PSPINC Official Company Blog

What is a Customer Journey?

May

3

If you’ve ever worked in sales or marketing, you've probably used or at least heard of a customer journey. While it sounds self-explanatory, fully building a customer journey out will help to create a stronger strategy moving forward. And from a business perspective, continually improving the customer’s experience will lead to not only an increase in sales but also in loyal customers. A customer journey outlines the steps a customer takes when encountering a company, including where they could potentially drop off.

A customer journey typically has five stages: awareness, consideration, acquisition, purchase, and loyalty. The awareness stage consists of how a customer hears about you. This can be through non-digital mediums like word-of-mouth or newspapers. But nowadays they probably found your company somewhere online like through a Google search or on social media. Then, there’s the consideration stage, where customers decide if they want to learn more about your company, your product, and/or your service. If they’re interested, they’ll move forward to the acquisition stage, where they’ll actively explore your company’s content and see how your competition compares.

The Acquisition Stage

a man sitting at a small cafe table with a laptop, notebooks, and phone on the table while the man's holding a to-go coffee cup in one hand and the other hand on his hand

The acquisition stage is arguably the most important step of the journey. At this point, your customer knows who you are, what you’re selling, and how you stack up against your competitors. But whether they purchase or not depends on multiple factors. From the company’s perspective, you want to make sure your brand and what you’re selling is as presentable as possible, the customer’s experience is smooth and simple, and your prices are at the same level as your competitors.

If your products and/or services are too expensive, the customer will just buy them elsewhere. If you’re not the cheapest option, you need to at least tell your customers why. For example, if your product is better because of the material or usability, make sure your customers know that. Because while price is an important factor, many will be willing to pay extra if they think it’s worth it.

Getting Customers to the Purchasing Stage

a woman holding multiple shopping bags while wearing sunglasses and looking at her phone

Once they decide they want to purchase, they enter the purchase stage, hence the name. This could be physically paying for it in a physical store or going through the payment portal on your site. After that is the post-purchase stage. In a brick-and-mortar store, this includes everything the customer encounters after paying. For example, they could see poster ads hung around the store. For digital consumers, this could be a “Your order is placed” page with their order number and details or a follow-up email encouraging customers to follow them on socials and shop from them again.

If your customer is frustrated or overwhelmed at any point in the process, they’ll probably end the journey there. As a business, that’s the last thing you want. You want your customer to go through the entire journey. Actually, what you really want is for customers to come back repeatedly. Beyond that, you want loyal customers to start recommending your products to convert even more people into customers. Or more loyal customers, preferably.

How Loyal Customers Play a Role

a woman holding a bag with a small flower bouquet inside as she leaves a store

For people who are actively loyal to your company to the point of recommending your products, they are what’s called brand evangelists. Regarding the customer journey, repeat customers no longer start from the beginning. Instead, they skip forward to the acquisition stage or straight to purchasing your product.

From a business perspective, it’s important to know how customers interact with your brand. The best way to figure that out is by creating a customer journey. With it, you can identify the steps potential customers make both before and after they purchase from you. Or more importantly, where you need to improve to prevent people from leaving before they get to the purchase stage. After all, you can’t fix a problem if you don’t where to start.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#acquisition #advertising #awareness #branding #business #businesstips #consideration #customerjourney #customers #customerservice #digitalmarketing #google #loyalty #marketing #marketingdigital #purchase #smallbusiness #socialmedia #tech #web

The Importance of Research in Business

Apr

19

Research is important in almost all industries, but particularly in business. With the world constantly changing, the marketplace changes with it. To really make it, businesses have to keep up with those changes to stand out amongst their competitors. The easiest way to do that is to encourage an atmosphere of constant research. By that, businesses need to know how their niche industries are changing, what their customers are responding (and not responding) to, and what changes they can make to improve for their customers.

Businesses shouldn’t just research to stay up to date on things. What you’re really doing is figuring out what consumers will find important in the future. Trends, while they can come and go, are trends for a reason. It means enough people respond to it that it becomes an important facet of their everyday lives. The ones that stick are the ones you’ll need to pay attention to.

