impressions and multiplying it by 100.
Increase clicks to one of our links, it improves your ranking within the list of search results. For this, we must do it in the right way, without cheating, and without deceiving the users, since, if we carry out “bad practices” against users, offering information that does not correspond, Google could penalize us by making our links lose placed on the list.
So you should always keep in mind that to improve your CTR and SEO, visibility and traffic to your website should be inseparable. But how does Google get all these results? Through its RankBrain algorithm. Adcortex is in charge of offering us a better user experience when we browse Google so that it always shows us the most relevant content to our search.
In this sense, the CTR plays a very important part. Since, if within the same list of results are identical, Google will position the link that has the highest CTR before the rest.
How do I know what my CTR is?
Knowing the CTR of your links in Google is as easy as accessing your panel in Search Console.
From this tool, you can not only know your CTR, but also other very interesting data such as the number of clicks that users make on your results; the impressions, or even the average position of your pages in Google.
As for the CTR, it gives us the possibility to know data such as:
The CTR of your keywords.
The CTR of your pages in Google.
The CTR of your mobile results.
The CTR that your website has in different countries or types of search.
All these data are necessary to carry out a good SEO strategy and above all, to know how to correctly position all the links in Google.
How do I increase my CTR?
Now that we know the basics, increasing our CTR is very simple.
Keywords.
Once you know what your keywords are, using them should be something you do naturally, without forcing them.
It does not matter if you do not use them as they appear in the tool where you have chosen them. The important thing is that they appear.
You can also use the Search Console to know that other keywords are being positioned in your results. And so, increase clicks and searches much more to them.
Meta description.
You can never neglect the meta description, in your Google results. In it, you must include the keyword along with other similar or related, with which you believe that users will find you. The Meta description is what will make the user do or not click on your result during your search, so you must make it attractive and concise. Before writing it, look at those that contain the first 10 results and think about how you could improve them.
Call to action
Within online marketing, calls to action are a fundamental element to capture the user’s attention. Use them in your titles or descriptions. Of course, always according to your brand. To make them, you can add capital letters, exclamation marks, emojis. Everything you can think of.
URLs
The next item in the user’s view in a list of results is the web address.
URLs are not only vital for users, but also for Google. With these steps, you’ll get Google and users right.
Short and descriptive URLs: use between four and five words. Avoid including the familiar Stop Words, words like prepositions, pronouns, etc. that lack meaning.
Include the keywords: if we want to be found by certain words, why not use them in the URL too?
Google AMP
The smartphone is the main support through which we connect to the internet. So it is increasingly important that websites load faster and adapt better to the different sizes of our digital screens. MPA or Accelerated Mobile Pages besides make websites load faster, improve our CTR on Google. How to know if we have it active? Very easy, you just have to check if the acronym AMP appears next to the title of your search result.
Rich Snippets
Make your content more visual than the rest, with elements such as reviews, recipes, or events that visits will increase and with them your CTR. But watch out! Google will be the one who decides to show or not these elements, depending on what seems relevant and necessary for our website.
Features Snippets.
Have you searched for a recipe on Google and it has appeared in the form of a small post? These are the Featured Snippets. They are in position 0, just above the first search result. The biggest advantage that these supplements provide us is that our result does not have to be the first to appear there. To appear there, you just have to be between the first 6 results, a well-structured content type listing, or short paragraphs. And Google will do the rest.
As you see staying on the first page of Google is very easy if you carry out a good SEO strategy. Therefore, we always recommend that before starting “crazy” consult a professional.
At AdCortex we not only fine-tune your website’s SEO, but we also carry out search engine positioning strategies so that you can quickly appear in the top position of Google.
Because “a picture is worth a thousand words”, we show you 10 banks of free images that will save you from more than one hurry. Before starting, you should bear in mind that there are different types of licenses for use when referring to images. Some of them allow reuse with and without modifications, non-commercial reuse, or commercial reuse.
The images, for the most part, are protected by copyright. This means that they already have an owner and make it impossible for us to use them legally. For this reason and so that you never have to worry about the rights of an image, add these 10 banks of free images to your favorites!
Excellent image bank, where we can find photos, illustrations, vectors, and videos. It also contains a section of search tools, with which we can apply filters to find exactly what we want. The license of all your images is from Creative C0mmons, which means that it is in the public domain, without reserved rights and therefore, allows you to use them for the purpose you want. It is one of the very few pages that we find in Spanish, and where you can search easily if yours is not English.
Pexels is a bank of images with numerous resources. It is a community of photographers from all over the world, who have the option to upload up to five photos on the same day, all their images are public domain CC0. In spite of not having a translation into Spanish, it is possible to choose between English or German to navigate through it. Therefore, the words related to the search must be in that language.
When you enter the page, you show us your mission, a new image per day. This page collects images of high quality, with landscapes, nature, mostly public domain. The others, you just have to grant the author attribution, putting your name and link at the time of use.
