Greenwashing, it sounds clean right? It’s actually a dirty business practise where a company spends more time and money marketing themselves as being environmentally friendly than on actually minimising their environmental impact.

Investopedia labels greenwashing as the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are more environmentally sound. Cambridge Dictionary states that greenwashing is to make people believe that your company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is, in an attempt to make your business seem interested in protecting the natural environment.

As companies realise that today’s consumers have an increased awareness of the environmental impact their purchases may have, some may be tempted to mislead consumers by making environmentally-friendly promises that go unfulfilled. Unfortunately, this misdirection can take market share away from products that offer legitimate benefits while slowing the penetration of real environmental innovation, creating doubt about legitimate environmental claims and continuing the use of toxic ingredients or practices.

Greenwashing is commonly seen through unsubstantiated claims, renaming, repackaging or the use of misleading images to gloss over unethical behaviour. Playing on human psychology, companies have even changed the colour of their company logo to invoke the illusion of environmentally friendly products, opting instead to use natural associated hues such as green, brown or white, as seen in the case of Coca Cola Life. 

Are companies going green or are they just selling the idea of green practices while ignoring sustainability?

As of 1 January 2011, The Australian Consumer Law (ACL) states that businesses have an obligation not to mislead or deceive consumers in any way and prohibits false or misleading representations about specific aspects of goods and services. This applies to all forms of marketing, including claims on packaging, labelling, advertising and promotion across all mediums such as print, TV, radio and online.

A brand that is truly ethical will have accessible and detailed information on their practices which may include information on workers’ rights, factory equipment and the environmental impact of components used in the product and manufacturing processes. 

For a consumer, it may be a red flag if a business has no supporting evidence to back up their claims if there is a lack of transparency, or the brand uses ambiguous terms that falsely represent the standard or quality of their goods. Other identified industry greenwashing tactics may include:

• The Hidden Trade-Off – Over-exaggerating the benefits of a product based on a single environmental attribute or a narrow set of criteria while ignoring the overall negative impact of the product. This is used to paint a greener picture of a product which a closer analysis wouldn’t support.

• No Proof – The environmental claim of the product is not backed by either factual evidence, easily accessible supporting information or certifications. It’s commonly seen that companies even create false certifications or labels which ultimately mislead consumers.

• “Green” Projects – This may give an illusion of a company’s compliance however is often based on a PR move with the sole purpose of amending a company’s reputation to cover acts of environmental degradation. An example of this is an oil company conducting an ocean clean-up project to supposedly protect the environment, mostly completed after an oil spill.

Why do companies partake in greenwashing?

With a shift in consumer spend on products they believe to be sustainable, companies may be attempting to capitalise on this growing demand. Having products that claim to be more natural, healthier, free of chemicals or recyclable may even help a business generate positive public relations and boost their brand image.

There is also growing pressure for businesses to adopt environmentally friendly practices and convince consumers they care about the same things. CHOICE reported results from a survey published in the ‘Journal of Marketing Management’ which suggested that consumers might be motivated to buy products if they believe their purchase will contribute to reducing injustice, indicating that ethical marketing can influence purchase decisions. 

If consumers don’t think a brand is ethical or sustainable, they’re likely to switch. The 2018 Ethical Consumers Markets Report shows that over a quarter of British respondents surveyed stated that they had avoided buying a product or using a service due to its negative environmental impact in the past year, an increase of 65% since 2016.

Check out this example of greenwashing:

Well-known bottled water brand, Fiji Water, deceptively marketed themselves as being carbon-negative since 2008 after earlier disclosing they had produced 85,396 tons of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in 2007. 

Fiji Water used ‘standard offset credit’ to purchase a tradeable certificate; this gives the purchaser the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide and use ‘forward credit’ to essentially give themselves credit for carbon reductions that haven’t happened yet. However, the offsets necessary to make it carbon-negative would not be realised until 2037. 

Fiji Water’s advertisements also demonstrated a hidden trade-off by claiming their products “reduce carbon emissions and protect Fijian rainforests” however they’re deceptively omitting the effects of producing bottled water on the environment such as the use of non-renewable resources and single-use plastic pollution. 

Fiji Water’s website now makes claims they “invest in sustainability, the environment and local communities, while focusing on meaningful issues with like-minded partners to enable positive change.” 

Here’s how to practice good green marketing

Using honesty, transparency and science in good green marketing are important to encourage environmentally conscious purchases and decisions. 

True green marketing will help consumers learn more, understand and confirm the scientific case behind each green marketing claim. Businesses can do this by educating consumers about their values and explain the features and benefits in simple terms that consumers can understand.

Businesses should not let one positive aspect allow them to overlook or overshadow the bigger picture. Consumers have the power to see through the greenwashing and are increasingly using their power on social media to call out brands. Consumers will continue to pressure businesses to adapt their products to more sustainable options while simultaneously changing their own habits and behaviours to use their spending as an expression of their environmental commitment.

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Influencer marketing, as a mainstream marketing tool, involves brands paying, or giving free products and services to Instagrammers and other social media leaders in exchange for promotion in a seemingly natural way.

As such, the industry has seen influencer marketing become a booming business with companies now allocating more advertising spend to influencer marketing than traditional mediums such as print or television. With the COVID-19 outbreak seeing more people staying home, this has only increased as audiences consume more content than ever.

Are these trend-setting accounts valuable from an advertising perspective?

Trust is now an increasing issue in the digital world and finding the best influencers for a campaign remains a struggle as the rise of fake profiles, bots and buying likes has brought reputations into question. 

There’s now a common perception that influencers are ‘entitled individuals’ who achieve their status through promoting products they have either received for free or for selfies on Instagram. As a result, marketers have seen stereotypical influencer content driving consumers away.

According to Mediakix, the number one concern when it comes to influencer marketing is engaging with profiles that have been built on fake followers, as endorsements with fake influencers will fail to deliver a meaningful return on investment for businesses and brands.