Beginning the Research Process

man sitting in front of a aptop while writing something down on paper in front of him

Researching, while it seems easy, has a process. When starting, you need to know what you need to research. There are two big reasons why when it comes to conducting marketing research: to solve a problem or to find an opportunity to exploit. The first reason is more indicative of the ebbs and flows of your business. If there’s a big problem within your niche industry that needs fixing, you’ll want to not only know about it, but you’ll also want to be the one to fix it. The second reason is one that your company will want to research regularly because I guarantee you, your competitors already are.

Then, you’ll want to do what’s called primary and secondary research. Secondary research, however, is a little easier to do. What it really entails is looking through previously completed studies and using them for what you need them for. Primary research consists of surveys, interviews, observations, focus groups, A/B testing, and questionnaires. From a business perspective, these efforts are done to learn more about your customers. An easy way to figure out how your customers feel about your company and what they’re left craving is to just ask them. PSPINC's Opinion Stand is a great and easy way to figure that out. All customers have to do is click on a smile icon to tell you how they feel, which they can access either through a unique QR code or on your website. Or they can embed a form on their website with InforMakers to conduct a survey after customers purchase a product/service.

Using Data to Your Advantage

a woman in a bathrobe and a towel in her hair while applying a skin care product on her face while looking in the mirror

After doing all that research, it’s then time to collect your data. More importantly, it’s time to sort your data and determine what’s relevant and what isn’t. There’s an abundance of information out there, but it’s what you do with it that can make a difference. One very successful example is Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign. In 2006, Dove released a commercial that showed the work that goes into creating a billboard. Namely, all the Photoshop work that completely transforms what a woman looks like. At the end of the video, it says “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted”.

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that customers are smart. They’re exposed to just as much media as we are. So, when it comes time for them to purchase, they’re more than willing to do the work of looking into your competitors to see if or how they’re performing in comparison. Whether it’s in the product/service quality, pricing difference, and/or how you’re promoting it. If your business takes the time and effort to do the necessary research, it’ll make things easier in the long run. You won’t struggle trying to keep up with the industry or your closest competitors because you’ll already be working on making those changes.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

The term "QR Code" is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.

#blog #business #customers #data #digitalmarketing #dove #informakers #marketing #marketingdigital #marketingresearch #opinionstand #primaryresearch #realbeautycampaign #research #secondaryresearch #smallbusiness

Mobile App vs. Mobile-Optimized: Which One is Better for Your Business

Apr

12

With more than half (about 54.4%) of website traffic worldwide coming from mobile devices in 2021, making sure your site works on a mobile device is crucial. It not only has to function well but look aesthetically pleasing too. But with all the focus on mobile devices, businesses have started investing in developing an app. It guarantees that it’ll work well on a phone, as long as enough testing goes into the process. And the hope is that it’ll look good with so many people spending a lot of time and work creating it. So, which one’s better: a site that looks good on a mobile device or an app?

A Mobile App

a hand holding a mobile phone with apps displayed on the homescreen

A mobile app is a type of application software designed to run on a mobile device, which can also include tablets. But building one out takes a lot of time, effort, and money. If you’re building an app in-house, it takes some of the cost because it means you won’t have to hire a development partner, but the development process will still be costly. Not to mention the fact that it will consist of a much longer process compared to optimizing a site for mobile.

The app development process involves building out the concept behind the app, creating a layout for how it’ll function, designing it for a good user experience, testing it to determine where users may find friction in the process, and scanning for necessary bug fixes. Only then can the app go live. Even after that, it’ll still need to be monitored and updated consistently.

Despite the long and costly process, an app does have its advantages:

• Improves brand recognition
• Re-engages existing customers on a deeper level
• Keeps your business at the top of customers’ minds through mobile push notifications
• Presents a new opportunity for sales

Optimizing a Site for Mobile

a woman sitting cross-legged on a small thin mattress on the floor while looking at something on her phone

A site that works on a mobile device is vital for any business to make it today. Technically, every URL should work on a mobile device when users open it in a mobile browser. The difference between it working and optimizing it is making sure there isn’t any friction in the customer’s experience. For example, if you’ve ever opened a website just to see a cut-off image or been forced to zoom in or out to click on something, you probably didn’t stay on the site for long. After all, it looks outdated and unprofessional, which lowers the business’s credibility and deters you from going further.

