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May 7, 2019

Things I Need From You Before I Can Design Your Website

There’s a lot to think about and plan for before starting a website. From the color palette to your keywords, understanding your audience and the purpose of your site is essential before diving in to the look-and-feel. If you ever wondered what you need to have before hiring us, then this is the post for you.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE WEBSITE?

The absolute first thing to know is the actual point of the website. What is it being designed to do? What would you like to get out of it? What is its very reason for existing to begin with? If you don’t understand it, then there is really no way that you can design a website as it will be aimless right from the outset.

GET CLEAR ON YOUR SERVICE AND PROCESS DELIVERY.

This means that your know exactly how your business makes money and how you take your client through your services or product. By knowing what you offer, how people can buy from you and what you do after they buy from you is something that will make the design process run very smoothly.

WHAT IS YOUR ONLINE BRAND NAME?

Another important thing is to know is what you’ll be called online. Many people use their regular name or business name, but sometimes these domains are taken. You can check quickly if a domain name is open here. If your first choice is taken you may want to brainstorm a memorable domain name, and don’t be fooled into thinking that your newly desired name is going to always be available either. Instead, check it out, and also look at whether it ends with .com or .co or anything else. This then allows you to start to design a website around the domain name so it can be associated with your business.

WHAT CONTENT DO YOU NEED?

You should also have an understanding of the various content that is going to appear on your website. This makes it easier to create the overall structure leading to a site that flows far more easily than it otherwise would have done. Think about your goals and the information you want to provide to visitors and begin to formulate how that relates to individual pages.

WHAT’S YOUR COLOR SCHEME?

When starting a website, it can help to have some concept of the colors that you plan on using as that can have an impact on the overall layout and design of each page. Your brand may already have an established color palette or you may want to test new colors for this website. Color plays a big role in how a user feels and how your brand stands out from the crowd. Also, the colors should reflect your brand as it comes back to that consistency.

SEARCH FOR 3 WEBSITES THAT STAND OUT TO YOU.

Now, don’t get hung up in the comparison trap here. No, no, no my friend. Just search the web and look for the layout and style that stands out to you. Don’t look at pictures words or colors. Just layout and style of the site. This will give us a look at how you want your style and layout to be. It also doesn’t mean that we will end up creating a website just like those you like. But they’ll get a glimpse of your taste.

WHAT’S YOUR MENU STRUCTURE?

A website is useless if nobody knows how to move between the various pages or how to get from A to B. You need to understand that the navigation needs to be clear or else people will just click off and go elsewhere. Questions that can be helpful to ask include:

  • Which pages are most important?
  • Which pages can be emphasized less?
  • What does my audience want to see?
  • Is there a way to simplify?

HOW OFTEN WILL YOU UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE?

You need to decide if the content on your website needs to be updated on a regular basis or if it can be left alone. If you’d like to make regular updates, then it would be best to utilize a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress or Shopify. These tools make it simple to make ongoing changes.

MAKE A LIST OF ALL PLUGINS AND SYSTEMS THAT YOU WANT ON YOUR SITE. 

This will make it easier for us to know exactly what you want. So we won’t be guessing your preferences or worse, create a system for us that you’ll end up hating at the end. Start surfing the web for systems that will fit your business and tell us by giving us that list.

WHAT KEYWORDS ARE YOU GOING TO TARGET?

Keywords are phrases or individual words that people will use in order to find your website. Understanding the keywords that you are going to target provides you with a more focused audience. This is something you should get some professional help with as getting it correct can boost the number of visitors that you receive.

WHAT’S YOUR BUDGET?

It is also reasonable to say that you need to know your budget before starting a website as this influences the size of site as well as the quality.

August 5, 2024

Stationery Design Tips for small enterprises

Visual Communication

While almost all business processes are conducted online nowadays, it’s important not to forget the medium on which business communication begin with: print. Even in the digital age, handing someone a fancy business card or sending them an important document on a corporate letterhead will leave a positive impression.

The best stationery design is that which does two things; delivers the intended information and accurately represents your brand. To achieve this ideal stationery design, you must take stock of your brand values, and the tried and tested stationery design guidelines. 

We’ll get into more of that later, also check DesignRush for Best Stationery Print Designs, but first, let’s understand what stationery design is.

Stationery design is the process of crafting the look and feel of a enterprise’s or sole proprietor’s communication material. Personal and business stationery examples include letterheads, business cards, memos, etc.

Stationery design is integral to branding because it produces the templates used for important internal and external communication in a business. This includes official letters, invoices, memos, and company reports. When an organization has well-designed and on-brand stationery for all its communication, it creates a feeling of consistency, which positions you as a credible, organized, and professional brand among your customers. 

Before the process of designing stationery is started, an essential resource needs to be made available is the brand kit.

The brand kit is a guide to your brand’s visual identity and typically consists of logos, images, layouts, colors, and text guidelines (fonts and sizes). Contents of the brand kit will determine the direction you follow with your stationery design. 

Top Stationery Design Tips 

There are no standard rules for stationery design, but these tips can help you come up with the right stationery design for your business.

1. Create a Mood Board

You have a design in mind. Chances are it’s already been done before, so there’s no need to tire yourself with endless sketches. Scan the web to find stationery designs that excite and inspire you, then add them to a folder that you can refer to when creating your design.

2. Design with Visual Hierarchy in Mind

Visual hierarchy in design is the principle of arranging elements in order of importance. The design of your stationery should guide the eyes of the reader from what you want them to see first up to the last element. 

To achieve this, you can:

  • Bold headlines and important points
  • Use strong fonts and large font size
  • Place important information or elements at the top
  • Use graphics such as arrows to guide the reader along
  • Apply scale to type, shapes, or other design elements that need relative emphasis. This emphasis can be enhanced by applying the right colors to the scaled elements. However, remember that not all fonts look good when scaled.

3. Color Scheme

For the color palette of your stationery design, pick 1-3 primary and 1-3 secondary colors that contrast and complement each other. To achieve variety but maintain consistency, use different tones of those colors or vary their transparency in different areas.

Remember to adjust font thickness and color when necessary so that contrast and readability are maintained.

