This Is the Secret Marketing Tool Your Small Business Needs to Compete With the Big Brands12/27/2024  In today's digital-first retail environment, smaller brands often face an uphill battle when competing with industry giants' massive marketing budgets. Advertising costs on most platforms continue to escalate, making it difficult for smaller ecommerce business owners to drive sales and scale cost-effectively. One effective and cost-effective strategy that empowers upstart brands to drive sales without the hefty upfront costs associated with traditional advertising is affiliate marketing. In this model, online retailers partner with website publishers that feature content and have an audience that is also relevant to the online retailer. The retailer only pays publishers when a sale is actually completed, typically as a commission represented as a percentage of that sale, making affiliate marketing a low-risk, high-reward marketing strategy. Cashback rewards programs such as Rakuten, PayPal Honey and Capital One Shopping, which operate as publishers in the affiliate marketing model, incentivize customers by delivering a small percentage of their earned commissions as cashback on consumers' purchases. These programs, and others like them, are used by millions of online shoppers. By working with cashback browser extension publishers through an affiliate program, smaller retailers can tap into the potential of this performance-based marketing channel, and reach value-conscious consumers without overextending their budgets. But, smaller online retailers may have concerns about browser extensions and their impact on a brand. They may have concerns about margins or of losing control of pricing and the discounts they offer or if their customers will value their products less because they're getting cashback. But if a brand offers an affiliate program, they are already paying commission rates on sales which should be reflected in their margin calculations. The cashback rewards are paid to the customer from the commissions the publishers earn on sales. And retailers concerned about whether customers will value their brand less for offering cashback rewards through a browser extension can take heart in knowing even some luxury brands are beginning to offer cashback rewards. The truth is, cashback browser extensions have evolved into a powerful marketing tool that benefits both consumers and merchants. They can drive sales, increase average order values and help independently-owned ecommerce businesses reach new customers. Why consumers love browser extensions The consumer appetite for savings is bigger than ever. In a consumer survey commissioned by Wildfire and conducted by the research firm Big Village in May 2024, we examined consumer attitudes towards various savings tools, including cashback and coupon browser extensions, that online shoppers are using. In one finding, 77% of consumers said they are more interested than ever before in earning cashback rewards for shopping, and 72% said they are more interested in using online coupons and discounts for shopping. These tactics were second only to shopping during sales and promotional events. In fact, these tactics were ranked higher than shopping at discount retailers or buying generic products. Wildfire's report also shows that nearly one in three consumers (27%) use browser extensions to earn cashback more this year than last, and that 70% of consumers who have ever installed a browser extension use it frequently for cashback rewards. These findings highlight that savings-focused shopping tools are becoming integral to the online shopping experience. However, browser extensions are not just about discounts — they boost consumer confidence. Respondents in the Wildfire survey gain many benefits from cashback browser extensions, including:
For small to mid-sized retailers, offering deals through extensions can help ensure consumers feel they're making the right choice in their purchases, which can translate into higher conversion rates. Understanding the impact of browser extensions on merchants One of the most common concerns among smaller, niche brands is that offering deals through cashback browser extensions will reduce the perceived value of their products. However, the data tells a different story. Cashback browser extensions don't just deliver consumers discounts — they help merchants expand their reach and increase sales in several important ways. Wildfire's 2024 survey, as well as a landmark 2023 study conducted by CJ and Namogoo across 67 million shopping journeys, focused on the business value of browser extensions, illustrating some of the impacts on merchants.