To effectively optimize a site for mobile, your website not only needs to function, but it also needs to look nice too. But even when users access your business’ site on a desktop, the design should be clean without too many distractions. Thankfully, themes and templates offered by website builders already have this all figured out for you. Including WordPress, which comes as an easy install with all of PSPINC's web hosting options, Dreamersi, YourHost Neo, and Parcom. For users building their site from scratch, using a single or double column layout, effectively utilizing white space, and reducing the number of items in the navigation bar are things you should keep in mind when designing your site. Overall, businesses should be utilizing responsive design, which will adjust design element placements to fit in the available space when browser size changes.

Which One is Better for your Business?

two women sitting on a couch, showing each other what's on their phones

While it may seem obvious to choose a mobile-optimized site over a mobile app (based on the sheer time, effort, and money involved in the development process), there are times when using a mobile app is preferable. If your business has a product or service that causing some friction in their overall purchase experience, an app could fix those problems.

As an example, PSPINC is currently developing an app for DENREI, an invite-only social platform that uses email to interact with your online community. For now, users have to set up the email client using either Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail. While it isn’t too hard of a task, it adds an extra step to the process that could potentially prevent users from moving forward. Given that it’s arguably the most important step in the process, PSPINC decided an app would be the best solution.

If you’re a business wondering if an app is the right choice for you, here are some questions to consider:

• Who is the target market? If your company’s audience skews a little younger, making your site mobile-friendly is the least you should be doing.
• What does the customer’s experience look like? Is there a step preventing them from converting them into paying or loyal customers? Is it something that can be solved with a mobile app?
• How likely is it your customer will download our app? If you’re going to put in the work needed to build a mobile app, you want to make sure people will download it.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#app #brand #branding #business #denrei #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #mobile #mobileapp #mobiledevice #pspinc #pushnotifications #smallbusiness #webdesign #webdeveloper #webdevelopment #webhosting #websitedesign #wordpress

Is Traditional Advertising Still Relevant?

Apr

5

With most of today’s marketing focused on digital efforts, it begs the question, is traditional advertising still relevant? The short answer is yes. Social media and Google Ads have become standard in marketing practices nowadays. And every year, marketers continue learning and adapting to all the intricacies and trends each digital platform has to offer. But there’s still something to be said about traditional avenues, which generally refers to mediums like print ads, TV commercials, billboards, and radio spots.

While many businesses largely write off the prospect of print ads, billboards, and radio spots, it’s a beneficial effort for smaller businesses. For local businesses, marketers focus more on getting customers inside their store, signing up for their service, and buying their products. To do that, they need a more direct approach by emphasizing the store location that runs for a shorter amount of time. Print ads in newspapers and/or magazines, billboards placed around town, and spots on local radio stations are great ways to do that. Especially if they’re trying to target an older audience. And the same can be said with direct mail marketing.

TV Commercials

a family sitting on the couch together with the dad holding a tv remote

As for TV commercials, they’re still largely effective. Despite the growing popularity of streaming platforms, TV commercials are still very relevant. Most streaming platforms even offer a free plan, which comes with ads. Examples include but are not limited to Hulu, Peacock, YouTube TV, Tubi, and more. But the same would still be true, even without these free plans. TV is still the best way to increase brand awareness as it can effectively get your product, service, and/or company in front of a mass audience.

There are also times when TV viewership is higher than ever. Holiday specials bring in a sizeable audience, but the annual Super Bowl is the first big event that comes to mind. While sports TV can generally bring in a male-dominated audience, the Super Bowl is a unique opportunity to rope women into the mix as well. And it’s not just because of the halftime show. Super Bowl commercials have become just as popular as the game. They’re not only watched by millions of people but also talked about. Not just through word-of-mouth but on social media as well. From the last Super Bowl, commercials cost an average of $7 million per ad for 30 seconds of airtime. As expensive as that is, it’s worth the effort if you can afford it. In return, you’re not just getting the ad revenue, you’re also getting a guaranteed audience of about 100 million viewers.