The number of influencers online is reaching a level of saturation that is making it difficult for even the most successful influencers to achieve cut-through, and brands are likely to see diminishing returns as a result.

A recent article by Forbes suggests the transition is already occurring with pandemic budget cuts. Fewer brands are working with influencers now compared to last year and consumers are already seeing fewer sponsored posts.

Is lack of regulation in Australia encouraging undisclosed sponsored posts?

With little regulation of the Australian influencer market, there are arguments that today’s consumers can’t tell the difference between genuine recommendations and masked sponsored posts.

The Australian Influencer Marketing Council (AIMCO), established in late 2019, provides marketers and creators with guidelines on the legal and recommended procedures behind influencer campaigns. This code of practice covers influencer selection and qualification, advertising disclosure, and recommended metric disclosures to build trust and transparency in online advertising. 

A spokesperson for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said influencers have the same obligations under consumer law as any other form of advertising or marketing. In 2018, the maximum penalty for breaching the Australian consumer law substantially increased to $500,000 for each post from an influencer while it increased to $10 million for a business. 

According to Business Insider, no Australian influencer to date has been sanctioned or faced a penalty from the ACCC for not marking their posts as sponsored. 

Could micro-influencers be the answer?

Marketers, now more than ever, are considering the relevance and engagement of subscribers rather than the vanity metrics of a number of followers and likes across social platforms. With Instagram removing likes, engagement is fast becoming the new impressions and quality content that is real and unstaged is becoming the key to successful marketing campaigns.

This paves the way for micro-influencers who are everyday people with a particular passion or niche and are often perceived as more genuine and trustworthy. These users likely have anywhere between 1,000 and 100,000 followers and offer the perfect combination of intimate engagement and broad reach.

What makes this humble group of influencers attractive is that they likely already have a love for your products and services so will speak about them with authentic excitement and genuinely feel their followers should know about them. Ultimately the result from their followers is a legitimate interest. 

Using micro-influencers will also enable businesses to stretch their marketing budget further. Instead of investing all spend in one social influencer with more than 500,000 followers and getting one or two posts which perform well, businesses could invest in anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of micro-influencers and see their products and services reach a larger and more targeted audience that will deliver higher engagement across a variety of audiences. 

As social media users continue to build their personal reputations online, it’s important for brands to look for ways to build meaningful communities around smaller audiences and engage with people who already have an affinity for your brand.

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Master your writing skills for an Australian audience

If you are new to the field, you should know that quite often, you will have to switch niches as per the requirements. So, how can you interact with a new audience in an appealing way? You might be required to sell a new product or service, or you might have to write in a style that is entirely new to you. Here is how you can get started.

Curate a list of all the top blogs

If you are new to the writing style that particularly an Australian audience will like, you should start with understanding their preferences.

You can make a list of the most liked blogs in a specific niche and start with analyzing the content. Start searching for the top blogs on search engines and come up with the websites that have the highest authority. This way, you will know the preferences of the audience that you are catering to. Understand the Australian writing style and start taking notes. In fact, these blogs and articles will give you the information and learning you need to satisfy the requirements for the Australian style of writing.

To get the perfect Australian tone of writing, it is always advisable to regularly read blogs that are written by famous Australian niche writers. For instance, you could go through Jonathon Crossfield’s personal blog or read some of the best pieces by Justine Justine Larbalestier’s blog.

Make a note of the most commonly used words

Every industry will have specific jargon. Even though you shouldn’t be filling you content with these jargons, you can include them every now and then to set that trust in your Australian readers. There will be a lot of such words but don’t worry! You don’t need to know everything. You can simply skim through these words and figure out the ones that can be included in your content.

This will require some research and time, but you will be able to please your readers and relate on a more personalized note with them.

Never plagiarise

One of the most basic mistakes that you can make while writing for any audience is plagiarized content. When you start copying the work of other writers and experts, you start losing the trust of your readers. So, make sure whatever information you include in your content is entirely unique. Even if you are referring to some statistics or figures, make it a point to provide the appropriate credits. Do the reader likes to waste their time and read plagiarised work.

So, once you are done with your work, always check the content through a plagiarism checker. If there is any content that is coming under plagiarism, correct the same. Only then, you should let the readers go through your unique content.

Pay attention to differences in spelling

One of the significant and primary changes, when you are catering to an Australian audience, will the spellings. If you are more suited to the American writing style, the difference will be subtle. All the ‘or’ suffixes will become ‘our.’ For example, it is colour in the American style, but when you are writing in Australian English, it will be colour.

Similarly, ‘er’ becomes ’re’, ‘ize’ becomes ‘ise’, etc. There are various such small changes, but to appeal to an Australian audience, it is crucial that you keep these in mind.

Punctuation! Punctuation!

Another essential point to note is the punctuation in your content. In the American style of writing, you will be putting commas before “and.” However, this will not hold true for the Australian style. Also, in Australian English, you will be using double quotes if you are including any quotes in your content. The periods or commas also go outside the quotes when you are writing in the Australian style.

Time and measurement

In case you are including date and time or some sort of measurements in your content, be thorough with the Australian style. You will be using the 24-hour clock or military time. Moreover, you will have to mention the date as month/day/year. Even the measurements in Australia are in the metric system. So, make sure that you are thorough with these basics so that you can connect with the readers and build much-needed trust.

Stay away from broad subject matter

One of the best suggestions, if you are writing for the first time for an Australian audience, would be to start with something small. A narrow topic will require less research, and it will give you enough exposure to understand the Australian style. That being said, make sure whichever topic you pick, your research is thorough and extensive on the same.

Take inspiration from your heroes

Start quoting some of the known Australians in your article. Get some information about a few starts and figure out a way to include their quotes or experiences in your content. By doing this, you will show the readers that you know these famous Australians. Moreover, your content will also be liked by the majority of the readers.

To sum up

Writing for an Australian audience won’t be as different as you might think. But, make sure that you are thorough with these basics. If you are able to incorporate these tips into your content, your content will be able to grab the attention of the right group of readers. Master writing content like professional in the Australian style and see how your content and ideas are appreciated.