The upside to understanding browser extensionsIt's understandable that independent retailers might be cautious when it comes to allowing their affiliate offers to be featured in browser extensions. Concerns about pricing control and margin compression often arise. However, cashback browser extensions are not about slashing prices or devaluing your brand — they're about creating a win-win situation for both brands and the consumer. Three key reasons why browser extensions make sense are:
Conclusion The ecommerce landscape is increasingly competitive, and retailers that don't have the global customer reach of a Walmart, Target, Amazon or Temu need every advantage they can get. Embracing cashback browser extensions as part of an affiliate marketing strategy can be a smart move that not only boosts the bottom line but also builds long-term customer loyalty. In a world where shoppers are continually searching for the best price and value, your brand can be the one they turn to when their browser extension alerts them to your next great offer. Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com Image Credit: Photo by Mikael Blomkvist via Pexels.com
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 As a small business owner or marketing professional, your goal is always to get your audience to see and interact with your message — and achieving that may seem a mystery without a focus on audience engagement. When you focus on understanding your target audience, you can create content and events that resonate deeply. You’ll be able to track and measure the impact of your marketing efforts, and you’ll be more likely to reach your goals. Whether your marketing work is offline or online, you’ll see greater results when you first craft a written plan. Creating a marketing calendar to outline your upcoming months or years makes it easier to execute campaigns that engage current and potential customers, regardless of your industry. Before you schedule time to brainstorm a comprehensive marketing strategy, dig into the concept of audience engagement and what it takes to enhance it. Let’s consider the different marketing channels used to achieve this goal, ways to track effectiveness, and the first steps needed to make it happen. First, let’s unpack the audience engagement definition. What is audience engagement? Audience engagement is a marketing goal that focuses on interactive involvement between a business and its target audience. It results in improved influence, loyalty, and trust. Businesses can build this interactive relationship through online content, in-person events, and any other form of outreach designed to engage a person’s attention in a meaningful way. There are three main levels of audience engagement:
For small- and medium-sized businesses, all three levels of audience engagement can make a powerful impact. However, primary engagement is the most effective as it encourages your current and future customers to stop scrolling and take part in whatever message you are sending. They’ll actively click on links, take quizzes, make comments, share content, and — most importantly — strengthen their relationship with your brand. In short, audience engagement initiates action from your audience. When your marketing message inspires people to take action, your influence grows. Strategies to boost audience engagement As you work to develop audience engagement strategies, think about public speakers like Tony Robbins. He’s engaging his audience by bringing a lot of energy to the stage. He walks out clapping and encourages his audience to stand up and clap, too. He screams, “Yeah!” Then, he encourages the audience to follow along.  Motivational speaker Tony Robbins engages his audience through clapping. Business owners can also engage their audience through tactics such as visual storytelling and personalization. IMAGE SOURCE: Tony Robbins Within minutes, everyone is energized and receptive to learning whatever motivational message he plans to share. The question is, then, how can we replicate that kind of audience engagement digitally? There are a few powerful tactics marketers use for this, regardless of the platform. Understanding the target audience To engage an audience successfully, you first must have an in-depth understanding of who they are. Something that resonates with retired expats in Europe who love museums won’t be interesting to 20-something recent graduates in San Francisco who love makeup and fashion. When identifying a target audience, be as narrow in your focus as possible. Consider:
Create a buyer persona to solidify your target audience. In short, this element of the sales process involves creating a character around your typical customer. You even give this imaginary person a name! This makes it easier to create content that truly engages. Visual storytelling Scientific research shows that an overwhelming 91% of people prefer visual-based social media content. Why? Visuals — which include photographs and videos — light up different parts of the brain compared to simple text. Simply looking at a face stops people from scrolling, even just for a few microseconds. Use this psychology to enhance your social media engagement as well as your email engagement, both of which we’ll talk about more soon. Regardless of the platform, know that adding pictures — particularly ones that show emotion — is a simple way to increase interaction. Personalization If you’ve ever been in a room filled with children, you know how powerful it is when you can call one by name. People are wired to respond to their names, which is why personalization is an easy yet subtle way to engage your