Marketing today includes a lot of digital avenues, namely posting on social media and advertising on Google. With everyone already online, it just makes sense. But traditional advertising is still relevant for businesses that know how to use it to their advantage. For smaller, more affordable efforts, print ads, billboards, and radio efforts are a great way to reach local audiences. But for bigger brands who can afford to pay more for a TV commercial, it can be worthwhile.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#ads #advertising #business #businesstips #commercials #digitalmarketing #directmail #googleads #local #magazines #marketing #marketingdigital #newspapers #radio #smallbusinesses #socialmedia #superbowl #tech #traditionaladvertising #tv #tvcommercials

How to Improve Your Site's SEO Through Content

Mar

22

For anyone who’s ever helped develop a website, search engine optimization (SEO) is very important. Optimizing your site for SEO helps better position your website and its pages in organic search results. For people who use website builders, many of those plans include an SEO tool. The best one, in our opinion, is the Yoast SEO plugin from WordPress, but there are many others out there. And it’s partly why PSPINC offers an easy WordPress install with both our Dreamersi, YourHost Neo, and Parcom web hosting plans. However, users can only use those tools with paid plans. So, here’s some SEO advice you should keep in mind when building and creating content for your site.

Adding Effective Keywords

people sitting together at a conference table, some of which are on laptops as they all work together

When you think about SEO, you might think about keywords first. Keywords are just words and phrases that users will enter into their search engines. So, choose your focus keyword wisely. You want it to be a word you know you’ll use a lot because it’ll be what you want a page to rank for most. But you also want to make sure it’s one that people will search for. An easy way to figure this out is to make a quick Google search with the keyword you want to use and see how many results come up. If it comes back with thousands or even millions of search results, you’re on the right track.

The same process goes with your keyphrase, which is like your focus keyword. The only difference is that it’s a phrase instead of just one word. To better optimize your content for SEO, try to use your keyphrase in your subheadings whenever possible. When you repeatedly use your focus keyword and keyphrase within your web content, it tells Google that you’re using relevant keywords. Google then rewards you by pushing your page higher up in the organic search results.

Improving Readability

a woman typing a document on a laptop while she sits on the couch

This should go without saying, but if your content isn’t written well, people won’t want to read it. Besides the obvious revisions in capitalization, grammar, and overall syntax, there are a few other things to be wary of when creating written content for online users. For starters, try to avoid using passive voice. Instead, use active voice. Passive voice happens when the subject of the sentence is acted upon whereas, in active voice, the subject completes an action. For example, instead of saying “The speech will be made by the mayor tomorrow”, say “The mayor will make a speech tomorrow”. If it’s a situation that can’t be avoided, use the passive voice. Just try to keep it to a minimum.

Additionally, avoid consecutive sentences (starting sentences with the same word) and limit your sentence and paragraph length. Sentences shouldn’t have more than 20 words each while paragraphs shouldn’t exceed 200 words. Between paragraphs, you should also distribute some subheadings and perhaps some images to break up blocks of text. Because no one wants to read paragraph upon paragraph without a break. At least not when they’re reading something online. Also, make sure to link some of your text to other pages on your website as well as other websites.

So, when you’re building and creating content for a website, there are two things to keep in mind in terms of SEO. Firstly, you’ll want to make sure you’re using effective keywords so your web pages will rank higher in Google’s organic search results. While Google Ads guarantees a top spot in the search results, using the right keywords will be vital in determining where on the list your site lands after that. Lastly, your content needs to be well-written, keeping in mind that it’ll be seen by internet users. The language should be conversational but still grammatically correct. Do all that and your site will be in pretty good shape for SEO. And as helpful as paid tools like Yoast SEO are, they’re unnecessary if you already know what to look out for.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #digitalmarketing #dreamersi #google #googlesearch #keywords #marketing #marketingdigital #organicsearchresults #parcom #searchengineoptimization #searchengineresultspage #searchresults #seo #serp #webhosting #wordpress #yoastseo

Rising Social Media Marketing Trends

Mar

15

It’s not a controversial statement to say that social media is an important medium to include in your digital marketing plan today. Over the last few years, customers have relied on the internet even more than ever, and that includes upping their social media usage. In fact, users spend an average of two hours and 27 minutes on social media a day according to a January 2022 report from DataReportal. But what brands do with social media can make a real difference in how potential customers interact with you. Looking forward to the rest of what 2022 has to offer, here are five rising social media marketing trends that you should consider adding to your marketing plan:

Focusing on Brand Intent

two people's hands, each holding an ice cream cone

An important consideration that many potential customers have before buying a product is what your brand stands for. This is especially true if you’re trying to target a younger demographic, such as Gen Z. Customers, especially those of a younger generation, stay up to date on current social as well as political issues. Taking a stand and speaking as a company where you stand on a certain issue takes real courage. But making them actionable will pay off tenfold in the end. That is if you do it right.

