Kissdoodles
Kiss Doodles has created 26 entries

Kiss Doodles

  • Why FREE Website Templates Are A Bad Idea

    It can be very tempting to use a free Website template when your brand is new – after all, who doesn’t want to save a bit of time and money, especially when you’re not entirely sure about the future of your business? But, there are six compelling reasons why you should NOT fall for the free Website template trap, and instead hire a pro to create a bespoke Website design tailored to your specific needs –

    1. Lack Of Originality

    First impression is often the last impression. Do you really want to use a generic-looking templated Website that will send the wrong message to your audience that you don’t even believe enough in your own brand to invest in something as simple as a properly designed Website? Tsk, tsk. Your Website is your brand’s calling card. It is your brand’s visual story. Don’t cut corners in this department by going the run-of-the-mill route.

    2. Space Constrictions

    A templated Website often has many constrictions surrounding space, layout and storage space. This can lead to a ton of unwanted compromises on the quality of content you try to cram in. This certainly isn’t a good idea if you believe in the age-old saying “content is king!”

    3. Difficult To Learn

    If you are over-confident that you can learn how to customize a template as per your needs, it is time for a reality check. Web designers have years of in-depth training to pull off what you’ll be trying to, that, too, in a fraction of the time you’ll be spending. You’re better off using your time on more important things like strategy, marketing, sales and advertising. Leave Web design to the pros who have access to the latest tools and information.

    4. Security Threats

    Templated Websites pose a major security threat – they are hacked more often. This could damage your chance of building trust with customers.

    5. Not User-Friendly

    Not only is a templated Website going to prevent your ability to offer a user-friendly experience to visitors, it is also going to piss them off. Why? Well, templated sites are 3-10x slower, which can also prove detrimental for SEO {can link to SEO blog when it is live}. Customers are more likely to log off your site if it is slow and difficult to go through. Furthermore, free website templates usually feature very archaic designs that aren’t optimized for different devices – again, this isn’t user-friendly.

    6. No Support System

    Whether you’re struggling to run security updates, or need tech support for other reasons, templated Websites can be a customer service nightmare when you need help urgently. You’ll pretty much be stuck trying to solve things on your own.

    We hope these six reasons ward off any urge you have to try out a free Website template. Invest resources in a powerful Website that has responsive design, solid content, useful widgets, better analytics, strong security measures and fast loading time – it’ll help you leave the best first impression, improve your SEO and retain customers much more effectively.

    Need help with putting together the most visually delightful Website for your brand? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team right here.

    Sources –
    > www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/36-reasons-why-having-a-free-website-is-a-bad-idea/
    > www.imageworkscreative.com/blog/why-using-website-template-just-bad-idea
    > https://espresso.digital/diy-business-website-design-bad-idea/

  • How To Do A Good SM Audit

    With social media tools and strategies evolving day-by-day, what might have been working for your brand a few months ago could prove utterly useless today. To complicate matters further, chances are your competitors – who have bigger budgets – are probably ahead of the game, which brings us to our main point: you must audit your company’s social media regularly. A social media audit will not only help you monitor what your competition is doing right, it’ll also help you evaluate what you need to initiate, eliminate and optimize. So, let’s walk you through six steps to conduct a quick social media audit –

    1. Create A Spreadsheet

    Open up a new spreadsheet in Google Docs that is accessible to only key members of your team. Create a tab for each month, and add the following sections in each one of them –

    a) social media handle name
    b) social media handle URL
    c) login info
    d) names of people with access to login info
    e) number of followers
    f) number of comments
    g) number of likes
    h) number of shares
    i) number of DMs
    j) number of posts
    k) metrics (i.e. Web traffic)
    l) top 5 performing posts
    m) insights / analytics
    n) ad campaigns
    o) other notes
    p) competitors

    Once you’re done creating these sections, begin filling them out.

    2. Check Your Basics

    At the same time you’re working on step #1, also double check if all of your social media handles are even up-to-date with the latest information, which could range from bios and URLs to contact information and logos. Most importantly, please do not hesitate to delete any unnecessary accounts. It is better to focus on a handful of relevant platforms than spread yourself thin across any and every space.

    3. Review The Data

    Once you’ve filled out your spreadsheet’s sections for a few months, you will easily be able to identify the following –

    a) are new customers coming in?
    b) is Web traffic linked to social media activity?
    c) are new followers joining?
    d) are old followers leaving?
    e) are followers from your target group?
    f) are particular posts doing better than others?
    g) are ad campaigns offering any impact?
    h) are people interacting with your brand?
    i) are posts going out consistently?
    j) are particular days/timings better for posting?

