Digital Growth Magazine - Issue 1

DIGITAL GROWTH OCTOBER 2020 | ISSUE 1

The Future of Marketing • The Future of SEO • What Businesses Have Learned from 2020 • Why you need Employer Branding • How Influencer Marketing is Changing

Quick Reads Social Media Advertising and 4 Tips for Working from Home

Letter from the Editor

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The world is more connected than it has ever been before

Social media advertising

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Boost your exposure and optimise your marketing with best platforms and strategies

4 Tips for working from home

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Our quick and easy guide helps you maximise your newfound freedom and responsibility

Social media marketing trends

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The top 12 trends you need to know

Employer Branding

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The key to attracting and engaging with the best candidates when hiring remotely

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The future of social media influencers

How influencer marketing is evolving, from the content to the platforms, relationships and types

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What businesses have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

What the global business community has learned in 2020 and how you can apply it to your business

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The future of SEO

Introducing Search Engine Ownership, the ultimate strategy for improving your bottom line

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Sales Lead Generation in the Digital World

The evolution of lead generation, and how to use the digital world to increase sales

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The world is more connected than ever before and the

instant communication and instant gratification offered by the world wide web has turned us all into digital natives.

We spend most of our time online, whether it be speaking to our friends and loved ones through apps such as Whatsapp, having serious business meetings via Zoom, or sharing inconsequential images of our meals on Instagram Essentially, our smartphones have evolved into a new appendage for the modern age.

Information is also available at the click of a button and the consumer has become more savvy when it comes to making purchase decisions. As consumers, we are now able to perform in-depth research regarding business, service and product and we have more options than ever before when making a purchase decision.

As the internet becomes entwined in everything we do, the importance of digital marketing for business has become crystal clear.

Businesses have had to become more strategic in their marketing efforts, from quality content creation and social media marketing to highly targeted lead generation campaigns and Search Engine Optimisation. And as the internet of things evolves, so too does digital technology, from AI based technology to Customer Relationship Management tools, businesses are investing in digital systems that are designed to propel productivity, efficiency and growth.

But with so many choices for marketing available, it is difficult for anyone to know where to start.

In this magazine, we outline the different elements of digital marketing and digital technology, helping you discover which marketing efforts and tech advancements will work well for your business. From social media marketing and lead generation to Customer Relationship Management platforms, we take you on a digital journey designed to help you improve your bottom line.

Amit Vyas CEO, NEXA

www.digitalnexa.com

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Amit Vyas is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nexa, a digital marketing agency that was launched in Dubai in 2005. With close to a decade of experience within Digital Marketing, Amit has seen first hand, the dynamic environment with which businesses now have to operate in order to achieve growth and to succeed.

Amit has worked with hundreds of businesses in the Middle East from startups to large multinational clients during his time at Nexa and previously, in the UK. He can be found at international conferences and has spoken at marketing events in the USA (SXSW and Content Marketing Conference), Australia (ANZMAC), India (Content Marketing Summit at the world Marketing Congress) as well as countless others in Europe and the UAE.

ABOUT NEXA As one of the largest fully-independent Digital Marketing Agencies in the UAE, Nexa has provided a vast array of services to over 1,000 clients in the region since 2005. Nexa is HubSpot's only Diamond Partner Agency for the GCC region.

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SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING By: Shannon Correia Advertising is an imperative part of your social media marketing strategy as trust is often fostered with a solid presence online. It is a great way to optimise your marketing efforts and to boost your exposure. Here are the top platforms to use and key elements for your strategy.

TOP 6 PLATFORMS FACEBOOK

There are a myriad of options when it comes to the format of your ad, from carousel imagery to video content. Facebook assists you in deciding the goal of your advertising, whether you’re looking to create awareness, consideration or conversion from your target audience.

DEVELOP A STRATEGY Campaign: The budget and advertising plan needs to be derived from your marketing campaign

INSTAGRAM

There are various ad forms, all of which are highly visual. This includes Story content, ads on the ‘Explore’ section and IGTV for longer form videos.