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12 top-rated tools that SEO experts use

The following tools are all well-established and trial-tested by SEO specialists. They are the absolute best examples of how a piece of software can make your optimization efforts a whole lot easier.

#1: Google Search Console

As the most obvious choice among SEO tools, the Search Console by Google grants you access to stats and the state of your presence in Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page). What makes it even more practical for use is the simple fact that it is free for anyone with a website. So, how does it work?

• You need to verify your website – either by indexing it through Google Analytics or by adding some code to it.
• Even without having an actual account, you can control which of your site pages get indexed and which parts of it search engine bots see.
• As an added benefit, the Search Console as an SEO checker tool can help you to better grasp how Google and its users view your website. As a result of that data, you can further optimize and improve your website, both for users and search engines.

#2: Ahrefs

As a top contender among SEO keyword tools, Ahrefs is only second to Google when it comes to website crawling capabilities. As a top-rated SEO analysis tool currently available, you will find that a large number of SEO experts rely on Ahref’s Site Audit feature. It can easily red-flag the parts of your website you need to resolve to gain a higher ranking on search results. Additionally, the reason why this is on our list of top-rated tools that SEO experts are the competitive edge it gives. You can use it to explore the backlink profile of your competitors and the most popular content in your niche.

#3: SEMRush

When talking about the SEO community favourites among tools, we can’t skip SEMRush. One of the features you need to try out is the Domain vs Domain analysis – a feature that can cross-compare your rankings with that of your top competitors. Of course, the easy access to rankings and any immediate changes only adds to the usefulness of SEMRush. With the analytics reports this on-page SEO checker tool offers, you can easily explore any of the following information:

• Your website’s search data
• Amount of traffic on your web pages
• Competitor SEO efforts and tactics
• Keywords and domains comparison, etc.

Using SEMRush is an established practice in the digital marketing world, especially when you’re searching for ways to boost your online presence. It is excellent for planning out new directions in which to take your business, developing strategies for practically any niche you can think of. One of the examples would be the relocation and logistics industry, where it has proven to be crucial in developing marketing activities for moving companies.

#4: KWFinder

Are you searching for quality long-tail keywords to target without having to battle too much competition for them? If so, then an SEO keyword tool like KWFinder might be the perfect fit for your company. The Rank Tracker tool it uses enables a quick way to pinpoint your rankings based on a single key metric. Plus, a completely new range of keyword ideas will open up to you.

#5: Moz

The continuous up-to-date status and chat option are just two of the most notable reasons why people include Moz among the top-rated tools SEO experts actually use. Moz is a full-service piece of SEO software, with an ocean of useful information, whether you are looking for a site crawl or keyword recommendations.

#6: Majestic

As far as experts in the SEO and marketing industries are concerned, Majestic definitely takes the cake as a marketing SEO tool. With features such as The Majestic Million (ranking of top million websites) and The Site Explorer (overview of your online store and backlinks profile), it offers great insights. Additionally, it functions as an SEO keyword tool. And you can use it to find the best keywords for your particular business to rank for.

#7: Google Trends

Despite begin around for decades, Google Trends is an SEO checker tool that has always been underutilized. However, it can be detrimental in the business growth of any company, no matter the stage. How? Simple – it offers detailed insight into current trends circling around any particular topic that comes to mind. With it, you can get top queries, rising queries, interest over time, and the interest-based on geo-location.

#8: SEOQuake

Are you just starting out your business and don’t really have the funds to invest in the top-rated tools SEO experts actually use? No worries. That’s why there are tools like SEOQuake – rated best among the free SEO tools out there! As an extension of Google Chrome, this tool is phenomenal when it comes to on-page audits, assessing internal & external links, as well as analyzing the competition. Other features:

• Keyword density analysis
• Easy-to-read SEO dashboard
• Export data

#9: Screaming Frog

If you are on the lookout for an SEO tool to help you save time, look into the potential that Screaming Frog offers. When it comes to speed of analyzing websites, there are but a few other tools that can really compare to this one. It is faster than most other solutions out there, making it the obvious choice among top-rated tools that SEO experts actually use. Other data that it offers include duplicate content, errors to fix, bad redirections, and areas of improvement for link building.

#10: CORA

CORA is a preferred choice for those looking for a more advanced-level SEO tool. As far as tools are concerned, it’s definitely not among the cheapest ones out there, but it is all-inclusive. So, you will definitely be getting your money’s worth by opting for using it. In fact, according to current trends and comments, a high number of medium-large businesses tend to use it to discover all the weaknesses and potential improvements for their websites.

#11: Serpstat

There are always those searching for all-in-one tools that can help their businesses grow online. If that is your goal as well, then you should definitely look into the opportunities that Serpstat offers to users. SEO, PPC, or content marketing – this growth-hacking platform manages it all. Simple to use, it offers you an optimal way to:

• resolve SEO tasks;
• analyze competitors;
• manage your team.

When it comes to SEO in particular, Serpstat has proven outstanding for keywords and competition analysis. Among its many features, Missing Keywords is the most popular one. It identifies the keywords your competitors rank for in the top-10 search results and you don’t.

#12: Woorank

A generally fantastic solution for tracking and reporting on marketing data, Woorank comes both in free and paid versions. From discovering the keywords your competitors are targeting to reporting on how certain keywords perform during the course of time, this tool really does live up to its place on this list. And in addition to it all, it helps identify potential issues with your website the likes of duplicate content, downtime, and security issues. And, more importantly, it provides clear guidelines on how to fix them.

Other worthy mentions when it comes to top-rated tools that SEO experts actually use:

• Ubersuggest – keyword tracking tool
• Answer The Public – free SEO tool
• SpyFu – free SEO tool
• Siteliner – SEO analysis tool
• Fat Rank – SEO analysis tool
• Keywords Everywhere – SEO keyword tool

A word to the wise…

Having an extensive list of top-rate tools that SEO experts actually use is great but it is far from a slam dunk. In fact, it is only the first step to crossing a long bridge before actually reaching that place where your business prospers into something lasting. So, you need to consider that next step carefully. Whether you decide to start learning on your own, hire an in-house SEO specialist or an entire SEO agency – the choice falls on you.

