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Friday, October 9, 2020
Online Business Fundamentals:
Software development is a multi-billion dollar industry, so it is not surprising that new tools are often released to meet the growing demand.
When it comes to online businesses, there is no exception.
Marketing tools are essential for any company, including traditional businesses looking to go online, existing digital companies or any individual Internet marketer who wants to build an income from home.
However, with so many choices out there, which one is the most suitable?
Taking a closer look at the marketing software community, no shortages of options will come up in your research.
There are tools for creating websites, building sales funnels, and developing shopping carts so payment can be processed online.
While these are essential tools, the problem that many business owners face is that those products do not seem to be the most suitable for them.
For example, traditional business owners may find that the available products are overly complicated, especially if they do not have the technical skills to run the systems.
Then, there may also be aspiring entrepreneurs who are just starting out, and the high cost of all the available tools means that they are out of their budget.
Finally, there are just too many tools that a new business owner needs, and requiring to subscribe to dozens of tools on paid monthly plans, while needing to understand and manage all the accounts, can quickly become overwhelming.
Because of all these reasons, that’s why GrooveFunnels was created.
GrooveFunnels is a suite of online business tools designed for business owners, but without the complexity and the expensive price tag.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite, because GrooveFunnels is not only easy to use, it is also free.
When members sign up for a free GrooveFunnels account, they get immediate access to a website creator, funnel builder and shopping cart software, all of which allows them to have everything they need to start selling products and services online.
This is especially helpful for those with little to no technical knowledge, because the entire suite of tools are so simple to use that even computer illiterate folks can copy and paste, drag and drop and click and scroll their way to creating professional-looking websites with sales funnels capable of taking online orders.
Not only that, but the free GrooveFunnels account can also add unlimited products, create sales funnels, build branded websites with full navigation, use custom domain names, sell products in just one click, and offer upsells, downsells and order bumps to customers.
Astonishingly, GrooveFunnels also has a powerful affiliate program built in, which means that members can easily start their own affiliate programs and have their own affiliates promote their products for them.
Such a robust software suite is typically unheard of in the software development industry, much less one that is being made available for free.
For those who are looking for the new best way to build funnels and sell digital products, and would like their own complete digital products and services online sales system for free, now is the time to get started with GrooveFunnels.
Iqbal Riaz
https://groovepages.groovesell.com/a/veB9FSIZpsnQ
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Are you using video to boost your business?
Now more than ever, small businesses need to know the many benefits of video marketing and its reach. These days more and more people are switching from conventional marketing strategies to modern techniques which has led to a unique hybridized style that combines the best of both worlds. For instance, an increasing number of businesses rely on email marketing with embedded videos to boost sales.
Similarly, video marketing has moved from strength to strength and is today an industry-wide practice. Today, most businesses are recognizing the manifold opportunities that manifest from a simple yet effective video marketing strategy.
Especially now, video marketing has far-reaching benefits for small businesses, but many businesses tend to neglect their own marketing strategies due to budgetary constraints. Despite being aware of its benefits, features, and all other ancillary notions, people have an inhibition towards promoting their small business. Often this reluctance stems from the cost of promoting their business. And, most businesses will underestimate the value and quantity of what they can promote.
However, video marketing ensures that you can highlight the minute details and nuances of your business and attract sales. And the budget does not need to be broken. Your phone camera and free online video editing software are the only requirements for any video marketing campaign.
With the following tricks, you can easily ensure a successful video marketing campaign to boost small businesses’ sales.
Make A Sharp Intro Video
A sharp intro video does for your business what a business card wouldn’t. A sharp and interesting intro video tells your prospects about you, your company, your brand, and all other ancillary details. The prospect would just have to see the video and get acquainted with what you do and how it impacts his life.
New customers are wary in general. Think of this as a way to break that down and to immediately familiarize your prospect with you and your company. An intro video removes that barrier. From a marketing perspective, an intro video is crucial for the generation of ‘hot leads.’