LINKEDIN

This career networking platform continues to grow and become more social. Ads on LinkedIn can be in the form of text, sponsored content, sponsored messaging or dynamic ads.

Target Audience: Set clear goals when it comes to your intentions for reaching your target audience and develop specific targeted audience profiles

TWITTER Twitter users will primarily be following links or retweeting the content. Your ads on Twitter can be in the form of cards, videos and promo tweets.

SNAPCHAT

A messaging app with high engagements rates.

Ephemeral content is shared publicly or privately by users, partners and publishers. Campaigns are easy to create and provide businesses with great advertising potential.

TIKTOK

The new kid on the block, where marketers can find Gen Z. Here, you can have brand takeovers, in feed videos, branded lenses and branded hashtag challenges.

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Content Creation: Ensure that it is worthy of the budget you’re putting behind it. Carefully consider the text and visuals to produce high quality, unique content

Metrics:

Follow through and analyse relevant metrics. There is a lot of data which can show your return on investment and ways to improve in future

4 TIPS FOR WORKING FROM HOME By: Toni Becker When the Covid-19 virus infiltrated the globe, we all had to make quick lifestyle adjustments, and one of the most universal adjustments was learning to work from home.

Remote working sounds great in theory, but it can quickly take its toll and it does come with particular problems that you will need to address and work through.

DRESS UP! Always get dressed for the work day! In fact, the easiest thing you can do to get your day going is get dressed for it. The action of getting ready for the day, just like you would do if you were going to an office, will propel your motivation and get you on the path of productivity faster than you would if you were in comfy pjs and a baggy gown.

CREATE STRUCTURE! Working from home may feel empowering, but again it all comes down to creating structure. It is vital that you set your working hours and you stick to them.

Also this routine lets you know when the workday begins, and once you take off your work clothes and put on your baggies - you know when it has ended and it's time to put your feet up and relax.

Many remote workers soon find themselves unable to separate home life from work life and end up working 24/7. When your work day has ended make a point of checking out of your work emails and turn off any work related notifications.

If you do not stick to your structure, your work will slowly infiltrate your home life and that is a whole other blog all together.

PRODUCTIVITY!

CREATE A STRICT SCHEDULE!

If you want to be productive while working from home, you need to create a space that is conducive to getting your work done. Yes, your comfortable couch may seem appealing, but a desk space is probably your best option when it comes to creating a productive work environment.

Remember, it is important that you set up clear divides between what is a work space and what is a space for relaxation if you want your freelance work to be successful.

Create daily or weekly schedules and task lists!

Think about it - when you sleep in and take the day at your own pace, do you ever realise it is all of a sudden the end of the day and you still have hundreds of tasks you need to complete? When this happens your stress will quickly overwhelm you and your work will be subpar (at best).

This is why you need to ensure that all your days are structured. Create a schedule for your week, stick to it as much as possible and when you get to Friday you actually get to enjoy that “Friday Feeling” as opposed to that “Friday Rush!”

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SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TRENDS By: Shannon Correia

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INSTANTANEITY

When customers interact with you online, they expect speedy responses to their questions and comments

COMMERCE

Commerce via social media is being introduced as a new avenue for sales at the click of a finger

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VIDEO

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INFLUENCERS

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COMMUNITY

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USER GENERATED CONTENT

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SOCIAL LISTENING

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Video content continues to boom and must be incorporate this into your content plans, both in ‘live’ and edited formats to drive engagement

Building a community of loyal followers and being part of community-based initiatives

Ensure that the influencers are authentic and able to show a return on investment, from the famous influencers down to the micro influencers

Encourage customer posts and show appreciation for your followers by re-sharing their content

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

STORIES

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TIKTOK

TRUST

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MESSAGING APPS

Be highly attuned to your audiences online so you are receptive to their behaviours, attitudes and values

Content that disappears every 24 hours continues to gain popularity, as audiences want to see what is happening in real time

Be transparent and communicate your shared values, including your business's policies during times of untrustworthiness and fake news

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Augmented reality and interactivity is developing to enhance virtual in-store experiences and higher levels of interactivity

The TikTok boom continues to grow exponentially and is primarily the home to Gen Z, a youthful, creative audience who will become the future buyers

Customers interactions with a brand on a more personal level through direct, personalised and possibly automated communication

EMPLOYER BRANDING

By: Shannon Correia

With most of the world having faced lockdown levels due to

a pandemic this year, businesses have had to embrace the online world like never before. People being restricted in their movements lead the world to realise that many jobs can be performed remotely and that adjusting to this way of working is set to become ever-increasingly popular. If this is the position your business is in, you need to ensure you have solid Employer Branding in order to attract the right talent.

