Blogs

The importance of digital marketing

The big question of a lot of companies is “should we use digital tools to communicate with our customers beside the traditional ways like newspapers, flyers,…?” My friends, this question can be answered with a big “YES!”.

It is important to find a good harmony between below-the-line and above-the-line communication. We cannot simply discard the traditional ways of communication and trust totally on digital marketing. Some customers cannot be reached by digital marketing such as very young children or mature people who did not grow up with all the digital tools we know today.

Besides the importance of traditional marketing, we cannot deny the fact that the internet became a very important factor in our lives which continues to grow every single day. We use the internet to talk to our friends, family, colleges, bosses and occasionally out of town relatives that we do not even like. Further, we use it to watch movies, to read books, we even use it for instructions on how to cook a good meal. There is no need to say that we spend a lot of hours on digital platforms for personal or business purposes.

We do not only use the internet for pleasure but also to find solutions to our problems. No one visits the restaurant anymore when they are do not want to cook, rather we order it online and wait for it to be delivered. When we need a new laptop, smart phone, any technical product, our research is focussed on digital platforms. Therefore, ‘search engine optimisation’ (SEO) and ‘pay per click’ (PPC) are important to come up first or generate traffic.

Less of our attention is captured by salesmanship in stores, but we trust in others who previously bought the product and recommended or reviewed it online. Hence, individuals are becoming more and more trusting towards online shopping. As a result; Amazon, Zalando, Alibaba and many other online stores are benefiting from the fact that every day more people are connected all over the world. Estimating a number of digitally connected people would be very difficult as it fluctuates per minute.

Since the internet became so popular, companies have tried to jump on the train and not only try to sell products online, but also attempted to communicate with their customers directly and advise them or help them further when they have a problem. Online customer support became a big issue when people could ask their questions directly to the company, while everybody was watching. You can do this on platforms such as Twitter or Facebook at your convenience. Not only can wrong answering to complaints cause severe damage, but it can affect the perception of other potential or existing customers as well.

Another important benefit of digital marketing is the opportunity to direct communication very efficiently. We don’t hate commercials or messages we just don’t like it when it is continuous and not applicable to our wants and needs. However, with the huge popularity of smart phones, people are always connected. Thanks to the internet, companies are able to identify your key characteristics. This helps tailor all digital marketing for who you are and where you go. Beware! You are NEVER alone.

 

The COLOUR of the Global Geek!

It is a well-known fact that colours play an intricate role in brand perception and as a result we have craftily identified colours that affect our consumer market, whilst depicting the message of the brand. Global Geekz is a global brand performing on one accessible platform; this provides a partial reason for our decision to make the colours of Global Geekz shades of blue and green. These two colours are those of the globe as we know it, and we saw them fit to define our fictitious boundaries. Displaying our menu options in black provides easy navigation due to isolation. Further, our logo’s bright colours were chosen to capture the attention of viewers.

Additionally, the colours were chosen to form a solid brand relationship with viewers and cause them to feel welcomed when they browse the site. Thus, our research identified blue, as a colour of security and trust, which are characteristics our brand emulates. Further, we discovered that the colour green was used as a sign of peace, making it perfect for viewers worldwide to relax and enjoy the content published within Global Geekz. Hence, these colours aren’t used to appeal to a particular geographic, but the world at large. Therefore, if our colours aren’t used to appeal to a segmented geographical platform… Why should we? J

 

Critiquing the dimensions of brand personality (Aaker 1997)

It can be debateable that brand personality refers to a set of human characteristics associated with a brand as it involves varying demographics. Sophisticated brands such as Mercedes and Revlon are associated with the upper class, being coined by society as glamorous and sexy which incorporates both human and demographics characteristics, thereby forming their brand identity.

Do you perceive brands as any of the following dimensions?