4. Fonts

Choose fonts that match the character of your brand and the type of information to be carried in each specific stationery type. For example, a memo or letterhead can use hard-edged geometric fonts that display a serious mood, while a greeting card can use handwritten fonts that show a friendly mood.

5. Use Templates and Predesigned Elements

When you see a design or element (e.g., shapes, typography) that you like, instead of re-creating it from scratch, try to see if it’s already available on the web as an editable template or a downloadable element.

6. Quality is King

Many people would agree that it is pretty off-putting to encounter a brand that does the bare minimum regarding branding and design. For example, a brand that uses a jpeg logo on a large banner leading to a pixelated look. 

The same applies to creative stationery design — your presentation determines how consumers view you. You must ensure your design elements, such as logos and images, appear clearly on the stationery. Also, avoid errors such as uneven margins and double spacing in your stationery layouts. They can make you look unprofessional.

Achieving quality designs may require investing in the best software or hiring experienced designers. Doing so may be more costly in the short term but will definitely help your brand perception in the long run.

7. Make it Recognizable

It’s easy to get sucked into trends with your design in a bid to look modern or edgy. However, remember that your stationery design is there to represent your brand. 

To make your stationery recognizable to consumers:

  • Use shapes and layout structures that match your brand’s messaging
  • Use your brand colors as accent colors and background colors

8. Keep it Simple

As designer “Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent.” Your stationery design doesn’t need to be eccentric in order to be effective. 

Actually design that is riddled with tons of elements and styles can make the reader feel that your brand is unprofessional. A clean simple design, if appropriate, gives a feeling of authority and confidence. 

Here are three essential tips on achieving simple effective stationery design:

  • Limit your typefaces – There are no explicit rules for the kind of fonts you should use for your stationery. However, it is a good idea to stick to two or three fonts throughout your material is a good idea. Just make sure they go well together. 

You can even choose one font with multiple variations such as italic, bold, condensed, etc. This helps to achieve visual uniformity. 

  • Use the same design elements across different stationery – You can vary the color, tone, and size of the elements in different stationery to give a feeling of variety.
  • Use white space – Proper use of white space can make a basic design classic.

9. Use the Right Materials

Finally, after you have the perfect company stationery design in digital format, it’s time to print your stationery. This is what people will hold in their hands, so you can’t drop the ball here. 

Tips for printing stationery:

  • Use the appropriate paper and printer – Don’t use regular printing paper for your business cards.
  • Quality check the final product to make sure clarity and alignment are perfect.
November 30, 2022

Digital Marketing Strategies to Boost Festive Season Sales

With the festive season just around the corner, the retailers are getting anxious as to the kind of marketing strategy they should have for this festive season to attract the most number of customers

What needs to be kept in mind at the very outset is that in the end what you should be offering is an awesome shopping experience. All your marketing plans must be geared to achieve the fundamental objective of delivering joy and happiness. 

Now, let us discuss some of the best digital marketing techniques that can skyrocket your festive season sales.

Email Marketing

Email marketing continues to be a promising digital marketing technique, especially during the Holiday season.

Research indicates that emails during the festive season are more likely to be opened and acted upon. Besides, it is also one of the cost-effective techniques for aware customers about your products and offers.

You can design your emails around the festive themes and let customers know the best offers that you’re offering. Festive themes mails are the most common and most liked mails and with the relevant information, you’re sure to hit the right buttons.

Social Media Optimization

Social media gets abuzz with greetings and offers during the festive season. People connect with their loved ones through social media and share greetings and exclusive offers.

Social media offers a great opportunity to promote your season sales and offers. The key here is to optimize social media with relevant content and images, target the right audience, and promote at the right time. 

Some platforms like Facebook offer greater leverage to marketers to target a specific set audience based on various demographics. In this way, your message reaches the right kind of audience who are most interested in your items and mots likely to make a purchase. 

Google/Facebook Ad Campaign

Google/Facebook ad campaigns are a terrific medium to quickly convert a large number of customers. Being displayed on Google search pages and Facebook pages, they have a wide audience base and have greater potential for traffic generation and conversion.

Yet again, you need to design your ads keeping in mind the festive themes and the products in which most people are interested around the time. With the relevant keywords and target audience, you can quickly convert a daily good number of shoppers. 

Tagline line extra festive discounts or last-minute deals are reported to have the greatest positive impact on shoppers, eliciting them to make the purchase. 

Search Engine Optimization

With the rise of online shopping, competition in online selling has also intensified. No matter how good your store may be or how much discount you’re offering, if shoppers don’t know about your store or cannot locate your store easily over the web, it will serve you little good.

This calls for optimization of your store with the relevant content and images.

During the festive season, for instance, shoppers search the web with keywords like best online deals or lowest price stores, and with such keywords forming part of your content strategy, there is no doubt you will greater number of visitors and more conversions. 

SEO keyword analysis. Research, ranking and analytics of search engine optimization of content.

Content Marketing

There is a reason it is said that content is the king. Shoppers buy products only after reading a great deal about the product, company, offer, and whatnot. 

Herein blogs and press releases have a crucial role to play. Netizens are looking for relevant information over the web for shopping and sharing. In this regard, your blog can not only provide them with relevant information but can also promote your store.

Yet again, the key here is finding the right keywords for your blogs and with the right keywords your blog can rank higher on Google search pages

Deep Linking and Deferred Deep Linking 

With deep linking, you can direct your ads, when they’re clicked, to the product page within the app. In this marketing technique, ads work like links, which upon clicking takes the shopper to the product page within the app.

Similar to deep linking are deferred deep linking marketing technique, wherein the shopper is taken to the app store to download the app when he does not have the app downloaded on his phone. Both techniques are quite popular among marketers.

App Store Optimization

If you own a mobile app for your store, app store optimization is a must for you in order to get more downloads.

During the festive season, shoppers look for shopping apps for shopping because many of the festive offers are app-exclusive. By optimizing your app at the app store with the relevant app description and app title, you can rank higher on the app store.

Look for keywords that are most likely to be used by shoppers when looking for a particular kind of app like Grocery apps will definitely have keywords like grocery, food, delivery, etc. 

