Marketing Advice That Matters
The challenge of marketing has always been how rapidly technology has shifted around it, causing marketing strategies to become obsolete quickly (or if not obsolete, then at least very limited in the range and demographic that marketing strategy will reach). It’s a full-time job keeping up with the shifts in technological trends and in mastering the algorithms needed to fully profit off of those trends—that’s why there are marketing agencies available to your company. It is also important, however, that you remain aware of the growing trends so you can ensure you are working with the best marketing agency. Right now, there is a new trend on the horizon. More and more people are using AI assistants (like Google Home Mini), and this shift to audio automation is driving visual marketing towards obsoletion. You don’t just need to ensure you are working with a good marketing agency anymore; now you need to modernize your ad campaigns with the help of a voice marketing agency.
What is voice marketing?
Voice marketing is all about translating your current marketing strategies into an algorithmic language that will be compatible with artificial intelligence platforms. This will ensure you don’t miss your target audience, and it isn’t something you should hesitate on for long. Investing in a good voice marketing agency now will ensure your marketing campaign isn’t leaving any gaps that will interfere with your company’s goal achievement.
Why is voice marketing different?
Voice marketing has to appeal to AI platforms, which means it needs to meet a whole new set of algorithms if it’s going to stay relevant to voice marketing trends. This isn’t a big stretch from the way other marketing trends work, but what is different is the format. Voice marketing does completely change the way your marketing campaigns are presented. Now they need to meet voice search algorithms, and they need to be formatted in such a way that they can sound appealing to your consumers when voiced through the AI assistant. That AI assistant is going to become the voice for your company and your brand, and that means your marketing strategy will need to shape itself to remain appealing through the AI voice while still enabling optimisation. These are the complexities your voice marketing agency will need to embrace.
How to find the right voice marketing agency
You don’t just need to find a voice marketing agency; you need to find a voice marketing agency that understands the implications of the shift from digital and visual to AI platforms. Looking for these six features during a consultation will help ensure you’ve found the right one.
1) They can explain voice marketing to you.
Voice marketing is still relatively new, and it carries a lot more potential for future change. You want your voice marketing agency to be able to inform you of the changes implicit in a shift to voice marketing, the challenges and issues of getting there, and you want them to have the foresight to be able to anticipate future changes so they can incorporate room for that into the voice marketing campaign they create for you.
2) They can strategize.
You want your voice marketing agency to be able to formulate a strategy for converting your current marketing campaign into a voice marketing campaign.
3) Qualifications and credentials.
A good voice marketing agency will have the proper certifications and experience working with voice marketing algorithms—and they should be able to pitch to you a trajectory for how those algorithms will shift as AI marketing becomes more advanced.
4) They have an understanding of your company’s true voice—its brand.
It’s okay to walk away from a voice marketing agency that has good qualifications and credentials if you don’t feel they understand or comply with the image or brand of your company. Visual or not, you still want your company’s brand to be able to speak through the AI interface so it can continue to appeal to your clients.
5) Contact is key.
A good voice marketing agency is easy to get in touch with and will present a plan for keeping you in the loop.
6) Don’t undervalue the importance of price This may not be the most important factor, but a good voice marketing agency will be able to meet all of these requirements while still remaining within your marketing budget.
The digital marketing landscape in China is different from that in the rest of the world. Search engines and social media platforms that reign supreme elsewhere aren’t really the toppers in the country. Instead, China’s homegrown search engine, Baidu, is the king of all online searches. Hence it becomes important that any brand making to look a mark and woo Chinese audience have an appropriate presence on Baidu and make use of its Pay Per Click (PPC) program appropriately. Understanding the search engine and how it functions paves for a successful recipe. Read on to know more.
What makes Baidu PPC different from that on Western search engines
Advertising on Baidu is very different from the typical process encountered when marketing your brand on a Western search engine. The latter is often simple and requires you to open an account, enter credit card details, type in keywords that you want to bid for (or choose from a list), write simple ad texts and publish them. This attracts potential customers to see the ad when they search for something similar to your product or service.