Sincerity – domestic, honest, genuine

Excitement – imaginative, spirited

Competence – efficient, reliable, dependable

Sophistication – glamourous, romantic

Ruggedness – tough, strong, outdoor affiliation

Aaker (1997) mentions that sincerity, excitement and competence are part of human personality whereas, sophistication and ruggedness are what individual’s desire but do not have. This can be as a result of the affiliation that a market has towards a brand, causing an impact on the brand relationships that are formed. So whether consumers desire these characteristics or not, they are impacted by how they feel towards a particular brand because of the perception they hold of the brand’s personality.

Although brand personality evokes consumers’ emotions and increases the level of trust and loyalty, it does not mean it may reflect on the five dimensions. We argue that the dimensions of brand personality should not be depicted from a consumer’s perception as each individual associates their own personal meaning/personality towards a brand, which is not categorised in the dimensions.

However, the dimensions of personality do have its advantages as it enables researchers to identify a benchmark in comparing the brand personalities across product categories.

 

Four factors influencing the design of our blog

Content:

Our blog’s objective is to deliver the contemporary issues of digital marketing to you, wherever you may be. Every week, we will post critical discussions on relevant subject areas surrounding digital marketing keeping you informed and well entertained! The content will be updated in order to maintain the interest of every geek reading or browsing our multilingual blogs.

Navigation:

We use simple navigation for our blogs. Pages are consistent and carry the same font and colour to minimise distraction. Furthermore, we don’t use too many navigational icons; rather we focus on the most relevant options. Hence, upon accessing our blog, visitors will easily identify the content in a multilingual view for their perusal.

Vision:

One of the important factors of website design is vision. It consists of colors, graphics and fonts. We need to provide the website with clear and concise messages to provide an avenue for easy navigation. Bright colours and graphics are easier to detect and tabs isolated in colour make it easier for the viewer to spot by demanding their attention.

Layout:

The layout of the interface design is another factor influencing our website. Our user-friendly display, allows users to easily select content. A clear layout enhances the user’s satisfaction and increases retention.

 

SEO vs PPC – What is the most effective?

With most companies finding themselves ‘online’ nowadays, they have to constantly be creative to find new ways of grabbing a customer’s attention. So the big question is how can companies now use search engines to get customers to their own websites. Could the answer be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay Per Clicks (PPC)? Hmmm… Let’s find out 🙂

 What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) or also known as Search engine marketing (SEM), allows a website to show up on the top of the research results, through the use of certain keywords found by either ‘crawlers’ or ‘spiders’ within search engine software systems, according to Yalçna and Köseb (2010).

Google’s latest revised process for SEO has led to ‘Panda’ and ‘Penguin’ algorithms, meaning that the rules to get high SEO has changed as outlined by Barnett (2013).

To rank higher on SEO, companies like Google will consider two factors, these are; off-page and on-page factors. Off page factors can be regarded as the HTML coding and the reputation through the inbound links.

Whereas on-page refers to everything that is on the main page, for example: the internal linking, title relevance, URLs, the loading time of any content and also the content.

What is PPC?

Mahdian and Tomak (2008) found three prominent advertising billing schemes these are: pay-per-impression, pay-per-click and pay-per-action.

Pay per click (PPC) also known as paid search, is when an advertiser is charged but only once the URL or advertisement is clicked on, as outlined by King et al (2015).

So which is more effective?

SEO has the advantages of being more organic than PPC, meaning that customers are clicking on websites through the usefulness of the content, rather than the appeal of the advertising as suggested by Barnett (2013).

If a customer clicks the website, due to the content this could also suggest that customers are more likely to stay on the website longer as outlined by Egria and Bayrak (2014).

Conversely, PPC is more convenient and easier to set-up. However, it does come at a larger cost, especially in regards to Google adwords. For example, Google charges $54.91 for the adword ‘Insurance’ according to Word Stream (2015). However, PPC can produce quicker responses to interaction and conversions into website hits.

Can you use PPC and SEO together?

The answer to this is- yes! Try to use PPC and SEO as much as possible, as you will increase the rate of a customer clicking on your website. An example is shown below where on Google both PPC regarded as ‘paid ads’ and SEO regarded as ‘natural/organic search results’ are used.