Employer Branding for remote hiring opens your business up to the world. If there is no need for an office-based workplace, your next hire could be sourced from pretty much anywhere in the world. Your business has the benefit of working with people who have skill sets that you would otherwise not have had access to, and possibly at rates that are more preferable to you as well. So, how do you attract the right people and earn their trust?

Well, without a strong brand presence, the person you’re hiring remotely may not have had much prior knowledge of your brand. It is likely that your website and electronic communication is the only knowledge they have of what your business represents and is all about. Employer Branding is what will set you apart, attracting people and earning their trust accordingly.

Remote work does not mean that company culture disappears. It is quite the contrary, in fact. Businesses have to adapt and find ways to band together teams that are geographically dispersed. How you structure this will inform your employer brand. Candidates should be given a clear idea of what a typical day working for you looks like. This includes the obligations, requirements and expectations of each team member, as well as the level of flexibility.

How you operate remotely should be geared towards productivity and efficiency, with many businesses opting to have centralised communication via apps. This is a way for the team to stay in touch and be reachable online at a given time.

Since the work is remote, there is no way of physically being there to check everything, so the management style and work flow processes should also be clearly communicated.

While working online, it has become more important than ever to find ways to remain connected virtually. This can come through sharing - sharing online to celebrate the company culture and your employees is a great way of communicating what goes on behind the scenes with potential candidates.

Banding employees together online to share testimonials can hugely benefit your business in terms of rallying loyalty and fostering employee retention.

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3 KEYS TO SUCCESS

MORE CONSIDERATIONS

REACH:

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Connect with candidates via career sites and social media. One of the best places to reach your desired candidates is through LinkedIn. Be sure you are sharing an introduction to your Employer Brand from the very first job ad.

ENGAGE: Now that you’ve attracted candidates, you need to engage with them through the hiring process. This includes video meetings and more details about your value proposition as you narrow your search

SUPPORT: Once you have found the right candidates, you fully communicate your Employer Brand through the onboarding process. This is a chance to educate new hires to your business in-depth, resulting in what should be the start of them being brand ambassadors for your business.

Your business will be tasked with presenting candidates with a unique value proposition. This shows people that your business is committed to the overall wellbeing of your workforce. These need to be in-line with the values of the business and provide a compelling offer. This is due to the fact that the traditional perks associated with a job may need to change in order to suit the new working environment. These are often intangible yet meaningful benefits offered to employees and can spell the keys to success of acquiring top talent.

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Providing access to software and tools that can upscale your employees, or presenting them with unrivalled opportunities with their work and co-workers.

TRADITIONAL PERKS In some cases it may be possible to benefits such as insurance and leave days into employment contracts, though many businesses offer this as an option as many employees prefer the monetary value.

DEALS Membership to certain groups or discounts provide employees with an incentive and added benefit, whether it is for personal retail shopping or access to a collective fitness class.

PHYSICALITY There are instances where a physically sent note or gift is possible to bridge the connection gap, or better yet occasional meetings in person where possible.

When it comes to remote hiring, the keys to success lie within an effective Employer Brand that is able to attract and engage candidates. To do this, one needs to ensure their brand is solidified so that a well presented proposition is offered. This will result in top talent being welcomed to your business and when working with the best, you can achieve the best.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS?

By: Shannon Correia

Influencer marketing has reached a point of maturity, having

been a growing phenomenon over the last few years.

Naysayers continue their narrative that the influencer bubble is going to pop and on the other hand, reports expect the industry to be worth $10 billion by the end of the year. So, what is the future of social media influencers?