Involve your Customers
As a small business, you may be reluctant to hire professional models and shoot a professional ad campaign because of the costs. Understandable. There is no harm in prioritizing finances over aesthetics. A different video marketing style can allow you to get your satisfied customers to do your bidding. By asking your customers to send you video clips about their experiences, you can save costs while offering the best type of referral-one with personal experience. A bonus benefit is that it builds your relationship with your customers by making them feel recognized and a part of your business. It is a win-win situation for both.
Look To Popular Influencers
Most small businesses are often concerned about how they can market themselves and save costs simultaneously. Thus, the first step could be partnering with Instagram influencers.
The foremost tips for Instagram marketing are to engage such influencers who have large followings on social media. Influencers today occupy an important spot within the consumer’s minds because of the feeling of shared experiences.
Any follower of an influencer feels a bond or connection with the influencer and so the influencer’s word tends to be more trusted and accepted. An influencer acts like a celebrity endorsement, only more effective and much less costly.
Show Off Your Workplace
Today, video marketing has obtained cult status and is always reinventing itself. As a result, many distinct modes of video marketing have emerged. Facebook and Instagram Live videos, Ask Me Anything Videos, Live Chats have made real-time videos possible and plausible.
Many companies ask their employees to go live on special occasions to showcase the company culture and give viewers a “behind the scenes peek” into your business. For instance, video of Google’s Thanksgiving Day celebrations went viral. The employee had shot an Instagram Live video of the amazing stress-free environment at the company.
Similarly, you, too, can think of ingenious ways to reach out to people and showcase the cultural ethos at the workplace.
Share Your Story
As a small business, your primary focus is to widen your reach and get more recognition in people’s minds. Brand recognition is a relative term that is dependent on your public perception.
A video that displays your struggles, origin, and values is a great way to get people to know you. People-oriented marketing strategies work much better when put up against sales-oriented strategies.
This is because a prospect seeks to find a connection with you on some level before placing their trust in your brand. Videos that try to establish an emotional connection with the target audience are the best ways to promote your business.
From a financial angle, your investment in such video marketing is minimal, and the effectiveness is maximized. But, it does require you to step in front of the camera and tell your story.
In The End
It is imperative to understand that budget concerns may play heavy on a business owner’s mind, but it should not get in the way of innovation. A constant effort must be made for newer and more unique ways to reach customers.
Video marketing is one. The industry itself is rooting for videos, you might be surprised that video marketing is rooting for you as well!
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Unique Video Marketing Ideas
Today, the scope of video marketing has risen beyond just delivering viral content. In the marketing realm, creating content in the form of videos has become more of a necessity now. Various studies and surveys claim that videos are beneficial for brands as they encourage and engage customers. The general consensus of these studies is that both, the brand and the customer, rely on videos.
However, creating a video that increases customer engagement is no child’s play. Regardless of where and how you are producing your video, it requires finance, energy, and time. But fret, not! Here are some unique yet simple video marketing ideas you can apply to your marketing strategies:
Don’t just focus on sales, be a visual storyteller
Every brand is trying to master the art of sales on the internet. This, in most cases, becomes extremely annoying for users and other potential customers. Instead of just focusing on driving up sales, share the story of your brand. Make a connection with your target audience. If you need some extra help, you can always search for the best video editor for YouTube.
Your video strategy should revolve around the value you want to provide to your customers. Focus on the emotional aspect of the video. Remember, it is about connecting to potential customers rather than showing off how good you are as a brand. Having a CTA button attached to your video will increase the website traffic, however, it shouldn’t overshadow the story you are trying to tell.
A little humour never killed anyone, so include it in your videos
Remember, the attention span of an adult is around eight seconds. So, focus on using those first few seconds to really rope in your viewer. Users generally watch videos to forget the reality of living a boring 9 to 5 life. And now that everyone is basically living at work, they need some kind of a break to just get away from the monotony. So, don’t be a bore.