Image source: Pay per click marketing blog (2012)

So by using SEO and PPC together you will be able to have greater long-term value, exposure to your brand, higher volume and immediate results. Find your ideal customers (2015) outlined that if SEO and PPC are combined they can produce 90% more clicks through, 40% more visitors to your website and also 44% more interaction through conversation with your customers.

References:

Yalçna.N and Köseb.U (2010) What is search engine optimization: SEO? Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 9:1, 487–493.

Mahdian.M and Tomak.K (2008) Pay-Per-Action Model for On-line Advertising. International Journal of Electronic Commerce. 13:2, 113-128.

King.M et al (2015) Ensemble learning methods for Pay-Per- Click campaign management. Expert Systems with Applications. 1-34.

Pay per click marketing blog (2012) How PPC Can Take Your Business to the Next Level [Online] available from < http://ppc.org/how-ppc-can-take-your-business-to-the-next-level/> [06 Feb 2015].

Barnett.M (2013) Aiming high. [Online] available from < http://www.marketingweek.com/2013/05/15/aiming-high/?nocache=true&adfesuccess=1> [06 Feb 2015].

Egria.G and Bayrak.C (2014) The Role of Search Engine Optimization on Keeping the User on the Site. Procedia Computer Science. 36:1, 335 – 342.

Word Stream (2015) How Does Google Make Its Money: The 20 Most Expensive Keywords in Google AdWords. [Online] available from < http://www.wordstream.com/articles/most-expensive-keywords > [06 Feb 2015].

Find your ideal customers (2015) Search Engine Marketing : SEO and PPC – how do they work together? [Online] available from < http://www.findyouridealcustomers.com.au/seo-ppc-working-together/ > [06 Feb 2015].

 

Facebook Privacy Policy

Recently there was an article published about a new privacy policy about Facebook. The article tells us that Facebook started watching every step we make on the Internet. Yes, you heard it right, not only the content you put on Facebook but also every website you visit, even every search result.

Ofcourse they claim it is legal because as a user, you accept their terms and conditions and they warned you by email and notifications. However, chances are that they will win in legal matters with respect to these changings. Further, one may ask if it is still ethically correct that one company can follow every move you make? Ofcourse they claimed they will not abuse the information they gathered but rather would use it to address the publicity more efficiently, so you won’t be annoyed by ads of products you don’t even consider to buy.

We believe that you shouldn’t be forced into such changes, even if they were to notify you or open a 7-day discussion for unhappy customers. They should give their users the opportunity to allow this change or disallow it instead of implementing such a major privacy change automatically for every user.

Last but not least, the new settings make it possible for Facebook to follow you even after you deleted your Facebook account. It has to be mentioned that there is an option to opt out, but most people aren’t even aware of this new privacy policy and are followed without even knowing. Thereby, falsely believing that they’re saying goodbye to Facebook, without noticing that similar to a scary ex-girlfriend, Facebook is always aware of their every move.

 

Who Rules Your World

To: Every School Bully

From: Every School Geek

We weren’t the most popular kids in school
Hey, why pretend?
If not for the creation of Pokémon
The janitor would be our only friend
You eyeballed us with scorn and disgust
A look of total disgrace
Cuz you thought if we, became friends
Your social status would’ve been erased
So to help “boost” your image
I became a target for you
Making “blending in” with glasses and braces
So incredibly hard to do
I thought at first, it MUST be me
There has to be something that I’m doing wrong
Probably if I started playing sports
You wouldn’t transform my underwear, into a thong!
But you didn’t notice times were changing
So now the only skill you have, is to play
And this Geek who always sat by the computer
Knows how to build one- today
But now there’s no more popularity
No bullying Geeks for fun
The life you loved has ended
But mine, has just begun