    4. Monitor Your Competition

    Monitor the social media handles of at least 2-3 competitors and note down which posts are performing best for them – you might find some interesting information that you can incorporate into your own campaigns, such as content ideas or better hashtags.

    5. Revise Your Strategy

    Based upon the analysis you draw through answering the above questions from points #3 and #4, spend a few minutes to jot down the following –

    * List down immediate goals + metrics to measure success
    * List down long-term goals + metrics to measure success
    * Build a new editorial calendar that has a specified frequency of posts and a good mix of content buckets that are relevant.
    * List down action steps to obtain the necessary images, videos, copy and information to put together content as per your new editorial calendar

    6. Monitor Progress

    Keep monitoring progress with social media strategy modifications every month to pull the plug on low performing campaigns and allocate more time, energy and funds to campaigns that are drawing real results. Remember, social media auditing is not a one time project – this needs to happen on an ongoing basis.

    We hope these six steps help you audit your company’s social media thoroughly so you can improve your strategy to meet your end-goals. If you need help with putting together a tailored social media campaign, contact us here.

    Sources –
    > https://neilpatel.com/blog/social-media-audit/
    > www.searchenginejournal.com/social-media-audit/264849/
    > www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-answers/what-is-a-social-media-audit-how-to-do-it/

  • 3 Reasons Automated Emailer Campaigns Are Important

    Are you still used to the old school style of sending out emailers manually to each individual on your business’ database? Or, even worse – do you BCC your entire database on one generic email? Well, it is high time to now step up your emailer game with some good ‘ol automation tools. Let’s take a look at three key reasons why! –

    1. Maintains Absolute Consistency

    Automated drip email campaigns truly allow you to be consistent in nurturing new leads, while simultaneously also retaining older customers/audiences. With automated emailers in place, never risk the occurrence of huge gaps in communication. As a result of ongoing interaction lead nurturing emails provide at different touch-points, they end up receiving an impressive 4-10 times higher response rate than archaic mass email blasts. Furthermore, slow ‘n steady communication generates 50% greater sales-ready leads. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? In short, automated emails are timely, targeted, systematic and drastically improve any company’s bottom line.

    2. Offers True Personalization

    According to data from Econsultancy, 93% brands see improved conversion rates that can be linked to personalization. Since automated emails are triggered by actions unique to each particular consumer – i.e. when they browse through your site, when they abandon their cart, when they’ve made a purchase, when their birthday/anniversary is approaching – they offer hyper-personalization, which makes a customer feel special. Sites like Shein, Koovs and Amazon are pros at sending such behavior-triggered automated emails that are relevant to each customer – this can drive up to 18 times more revenue than generic emails, because open rates are 80% higher for drip emails than single-send emailers!

    3. Increases Revenue Substantially

    Automated emails improve revenue at three different levels –

    Firstly, it reduces staffing costs because automation tools have immense scalability. This actually opens up time for your team to focus on other, more important areas, like strategy, marketing and analytics.

    Secondly, automated emails reduce the risk of human errors – i.e. writing the wrong name, messing up on spelling, sending the wrong offers – so you’re less likely to lose customers on your database through careless blunders.

    Thirdly, and most importantly, automated emails are proven to boost sales. Companies tend to see a 20% boost in sales after using drip campaigns to nurture leads; in fact, nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases (wowza!). You can even up-sell products or cross-sell accessories to increase the overall lifetime value and loyalty of every customer.

    So, the next time your team sits down for a marketing strategy meeting, put switching to automated emailers at the top of your agenda. Whether you want to improve sales, increase downloads or newsletter subscriptions, boost site traffic, obtain more feedback, promote brand loyalty or enhance interactivity/engagement, automated drip email campaigns are the perfect way to lead people in your database from one step to the other until they take the action(s) you desire.

    Do you need help with setting up automated email campaigns that generate concrete results? Contact our team right here, and we’ll get you started in no time!

    Sources –
    > www.pure360.com/10-benefits-of-marketing-automation/
    > www.theleverageway.com/blog/email-marketing-automation-benefits-business/
    > www.digital22.com/insights/benefits-of-having-email-automation-workflows
    > www.pinpointe.com/blog/do-drip-campaigns-really-work

  • 7 Content Essentials For Your Brand’s Social Media

    If you’re unsure about what type of content to share on your brand’s social media handles to draw the maximum engagement, worry not! We’ve put together a handy cheat sheet of seven social media content essentials to revamp your strategy.