FB Remarketing Ads

FB remarketing ads target those customers that visited your store but left without buying the product they viewed. Through FB remarketing ads, you can realize the customer that he/she has a cart pending at the store, so that he may return to your store and complete the transaction. 

Alternatively, you can run remarketing ads with titles like Going Fast or Only 1 Hour Left. This creates a sense of urgency in the minds of shoppers and they are more likely to buy the product. 

Video Marketing 

Last but not least, video marketing. Over the last couple of years, video marketing has picked up as the most preferred mode of online marketing form. The reason that people prefer video over any other form of media has taken video marketing by storm. 

Record or edit a free video with the right story, theme, or style that reflects your passion and your brand. A well-designed video ad is set to garner thrice as many views as of any other form of media.

September 6, 2022

Why Search Engine Marketing is importance for your Online Presence

What Is a SEM Campaign? Definition, Advantages and Examples
SEM stands for search engine marketing. Though most marketers refer to it as a web positioning strategy, its more than that because it encompasses everything related to web positioning. There are even companies that refer to SEM as Search Engine Advertising (SEA).

SEM has gained importance over the years. In today’s digital world, we all use search engines almost daily. because of this, search engine positioning is incredibly important in order to get more traffic and gain visibility. Two ways to reach the top positions are:

  • Organic positioning (SEO). This strategy works through the content you create and the way you present it Based on this, search engines use an algorithm that tells it which sites can best respond to a given query. For example, Google’s algorithm is based mainly on relevance (web content) and authority (links from other pages). The set of techniques and tools used to position organically in the listings is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
  • Payment strategies (SEM). Here you pay for the keywords you need so that you appear in the top position of related searches. Unlike organic listings, here the advertiser must pay a fee for each click they get. To get traffic by buying ads on search engines, you will have to turn to search engine advertising, such as Google Ads. This system is also called PPC (pay per click) or CPC (cost per click).

What Is a Search Engine Marketing or SEM Campaign?
A SEM campaign is an advertising strategy that generates ads in search engines such as Google, to position brands among the top results.

Strategy and planning are fundamental to guarantee the results of your SEM campaign so let’s take a look at the key aspects of launching a successful campaign in Google Ads.

  • Keywords. When planning an SEM campaign, keyword research should always be one of the first steps. To get search engines to put your sponsored link first, you must buy the keywords users will search to find you. When a user types those words in the search engine, your website will show up as the ads activate (if the words entered coincide with the ones on your site). For example, if someone searches for “mountain boots” the first result will be a URL with an “advertisement” icon. This indicates that the company has bought the keywords “boots” and “mountain.” Keep in mind you need to investigate your target audience before deciding which keywords you want to utilize.
  • Clicks. Clicks redirected from the ad to your landing page. In other words, how many people have seen and clicked on the ad.
  • CPC. The bid or purchase of an advertisement within Google Ads works through CPC (cost per click). You can define a maximum CPC to ensure that you do not go over budget.
    PPC. The PPC or pay per click is one of the advantages of SEM campaigns on Google Ads. Not only can you decide what you want to pay for each click, but you will only be charged when a user clicks on your link.
  • Impressions. This refers to the number of times an ad has been shown. In other words, how many searches of a specific keyword have prompted your ad to be displayed. This data is readily available on Google.
  • Relevance. Although you might pay to appear in top positions, Google always takes users into account. The content has meet the users’ needs and they have to find the ad relevant and want to interact with it. If this happens, Google will help you get more traffic and more customers.
  • CTR or Click Through Rate. This is the percentage of people who saw your ad and interacted with it. If you have a good CTR, it means you have created suitable ads, which Google favors.
  • Quality Score or Quality Level. This is a score that Google gives you on a scale from 1 to 10. It determines if you are a successful advertiser depending on the relevance of your ads. The goal is to stay above 7.
SEO Vs SEM

How to Select SEM Keywords for Your Campaign
When planning an SEM campaign, keyword research should always be one of the first steps. Keywords are the foundation on which the SEM account, ads, and even landing pages are built.

To carry out a keyword study for SEM campaigns, take note of the following steps.

Analysis of the Product, Service, or Landing Page
Keywords should always be relevant to the product or service you are offering. Therefore, the first step is to draw up a list of two to ten main ideas that summarize the services or products you offer. In addition to studying your own offer, also take a look at your competitors’ sites.

Using Keyword Tools
There are many keyword planning platforms on the market, such as SEMRush or Google’s keyword tool. If you enter the basic ideas you defined in the previous section, the tool will provide a list of related keywords. To filter the results, you can segment by location and language.

One of the benefits of these tools is that they help with brainstorming and can give you a lot of suggestions that you would never have thought of. Of course, they can also offer suggestions that are not exactly related to the original search, which brings us to the next step.

Filtering and Selecting
From the list of keywords provided by the tool, you will have to filter out irrelevant words, group related keywords, and select those that have the highest number of searches and the lowest competition (meaning there aren’t many advertisers bidding for the same word).

Once you do this, you will have the definitive list of keywords to optimize your SEM campaign. To get the best results, these keywords should be present both on your landing pages and in your ads.

Advantages of Creating SEM Campaigns for Your Business
Search engine marketing is a powerful tool that is suitable for almost all brands. In order for you to better evaluate when and how to include it, here are its main advantages

  • Greater segmentation. The more segmented a campaign is, the better chance you have of reaching your target audience. Google Ads allows you to segment your audience and create campaigns taking into account different characteristics such as gender, age, geographical location, interests and even hobbies.
  • Attracting traffic to your website. The campaign’s main goal is to appear in the top results of search engines to generate even more traffic to your website.
  • Monitoring and measuring. Thanks to Google Ads, you can monitor the results of your campaign at all times. You can get detailed information on the behavior of your users, the number of clicks, impressions, etc.
  • Complementing SEO. By combining SEM and SEO you will have a complete digital marketing strategy. Neither SEM or SEO is better. It’s actually the combination of the two that makes a strong digital strategy.
  • Controlling costs. When implementing a SEM campaign, you will have a high level of control. You can set the budget and only pay when the users interact with your ads.
  • Lead capture. The main function of SEM is to provide answers to people who have a need you can solve, in other words your target audience. This can lead to conversions and to building customer loyalty.

