As technology continues to advance, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and design is becoming more prevalent. At Desketing, we understand the convenience these tools bring us and have integrated the latest AI tools, including ChatGPT, into our workflow. Here’s how AI is transforming marketing and design, and the benefits it brings for our clients.
AI tools can help automate repetitive tasks and provide quick solutions to complex problems. For instance, ChatGPT can assist in generating content ideas, automating social media posting and providing instant responses to customer queries, thus saving time for marketers and improving response times for customers.
I can help to tailor the user experience and target the right audience at the right time. For example, through the use of predictive analytics, it can identify patterns and behaviours of users, and create personalised campaigns and recommendations for individual clients.
AI tools can help improve the accuracy and efficiency of design work. For example, they can aid in the creation of logos, designs, and layouts, making the design process faster and more efficient. This leads to cost savings for clients, as the process becomes more streamlined and less time-consuming.
In addition to time savings, AI tools can help reduce costs for clients. By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining the design process, businesses can reduce the amount of time and resources needed to complete projects. This can result in cost savings for clients, allowing them to allocate resources more effectively.
At Desketing, we are committed to staying ahead of the curve and utilising the latest AI tools for our clients. By doing so, we’re able to provide more time-saving, personalised, and efficient marketing and design solutions, all while reducing costs. Contact us now to see how our AI-powered services can benefit your business.
Here are the general steps for designing (or re/design) a website. Must read before you start any web development.
#1. Define Purpose
Define the purpose and target audience: It is important to have a clear understanding of the goals of the website and who the primary users will be. This will help guide the design process and ensure that the website is effective at meeting its objectives.
#2. Competitor Analysis
Conduct a competitor analysis: By reviewing other websites in the same industry or niche, you can get a sense of what is already being done and identify any opportunities or gaps that you can fill with your own website.
#3. Content Strategy
Develop a content strategy: A content strategy involves creating a hierarchy of information and determining what content will be included on the website. This helps to ensure that the website is organized and easy for users to navigate.
#4. Wireframe
Create a wireframe or prototype: A wireframe is a basic outline of the website’s layout and structure. It can be created using a wire-framing tool or by sketching it out on paper. A wireframe helps to plan out the navigation and organisation of content on the website.
#5. Visual Elements
Design the visual elements: This includes choosing a color scheme, typography, and graphic elements for the website. The design should be visually appealing and consistent with the branding of the company or organisation.
#6. Build the website
Build the website: This can be done using a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, or by writing HTML and CSS code by hand.
#7. Test, Test and Test
Test the website: It is important to test the website to ensure that it is functioning properly and that the user experience is seamless across different devices and browsers. This may involve testing the website on various devices and browsers, as well as conducting user testing to gather feedback.
#8. Launch It!
Launch the website: Once the website is complete and has been tested, it is ready to be launched and made available to the public.
#9. Maintenance
Ongoing maintenance: It is important to regularly update and maintain the website to keep it current and address any issues that arise. This may include adding new content, fixing any bugs or technical issues, and making design or functionality updates as needed.
Contact your Desketing (Design and marketing) Specialist for more information about web design or click here.
Speak with Desketing Specialist Today!
What is branding building in property?
“Brand” (n.) – the kind, grade, ownership, or make of a product or service.
Branding is everything, yes, EVERYTHING. From your tagline, your messaging, your signage, to the interior design of your office, your employees’ uniform, and your customer service – they all represent a brand identity that embodies the core value of your business. Essentially, your brand gives out the first and the most impactful impression.
Old-fashion property branding is about selling the PRODUCT. Yet, due to the increase in dynamic needs from customers, property branding now is about selling the LIFESTYLE. It is about promoting what home buyers are dreaming about and showcasing how enjoyable it is to live in the property.
If you are hesitating to put the effort on brand building, we’re here to convince you:
#1 – The power of customer psychology
When you think about it – branding are perceptions, they are emotive. A positive and strong branding strategy introduces the framing effect to provide positive connotations to the brand image. Specially in property development, you are selling a lifestyle along with a home. When people engage with the core values, they are more likely to pay a premium price for it.
# 2 – Generating trust and brand loyalty
A good property brand communicates a clear sense of the core values that could resonate with the right clients. The brand resonance built from clear brand identity gives customers the correct perception of the brand. Customers know that this brand fulfils their needs, and thus, the trust and loyalty are founded. Brand-loyal buyers are more likely to recommend your service to others as well.