For more interesting information and news about the world of SEO and digital marketing, explore our blog further. And if you have any additional questions, we are here to answer them.

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The basics and definition

Marketing is a business concept completely driven by the needs of the consumer. Its whole purpose is to analyse and define the needs of the consumer in order to try and satisfy those needs in a superior way than the competition does. Doing business in such a way, if you are successful, will lead to a high level of satisfaction, trust, and loyalty from a customer which will result in a long-term relationship that leads to profitability in the long run and continual consumer satisfaction. However, marketing is not only the prerogative of large companies but it is also extremely important to small/local companies. To achieve this, as a company, we need to:

• analyse and define the market and its needs
• segment it and choose the right target market
• adapt the 4P elements to suit market needs
• analyse the satisfaction of customers and adapt accordingly

An adequate marketing strategy cannot be created without full knowledge of the market and its needs. The market is also a collection of different customer preferences and desires and a successful company needs to identify the group of customers (target market) that it can try to satisfy through its marketing activities. So, the marketing concept requires extensive market research, data analysis and rational market segmentation that must lead to the creation of an offer tailor-made for the target market. This offer comprises of 4 basic elements that we call marketing mix.

The elements of the marketing mix

Elements of the Marketing mix are the core offer of a company to the customer/consumer on the market. These four elements (4Ps) are combined, moulded and adapted to each market segment to suit the customer and their needs to the highest possible degree.

Product (service) is the core value we provide, the offer to the customer. It can be a service or a physical object that has certain characteristics that satisfy a consumer need. The product is not static, it is always a subject of development and change aimed at its adaptation to the changing needs of the market.

Price is the amount of money paid for the product. The price should be linked and determined by the value of the product but it is also influenced by the market (competitors’ prices), costs, expenses, and discounts.

Placement represents the distribution network of our product. These networks today encompass social networks and digital markets as well as traditional networks (small and large market store chains)

Promotion is PR, advertising, and the complete promotional strategy of the company. It ties in and balances all other elements to create and present and offer tailor-made for the target market.

Marketing is digital

The whole world and all of our customers are digitalising their life and the way they are doing business. Habits and the way of communicating are changing. Internet, Web sites, social networks, blogs, influencers, etc. have all made it very easy to communicate with a customer and also made communication a two-way street. Traditional ways of communicating do not appeal to customers anymore. Consumers tend to react and respond to the Brands they can communicate with directly, passive marketing based on billboards and flyers does not allow that. Using digital marketing made it possible for companies to communicate with the market and monitor its response at the same time, which allowed them to adapt to the observed trends of the markets. It also allowed them to try, to a certain degree, to create, control and lead trends on the market.

Social networks, in particular, have allowed companies to efficiently use digital marketing to raise brand awareness, promote new content, products, and services, develop trust with consumers, maintain an existing client base and expand it, and also to research, analyse, and monitor the markets to adapt to its needs even better.

When we consider that digital marketing can be up to 60% cheaper and up to 3 times more efficient than traditional marketing, it is clear why digital marketing is developing fast.

Website basics

The web site has been a starting point for digital marketing development and has so far proven to be the basic content source when building brand awareness. It is the starting point of every brand in the digital world. Combined with Google Analytics, AdWords, etc it is the basic digital marketing element today. These tools allow companies to track, monitor, and analyse consumer interest when visiting a web site, check who the buyers are and why visitors left without buying. In this way, they are a source of information for changing, correcting and innovating marketing strategies and tactics in the digital world.

Social media

Today, social media is the most powerful platform for building marketing campaigns and creating and developing brands. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn with their following count in the billions, represent an endless field for marketing experimentation and development. These are the networks that can be used to develop a personal relationship with a consumer and to invoke an emotional response, engaging a customer in the marketing activity of a company.

Blog, Bloggers, and Influencers

In today’s marketing and digital world, the customer tends to believe what others are saying about the company rather than what the company is saying about itself. In these conditions, companies are inclined to use other means of communicating with their target audience. Using blogs or bloggers and influencers has come to be a way of creating an image of a company and Brand promotion to the public we want to communicate with (customers and potential customers) Experienced bloggers and influencers that communicate with our target audience can be beneficial in raising brand awareness and realising planned marketing strategies.

These communication lines are also connected to new innovative and interactive marketing tools that are very beneficial to companies using them.

These aspects of digital marketing are also closely tied to Search Engine Optimisation which is one of the most important elements of marketing online. SEO is the process of optimising the content of a website, blog, or social media post by adding elements relevant to search engines to increase the rank of a web page and generate a high rate of traffic.

Marketing has evolved from its beginning and changed to adapt to the fluctuating markets, technologies, and habits of the consumers. As a term, marketing is often not completely understood and it is important to research it and study it further. In light of its continual development, we have pointed at some of the topics for study and analysis. However, in order to create and implement an effective marketing strategy, it is important to know that the market for marketing professionals and companies is very well developed.

The market has a veritable sea of knowledge and experience, so hiring a professional might be a good starting point when drawing up your marketing strategy.

The post Marketing Basics – The What, The How And The Why!? appeared first on SEMA.

Picture this: you’ve been working hard on creating the perfect marketing campaign for your brand, you’ve come up with all the details, everything was organized perfectly, and the campaign was seemingly successfully launched. Instead of acquiring you many new customers, however, the campaign has resulted in public outrage and the loss of, up until then, many loyal customers. It is a sad fact that these kinds of grossly insensitive campaigns happen all too often.

Some recover from it, some don’t. To be on the safe side as much as it is possible, it’s useful (and fun) to learn about unsuccessful marketing campaigns, so that you can be prepared when it’s time to launch your own campaign.