Most Important SEM Metrics
As with any other type of digital marketing, in SEM you can only optimize what is measured. That’s why, before launching your strategy, you need to know which KPIs to look at to evaluate the performance of your campaigns.

Here are four key metrics to measure the success of your SEM campaigns.

Quality Score
The quality score measures the user experience with the ads, so the higher the quality score, the better the user experience. This metric is essential because Google Ads uses it to determine the cost and placement of ads

The quality score depends on three factors:

  • The quality of the landing page.
  • The quality of the advertisement.
  • The expected click-through rate.

Impression Share
The share of impressions tells you if users are seeing your ads. It is calculated based on the impressions obtained by an ad compared to the total number it could get.

A low impression share indicates that you are not taking full advantage of the ad. To remedy this, you need to raise the budget and bids, improve the quality score, or both.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)
The click-through rate indicates the frequency with which users who see an ad end up clicking on it. To calculate it, divide the number of clicks by the number of impressions. For example, if you have 5 clicks and 100 impressions, the CTR would be 5%.

Look at this metric for the different ads and keywords in your account. A low CTR indicates that the ad is not attractive enough for the user or that it is not really relevant to their search.

Conversions
The number of conversions and the average value of each one allow you to measure the performance of your ads, as it indicates how many sales they have generated. This way, you will be able to correctly attribute the ROI of your SEM campaigns and measure their profitability.

INTERESTED TO LEARN MORE?
Want to find out how you can have highly precise and efficiently run campaigns that return a good return on investment? Speak to our digital marketing team at O’BabsDESIGN Studio. We are a digital marketing agency in Lagos.

At all times, we help brands to achieve their marketing goals while also delivering transparent data metrics for them. This allows us and our clients to make informed decisions with positive marketing impact.

Reach out to us today for a free consultation!

June 7, 2022

Benefits for Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider

For developers, bloggers, small business owners, and others, learning how to choose a web host is like searching for Mr. Right. It’s a familiar question: Which hosting provider should I trust with my heart (er, websites)?

A web host is a hidden but important player of any large website, since they provide the space and bandwidth to host a website, alongside the technical support, domain registration, and marketing tools needed to get your website up and running. In this article, we’ll cover the best practices for choosing the right web hosting provider in 2022.

What is The Role of a Web Host?

A web host is in charge of supplying the necessary space and bandwidth to host a website. This can include hosting, registration of domain name, technical support, and advertising. While there are several well-known web hosts accessible, selecting the best one for your company might be tough. It is critical to examine the size, services supplied, customer support, and cost of a web host.

Web hosting can also contain tools such as marketing platforms that can assist firms in reaching out to new clients. Furthermore, several web servers provide student and military discounts on their services.

The Benefits of Choosing a Good Web Host

Naturally, there can be many benefits to choosing a reliable and well-known web host company in Nigeria. Some of the benefits include:

Space and bandwidth

Providing the necessary space and bandwidth to get your website up and operating. There are several web hosts accessible, so it is critical to select one that is appropriate for your requirements.

If you’re just getting started, a shared host would be ideal for small sites. This hosting lets several websites to use the same server, which means your site will load faster than if you used a single server. However, if you want more capacity or bandwidth, moving to a dedicated server is the best alternative. Dedicated servers have their own server space and are not shared with other sites. This means your site will load considerably faster than it would on a shared server, and it will not be slowed down by other users.

If you’re looking to create a website but don’t have any ideas or designs yet, hiring a professional web designer can help get your site developed quickly. A professional agency can help create a great-looking website on both desktop and mobile devices, as well as develop custom features.

Technical Support

When looking for a web host, make sure to ask about their technical support. A good web host will be able to provide support when needed, whether that is for a broken link or a problem with your account. When using their services, make sure to keep in mind that they are there to help out, so don’t hesitate to reach out if something goes wrong.

How Will Your Customers Benefit?

Fast Website Loading Speeds

When it comes to loading websites quickly, there are a few things you can do to optimize your visitor experience and see the site content as soon as possible. One of the most important things you can do is to choose a web host provider with fast loading speeds. A provider that has quick loading speeds will help to ensure that your site loads quickly for all of your visitors.

Secure Access and Information

Secure access and information are key to any organization. When data is secure, it can be used to improve productivity and business operations. A good webhosting company can provide secure access to your website and online resources. They can also help protect your data from unauthorized access.

Credentials are protected

Hosting companies are required to protect the credentials of their customers, especially when it comes to sensitive personal information. This means that hosting companies must take reasonable steps to protect customer data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

This includes implementing physical and electronic security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and data encryption. Hosting companies must also keep track of any changes to their security procedures in order to ensure they are meeting the needs of their customers.

Periodic Backups are Available

By making backups on a regular basis, you can be sure that if something goes wrong with the website, there will be a copy of your site to work from. Web hosting providers usually offer periodic backup services as part of their plans. If you need more information about this feature or want to find a provider that offers it, please feel free to contact us.

Building a Wow Website

If you are looking to build a great website, but feel like you don’t have the technical skills or time to do it yourself, consider hiring a professional web design agency such as O’BabsDESIGN Studio.

A competent web design firm may assist you in creating an aesthetically beautiful and highly effective website. If you need a website design firm to construct a bespoke website for your company, the specialists at a credible web design agency can give the assistance, experience, and support you need to get your site up and operating quickly and effectively. Your new website will not only look fantastic, but it will also be optimized for search engine exposure, allowing potential consumers to quickly discover you.

Whether starting from ground zero or just needing some help makeover an existing site, working with a professional web design agency is the best way to get results that match your unique needs. They will also have the experience and knowledge to ensure that your website meets all of your specific requirements. If you’re interested in finding a professional web design agency, consider using online resources like Google or Bing Search.