#3 – Establishing consistency in marketing
Without a doubt, the sales and profits still depend heavily on the quality of the product; Yet, marketing matters, and mostly important, consistency in marketing sells. A well-established property brand tells the whole story and connects every customer touchpoint. From brand awareness to purchase decision, by establishing a consistent brand identity and personality around your property, it easily creates an emotional connection between you and your customers.
Deciding a suitable tagline and designing a memorable logo takes huge amount of effort; However, the branding is influential in a long term. A good brand won’t develop overnight, but you can start working on it immediately!
Don’t know where to start? Desketing provides comprehensive property branding and marketing services from designing branding, brochure, marketing strategy to website development and constructing 3D Renders to showcase your property.
We are here to get you started NOW.
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UPDATE: Round 2 opening July 1 2020
The Queensland Government is extending the Small Business COVID-19 Adaption Grant Program. As part of Stage 2 of Queensland’s Economic Recovery Strategy – Unite and Recover for Queensland Jobs, up to $100 million will be made available to deliver a second round of grants. Half of the funding will be specifically earmarked for regional small businesses outside of South East Queensland. Round 2 will open on 1 July 2020.
Queensland small businesses and micro-businesses will have the opportunity to apply for a $10,000 Adaption Grant. The grant is aimed at helping small businesses that have been subject to closure or highly impacted by the coronavirus shutdown restrictions by the Queensland Government.
The funding from this program can be used to rebuild and reopen your business through marketing, website development, and digital marketing plans.
Find out below the types of services Desketing can provide which will help you secure the Adaption Grant.
Do you need an E-Commerce website?
For any businesses impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions, E-commerce is a way to adapt and sustain operations. Businesses such as hairdressers, restaurants, cafes, gyms, hotels, beauty therapy, nail salons, and others impacted by the restrictions can use E-commerce as a platform to transition to a new way of doing business.
Ecommerce can help by:
- Providing your customers an opportunity to book and pre-pay for services online
- Enabling your customers to purchase products online
- Allowing your customers to purchase online gift vouchers
- Gaining new customers with Search Engine visibility
- Lower costs by automation of checkout, billing, payments inventory management, and other operational processes.
- Creating targeted communication by capturing lots of information from your customers. For example, you’ll be able to understand what services or products your customers are interested in, offer promotions, and upsell/bundle products to increase your average spend by customer.
Do you need a Digital Marketing Plan?
The $10,000 Adaptation Grant is available for small businesses to help them develop and devise a Digital Strategy Plan. A Digital Marketing Plan helps small businesses find and implement new digital channels and technology to improve business performance and transition how you operate and deliver value to your customers.
What are the options included in the Digital Strategy Plan:
- Develop digital business goals and KPIs
- Analyse and identify digital customer touchpoints where your business interacts online with your customers.
- Identify, develop and set up digital channels and platforms. For example web pages, email marketing software, mobile marketing, and social media.
- Identify and implement opportunities for automated communications that offer value and lower operating costs.
- Develop strategies to increase brand awareness and customer database growth, customer retention and increase average spend.
- Tactics to improve search engine visibility.
- Relevant and engaging content marketing.
- Devise Digital Marketing Campaigns targeting your audience.
- Monthly KPI reporting
For more information on the $10,000 Adaptation Grant, click on the link for eligibility criteria and start the application process: https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/advice-support/grants/adaption
Start the application process and get in contact with Desketing to get the required support. Can’t wait? We’re ready for your call – 07 3108 8767.
Written by Jonathan Riley from Road To Growth
As Covid-19 restrictions start to bite we all must accept that the business scene is going to remain disrupted for some time now, which means no-one can afford to hibernate (when hibernate means zero activity) and wait for the better days to return.
It is fair to say that for many, if we choose to wait out this ‘winter’ we may well perish before ‘spring’ shows its face! So, what should we do to see us through?
Here are five steps we should take to give us the best chances of surviving and then thriving:
Remember that humanity has been through worse crises than this and yet here we are…We’ve always managed to find a way through them. It’s not a case of if this disruption will end, but when it will end.
Besides, when did panicking ever result in finding the best solution? If you feel yourself panicking when you think about your situation, then stop thinking about it.