For example, Molly Moon, a local ice cream store here in Seattle, leads their brand with the promise that their ingredients are all sourced locally and everything they use in their shops is 100% compostable. While their ice cream quality as well as their rotating seasonal flavors are already a great draw, their commitment towards sustainability is what customers really love about them. If you look at their social media pages, it won’t take long before you find a post that boasts their sustainable practices. And that’s because they know that it’s what brings customers back time and time again.

Personalization

a woman typing on a laptop that's open to facebook

Another way to better market your company on social media is by personalizing your content. There’s a reason why Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist is so popular. But you can even personalize your content on social media as well, and many do. With social media, you can retarget people who have clicked on your previous ads or even searched for something similar. They do this by showing the ad to them again to encourage them to get them through the next step of the purchase journey.

For example, Expedia, a global travel company, retargeted people who clicked on one of their ads discounting hotel and plane ticket prices by showing them another ad with more specific wording. Like if they saw that a user recently looked up hotel rooms in Whistler, they’d include Whistler somehow in their retargeted ad to that user.

Using Influencers and Content Creators

a woman starting to record herself with her phone propped up while she's sitting and holding a small slice of pizza

Influencers aren’t a particularly new thing. Advertisers used to use celebrities to market products, going back to the late 1800s. Today, influencers now extend to digital content creators, ranging from Instagram models to YouTubers. So, it only makes sense for brands to enlist the help of one in their marketing efforts. And the best way to do that is through social media, where these content creators arguably have the largest reach.

An example of this involves Audible and a slew of content creators which includes Grace Helbig, Tyler Oakley, and many many more. On YouTube, all they do is add a clip of them informing viewers that they’re sponsored by Audible and that they can get Audible at a discounted price using their unique code. While there are plenty of other content creators also sponsored by Audible, Helbig, and Oakley do the same for their prospective podcasts. So, Audible not only has a large repertoire of influencers, but they ensure the relationship between brand and creator stays solid. That way, they can continue working with them even if it’s on different platforms.

Content Interaction

three people standing around outside all looking at their phones and laughing

Content interaction, while it sounds like it could be complicated, is actually much simpler than it seems. All it really means is that the end goal here is to have users interact with your social media posts. For a marketer, that traditionally meant increasing likes, comments, shares, and overall engagement rates. However, there are other ways to get a user to interact with you on social media now.

For example, polls have become increasingly popular on social media. Twitter and LinkedIn make it pretty easy to do as it’s included as an option when drafting a new post. Instagram (and consequently, Facebook) is a little trickier. Because it’s an image-first platform, the only way to poll your audience is through Instagram stories. Facebook used to have the option of creating a poll but it’s since gone away. But if you link your Instagram to your Facebook page, it’ll appear on both stories. But even then, you can only offer two choices.

Content Collaboration

a man taking a selfie with his phone while wearing a black nike shirt

Lastly, is collaborating on content with others, whether it’s your audience, influencers, or other brands. For big brands like Nike, it can be as easy as sharing a hashtag and encouraging other users to use it in their own posts. Luckily for them, they have a famous slogan (AKA “Just Do It”) that’s used in the majority of their marketing efforts. For smaller companies, it’s a little trickier to get the kind of response they do.

