Retail Marketing: 5 Innovative Ways Brands Are Leveraging Technology To Boost Sales

Did you know that 61% of consumers prefer buying from eCommerce stores that also have a physical presence?

Despite the exponential growth of eCommerce, on-ground retail stores and brick and mortar businesses are still flourishing. In fact, technology is only helping them grow faster.

Brands are increasingly offering integrated multichannel shopping experiences that help shoppers seamlessly transition from online to offline purchasing (and vice versa) without compromising on product quality and supply.

To stay competitive, it is imperative that you view technology as an enabler rather than a competing force that threatens the survival of your retail business.

In this article, I’ll share several ways how brick and mortar businesses are leveraging digital retail marketing, eCommerce, and technology, in general, to capture new markets and grow their sales.

Keep reading.

1. Driving in-store sales by offering a memorable online experience

The mainstreaming of smartphones, public WiFi, and 5G data networks means consumers are connected around the clock no matter where they are.

This is having a huge impact on the buying behavior of modern-day consumers. A 2018 study by Google found that 78% of holiday shoppers searched online for a store before personally visiting it.

Image Source: Think With Google

The same study also found that while physically visiting a retail store, 52% of shoppers also visited its website to explore product features, find new deals, and look for discounts.

Like it or not, consumers now expect retail stores to have fully updated websites for better shopping experiences. Because clearly, your website plays a huge role in driving sales even when customers are inside your outlet.

A weak or non-existent online presence will have a direct impact on your sales numbers.

For example, consider this.

Studies show that users wait for approximately 3 seconds for a site to load before pressing the back button. Every additional second your site takes to load, costs you around 7% of conversions.

Even if you have a fast site, but it doesn’t have the information customers typically look for, they’re likely to either walk out of your store without purchasing anything or not spend as much as they would’ve otherwise.

This is why global retail brands like Nike, Home Depot, Target, etc. have fast, secure, and updated eCommerce sites that are fully integrated with their on-ground stores so that consumers enjoy memorable shopping experiences.

2. Engaging prospects with video content

If you haven’t already realized, video content has taken over the internet.

From social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, to product reviews on eCommerce websites, videos have the best engagement rate among different content types and have an immediate impact on conversions.

According to a study conducted in January 2019, explainer videos increase conversions by 15%. This makes sense and is backed by another study according to which 72% of consumers prefer video over text when learning about a product or service.

Image Source: SmartInsights

So how exactly should you integrate video in your retail marketing strategy?

Start by adding product demonstration videos on your eCommerce site. They immediately give the buyers a feel for your product and allow them to understand its utility.

ASOS uses a short video on all product pages which makes it much easier to examine their products.

Source: ASOS

If you’re selling a multi-purpose product that needs to be described in detail, consider using animated explainer videos on your site. A study found that 97% of consumers understand a product better after watching a well-made explainer video.

Using video testimonials is another great way to engage customers and persuade them to take action.

Video, in short, is a powerful tool modern retailers can use to provide a much better account of their products to their target audience.

3. Enhancing customer experience with better in-house communication

Offering online shopping has a lot of advantages for brick and mortar businesses. It not only allows them to market their products to a much wider audience but also helps them serve customers around the clock.

But running online and offline channels simultaneously also presents some challenges at an operational level.

For example, when your eCommerce website has discounts listed for certain products, you need to make sure they’re available in your retail outlets as well.

You don’t want customers exploring your website while inside your store to find a difference in product pricing or incorrect stock information.

These seemingly small errors leave a lasting impact on customer experience and can cost you thousands of dollars in sales. Studies show that companies lose almost $100 billion dollars every year by failing to provide simple customer experiences

Image Source: iperceptions

This is why brands put so much emphasis on streamlining internal communication so that their on-ground sales teams and online marketing units are on the same page.

And it pays dividends as well.

TOMS, a retail shoe brand, reduced communication gaps within its operations team by more than 80% which increased customer satisfaction and made a direct impact on their bottom line.

Better supply chain management is just one of the benefits of clear internal communication.

It also has a direct impact on the motivation level of your on-ground retail staff which again translates into better customer experience and results in higher sales.