2020 has introduced a myriad of lifestyle changes to people across the globe. This has affected trends in online marketing and consumer behaviour. The general shift toward increasing sensitivities online and trust issues have affected the way influencer marketing works.

Now more than ever, the partnerships that businesses have with influencers need to have matching values that extend beyond a specific campaign. People are still naturally inclined to use word of mouth and a longing to fit in as a means of making purchasing decisions, so the influencer remains relevant. Once they have secured the trust of their audience, they can be very successful in their ability to influence the purchasing decisions of their social media followers. With more and more of life moving online, social media is key to reaching audiences - and influencers open the door to many opportunities for your business in terms of their ability to create awareness, draw traffic and drive sales.

The relationships between influencers and businesses is changing. Businesses are opting for long term partnerships with people that are less transactional. This means there will be less gifting in favour of affiliate marketing and commission rates. This secures the investment made and requires there to be a ROI.

This will move these relationships to brand ambassador figures, who a company hires on a contractual basis to help them reach specific goals. This change has been inspired by changes to metrics on social media, such as the removal of the number of likes, a vanity metric that is no longer used to justify the value of an influencer.

Now, influencers are being held accountable to trackable metrics that result in actual leads and conversions.

In its early days, Instagram influencers dominated the industry.

The platform wasn’t geared towards businesses, so it made sense to work with people who could incorporate and share content on behalf of a business and tag or mention them.

However, Instagram is changing with the introduction of Instagram Shopping. The platform prefers advertising from businesses as it generates more revenue that way, and now with shoppable posts, the need to work with influencers will likely come into question for many brands.

In addition to this, there has been a boom in influencers across other social media platforms, most notably on TikTok and YouTube. On TikTok, businesses are incorporating interactive partnerships that have a high potential to go viral, while YouTube being the second most popular search engine has several influencers who mention products in their videos as an effective way of sharing with their audience.

Influencers are now being seen as referred to as creators. This is evident on both TikTok and Instagram. The future sees a change in the kinds of influential people that brands choose to work with.

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This will include a decrease in celebrity influencers, who often simply promote and rely on their reach rather than engagement at a high cost. Instead, micro influencers will be the way forward, as engagement and trust is highly valued. Over and above this, customers are becoming influencers of sorts, as the caliber of content posted has increased, allowing for brands to share user generated content, which is highly favoured by audiences, coming in at no cost at all. Finally, employees are becoming influential too, as they can be seen as insider representatives of a brand who share its values. This is most prevalent on the social media platform LinkedIn. Social media provides a plethora of ways to share content. Smartphones are well equipped to create multimedia content, but it is the quality and creativity thereof that separate the amateurs from the creators.

In line with online marketing trends for 2020, video content is most popular and brings in the highest levels of engagement. It is therefore important for influencers to master videos, both in pre-shot and edited form and social media live streams. An important aspect that needs to be included here is the ability to effectively tell stories, as people want to see how the product or service being promoted fits into the influencer’s lifestyle - there needs to be relational context rather than straightforward marketing.

Influencer marketing is still an effective form of marketing and one that businesses will continue to employ to market their offerings. The industry will continue to evolve based on the relationships, platforms, types and content. This will develop in a way that aligns with the future of not only social media, but the lifestyle and behaviours of the global society as a whole.

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WHAT BUSINESSES HAVE LEARNED FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC By: Toni Becker

The COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold every day, but one

thing is certain, your business needs to build a strong resilience and take on new tactics in order to get through this difficult and unpredictable time. This “new normal” has placed us all in uncharted waters and has caused enormous vulnerability and stress, and no one has been untouched by the chaos of it all.

COVID-19 has brought with it a new reality, and we have all had to isolate from each other while trying to remain connected to clients and work. In order to survive, businesses and organisations have had to quickly become agile and adapt to new business models as they arise.

So, what can we take away from all of this chaos, and what tactics can we implement to protect our businesses and keep them alive and thriving?