Content collaboration can include sharing how your company’s working with another. Much like how PSPINC shared how our team helped set up a site for the Johnny Cash museum. For brands that want to involve their customers (or potential customers) more, the best way to do that is either organizing a contest or giveaway. One way to do that is with the help of an influencer but you can also just do it on your own. For a giveaway, all you have to do is figure out what customers want and what you can realistically offer customers. Then, you just have to tell users how to enter (following your account, liking and commenting on the post, etc.), how long your giveaway is running for, and how the winner will be selected. If you’re looking for more of a collaboration, run some kind of contest that requires users to post something from their own account with a specific hashtag. That way, even if users don’t win, you can always look back and use some of that user-generated content (UGC) for future posts.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#audible #blog #branding #contentcreators #digitalmarketing #expedia #facebook #influencermarketing #influencers #instagram #linkedin #marketing #marketingdigital #nike #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing #trends #twitter #usergeneratedcontent #youtube

PSPINC What's New Newsletter Vol. 103 "Email Marketing"

Feb

17

In 1999, Pacific Software Publishing, Inc (PSPINC). released NewsMAIL, a software package for sending email to multiple email addresses. At the time, NewsMAIL was not an Internet-based service like it is today. Instead, it was a software package that delivered email after being installed on a Windows PC. The price was previously $499 and a designated mail server delivered the emails. At the time, spam wasn’t as much of a problem on the internet as it is now. So, spam filtering wasn’t widely available, making this service an effective way to keep existing customers informed on the latest news.

But the packaged version of NewsMAIL put a lot of strain on the mail server. To fix this, PSPINC modified the system from a package to an Internet service, which uses a browser to compose and deliver emails. Now, many companies and organizations use this service for their email marketing needs. Today, NewsMAIL uses two factor authentication (2FA) to prevent unauthorized subscriptions.

NewsMAIL is still an effective medium for announcements. The newsletter you are reading right now is also distributed via NewsMAIL. If you are interested in NewsMAIL, please check the site and contact PSPINC. We’d be happy to set up a free demo account for you.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #digitalmarketing #email #emailmarketing #marketing #marketingdigital #newsmail #onlinemarketing #pspinc #pspincwhatsnewnewsletter

What is a Customer Persona?

Feb

8

If you’ve ever worked in the marketing or sales field, you may have come across the term customer persona. But no matter what industry you’re in, creating a well-rounded persona is crucial in developing a strong and effective marketing strategy. Personas take the targeting process one step further by creating a fully-developed customer as if it were a real person. By definition, a persona is a composite sketch of a key segment of your audience. It requires some creative brainstorming but should still be based on some evidence, like information on your past customers.

This persona should envelop everything you think your ideal customer would be like for this specific campaign. Usually, the targeting process involves the assembly of some basic demographic information (age, gender(s), location, etc.). But creating a persona requires digging deeper into that information and adding some behavioral and psychographic details.

How to Create a Persona

a woman holding a small plaid purse in one hand and small shopping bags in the other

For example, imagine you’re an affordable product packaging company coming out with some new sustainable and biodegradable packaging. After some conversations, you decide that you want to target small organic food companies. So, what are those business owners like? Do they skew more male or female? How old are they? Where do they live? Are they married? Do they have kids? How much money do they make a year? These are all questions you should be asking yourself. And these are all things you’ll need to do some research to figure out.

But if we’re being completely honest, all of these questions should be answered when you’re developing your targeting strategy. Again, the creation of a customer persona takes this even further. Once you have all this information, you’ll start creating an entire personality going off of all the information you just discovered. You’ll give your persona a name and find a stock photo to represent him/her and start building it out even further. And for the record, giving your persona a name and photo is an important step because it makes him/her feel more real and that will help you in the long run for your campaign.

Giving your Persona a Personality

a man sitting on a bench near a plant with a small cup of coffee in one hand while one leg is crossed above his other knee

After defining your persona’s demographic information, you’ll start writing out their personality. What are they like? Are they outgoing or shy? What are they interested in? What does a day in their life look like? How do they behave online? These are all questions you’ll need to answer to develop a realistic and effective persona. But the most important questions will be answering these two questions: What motivates them and what frustrations do they have?

These two questions should be where your campaign can jump in. If we go back to our earlier example, a common motivation for any business owner is that they want their company to succeed. But maybe this organic foods business owner is frustrated by how much waste food companies produce in terms of product packaging. They’re interested in switching their packaging to something more sustainable, but they’ve found that most sustainable packaging is too expensive for them. This is where your biodegradable, but affordable packaging could solve their problems.