This bank of images created by the agency Crew Labs was born with a strict policy, it was only possible to upload 10 daily photos with a CCO Zero license. With this license, the user is allowed to copy, modify, distribute, and publish the photos for free and at no cost. Politics that after its great popularity had to suspend.
Musicians, photographers, artists, every creative person, and for the most part independent are those who manage to make this bank of images a place to find almost all the themes. In addition, one of the things that we like most is the possibility of searching for terms related to our main query. All a success if you find yourself a little hesitant.
The operation of Stokpic is to upload 10 new photos every two weeks, which as we can see if we subscribe, they send them to us themselves. These are organized into 16 categories with their corresponding labels and also have a search engine. All this to make it easier for us to find the image we need. They have a CC0 public domain license, but one limitation: they can not be redistributed, sold.
A fantastic search of high-quality photographs and a broad theme has a public domain license CC0, so we can also use them freely. It has a search engine, popular searches, and a multitude of categories, all of them, resources that make our task easier. It also gives you the option to upload your own photographs.
It is a relatively small site with the other banks, but they also have images with a maximum resolution and, of course, with a public domain license. What characterizes this bank of images, is the ease to download it, just by clicking on the image it starts. Every week, new images come up, so it will not be long before they grow up and walk on the heels of the other portals.
It has a section with the Top of the best photos, impressive photographs with a very high resolution. This bank allows you to download both images and videos, for it has 18 categories, with which you will find it easier to search. Regarding the license, not the specific one, you can download them for free, but making responsible use of them. The author of this image bank also has social networks where you can find his wonderful photographs.
Lifeofpix is formed by a large community of photographers, who share their photos with a CC0 public domain license. It has a gallery with 13 folders, where these photographers publish high-resolution images every week. We can also find videos.
This site has a peculiarity as well as special beauty. It is not a common image bank, they are old photographs that have been rescued from sites with a public domain license. They transport us to the past. This page, by clicking on your images, redirects you to Flickr, where you can download them. They also have a Twitter account where you can follow them.
Do you pay proper attention to building a solid and effective strategy for your marketing team every year?
You should do it.
An annual marketing plan helps you take the right marketing strategy and achieve your business goals. Consider it as a high-level plan that guides the direction of your campaigns, business goals and the growth of your team.
Without it, the situation can become complex – and it is almost impossible to establish the budget you have to guarantee for the projects, the hiring and the outsourcing you’ll come across in a year if you don’t have a plan.
Keep in mind that the marketing plan you need varies by industry and by the goals of your marketing team. To simplify the creation, we have put together a list of what to include and some different planning models.
To begin, let’s see what a high-level marketing plan is.
Essential elements of a Marketing Plan
Marketing plans can get pretty gritty in reflecting the sector you work in, if you want to sell to consumers (B2C) or other companies (B2B) and how big your digital presence is. So here are six elements that every effective marketing plan includes:
1. Business Summary
In a marketing plan, your Business Summary is exactly what it looks like: a summary of your business. This includes your organization’s name, location, and mission statement – which should all be consistent with the company as a whole.
The Business Summary of your marketing plan also includes a SWOT analysis, which indicates the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Be patient with your company’s SWOT analysis; you will be the one to write most of them based on how you complete the elements of the following marketing plan.
2. Business Initiatives
The Business Initiatives part of a marketing plan helps you to segment the various goals of your department. Be careful not to include large corporate initiatives that you would normally find in a business plan. This section of your marketing plan should highlight specific marketing projects. You will also describe the goals of those projects and how these goals will be measured.
3. Target Market
Here you will conduct some basic market research. If your company has already done a thorough market research study, this section of your marketing plan might be easier. Furthermore, this element of your marketing plan will help you describe your sales sector, an analysis of your competitors, and your personal buyer. A person buyer is a semi-fictitious description of your ideal client, focused on features such as age, location, job title, and personal challenges.
4. Market Strategy
Your Market Strategy uses the information contained in the Reference Market section to describe how your company should approach the market. What will your business offer your buyers that your competitors are not already offering? In the full version of a marketing plan, this section may contain “the seven marketing P’s”. These P are products, prices, places, promotions, people, processes and physical evidence. (You’ll find more information on these seven elements in our free marketing plan template, which you can download below.)
5. Budget
Don’t misunderstand the Budget element of your marketing plan with the price of your products or other financial data of the company. Your budget describes how much money the company has allocated to the marketing team to carry out the initiatives and goals listed in the previous elements. Depending on how many individual expenses you have, you should try to divide this budget based on specific expenses. For example, marketing expenses include a marketing agency, marketing software, paid promotions and events (the ones you will host and/or participate in).
6. Marketing channels
Finally, your marketing plan will include a list of your marketing channels. While your company could promote the product itself using advertising space, with the marketing channels you publish the content that educates your buyers, generate contacts and spread the knowledge of your brand.
