THE CREATIVE HUB

women entrepreneurs, business today, video marketing, email marketing, social media

Women Entrepreneurs – Boost your Venture via Digital Space

Businesses today are either digital or converting into the digital mode. As women entrepreneurs, taking a leap to expand your passion is a milestone and this digital space is of great support. A strong online presence through various channels is certainly an asset for any business. To get the right ROI, you need to ensure that the right mix of marketing and strategy is applied.

Website – Focus on user friendly and device friendly. Most consumers have now moved from desktops to mobile shopping, so you may need to invest not just on the website but also on the mobile app.

Social Media – There is none without a social media profile and having your space in on social sites is of great advantage. You can get real followers by promoting your page.

Authentic SEO – your website must be search engine friendly. Optimize the website with the right number of keywords that would list your site in Google ranking. You can check for Google AdWords or companies that offer content writing with a flavour of SEO to boost your ranking.

Blog – Blogs are a great way to engage customer. Customers have moved from a story blog to a How-to blog or vBlog. Articles on market trends, what’s new and how-to will be of great use and conversation for the audience.

Video Marketing – part of the digital marketing strategy, this is becoming a strong way of marketing. Uploading content video of your business on channels such as YouTube, Insta, Facebook, Vimeo is gaining immense followers and also has a good conversion ratio.

Business Group – While all of it is digital, involving in business discussion and industry-specific discussion on LinkedIn or any forums is a good way gain popularity and an indirect means to generate traffic to your digital channels.

Email Marketing – Have an option to get subscribers from various channels such as website, social media etc. Generate a good list of email and begin to share company news, promotions and offers to attract more traffic to your online source.

Women Entrepreneurs definitely make a difference and Gender is not a determining success factor. It is a sheer combination of form and function in every space that makes a difference. Invest time and intellect on the strategy to be applied in the channels of digital marketing and ace your entrepreneurial venture. 

Link:ilioSpark.com

Digital Marketing, pandemic , e-commerce, business after pandemic, business after covid-19

Focus for 2021 amidst Pandemic

A beginning of a new decade may or may not change a lot of things, but it can certainly change the way people shop online. The current pandemic condition has transformed the way businesses operate, particularly e-commerce. An adverse situation always makes us stronger to achieve long term success and tech has a great role to play. Mentioned below some of the top industries that will trend this decade.

Digital Marketing

Increased online presence and improved technology is the way forward for brand exposure. Digital marketing encompasses marketing efforts that make use of electronic devices and internet. It is the fastest growing industry as more and more businesses embrace new marketing techniques to create brand recognition.

Transportation

Every business and every person rely on transportation for their daily needs. It is the only way to connect and get things done and hence has a massive demand. From self-driving Teslas to uber and lift, you can realize how much the transportation sector leans towards growth and innovation.

Food & Restaurants

Increased work schedules have kept the current society out of home-cooked meals, it is more a luxury than a daily routine. Many people turn to delivery services, casual dining and restaurants for their daily needs, making it an ideal business to try. The demand is already set, all you need is to make it more customer oriented and build the strategy.

Education

Technological innovation has not left behind the education sector. It has become one of the fastest growing industry and the current pandemic has made it more evident. Recent research has shown that online certification and reskilling continue to top the industry as more people seek knowledge without physical attending a school.

Mobile Shopping

The capability to shop from anywhere in the world is the current shopping trend. With internet being inevitable, mobile shopping is the way forward. Consider beginning a specific brand niche-specific product if you look towards an online business. A platform that allows customers to shop more comfortably, be it mobile or desktop is a sure wat to gain many customers.

If starting a business is on your mind, club a creative idea backed by data and have a reasonable demand projection for profitable results.

Link:ilioSpark.com

women workforce, design industry women, tech women, women mentoer, women leaders

Design Industry Women and their Habits

Design Industry women and their habits. Gender bias and discrimination is not a forgotten topic, it still exists in the corners of social norms, stereotypes and on the pay slips. This is common in all businesses and evidenced even in the tech space. There are challenges that keep women from achieving their complete potential.

This article is a practical advice to all fellow women in the tech industry with the habits you can embrace to support and encourage diversity in a larger community.