To wrap it up, web hosting is an essential component of every website. You may obtain high-speed internet, a secure server, and tools to make your website more user-friendly if you choose the proper provider, or go with Our Online Presence Plan for your hosting needs. Make sure to research several webhost providers to get the one that is most suited to your requirements.

May 19, 2022

Social Media Marketing For Entrepreneurs

Social Media Marketing for Entrepreneur

As part of a global marketing strategy, social media brings your brand to life, enables you to engage directly with your target audience, and cost-effectively expands your reach.

Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that leverages the power of popular social media networks to achieve your marketing and branding goals. But it’s not just about creating business accounts and posting when you feel like it.

The days when social media platforms were simply a vehicle for sharing cute photos and keeping in touch with high school friends are long gone. Today, over 5 billion people worldwide have at least one social media account. And within that group, over 65% use social media to browse and research new products and services.

Entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity that their predecessors of even a decade ago didn’t have: a rapt audience of billions of people who come to the same place every day to consume information. Social media marketing is a cost-effective, simple way to build a brand quickly. Over 90% of the world’s businesses are using social media as part of their overall marketing strategy. Here are some of the top reasons why.

Social Media Marketing

Brand recognition

It doesn’t matter the product or the service; today’s marketplace is crowded. New competitors emerge almost every day. So how do entrepreneurs fight through the noise to surface their brands to potential customers? By putting their brand directly in front of the right audience, again and again.

Social media is the ideal venue to ferret out prospective customers. Brand reach grows exponentially as content is posted and then shared by interested viewers. As that reach grows and branding is presented numerous times to the same audience, the messaging takes root in their subconscious, and they naturally call to mind that product or service when they have a need for it.

With nearly 2.9 billion active Facebook users alone, social media has become an effective accelerator for new brands to find their target audience and create stickiness with their messaging.

Increased web traffic

Websites are a necessity in today’s uber-digital, always-connected world. Interested buyers conduct their own research online before even engaging with a salesperson or contacting a company. And e-commerce business owners know that a polished, intuitive website is the lifeblood for driving online sales.

The best website in the world, however, is useless without traffic. Social media marketing is an effective conduit to drive more traffic to business websites. According to a recent Hubspot survey, 80% of marketers report that social media posts have a direct impact on increasing web traffic. By linking to landing pages and home pages in social posts and pointing followers to blog pages and promotions, businesses keep readers engaged with their website and spending more time browsing through it.

Social Media Platform
Image Source: Hootsuite

Prospect tracking & lead generation

What better way to target potential customers than a networking platform that makes it possible for businesses to engage on a one-to-one level with users. For example, a company might track its competitors’ social pages, and when an unhappy customer reports an issue with a product or service, they could reach out directly and offer their solution. That same business might search for hashtags or posts related to their offering and create a targeted ad to reach a particular audience.

Social media influencers are another great outlet for creating leads and building brand recognition. In exchange for a discount or free product or service, influencers promote a brand to their network of followers. Those followers, in turn, may purchase the product or service based on the recommendation.

Marketing cost savings

Entrepreneurship often requires a certain level of bootstrapping. Cost per lead is carefully monitored, and only the most valuable tactics get consideration by the marketing team. Social media marketing often produces one of the highest returns on investment because of its broad reach and its relatively low cost per lead.

With organic social media marketing, businesses can post content and product information straight from their profile without incurring any ad costs. Of course, the drawback is that the content is limited mainly to the company’s current followers and their network (if they choose to share or repost the content).

Ad targeting is another way to promote content on social media. While it comes at a cost (set in the form of a simple ad budget), it can narrow the focus of the audience to specific demographics or geographies to increase the likelihood that the viewer will click on the ad and respond to its call to action.

Communication with customers

It’s no secret that the public is generally liberal with its feedback on social media. From product reviews to angry Tweets, the internet is brimming with customer communications. Entrepreneurs can use social media as a way to engage with their customers (and test messaging and new products with prospects). Business owners shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the opinion of their audience, and they should be thick-skinned enough to receive it.

In addition to public posts, social media allows customers to send direct messages to brands and vice versa. If an issue arises and a customer posts about a product defect or service problem, the business can reach out directly to the customer with a solution in time to save the sale and retain that customer’s loyalty. In fact, 58% of consumers say that they prefer to receive support over social media than traditional methods like email or phone.

Higher sales

The goal of any business is to turn browsers into buyers and leads into conversions. Social media doesn’t just serve as an interactive catalog for products and services, but it also works in tandem with the other benefits in this list to convert leads. Brand recognition, higher web traffic, and proactive customer support are key drivers in increasing sales.

As brand awareness grows and a company’s reach expands, each post becomes more valuable because it reaches a larger percentage of the audience and drives even more web traffic.

Make social media marketing work

Entrepreneurs who are new to social media marketing may not know where to begin. With so many platforms to choose from, a lot of new businesses feel like they have to have a dominant presence in all of them at once to be successful. The key is in choosing one or two platforms that cater to the brand’s target demographic and mastering those before moving on to others.

The next step is to create a library of great content and post it frequently. Many new businesses make the mistake of posting with frequency at first, but gradually tapering off until their audience barely hears from them at all. Followers will quickly lose interest in brands that don’t deliver consistent, engaging content.

 One super-easy way to increase engagement is to set up a recurring posts system, which is a massive time saver. You can set certain static posts, such as events, product posts or happy hours, to be automatically repeated so that you don’t need to think about scheduling or posting them separately for months or even the rest of the year.

Finally, businesses must make sure that their website is prepared for the traffic that social sites will drive to it. The company blog should be prominent, current, and linked back to social platforms. Branding should be consistent between the website and social sites so that prospects recognize the brand right away in every single place they see it.

As consumers continue to turn to digital resources to research and choose products and services, social media will only gain momentum as a focused marketing strategy. For entrepreneurs, there has never been a better time to capitalize on social media’s global audience and far reach.

January 11, 2022

Top Recruitment strategies for 2022

The last two years have drastically impacted the recruitment industry forever! Recruiters are facing severe talent shortages and engaging in talent wars to find and attract candidates. Recruiting people in the right roles will be a significant challenge for businesses, many businesses consider this as their top concern in 2022. To fight on the recruitment battlefield, recruiters must keep up with the latest trends of recruitment, such as people analytics, virtual recruiting and many more.