If you publish (or intend to publish) on social media, this is the right place to talk about it. Use the Marketing Channels section of your marketing plan to expose on which social networks you want to start a page of your business, what you will use this social network for and how you will measure your success on these channels. Part of the purpose of this section is to demonstrate to your superiors, both inside and outside of Marketing, that these channels will grow the business.
Businesses with a strong social media presence could also consider deepening a social media strategy in a separate model of a social media plan.
Get the first results and climb quickly!
The best way to plan your annual marketing plan is to get the first results quickly, so you can quickly scale and focus (together with your team) on more challenging goals and more sophisticated projects before the fourth quarter.
Web hosting is an indispensable service that you should consider when launching your own web page. Or, if you already have it and want to jump to an accommodation with more guarantees. But, what is a hosting? Which is the most appropriate? Why is it important to host the web on a good server? We answer all these questions in this note.
What is a web hosting?
In simple words, it is a service where a provider rents you a server connected to the internet. In this rented space you can store all the files, files or data required for your website to work properly.
In turn, a server is a physical computer that works continuously so that your page can be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone who wants to see it. Basically, it is a machine that is connected to the Internet through a network that has a wider bandwidth than the usual domestic connections.
In this way, whoever provides the hosting is responsible for keeping the server running uninterrupted. In addition, it must ensure its security, that is, protect it from malicious attacks. And especially, be able to transfer your complete content (text, images, videos, files in general) from the server to the browsers of your visitors.
How does hosting or web hosting work?
When you decide to start a new online site or an application, you have to locate a web hosting company that can provide you with space on a server. As we discussed in previous lines, your provider will be responsible for storing all your files, databases and materials on the server.
In this way, every time someone writes in the address bar of your browser, the domain name of your website, your server must respond automatically. That is, you must transfer all the indispensable files to attend the search.
The hosting plans are very varied, you must select the one that best suits your needs and acquires them. If it is a small project that you just start, it is best to opt for a basic plan. Then, when your website grows and you need more space on the server, then you can jump to a more advanced plan.
In general, hosting accounts have a graphical user interface where you can manage every detail of your page. So it is not essential that you have extensive programming knowledge to attend to daily web administration tasks.
Types of web hosting
Hosting service providers offer a full range of hosting types in order to respond to their different clients. The most frequent are:
Shared Hosting
It is the most usual in web hosting since it is an ideal alternative for small businesses and blogs. In this case, you share a server with several clients of your hosting provider. That is those websites hosted on the same server share all the resources. For example, computing power, disk space, memory, and more aspects.
The good thing about this type of web hosting is that the plans are more economical, and it is ideal for beginners. However, as a relevant negative point, the loading of one website can affect another.
VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server)
It is a type of Virtual Private Server (VPS) where although you still continue to share the server with other users, the hosting provider assigns you a separate partition. All this, depending on your specific needs. For example, you can get more processor power or memory.
This type of web hosting is ideal for medium-sized companies that are growing. The main advantage of the VPS is that the performance of your website will not be affected by the traffic increases of the other sites with which you share a server. However, keep in mind that you will need more technical knowledge for server administration.
Specialized Hosting
Specialized web hosting is a particular form of shared hosting. But created by application owners or sites like WordPress, Joomla, Prestashop, and Magento. When acquiring, for example, a specialized hosting in WordPress, your server will be configured specifically for this website. So your page will come with pre-installed plugins.
The point in favor of this type of hosting is that thanks to the highly optimized configuration, your website will load much faster, and will work with fewer inconveniences. Of course, as a not so favorable point, the prices of the plans are higher. Although it will be worth the investment.
Dedicated Hosting
You will simply have your own physical server exclusively dedicated to your website. So you will have more flexibility, you can configure your server as best you want. In addition, you can also choose the software and operating system you want to use. In short, the hosting configuration can adapt perfectly to your needs.
As a negative point, you will need more technical knowledge for the configuration. And the subscription plans are higher than the previous ones.
Why is it important to host the web on a good server?
By choosing a good hosting server you will have storage in SSD hard drives for faster access, improving response times. In addition, you can be at the forefront with the latest technological advances. For example, the HTTP/2 protocol that speeds up your website without having to make changes to the source code, providing incredible download times. And very important, you can access SSL Certificates to protect the exchange of relevant data, avoiding malicious attacks.
A good hosting improves the positioning of your website, as well as the user experience by accelerating load times, providing confidence and security. And it gives an optimal promotion of your site.
We continue to comment on the latest developments in web design trends for 2019, this time the trends in web design are loaded with new styles and graphic elements. All this, in favor of achieving a greater visual impact on the users and, most important of all, transmitting the essence of the brand. The more modern and functional your website, the easier it will be to stand out from the competition, increasing its positioning, visibility and reach. So take note of the 2019 web design innovations.
