Digital Media News

Whether you’re involved with ecommerce or own a brick-and-mortar store, mobile advertising should be considered as part of your strategy. If not, your competition is going to have a significant upper hand. Take into consideration the growth of mobile advertising. According to a study by eMarketer regarding digital ad dollars that are spent on mobile devices will continue to surge into the foreseeable future.

People now spend much more time on apps than on the mobile weband advertisers are always on the lookout for ways to optimize their mobile advertising and quantify ROI.

Here are 4 key tips to help you get the most out of your mobile advertising spend and mobile advertising campaigns:

In today’s ultra-competitive e-commerce market, it’s harder than ever to earn and maintain customer loyalty. There isan ever-growing number of businesses competing in the same market space for the same customers’ dollars, and an abundance of choice for the discerning consumer. This means that businesses need to work that much harder to retain customers.

Studies from the U.S. Small Business Administration and U.S. Chamber of Commerce have found that acquiring new customers can cost five to seven times more than simply retaining existing customers, so it is within the interest of businesses to pay as much attention to customer retention as acquisition. In order to do this, it is imperative to have a good retention strategy in place.

As people continue to move towards the online environment for communication, entertainment and shopping, it is more important than ever for your brand to stand out from your competitors. Advancements in technology mean that there are opportunities that you can use to better your business’ position in the market.

One of the more recent developments is that of ‘live chat’.Also known as “web chat”, it involves the use of real-time, text-based communication via the Internet. It is a viable alternative to long-established practices such as telephone and email support, which can be costly for companies and incur long waiting times for customers.

While live chat is most commonly thought ofas a customer support platform, it has some untapped potential that could make it an effective marketing tool, due to the interactivity it provides and its ease of use. Why?

It doesn't matter if you're an avid tweeter, a Tumblraddict,or a Facebook junkie; there's one thing you can't avoid on the Web: memes. Memes are everywhere and just about anything or anyone can become one. Grumpy Cat, Alex from Target, Overly Attached Girlfriend, Success Kid — all of them started out as normal, everyday people (or animals), but were somehow catapulted into the online spotlight, overnight.

The actual term “meme” comes from the 1976 book ‘The Selfish Gene’ by Richard Dawkins, who defined it as a ‘unit of cultural information passed between people’, but today, memes are most commonly known as those funny pictures with puns and jokes overlaid on top in bold, white lettering.

What is a meme?

A meme is quite simply a concept, behavior, or idea that spreads virally, usually via the Internet. Memes most commonly appear as pictures or videos, but they can also take the form of a link, hashtag, a simple word, phrase, or even an entire website. Memes can also take the form of viral videos, with one of the most famous examples being the "Harlem Shake" memes that took over the Internet in early 2013. (The original video has now received more than 75,000,000 views)

People desert websites for various reasons. If you’re lucky, they’ll come back to finish what they started; if you’re unlucky, they will forget all about it. ‘Abandoners’ can be hot prospects, andcompanies often invest a lot of time and moneyon retargeting (paid media) and remarketing (sending a series of abandonment recovery emails), to persuade consumers to re-visit their purchases.

Here are some techniques from the world of psychology that you canincorporate into your remarketing or retargeting campaigns, to stimulate the ‘buy’ button in your visitors’ brains.

1. Foot in the Door Technique

Sometimes visitors abandon because they are not ready to buy yet, i.e. some shoppers like to add items to their carts over several visits before they check out.Although these visitors may convert later, you can reinforce their decision to buy from you by using the Foot in the Door technique.The principle behind the technique is this: Make a small request of your customer (a micro-conversion) first, such as asking them to join a mailing list orcreate a wish list for future purchases. If they agree to your first request, they will be more likely to respond to your next and bigger request.

Psychologists theorize that the technique works due to the human’s tendency to feel indebted to someone after they’ve had some level of interaction with that person.