With that in mind, here are some of the major marketing fails of 2018/19.

#01 Heineken’s Bar Commercial

The first fail that we’ll discuss happened to Heineken back in March 2018, when this company’s marketing division envisioned a commercial that had many viewers accusing it of being racist. Namely, the commercial takes place in a bar. The bartender notices a beautiful white woman entering. In an effort to woo this woman, the bartender opens a bottle of Heineken and slides it down the bar toward the woman.

Nothing wrong with that, right? Sure, except one little detail that made this commercial one of the major marketing fails of 2018. Namely, as the bottle slides along the bar, it passes right by no less than three people of colour and no people of other ethnicities! Soon after the commercial was originally broadcast, there was a reaction on social media, notably by Chance the Rapper, who called the commercial “terribly racist”. With many other people thinking the same, Heineken’s commercial was a spectacular failure.

#02 Dolce & Gabbana’s Chinese Controversy

Then, there’s Dolce & Gabbana’s campaign that backfired and caused a lot of bad publicity for this fashion giant. In the commercial for this campaign, a Chinese woman is shown trying to eat Italian food with chopsticks. While trying to do so, this woman constantly fails, resulting in humorous attempts to finally sate her hunger.

This only goes to show that even humorous (probably good-natured) attempts at marketing can lead to major marketing fails due to marketers’ ignorance. While the people working for Dolce & Gabbana have thought that this would be a hopefully fun and light commercial, in reality, it portrayed Chinese people as so culturally backward that they can’t even use a knife and fork. Even worse, inappropriate comments made by Stefano Gabbana on Instagram surfaced soon after, further damaging the company’s image. Of course, one of the rules of a solid social media strategy is – don’t slam the people of other nationalities (in this case Chinese) on social media if you don’t want your business to suffer because of it (or in any other case, for that matter).

#03 Estee Lauder’s Racist Line of Foundation

The next fail involves products in the line whose full name is Double Wear Nude Water Fresh Makeup SPF25. This is a line of foundation made by Estee Lauder. When a company releases 30 different versions of their product, one would expect that all women will be able to find something for themselves. Unfortunately for Estee Lauder and some of their customers, more than 15 of these versions were aimed at white women, specifically, the ones with very pale skin.

In the eyes of the buyers, when a company unnecessarily designs and markets their product in such a way, it clearly shows a backward way of thinking. It goes to show that they’re aiming their product specifically at white women (and very pale ones), while disregarding other ethnicities. And in 2018 (and 2019 as well), that way of thinking should have been discarded a long time ago.

#04 Dove’s “Unreal Beauty” Disaster

One of Dove’s more important missions, as seen in their marketing campaigns, is to present and reinforce the image of a woman as a beautiful human being. For ages, women have been taught how they should look. From successful models and actresses to other celebrities, women in media are skinny and extremely beautiful, painting the picture that this is how a woman should look if she wants to enjoy having a sense of self-worth. Diets, makeup, even plastic surgery – women have been taught that this is what they need if they want to keep their confidence intact.

With its long-running campaign entitled “Real Beauty”, Dove has been successfully fighting this damaging cultural stance. Up until 2018, that is, when their attempt to empower women turned into one of the major marketing fails of 2018. What happened is that Dove released their clothing in seven shapes, each shape in a packaging with a very abstract form that resembled soap bottles. Instead of promoting diversity, Dove accidentally made women more self-conscious about their bodies, as they were made to choose between one of the seven shapes that best matched the appropriate soap bottle.

#05 H&M’s Jungle Fail

In this case of digital marketing gone wrong, the people from H&M posted a highly controversial picture on this company’s official website. Similarly to some other fails on our list, this picture was also deemed to be racist. Namely, two kids were shown on the picture, both wearing H&M-designer sweatshirts. One kid (caucasian) wore a sweatshirt with the phrase “survival expert” written on it. The other one (black) wore a similar sweatshirt, but with the phrase “coolest monkey in the jungle”.

How could H&M’s marketers think that this was a good idea is beyond us. While there’s nothing wrong with jungle-themed marketing, calling a white person a “jungle survival expert”, while a black person is a monkey in that same jungle is obviously wrong and racist (no matter how cool the monkey is).

What Can We Learn From These Major Marketing Fails?

As you can see, major marketing fails to happen most often due to ignorance on part of the marketing dept. Of course, creating a strong online presence is important, but doing so with the help of qualified professionals who can help you avoid all the potential pitfalls is equally important. For example, if you were looking to make your moving company visible online, you’d need to do it with the assistance of experienced experts. The same goes for any other business.

However, while experts can help you, the trick perhaps is not so much in consciously trying to avoid marketing pitfalls, but rather in respecting all people no matter the race, gender, or sexual orientation. Many people believe that they do respect all people, but their actions (and thoughts) still may be offensive without them realizing it. Apart from avoiding major marketing fails, questioning your beliefs and making sure that your way of thinking isn’t harming other people will also make you a better human being. Win-win.

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Long gone are the more romantic times before computers became an essential part of our everyday lives. Before the internet first appeared, art lovers would sometimes have to go to great lengths to find information about their favourite artists. Of course, this never stopped the entertainment industry from making billions and billions of dollars (Australian or otherwise). Still, the internet has brought much easier access to information on anything you’re interested in.

With the general change in the way that information is distributed and acquired, the marketing techniques have evolved, too. So, if you’re an artist, you better learn how to market your art on social media, as services such as Facebook and Twitter can make or break an artist’s financial stability.

Let your followers get to know the artist behind the art

Obviously, after opening your account on social media, the first thing to do is to provide the basic information – what do you do, what are your artistic products, and how can people buy them? After describing the essentials, it’s time to work on your marketing. An age-old question among the art academics and fans alike, that’s still discussed today, is: “Can you separate the artist from their art?” This question is now more relevant than ever, as artists are frequently banned from the entertainment industry due to their behaviour. Is it possible to like a film made by a person you know has committed despicable crimes?