Crisis Management and Swift Decision Making is Necessary: Certain countries such as Taiwan and Mongolia responded exceptionally quickly to the pandemic as they have been through similar crises before. These countries immediately mandated the wearing of masks, put rigorous testing procedures into place and implemented contact tracing as soon as possible.

What we can learn from this is that if you already have a plan in place for an emergency, you can quickly adapt to an emergency and prevent things from getting out of control.

Businesses and organisations need to be prepared for anything and right now the world is still unaware of how bad the virus will get before it gets better. At this time, businesses need to take an in-depth look at their continuity and crisis plans, and build strategic plans for any possible situation.

Leaders also need to look at decision making processes and how these can be optimized for the benefit of the business.

In many cases, decision making has radically shifted and decisions that executive teams would have made during the normal course of business differ from those they have had to make during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What makes the pandemic situation unique is that unlike other crises that have a shorter or more predictable duration, this pandemic has an extended and uncertain duration. To deal with this, enterprises must revisit their core competencies.

Determine what the core organisational competencies are, and decide how to leverage those to continue to generate revenue while also considering safety, continuity and resilience.

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Crisis Communication is Essential

In Conclusion

Businesses were blindsided by the COVID-19 pandemic, and they quickly learned that crisis communications teams were essential.

The key lesson for companies is that they need to build resilience into the core of their business - this should be in their business' DNA.

During times of such monumental crisis, communication with business partners, employees, stakeholders and customers become absolutely critical, but if this is not done correctly, it can become a major issue - miscommunication during a crisis can quickly become detrimental.

Business leaders need to act quickly and decisively to any possible change that may arise and should be able to recover quickly from disaster if they have communication, digitisation, automation and planning in place. Once a business puts all of these tools in place - they can expect long-term business sustainability.

Business has changed.

In the age of instant communication and social media it has become easy for messages to get confused and muddled and therefore clear roles and processes need to be followed, and in order to stick to this, key crisis communication spokespeople need to be trained.

Go Digital and Automate The current crisis has proven just how big a role automation and digitisation has in business as it enables agility and quick responses to unforeseen circumstances. This is more than technology and encompasses a completely new process framework, one that allows for rapid response to changing situations.

By putting a fully rounded digital strategy in place, you are able to implement new processes with ease, stay in touch with employees and customers, and keep your sales running smoothly.

An example of this is the need for Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) in businesses. This is a system that companies can use to manage interactions with their customers and potential customers, and is a tool that is used for sales management, contact management, productivity and more.

Basically, this kind of system has the ability to coordinate customer data and ensures conicts and human error do not occur during the sales process.

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Communication has changed. Customer expectations have changed. It's time to acknowledge the impact that COVID-19 has had on our lives as we rebuild and normalise.

THE FUTURE OF SEO: INTRODUCING SEARCH ENGINE OWNERSHIP

By: Toni Becker

W

e all know that trends come and go, and marketing tactics that were previously popular can quickly sink into oblivion.

This is particularly true when it comes to digital marketing, as the online world continues to evolve and shift every single day.

Search Engine Optimisation, also known as SEO, has dramatically altered since it first became a part of the marketing world in 1997.

In the beginning, to get your website to rank online, you would simply focus all of your SEO efforts on keywords, getting your pages to rank higher than your competitors solely based on keywords. Today, we focus on keyword intent, the user's needs, helpful and useful content, and above all else, conversion rate and performance metrics.

The history of SEO is full of exciting twists and turns, with the birth of new search engines, new SERP features, algorithms and consistent updates, as well as the emergence of SEO experts and advanced SEO tools.

While search engines have evolved enormously over the years, one thing will always remain - as long as we are searching for information online, SEO is vital.

SO, WHAT IS IN STORE FOR SEO IN 2021?

Before we delve in, let’s unpack the ultimate goal of SEO and how it is designed to better your business.

The fundamental goal of SEO is for your website to rank high on the search engine results pages or SERPs. There are two primary processes that will get your page to rank in the results and these are:

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The technical quality of your website The quality and amount of content on your site.

