When you run a business one of the most important things to aide your progression is to reflect. Reflect on what has worked with your business and what has not worked. With the end of the year near you have the perfect opportunity to look back and assess.

Today we will re-cap 2016 in terms of Content Marketing.

What is content marketing ?

It's the guy that sticks around no matter who leaves the party. It can be hard yakka trying to keep up with forever changing marketing ideas. What's hot now may not even be close to being hot in March 2017. Content marketing will always be hot. So invest your time smartly.

Engaging your clients and their expectations is paramount when working on your content marketing strategies.

How does Content Marketing help you reach your goals ?

The most powerful aspect of content marketing is allowing your customers/clients to get to know you behind closed doors. It allows them to relate to you and almost feel connected at a personal level rather than a consumer level. This allows you to build relationships with your customers. According to Kapost 78% of consumers believe businesses that create original content are more open to creating a relationship with their customers.

Another way it works is through catching your clients attention right when you need it. 68% of customers are likely to spend time reading content by brands they are interested in (the-cma.com). This means when writhing your content and engaging your consumer you have the opportunity to slip in some sneaky advert to current products down the bottom or even in the content.

So what are the top 5 tips of 2016 ?

1. Know who you are writing your content for. Creating a buyer persona should be done before you even start your journey. This will make the creation of your content a lot easier than if you didn't know who it should appeal to.

2. Create a blogging timetable. Make it consistent so customers know they can rely on you. For example Blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - not every now and then. This is important to keep in mind so you don't over commit yourself. If you can only blog once a week, stick to that same once a week and increase as you can.

3. Push your content through all avenues. One of the beautiful things about content marketing is that you can repurpose it. If you write a blog on your website share it to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram (you get the picture?). The more people you reach and refer back to your website - the better your ranking .

4. Use your network of influencers. Who gives off what you want your company to resonate with? Share their social media posts, write about them, link them to your blog - just connect with them. You will then effectively reach their market through association. Smart.

5. Keep up with the times. Subscribe to anything and everything relevant to make sure your in the know of your industry. Keep your content with what's trending and don't fall behind.

If you use 2017 to implement these 5 tips to start - you will be on a brighter route towards a successful business.

September 23, 2016

David Hayes

Mobile Marketing

How to Market to Mobile – The Challenge

September 23, 2016

David Hayes

Mobile Marketing

Over the last 25 odd years I have observed hundreds of mobile initiatives that engage consumers, many of them successful and many have ended up in the trash.

There is an obsession with building mobile applications, even to the extent that we fail to realize the consumer road bumps experienced in engaging with a mobile application. Lets have a quick summary:

· You have to build it in both IOS and Android

· You have to get approval from both IOS and Android

· You have to promote the application

· You have to get the consumer to download

· You have to successfully combine the aggregate data generated from both platforms

· You have to educate the consumer on how to use

· You have to maintain the sites cognizant of the continuing changes to both rules and regulations imposed by IOS and Android, as well as the commercial elements.

You exhausted already – I Am! Yet marketers keep building them and wonder why there is such little traction. But I got the following stats from a great blog by Adobe, and worth repeating, so as I am being fair. With great thanks Adobe.

1. Users spend 90% of their time in apps compared to the mobile Web. —Flurry, 2015 (I think this is rubbish)

2. Users download on average 8.8 apps per month, with app installs up 5% year over year (YoY). —BI Intelligence, 2015

3. In May 2016, the average cost per app installation is $2.33 on Android (+93% YoY) and $1.46 on iOS (–3% YoY). —Fiksu, 2015

4. 25% of installed apps are never used. —Google, 2015

5. 26% of installed apps are abandoned after the first use. —Google, 2015

6. (Only) 51% of companies measure user engagement and return on investment (ROI). —Adobe and Econsultancy, 2015

7. Mobile retail experience satisfaction is low: 45% of mobile app users dislike their app experience, whereas 47% dislike their Web experience. —Mobile Commerce Daily, 2015

8. The average Android app loses 77% of its daily active users (DAUs) within the first three days after the install, and 90% within the first 30 days. —Quettra

9. Of those who stop using apps, 30% would use an app again if offered a discount, and 24% would reuse an app if offered exclusive or bonus content. —Google, 2015

10. 78% of companies use paid media to drive app downloads. —Adobe Mobile Maturity Survey, 2015

Clearly there are opportunities for “The Big App” where there is adequate funding for build, testing, promotion, education and of course management. God forbid we allocate enough to include the dreaded social media integration. That is a minefield all in itself.

After 25 years in mobile engagement all I can say that I still use SMS, the only ubiquitous mobile application, prefer mobile websites, use very few mobile applications if any, and less and less make old fashion telephone calls.

I would like to challenge my LinkedIn community to debunk my theory as frankly we are all obsessed with mobile, but we rarely stop and think. They say your customers are on mobile, and I cannot disagree but what are they really doing?

Let me know your thoughts. David