Trends in web design for 2019
The design of websites has gone from being an element to draw the attention of the user, to become a way to generate emotions, inform and create a need to purchase. Through design you can achieve the goals of your brand, so be sure to assimilate the changes that come with this 2019:
The video as the protagonist
The growth of the video is exponential, and it has already been commented that in this year it will be positioned as a powerful strategy. And in the trends in web design for 2019 should be present. Keep in mind that users every day consume more audiovisual content because they are the ones that arouse their interest.
For this reason, this 2019 will predominate more websites with entertaining and informative videos. This trend is known as “full-screen video” in the graphic design industry. It is an ideal strategy when you want to create a dynamic, fast and complex format.
Modular designs
The minimalist style could be left aside. And is that the modular designs are sounding like an attractive and functional option, to the best style of Pinterest. This type of design is characterized by highlighting modules with a variety of content, so that users can retain more than one image in their mind. And it is also effective to show a wide catalog of the commercial offer. In short, the modular designs allow the web to be close, carefree and friendly. For that reason, it is an excellent alternative for online stores.
Giant and attractive typographies
In trends in web design for 2019, the use of typography is considered the main element to highlight the page. Above all, large typefaces, whose purpose is to catch the attention of the user to send them the value proposition of the brand. Likewise, we can also appreciate how games in sizes and fonts combine to impact the user.
Large elements
Continuing with the aspects of great size, the graphic elements will also increase in dimension. Its objective is to attract attention and captivate the user. Among some elements that will increase its size include images, galleries, videos, page titles and buttons.
Palette of bright colors
The websites will look very colorful and bright, since the fun and resplendent tones have become popular. The point is that the brands are out of the ordinary and create something shocking in favor of a better user experience. Therefore, we will see that the design styles will be totally different from what we saw in 2018, nothing minimalist. So it was time to bet on the tones without complexes, fresh and carefree.
Adaptation to mobile
Brands must consider the adaptation of mobile devices in all aspects of their digital presence, and in trends in web design in 2019, we will see that the mobile will take the relevance it deserves.
In this case, what is sought is to devise a design exclusively designed for the mobile, not only that it is a responsive design, but that it is similar, but captivating. The purpose of this new trend is to surprise the user by letting him know how important it is for the brand to offer a pleasant and outstanding experience.
Elements with asymmetric style
The asymmetrical elements are structures that are far removed from the straight or classical forms. Its purpose is to bet on creativity to enchant the user. Asymmetric structures can be used in different ways, but they turn out very well when they are used as sections on a page.
Invisible buttons
If you want to continue to maintain a minimalist style on your website, nothing happens, you can do it. Well, a new trend was born in favor of the simple style. Basically, it’s about appealing to modernity in a more genuine way by turning your buttons into “ghosts”. That is, without background color, rather transparent to highlight the action to be executed.
These trends in web design for 2019 promise to revolutionize classic styles.
Have you ever been offered a credit card with the name of another service?
When JP Morgan Chase Bank partnered with Amazon.com to offer an Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card, they realized that the online shopping market was expanding.
What better way to serve online shoppers than by partnering with the largest online retailer in the world?
This partnership, also known as an affinity marketing campaign, allowed these two companies to link their brands in a mutually beneficial relationship.
These campaigns are win-win scenarios for both parties.
When a business partner with an organization provides goods in exchange for access to a new market, both parties benefit.
Through its affinity partnership, Chase Bank increases its general customer base, while Amazon offers incentives to those who use the credit card with their service, which increases the number of people who probably buy Amazon products.
Who uses affinity marketing campaigns?
There are two parties involved in an affinity marketing campaign: the affinity group and the business that provides the group with a new product or service.
Affinity groups typically include:
Membership organizations or associations
Non-profit organizations and charities.
Companies that deal with specific demographic data.
Companies that are associated with affinity groups differ widely in size, scope and product offered.
Companies that participate in affinity partnerships can be as small as a coffee shop that sells cakes from a local bakery, or as large as credit card companies that wear the logo of sports teams on their cards to attract fans.
Some other business examples typically involved in affinity marketing campaigns include:
Airlines
Hotels
Banks
Supermarkets
Large clothing stores
Real estate companies
Gas stations
Why use affinity marketing?
Establish policies and procedures for client recommendation.
Develop ambassadors within your community to promote your services
Request endorsements from associations with many members.
Group of marketing effort to individual niches.
Cross sale of products to existing members.
What type of clients are actually marketed?
The greatest strength of an affinity marketing campaign could be how customizable it is.
There are hundreds of affinity groups and target markets for companies to present themselves, and with the right campaign, these strategies are largely successful.
Members of organizations are always looking for more incentives to stay in an organization, which makes them one of the most successful affinity groups to which campaigns are directed.
For example, AARP is the largest organization for older adults in the United States, a target population of The Home Depot.
When Home Depot marketers realized that the best way to reach this group of older adults was to get help from AARP, they associated with the affinity association.
AARP representatives understood the potential benefits of partnering with The Home Depot, such as agreements to offer current members and increased brand advertising in the store.
