Affiliate marketing’s outlook in the not-so-distant future should perk up any entrepreneur’s ears

While some naysayers have prematurely eulogized affiliates, a Rakuten Affiliate Network study estimates they’re on target to grow by nearly $7 billion by 2021. So when marketers claim affiliate is on its way out, what they’re really admitting is that they lack the patience necessary to make a program work. [si_guide_block id="5676" title="Download FREE Resource – Digital marketing plan template" description="Our popular marketing planning template built on the Smart Insights RACE planning system."/] Affiliate marketing isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it process but one that, like any successful business approach, requires regular monitoring. Marketers must foster teams of ambassadors who authentically sing your products’ praises to their audiences not because you told them to, but because they feel aligned with your company. Ironically, most individuals working in creative departments recognize the power of having affiliates. Ninety percent of advertising professionals surveyed by Rakuten acknowledge…

Why the marriage of technology, data, and creativity allows brands to foreground the consumer experience and drive greater sales results

More than most marketing strategies, direct marketing remains largely stigmatized. Mention it to most outside of the discipline, and truckloads of snail mail overfilling people's mailboxes come to mind. But direct mail and direct marketing are not the same thing. [si_guide_block id="5676" title="Download FREE Resource – Digital marketing plan template" description="Our popular marketing planning template built on the Smart Insights RACE planning system."/] Direct marketing is about driving business results. No matter the platform, any time brands communicate with a potential consumer — such as using an augmented reality platform targeted at Millennials to drive insurance purchases — they are actually using direct-response marketing. Today, the convergence of data, technology, and creativity are opening new direct-response avenues that, while highly successful, are still largely untapped by many brands. After years of being the…

How to gain visibility in China's digital marketplace

Everyone wants a piece of the emerging market's pie, and the biggest slice is still China. After a temporary retreat, overall economic growth in China is expected to continue its upward trend, and retail momentum is keeping pace. While American companies focus most of their attention on first-tier Chinese cities, lower-tier cities in China are about to have their day in the sun. According to Jing Daily, cities such as Changsha, Foshan, and Wenzhou will be home to more high-income consumers than Beijing by 2030.

[si_guide_block id="98470" title="Download our Bussiness Member Resource – China Digital Marketing Strategy Guide" description="Our China Marketing Strategy Guide is a complete guide to help you understand China’s digital marketing landscape. This guide will give you a better understanding of China’s biggest online marketing channels and how they operate."/]

If you’re looking to expand into China, you might just be able to achieve faster growth with less competition by focusing on lower-tier markets first.

Why Tier-One…

6 of the best SEO tools to make sure your on-page SEO is optimized

Implementing SEO Services for clients in a wide array of industries, I’ve learned to utilize some amazing tools for on-page SEO – and how much of a difference on-page SEO can make in helping your website rank high on search engines.

Why On-Page SEO Matters

On-Page SEO is critical because it influences the way in which Google and other search engines interpret the content on your page. Your goal is to ensure that your content is fully optimized for your chosen keywords so that the search engine is encouraged to rank you higher. Without proper on-page SEO, it’s likely that your competitors who have optimized their pages will sail past you in the SERP’s, even with worse content and a less powerful backlink profile.

[si_quick_block id="108899" title="7 on-page SEO techniques"…

Key trends on how brands are building trust in China

As we have just updated our China Digital Marketing Strategy Guide, Lei Chien, the author of the guide, has produced the article below on how brands are building trust in China and outlines the key marketing trends to be aware of.

1. The Latest Trends in China

With 2018 Lunar New Year around the corner, many marketers in China can finally take a deep breath and enjoy a break from a very busy year. To the world, the growth of China's digital economy is no longer a mystery. To say it's a force to be reckoned with can arguably be an understatement. China's continued progress in the digital space is contributed by innovations, fearless attitude towards failure, tech-friendly regulations, and of course its massive consumer market. As of February 2018, some of the latest trends in China include: Cryptocurrency: China mines more Bitcoins…

Whether you’re hastily booking a last-minute meal for two, or boycotting the societal conventions and watching Netflix at home, in your PJs, it’s that time of the year again!

Boyfriends are panic buying 100 roses for £25 at Aldi and the card racks at Clinton’s are only getting larger. According to research from a retail and shopper marketing agency Savvy, 39% of shoppers said they expect to spend more on Valentine’s Day 2018 than they did last year, rising to 52% among 18-34 year-olds. In addition, 56% of respondents said that they don’t mind spending more to make the day special. The research also highlights that Valentine’s Day spending is expected to hit £726m. Yes, that’s right! Wondering how your business can benefit from this revenue? To captivate the love-ridden audiences on Valentine’s Day, marketers need to…

How to get ahead of the ecommerce competition by keyword research, referral marketing, competitor analysis and viral marketing

In this post, we'll outline 4 marketing growth hacks to help ecommerce business, the tools to achieve this and how to use them.

1. Keyword Research

Knowing better keywords to target is one way to achieve growth successfully. When you run keyword research there are a lot of words that’ll show up on the results, but not all of them will be a good choice for your niche, so you have to aim for the right one. Having the right keywords in your SEO strategy will give you better content and a high(er) chance to rank in search. Targeting the keywords your potential audience use to find you and your content will make you easier to find. But take note that that is not enough to rank, in other SERPs there are chances…

Review your approach to email marketing by reviewing the latest trends

Email marketing is THE evergreen channel which is usually so effective in many sectors that is usually in the top 3 most effective channels driving website visits leads and sales.  So, it's important each year to assess new email marketing techniques and the email capabilities you are exploiting. Drilling down into your own data, and analysing it as a team, can help you get to grips with what you need to refine in 2018. But, sometimes, you need to take a breather from all that analysis and get some fresh perspectives. In our email marketing trends guide, in partnership with Pure360, you get just that. Unique insights from some of the UK’s leading industry experts. Experienced views that will help you refocus your strategy and kick-start your planning. [si_guide_block id="44461" title="Download FREE Resource – Email trends 2018: A…

Learn how to craft a customer-centric email sequence that engages and converts with personalized content

Content marketing - in fact, all things content - seemed to be all the rage in 2017. Companies and agencies pushed out more emails and content than ever before. And the commentary keeps rolling in, especially from social channels. But now, what content you serve up, to whom, and when, needs to be your most pressing concern. Because while your prospects may be seeing lots of content, it may not be the right content - content that will inform, engage, invite action and ultimately lift your conversions and revenues.

[si_guide_block id="47577" title="Download Business Resource –B2B Inbound Marketing workbook" description="Follow the templates for the 7 key inbound marketing tasks in this workbook to create your inbound B2B marketing plan."/]

Let’s keep in mind the goals of content marketing, which are to: Create a positive brand connection Segment your…

The challenges marketers face overcoming the hyperbole and mysticism that surrounds machine learning and AI

The marketing industry is abuzz with talk of how marketing applications of machine learning and AI will make us more effective and change the way we do our marketing. The problem is that while we’re all keen to embrace innovation and get a competitive edge (which machine learning most definitely provides), for many of us it sounds inaccessible and beyond our typical marketing capability. However, within the next five years, we believe machine learning will become an everyday skill that marketers will be expected to possess, built into our software and processes as standard.  The challenge for marketers today is in overcoming the hyperbole and mysticism that surrounds machine learning and AI, to understand what it might mean to them. It helps to first look at one of the main issues we marketers face - data. Too…