Take a break, remind yourself that these situations always seem worse when you’re in the middle of them, and let your mind clear. When it has cleared, accept where you are (you can’t change the past) and focus on what the best course of action would be from here on.
The main challenge for most businesses will be financial. Enforced social distancing measures and the consequent direct and indirect impacts on sales will weaken the cash flow that is the lifeblood of any business.
Problems arise when the cash entering the business struggles to cover the costs that result in outflows. If you’ve never given too much thought to understanding the nature of your costs before, then make the effort to fully understand them, and what drives them, now.
Some costs are driven by sales (high sales mean high costs; low sales mean low costs; no sales mean no costs) and present less of an issue in these times.
Some costs are time related and must be met each day/week/month/quarter etc. and present the biggest challenge as they don’t respond to sales. And some will be somewhere in between.
Prioritise examining these last two groups of costs according to their impact on you and search for ways you can reduce that impact. For example, if it’s rent, talk to your landlord and see if you can negotiate some sort of break in payments, whether a temporary reduction or a deferral.
Use logical reasoning and diplomatically let them know that, in this climate, neither party will benefit from you being evicted (where will they find a new tenant in this environment?).
If payroll is a priority, look into the assistance governments are offering to keep people employed while helping owners cover the costs.
If you have to resort to letting some employees go, make sure you consider each case individually as when times pick up (and they will) you want to still have your best staff in the business if at all possible.
Consistent with keeping your best employees, retain that focus on how ready you want to be for when the upturn in activity comes.
At that stage you’ll want to resume normal operations as quickly as possible, and not waste time having to re-establish contact with your existing clients or find new ones to replace those you’ve lost.
Sales are largely built on relationships, so you want to maintain those precious relationships through the slow times and not allow them to deteriorate.
Just an occasional chat to see how they’re faring could be enough, and don’t feel compelled to try and sell them something – the main aim is simply to let them know you’re still around and care about their business.
In my experience there isn’t a business out there that can’t be improved in some way, and the most common argument put forward by most owners as to why they don’t make those improvements is that they don’t have the time to work on them (personally I don’t believe you can ever afford not to improve your business, but that’s a discussion for another day!).
Well, now the phone isn’t ringing off the hook you’ve got more than enough time to set your mind to thinking about how your business could better serve your customers.
Go back to basics and think about what you could offer to make your customers’ lives easier, and how you could better deliver it; think about ways you can do things better internally; examine and understand where your profit is coming from and where some of it is disappearing to.
During this stage you may even identify things you can change that will help you in the immediate short-term and through this quiet period.
And remember, the work you do on this now will pay dividends when business picks up in the future – you’ll be in far better shape to tackle the future and ready to take full advantage as soon as the market starts to stir, and possibly release some pent-up demand.
While acknowledging the severity of the disruption we are facing right now, being unlike anything we’ve witnessed in recent times, I hope having this strategy to work to helps you face these particular challenges in a better, more positive frame of mind than would otherwise be the case… And a positive frame of mind is essential if we are to find our way through to the other side.
Need help with your business?
We’d love to hear from you.
As the situation around COVID-19 has unfolded, there has been ongoing, rapid and unprecedented changes to the current business environment.
This has led to businesses within numerous industries including travel, fitness, entertainment, beauty, hospitality and more to raise questions on how to best to continue forward and how to recover once the COVID-19 pandemic passes.
Recovering fast in an ever-evolving situation has its challenges, and requires a fast response and a high level of quality marketing, design and I.T support to adapt to the changes particularly to shifting customer behaviours and whilst supporting the needs of customers and your business.
For many businesses, this is an opportunity to get serious about implementing an e-commerce solution for your business. This business resource is designed to explain the business challenges and provide guidance in implementing an ecommerce solution in response to the current COVID-19 environment.
Contact Desketing to discuss improving your e-commerce website.
#1 Online Shopping Behaviour
Now more than ever, customers are looking online for solutions to their changing situation from working from home, finding ways to socialise and connect online, how to entertain themselves and also how to look after their health and wellbeing.
For businesses, this is a critical time to respond to the changing shopping behaviour from bulk-buying to online shopping and learn how to create an incredible online shopping experience for their customers.