Advertising or digital marketing on Baidu entails a registration plus a certification process. Additionally, Baidu PPC requires that you localize your website as well as the PPC campaign for the Chinese audience so that your product or service genuinely appeals to the consumers in the country. The platform puts strict protocols into place to ensure that the advertisers do not misuse Baidu to conduct illegal businesses or trade activities in China. The strict bureaucratic processes help the platform to cooperate with the authorities without getting themselves penalized. The laws of the land also, to a certain degree, have contributed to the strict registration and certification process for Baidu PPC. The well-documented and stringent food safety laws and those for sensitive industries make it imperative for foreign business operating in this space to produce necessary documentation before they can start flashing their ads on Baidu search result pages.
Tips for setting up a Baidu PPC account successfully
There is a certain amount of red tape involving the set-up process for Baidu PPC, which worries many new companies who are unaware of the same. However, with specific knowledge and expertise, which often comes with the help of a digital marketer based in China, you can breeze through the process and set up your account with ease. Here are some tips that come in handy in this regard.
• Prepare copies of your business certificates and translate them into Chinese for ease of review by authorities and Baidu officials.
• Maintain copies of your company’s information listed on government websites.
• Obtain a company seal. This has more value and receives better trust in China than official signatures.
• Create a localized Chinese website instead of a simple landing page. Having a dedicated Chinese website that caters to the tastes of the local people in terms of aesthetics, content, helpful information, and so on guarantees better results.
How to make the maximum of the advertising campaign
Since you will be marketing your product or service to a wholly new audience and using a new way, be prepared to learn and execute from scratch. The Baidu PPC campaigns warrant specific knowledge and expertise in the local language and practices. So, it is advisable to build a localized team and follow these guidelines for best results and to maximize returns.
• Optimize your website for Chinese visitors to provide them with better user experience. At the same time, optimize the pages for Baidu.
• Host your site in China and monitor it regularly to see that it functions properly.
• When using payment options and wallets, ensure that they are Chinese-friendly. Alipay and Union Pay are some good choices.
• Have dedicated Chinese-speaking managers to handle PPC and customer care, for you do not want to leave customers confused when they want to seek more information or need help with purchasing or using your product or service.
If all these seem like a herculean task, you can always outsource the program to an experienced and certified advertiser or digital marketing agency, which specializes in Baidu PPC.
Video marketing is going to outrank all types of marketing communication in the coming days. According to Wyzowl statistics, 79% of consumers prefer watching a video to learn about a product instead of reading texts. And 84% of consumers purchase product after watching a brand’s video. Many businesses have started realizing the importance of video marketing services as well. This is why 63% of businesses have already started using videos as their primary marketing tool. And out of those, 82% of businesses find the video as an important integral part of their marketing initiatives.
This is the right time to go for video marketing before the market gets saturated. Not just because every other business trying to join the bandwagon but because this is the most profitable and versatile online marketing tool available today.
If you are still not convinced or want to find out more about the importance of video marketing, then the following five reasons will help you make a decision. Take a look.
#1 Gives a Good Return-on-Investment
ROI is the key success factor for every business. You might have the financial capability to invest money on a marketing initiative but if it doesn’t generate a good return-on-investment, your business will have a miserable future.
The good news is that 83% of businesses acknowledged that video marketing offers good ROI. Even though you might find video production is challenging and not an economic marketing tool but it pays off big time. Most importantly, with the sheer rise of advanced online video editing tools, video production and marketing is becoming more sophisticated and cost-effective. You can even use your smartphone to produce decent videos.
#2 Boosts Conversions
We did a market research on video marketing service recently and found that many businesses still wary of going for video because they think it’s not a money-making tool. That’s not true at all! Here are some stats that prove why video is the best money-making marketing tool you can ever have.
● According to a report by Unbounce, by including a video on your landing page, you can increase conversions by 80%.