If you have a technically healthy website, packed with high quality, consistent and helpful content, your site will rise up the Google ranks. But the process is not simple, and it takes a lot of time and strategy to get your website to rank above your competitors.

Now, the most important aspect of SEO is to rank higher than your competitors online for relevant, industry related search terms and phrases, because ranking higher than others in your industry makes you appear to be an industry leader, and will get you more click through rates, which has immense monetary value.

AND IT IS UNDERSTANDING THIS VALUE THAT IS KEY TO SEO IN 2021.

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SO, WHERE DOES THIS VALUE COME FROM? The advantages of outranking your competitors online include: More traffic to your website than your competitors More leads and business opportunities than your competitors

1. Search visibility: The percentage of clicks received based on organic ranking positions, across all the keywords being used for their SEO. 2. Search visibility compared to their competitors: Once strategies have been put in place to get businesses to rank higher than their competitors, they will gain more leads and make more sales.

You will build tangible value which makes your SEO a business asset

3. The monetary value of their website traffic: You can now know how much your SEO is worth in terms of cold hard cash.

Your SEO value can be measured, and this is why we believe it to be the year of what we call, “Search Engine Ownership.” Think about it like this, wouldn’t you rather want to own the search engines for searches relevant to your business, and calculate the value of this, than to simply just “rank”?

Without analysing and unpacking the above throughout the SEO process, you will never be able to see the rewards and understand the value of the service provided.

WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OWNERSHIP? When it comes to SEO, transparency is vital and SEO should no longer be kept hush-hush. Businesses need to know the process of SEO in order to understand the long term benefits and these businesses need to see results in a way that they can understand, results based on VALUE in monetary terms - and this is Search Engine Ownership.

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Nexa, the Digital Agency that termed "SEOwnership", believe that clients should always be made aware of three primary areas once their SEO process begins, that is:

TO HELP GIVE YOU MORE PERSPECTIVE, LET’S USE NEXA AS A CASE STUDY...

THE FUTURE OF SEO: INTRODUCING SEARCH ENGINE OWNERSHIP

NEXA AND SEARCH VISIBILITY:

NEXA SEO IN MONETARY VALUE:

Based on data from June 2020, from a set of 400 key-phrases and keywords based on Nexa’s service offerings, they have reached a search visibility score of 75.1% for desktop and laptop users, and they are at 75.9% for mobile searches.

As stated above, for the month of June 2020, Nexa's organic traffic reached 7,469. And they can calculate what this means in monetary terms.

This means that for any of the 400 key-phrases and keywords, they are likely to convert 75% of these searches into website or blog traffic.

NEXA AND SEARCH VISIBILITY IN COMPARISON TO COMPETITORS: But how does their search visibility score of 75.1% compare to their closest competitors? This is an important metric for any business as a click to your website rather than a click to a competitor's website can be the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

Using the same data, keywords and key phrases, Nexa's closest competitor's search visibility score is at 33.7%. As per the June 2020 data, their search engine visibility drove 7,469 visitors to their website through organic search alone.

Using the same set of keywords and key-phrases, their competitors drove only 2,453 visits in this time. This means that Nexa received 3x more visits due to their high search engine visibility.

If a new competitor had to enter the market and their objective was to generate the same amount of traffic as Nexa, we can determine how much investment they would have to make in their marketing efforts to reach the same visits and clicks on their website.

Based on Google data and analytics for the same set of keywords and key-phrases, the average cost per click using the Google AdWords platform would be $7.20.

This means that Nexa's competitors would have to pay $7.20 for every click through to their website using Google AdWords, which equates to US$ 53,086 for that particular month.

This means that they would have to spend this amount every month to reach the same traffic that Nexa reaches organically and for FREE. This is a massive asset to any business, however website traffic is not the only determinant of Nexa's SEOwnership value. In essence, this traffic converts into a consistent flow of leads and if Nexa converts 1% of that traffic into new business, the ROI becomes even more significant.