The answer varies from person to person, however, you will be able to market your art on social media much better if potential customers and fans get to know you online. If they like your personality, they’ll translate those feelings to your art as well. Not only will they buy your art, but they’ll approach it in a more favourable way. That means that they’ll enjoy your art more, meaning they’ll buy more of it. So, instead of only posting updates on whatever piece of art you’re currently working on, try to show your personality as well.

Connecting with your followers will bring substantial benefits.

How can potential customers get to know you on social media? The answer is obvious. Simply use social media, frequently post updates on all sorts of things you like or dislike, and don’t forget to reply to the comments you receive. Alternatively, you can create a profile that exhibits aesthetic sensibilities that are in line with your art. If you’re writing poetry on the beauty of nature, then post beautiful pictures of nature that you’ve found somewhere or taken yourself. If you’re a writer focusing on social troubles, post relevant news stories. The possibilities are endless.

Post consistently 

The more high-quality posts you publish – the better. However, social media algorithms (especially the ones that Facebook uses) usually provide a lower rank to pages that post inconsistently. What’s more, customers themselves don’t like that either. This means that it is better to post once every day than to distribute 10 posts over a period of two days and then not post anything for the remainder of the week.

Facebook algorithms react more favourably to pages that post consistently.

So, determine how much you will be posting, and then stick to the schedule! Unfortunately, life can get in the way of regular posting. Maybe, you have issues with your health or (to be more optimistic) you’re going away on holiday? Whatever the reason, the solution is in preparing posts in advance. You’ll have to work harder, but don’t be lazy, as preparing in advance can save you lots of trouble later. What’s more, there are plenty of social media management tools that can automatize the process while you’re away (and help you in other ways, too).

Analyse, analyse, analyse! 

Before posting anything, though, you’ll need to come up with your marketing strategy. And to do that properly, you’ll need to know exactly what your goals are at the moment. Are you looking to increase exposure and gain more fans? Or, if you’re satisfied with the number of customers you currently have, your objective could be to increase the number of artistic products that you sell to them. Knowing your objectives is essential because all the tactics you use will need to have a purpose, to work toward achieving those objectives.

Being analytical is very important when you’re determining both your goals and your tactics. Some important factors that will influence your overall strategy include:

• The time of day when your (potential) customers are most often found online. This piece of information will allow you to publish the most important posts at the busiest time of day. Save less important posts, that aren’t as relevant to your current objective, for hours when your customers are not so active.
• Which country do most of your followers come from? Once you’ve determined the country, you can modify your posting strategy accordingly.
• Similarly, what languages do your followers speak? If you’re not from Australia (or some other country where English is the native tongue), and you have fans from all over the world, it’s best to use English instead of your mother tongue.
• Compare the popularity of different posts. That way, you’ll determine what your followers like, and what they don’t like. Knowing this, you’ll be able to market your art much better by giving your audience what they want (the customer is always right, right?).

Connect with fellow artists

Social media allows you to connect with other artists and their art. This can be very useful, and not only because you’ll get to (virtually or otherwise) meet interesting individuals and enjoy their art. Namely, you can find out about their own marketing strategies and learn from them. Sharing practical tips can be very beneficial, as artists (creative as they are) can come up with plenty of original ideas on how to market their art. Furthermore, if you like their art, you can promote them through your account, and vice versa.

Finally, connecting with other artists who’ll tell you what they did when their marketing strategy wasn’t going so well can have a great impact on your morale. The strength is in numbers, and having fellow artists who can give you practical advice on how to overcome harsh times, and simply knowing that you’re not alone, can prove to be of invaluable assistance. Of course, social media marketing is an area where creativity and new ideas can easily flourish. Perhaps you will be the one who’ll share original marketing ideas with other artists who will be listening eagerly?

The post Are You An Artist? Here’s How To Market Your Work On Social Media appeared first on SEMA.

Brand purpose is not a new word when it comes to marketing. In order for businesses to be more unique and impactful in a highly competitive world, they are changing their values and mode of operation. The purpose of a brand stands for more than a commitment to certain values and the mission statement. Rather, it defines the value that an organization has in society, which allows the organization to grow while creating a positive impact on the world.

For many marketing teams, this raises the question: How can you effectively communicate the purpose of a brand considering that you are dealing with many other contenting marketing objectives?

How important is a diverse content strategy? 

The options for formatting content, delivering it and methods of consumption are increasing on a daily basis. This provides marketers with a wide range of marketing tools. Over the years, content strategies have grown to be more sophisticated as they target different audiences, product lines, business goals and much more. Your core strategy can include plans to showcase the executive thought leadership in an organization, promote company products, reach different target markets and create a platform for future products.

One critical area that should not be overlooked when a content strategy mix is being created is the brand purpose of a business. Today’s customers care about the brand purpose regardless of the information that it may contain such as corporate social responsibility undertakings, the ethical policies followed by a business or how consumer goods are sourced.

How is your brand narrative being shaped by the market?

The dynamic and ever-changing market outlay is changing the way businesses handle these efforts. Today, they can actually form a foundation for connecting with existing and potential customers.

As a marketing professional, what plans do you have in place to articulate the larger vision of your company and the impact you are making?

The expectations of customers, business partners, prospective employees and the wants of the general public are now being evaluated on a different level.

All of a sudden, businesses are very open in discussing how they choose their core business values and what makes them the most original in the market. These considerations are very important when proposing the value of a business. Today people do not want an enterprise that talks about itself. Instead, when looking at the purpose and value of a business, what is considered is how the content you are providing advances with the interests of employees and customers. It is usually considered if there is a movement around the available value system in order for a dramatic impact to be achieved.

Is there such a thing as too much purpose-driven content?

With the background that I have in economic development, it was always important to tell stories that showed that there was an impact. It was clear that those kinds of stories increased the investment made in economic development projects. Most importantly, those stories gave people the courage to dare and dream, and further, to believe that it was possible to effect significant change.