● As per a report by ReelSEO, by incorporating a video on your website’s home page, you can boost conversions by 20% or even more.
● According to Wyzowl, 72% of businesses acknowledged that having a video marketing strategy has improved the conversion rate of their website.
● 64% of businesses believe that videos have directly increased their sales.
#3 Helps You Get Love from Google
Google has a simple rule for ranking websites or videos. If you provide good content to users, Google will make sure your content reaches the maximum by putting your brand to the top of search engine result pages (SERP). And this is where video marketing service can help.
Videos help you increase the time spent by visitors on your website. This gives a signal to Google algorithms that your site has good content and able to connect with your audience for a longer period. The search giant will then push your site to the top of the SERP.
According to a report, your website will be 53x more likely to show up on the first page of SERP if you embed a video on your website.
Also, remember the biggest video platform YouTube is owned by Google. So optimizing your videos for YouTube will also improve your brand visibility both on Google and YouTube.
#4 Helps You Explain Difficult Concepts Easily
One of the biggest advantages of video marketing is that you can explain any type of concepts or messages easily. A video comes with many different formats such as explainer and animated videos. Just choose the one that works best for your business or product and you will be good.
For example, to explain a complex concept, you can produce animated videos as it’s a perfect mixture of simplicity, emotion, and nostalgia.
Similarly, if you have a newly launched product, you can create explainer video to help potential customers learn the benefits of your product. Reports suggest, 98% of users watch explainer videos to learn more about a product.
So do you think you can ignore video marketing service to communicate your message? Do you’ve any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
When you are interviewing for a marketing position, it is best if you prepare in advance for the variety of questions you are likely to encounter. The most commonly asked questions deal with your knowledge about the marketing industry in general and in specific about the company you hope to work with. Prospective employers will want to know how much you have bothered to research their products and services.
Even if you are seeking an entry-level job, you should do your research. It is far better to be over-informed than clueless. Since you want to work with them and immerse yourself in the marketing of their products and services, you had better find out everything you can about their business.
It is generally easy to find information online, so find it and take notes. Don’t take interviews lightly. People are offering you their valuable time when they interview you, so always try to do better on your end. If you don’t get the job, it shouldn’t be on account of a lack of preparation on your part.
Here are three essential interview questions for a marketing position:
1. Why are you interested in this specific marketing job?
Generally, interviewers don’t want to hear the answer that mountaineers give for climbing a mountain – because it is there. No, they don’t want you to tell them that you applied because the job was on the job board and your dire financial straits compelled you to apply. Even if that is the case, the interview isn’t the place for such unvarnished honesty. They have limited time and they only want answers related to their interview questions for marketing position. They want to hear professional-sounding and convincing reasons for your interest in the job.
For instance, you applied because your skills match the ones they require, and you think you have what it takes to handle the position. If you give this answer, explain it with verifiable examples of any similar work you undertook, and try not to sound like a corporate robot. Don’t tell them you are passionate about marketing. That is what they probably hear from everyone, and if they hire you, it will be for your originality, not your clichés.
2. If we hire you, what can we expect from you in the first few weeks?
Interviewers ask this question to discover how much you have researched the position you are applying for and the company you want to work with. If you have done your research, you will know the type of work that you must do in that position, and you will also have an idea about how that applies to marketing the company’s products and services. Having a basic idea of your job responsibilities is very important. It tells the interviewer that you know how to prepare in advance and that you are earnest about wanting to work with them.
Give them a gist of what you know and then take the opportunity to ask for more information about the work and the company. Normally, they ought to be glad to tell you since you have shown yourself to be sincerely interested.
3. What different marketing concepts do you think we should use for our products and services?
This is another question to gauge your awareness of what exactly the company does and how it markets its products and services. Take the time to read the content on the company’s website. Do they talk about their current marketing efforts on their blog? How do they use their social media? How many marketing platforms do they use? What kind of marketing campaign have they run in the past or are currently running? What appears to be their target audience? What kind of public response are they getting? How do they interact with their clients or customers?
