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Social Media Marketing & eCommerce in 2022: What to Expect

Social Media Marketing & eCommerce in 2022: What to Expect

December 13, 2021/in eCommerce, Marketing, Small Business /by Kevin Richards

We’ve seen social media change the way we go about marketing and advertising our businesses to the world. Social media is an incredible avenue to maintain top of mind awareness with your shoppers.

 

Influencer Marketing will Evolve

Influencer Marketing has taken the internet by storm. While it was once a trend, it’s more common than ever before. Influencers are typically experts on the platforms you see them on, they already have an engaged audience, they know what kind of content their audience is interested in, and they know that they can influence their audience with the information they put out.

Many micro-influencers have a relationship with their audience that mimics the “regular guy/gal” brand archetype, making them more relatable and leading their audience to trust their opinions and recommendations. This is a great way for a business to leverage brand awareness and grow their audience even more.

 

Short-form Video Content will Continue to Rise

Many of us heard of Tik Tok at the start of the global pandemic and vowed to ourselves that we would never download it. As we’re over a year into the global pandemic, many of us can’t stand by that statement anymore. We’ve been consumed by the hilarious, relatable, and educational videos that are widely spread across the internet.

Short-form video content takes less time and space to create and it also falls in line with the current fast paced attention spans of online audiences. Long-form videos can offer much depth about a product, brand, or service to your audience but ask yourself….who has time to watch one five-minute video when they could watch 15 short videos in the same time and take in MUCH more?

 

Mobile Optimization will be EVEN MORE Critical

Consumers spend more and more time on mobile devices every day. As buying power continues to grow amongst Millennials and Gen Z audiences, mobile friendly websites will generate more revenue than slower, non-optimized online stores.

Mobile optimization not only encompasses your website, but also things like email marketing, for example. Consider ways that you can deliver a mobile email experience to subscribers.

 

Social Responsibility will be Prioritized

We are all aware of the global pandemic that started in 2020. This along with other world events, caused social responsibility, ethics, and transparency to matter much to consumers more now than ever before. Consumers care about brands that care about them, their employees, and shared causes. 

You may see that some businesses have already begun to shift their social media marketing strategies to focus more on inclusive initiatives, promotions and offerings all while highlighting causes or missions they support.

 

It’s all About the SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to how discoverable your website and content is. SEO is not new in the slightest, but you can expect to see SEO be ingrained within much, if not all of your marketing tactics and strategies.

 

Virtual Events are Here to Stay

We’ve had the entire year of 2021 to work through the kinks of what business will look like in 2022. As we saw many virtual events in 2020 and 2021, 2022 will be more of a hybrid approach. Expect to see businesses using more physical opportunities for their audience in 2022. Although there may be less virtual events, that DOES NOT mean that virtual events are null and void. 

 

Social Media Marketing is (if not already) going to be HUGE for your business in 2022. Get ahead while you can and schedule your FREE consultation with us, NOW!

2021 eCommerce Holiday Checklist

2021 Holiday Checklist

December 6, 2021/in Design, eCommerce, Marketing, Mobile Web Design, Small Business /by Kevin Richards

Who doesn’t want a successful, stress-free holiday season? You, us and shoppers alike!

To set yourself up for the best holiday season yet to come, we’ve put together a checklist so that you can be on top of all things business and eCommerce this holiday season.

 

Monitor your Online Tactics & Strategies

Continuously monitor your Website, Advertisements, Social Media profiles, SEO, Marketing Promotions, and Sales to make adjustments as they may be needed.

 

Update and Test NOW

If your website needs fixes, improvements and/or updates, the time to make those changes was yesterday. Wait no longer because the holiday rush is already upon us. This includes making changes to design, too to get visitors in the holiday spirit!

Your website will see a significant increase in traffic in the next few weeks, so your website needs to be able to support that. Tell us…would you wait for more than 8 seconds for a website to load? Images can slow your website down quite a bit, so you want to make sure they’re all optimized to yield the fastest loading time. Don’t delay Santa’s shopping by making him wait for slow images to load on your website.

You should be testing things like: the checkout process, shipping calculators, mobile displays, site navigation, all payment methods, coupon and discount codes, any CTA’s, and all outbound and internal links.

 

Create Marketing Campaigns

Consider promotions like free shipping, seasonal add-ons, free gifts with a certain purchase, or discounts on orders over a certain amount as part of your Holiday Marketing Campaign. Incentivize early shopping as much as you can in your marketing collateral.

 

Know your Top Sellers

You should have a good idea about which products are most popular and sell out quickly. Use this information to ensure your inventory is what it needs to be for all the goods to be purchased. Furthermore, think about making these top sellers a priority in your holiday marketing and promotions.

Consider adding gift cards as an option for buyers! Also, use your top selling insight to upsell and bundle products.

 

Prioritize Security

Cybercriminals create mischievous ways to access customer information and that could lead to a lot of harm for your business. Take the time to assess your website security to ensure the best security for your business and customers alike.

