Interview with Lisa Bell, Digital Entrepreneur

Meet Lisa Bell, writer, editor, author, and Director at The Word Architect. She is also the founder of The Organic Shop, an online health shop providing a range of natural and cruelty-free products for men, women, children, babies, and even furry family members. She loves to talk about all things marketing, copywriting, digital marketing, and social media.

Time to leverage AI’s capabilities in your digital strategy (if you haven’t already)

According to the US Digital Marketing Institute, 49% of the value of the NASDAQ and 25% of the US stock market consists of just six companies, and they’re all AI companies. So what does this mean for marketers?

Create a winner digital strategy for the holidays

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rearview mirror, Boxing Day, Christmas and New Year’s are knocking at the door. As we enter the busiest shopping time of the year, digital marketers need to pull out all the stops to get their share of the spending pie.

Back to basics for SME’s

Back to basics for SME’s The explosion of digital marketing options means that many businesses are spread too thin across too many channels these days. We often do audits for new and existing clients on their digital assets/channels’ performance. With so much data spread over so many channels, it is crucial for businesses to do this ‘health check’ regularly to avoid over-spending or to identify areas that yield real returns for their business. Smart businesses focus on dominating one channel. Marketers should get more focused and aim to do fewer things better. Of course it is easy to get distracted by shiny new digital objects. Marketers love new trends and to be on the leading edge of new technologies and platforms. We often see surveys where marketers say AI and machine learning are critical channels. Ultimately, yes, this kind of technology could have a dramatic impact on marketing performance and optimization, but how many advertisers (small businesses and brands) are actually using proprietary AI or machine learning to improve marketing? Currently, not many. The reality is that many small businesses and a portion of big brands aren’t delivering on the basics of digital marketing like websites, SEO, social media, blog writing, Google ads, online reviews, etc. Given the huge marketing budgets of big brands, small businesses must execute on these foundational tactics. For most SMEs the majority of their business growth still comes from the foundational tools in digital marketing: social media, digital ads, email marketing and SEO. Don’t forget to focus on your foundation. Often, optimizing your base digital execution will provide a better return on investment than experimenting (and getting distracted) with every new tool. So the next time you speak to an agency or martech company trying to sell you what’s “new” or “cutting edge” or “the future”, ask them to help you get the basics right first. Upwards and onwards! Daniel Gross – CEO All CEO's Thoughts Interviews and Insights Industry News Interviews and Insights Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before 26 Oct 2022 Why Black Friday 2022 will differ from before Despite current downturns in the economy, evidence shows that the e-commerce industry is picking up and going back to pre-pandemic… Read More CEO's Thoughts Never stop marketing 26 Oct 2022 Never stop marketing There’s a LOT going on in the world right now. This is not a political piece, yet it is diffiult to ignore the world-shaping events… Read More Interviews and Insights Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove 26 Oct 2022 Interview with Sandra Jardim, Blogger/Founder of MammaBearLove Our October profile is Sandra Jardim, mom to twins Gisela and Alaia and blogger/owner of MammaBearLove. She uses her blog as… Read More Prev123Next

How 2020 has changed Digital Marketing

2020 and the emergence of COVID-19 has altered the way we all live and work, including the world of Digital Marketing. While the pandemic’s full impact is still to be determined, its effects on Digital Marketing has been profound as people increasingly go online to meet their day-to-day needs. From SEO to the way businesses interact with consumers, the script is being rewritten for better and for worse. The way we interact with each other has significantly changed, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that companies also need to change how they interact with customers. From giving back to the community by offering free services to putting a positive emphasis on marketing messaging, most businesses have had to shift their digital strategy in order to adjust to this new world order. For many companies who hadn’t already gone online, 2020 was the ‘point of no return’. With customers spending more time online than ever and looking for information and safer ways to shop, online is now a ‘must have’ even for services industries. 2020 has profoundly changed online consumer behaviour. For lunch or dinner options, instead of searching for restaurants closest to our locations, we are searching for delivery options. We are more online than ever before. Online appointments are now the norm for many businesses. Online meetings and Zoom calls are on the rise while face-to-face interactions are on the decline due to the COVID-19 crisis. Consumers are hopping on websites and communicating through brand’s social media platforms more than ever. Digital marketing is one of the best and most cost-effective ways for businesses to reach their target audiences. New behavioral practices like social distancing are accelerating consumers’ use of e-commerce options, forcing traditional marketing to take a backseat. As interpersonal communication declines, businesses are becoming more reliant on digital tools and other accessories to accomplish their goals, I.e., Facebook Messenger, live chat on websites, text message marketing, etc. Brands investing in SEO may have initially seen a decline in revenue when the pandemic began but now may be seeing a rise. 2020 has been a challenging year for most businesses, and marketers have had to put their thinking caps on and adapt quicker than ever. The good news however is that many of these changes, are likely to be with us for the foreseeable future, and in a way this has been a year of accelerated learning and finally executing those plans many have been talking about, but just haven’t had the urgency to follow through on. What will 2021 hold? Only time will tell. The Publisher Management Team