audience. Of course, adding a name to an email subject line is just the start of this engagement strategy. When you segment your email lists into different groups with different relationships within your company, you can speak directly to each one. For example, consider sending personalized emails based on previous purchases. A/B testing Not sure which audience engagement strategy will work? Try two! This is known as A/B testing, and it can help you determine what resonates best with your audience. Try two ads with the same message but different photos or the same photo with different text. The idea is to change just one variable and then measure the results. In a short time, you can see what works best in terms of engagement. This helps you refine your strategy and stay dynamic. Having a conversation Engagement is a two-way street, meaning your marketing efforts should be the start of a conversation with your target audience. Schedule time to respond to all comments on your social media posts. Respond to direct messages. In short, be responsive. Audience engagement by marketing channel Here’s a quick look at what audience engagement can look like for the different marketing channels. Email marketing We already discussed the power of list segmentation and personalization to enhance email effectiveness. People who have signed up for your email marketing list have already begun to engage with your business, and receiving a direct message in their inbox requires more interaction than simply scrolling. Here’s an example of how this can work. I recently signed up for a card from my local library and began getting a series of automated emails that got me clicking. It turns out the library lends out more than just books. They have online courses that piqued my interest. With proper call-to-action buttons, the library soon got me spending time browsing the catalog.  The Martin County Library sends this informative email to new members. IMAGE SOURCE: Martin County Library Social media Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, offer a fun way to introduce yourself to your target audience and spark engagement. Yet, it isn’t always easy to shift their behavior from the passive scroll to true interaction and engagement. One way to do this is through influencer marketing. With this strategy, you collaborate with someone who has a following consisting of your target audience. You create a strategy and a contract with the individual, who then shares your message and brand with their audience. This may include a giveaway, raffle, how-to series, or other strategy designed to get people actively engaged. Events In-person events offer the easiest way to get your audience engaged, as they’ve already gotten off the couch and arrived wherever you are. But what about virtual events? Yes, you can create a live-streaming event that draws in your audience! To make your virtual event successful and engaging, start by creating a plan to promote it. Know the goal for the event, decide on the best platform based on where your target audience spends time, and then schedule automated emails to alert them to tune in. Don’t forget to give them a good incentive to watch your livestream. Follow the best practices and add a call-to-action at the end of the stream that includes a discount code or another valuable offering available only to those who commit to engaging. Content & SEO SEO, or search engine optimization, doesn’t necessarily sound like a very engaging topic, but that’s exactly its goal. When you research and use keywords your audience is searching for, you can provide interactive content based on what they want to know. For example, you can combine visual storytelling for video SEO content. You can create online quizzes that lead to a landing page on your website. You can provide free eBooks or interactive checklists that people can download when they sign up for your email list. Be creative when you curate content to get more people clicking. Tools to track audience engagement All these strategies are worth exploring, but you need to know what really works for your business. Within your marketing strategy, add a section that explains the measurements you’ll use to track whether your efforts are moving you toward your goals. These are known as KPIs or key performance indicators, and they will vary with each platform. Email reporting & heat maps With email marketing platforms like Constant Contact, you’ll find a robust backend filled with data used for email reporting. Take time to get familiar with all the different ways to track your success because this is a powerful tool that saves you time and money. Start with your email heat map. This is a visual representation of how people are interacting with your email campaign. You’ll see the percentage of people clicking on your call-to-action buttons, a metric known as a “click-through rate.” You may wish to track other metrics, too. For example, the click-to-open rate (CTOR) tracks the percentage of people who received your email, opened it, and then clicked on a link. In general, this will be a surprisingly small percentage — but these people are truly engaged in your message. Don’t rely on the CTOR as your only metric. New regulations make these reports, especially from Apple users, less reliable. It’s best to track a few measurements to get the clearest picture of your success. Social media reporting Social media marketing can certainly take up time, especially when you’re trying to offer engaging content. Instead of spending a lot of time on the backends of each platform, try combining your efforts through integration. Constant Contact, for