Cuz with such a growth in technology
We Geeks do what we know best
Ever wondered if we created mobile devices?
Well the answer, is YES!
So remember that time you laughed at Bill Gates?
And threw Apples at Steve?
Told Mark Zuckerberg he was a loser?
Or got thrown out of class by Husni?
That was our motivation
To create platforms globally interesting
So that companies could utilise them through the Internet
And see the value of digital marketing
So with this increase in digital marketing
Occupying 2.5% of company revenue
We have made a living not by going into the world
But by bringing the world, to you

So don’t call us unreasonable
Now that we’re on top
Because you could walk into our company with 10 degrees
And we will give you A MOP!
Cuz for years you’ve given us messages
By making us tie your shoes
Or hiding us in closets
Now it’s time for us to send a message to you
School is now over!
Here is where life begins
Cuz in the world of technology
Ha! The Global Geek is KING!
So don’t dare step out of line!
Don’t dare say one wrong word!
Cuz we ARE the Global Geekz!
AND WE! RULE! YOUR! WORLD!!!!!!

(Thunder Roars)

 

Formation of augmented-reality interactive technology’s persuasive effects from the perspective of experiential value

With technology impacting the retail industry companies are now using augmented reality by facilitating online fittings for customers to virtually try on clothes as if they were in a physical store. How cool is that! Augmented reality provides shoppers with a simulated shopping experience with the ability to observe in a specific context.

An example mentioned in the article (can be accessed below) is Zugara, in which they designed a social fitting room called ‘webcam social shopping’. The software detects the consumers face and picks up on the facial details such as skin tone. This then enables consumers to see how they look when the clothing item appears on them on the screen in which they can zoom in and out, and change clothes. This approach can either be positive due to consumers finding this convenient as they would not need to leave their homes. However, this could be negative if the software does not capture the consumers full body shape as each individual have different body shapes.

Another augmented reality used within the retail industry is IKEA, in which they produced an online interactive catalogue. Consumers can use their smartphone or tablet screen to design a bedroom, kitchen or living room virtually by dragging an item from the catalogue and placing it on the screen. This builds an impression of the brand for consumers and also stimulates consumers’ buying intention.

It is critiqued within the article that the strategies adopted for both Zugara and IKEA focus on providing an experience rather than focusing on the actual product or service; which can be debatable.

From the article; I think that more companies can enhance their digital marketing strategy by incorporating augmented reality.

Augmented reality is just the beginning!

Have a read of this journal article and tell us your views 🙂

Tseng-Lung, H. and Feng, H.L. (2014) “Formation of augmented-reality interactive technology’s persuasive effects from the perspective of experiential value”, Internet Research, 24 (1), pp.82 – 109

 

Facebook new app for workplace

Recently, Facebook has become one of the best ways for communication. Many people spend time on Facebook every day making it an effective tool for interaction between customers and companies. However, because of its publicity, Facebook is not applied widely in many workplaces. For that reason, they have launched a new app for office. Facebook claims that this app will help to secure the confidential information and function completely separate from the personal pages. This app can turn out to be the successful move Facebook seeks, due to the high demand for a workplace tool. Due to the success of Yammer, it is no surprise for an investment to be made in this area of a huge brand such as Facebook. However, because of the popularity and familiar appearance of Facebook, it makes this tool become easier to communicate which also leads to goodwill and the ability to save on training cost.

Compared to other networks such as Linkedln, Facebook’s competitive advantage is that it is considered friendlier and it is an easier means of communication. Linkedln is well-known for its usability for job hunting but not for publicity like that of Facebook. Recently, Linkedln has just started to develop the new content, which allows people to update and search for profiles and news stories, of which Facebook has already incorporated.

In general, there is an opportunity for Facebook to once again be the winner in the digital market for its Facebook at work application. This launch can lead to the innovation of the workplace across the entire world.

 

Our opinions on the importance of website design in digital marketing strategy

Opinion 1: (Lennart)

There are many companies without a proper website. Many of companies don’t believe in the power of a well designed website. They should know that it’s often the first impression of potential customers and we all know how important that is and how difficult it may be to change afterwards.