Know what your audience likes and try to incorporate it into your video marketing strategies. Whether it’s humour or pop culture references, your audience dictates your video content. While you serve your audience, also remember to keep up with industry trends. It’s essential to know what’s going on in the industry so that you can make better informed creative calls. By doing this, you will also get an idea about how you can make your video content more engaging. But remember, do not copy anyone else’s idea.
Engagement is the keyword
Try engagement strategies. Ask questions, share interesting statistics (but don’t deep dive into maths), offer valuable tips/suggestions, etc. Before shooting a video, try to answer this question - Why should I invest my time in this video? This is the exact question your audience asks themselves, too. Does this video make them laugh? Does it add to their knowledge or does it teach them something new? Before you plan your video marketing strategy, pay attention to these questions.
Never forget the search engine optimization pillars
Undoubtedly, the video value can be easily enhanced by expanding the SEO arena through various search engines. Before you begin sharing the video or video collage on digital platforms, it is essential to anchor its content with SEO tactics. This aids the search engine spiders to decode your content for the audience and add value to your videos.
Therefore, ensure your videos have enough relevant keywords. Also, if you want to offer unique content to your audience, apart from SEO, your video strategy should focus on outstanding titles and detailed descriptions.
Don’t preach, educate your customers
Humans never stop learning, right? One way to make your video marketing strategy slightly more consumer-friendly is by adding an element of information to your videos. You will essentially be educating your users through videos. Help your audience understand the dynamics of your products and services, some undiscovered secrets about the brand or its products or if possible, give them a sneak peek into something that’s not out in the market yet. Everyone loves some exclusive content. This way, you will begin to form a relationship with them.
Let your customers do some talking
Can you think of all the times you tried out a new product or a brand after your friend recommended it to you? Yeah, we have all done that plenty of times. Your customers’ experience can really turn things around for your brand. Rather than surveys and studies and often even the brand’s own statement, people will trust a customer’s testimonial - whether a stranger or their friend.
If you want to stand out, then instead of text, these testimonials can also be a part of a video. With a background score that matches the vibe of the video and some editing skills, it will definitely get more hits than the ‘customer testimonials’ section on your website. Old customers, new customers - connect with as many as you can.
How to Use Sizzle Videos to Create a Superior First Impression
Sizzle videos are the hot new trend in video marketing, and rightly so.
Imagine sitting in a steak house. Every time a waiter brings in order on a cast-iron platter, people look up hoping that the food that’s making the beautiful sizzling sound is theirs.
That is precisely the function of sizzle videos – to turn heads.
They’re essentially promotional videos that rank high on the Schoville scale due to their energy, instant engagement, and long-lasting impact.
The idea is to leave your audience awestruck and compelled to act at the same time.
Here are some tips to turn up the heat with your sizzle videos.
5 best practices for creating a sizzle video
1. Define your goal
Without an objective, your sizzle video can quickly be reduced to a whole lot of noise.
While your sizzle video should be exciting and entertaining, it should also follow a narrative progression.
Whether your goal is to create brand awareness, generate engagement, or to entice action, the audience should know what to do after watching your video.
2. Use high-quality visuals
Because the goal is to create a significant impact, you need to use high-quality footage and images in your sizzle video.
Also, make sure that all your visual assets are of consistent quality. You don’t want one bad clip to leave a bitter taste throughout the video.
If you’re not able to produce your own visuals, you can always refer to scores of royalty-free platforms for ready-made images and video clips.
3. Choose the right music
Apart from the fast-paced visuals, music plays a huge role in amplifying the energy level of a sizzle video.
Choosing the right music that goes with your visual theme and your brand is the key.
It’s important to keep in mind that the audience is already processing a significant amount of information at a fast pace. So, try choosing a soundtrack with lyrics that don’t overpower your script.
Better yet choose a soundtrack with no lyrics at all, so the viewers have a clean mental palate to process the script.
There are plenty of online resources that provide high-quality royalty-free music.