Look at their competitors, see what they are doing in their marketing, and make comparisons. Think about what you would do differently if you were handling the company’s marketing efforts. Why would that be necessarily better than what they are doing at present? You need to be able to explain this succinctly. Try to explain in a helpful tone, not in a critical tone. They are hiring marketing professionals to assist them in doing better, not for listing their mistakes and giving them the superior treatment.
Keep in mind that you are marketing yourself every time you go for an interview. Pull that off well, and the rest will be a breeze.
Most of the world has Google, but China has Baidu. Google is almost absent in one of the largest countries in the world. And when most Chinese netizens prefer Baidu, the largest search engine in China, then why not businesses will advertise on Baidu.
When you are planning to advertise in China, Baidu SEM is your go-to way for advertising your business online. Baidu search engine marketing (SEM) has a lot of similarities with Google search engine marketing, but never think it is the same. It is quite different. Baidu is not a replica of Google. It has its own function, features, and algorithms which are very different from Google.
For advertising online in mainland China, there is a lot of reason to use Baidu. Let’s have a look at the top five reasons.
Major Market Share
Baidu now accounts for the 66.29% of the search engine market share. In the first quarter of 2018, Baidu market share was 80%. So, unquestionably, Baidu is the king of search engine market. It boasts 5 billion searches per day. Definitely, no company would want to miss the opportunity of advertising on such a platform.
Chinese netizens prefer Baidu over other search engines. Google market share in the Chinese market is just meager 2.7%. So there is no point of looking at Google for advertising in China. Even other Chinese search engines such as 360, Sogou, and Shenma are doing far better than Google, but still, Baidu is the undisputed king of the Chinese search engine market.
Chinese Prefer Baidu
Baidu has 657 million monthly active mobile users. Mobile revenue accounted for the 77% of the total revenue of Baidu. Hence, it clearly shows if you want to reach the mobile audience in China, you have to invest in Baidu SEM.
When it comes to searching for something online, Chinese prefer Baidu over others. You can also say- Baidu is truly Chinese. With the deep understanding of how Chinese behave, Baidu has set its algorithm and shows the most relevant results for queries.
Positive Response to Paid Advertisements
When it comes to search engine marketing, we all know the value of organic traffic. But in the Chinese landscape, paid advertising are also performing well. For western companies, some experts even advise only to invest in Baidu PPC ads for Baidu SEM because Baidu paid advertising shows great results. Baidu SERP shows five paid results and ten organic results. So, you have a great opportunity to target your brand in front of the right audience.
Baidu Popularity
Baidu Knows, Baidu Tieba, Baidu Baike, Baidu Wenku, and Baidu Maps are few products launched by the Baidu that has gained a lot of popularity in China. There is a huge audience for each platform. Hence, it simply depicts that Chinese trusts Baidu.
Baidu Baike is a web-based encyclopedia that covers almost every topic. Baidu Baike articles are perceived as the credible source of information. Baidu Knows is the question-answer platform where you can put any query, and find an answer to it. So, there is nothing like Baidu in the Chinese market.
Baidu Marketing Tools
You will never miss Google AdWords or Google Analytics when you invest in Baidu SEM. Baidu has some great marketing tools. Baidu Phoenix Nest is Baidu’s PPC platform. It provides you all the features of Google AdWords. And also, you do not have to worry about Google Analytics, Baidu has Baidu Tongji. These marketing tools are just phenomenal. These tools allow you to plan and run your online advertising campaign. You can easily track your results, take control over your advertising efforts, and implement your Baidu SEM strategy effectively with these tools.
These are the five reasons why you should use Baidu for SEM.
The Bottom Line
SEO and PPC advertising are the two pillars of the search engine marketing. Investing in these marketing strategies can earn you millions of customers for your business. And the majority of the Chinese netizens trust and prefer Baidu. Therefore, investing in Baidu SEM seems to be the best way to advertising your business online in China.