Through the AARP newsletters and updates, the association’s representatives announced the new promotions and benefits that Home Depot was offering, giving AARP members more reasons to renew their membership.
Simply reaching a new group or organization is not enough to develop a solid relationship.
Successful affinity marketing campaigns lead teams of marketing strategists and business negotiators to take advantage of a strong partnership with another company or organization.
How is an affinity marketing plan developed?
At the beginning of an affinity marketing campaign, companies generally have a rough idea of which affinity group they want to reach.
Marketing managers first seek to identify potential market areas and begin to work with the sales side of a company to discover the potential benefits of entering these markets.
This part of the marketing campaign requires many numbers, so the marketing team should examine how different affinity groups could affect the sales of a product.
Fundamental criteria in affinity marketing
Communication is one of the most important elements of a successful affinity marketing campaign. Marketing teams must follow the following steps:
Choose the right business partner
Set clearly defined goals, objectives and responsibilities.
Make sure your partner’s goals are aligned with yours.
After deciding on an affinity group to target, the marketing team begins to create a list of goals and objectives for their campaign.
This includes not only the sales figures, but also aspects such as the image of the company.
The image of the company and the brand is an important element of any marketing campaign, so the marketing team must identify the organizations that complement its current image.
After developing a list of potential partners, marketing managers communicate with those organizations and companies to negotiate the terms of the partnership.
During the negotiations, the marketing specialists explain exactly why an organization must associate with a company, from promotional offers and offers, to meet the growing needs of the members of an organization.
Trade associations carry a great deal of legal responsibility, which means that both organizations must draft terms and responsibilities to ensure that all needs are met.
If both organizations accept the terms of the agreement, an affinity partnership is developed.
From here, the affinity marketing campaign really takes shape, as public relations experts and advertising agencies issue new agreements and offers that the organization or company is providing to its clients or affiliates.
The campaign is aimed at the target audience and sales representatives begin to track the impact of the campaign.
Leaders from both ends of the association meet frequently to discuss any improvements or adjustments that can be made to the campaign, taking into account market research and sales figures.
If a company has partnered with a non-profit organization, they often conduct surveys to find the reaction of the public to the new association, and it is an improved image of the company.
Nonprofit organizations report any increase in the influx of funds and decide whether or not to continue the marketing campaign.
What career titles work with an affinity marketing strategy?
Discover some of the different degrees related to the implementation of successful affinity marketing strategies.
Marketing manager
What do they do?
Effective marketing managers have a lot of analytical and management skills needed to carry out affinity marketing campaigns.
The main responsibility of marketing managers is to estimate the demand for a product and identify potential markets for that product.
Marketing managers help determine affinity groups for companies to focus, calculate numbers and develop a list of potential partners to reach those groups.
Marketing managers must have strong communication skills and be able to negotiate business partnerships to establish a successful affinity marketing campaign.
Education and experience
Most marketing managers have at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Other generally accepted degrees include business, accounting, economics, mathematics or statistics.
The simple fact of obtaining your bachelor’s degree does not guarantee you the position of marketing manager.
Marketing managers also often gain several years of experience in lower-level marketing jobs before making the leap to managerial positions.
Advertising and Promotion Manager
What do they do?
Promotional managers work with marketing managers to help determine what promotions or benefits a company can offer an organization in an affinity partnership.
This individual brainstorms the various benefits and potential promotions to offer affinity partners and refers them to the marketing manager to determine their impact.
Promotions managers help plan advertising strategies for the partnership, discovering ways to reach customers.
This could include mail campaigns, phone calls or brochures to inform members of an organization about new benefits or offers for which they qualify.
Education and experience
Promotional managers must obtain at least a bachelor’s degree before obtaining employment.
In general, these people look for degrees in marketing, business, advertising or public relations.
Promotional managers must have a solid foundation in business communication that allows them to work proactively with marketing managers and leading partners.
Marketing Specialists
What do they do?
Marketing specialists enter a company to consult on marketing strategies.
These professionals usually have years of experience in the development of marketing campaigns, which allows them to provide guidance in the campaign.
Many marketing specialists are independent contractors with a great reputation for success.
The marketing specialist sometimes assumes the role of marketing manager, while others assume a much broader role in the overall campaign, overseeing multiple areas from negotiations to promotions.
Education and experience
Most marketing specialists have at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing, but the experience is truly the greatest indicator of an effective marketing specialist.
Most marketing specialists get at least 10 years of experience before entering the independent contracting field.
How can a marketing school help you in this field?
A bachelor’s degree program in marketing raises the essential question: how do you make sure that you understand your customers and how they are given a higher value?
For strategists who implement affinity marketing techniques, this is the first question they must ask to discover how to market products to new affinity groups.
Marketing programs present future professionals with the background and skills needed to communicate their brands effectively to different affinity groups.
One of the most outstanding skills in the marketing school leads these individuals to success in the future: communication.
Business communication and marketing skills are essential to develop an effective affinity marketing partnership with an organization.