How Personas Help Marketing Efforts

a woman and two men looking at a piece of paper that one is showing while they're all sitting at a desk with a laptop in view and papers spread on the table

After figuring all this out, you can better market your products because now, when you’re creating marketing materials, you’ll refer back to your persona. If your persona saw this ad on social media, would he/she click on it? Would they go through the entire purchase based on this ad? If the answer’s no, then you probably shouldn’t devote your time and resources to this effort and figure something else out. And because you gave your persona a name, you can argue that that ad won’t work because Charlie would never click that. And that sounds much more convincing than saying, “I don’t think our target market will go for that ad”.

Customer personas can be a powerful tool for a marketing campaign. But only if you commit to the idea and all the details necessary to develop an effective strategy. It’s easy to create a fictional person and pretend like they’re one of your customers. But it takes much more work to build one out to the point of knowing who that person is and applying him/her to your overall campaign. From there, everything becomes easier because you’re basing your marketing efforts on that persona from what platforms to invest in to the kinds of messaging these ads will have. While building a customer persona takes a good amount of time and effort to put together, it’ll be well worth it in the end.

If you and your business need help developing a customer persona or require a consultation for your marketing needs, please feel free to contact us by phone or email or request for a quote on our Online Marketing page.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#blog #business #businessowner #businesstips #customerpersona #digitalmarketing #marketing #marketingcampaign #marketingonline #marketingresearch #persona #smallbusiness #targeting

What Content Monetization Looks Like Today

Feb

1

With the explosion of content creators over the past ten years, give or take, content monetization has changed the way people make money online. To start, content monetization is the process of making money off of the content you produce. This content could virtually be almost anything: videos, images, audio, text, or a combination of these formats. The most obvious examples consist of influencers on social media (YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagram models) and large publisher sites (like Buzzfeed).

The History of Content Monetization

someone recording a musician playing guitar and singing from a phone

But for a long time, content creators essentially created content for free, for either entertainment or educational purposes. When the concept of YouTubers exploded, people who made it big on the platform didn’t start making videos to make money. They started filming themselves to have fun or to educate others on what they thought more people should know. But once YouTube realized the potential they had on their hands, they dove into content monetization. And other major content-heavy platforms consequently followed. For written content, bloggers and publisher sites mainly generated money through advertising revenues. But when those started to drop, they too looked into content monetization models.

The simplest approach was simply placing ads around the content or before, during, or after the content (for video and audio content). Then, website traffic would mostly determine how much money the creator would make. It sounds simple enough but now there are multiple monetization models people can use to get paid online. But in reality, content creators experiment and adopt multiple content monetization models to find the ones that work for them.

Types of Content Monetization Strategies

1. Selling exclusive rights

someone signing their name on a legal document

This method is by far the fastest way to convert your content into revenue. But it comes with a catch. You’d have to relinquish all rights to the work, which includes any copyright or royalties. Simply put, this is like a work-for-hire type of method where you create and sell the content you create. This process could happen in one of two ways. You can create the content and sell it after you’ve already finished. Or you can find a buyer and he/she will tell you what to include in that content, much like ghostwriting or freelancing.

2. Affiliate sales

someone holding a credit card in one hand while her other hand rests on her laptop keyboard that's open in front of her on a desk

Affiliate marketing simply put is promoting third-party products and earning a percentage of those sales. This could be through referral links that you’d put somewhere in your blog post or the description for your YouTube video. Or they can be through referral codes that you can shout out in your podcast or the actual video. However, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. It’s one thing to promote the product or insert the link into your blog post. It’s a whole other struggle to get the user to not only click on the link but also purchase that product. Regardless, content creators who use this method work within an affiliate program, much like PSPINC's YourHost Affiliate Program. Within those programs, a unique referral links gets created and creators can then promote that product or service to get people to purchase it. It's not always easy, but if your content performs well on a regular basis, affiliate marketing could be the right content monetization model.

3. Subscriptions/memberships

computer graphic with log in to continue written on the screen with an insert email text box and a continue button. Underneath, there's also a see subscription options written.

If you’ve ever tried to visit select sites like the New York Times and you click on an article to read, a pop-up appears for you to create an account. Most of these sites consist of larger brands that have a consistent readership so they can get users to sign up for a membership and/or subscribe to get access to their content. But it’s more than just getting a reader’s name and email address. It also requires them to pay to view that content. To gain access to exclusive content, whether it’s news articles, blog posts, images, and/or videos, users have to pay to get it. And that is the subscription model at play when it comes to content monetization.