Keep up your Strengths & Personal Style

More often we spend time in following some else’s footsteps than developing our strengths and owning it. Find opportunities to chisel your strengths and practice them every day. Women bring perspective from real-life experiences that generally men do not. This gives women an advantage to add their personal experience in design and empathy for end user.

Enhance your Skillset & Tools

There is no easy formula to hard work, you must expand your skills to be in the league. One of a product design firm states that it only hires individuals with the “T-shaped” skillset. T-shaped means, having deep and ground knowledge of their core skill while smartly adding lateral skills and tools to make a more meaningful career.

Focus on Communication

Whatever be the situation, communication is key. It is essential to connect the decisions you have made with the logic and data when speaking to a customer. You could map the design elements to the business goals of the customer to help them understand, why and how you made the decision.

Open to Collaborate

Besides your own skillset and talent, you can achieve great goals and vision only when you work on a team. Look out for opportunities to interact with a diverse group of people, which help you bridge lateral skill growth.

Mentorship is important

Being led by a mentor is a smart way to improve your skills, troubleshoot challenges and progress in your career. If you plan to approach a potential mentor, do your homework on why you want to talk to them and what you are expecting. Given a chance, be prepared with questions, your thoughts on the topic and make a productive and a mutually beneficial meeting. Networking is a quick means to turn for advice and support.

Be the woman to make the change in all areas not only in design Industry. Creating workforce diversity is not a one-day task but a daily one. It is sheer willingness to grow above the ceiling that challenges the status quo.

Link:ilioSpark.com

mobile marketing, mobile marketing trends, mobile marketing tips, social media marketing, mobile marketing tools

Mobile Marketing – Facts and Practices

Mobile marketing refers to applying your marketing strategy to befit mobile users.  This will help them with personalized, time and location sensitive information that customers can use on the go. As most users spent at least 70% of their time on mobiles and tablets, it is essential to customize the ads to fit apps and devices.

Types of Mobile marketing strategies

While there are a variety of strategies, choose the one that fits your business based on the industry, audience and budget.

App-based – 80% of the audience spend mobile time on apps and it is wise to have app based ads to promote your business. Without having to create an app to engage, Google AdMob and Promoted Post ads by Facebook help you to advertise within third-party mobile apps.

In-game – These are mobile ads that appear within mobile games as banner pop-ups, full image ads or as video ads.  

Location based – Mobile ads that appear based on the user location in connection with specific business or requirement of the user helps in targeted marketing.

Mobile search/image ads – Basic Google search ads that feature add-on extensions like click-to-call etc.

SMS – This is the conventional mode of sending text ad messages to user mobile numbers.

You may also take advantage of Google’s mobile ad extensions such as  

Mobile site links – These links allow users to jump to specific pages of your site than wandering around making it very comfortable for mobile users.

Click-to-call Extension – Including a call button right beneath the ad allows the user to instantly call the business for further action. While it is the best channel for conversion, make sure that the call icon is enabled when your business is open and active.

Click to download Ad – This is similar to the click-to-call just that instead of calling the business this will download the selected ad to the user’s mobile.

Best Practices of Mobile Marketing

Clear & Concise – Mobile screens are small, so words have less space. Avoid clutter, keep it simple and crisp.

Local Optimization – Mobile searches are widely for immediate needs, so optimize for local searches to meet user’s queries.

Audience Centric – Design and strategize ads specific to the audience to intend to influence. For young, tech savvy, Mobile Facebook promoted ads may work the trick

Benchmark the Outcome – Experimenting is good only if you are tracking the results.  Align your strategies to meet the needs of the users.

Link: ilioSpark.com

digital marketing, marketing, digital marketing trends, ad blocker, online contest

Digital Marketing Trends 2021

Digital marketing trends for the current year revolve around two factors – addressing personalized, individual need followed by technical optimization of the website. Listing a few of the digital marketing trends.

Snippets and no-click search

Featured snippets are different from normal search results, these are separated by a small box and located at the top. Very importantly, it shows additional relevant information that answers the customer’s question without having to click on any of these. These snippets are for long-tail keyword phrases which are mostly used in questions.

Sustainability

Customers of the present generation are equally passionate about the environment and how their brands contribute to the planet earth. About 81% of online shoppers feel that their brands and the companies should promote sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Ad-blocker Blockers

Most online marketers have their primary traffic stream cut off at source owing to these ad-blockers, this includes PPC campaigns as well. The best means to overcome this block is to adapt and adopt newer methods Readjust your marketing budget to other campaigns such as influencer marketing or sponsored content.