In a marketing school, students learn how to present business proposals that they develop in class.
These exercises allow students to practice their presentation skills in front of their classmates, taking criticism and adjusting their speech styles.
These skills are transferred to the real world when marketers present their proposed affinity marketing campaigns to potential affinity partners.
Marketing classes also teach students about the psychology of consumers, and why they buy certain products, join organizations and look for specific brands, elements that are directly related to successful affinity marketing campaigns.
This experience in consumer psychology allows professionals who examine the use of affinity marketing campaigns to consider the needs of an affinity group, and whether their product can meet those needs.
Profile analysis and marketing of consumer behavior are some of the most critical elements of any successful affinity marketing campaign.
By exploring the benefits of different consumer markets, professionals can constantly expand their business without experiencing stagnation in the market.
Because affinity marketing is associated with entering new markets, professionals must also have a complete understanding of how to develop new products and services.
As marketers examine the impact of an affinity marketing campaign, they can discover ways to increase effectiveness by adjusting current products or offering different ones.
Certain marketing courses offer students the opportunity to learn the value and process of developing new products to meet the need for a new customer base.
For more information on how to obtain a degree in marketing can help boost success in affinity marketing campaigns, ask for information to schools that offer marketing titles.
You are in the middle of the digital promotion campaign of your company and you have discovered in the massive sending of emails a very useful tool. You have a database of prepared for your campaign and everything ready to send. However, you should pay attention to certain email marketing errors that are committed more than you think.
Have you ever wondered why certain email marketing campaigns succeed while others are shipwrecked in the attempt? The following errors to avoid may give you the answer:
1. Do not take care of the matter and the sender
Yes, it may sound very obvious. But one of the main errors of email marketing lies in the lack of care with these two aspects.
Is it clear to your recipients that you are the one sending the message? Make sure that your name or the name of your company are perfectly reflected in the sender.
This generates greater confidence in the reception of the mail and its opening.
On the other hand, the issue is another of the most important aspects. And it is a common mistake to neglect it in email marketing campaigns.
Make the end of your message very clear, with a concise and non-deceptive concept. Do not promise the moon, simply summarize your goal.
2. Lose personal tone in your messages
Another of the most frequent email marketing errors is losing that personality in the message.
Even if we are facing a mass mailing campaign, and the recipient himself knows it, it does not mean that we should stop making him feel special.
And with just two or three simple actions, you can achieve better results.
Say hello to your receiver by his first name, apply the second person of the singular in the body of the mail and avoid farewell formalisms of the type “receive a cordial greeting” by others closer such as “I wish you good afternoon”, they will give you better results.
3. Forget about adding value to the content of your mail
An email with no valuable content ends up in the bin within two seconds. And it is very good that you want to introduce a striking call to action, but you must not forget the rest.
Users like to be given value, to receive a different message that provides ideas and solutions.
Focus on the typical “buy it now” or “register now” is another of the big mistakes of email marketing that you should avoid in your campaign.
4. Do not elaborate your own landing page
Where are you going to direct your users once they click on your call to action?
One of the most common email marketing errors is to forget to create a landing page or specific landing page, where the user can carry out the action to which you are inviting.
Make sure you take that user to the product or service you want to promote. If you do not make it easy, it is very likely that you lose that lead.
At NeoAttack, one of the best content marketing agencies, we always consider this detail in our strategies.
5. Pay little importance to the usability of the mail
Today, it is more than likely that most of your campaign emails are opened from a smartphone or tablet.
The computer is still in use, yes, but it has lost ground in favor of these portable devices. Therefore, make sure that your mail is displayed correctly on all platforms.
If you have received a poorly optimized email, you will know how annoying it is not being able to access the content correctly. And, surely, you will have ended up closing it without really knowing what its purpose was.
Remember this when it comes to carrying out your campaign, it is one of the most basic email marketing mistakes.
6. Put aside social networks
Among the errors of basic email marketing, leaving aside the inclusion of corporate social networks is among the most common. And it is common to find one of these emails without links to the sender’s profiles.
How do you expect to win more leads and followers if you do not provide that contact to your recipients? In addition to putting the simplest things, you will be inspiring greater confidence, giving you more channels to communicate with your brand.
7. Obviate the measurement and analysis of the results
Every online communication strategy yields a series of results that you must measure.
It is useless to launch one of these strategies if you do not pay attention to their operation and the ROI (Return on Investment) that you have achieved with them.
For both good and bad, all information will be tremendously valuable to you.
Analyze the percentage of opening, the number of emails that have been marked as spam, which texts have worked most, the colors … etc.
With these data, you can plan your future strategies much better.
These are the seven basic errors that you must take into account in your email marketing campaign.
It is tempting for companies to share their content exclusively to drive sales or marketing, neglecting authentic commitment.
It takes discipline to share content from like-minded companies or industry opinion leaders.
You may have heard from co-workers or business owners that social networks have really changed the game for them in terms of leads and sales.