The consequence of social distancing is that people will look to avoid in-store experiences and interactions not only now but also in the future as online shopping becomes part of their normal routine.
Businesses are able to take advantage of the changes to online behaviour by offering options that limit in-store/in person interactions such as contactless delivery, buy online and pickup in store option and subscription services.
Food delivery service Hello Fresh and Pizza chain Dominos have swiftly implemented contactless delivery in response to social distancing. Contactless delivery is an example of how businesses are offering value-added services to build consumer confidence in the delivery of their products.
Would you like to learn more about understanding online shopping behaviour? Get in contact with Desketing to learn about Google Analytics and how understanding online data could be used to drive more traffic to your website.
#2 Shift Your Focus Online
As businesses shift their focus to e-commerce, there are a few key factors to consider to be successful in this area. This includes focusing on developing a website that is mobile friendly, offers convenience, an easy user experience, payment and delivery, E-commerce support and demonstrates a clear value proposition.
Convenience & Easy User Experience
Websites that offer convenience and that are easy to navigate and require less clicks to make a payment will evidently also see a higher conversion rate of product sales.
When it comes to building a website, it’s also important to look at additional features such as customer reviews, cart abandonment, gift certificates, loyalty programs, multi-lingual platforms and customer database integration.
E-Commerce Payment & Support
The benefit of having an E-commerce platform is that customers can make purchases from your website at any time of the day at any place in the world, given that they have internet access.
For any business, limiting system downtime is particularly important and you need to have confidence in your E-commerce platform and your support team to help you get back online as quickly as possible when there are issues.
At Desketing, our team is experienced with both WordPress Woocommerce and Shopify Plus to help provide your business and customers with an easy online experience.
One of the benefits of having an E-commerce website developed and hosted by Desketing, is the high level of support through email, Zoom or on the phone.
#3 Tapping into new market opportunities
One of the biggest implications of COVID-19 is the shift in people’s buying choices. This is evident as retailers struggle to keep up with the demand for toilet paper, hand-sanitiser, face masks and pantry staples like pasta and flour.
The product categories that people are buying into are changing and savvy businesses with the capabilities to do so, are adapting to the changing market demands.
For example, distilleries like Lord Byron Distillery and Husk Distillery are filling in the gap and are now selling hand sanitizers alongside their bottles of gin and liqueurs.
Tapping into new market opportunities may be as simple and effective as selling your products online or digitising your services.
An increasing number of restaurants have looked at transforming their websites to implement the sale of takeaway services or DIY meals at home.
Hairdressers have the opportunity to tailor their services to offer 1 on 1 consultations and also offer the convenience of buying hair products or even a subscription for hair products online to the clients.
#4 Strike Now & Gain Market Share
During an economic downturn, you will have fewer competitors, particularly as many will be looking at holding off hiring new staff and significantly reducing their marketing.
As a business, this is an opportunity to tap into your current database or look at significantly increasing your customer database as a way to launch new products or services, share updates and keep your brand top of mind.
Shifting online shopping behaviour is making it easier for small businesses to get ahead of their competitors and also increase their brand awareness to their target audience.
One of the outcomes from the pandemic is that customers will be comfortable to buy online from your website due to both convenience and also as they adapt to the normalcy of buying online.
While more expensive items, such as houses and cars will require more customer contact through ZOOM meetings and one on one private consultations, customers will eventually become more adept and accepting of new technology to facilitate these transactions in an online environment.
Get ahead of your competitors, by taking advantage of improving your SEO, your website and your social media.
Businesses are facing an incredible challenge to survive as they face COVID-19 restrictions, shutdowns and growing customer unease, making it difficult to operate as a business without interacting with customers in-person.
This is a crucial time to implement fast changes to continue to keep people employed and their business open so that once the crisis passes, we’re not left facing more economic challenges.
There are a variety of ways businesses can continue staying connected to customers, including creating new services, shifting how they deliver their products/services, replacing in-person appointments with video conferences and more.
The situation is changing everyday and with so much business uncertainty, we want to provide you with as much support as possible to be able to continue to operate. Here are a few marketing tactics on how you can adapt your business model and strategy to address the concerns and challenges of the COVID-19 to your customers.
Offer reassurance
This is an extremely difficult time for many people, anxieties are at an all time due to the uncertainty of future plans and the availability of services and products.