AND THIS IS WHY SEOWNERSHIP IS THE FUTURE OF SEO! 14

By: Toni Becker

SALES LEAD GENERATION IN THE DIGITAL WORLD Today’s consumer is in charge of what they want to see and

PRINT MARKETING

In today's digital climate, we need to ensure that the customer is genuinely interested in the service or product before “pitching” or offering it to them.

With the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1440, lead generation began to take on a new form as print allowed businesses to send their message out to hundreds, if not thousands of people over vast distances without having to go door to door.

when they want to see it, and because of this, marketers need to drastically alter the way they generate leads.

To sum it up, in today’s online world marketers need to qualify their leads before they implement anything else, and the more accurate the lead, the greater the chance of them becoming customers.

THE EVOLUTION OF LEAD GENERATION WORD OF MOUTH The vanguard marketers relied heavily on referrals, door to door marketing and being present in areas of high foot traffic for lead generation. With word of mouth and door to door marketing being one of the most essential tactics to creating a thriving business during these times, as most businesses only served their local areas.

But this was an extensive undertaking, and generating new leads required someone connecting directly with another person, making it difficult to scale and not saturate a market.

But as technology advanced, lead generation tactics began to change.

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Marketers were able to advertise in publications and were also able to now place posters and billboards in high traffic areas once deemed impossible. Even with print marketing taking shape, word of mouth and person to person marketing was still the primary source of marketing while newspapers, direct mail and billboards offered businesses even more tools to help in the generation of leads.

MASS MEDIA With the Industrial Revolution of the 1900s, came the rise of big business and advertising. Businesses were able to run promotions in national publications, and the media became an industry on its own.

Radio was able to broadcast company messages to millions of potential customers, and magazines targeting specific interests made it easy for companies to generate targeted leads in specific markets. Then came the invention of the television, which gave businesses the opportunity to showcase and demonstrate their products and services on a new visual level. The telephone gave rise to cold calling while phone books made it easy for marketers to generate leads and target individuals.

During this time people would listen and consume media and outbound marketing and lead generation became a dominant force in the advertising industry.

This was to change with the rise of the digital era.

THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA As consumers became increasingly flooded with advertisements, they began to grow skeptical of what businesses were promising them. Too many bold promises were made, with too many businesses not following through on these promises - and consumers began to distrust mass media and advertisements. Then in 1983 the internet was created, and in the 1990s it became a recognised and household necessity.

The internet was a marketing dream, and the process of lead generation changed once again. ‘Consumers could now be reached on a global and instantaneous scale, and they could be targeted more than ever before. However, this meant adapting to local markets, understanding different cultures and marketers had to quickly improve their market research methods in order to see success.

Pay-per-Click (PPC) marketing, Search Engine Optimisation and Email Marketing were established in 1999 - 2002 and social media platforms began to take shape with the invention of Facebook in 2004.

It was at this point that lead generation was changed forever - enter Inbound Marketing

LEAD GENERATION GOES DIGITAL In order to create a successful lead generation campaign in the digital world, your marketing strategy needs to take every aspect of your marketing into consideration.

This includes PPC, website design and development, search engine optimisation and social media strategy. But one of the most important aspects of lead generation in the digital age is “content creation.”

With a world of information at our fingertips and a social community ever present on our screens, content is something we are inundated with on a daily basis, and without even realising it, we are consistently digesting and searching for new content.

Businesses have had to capitalise on this and it has become vital for businesses to provide potential customers and current clients with engaging and high-quality content to keep them interested and informed.

So, how is this achieved? Instead of sourcing customers through mass advertising campaigns, marketers are now focusing on being found and are learning how to build loyal and consistent relationships with their customers.

This is done by sharing thought-leadership articles, creating interactive and shareable social media posts, and providing targeted audiences with helpful information that benefits their lives.

By doing this, businesses and brands have the opportunity to create close-knit communities, and it is these communities that build brand trust.

Not sure where to begin?

5 STEP TO SALES LEAD GENERATION SUCCESS QUALITY CONTENT Producing quality content is the foundational step in creating a lead generation strategy. According to a survey conducted by Demand Gen, 96% of Business to Business buyers want content from industry thought leaders and 47% of buyers viewed 3 - 5 pieces of content before even engaging with a sales representative.