Image and video SEO

Besides the regular image and video searches, you can also submit existing images and search for context or similar images. As many users go in for visual search techniques, you need to make sure the below

·         Include alt text to image description

·         Include images in the sitemap or have an exclusive image sitemap

·         Include SEO keywords in the image file name

·         Ensure to use HD images and videos

Interactive Content

Interactive content is not just about more engagement but should also focus on increasing user enjoyment on the website. Content such as open-ended questions, surveys, quizzes, contests, polls and more can boost your brand’s performance. This will also allow you to collect data on user preferences and product lines.

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation refers to grouping of your audience by specific traits or behaviours. This segmentation will help run many small targeted marketing campaigns for specific audience. You can use this segmentation for specified ads, blog content and social media content.

Follow the above trends for a successful digital marketing strategy. 

Link:ilioSpark.com

online shopping, e-commerce, online stores, digital wallets, shopping,

Future of E-commerce

With the unexpected pandemic last year, every day more and more retailers are moving to online selling, while entrepreneurs are beginning their ventures online. E-commerce is an ever-changing industry with new trends helping your business outdo your competitors and 2021 is no different. Listed below top 5 trends.

Voice Commerce

From sports to online shopping, people are highly relying on voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant to do everything. Voice commerce provides better convenience and accuracy to online shoppers. Additionally, both Google and Amazon are incorporating regional languages into these devices to help customers shop better. Hence, it is essential to optimize your online store for voice commerce.

Omnichannel Shopping

Providing customers, the same seamless shopping experience regardless of the channel they shop is indispensable for engaging your customers. Make sure to optimize your website for mobile users as well.

Looping in AI and AR

With the pandemic converting footfalls to online customers, more and more stores have leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) as their online in-store associate assisting customers and providing personalized guidance and recommendations.

Online shopping doesn’t allow one to try or physically inspect the purchase product. Augmented reality helps bridge this gap by allowing customers to see how a product looks on them even before their purchase.

New Payment Options

Customers look for means of utmost comfort and confidence in their online shopping and hence require multiple payment options to choose from. Digital wallets like G- pay, PayPal besides debit and credit cards are most preferred along with cryptocurrencies.

Visual Commerce to Engage

Not just product pages, your entire website must be enticing and engage customers with visual imagery. Some thoughts on this are, change the image format from JPG to JPEG2000 or WebP, create 360-degree images and video. You can also create visual shopping ads on Pinterest and other social sites to drive traffic and increase sales.

E-commerce is here to dominate the market and online stores must adopt and adapt to the needs and wants of customers to stay ahead in the race.  

Link:ilioSpark.com

shopping patterns, holiday 2020, holiday shopping, holiday shopping deals, holiday shopping trends 2020, online sales,

Has Covid-19 Changed Holiday Shopping Patterns?

The pandemic has changed the face of shopping from being a swift one to a longer one. Criteo, advertising, and retail technology expert team published data on the holiday shopping pattern, product category, and many others.

Criteo reports that the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were less by 5% from 2019. The majority of this was accounted for by online sales than by in-store shopping. Past patterns have proved that customers begin their shopping spree from the Thanksgiving holiday week off and take it up until year-end. However, this year may be tempered because of the pandemic. Let’s be what are the changes.

November – Cyber Month

Unlike the regular sales spike through the long holiday shopping season, 2020 cyber sales saw a sales drop by 9% vs 2019. However, sales on the holiday weekend, Saturday and Sunday had an increase of 6% over last year than Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  

COVID’s influence on Product Type

In the review of Criteo’s data, it is quite clear that COVID certainly has an impact on the purchase pattern and the product category movement. Furniture, software, sporting goods, and electronics indexed low in comparison to previous years. This is factful as consumers brought furniture and other products during the lockdown and quarantine earlier in the year. Apparel, accessories, toys, and games topped the list as classic gifts like every year. Interesting products that sold well are pet supply products, winter apparel, musical instruments, and cameras.

High sales of these products seem to focus on comfort and warmth, which makes sense in the context of the pandemic. Post pandemic, there will be an increase in the conventional in-store shopping and recovery of less selling product categories. The pandemic has changed the face of shopping, made it a longer season and home-oriented products.