4. Avoid over-stimulation
Sizzle videos are impactful because they pack heaps of stimulation into a small package.
However, the ‘Woah’ factor fizzles out if you stay on the screen longer than a minute.
The audiences either become over-stimulated or start to lose interest past that point.
Try to deliver your message quickly and leave the audience wanting more, so they have the urge to hit your call-to-action.
5. Consult the professionals
While it’s tempting to whip up a DIY promotional video, you need professional-level skills to create a sizzle video.
It takes meticulous production to create animations and transitions that are coherent with the music and the script.
And since in a sizzle video, a lot of clips and images are squeezed into shorter frames, creating a seamless flow becomes an even more precise job.
Get in touch with a video production agency to do the high-end work for you.
Promoting a sizzle video effectively
Your work doesn’t stop just after producing a sizzle video.
You need to get it in front of the right audience and maximize its reach.
Depending on your business and audiences’ needs, you can place a sizzle video on your website homepage, your social channels, and within an email.
We recently produced a sizzle top-of-the-funnel sizzle video for our business.
By placing it on our homepage, we witnessed an average watch-time of 69.1%. To us, that indicated increasing interest in our services.
We then repurposed our homepage sizzle video as a Facebook ad and recorded an average watch-time of 82.9%.
Overall, producing a sizzle video has been working great for us, and we’ve seen a significant increase in the number of leads. I couldn’t recommend it enough.
Wrapping up
By viewing your sizzle video, your audiences should feel like they just ate their favorite spicy food. It’s an intense experience, but it satisfies their taste buds and makes them crave for more.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
How To Create A Compelling Corporate Video Production For Your Marketing Needs
In the last decade, many businesses have realized the significant role videos have in directly marketing to consumers. With the right video content, you can introduce your company to your target audience better. You get to share more information about your business, and achieve your goal of increasing sales or leads for the company.
A well-produced video that adds value to the viewer and boosts brand awareness can help you achieve your desired marketing goals. But how do you create a compelling corporate video? This is a concern many entrepreneurs struggle to answer. If you find yourself at a loss about how to start, here are six useful tips you can use.
If You want to create stunning corporate videos to increase your brand awareness and sales visit this amazing online video creating platform.
1. Know Your Target Audience
Creating a viral video that everyone loves is an excellent marketing strategy. However, this isn’t something that every business gets to achieve, and such attempts, in most cases, end up being futile. It’s advisable instead to implement a video marketing strategy that focuses on your target audience. By doing this, you’re all set to achieve your marketing objectives like increased traffic, higher sales, and greater brand awareness.
Do your research to understand the needs and preferences of your audience. Some of the aspects you need to pay close attention to are:
- Their language of communication, which you can use to more effectively convey your message
- The channels they use to consume video content
- Your target audience’s needs, challenges, and preferences
Once you incorporate these elements, it’ll be easier to achieve your company’s marketing goals.
2. Bring Out Your Personality
Audiences love watching videos that are exciting and fun. Therefore, make sure your videos are entertaining and bring out your brand’s unique personality. By doing this, your target audience will better relate to your brand. The best way to achieve this is by identifying the unique aspects that set your business apart from your competitors and including it in your videos.
3. Make Sure To Optimize Your Videos With SEO Content
You should also incorporate SEO practices when creating a corporate video. This is crucial as it allows you to showcase your brand to its potential customers. Remember, Google usually indexes YouTube videos. This means your brand will show up anytime a specific phrase or keyword gets searched on the internet. You can optimize your videos in various ways, including adding shortened links containing calls to action, encouraging prospective clients to check out your landing page or website for a special offer, or including keywords in the video descriptions.
It’s also wise to take advantage of the tagging feature on YouTube. This feature helps establish your video’s relevance and categorizes it alongside other related videos. It also increases the chances of viewers checking out your video while watching related ones.