example, offers integrations for Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can also connect your Buffer and Hootsuite accounts, making it easier to schedule posts. These systems make it easier to track results and adjust your campaign to enhance audience engagement. Events reporting Both in-person and virtual events require measurements to determine what works and what needs improvement. Thankfully, this reporting process doesn’t have to take extra time when you can integrate it into one system. Constant Contact offers integrations for Eventbrite and WooCommerce, allowing a comprehensive analysis of the engagement happening before, during, and after events. Google Analytics Often, campaigns are designed to lead customers to a landing page. This is the heart of what is known as a sales funnel, which starts with a large net at the top to grab as much interest as possible. Then, with a strategic customer journey, these prospects become loyal customers. A common way to track this process is through Google Analytics. Yes, Constant Contact allows you to integrate this tool, too. Audience engagement starts with a great message Whatever your message, you want your marketing efforts to have a reverberation. To ensure this, you can follow the best practices to connect on the primary audience engagement level for maximum attention. Tools and measurements are crucial for your success, but first, you need to brainstorm a message that will resonate deeply with your target audience. Narrow down their pain points and interests — how can you creatively connect your product or service to this? Think about different strategies for getting customers to spend time with your content, as this, in turn, will get them engaged with your message. Once you have a campaign idea, you can begin the process of writing your marketing plan. Then, you can create content and deepen your relationship with your customers. Source: https://www.constantcontact.com/ Image Credit: Constant Contact  With the turn of the calendar comes important personal health checks — the kind of things you do annually to make sure you're staying on top of your well-being. It may be tempting to avoid these checkups. I mean, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," right? Yet, we don't always know we're "broken" until we look more closely. And we can't get healthier if we don't get checkups, set goals and work toward them.
Your entrepreneurial health matters, too. And while the hustle of running a business can cause you to overlook your entrepreneurial health, it's critical. If you want to be successful and build a company that outlasts your leadership, you need annual checkups. The goal is to build value within your company that prepares you for the future. This starts with yearly internal culture, personal and value checkups, which result in a process for short — and long-term planning that will set you up for personal, financial and business success. That's why, each calendar year, I set three checkups in motion to ensure good entrepreneurial health. Checkup #1: People and culture Every year, I send an internal survey to check the health of my company's people. They are incredibly important to the company's value. The survey takes about 20 minutes, and I use it to produce an employee satisfaction barometer so I have a true measure of the atmospheric pressure inside the business. A highlight of this survey is that I ask them to rank 20 or so benefits in order of what they'd like to have included in their compensation package. Then, in the coming year, we provide all of the top five and most of the next five benefits. Benefits ranking #11 and #12 might be provided if certain key performance indicators are met in the coming year, and each employee can select the two most important benefits to them. It's a way to understand what's important to the employees overall while recognizing not every employee needs the same things from a benefit package. Checkup #2: Value I also complete an enterprise value assessment each year, which helps me understand the value of my company if I were to sell it at that moment. A value assessment helps me identify areas in which the company has increased in value and where our opportunities for growth lie in the year ahead. It also helps me consider whether this year is the right time to sell the business. For example, if my business is worth $50 million and my wealth gap — the amount of money I need to harvest to meet my personal lifetime wealth needs — is $25 million, it may make financial sense to sell, even if this won't be my last business. For the clearest picture, I always recommend engaging a value advisor — one who is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA). Checkup #3: Personal Of all the checkups, this is the most often overlooked, which is strange since the new year often brings a time of personal introspection. Let's say your value assessment says that your company needs to enter a period of growth, and your advisory team is telling you that your market conditions are ripe for growth. That means your business will need an injection of cash and time. Is it the right time for your personal goals — as a parent, as a spouse — for you to invest further into your company? Both with time and money? If your personal goals aren't aligned with where your business is heading, you'll need to resolve those issues before you enter into any yearly planning process. Processing your checkup, planning with a process Once I've completed those three checkups, I'm armed with the right information to head into planning for the new year, as well as any longer-term strategy. The value and personal checkups help me understand whether or not my business is entering into a period of growth (or what I have to do to get it there) and if I'm preparing to exit my company. With that understanding, I can envision my short and long-term goals. Here are some things to keep in mind:
This time of year is always invigorating for me. Every new year brings unlimited possibilities that really excite my entrepreneurial spirit. Making sure I build a plan that stays true to what I discovered during my yearly checkups gives me the best shot at moving closer to my personal and business goals. Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com Image Credit: Photo by Monstera Production via Pexels.  If you’re a business owner or marketing professional who has already dipped a toe into the complex, challenging world of digital marketing, congratulations! You’re beyond so many entrepreneurs who haven’t yet invested the time. But what’s next? Taking the steps to implement a digital marketing plan, no matter the size of the campaign, is only the beginning. You may be wondering if everything is operating as effectively as possible. It’s a smart question. The answer is digital marketing optimization. What does digital marketing optimization mean? It refers to a process of making small but strategic changes to a marketing strategy to improve the results. Digital marketing optimization is best begun at the beginning of a campaign or strategy. When you start with the end goal in mind, you’ll set yourself up for success to do even better in the future. You can only work with what you know in the present moment, but you can also always keep learning. After all, optimization isn’t about being perfect. It’s about getting the best results you can at the time and seeing the next step to market your brand. What are the benefits of digital marketing optimization? If you’ve seen even a small amount of success in your business, you’re probably not the type of person who rests on their laurels. By embarking on a digital marketing optimization journey next, you can realize these benefits:
Hopefully, this is enough motivation to include a digital marketing optimization section at the end of your next campaign. You may also want to complete this process for each channel or platform you use. Digital marketing optimization driven by data Many business owners operate by their gut — they just like how a path, product, or policy feels. This can work, but not when it comes to digital marketing optimization. You need to collect and analyze data to support improvements. Here are the four steps to optimize your marketing strategy with data. 1. Collect data Start with the marketing goals you’ve set for your online campaign. Pick a few key performance indicators, known as KPIs, that directly connect with that goal. For example, you may want to optimize your website, and your goal is to increase traffic. You can use Google Analytics, a free tool that helps you track site visits and prospect behavior. This will give you an idea of how people interact with your website, and you’ll only get this understanding by looking at the data. 2. Analyze Data collection won’t do much if you don’t also carve out the time necessary for data analysis. For example, let’s say you send a survey to the people on your email list. That’s a great way to collect data — but you can’t improve until you crunch the numbers. Compare the data you receive with the goal you set for yourself at the beginning of your marketing campaign. Notice where you’ve exceeded your expectations and where you could improve. Along with the KPIs you’ve picked, always calculate your ROI, or return on investment, for your work. You can compare this baseline with future campaigns. 3. Strategize Now that you’ve identified the areas that could use a little improvement, thanks to data collection and analysis, it’s time to consider what small steps you can take to improve. Notice the word small. It’s unlikely you need to tear up your plan and start over. Instead, build on what you learn. For example, let’s say you haven’t reached a goal to convert a certain percentage of leads into customers. You may want to refine your strategy for your marketing funnel. Look at your strategies as experiments for learning and improving.  This ad for Higher DOSE appeared on social media, but the product remains unclear. They could optimize their ad with A/B testing to improve the clarity of their message. SOURCE: Facebook 4. Implement The final step in digital marketing optimization is implementing your new strategy. Consider taking this in phases. For example, you may have discovered through this work that you need new subject line strategies for your email newsletters. You can try what’s known as A/B testing. That is, you can test two messages at once with different audiences to see which one performs better based on your data. It’s one way to optimize with confidence. Optimization by channel The four-step process of digital marketing optimization can work with any channel, campaign, or strategy you’ve implemented. However, it may look different within each part of your comprehensive plan. The work you’ll do to refine your website isn’t the same as what you’ll need to think about for your social media optimization. Here are some ways to optimize the most common digital marketing channels. Email marketing Email marketing has one of the best ROIs of any channel, and you’ll see the most success when you launch your campaigns through a marketing platform like Constant Contact. Personal email service providers, like Gmail or Microsoft Outlook, don’t have a backend you can use to track the effectiveness