Set yourself apart as a thought leader by creating a consistent and high-quality blog. Through blogging, you have the ability to gain leads by solidifying your place as an industry expert on topics that your service or product solves. To establish your business as a thought leader you should be posting regular blogs, tips, and news articles regarding your industry.

You should also consider creating extensive and helpful guides that visitors can download via your website. The more helpful you are, the more potential customers will appreciate and trust your business.

SEO Do you ever click on the second page of your search engine results? Probably not.

This is why Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is one of the most valuable long-term lead generation strategies.

SEO refers to the process of affecting the visibility of a website in a search engine’s unpaid results.This kind of organic SEO allows your business to find users when they need you the most.

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There are hundreds of factors that can influence how Google ranks your website within the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

With a variety of factors affecting search results, the best place to start is to begin spending time optimising your local SEO with great content. To put it simply, if you want to be found on search engines, you have to commit yourself to the grind of consistently delivering quality and optimised content.

Google’s algorithms are constantly evolving in an effort to deliver useful and relevant results as quickly as possible. The “useful and relevant results” that Google is trying to deliver are the bits of content that are available throughout the web. These pieces of content are ranked by their order of relevance and usefulness to the individual performing the search.

So, for your content to have value, it needs to be beneficial and helpful to searchers. It cannot be something frivolous and without merit. Slamming in keywords and key phrases that the user is searching for within your content will not help your cause.

Google and your consumer, are smarter than that.

SOCIAL MEDIA When used correctly, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool for lead generation. For this to be used successfully, you need to invest effort into building your audience and engaging with them.

This will develop a sense of community and trust, which will convert your social audience into leads.There are a variety of social tools to choose from and the first step is to identify which of these tools will work best for your brand.

You can run paid social advertisements on a variety of platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

EMAIL MARKETING An important part of email marketing is to tailor your message to target specific segments of your leads database.

As it is today, marketing automation is a great method to assist marketers in sending highly targeted emails to potential clients. Your leads can be placed into an email campaign workflow once you have collected their information from a website form, social media form, or landing page.

These leads can then be reached via email and can be sent content that matches their specific interests or needs. These campaigns can include a subscription to your thought-leader blog, a follow-up email filled with helpful content, and a strong Call to Action.

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Through this process, you will gain greater insight into each of your leads and will be able to tailor your messaging to help move them down the leads funnel.

ACCOUNT BASED MARKETING Account Based Marketing (ABM), is a strategic and highly targeted approach to business marketing, in which a business considers and communicates directly with individual prospects and accounts within a specific market.

ABM leverages off personalised campaigns that are designed to engage these prospects, moulding the marketing message to suit the specific needs of the prospect or account.

ABM is a strategy that focuses on 3 key elements: Identify key accounts Development of personalised content Content campaigns delivered to those key accounts ABM provides an extremely targeted approach to lead generation. It is sometimes compared to outbound sales calls. However, ABM is very different. ABM has taken the best attributes of outbound and inbound marketing, and combined them to create a modern and powerful sales lead generation tool.

Outbound Marketing Tactics: The Outbound tactics ABM uses include the identification of key individuals and target audiences. These prospects will be reached by email or telephone, and every elevator pitch will be personalised, specifically related to the individual or the business.

Inbound Marketing Tactics: Some of the Inbound marketing tactics that ABM uses include; creating helpful, informative, and high-quality content, the ability to thoroughly track the campaign, automation of further communication, and the ability to tailor and personalise all touch points.

LEAD GENERATION CONTINUES TO EVOLVE WITH THE TIMES, AND IF YOU PUT TIME AND EFFORT INTO YOUR LEAD GENERATION CAMPAIGN

BY UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE, CREATING RELEVANT CONTENT, PROMOTING THAT CONTENT ON POWERFUL PLATFORMS, AND CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION, YOU WILL ATTRACT QUALITY LEADS AND CONVERT THOSE LEADS INTO LOYAL CUSTOMERS.

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D I G I TA L G R O W T H OCTOBER 2020 | ISSUE 1