4. Using email marketing and retargeting to drive sales

Staying in touch with your customers and building a relationship with them is crucial for any retail and eCommerce business.

When customers remember you and keep receiving new offers, they’re much more likely to buy from you as compared to someone who hasn’t had any interaction with your brand.

According to one study, the probability of acquiring new customers is 5-7% as compared to selling to existing customers which is 60-70%.

Image Source: CoSchedule

Among all marketing channels, email marketing is the best method to stay connected with your customers, offer them lots of value, and build customer loyalty.

There are dozens of studies and stats to prove it.

For example, a study found that email marketing has an ROI of $32 for every $1 spent in marketing.

A research conducted by Adobe found that 50% of customers prefer email as a mode of communication for receiving discounts and special offers from trusted brands.

It, therefore, doesn’t come as a surprise that email traffic has the highest conversion rate among all the different retail marketing channels.

Image Source: SmartInsights

But how exactly can retail stores build an email subscriber base?

Here are a few ideas.

• Place an email sign up form on your website and offer something valuable like a coupon or discount in return for signing up to your list.
• Collect customer email addresses at the point of sale and make them a part of your database with their consent.
• Offer exclusive deals and discounts for walk-in customers who sign up to your list.
• Place email sign up forms at your retail outlet counters and other prominent places.

As your list grows, make sure you stay connected with your customers, don’t spam them with unnecessary emails, and offer them exclusive and timely deals that increase their loyalty towards your brand.

5. Building a coordinated content marketing strategy

Content marketing is a long-term and cost-effective way to grow your audience, generate leads, and drive sales.

But it’s an equally powerful strategy for retail stores and traditional brick and mortar businesses.

Consider this simple research finding.

78% of customers consume more than 3 pieces of content before reaching out to a sales rep to learn more about your product.

Image Source: Demand Gen Report – 2018 Content Consumption Survey

But what if you’re not publishing any content or don’t have a coordinated content marketing strategy?

Clearly, you’ll miss out on a lot of potential sales.

Thankfully, content marketing isn’t as complicated as some people say.

At its core, an effective content marketing strategy simply answers the questions of your prospects in more detail than your competitors.

This can be done in the form of blog articles, whitepapers, YouTube videos, social media posts, and even encouraging customers to leave positive online reviews.

A coordinated content strategy covers all the content types and platforms that are relevant to your target audience.

RiverPools, a fiberglass swimming pool manufacturer with traditional retail operations, is a great example of how content marketing can contribute to business success.

The company was about to shut down in 2008 because of the recession and a shortage of customers. This is when they decided to invest in content marketing.

10 years later, the company’s blog has more than 700 detailed articles that answer the different queries of their customers. They have attracted more than 22 million page views on the back of their content and also published more than 140 videos on their blog and YouTube channel.

Their content strategy alone has driven their company out of bankruptcy and turned into a huge success story of brick and mortar retail marketing.

So how exactly do you create a content marketing strategy?

It’s a detailed topic that Jeff has addressed several times before.

But I’ll leave you with a few quick pointers.

• Identify the core objective you want to achieve with content marketing. Is it branding, awareness, growing your subscriber base, or sales?
• Identify your target audience, list down their biggest problems, their needs and wants, the possible objections they might have while purchasing your product, the questions they have in mind.
• Turn every question into a blog post idea and write detailed articles that tell your customers everything they want to know.
• Optimize your content for search engines.
• Build your social media presence to promote your content and engage with your prospects.
• Build an email list.

There’s a lot more I can say about content marketing but I’ll leave you with this detailed article  by Jeff that discusses content marketing strategy in much more detail

Are you ready to grow your business with retail marketing?

Technology has become an integral part of our lives and there’s no way you can ignore it if you want to run a successful retail business.

With the kind of tools, techniques, and strategies available today, traditional brick and mortar businesses can grow exponentially by engaging their customers with smart use of technology and building long-term relationships.

The business environment is changing fast, and the only way to stay competitive is to keep innovating and using the latest technological advancements to your benefit.

If you have any questions about this article, I’d love to respond in the comments section.