AdMarula launches digital consultancy services

With AdMarula now in its ninth year of operation we are entering an exciting new phase in the business. Initially launched as an Affiliate/Performance Marketing network, we  have built a solid reputation the past decade as South Africa’s no.1 channel for performance-based affiliate advertising, however due to our deep knowledge and understanding of digital we’ve more recently also been working with clients in a consultancy capacity, upon their request. These ‘new’ areas of Digital Strategy, Paid Search, Social Media and Mobile Advertising are fast becoming a real growth area for AdMarula.  Digital is no longer a stand-alone item on the overall marketing agenda. The world is digital, and businesses are playing catchup with increasingly demanding customers who expect their online experience to be seamless, quick, intuitive yet not invasive or annoying. It is therefor only natural that clients who have experienced great success through their performance-marketing campaigns with AdMarula, want us to work closer with them on other aspects on their digital strategy in order to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach. This is an exciting yet natural development for us as a business, as well as an affirmation that our team is highly skilled and respected in the industry. For the performance network side of the business its business as usual, while we will be adding to our team to handle the expansion of our consultancy arm. On a different note, AdMarula will be relocating its offices from Technopark outside Stellenbosch to Paardevlei in Somerset West. This will allow our team to be more efficient by cutting out commuting time, as well as give us more direct access to major routes like the N2 towards Cape Town and the airport for meetings. We will of course communicate our new address to you in the appropriate time and manner, and aim for the move to be done by the year end. I trust that all our clients and publishers had a successful Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend and that it will in part make up for lost revenue during lockdown earlier this year. It is encouraging to see that some of our programs that were paused have been restarted, and that clients are starting to increase budgets and channels again. I wish you all a well-deserved break and time with family and dear ones, and look forward to taking on 2021’s challenging with you. Onwards and upwards! Daniel Gross – CEO

Interview with Kate Kuilman, freelance paid media specialist

This month we chat to Kate Kuilman, Vega Brand school graduate and freelance paid media specialist. Expert in Google Ads (Search & Display), YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter advertising, Kate uses her specialist knowledge to help a range of clients, including Ole!Connect, Hoorah Digital and Names & Faces to reach new users and increase their e-commerce performance. Describe yourself in 3 words Kind, analytical and ambitious When I was little I wanted to be a… I could never decide on one thing I wanted to do that was able to combine the creativity I craved (despite my complete lack of technical artistic skill) and the analytics I naturally leaned towards. But when the adults would ask, “a vet” seemed to be the most easily accepted response. What exactly does a freelance paid media specialist do? As a paid media specialist I help brands get their creatives and messaging in front of their target market. Depending on the KPIs set by the client we work together to optimise the targeting, messaging and overall consumer journey to help boost awareness/leads/sales/revenue. What do you love most about your job? I love the certainty and accuracy in which we can attribute the spend used on advertising to overall performance. Being able to understand the impact the ads have had and report back exact numbers to clients that help understand how users are engaging with their content is always rewarding. How do you stay on top of all the changes and developments in the PPC landscape? I am lucky to have clients that span industries, business sizes and KPIs. Working in different spaces and objectives means naturally staying on top of what is happening to ensure the accounts are performing at their best. Having strong relationships with my clients also means a lot of time is put discussing strategies and learnings from each other that help increase everyone’s knowledge. What are the longer term challenges facing e-commerce in South Africa? The long-term challenges facing e-commerce in South Africa are tricky to predict. South Africans are the 3rd most discount obsessed shoppers in the world, and the constraints of our economy mean that shoppers are becoming more selective of where their money is spent. Going online means they are able to compare prices and discounts far more easily. While we are still lagging behind other developed nations in regard to our e-commerce penetration, we are catching up fast. Last year’s Black Friday saw South Africa record one of the biggest percentage growth in Black Friday specials and sales internationally. As a country, South Africa faces multiple challenges when it comes to the growth of e-commerce. Historically the biggest obstacles have generally been high prices, poor quality and access of internet services, and the reliability and cost of product delivery. In addition, South African users are also concerned with online fraud and the security of their transactions. Continuing to address and improve upon these issues will be the main challenge. We are seeing online retailers offer more payment options to help cater for users with varying access to financial resources; and delivery times and accuracy are improving as technology develops. There has also been an increase in online discounts and sales, especially from the bigger retailers that have the resources to offer discounts on some of their products. Ultimately, retailers wishing to take advantage of the e-commerce boom will need to figure out how to overcome these hurdles at scale. What makes a good PPC marketer? There is no one thing. Everyone has their own way of structuring accounts and targeting users. Each channel has their own best practices, but depending on what the client is looking for will depending on the set strategy that a PPC marketer will use. Ultimately, being able to understand the users you are trying to talk to and how they behave online will be the most important aspect. Deciding how to use which channel, device or messaging and which stage in the consumer journey will help boost the overall digital strategy and results. I absolutely despise… Being late. I will be annoyingly early to every meeting. My favourite TV show is… Friends My favourite tech gadget is… Besides my iPhone? My Fossil Hybrid Smartwatch 🙂 When I’m not working, I’m… Planning my next trip or meeting up with friends for a glass of wine