Recruitment Trends

As the world continues to change, recruitment and selection trends also adapt. New technologies and advanced recruitment practices have undoubtedly played a hand. Despite technological advances, the recruitment process is much the same. Businesses still source candidates, evaluate their fit for the role and put them through a selection process. 

What has changed are the recruitment trends. How we source and evaluate candidates has changed rapidly over the last few decades. The rise of social networks and social recruiting shape how we locate potential candidates. Recruitment trends such as people analytics, workplace assessment and cultural fit are more effective when evaluating candidates than traditional means such as interviews and CV checks.

Recruitments trends have and will continue to evolve into the future in the next wave of technology, such as the metaverse. The disruption of the pandemic and new technology shows no sign of slowing as we are well into the new decade. Let’s see how innovation and recent recruitment trends will shape 2022.

Recruitment Strategies for 2022

We have seen several recruitment trends rise throughout 2021 and expect them to significantly impact recruitment in 2022. 

Rise of Proactive Recruiting

Proactive recruitment focuses on identifying, engaging and attracting potential candidates ahead of recruitment needs. The increasing costs and time associated with hiring means it is more effective for recruiters to proactively engage with their ideal candidates. Proactive recruiters build and nurture relationships (almost like a sales funnel) with a pre-defined group of people. When roles become available, potential candidates are already interested in any open opportunity. As we head into 2022, expect there to be a significant shortage of talent. Proactive recruitment will be a massive recruitment and selection trend as businesses engage in talent wars to fight amongst a decreasing talent pool.

Reliance on Social Recruiting

Social recruiting is here to stay (although expect this to change significantly in the next 3-5 years with the rise of the metaverse). Social recruiting relies on the use of social networks to find, attract and hire candidates. The solidified popularity of social media as a recruitment channel is evident in many businesses and recruiters that post job advertisements to their social channels. Future employees are heavily engaged in social media and even attribute it as one of the reasons why they joined their current organization. You are letting your competitors out-recruit you if you are not incorporating social media into your recruitment process.

Pivot to Virtual Recruiting

The covid pandemic has increased the speed of the transition to remote work. Geographical barriers are no longer a significant issue. Many businesses are hiring fully remote employees and transitioning to a virtual workforce. Virtual recruiting benefits both employers and employees. Employers gain access to a larger talent pool, and employees reap the benefits of flexibility in their work. Companies have pivoted to a remote-first model, and recruitment processes need to reflect this. Expect digital recruitment trends such as virtual recruiting to continue well into 2022.

Hiring for “Soft Skills”

Soft skills are strong drivers of productivity, cooperation and communication. They are also much more challenging to recruit for than hard skills which can be taught. As the recruitment industry answers the call for good workplace culture, job flexibility, diversity and inclusion from employees, soft skills are becoming significantly more important than previously. A potential candidate might have all the right hard skills, but will they fit into the company culture? We are transitioning into a period in which businesses and recruiters increasingly recognize the need for soft skills. Don’t expect this recruitment trend to go anywhere in the next decade!

Emergence of Employer Branding

As businesses grapple with a talent shortage, employer branding will be a prominent recruitment trend for 2022. Candidates will thoroughly research your company’s reputation before applying for a job. They want to know your company mission, values and culture, and if they align, they are more likely to want to work for you. Employer branding has a significant impact on recruitment, including reducing turnover and associated recruitment costs and increasing the quality of hires. However, some studies suggest that only 55% of recruiting leaders are taking advantage of this recruitment trend to attract talent.

Catering to Employee Experience

Due to high employee turnover and the impending talent shortage, businesses are turning to the employee experience thunder stand why employees resign. It is easier and most cost-effective to retain talent. Candidates also want to know their future organization has a great employee experience. Businesses will need to take strategic steps in 2022 to address the pain points in the employee experience to increase hiring success. Except to see a significant investment into the Employee Experience as a recruitment and selection trend for 2022.

Focus on Diversity and Inclusion

Cultural diversity has long been known to contribute to higher profitability, drive innovation and creativity and increase productivity. Diversity and inclusion strategies in recruitment have been on the rise and will continue to become more prevalent in 2022. Businesses will turn to technology such as AI and workplace assessment tools to remove unconscious bias in the recruitment process and build diverse workplaces. This recruitment trend is also reflected in the doubling of diversity and inclusion roles, like “Chief Diversity Officer,” in recent years.

Development of Internal Talent Pools

Hiring outside of the company was previously a significant recruitment trend. However, as the great resignation and talent shortage looms, businesses are turning to internal staff recruitment. The creation of internal talent pools is proving to be a very successful recruitment trend. Recruiters can nurture talent pools by keeping them involved and interested in the company by sending job openings, events and other career information.

Implementing Referral Programs

The hot job market means employers are struggling to find and hire great talent. As a result, businesses have started to create referral programs where current employees are incentivized to refer someone they know for a role. Using this strategy means candidates come pre-screened and are more likely to align with your goals and values. We have witnessed this strategy rise rapidly in organizations in 2021 and expect to see this recruitment trend carry into 2022.

Use of Talent Assessment Tools

Another significant recruitment trend for 2022 will be to invest in hiring technologies to remove bias, create equitable recruitment practices, and ensure a culture fit. Recruiters are now recognizing the flexibility of workplace assessment tools such as aptitude tests and DISC profiles. Businesses are flocking to talent assessment providers to implement workplace assessments in their recruitment process.

October 14, 2021

How to Measure and Analyze Performance of Your Website Search

Search data is a valuable source of information because your customers are literally typing out what they want from your website. Understanding what they’re searching for and how successful they are will give you insights into your customer’s demand, your inventory and your search algorithms. This tutorial will explain how to measure and analyze the performance of your website search in Google Analytics.