Link:ilioSpark.com

Online sales,holiday shopping, holiday 2020, holiday shopping trends 2020,holiday shopping deals

Five Ways Holiday Shopping Will Be Different This Year

Holiday Shopping will be different this year. As each year, holidays are around but it is going to be different this year as everything else. With most cities around the country going into the next round of lockdown due to the increasing number of COVID cases, shopping will not be normal. While shopping is inevitable, you can save and still make the season merrier by following the below methods.

A Timely Gift

This season let the gifting convention be more of time than of an object. Time is a rare gift and it has not received its recognition as we take it for granted. This year, give your time to your loved ones, be it friends or family members. You can connect over apps or meet safely at a distance, keeping it personal this year would be much appreciated.

An Exclusive Holiday Account

While managing your finances and segregating your fund, try to create a fund exclusively for holidaying. A holiday account need not be for expensive items, like a car or house down payment, it just needs to be a place to set aside money for your annual holiday time. Creating such an account will help you realize your dream holiday.

Being Together

Togetherness is a gift of joy that no materialistic gift can supplement. Holidaying is all about spending time with family and friends and being together. Involvement in activities such as virtual or outdoor dinner, movie watching, reading can all be made more fun.  

Look out for Sales

Most retailers are planning to launch as well as extend sales to increase their reach. Since COVID has impacted physical shopping to an extent, shopping online is one of the safest methods, and do watch out for deals from online giants like Amazon and others.

Sooner the Better

It is ideal to begin your holiday shopping early as there are chances of delayed shipping. With increased online shoppers, you may end up paying hefty shipping costs as the holidays get closer.

Think before you spend and plan in advance to treat this year’s holiday shopping as like all other years. Enjoy your holiday with loved ones being safe is the most important factor. 

Link:ilioSpark.com

holiday shopping, holiday 2020, holiday shopping trends 2020,holiday shopping deals,holiday shopping 2020

Shop Smart and Safe This Holiday Season

The holiday season is just ramping up and online sellers are looking forward to, yet another record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales just gone by. While consumers are on the lookout for buying electronics, toys, and household goods to welcome the prospective year ahead, there is an increased proliferation of online sellers on social media, e-commerce platforms, and independent websites.

Deceptive advertisements using pictures and logos taken from company websites lure consumers to buy fake products. Since consumers cannot make physical contact with the product before purchase, buying decisions are impacted by the information provided on the website. There are no foolproof methods to escape this, but consumers can follow a few tips suggested to avoid becoming a victim this holiday season

1.Shop from the company’s website – It is advisable to buy from a company’s website than buying from dealer websites and online bazaars, which may sell the product at a lower cost but it can be a counterfeit.

2.Pay attention to the seller on an e-commerce website – Most companies sell their products on e-commerce websites, while a few sell through distributors on these platforms. If you find a product being sold by the company and other sellers, choose to buy from the manufacturer than from the distributors to ensure you have the original product.

3.Investigate other sellers or distributors – There are cases where a company does not have its own website nor sell through other e-commerce platforms. In such cases, check for details on seller profile, their ratings, feedback, reviews from buyers, etc. You can also watch out for the product type the seller distributes – there cannot be a mix of products like luxury jewelry, electronics, health accessories, etc. This could be a potential counterfeit.

4.Watch out for Price – Before buying, do a pricing trend through a general google search to see the variation. Compare the sale price you have online to what the actual company advertises and then make your buying decision.

Stocked up Vs Sold Out – You can be suspicious when the manufacturer’s channels mention non-availability, but only one or two sellers have stocked up the product, it could be a possible counterfeit.

Holiday time is all about shopping and spending quality money and time. Maximize your spending and spread the cheer of the holiday by decreasing the chances of becoming a counterfeit victim. 

Link:ilioSpark.com

iliospark, iliospark.com, SSS.media migration, Designing agency, rebranding

ilioSPARK.com

ilioSPARK.com – New Name, New Look, Continued Commitment.

As part of our rebranding activity, we are very proud to announce our brand new name ilioSPARK – the creative hub. We are rebranding with a brand new logo and website to align with our design philosophy.

SSS.media is changed to ilioSPARK.com