How many individuals who focus on empowerment and development have been inspired to do great things such as launch a healthcare program or build a learning centre because of a success story, heartrending needs or because of stories they have heard or seen?

To tell the truth, many countries have increased their projections for economic growth or started working towards alleviating poverty because of examples and stories they have heard or by taking cues after getting insights from neighbouring countries that have exhibited similar progress.

However, when the same is applied to the private sector, it becomes harder. It is important to articulate your brand purpose while at the same time taking into account your other content. This makes digital marketing experts face tough choices. For example, if your budget allocation is 20 new pieces of content each month, how many units should be allocated.

Though there is no single approach that can be said to work best for organisations, the brand purpose should be made to reflect organisational goals. You can attract new customers to your business by exploring your brand purpose. Exploring the purpose of your enterprise can also assist you in improving and enhancing the larger content marketing objectives of your business.

Customer behaviour is changing…

The demands of customers are not the only thing that is changing the role of content that is purpose-driven in organizations. Another key consideration is the context in which content is being used in an organization; from the role, it is playing in corporate communications, the integration of marketing to its role in sales.

It is unlikely that many people will follow an individual channel on this topic unless they are addressing the needs of a specific audience. The client reinvented the coverage of this area and began making it an integral part of all organisational processes. Blogs that are product-specific began carrying pieces that are relevant to the target audience. Blogs designed for the corporate level now carry content that tackles issues that deal with executive and organizational areas. Internal communications and investor relations content carry similar stories though with a different spin.

By looking for ways in which different parts of the organization can support the story you are pushing, you can be able to present it in a more compelling manner to the desired target audience.

Organisations have different departments with different functions. For example, you might have a public relations team in charge of managing corporate social responsibility. There you will have a team in charge of creating content for social media platforms. In an organization, you can also have a product team with the responsibility of making a product more relevant to the target audience. In most organizations, these teams function independently. If the efforts of all the teams were pulled together, it would be really fascinating.

For example, consider a Tech company that wants content tackling the involvement of women and technology. The top part of the content can provide on the skill gap for women seeking to embrace technology and the ideal road-map for making this happen. The PR team in the organisation can then focus on investments, coding camps and other partnerships necessary to make this happen. The customer profiles used in the content can contain information on women in the tech industry who are making huge strides in this area.

By focusing on each individual part of an organisation, you can satisfy the functional needs of each part and then link them all together. In order to start making a big impact and headway in this area, you need to start questioning how a connection can be made across the whole organization.

Content strategists…it’s your turn!

Content strategists and marketing professionals have a bigger workload. Simply talking about the purpose of your brand is no longer enough of a deliverable. It is important to offer more than the occasional distant blog post and annual reports of an organisation. Instead, strategists and marketers have to look at how the brand purpose dictates the organisation function and the way different individual parts of the organisation can be used to highlight this.

Interconnecting the bigger content marketing strategy of an organization with the brand purpose helps in telling the story better to the audience. At the same time, it also helps in weaving the brand purpose more strongly into the narrative of your organization.

The post How To Make Brand Identity A Core Part Of Your Content Strategy appeared first on SEMA.

As more and more people are using the internet for shopping, finding different businesses and products, and for generally interacting with various brands through their websites and social media, online marketing is becoming more refined by the day. Improved marketing software, better algorithms, data collection – everything is growing more mature as businesses and brands try to attract new customers and keep the old ones. In order to do so, they need to devise new, effective strategies. And that’s when the benefits of interactive content marketing become apparent.

What Is Interactive Content Marketing?

Basically, interactive content marketing is a type of marketing that entails a real-time reaction to the actions of the consumer. Thus, more personal experience is made possible for the customer. In a way, this type of marketing bears a resemblance to the kind of marketing that’s done live, when a customer visits a store. Even though users are not interacting with another human being, this type of marketing provides them with a somewhat similar, almost tactile experience.

Some of the more popular examples of interactive content marketing include:

• Polls, surveys, and quizzes. Not only will they provide you with useful information, but they can also be used to prevent the customers from becoming bored.
• Contests. People are usually competitive and they love getting things for free. Through contests, they’ll become more interested in your brand and there’s a good chance that they’ll want to see what it’s all about.
• Messenger bots. Thanks to these bots, your customers become more engaged. Messenger bots provide the user with a conversational experience, without you actually having to train a human customer service representative.
• Interactive Infographics. Adding some moving graphics and animations, activated by one press of the button, will make most buyers more focused.
• E-mail marketing and videos. These are great for answering questions and helping your customers understand just what the buying process entails.

Alt text: A messenger bot appearing next to someone’s phone, on which a chat window is open.

The Benefits of Interactive Content Marketing

So, what are the exact benefits of interactive content marketing? Actually, there are quite a few of them.

#01 Customers Become Actively Engaged

First of all, when this type of marketing is used, users generally become more engaged with your brand. By this, we mean that the customers are actively engaging with your content, rather than just minimally participating by reading or watching a video. Active engagement, in fact, is actually more important than the number of visits your site has received or the time someone has spent on it.
By actively interacting, customers form a deeper relationship with your brand. And that, in turn, not only leads them to buy your products or hiring your services, but they are also more likely to stay loyal to your brand. What’s more, interactive content marketing also makes your brand stand out, as most businesses are not employing these marketing techniques. And this further deepens the relationship that customers have with your brand.

#02 Data Collection Is Made Easier

Interactive content marketing also helps with data collection. Obviously, data is very important to marketers, as it allows them to more accurately assess what their customers need. People today have grown accustomed to receiving personalized marketing, which seems tailor-made just for them.
By using tools such as surveys and quizzes, one can collect data in a way that is engaging for the customers. This data will later be essential in improving your services and products so that they are a better fit for your customers. If you use interactive marketing, there’s a greater chance that your customers will bother to provide you with important feedback, that you’ll be able to see it in real-time and change your marketing strategy more quickly and efficiently.