If you haven’t done so already, this is an important time to send an email, SMS, put up point of sale materials to offer them reassurance, empathise with their situation and alert them to flexible offerings.
By offering your customers assurance and addressing their concerns, this positions you favourably as a company that cares for their wellbeing, and they’ll remember this next time when they are in need of your services or products.
Adapt your strategy to changing consumer behaviours
Consumer behaviours are rapidly changing. Almost overnight, consumers have changed their buying preferences and decision making processes particularly when it comes to going out and interacting with people and also online purchases.
This is an opportunity for businesses to focus their marketing efforts on online stores, include “no touch” offerings, promote remote work friendly products, at home products and private appointments.
During this time, your customers will look to you to offer guidance amid the changes and government restrictions. As a business it’s very important to pivot your strategy and your key messages to changing market conditions.
Focus on Ecommerce
Businesses with both a physical and online presence should be shifting their focus to online E-commerce platforms.
It’s no surprise the impact of COVID-19 has led to a significant decrease in retail foot traffic. The implications of the lockdown, government restrictions and social distancing means that more consumers are spending more time online.
Ecommerce in Australia is predicted to significantly grow as consumers get into a habit of buying everything online from spending weeks or even months working from home. This will impact both the economic environment as many consumers will not return to shops even after the crisis ends.
Expand your marketing efforts online to provide more content on your website. Consumers will spend more time online researching and reading blogs especially when it comes to more expensive items.
Get creative to keep customers buying
Shift your strategy by looking at productising your services or expanding your product line.
Offer your clients the opportunity to download at home services, e-books and purchase wellness packages.
Those within the service industry could offer unlimited changes to service bookings and offer deliveries on products as we have been seen with a number of restaurants now offering takeaway options.
Shift to connect with customers online
Replace in-person meetings with online conferences and conversations, including Zoom meetings, Skype calls, chats through social media platforms like Linkedin, Facebook and Instagram and even implementing an online chatbox on your website.
Let your customers know that you’re still operating and they can still connect with you if and when they have questions regarding your products and services.
Get ahead of your competitors
This is the best time to spend time on your marketing and also plan for your business to bounce back.
During this time, consumers will set stricter priorities and reduce their spending and this in turn will impact businesses causing them to cut costs and postpone investments in marketing.
Turning off or reducing marketing could actually cost your business more and make it difficult to recover faster. Instead this is an important time to understand which advertising platform is most cost effective.
Invest in Marketing to Recover Faster
The time now is important for planning marketing campaigns, product or brand launches, so that when the crisis ends, your business will be ready. Pivot strategies are important during this difficult period because no action means that your competitors will gain the upper hand. By planning your marketing strategy now, you’ll be able to reap the benefits at a later time.
Desketing is working to bring you the best resources and information to help you navigate this challenging time. Enter your details below to receive a pdf version of the article, ‘How Businesses Can Adapt to The COVID-19 Impact’.
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Our Response to COVID-19. Read more.
As the COVID-19 situation develops, all businesses will be undoubtedly affected and navigating through this unprecedented global event. In this time of crisis, the Desketing team does not only help you continue to operate but also help you adapt to your changing reality.
Employee update
Following the recommendation of the Federal Government and public health experts, we will provide our staff with remote access. If there is a lock-down or any other business interruption, we can work safely from home and continue to support you without disruption.
Meeting update
Businesses all over the world will have to evolve to accommodate these difficult times. While face to face meeting is how we usually connect, an alternative ZOOM meeting will take place (Zoom’s quick start guide).
Community update
All Networking Connexion meetings will be postponed. All guests that have purchased an event ticket will receive a full refund. Networking Connexion members will receive ONE month membership. (One month extension on a 3 month subscription).
Give us a call, email or Skype chat
While we may not be able to meet you in person. We have set up a number of different methods to ensure that we are dedicated to communicating with you as just as promptly. You’ll be able to continue to contact us through phone on 07 3107 8767, email info@desketing.com.au, Skype (Desketing) or get in contact with us over our social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
What if our goals were just dreams, with a deadline?
With each new year, there are new resolutions, new promises and new goals being made. However how many of us make goals and find themselves not achieving those goals, not seeing it through or changing their goals too often*. (*Waves both hands frantically in the air). What was getting in the way of achieving the actual goal?