of emails. Since you know you must be able to collect data to optimize, make sure you are using a system that offers email reporting. You can create strategies to reward your engaged subscribers with loyalty programs, advanced notice of new product launches, or special coupons. You may also look critically at your sending schedule and try a new tactic. Perhaps it’s a matter of improving the call-to-action wording on your click-through buttons. Use the data to point you in the right direction. Social media marketing Meta Business Suite gives you a powerful look behind the scenes of your Facebook and Instagram accounts. For the best social media optimization, you’ll want to keep an eye on all the data they provide to you. Social media marketing can feel overwhelming, but that’s exactly why it’s smart to set aside time in a campaign’s life cycle to optimize your efforts. If your paid ads or organic content isn’t hitting the mark, you may want to rethink your target audience or medium. It’s possible the people you’re looking to connect with are all hanging out on a different platform. SEO SEO, short for search engine optimization, can take a while to be effective, so take a long-term approach when figuring out how to best optimize your content. If you’ve done the best keyword research and followed the best practices for earned media, you may need a little patience to see results. Still, there are always ways to optimize SEO content. Have you publicized your blogs to the full extent possible? Take a look at the back end of your website: Can you include more keywords in the alternative text of images? Maybe your blogs do not offer enough value. A survey of your current customers can help determine what is most click-worthy.  The “Garden Betty” blog uses SEO to gain readers and, in turn, earn money through affiliate marketing. The site can be optimized by tracking the performance of blogs through Google Analytics to see which topics get the most engagement. IMAGE SOURCE: Garden Betty SMS SMS marketing, also known as text marketing, is commonly overlooked as an effective digital marketing strategy. To increase your subscribers, consider refining your incentive package for signing up. To reduce the number of unsubscribe requests, try reaching out to current customers with a quick survey to see what they appreciate the most. Gathering additional data can often clarify the next step in the optimization process. Marketing optimization for B2C B2C businesses should look at one word when they begin to optimize their marketing strategies: personalization. The more targeted your efforts are to the specific preferences and pain points of your customers, the more likely you’ll get the results you seek. One way to go about this is through email personalization. To achieve this, you’ll want to take a look at the backend of your email list. Are your lists segmented effectively so that people are only receiving emails based on their buying preferences and habits? The more refined your lists, the better. As you optimize B2C strategies, think about relevance to the customer. For example, it’s possible to automate an email listing the specific items in an abandoned cart. Your customer will know this email is sent especially to them, which may be enough for them to reconsider — and complete the sale. Marketing optimization for B2B If your focus is B2B, you have a different list of challenges with digital marketing optimization. While personalization is also important for you, you may wish to get creative in other ways to stand out in your industry. One way to do this is through B2B partner programs. Based on the data you’ve collected and analyzed, are there gaps that can be filled with a complementary business partner with an overlapping target audience? Brainstorm ways to create joint referral or co-marketing programs to improve the performance of both companies. Using AI and automation to optimize Since one of the benefits of digital marketing optimization is staying abreast of current technology and trends, you may be wondering about AI and automation. Both are exciting tools that, when used correctly, can take your strategy up a notch. AI is great for researching ideas, but AI-generated content isn’t perfect yet. You can use AI to build a list of interesting blog topics, but you may still want to get a human to do the writing. Google can identify AI-written content, making your SEO efforts backfire. Automation, too, is also worth considering. There are a lot of great marketing automation tools that make it faster and easier to implement a marketing strategy. You decide a strategy first. Then you can set up workflows that send emails automatically. It’s like having another person on your marketing team! Ready to optimize? Follow these next steps Digital marketing optimization is a four-step process that can be done for any channel you’ve focused on for a campaign or strategy. With optimization, you can learn from the effort you’ve already made and determine the best ways to continue — or pivot completely. If you’ve just begun to optimize, start by taking an inventory of your marketing campaigns. Break up each one by channel: your website, social media marketing, SEO-focused content, SMS marketing, and all others. Then, set aside time to begin the four-step process for each. Collect the data associated with your goals and analyze the results. Strategize ways to improve and implement your ideas. With marketing, as with all business, you never need to stop learning or improving! Source: https://www.constantcontact.com/ Image Credit: Constant Contact |
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