Guest author: Jawad Khan is a freelance writer, professional blogger and marketing consultant. He works with digital marketing agencies, small businesses and entrepreneurs to build their online presence and brand image. He blogs regularly on www.WritingMyDestiny.com

The post Retail Marketing: 5 Innovative Ways Brands Are Leveraging Technology To Boost Sales appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/retail-marketing/

A Guide to Big Data and Privacy – How to Ensure You Are Protected

It’s often said that if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. And it would be comforting if that was true, but in a world dominated by Big Data, it’s rapidly becoming a quaint myth – and one that is increasingly dangerous to believe.

In reality, bulk data collection by email providers, Google, smartphone apps, smart home technology, credit card companies, car manufacturers, and insurers (to name a few major players in the world of data) is a grave threat to both privacy and liberty.

Governments may seem benign, but flip to forms of totalitarian behavior. Companies may start to find ways of sharing data that benefit themselves while compromising customers’ rights. And all the while, individuals are becoming used to handing over every last piece of information about who they are, who they know, and what they do.

In this article, we’ll look in-depth at how to protect ourselves against Big Data. This isn’t a political manifesto or a tech-heavy manual for hackers or cybersecurity mavens. Instead, we’ll lay out the threats, with responses that ordinary people can use to protect their privacy online. But first, let’s quickly get a handle on the scale of Big Data and the kind of threats it has created.

How Big Data has conquered our lives

The advent of Big Data over the past 10 years has been a historic shift in the way modern societies work. And the scale and speed of that shift has caught even tech-savvy individuals by surprise.

For instance, between 2013 and 2015, more data was generated worldwide than had been created and stored in the whole digital era (starting with the 1970s). That’s a massive change in a short period of time, but it’s one that is very hard to sense on a day to day level.

Nowadays, over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced and stored every day, and every individual generates around 1.7MB of data every second they exist. The resources dedicated to analyzing this data mountain have expanded in step, with IBM alone making $2.66 billion in 2017-2018 from its analytics tools.

All of that data helps companies manage their data warehouses, optimize their websites, improve customer service, and understand their users better. In the public sector, data is contributing to medical research efforts, public health campaigns, earthquake detection, and traffic management.

But there’s a dark side to the mass conversion of everyday life to raw data. Take Google, for example. Its use of data is legendary, as is the amount it knows about individual users. From Chrome usage to YouTube videos, where you travel on Maps, Android app usage, and your Gmail contacts book, Google’s tentacles allow it to gather data on ourselves and our contacts which – in some ways – allows it to know us better than we do.

If that data gets into the wrong hands it can be used to blackmail, deny credit, raise health insurance premiums, harass activists, and imprison people based on mistaken identity. It could help campaigns to disenfranchise voters, or spread misinformation about social issues. And above all else, it simply destroys the possibility of privacy. So what can you do to reverse this process?

1. Use secure browsers and search engines

Firstly, privacy-conscious web users should try to avoid Google wherever possible. Chrome may be slick, but it’s a nightmare on the privacy side. There’s no need to go all-in on Tor (although that might be advisable if privacy is your number one concern). Instead, Firefox offers much better privacy than Chrome, so choose that if possible.

It’s also a good idea to switch to secure search engines. These engines don’t keep logs or collect data when queries are made, and some are surprisingly powerful. For instance, Searx basically creates a shield between users and the main Google engine, blocking the search giant’s logging tools.

Be careful, though. Engines like DuckDuckGo promote themselves are privacy-friendly, but actually keep logs. And many rely on advertising which may be based on data collection.

2. Tighten up your app permissions game

The rise of smartphones has more or less tracked the growth of Big Data, and with good reason. A major chunk of the data generated every day comes from smartphone apps that collect data, alongside their core functions.

For example, the FT reported in 2018 on a study of 1 million Android apps. Researchers found that a staggering 90% of those apps delivered data to Google Analytics, while 20% of apps were sharing data with over 20 “partners.”

Even VPN providers can be part of this behavior – especially free privacy apps which rely on advertising to generate revenue. In fact, any Android app that uses a “freemium” model is probably harvesting your data, so think about paying extra for more watertight versions.