    1. User Generated Content (UGC)

    UGC is a no-brainer for boosting engagement and reach these days. In exchange for offering credits, not only do you get free, high quality content to post, you also enjoy a meaningful interaction with your following and smartly tap into their network, too. Instagram is an excellent platform, in particular, for UGC content. You can run a small giveaway to incentivize people to participate.

    2. Visual Content

    Visual content does much better than only text-based posts. According to studies, posting images on Twitter increases retweets by a whopping 150%. No wonder Examiner reports that nearly 85% of marketers use visuals when creating social media content.

    3. Infographics

    Infographics are a visually appealing, informative piece that gets a lot of engagement. In fact, they can generate a lot of shares, too. According to information by Okdork + Buzzsumo, infographics actually receive the most social media shares, followed by listicles. Add value to your customers’ lives with such content pieces throughout the month. For example, if you’re a jewellery brand, an infographic about the different types of earring categories / names is handy for shoppers. Or, if you’re a travel company, an infographic about the most affordable countries based on currency exchange values is helpful for customers.

    4. e-Books / Digital Magazines

    Consider curating content throughout the year that you can repurpose into a helpful e-Book or digital magazine. You can promote this on social media through a small paid promotional campaign and offer free downloads in exchange for information collection (i.e. email IDs / referrals). Also, if you plan this smartly, you can feature quotes / interviews from other influencers so they also share the download link with their network!

    5. Testimonials

    Sharing the positive feedback previous customers/clients have said about you, as well as media mentions, is a wonderful way to help potential customers choose your brand over competitors. It establishes trust and credibility. Instead of text based testimonials, consider short video snippets.

    6. Interactive Content

    Polls, quizzes, contests, Q&As and surveys are all interactive content pieces that are fun. Let’s face it – even the New York Time’s most popular content piece was a quiz, not an article. If planned properly, you can collect useful consumer insights through this, which can later be repurposed into a PR piece featuring NEW industry-related data.

    7. Livestream Sessions&lt

    Facebook live streams have definitely picked up of late. It unites your followers in real-time, which is a powerful feeling. And, you can share the content afterwards so those who missed out can watch. Jay Shetty is an excellent example of someone who uses FB live sessions brilliantly to build his brand, generate leads and foster a sense of community amongst his followers. Instagram also has a “live” option, but it disappears once you’re done.

    Now that you know which content buckets perform the best on social media, go ahead and start upgrading your SM strategy. Need help with putting together a robust social media plan? Contact us right here.

    Sources –
    > www.postplanner.com/blog/types-of-social-media-content
    > https://coschedule.com/blog/social-media-content/
    > www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-types-of-social-media-content-that-convert/539584/
    > www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/9-best-from-buffer/
    > https://nealschaffer.com/create-social-media-content/

  • How AI Is Impacting Digital Marketing

    According to a survey by MeMSQL, 61% of marketing professionals said machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) will be the most important data initiatives. Likewise, in a 2018 survey by Salesforce, 51% marketers indicated they were already using AI, and 27% more are planning on incorporating it this year. So, why exactly is AI the hottest thing in the world of digital marketing right now? Here are six ways in which AI is impacting the digital marketing space, beyond reducing the elements of human error and bias –

    1. AI Improves & Personalizes User Experience

    AI can help improve user experience at multiple levels. Not only does it provide you insight regarding how customers interact with your Website (and, where the roadblocks in design, navigation and content are), it also takes personalization to a whole other level. In fact, a 2017 survey by Evergage indicates 33% marketers have been using AI to provide personalized Web experiences and that 63% saw increased conversion rates and better consumer experience. AI tools, like Grid, empower you to offer different users different Website experiences based on information they provide – images, text, offers and call-to-actions can all be relevant as per who has logged on.

    2. AI Improves Sales & Security

    AI not only predicts buyer behavior and personas, it can also help with security issues to make online transactions safer for consumers. Most importantly, AI helps forecast future market trends, that could impact your sales – it enables you to plan and tweak your sales cycle more effectively.

    3. AI Improves Ads

    AI can predict user behavior accurately based on user data it collects and analyzes. Hence, it helps you create ads in-line with your audience’s needs and preferences.

    4. AI Improves Content

    Forbes. The Associated Press. The New York Times. The Washington Post. BBC. Reuters. Top news agencies are using AI technology to create news that draws more hits. Tools like Quill, Wordsmith and Articoolo all get the job done really well.