You can get a lot of new visitors on your website by using the right digital marketing strategy which can contain; social media, SEO, PPC or direct emails. However, when they actually visit your website and it is totally unattractive, they will exit very quick and probably never return.

Opinion 2: (Romaine)

Want to know how to be taken seriously? Here’s a hint- create a GOOD first impression.

Many companies to date acknowledge the importance of a website but fail to see the value it can create when executed correctly. Claiming to be an innovative or creative company in today’s market holds no value if your mediums of marketing like the company’s website was obviously created by the Flintstones.

Your website is your global marketplace. Therefore, customers and businesses beyond your local jurisdiction will view your company through this platform. Thus, we highly recommend a well designed website, which doesn’t only create a good first impression, but also improves the company’s credibility.

Opinion 3: (Arti)

Website design is important when considering digital marketing strategies as it provides a platform where companies can: actively engage with their customers to either find out more about their needs and wants, or to have general interaction with them about personal considerations or even to personalise products and services through value-co creation.

Within the literature of website design many fundamentals have been outlined for example, website content. The content of your website is King as without good and engaging content customers have a higher chance of exiting your website and possibly not returning. However good content can lead the user through a click through path throughout the website and once the information is found useful, the user could then either return to your website again for further information or even interact through two-way communication.

Opinion 4: (Hawa)

As a digital marketing strategy, web design is important in building online engagement due to the fundamentals of web design with a few being, interactivity, navigation and content. In my personal opinion; navigation is very important when designing a website as it lays the foundation to how long a consumer stays on the website. If the website is too complex for the consumer to navigate; chances are that they will exit the page due to frustration. Therefore, the frequency of time spent on a website determines how easy it is to navigate around the website.

Opinion 4: (Dan)

With the accelerating development of the Internet in recent years, an official website is a significant gate for consumers to realise a company. Via the information, structure, and style of the website, audiences generate an impression to that particular brand within their mind. A well designed website is able to present the information and purpose of the company in an appropriate way with a clear theme, structure, and blended colours. In turn, it can create a positive brand identity for consumers, and enhance the audiences’ engagement on the website. The longer a user stays on a website, the higher the possibility that they will make a purchase.

 

Customer online engagement:

According to Verma (2014: 282-283), customer engagement is one component of relationship marketing, which includes both interaction and involvement and could enhance customer interaction and experience. If both interaction and involvement were depicted, it would lead to the desired customer experience, which in turn creates a positive effect on co-creation. Further, the utilization of blogs accompanied with other social media sites could highly improve corporate branding and customer engagement, along with the brand loyalty of customers and the level of customer retention would be improved via the use of social media sites (Verma, 2012: 283 and Bowden, 2009: 65).

There’s a high probability that these results are due to word-of-mouth recommendations and product reviews on the social media sites. This could effectively reduce the risk of purchase decisions by aiding consumers in making them (Mosteller and Mathwick, 2014: 464;Wirts et al, 2013: 229-230). For instance, the two pictures show the same PC desk and same price with the same brand retailed by different retailers. However, the first retailer has substantially higher product sales than the second retailer. This could be as a result of the first retailer having higher customer engagement, in the positive feedback given. Additionally, it represents that a customers reviews and recommendations could affect another’s decision-making.

References:

Bowden, J.L. 2009, “The process of customer engagement: a conceptual framework”, Journal of marketing theory and practice, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 63-74.

Mosteller, J. and Mathwick, C. 2014, “Reviewer online engagement: the role of rank, well-being, and market helping behavior”, The journal of consumer marketing, vol. 31, no. 6/7, pp. 464-474.

Verma, S. 2014, “Online Customer Engagement through Blogs in India”, Journal of Internet Commerce, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 282-301.

Wirtz, J., den Ambtman, A., Bloemer, J., Horváth, C., Ramaseshan, B., van de Klundert, J., Gurhan Canli, Z. & Kandampully, J. 2013, “Managing brands and customer engagement in online brand communities”, Journal of service management, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 223-244.