However, it’s often possible to limit data leakage from free apps, by tweaking the permissions you grant them. Don’t choose “share your contacts” options, as this is an open door to the collection of private data. And check for permissions to access your camera roll, video camera, location, calendar, motion sensors, speech recognition tools, and social media (the list goes on, and on).

3. Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) wherever you go

If you want to use search engines anonymously, one simple method is to scramble your IP address and encrypt your traffic. Until relatively recently, both operations were beyond the reach of most web users. However, one fortunate consequence of the explosion of Big Data has been the rise of VPN technology, which marries both IP anonymization and data encryption.

For those who don’t know already, VPNs create encrypted tunnels that wrap data in impenetrable packages (well, unless you have access to incredibly powerful processing technology). The data is then routed through servers located around the world, which assign local IP addresses, effectively giving users a fresh online identity.

If you install a VPN browser extension in Chrome or Firefox, it can go a long way to obstructing data collection about what you search for, and the same applies to using VPNs with Android phones. It’s not a magic bullet, and poor VPNs can be self-defeating due to IP leakage, but anyone with privacy concerns should use a VPN as a matter of course.

For an industry-leading VPN provider, you can’t do much better than NordVPN. Based in Panama, it’s quick, has thousands of worldwide servers, isn’t too expensive, and takes privacy very seriously. Check out this NordVPN review for more information.

4. Learn ways to use social media without handing over personal data

Google isn’t the only data-hungry corporation to worry about. In fact, Facebook is arguably more notorious, with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg having been hauled before Congress to confirm that his company doesn’t use apps to listen to smartphone conversations.

Facebook makes $16 billion per quarter from advertising on its various platforms, and it does so by targeting ads based on user data. Over the years, it has used multiple ways to harvest data, including your contacts, the content of all of your messages, your likes, any audio recordings you receive or send, your location, devices, and even the footage captured by webcams.

What can you do about that? Well, many security experts would simply say “log off” and there’s a lot of sense in that. But if you need to stay on the social network, there are some measures you can take.

Remove any third-party apps with links to Facebook via the “apps and websites” section on your Settings tab. Use secure browsers to block tracking cookies issued by Facebook or Instagram (or the handy “Facebook Container” extension on Firefox). And use a VPN to anonymize your location.

None of this will totally eliminate data collection, but they can make you a much harder target, and for everyday users, that should be reassuring.

5. Be very skeptical about smart technology

Finally, we need to talk about smart technology. Now, it’s pretty clear that helpers like Google Assistant and Alexa aren’t going away. People value their abilities and the way they sync up with everyday devices too much to throw them away. So what can you do to make them more secure?

Sometimes, toggling app settings can make a difference. Alexa’s default setting is to collect endless amounts of voice data for Amazon’s staff to sift through, but by logging onto the Alexa app, users can stop this right away. The situation is similar with Google Home. In that case, users can head to their Google Account and use the “Activity Controls” section to toggle off “Voice and Audio Activity.”

Those quick fixes aren’t going to stop Alexa or Google Home beaming data about your inquiries, purchases, song choices, or device connections to corporate data centers. However, they will provide basic privacy protection, and that’s a start.

Always factor privacy into your digital behavior

What’s the takeaway from this quick excursion into the ways we can respond to Big Data? The aim here wasn’t to panic people about what companies are doing with data, but to empower users to take control of the data they provide.

The rise of Big Data has been so swift, and the potential abuses are so profound, that we should all be guarding ourselves and finding ways to control exactly what information we hand over. The fact is that we don’t, and that’s bad news for personal privacy and, potentially, the future of democracy.

However, from private search engines and VPNs to secure browsers, app permissions, and social media privacy settings, there are ways to respond. Mix that with a little more restraint about exactly how much you share, and you’ll be much better situated as Big Data continues to expand – which it surely will.

Guest author: Alex Mitchell is an experienced cybersecurity enthusiast from VPNpro.com team who is fighting against hackers, malware, ransomware data leaks, and breaches – testing VPNs, antivirus softwares, different proxies to find most efficient ways to improve online protection and privacy.

The post A Guide to Big Data and Privacy – How to Ensure You Are Protected appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/big-data-and-privacy/

21 Amazing Sites That Will Pay You $100+ Per Article [Updated]

Whether you’re a writer looking for established outlets to spread your word, or you’re a guest blogger looking to promote your brand and get traffic, you can get paid to do so.