Social networks are an amazing way to reach potential customers that you would otherwise have missed.
But some of you may have started doing some social campaigns on your own, and you are not seeing the kind of results you have heard!
One of the benefits of hiring a social media marketing company is that they know all the tips, tricks and social media rules necessary for your campaign to be effective.
And when we say the rules of social networks, we are not talking about subjective ideas that generally increase the results of a campaign.
We are talking about rules of real social networks: guidelines and advertising policies established by the platform of social networks that advertisers and companies like yours should follow.
By following the so-called “Rule of the thirds” of social networks, you will ensure that you are sharing content that attracts and keeps track of those interested.
What is the rule of the thirds of social networks?
⅓ of its social content promotes its business, converts readers and generates profits.
A third of your social content should come up and share ideas and stories from opinion leaders in your industry or related businesses.
⅓ Your social content should be based on personal interactions and build your personal brand.
Sharing your own brand content should be something natural. It’s the other two thirds that can be a challenge.
Let’s talk about why sharing professional and personal content is equally important.
What is 5: 3: 2?
Social media can play an important role in attracting audiences to your brand, but what do you need to do to get there? What should I be sharing and when?
The key you should not do is talk about yourself all day and every day; This is the sure way to keep people away from your brand.
It’s like that annoying “friend” you have on Facebook who brags all the time, who hides from your timeline or, ultimately, is not your friend.
It does not want to be that brand.
So, what should I be doing? This is where rule 5: 3: 2 comes into play, and it has nothing to do with the rules of football (or soccer, depending on your part of the world).
With regard to social exchange, it is about achieving the right balance, so think about every ten publications:
5 should be content from other sources that are relevant to your audience, also known as healing.
3 must be content that you have created, that is relevant to your audience or creation.
2 must be personal and fun content that humanizes your brand for your audience, to be called humanization.
You will notice that each of these areas has something in common: they are all focused on your audience, not on you.
So let’s dig a little deeper into each one and see how they can attract your audience and what you can do to get the most out of each one.
50% cure
Therefore, most of what you share must be cured from other places and sources that are relevant to your niche and audience.
There is a lot of content out there, take time to read the industry news and be part of the conversation around topics that you know will interest your audience.
Sharing content that is relevant and specific to your industry area will indicate that you are aware. The pulse of what is happening.
Here are some tools to help you quickly customize the content of your social media channels:
Feedly
Storify
Quora
These are not the only healing tools you can use, but they are a starting point.
Remember that everything you post should be useful and shareable; It must also be relevant to your niche and audience.
Creation of 30%
Next, you want to spend some time creating content on your own, try to stay away from difficult sales. If you do, you will undoubtedly see that your list of followers decreases.
Social networks have to do with attracting the audience you want and what you do is valuable content. Try to create varied content as well, as this will keep things interesting for your audience. These types of content could include:
Blogs
Infographics
e-books
Videos
20% humanization
This is what gives life to your brand and shows your audience that you are human and not just a large faceless corporation that tries to sell you.
It’s okay to publish random publications like this if you have the correct balance. The result is likely to be more followers because they will keep coming back to see what other fun things you publish and also to find other useful content.
When sharing this type of content make sure:
It’s the kind of fun your audience likes.
It shows your brand personality
Now that you know the 5: 3: 2 rule and how it can work for your brand, but now you wonder how I can continue to share and publish all this excellent content?
Access a social media management tool, there are many options to help you program, manage and find content, all in one place!
Below is a selection of the main platforms that will be used for the administration of their social networks:
Buffer
HootSuite
TweetDeck
SproutSocial
To help you with the best time to schedule your publications in each social network.
In conclusion,
So there’s the 5: 3: 2 rule for social networks, remember that it’s about your audience and finding a balance in the content you share.
Try not to try to sell all the time and, instead, focus on the content that is valuable, interesting and fun; You want to humanize your brand and make your audience interact with you.
The 80/20 Rule
There is no secret formula to successfully interact with your audience on social networks, but applying the “80/20 Rule” should always be an important part of your social media strategy.
It simply comes down to this: use only 20% of your content to promote your brand, and dedicate 80% to the content that really interests your audience and involve them in conversations.
Do not get me wrong, social networks are definitely a big part of your marketing mix. But because people use social networks to be social, they do not want to be subjected to their online sales pitch.
Always try to create relationships, instead of annoying your audience with irrelevant content and increase your own image.
Because people use social networks to be social, they do not want to be subjected to their online sales pitch.
The year 2018 was marked as “a great year for content”, therefore, content marketing is a really important component of any social media marketing strategy.
Here’s how to apply ‘The 80/20 rule’ to your social media content:
20% of your brand content: include persuasive calls to action
When you work on 20% of the content that deals with your brand, also include information that benefits your audience.
Include a discount, add a special offer, provide useful statistics, etc.
Be sure to integrate a persuasive call to action that will inspire your audience to learn more about your company so it can lead to conversion in the future.