#03 Search Engine Optimization Is Improved

This type of marketing also improves your SEO. Interactive content will have a better chance of being shared and a better chance of attracting more links. And more shares and links mean a better SEO ranking. Interactive content can also be embedded on other websites. High-quality content in the form of an interactive infographic, contest, or quiz, is likely to be embedded somewhere, earning you plenty of SEO points.

Alt text: Someone looking at their online marketing plans, including SEO.

As we said, interactive content marketing makes customers more engaged, meaning that they’re likely to spend more time on your website than if you’ve only used static content. And the more time the users spend on your website, the better will your search engine visibility be.

#04 You Can Effectively Educate the Potential Customers

Before buying your products or choosing your services, most consumers like to get educated first. They’re looking to learn something before making a purchase. Sometimes, they’re just looking for information that will help them decide whether they really need your product and whether it will be the best choice for them.

So, when your content seems more like a pitch, rather than an honest explanation on what your customers can expect, they are likely not to be satisfied.

That’s when interactive content comes in! Infographics and interactive videos can be especially useful in educating the potential customers, rather than straight up pitching them your products and/or services. Consumers usually love to conduct research before buying, and allowing them to do that easily can only be beneficial for your business.

Alt text: A man conducting research online.

#05 Interactive Content Helps You Find Qualified Leads

Interactive content will allow you to more easily find qualified leads. By using carefully created quizzes and questionnaires, you’ll be able to more easily discern whether a user is a low-quality prospect or if there’s a significant chance of converting him or her to becoming your new customer. The key is in asking for small snippets of data that will allow you to determine if a user is serious enough or not.

In comparison to static content, interactive content marketing does a much better job of keeping the users’ interest while they’re answering your questions. Instead of giving up as the questions begin to pile up, they are more likely to stay with your questionnaire until the end and provide you with all the important information you need.

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10 key benefits of video marketing for your business

Although you will find divided perspectives when it comes to the use of video marketing, nobody can dismiss the potential it has. Especially when you examine past marketing campaigns that brought so much success to countless companies. According to a study by Wyzowl, the average attention span is slowly shrinking. As a result, people find it difficult to focus on anything for more than 8.25 seconds, which is less than a goldfish (9 seconds).

This being said, you can see how video marketing fits into the equation. However, even videos are not as they once were. Today, you need to make shorter videos in order to keep your potential clients interested. And even in spite of all this, you will find that there are countless benefits of video marketing campaigns. Here are some of the more important ones to toy with:

Start a conversation

Starting any conversation can be difficult, let alone one that involves selling products or services. And this is all the more challenging when you have a brand new company and nobody knows about you. However, video marketing is definitely something that can make a difference in such cases. Furthermore, studies show that a professionally shot and executed video clip can often turn even the biggest of sceptics into potential clients.

Video marketing is one of the best brand development tools

Most people nowadays are concerned with the influence of VR and AI on modern business and brand development. What many fail to comprehend is the importance of video promotions in all that. Start from yourself – how difficult would it be for you to trust a certain company by only reading about them or their content? Then think how faster the entire process would be if you had a visual aid such as a video telling a story about that company.

The fact is that videos put a human face and emotion on your brand. With videos, you can communicate with your target customers on a personal level, thereby making your brand more accessible to them. You have examples of companies such as Moving of America – NJ Movers, that use video reviews to strengthen their brand.

Everything revolves around mobile users today

People today spend hours and hours on YouTube and social media platforms, watching short videos and GIFs. However, they do all this through the use of their mobile phones, while commuting, having their morning coffee, getting ready for bed, etc. So, it’s only logical to presume that the same principle applies when it comes to shopping for products or services.

Research shows that over 90 per cent of people today will watch videos on mobile phones before making a purchase. It’s the next evolutionary stage of TV viewers.

Videos help you capture the attention of Google’s web crawlers

Given the simple fact that YouTube is the property of Google, marketers can only benefit from using it to further their promotional goals. Although studies and opinions vary, most claim that websites embedded with videos can receive up to 50 times more exposure. Of course, these are not simple videos. You still need to arm them with SEO friendly titles and descriptions to make the biggest impact.

Video marketing enables trust building with clients

Using plain marketing to sell your services or products is a long and tedious road to take. With videos on your side, you can drive conversions, in addition to building trust and long-term relationships with clients. All it takes is a minute-long video that tells the story of your company and its humble beginnings. As long as you are able to elicit emotions from viewers, there is no reason for your company not to rank high on the list within your industry.

It helps you appeal to lazy buyers

With the overwhelming amount of companies and ads that you come across today, consumers don’t have as much time to go through long promotional posts. Even worse are the lazy buyers, which expect you to do everything for them. However, videos give you the opportunity to shorten the time clients need to experience what you’re selling. So, it’s a great way to market to lazy buyers that need a short-burst motivation to make a purchase.

Stay one step ahead of the competition

As mentioned above, there are a lot of companies that disagree with the appeal and benefits of video marketing. Whether it’s the additional cost of it or the time and energy it demands, they are still reluctant to use it. That gives your business the perfect chance to come out on top and overcome your competitors.

Improve retention

With the endless pool of information that the Internet presents, it becomes increasingly difficult to win the attention of others. Videos help you overcome this obstacle with the long-term sub-conscious effect they can have on people. It is no secret that we tend to remember what we saw for far longer than what we discussed or read.

Target multiple demographics

Videos appeal to everyone, basically. Despite this not being the truth 10 years ago, today we all respond to what we watch. Although certain age groups are more drawn towards social media platforms without video content, they are still the minority.

Improve your social media presence

To end this list of video marketing advantages, we turn towards social media sharing. Yet another logical and realistic statistic – drastically more people share videos rather than written posts. So, smart marketers that turn towards video will always make sure to leave a Share button below. And once you do that, all it takes is a little patience and voila – your video can go viral! So, go out there is start investing your efforts into video marketing campaigns.

The post 10 Tips for a Successful Video Marketing Campaign in 2019 appeared first on SEMA.