What you will get from this article:
- Learn why goal setting is important
- Understand how to create goals that inspire you
- Tips on transforming your goals from concept to reality
- Access to a strategy workshop with Desketing
Learn about our secrets and tips on how to set goals and create a future for your retail business.
#1 Goals set the benchmark for success.
Why is goal setting important to your retail business?
Goal setting is not a simple case of saying or writing down, ‘I want to make a million-dollar business’. The definition of goal setting is the process of identifying what you want to accomplish and creating measurable objectives and timeframes to achieve them.
Sitting down with our retail clients, the importance of goal setting becomes so much clearer, because without goals and objectives, how do you determine success?
Not setting goals is a surefire way of avoiding disappointment over unrealistic goals, but setting goals is also a surefire way of discovering a sense of achievement.
Top things to remember
- Goal setting is the vehicle that will drive you to your desired destination.
- Goal setting keeps you accountable
- Goal setting will help you overcome procrastination
- If you don’t know what you want to achieve, you can’t create an action plan to get there
#2 Create important, motivating, compelling, inspiring, get out of bed goals.
Set effective goals that are important to you and offer you value in achieving them. If you have little interest in the outcome, then chances are you won’t do the work to make it happen. This is particularly critical for retail business and franchises, because setting goals require commitment, feeling a sense of urgency and a must-have attitude. If you don’t have the motivation, then you’ll do what most of us do, and end up putting off what you need to do to make the goal a reality. We’re likely to do the work and put in the time and energy when the end goal in sight excites us and is the driving force behind our actions.
Let’s change our mindset when it comes to goals. What if our goals, were just dreams, with a deadline? Then all we have to do now is create an action plan to achieve.
#3 Transform your goals from concept to reality
SMART goals stand for smart, measurable, relevant and time-bound. Transforming your goals from concept to reality involves well defined, clear and real goals.
Be sure to set precise amounts and dates so that we have that benchmark to measure. They need to be real goals because there’s no point in setting goals that will lead to demotivation and tear down your confidence. Setting realistic goals will give you and your team a sense of achievement.
#4 Progress equals happiness
Don’t underestimate the power of small wins. Setting progressive goals that allow you to feel like little achievements help us to move on to bigger achievements. Sometimes it’s the little motivations, that lead to small goals, which lead to progress which leads to leading a team that feels fulfilled and happy.
#5 Determine Your Process
You have to understand the difference between goals and process. Think of yourself as a small rowboat. Your goals are the rudder on the boat and give you direction. If you commit, it keeps you forward, and if you chop and change between goals, then you’ll find yourself in circles.
The oars are your process and determine your success.
While goals set the direction, the process determines your progress. And as we mentioned before progress equals happiness.
You’ll get nowhere from just holding onto the rudder, you have to row.
If you’re a runner and your goal is to run a marathon. Then your process is an 8-week training schedule.
If you’re the owner of a retail business and your goal is to build a million-dollar business. Then your process is a sales and marketing plan.
Click here to book a goal-setting strategy with Desketing.
#6 Set daily reminders
Transform your goal into a reality involves writing it down, telling people, telling yourself every single day! Whether that includes putting your goals around your office, on your walls, desktop computer screen, bathroom mirror, Trello, Skype, Whatsapp, email and calendar alerts. Setting constant reminders keeps you motivated, helps you visualise and understand why you’re doing this.
#7 Do you have the skills or resources to make it happen?
Goal setting is not just about choosing the rewards, but also accepting the need for the skills and resources required to make them happen.
For retail businesses, a strategic sales and marketing plan involves a detailed action plan that includes regular marketing campaigns and a rollout including signage, posters, email marketing, mobile marketing, Google Ads and social media marketing.
Do you have the skills or resources to make it happen? Schedule a meeting with our team of design and marketing experts to keep you focused.
Are you ready to take the next step and learn how to set business goals you will achieve?
Ask us about Goal-Setting Strategy Workshop
Fill in your details below and we’ll get in contact shortly.
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Affiliate and Influencer Marketing
If you are working to promote your brand, influencer marketing, and affiliate marketing are both effective strategies that can be implemented as part of your overall marketing plan and budget. They may sound similar, but they serve different purposes. Most affiliates are influencers, but not all influencers are involved in affiliate marketing. What most companies will do is merge both strategies into their marketing plan as a hybrid marketing strategy to achieve your brand online goals. Read on and gain some important insights on both influencer and affiliate marketing and how you could apply them to your business.