Many sites will pay you to contribute content, while still allowing you to have a bio and retain a link to your site – but very few sites will pay you really well.

Listed below are 20 sites that will pay you at least $100 per article, upon acceptance or publication, and most will allow a bio with a link back to your site.

I also have a bonus for you at the end of this article, so look out for that!

Here we go:

1. Greatist

Niche: Mental Health/Relationships/Getting Healthier

Amount: $125+

Payment Method: Unspecified

Greatist is a blog focused on relationships, mental health, and life as it affects 20- and 30-somethings.

They are looking for articles about mental health, relationships, and getting healthier. They also accept career-related articles (especially when it comes to achieving work/life balance and being more productive), struggles with substance abuse, and social media/technology.

They expect articles to be between 1,000 – 1,500 words and pay at least $125 for each article they accept.

2. Longreads

Niche: Anything

Amount: $250 – $1,500+

Payment Method: Unspecified

Longreads is looking for well-written, well-told, and easy to follow stories that illustrate relatable human experience that their readers can identify with.

They want blog posts, reading lists, short interviews, personal essays, memoirs, critical essays, book reviews, investigative projects, and long-form journalism.

Depending on what category your submission falls into, it can be between 800 to 6,000 words. They pay a minimum of $250 and up to $1,500+ per article.

3. Listverse

Niche: General

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Paypal

Listverse is possibly the foremost authority when it comes to lists online, and they boast an audience of over 15 million readers a month.

They are looking for unique lists of 10 items, usually at least 1,500 words, and they pay $100 upon acceptance of your list.

4. Copyhackers

Niche: Copywriting/Startups/Marketing/Freelancing

Amount: $325

Payment Method: Paypal

Copyhackers is interested in practical content for startups, marketers, freelancers, and designers.

They are looking for articles that discuss topics that include launching and growing a business, freelancing for lifestyle/money, conversion copywriting, UX and A/B testing, product design, persuasion and psychology, etc.

They expect articles to be in-depth and thoroughly researched. They rarely accept articles less than 2,000 words and want articles to feature a first-person story/account.

They pay $325 per article.

5. Photoshop Tutorials

Niche: Photoshop/Design

Amount: $25 – $300

Payment Method: Paypal

They are looking for tutorials related to Photoshop, and they pay anything from $50 to $300 per accepted article depending on whether you submit a “quick tip” or a full tutorial.

6. Informed Comment

Niche: Policy/Foreign Policy

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Paypal

Informed Comment is a leading publication about policy and foreign policy. They are looking for articles that can contribute to policy decisions and foreign policy.

They are particularly interested in content focused on US foreign policy as well as Middle Eastern and South Asian politics. They also want content that addresses religion, human rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, religious discrimination, energy, and climate change.

They expect pieces to be between 800 – 1,000 words and pay $100 per accepted piece.

7. The Travel Writer’s Life

Niche: Travel

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

They are looking for articles about the business of getting paid to travel, whether this is through writing, photography, tours or other means.

They pay $50 – $200 per article depending on the type of article.

8. Bitch Media

Niche: Feminism

Amount: $150 – $1,000

Payment Method: Unspecified

Bitch Media is looking for feminism pieces that are well-researched and backed up with evidence and statistics.

They want articles to be discussion-provoking and to make a connection between the writer’s personal experience and larger social forces; they want articles to be a feminist response to pop culture. Articles can be around 1,200 – 3,000 words.

They pay between $150 to $1,000 per article depending on what category your article falls into.

9. UX Booth

Niche: User Experience

Amount: $100

Payment Method: Unspecified

UX Booth is an authority when it comes to User Experience, and they are looking for research-backed articles on how to create better user experience.

They prefer articles to be in the 1,200 – 1,800 words range.

10. Cracked

Niche: General/Humor

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Paypal

Cracked is looking for funny and clever articles, mainly in list format, and they pay $50 – $200 per article depending on the type of article.

11. Tuts+ Code

Niche: Web Development

Amount: $100 – $250

Payment Method: Unspecified

They are looking for articles on anything related to web development; this could be PHP, HTML5, CSS3 or anything in between.