How to Measure and Analyze Performance of Your Website Search

Overview Report

The Overview report gives you just that – high level metrics about your search. Some of the more important ones are:

  • % Sessions with Search: How often search is used by site visitors
  • Results Pageviews / Search: How many pages of results a user views after executing a search. Ideally the result they want is in the first page or two of results
  • % Search Exits: The percent of searches where the user left without clicking through any result. This is analogous to a bounce rate
  • Average Search Depth: How many pageviews users had after executing a search
  • Time after Search: How much time users spend on the site after the search

Google Analytics provides more details on all the search metrics.

To view the metrics:

  1. Navigate to the Behavior – Site Search – Overview report
  2. At the top you can select the desired segments if you have any and the date range
  3. The top line chart shows search usage by day
  4. Next are summary statistics about the search. Again, you can see this site has minimal use of search – only 0.04% of sessions execute a search.)

Search Terms Report

Another very useful report is the Search Terms report. It provides many of the same metrics as the Overview report but at the search term level. To view the metrics simply navigate to the Behavior – Site Search – Search Terms report.

Search Pages Report

If you can access your search function from many pages, you may also want to see search metrics by page that originated the search. For this use the Search Pages report, which you can get to by navigating to Behavior – Site Search – Search Pages.

Usage Report

The Usage report gives you information about the overall session performance for users with search, not just stats on the search itself like the previous reports. For example, the metrics pages/session and average duration refer to the activity of the entire session that had a search – not just activity after the search.

To view the metrics:

  1. Navigate to the Behavior – Site Search – Usage report
  2. Scroll down to the bottom table. This aggregates performance data by “Site Search Status” – whether the session had a search or not.
  3. To see data in the Conversions section of the table for your data, you need to have e-commerce trackingand/or goals set up in your Google Analytics account
  4. To add specific search terms, click on Secondary Dimension and add “Search Term” under Behavior

Note that if in the same session a user searched for two different terms, that user’s session activity will be counted on both terms, so some duplication exists.

Conclusion

Use a combination of the reports to understand what users are searching for and whether they’re finding what they want. Execute the top search terms yourself on your site to see if you understand why performance is the way it is.

  • How many results come up?: Maybe you don’t have what the user is looking for and this user has unmet demand. Consider whether you want to add those products
  • Are the results relevant?: Maybe your search engine isn’t correctly interpreting the search terms. Consider improvements to your search engine
  • Does the result ranking make sense?: Maybe your search ranking isn’t providing optimal ranking and demands that users page through multiple pages of results to get to the desired result. Consider improvements to your results ranking algorithm

Search data is a valuable source of information because your customers are literally typing out what they want from your site. Understand what they’re searching for and how successful they are after the search will give you insights into your customer’s demand, your inventory, and your search algorithms.

October 6, 2021

THE TOP DIGITAL SKILLS TECH COMPANIES ARE SEARCHING FOR TODAY

Digital Skills

Tech companies, and all organizations in the digital economy, are coming to realize that digital skills are vital for employees in the digital era. It is more important than ever that new employees are cross-disciplined and have both hard and soft skills.  Whatever the specific job you are interviewing for, recruiters will be looking out for a wider skill set and broader experience in their new hires.

Recruiters and hiring managers look for candidates who can jump right in on the first day of work and start helping the company achieve its goals. That means finding people with the right technical skills to get the job done. 

In this blog post, we explore the top digital skills tech companies are searching for today.

Programming, Web and App Development

At the heart of any tech product or digital service is coding. The core languages that most programming and web and app development positions need include; Bootstrap, jQuery, Angular, Code Igniter, PHP/JavaScript, and MySQL. These skills are listed on a regular basis in the top 10 most in-demand by employers on LinkedIn. 

Having a portfolio of projects demonstrating your coding skills can also help to validate your knowledge and expertise, helping you to land your dream role.

Digital Business Analysis

Digital Business Analysis helps organizations to make the right choices by providing an independent and objective mind set and applying a range of proven analysis techniques to make a convincing business case for investment in a digital solution. Digital Business Analysts are at the epicenter of digital transformation projects. They help organizations develop a digital ecosystem of technologies that will help drive digital transformation and business growth.

Digital Marketing

To promote their products and services tech companies will look to Digital Marketing. Understanding of how to get the most value for money out of the broadest range of networks will be key here. In-demand skills for Digital Marketers include: 

  1. Digital marketing tools 
  2. Analytics tools
  3. Social media marketing 
  4. Content marketing 
  5. SEO 
  6. UX (User Experience Design)

Soft Skills

Apart from the hard skills, you should also possess soft skills as a tech professional in order to provide competition. Soft skills are equally as important as hard skills as they go hand in hand. Soft skills such as being a problem solver, having great communication skills, adaptability, time management, creativity, persuasion skills, and curiosity are must-have skills.

Something They Haven’t Seen Before

When an employer has to decide between a dozen or so equally qualified candidates they will want to see something to help them make a decision, something unique that a candidate can bring to the team. It might be work on an emerging technology or something completely out of left field. Our programs provide this element of uniqueness with each participant on our Professional Certificate programs gaining experience working in international cross-functional teams to develop a prototype of a digital product. Experience working in international cross-functional teams is highly sought after by tech companies worldwide. Communicating clearly to team members around the world and across multiple time zones helps organizations to operate more effectively and efficiently. 

September 2, 2021

Why is brand strategy important for your business?

Here at OBabsDESIGN Studio, we know how important it is to prioritize. As a digital startup, we have to focus not only on building brand development strategy of a product that is innovative and transformation, but also on establishing our voice and framing how we want our company to be perceived. All too often, branding is not viewed as a top priority for startups, and understandably so since it is easy to view the product itself as the most important priority. In reality though, having a brand strategy is important for a company of any size. Now when I say branding, I don’t just mean a name, logo, and color palette. True, those are the things people often think of when they hear the term “branding,” but they in fact constitute the bare minimum of what your brand should represent. So what is actually encompassed in a brand strategy?

What is brand strategy?

A branding strategy (a.k.a. brand development strategy) is the long-term plan to achieve a series of long-term goals that ultimately result in the identification and preference of your brand by consumers. A successful branding strategy encompasses the brand’s mission, its promises to its customers, and how these are communicated.