4. Donations

someone holding a box that says donations

Have you ever seen a pop-up that asks you to donate? For example, Wikipedia does this now from time to time. That’s content monetization at work. Publishers will directly ask for money to help keep their site running in the form of donations. But even if users don’t donate anything, they can still read, view, and/or watch whatever the content is for free. Unlike the subscription/membership model where users are forced to pay to view it.

5. Sponsored content

If you’ve ever seen a post on social media with the hashtag, #sponsored, that’s content monetization. Or for YouTube videos, if you’ve ever seen the tag, “Includes paid promotion” in the bottom left corner, that’s also sponsored content. What this usually entails is a brand seeking out an influencer, another brand, or a publisher that has the right blend of three things. A good number of followers, viewership, and/or website traffic, and someone (whether it’s another brand/publisher or an influencer) whose personality matches their brand and what it stands for.

How much it costs and how much return you’ll get for that sponsored content depends on how big the influencer is, how much exposure the post gets, and how much that influencer is charging. Regardless, sponsored content helps increase a brand’s overall reach and engagement and ultimately, sales.

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

1404 140th Place N.E., Bellevue, WA 98007

PSPINC Creates Tools For Your Business

Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.

#audio #blog #business #buzzfeed #content #contentcreation #contentmonetization #digitalmarketing #images #influencermarketing #influencers #instagram #marketing #marketingtips #memberships #publisher #smallbusiness #subscriptions #tiktok #videos #youtube

9 Things Every Small Business Website Should Have

Mar

19

image source: pixabay.com

As a business, you want to make sure your office or storefront looks professional. You may apply a new coat of paint, add lighting and signage where it’s needed. You do this because you know your appearance has an effect on people’s opinion of your business. Well, the same concept applies to your online business.

Below, we share 9 elements that every website needs to put its best foot forward.

A Clear Description

When someone visits your website, they shouldn’t have to dig through pages to learn who you are and what your business does. State your business name clearly and sum up your products or services on the homepage. Don’t put everything on your homepage, just enough to give visitors adequate information about your business so they can decide if they’re on the right site.

Easy Website Address

When choosing a web address, note two things: Make it memorable and keep it short. If your web address is complex and long, your visitors might forget what to type in or misspell it. Keep it simple and try to avoid dashes, if possible.

Simple Navigation

So you don’t know how to code or anything about web design. Great! Keep your website simple and easy to navigate. Worry less about how pretty your website looks; instead make it easy to navigate and chock-full of great information about your business.

Clear Contact Information

It sounds silly, but you’d be surprised how many websites don’t have a clear description of the business or any way to be contacted. Contact information should be one of the top priorities when building a website. A clear and obvious section that contains your phone number, address, business hours, and email info can make a huge difference.

If you can, add a contact form on your website to make it even easier for visitors to contact you.

Customer Testimonials

Establish trust and legitimacy with new visitors by adding testimonials to your website. People love to hear from other people about their stories and experiences with a company. If you don’t have any testimonials, start asking your current or past customers to leave one on Google or Yelp. In exchange, you can offer to link to their businesses website from the testimonial they give you.

Call to Action

Each page on your website should serve a purpose and that purpose should have a ‘call to action’. What is the purpose of your homepage? It might be to inform visitors about your business and give them a way to learn more about your products/service. So in this case, you should have a call to action that leads visitors to your product/service information.

If the purpose of your product page is to lead customers to your contact page, have a call to action that links them to the contact page.

Fresh Content

Updating your website with new quality content frequently will not only help your SEO, it will also give visitors the most up-to-date information. Websites that have old and outdated information reflect poorly on the business.

Links to Social

Your business should be on social media as another means to reach potential customers online. A great way to grow your social channels is to include icons on your website that link to your social pages.

Secure Hosting

Often overlooked, a secure hosting platform can make a huge difference when it comes to your website. Small businesses that collect user information need to protect themselves and their customers. It’s important to find a trustworthy hosting company that will keep your websites protected from hacker attacks.

Dreamersi is a product of PSPinc and offers secure hosting packages and SSL certificates that ensure your site is protected at all times.