    5. AI Improves Content Marketing

    Based on audience information on-file, AI helps you offer audiences better recommendations for content – Amazon and Netflix are pros at this! Many brands even use AI to personalize drip email campaigns that push content, products and services on the right day, at the right time and appropriate frequency, with subject lines that are actually relevant. Since research indicates consumers are 43% more likely to purchase products from companies that hyper-personalized their content marketing, this is a huge value-add from AI.

    6. AI Improves Customer Service

    Chatbots have made it easier to transform the customer service process – they can answer questions 24/7, retain data, always maintain a friendly tone, respond to multiple customers at the same time and do away with any wait-time. Brands like Sephora have been using chatbots for a while, and many official Facebook pages also use a modified version of this tool.

    Are you blown away by the number of ways in which AI is transforming digital marketing? It’ll be interesting to see how AI continues to refine marketing processes as more tools become available in the market in the years to come. Contact us here for more information.

    Sources –
    > https://inc42.com/resources/role-of-ai-in-digital-marketing/
    > https://blog.adext.com/applications-artificial-intelligence-ai-digital-marketing/
    > https://marketinginsidergroup.com/artificial-intelligence/5-benefits-of-ai-for-digital-marketers/

  • Is Your Brand Making These Social Media Mistakes?

    Yes, making mistakes is a part of human nature. However, making mistakes on your company’s social media channels is unacceptable because it can either have tremendous negative impact on your brand’s image and result in poor ROI. Here are 8 social media blunders to steer clear of –

    1. Underestimating Social Media’s Potential

    If you think social media is only a marketing tool, think again. It can also impact sales by connecting you to prospective customers and finding opportunities to educate them about your products/services. Social media can even act as a customer service tool – you can address customer inquires and negative feedback in real-time. And, social media can offer HR support – your job postings will reach a wider network, giving you a larger pool of potential recruits to choose from.

    2. Failing To Plan Properly

    Invest time to conduct a social media audit, monitor competitors’ SM handles, build a proper editorial calendar and develop list of hashtags. A bit of planning ensures you can be consistent with your postings, ad campaigns, contests and more. Remember – no strategy means no results.

    3. Lacking A Balanced Approach

    Just like delayed interaction (or, no interaction at all) is contrary to the purpose of being on social media (engaging your customers in a dialogue), overdoing things can backfire, as well – it looks spammy. Posting 10 times a day, using too many hashtags, over-tagging people, etc. is an unsophisticated approach. Strike a healthy balance so you’re neither MIA nor too spammy.

    4. Duplicating Content Lazily

    Don’t get onto every single social media platform for the heck of it. Pick 2-3 platforms at the most, which are truly relevant for your business, rather than spreading yourself too thin. Most importantly, focus on curating different content for each handle. Why should someone follow you in 3-4 different places to see an identical update everywhere?

    5. Ignoring The Basics

    Run spell check and grammar check. Fill out all sections of your profile. Obtain high-quality graphics. These are basic things many companies forget to look into. It makes a potential customer think you’re too lazy to invest in your own brand.

    6. Avoiding Social Media Ads

    Ads help you reach a wider audience base. If you aren’t going to push your content out with consistent social media ads, what’s the point of even investing in high-quality content?

    7. Forgetting To Check Analytics

    Instagram shows insights as to which days and timings draw you the best results – post according to this specific information, rather than being arbitrary with timings. Furthermore, pay attention to your Website’s traffic sources – are they from a particular social media handle, ad campaign or promotion/contest? Keep tabs on what is and isn’t working using the right metrics. Simply looking at increasing/decreasing followers isn’t an accurate yardstick.

    8. Lacking Tact

    Newsjacking – trying to jump onto any news event / trending topic – shows lack of empathy. For example, if a natural disaster happened, don’t tell customers, “well, you can still shop online!” Similarly, deleting bad comments/reviews can piss a customer off further. Skilfully take difficult conversations into your Inbox/DM, rather than washing your dirty laundry in public.

    We hope these eight tips help you reevaluate your social media habits! If you need help with building the perfect social media plan for your brand, contact us at kissdoodles.

    Sources –
    > www.allbusiness.com/bad-social-media-habits-your-business-must-avoid-2627-1.html
    > www.copyblogger.com/social-media-balance/
    > https://tweakyourbiz.com/business/social-media/business-habits
    > www.socialmediatoday.com/news/5-bad-habits-marketers-should-drop-in-2019/543892/