Often misconceived, a branding strategy is not the sum of your logo, color palette, or website; though these creative elements are integral to a successful branding strategy. A branding strategy revolves around all the intangible elements that over time drive brand awareness, brand equity, and brand sentiment.

Why do I need a brand strategy?

1. United

Branding links your name, logo, online presence, product/services and appeal to the masses. Make marketing skills consistent and the content the same across all channels. This brings a united and clear message to customers, future partnerships and their competitors. 

2. Asset

A brand is an asset. What you present to the public is a huge chunk of your business. The worth is just as much as revenue and sales. A lot is at stake; finances, creativity and time is on the line. Branding will make the difference between revenue/sales and debt/liquidation. 

3. Sales

Speaking of sales, branding will create sales and revenue for your business. You will make money based on how the branding marketing strategies work out. Customers will be tempted to test you out, and your results will determine if you make more sales.

4. Deliverance

Branding is a proclamation. You hereby state that you will deliver on your promises and claims the company makes. Everything the company stands for should be spread throughout the organization too. Otherwise the company will be disconnected and customers will be confused and grow distant. If you are not willing to make promises you can’t keep, don’t state it on your brand.

5. Perception

Branding gives companies a chance to let customers see the business for who we really are.  This is the chance to be honest and open about what this company represents. The look, feel and message conveyed will separate you from the pack.

6. Preference

People are more attached to companies with a brand than companies that doesn’t.  Brands create a bond filled with good memories and good times, and customers will never forget it. That connection can’t be strategized; it just happens.

7. Loyalty

A good brand development strategy will create customer loyalty. Loyal customers will continue to support you in good and bad times. They will spread a positive message to people they know. Their influence will introduce new people to your company.

8. Trust

As customers get to know your business they will begin to trust you. In order to build trust you must give customers a reason to test you out and be happier. The branding must be spot on as the first customers will determine how many more (or less) you will receive. Exceptional customer service, experience with the product/services and positive online communication on social networks will keep them coming back for more.

9. Extension

Branding can reach so many people in so many outlets. It reaches people offline, online, mobile and niche markets. It reaches the many products and services you currently sell and plan to sell in the future.

10. Protection

Branding protects you from competitors who want your success. Without it they will have no problem making copycats of what made you popular and claim it for themselves. They can carry the same or similar products but they won’t be able to take your style and originality away.

Your brand is the identity customers come to know. The importance of branding with your business cannot be overstated. Branding is how customers perceive you and the blueprint of the business. May your brand be the symbol of happiness, comfort, loyalty and lasting impressions? Company branding usually begins with a new company logo. Quite often, companies don’t realize the importance of properly branding their company. Let us help you brand your company properly.

July 29, 2021

How to develop a wow marketing strategy for your design agency

Most agencies are very poor at bringing in new business for themselves.  The reason can usually be attributed to an undefined positioning statement and a loose strategy.

It is kind of ironic that agencies aren’t great at this, especially when you take into consideration that analyzing and developing client strategic plans is often on the list of what creative agencies offer and do well for their clients. Although they are paid to help clients define their positioning, advertising goals and designs that adhere to a strict marketing strategy, creative agencies themselves often have a hard time when asked to define their own strategy for their business.

Remember, regardless of what business you are in, positioning is the foundation of your brand. All your future decisions, the types of clients you attract, the network(s) you build, the particulars of your service commitments, and even staff recruitment are all affected by how you define yourself in the market. You do not want to close a contract with a client just to find out later that you cannot effectively offer what he/she needs or hire someone that does not fit your culture. Therefore, this blog post aims to provide you with 5 key things to think about when defining your position in the market and formulating the strategy that will lead your creative agency.

Ready to get your agency’s name out there and create hype around your business? Just follow these tips to develop a wow marketing strategy.

Outline your goals and action plan

Determine who your audience is for your marketing efforts, just like you would for a client. Why are you doing this? Who do you want to reach? How can you showcase your skills? From there, your team can outline a strategy, choose their plan of action, and get some creative ideas in motion.

Much like networking and sales, marketing is an all-agency initiative. Besides internal projects, each department should also be working to promote your agency. Have the content team work on article submissions, the design team update your website, the PR team pitch stories to local publications, and the film team create videos that highlight your company objectives.

It is crucial that you make time to prioritize the marketing of your agency. It’s difficult to find time for your own projects when you have clients on the line, but by creating a team of agency pros that are accountable for growing the business, you’ll see a great ROI the minute new clients walk through the door.

Position yourselves as experts

No matter what business or industry you’re in, if you aren’t able to get new clients you probably won’t stay in business for very long. And as you are likely already aware, finding and keeping clients can be a challenge.

It doesn’t matter what products or services you offer, your prospects likely have lots of different options to choose from. Being able to differentiate yourself from your competitors, and position yourself as the person or business most suited to serve them is vital to your success.

Show, don’t tell

If you’re able to demonstrate that your agency offers creative problem-solving solutions and strategies, you’ll impress any and every future client. Find a way to showcase your work and use this content to promote your agency. Keep in mind that anyone who hires you is looking for a way to differentiate themselves; you need to do the same. Be sure that your marketing gives a clear-cut impression that you don’t sell canned solutions or the same products again and again.

Don’t be afraid to be transparent with your process and create a detailed list of what a business can expect in return for their investment. It’ll demonstrate not only your results but also the creative methodology and resources that bring your promises of a beautiful design to life.

The most important aspect of marketing your agency is making sure that your website is a shining example of your work. You wouldn’t go to a mechanic who couldn’t fix his own car, so don’t expect your design agency to attract potential clients if your own site is anything less than stunning.

Craft a content strategy

That’s right – not only do your clients want one, but you need one. Without it, there’s a void in your agency’s digital presence that leads to infrequent/inconsistent social media posts, irrelevant articles, and a lack of cohesive brand messaging.

Inject strategic content into your agency culture. Encourage teams to promote the business through intentional social content. You’ll constantly create new content that’s brand-compliant and on-target. Plus, you’ll connect your brand to your team’s social network. That’s how you engage people who don’t know you and get new followers.

Strategizing for your agency goes beyond marketing and content. Determine what services to sell and what your best bets are by committing to a culture of learning.