4. Grab Your Viewer’s Attention Within A Few Seconds
The average attention span of viewers is around ten seconds. Because of this, you need to create engaging content within the first 15 seconds. If you don’t, you risk losing your audience’s attention and, as a result, they won’t watch the video till the end.
Creating an introduction with clear and exciting visuals to fascinate and draw your viewer’s attention is one way of doing this. You should also do your best to bring out the purpose of the video right at the start.
5. Use Your Videos To Share Stories
Form an emotional connection with your target audience using inspirational or funny videos. This is important because good storytelling allows you to market your video more effective. This type of videos also does a great job of grabbing the viewer’s attention, as evidenced by sharing stats.
The use of stories also is an excellent idea because it allows you to address complex ideas or situations in a simplified manner. Stories help your audience better understand your purpose, because you’re presenting it to them in a language and form they can easily relate to. As you create your video, make sure to do the following:
- Get personal
- Give inspiration
- Explain a trend
- Show your expertise
- Show a process
6. Use A Professional Voice
When creating corporate marketing videos, speak with professionalism and clarity. Otherwise, your viewers might notice you lack the necessary experience to talk in front of the camera. This will then hurt your brand’s reputation. If you wish to avoid this, hire experienced people to help you out and bring out the company’s best possible image.
Conclusion
Saturday, September 12, 2020
5 Creative Passive Income Ideas That Don’t Involve Investing
For most people, our primary — if not only — source of income is our jobs. But some clever folks figure out ways to keep making money without constant effort.
Those people have passive income streams. What is passive income? It’s a flow of money that is either self-sustaining or sustained with less work than a job.
For instance, dividend stocks, rental property, CDs and annuities are examples of how to generate passive income. All of these, once established, are more about occasional maintenance than work. And you probably see a theme here: A lot of the most valuable ways to make passive income sound like a retirement investment.
All of the things usually considered the best passive income require money you might not have. If you want to generate automatic income by investing your time or property instead of money, here are seven passive income ideas that make the most of your creativity, skills and assets.
1. Write an e-book
Everybody has a story to tell, or something they know particularly well, even if they don’t immediately realize what it is. That makes writing an e-book one of the most accessible passive income ideas — because these days, anyone can publish.
Of course, the ease of publishing is a double-edged sword: That means lots of competition. So, you’ll want to spend as much time figuring out where and how to market your book as you spend writing and editing it.
If you don’t want to handle the cover and layout, you can pay someone to do it for you through websites like Fiverr.
2. Create a course
If you’re thinking about how to create passive income but decide you’re a better presenter than a wordsmith, you have options. Maybe you’d rather offer up advice through video lectures and other online learning instead of writing it in a book.
Or try both: The material from one can provide the foundation for — or be partially repurposed for — the other, giving you twice as many passive income opportunities for the same work. When it comes to how to make money online, recycle wherever it makes sense.
Platforms like Udemy offer an enormous audience of people who may be interested in what you have to say, and they provide many of the tools to create and present the content of your course.
3. Sell stock photos
Maybe words in whatever form aren’t your bag. That’s OK — they say pictures are worth a thousand of them. Up next in passive income ideas: selling your photography.
Businesses — including self-publishing and educational businesses — need photos to help market what they do, and few hire photographers directly. Instead, they just purchase the images they want from stock photography websites such as Shutterstock or Foap.
You can sell your own images to these websites, and if they’re popular enough, you may continue to make money off them years later.
4. License your music
If you’re still wondering how to make passive income with your creative talents, here’s another idea: music. In much the same way people and businesses license photos, they license music for personal videos, shows, films and advertisements.
Two marketplaces to sell your music are AudioJungle and Pond5.
5. Create an app
What if you’re more logical than creative? There are passive income options for you, too. Try creating your own app to publish for Apple or Android devices.
It could be an informational app, a game or some kind of utility. You might charge a price for your app, sell a subscription service or premium version, or display ads.
There are even services to help you build an app without needing any programming knowledge — although those tend to be apps made by people who are also figuring out how to make money online. In other words: not free.