80% of other ‘interesting content’: make it shareable
Dedicating 80% to interesting content that really suits the interests and needs of your audience means compiling content from influential people whose ideas and ideas you agree with.
It supports your way of thinking, the way you do business or what you think is happening in your industry.
Think of retweets, inspirational quotes, links to news, questions, etc.
Just look for content that appeals to your audience and shares it on your social channels.
Put aside your pride and share the content of another company
Why is it so important to share external content with other companies or opinion leaders? It shows your audience that you know the industry like the back of your hand, that you are collegial and aware of the competition.
It shows that it is collaborative and secure enough in its own brand to share the content of another person.
It also doubles your exposure by connecting your content to your audience or online community.
By sharing content from another company, even a competitor, your company is positioned as the best source of content more complete and rounded.
To get content from other companies, try these features:
Find industry influencers: use keyword searches or suggested Twitter user lists to find influential people in your industry. Once you have found them, add them to a list or transmit them to continue listening.
Follow your competition: find your competition or other online related businesses with keyword searches, add them to a list or transmit them and start sharing the good things.
Follow the hashtags and industry keywords: source the hashtags or keywords of your industry and follow them in a sequence to keep them in your backpack. This will help you find new content and know what to include in yours.
Make lists: create lists of influential people, competitors, industry keywords and opinion leaders and keep them in separate sequences for easy listening.
Configure transmissions: multiple transmissions simplify your listening opportunities so you can spend less time searching for excellent content.
Use several styles of Re-Tweet: In HootSuite for example, by selecting “edit” on the Retweet button, you can give your content its own spin. Or, by selecting “Yes”, it simply comes out through its channels with its attached profile. This makes your Twitter feed look more dynamic and shows that you are outsourcing content (something good).
Time to get staff
The personalization in social networks is twofold: build your personal brand in your own channels and be more customizable in your business.
Personal accounts give you the opportunity to share attractive content, create a personal brand around your interests and participate with your followers.
Companies, on the other hand, can learn a lot from personal social accounts. Getting involved with your audience through personal interactions opens your business and shows a more human and vulnerable side.
This could mean sharing the stories of your customers, appreciating your comments or encouraging employees to be brand ambassadors online.
By doing so, you not only recognize your audience, but you also build a committed community.
To listen and participate with your community, try these features:
Trust teams: train your employees to be online ambassadors. They can share and amplify the content of their business, participate in personal conversations with a personal touch and collaborate to respond and receive feedback from fans.
Configure Streams: use streams and tabs to get a quick overview of your activity on social networks. This helps you listen and participate better with your audience.
Find community ambassadors: Suppose you wrote a blog post about your business and a fan had a lot to say in the comments. Contact them to write invited publications or follow them on social networks to get different perspectives.
In Canarias Digital we empower our followers to be ambassadors with a personal touch. We encourage everyone to contribute to the blog and create a professional and personal brand.
This adds new perspectives and exposes Canarias Digital to more diverse audiences. Similarly, our customer service team is encouraged to sign messages with your name. Claudia is our example.
This allows them to have a voice and conduct personal interactions while they are useful.
13 Social Media Rules To Live
Social networks are now a common place in sales, marketing and general business communications.
Unfortunately, some people still do not know how to use social networks in the workplace without having to land in hot water.
Here are the rules, slightly adapted to our social media policy with an extra portion of common sense:
1. DO NOT provide confidential or other information. If there is any question in your mind, err on the side of keeping silent.
2. DO NOT identify yourself by name and, when relevant, your role, when discussing your company or matters related to it.
3. DO NOT write in the first person plural (for example, “we”, “our”). Make it clear that you speak for yourself and not on behalf of your company.
4. BE AWARE that everything you post will be public for a long time, possibly throughout your career.
5. NOT violate the laws of copyright, fair use or disclosure of financial information. When you quote someone, link back to the source if possible.
6. MAKE SURE that your online profiles and related content are consistent with the way you want to present yourself to your colleagues and clients.
7. DO NOT assume that the anonymous publication will keep your true identity secret if you post inappropriate comments and content.
8. Assume personal responsibility for the content you post on blogs, wikis or any other public forum.
9. DO NOT forget that the brand of your company is represented by your people and what you publish will inevitably be reflected in that brand.
10. Make the best effort to add value by providing valuable information and perspective instead of mere opinions and bluffing.
11. DO NOT quote or make reference to the clients, partners or suppliers of the company without their approval. If you do so, you could take your business in legal trouble.
12. Show due consideration for the privacy of others and for sensitivities that may exist with respect to politics and religion.
13. DO NOT use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any online behavior that is not acceptable at work.
In summary, if a brand focuses too much on itself within social networks as a means to increase sales, its audience will see it and disconnect it immediately.
Only by discovering what really interests your audience and responding to those needs will your brand be able to maintain a consistent, sustainable and attractive online social media presence.