What are Influencers and Influencer Marketing?
Influencers are socially savvy individuals that are experts in social media platforms and creating blogs. They earn from creating niche-based content within specific areas such as fashion clothing, food hunting, digital gadget etc. The concept of collaborating with these individuals and asked them to create engaging content with your customers is called influencer marketing.
What are Affiliates and Affiliate Marketing?
An affiliate gets paid a commission from the merchant after each successful sale or leads they made for the business. The sales can be tracked by the affiliate network using a unique link. The concept of affiliate marketing is collaborating with these affiliates and converting the followers into sales. For example, Amazon Affiliate Associates is one of the well-developed affiliate marketing programs that provide opportunities to website owners and bloggers to earn commission by advertising products from Amazon.com on their sites with unique links.
What are the Differences?
The main difference between affiliate and influencer marketing is simply the channel they use and the way they get paid. Affiliate marketing focuses on direct website traffic or direct sales, while influencer marketing focuses on building a social media relationship and content creation. An affiliate gets paid based on objective performance while an influencer is often paid upfront on per project basis.
Which one should you use for your marketing campaign?
It could be challenging to figure out which one should you choose for your marketing campaign. The two key issues that should be considered is defining your main objective as well as your marketing budget.
#1 Define your marketing objective
Affiliates are experts in targeting specific demographics who fit your brand because they provide a link to people who will potentially click in and complete the purchase. If you looking for sales generation, this could be a better choice. Elsewise, if you are targeting a broader audience and looking to raise brand awareness and creating engagement with your customers, then influencer marketing could be effective.
#2 Understanding your budget
It is important to look into your planned marketing budget for your campaign. Affiliate marketing could be more expensive as they are paid per sale referred, but it could also be more profitable for the company. The costs of your influencer are dependent on the size of their followers and also the frequency of posts required by them. With influencers, you are required to pay for them upfront without any commission or guarantee on sales or offer them free services or products in exchange for social media posts.
#3 Combine affiliate-influencer into your next campaign
If your budget allows it, it is more effective to having both influencer marketing and affiliate marketing as part of an integrated marketing campaign. Some campaigns would be more effective for one section of your target audience, while an influencer might work with another section. The most important thing is to make sure that both sides are happy with the arrangement so that both online goals could be achieved and create more sales for the company.
How do combine them?
#1 Understand your influencer
Treat your influencers as your business partner for affiliate marketing. Map out the relevant characteristics and elements of your brand and choose someone who comes from the like-minded group as your customers which they know and trust. For example, if you are in a health food business, you would probably be looking for someone that shares the fitness and health values. You will also need to research deeper about the social media platforms that the influencer used, any brands that they collaborated before, tone-of-voice they use in their social media posts and so on.
#2 Ask your influencer to share affiliate links
Because influencers receive an upfront payment the advertiser, the difficult lies in tracking the return on investment and there’s no guarantee that the business will achieve their desired campaign goals. By combining influencers into affiliate marketing, you can now manage your influencers based on their performance. In other words, you only pay them when a sale or purchase is achieved rather than just paying for plain sponsored posts. By partnering with an influencer, you are increasing the chance of conversion as people will be more interested in recommendations from them. A custom affiliate link is a commonly-used online tool that helps you to track the conversion rates from the influencers. You can ask them to share the custom links in their social media posts about your brand. You can also use a discount coupon code as an affiliate link to provide your customers a certain discount when they make a purchase with the code.
Want to learn more about how to create an affiliate link in your campaign? Talk to a marketing specialist at Desketing to maximize your affiliate marketing strategy!
Embrace the evolution
Affiliate and influencer marketing are both beneficial tools by themselves, but they are definitely more powerful if they are implemented together. This affiliate-influencer marketing hybrid has been the recent trend as companies nowadays are more customer-centered, therefore they are looking for advocates and storytellers to engage with their customers, and strengthen a long term relationship, rather than just creating a one-off lead. In this case, having social leaders that able to inspire their followers would be an integral component of a successful affiliate campaign.
Want to learn more about how to utilize affiliate and influencer marketing for your business? Talk to a digital marketing agency like Desketing to safeguard your competitive edge!