They pay $100 for a “quick tip” tutorial and $250 for a regular tutorial.

12. Smashing Magazine

Niche: Design/Coding/User Experience

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Smashing Magazine is looking for articles related to web design, graphics design, UX design, WordPress or mobile, and they pay $50 – $200 per article.

13. A List Apart

Niche: Internet

Amount: $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

They accept articles about coding, design, content strategy, user experience and basically internet industry/business.

They prefer articles to be between 1,500 to 2,000 words and they pay $200 per article within a month of publication.

14. Scotch

Niche: Web Design/Web Development

Amount: $150

Payment Method: Unspecified

Scotch is looking for articles about web design and development. Articles can be about React, JavaScript, Node, Laravel, Angular, Python, Vue, CSS, and other web development related topics.

They pay $150 per article.

15. Metro Parent

Niche: Parenting

Amount: $35 – $350

Payment Method: Check

Metro Parent is a leading parenting publication looking for parenting articles. They pay $35 – $350 per article and they want features to be within 1,000 – 2,500 words.

They have a preference for articles from local freelance writers in the following communities: Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne Counties.

They pay via Check upon publication of your article, within the first week of the month of publication.

16. International Living

Niche: Living Overseas

Amount: $250 – $400

Payment Method:

International Living is a publication focusing on living and retiring overseas, and they are looking for articles about living and retiring overseas.

They pay $250 for 840 words, and $400 for 1,400 words. They also pay $50 for one-tine use of your photographs, and they pay upon publication of your article.

17. Sitepoint

Niche: Web Development

Amount: $150 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Sitepoint is an authority when it comes to web development, and they are looking for in-depth articles about HTML, CSS and SASS.

They pay $150 for articles and $200 for tutorials, and they often pay more for articles that are more comprehensive and that they feel will do well traffic-wise.

18. Digital Ocean

Niche: Linux

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Paypal

Digital Ocean is looking for beautifully-written tutorials about Linux and FreeBSD cloud hosting and, besides potentially gaining exposure to their millions of readers, you can also make up to $200 per article.

Your article can come in form of Updates, Simple Tutorials and In-Depth Tutorials, and you can earn $50, $100 or $200 respectively depending on what category it falls into.

19. Tuts+ Vector

Niche: Vector

Amount: $50 – $200

Payment Method: Unspecified

Tuts+ Vector is looking for articles related to Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, CorelDRAW and other vector-related tutorials.

They pay $50 – $200 depending on the nature of your contribution.

20. Tuts+ WP

Niche: WordPress

Amount: $60 – $500

Payment Method: Unspecified

Also, a part of the Tuts+ network, Tuts+ WP is looking for articles related to WordPress; this could be WordPress 3.7+ tutorials, plugin development tutorials/tips and other WordPress related articles.

They pay $60 – $500 per article depending on the type of article.

21. The Penny Hoarder

Niche: Finance

Amount: Up to $75

Payment Method: Paypal

The Penny Hoarder is a leading personal finance publication, and they are looking for articles mostly based on personal experience. Especially ones containing detailed numbers, strategies and advice about saving or earning money.

They prefer articles to be 700 – 900 words, and they pay up to $75 per article depending on a lot of factors; you might need to reach out to their editor first to discuss payment.

Bonus: 50 Websites that Pay You to Write [PDF]

Do you love the above list? Awesome. There’s more where it came from.

As a bonus to Jeff Bullas’ readers, you can also get my report featuring a total of 50 websites that pay writers, most of which pay more than $50 per article, for free.

The report features websites in more than a dozen categories and contains all the information you need to pitch these sites and get paid to write for them. If you’re a writer looking to get paid for your content, this list is invaluable.

Download the PDF List

Guest author: Bamidele Onibalusi is a world-renowned blogger and freelance writer. Huffington Post calls him an “ultimate business success story” and he’s been featured in Forbes and Digital Journal amongst others. He blogs at Writers in Charge.

The post 21 Amazing Sites That Will Pay You $100+ Per Article [Updated] appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

source https://www.jeffbullas.com/20-amazing-sites-that-will-pay-you-100-per-article/