 

Manage Expectations with Communication

Its cliche, but communication is key. Make things as easy as possible for your customers. Be proactive and advertise shipping dates so they can get their purchases on time, send email reminders as the holidays approach, and speak up about returns. Clear communication will give your customers the confidence they need to become a repeat customer.

TIP: The best place on your website to place important information would be on the homepage, landing pages, product pages, and shopping cart pages.

 

Provide Tracking Information 

As much as your business may be obsessing over delivery dates, your customers are too. Provide your customers with tracking numbers so that they can easily track their orders via UPS, FedEx, etc..

 

Save yourself the stress and check these items off of your to-list now! If you’re thinking you may need some help with some of these items, go ahead and schedule your FREE consultation with us, today!

Ventura Web Design & Marketing Among Top B2B Service Providers on UpCity!

November 29, 2021/in eCommerce, Events, Marketing, Mobile Web Design, Small Business /by Kevin Richards

Ventura Web Design & Marketing is thrilled to officially announce that we are a part of the UpCity community of top B2B service providers!

How did we earn this title?

At Ventura Web Design & Marketing, we’re proud to offer services such as website and eCommerce site design, digital marketing, search engine optimization, graphic design, and more. This makes us the trusted advisors that business owners need to develop their brands and grow their businesses online. We have helped our clients generate over one billion dollars, and counting, in revenue with our wide array of services and dedication to quality.

 

UpCity is a resource that helps connect businesses to service providers they can trust. With more than 70,000 listed providers—from marketing agencies to accounting firms to HR consultants to IT specialists, and many more—2 million businesses (and counting) have visited UpCity to research and identify the best partner for their needs. 

 

UpCity’s proprietary algorithm utilizes a variety of digital signals to measure the credibility, trustworthiness, and recommendability of B2B service providers across the U.S. and Canada. These digital data points like reviews (both on UpCity and other third-party review sites), presence in relevant search results, domain authority, website speed, and experience help UpCity connect businesses with outstanding service providers like Ventura Web Design & Marketing. 

 

We are proud to be listed in this vibrant and growing community and want to thank our clients for all of the love and support you have shown our business. 

 

Stop spending your time and effort working endlessly on your website & marketing. Let us handle the heavy lifting for you!

Get your FREE Consultation, NOW!

2021 Holidate Guide

November 1, 2021/in eCommerce, Marketing, Small Business /by Kevin Richards

If you’re in business, you know that this time of year is one of the busiest. Consumers have quite the expectation for businesses during the holiday season–they want the best deal, latest products, and exceptional customer service.

As a business, it’s not only your job to meet those expectations, but to exceed them! To do that, you have to be prepared and being prepared means that you’ve thought through how your business will present itself during the holiday season.

We’re sharing the KEY DATES you should know and be prepared for as an eCommerce business during the holiday season.

 

ecommerce holiday marketing calendar

November 7: Daylight Savings

Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour!

 

November 11: Veterans Day

Honor men and women who are and have served in the U.S. armed forces.

 

November 25: Thanksgiving

Give in to the holiday cheer by feasting with loved ones and taking advantage of the four-day weekend.

 

November 26: Black Friday

The official start of the holiday season! Give your audience a sale they can’t resist.

 

November 27: Small Business Saturday

Small businesses are supported now, more than ever before! Take advantage and in return, support a small business.

 

November 29: Cyber Monday

Keep the sales going! Give your audience the chance to shop Black Friday deals from the comfort of their homes.

 

November 30: Giving Tuesday

Take a moment to give back your audience and community.

 

December 13: Green Monday

Otherwise known as the busiest sales day of the month! Leverage all of those last-minute shoppers before it’s too late!

 

December 14: Free Shipping Day

Take care of shipping for your audience and watch what happens!

 

December 18: Super Saturday

Also known as “Panic Saturday”–the last Saturday before Christmas.

 

If you’ve found that you need help with your marketing this season, get a FREE consultation with us to get started!

Don’t forget to save this graphic for your reference!

Ventura Bowl 2020 – No matter which team wins, our clients win!

October 23, 2020/in Design, Events, Marketing /by Kevin Richards
Ventura Bowl 2020

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Sun, 10/25, 4:05pm ET, 1:05pm PT.  No matter which team wins, ALL new Ventura clients win.

Watch as our two favorite teams battle it out. Our Las Vegas Ventura Team will obviously be cheering for the Raiders, while our Tampa Ventura Team will be cheering for the Buccaneers.

We are excited to see which team wins this crucial battle. Both teams need this win, so it’s sure to be a great game. To add some fun to the competition, we will offer 25% off your first month of VIP Support Services if Tampa Bay wins, or 25% off your new website or website redesign if Las Vegas wins.

 

* Offer valid on new contracts only. Must be signed and paid in full prior to Oct 30, 2020.  VIP contracts must be Advanced level or higher, with minimum 6 month commitment.  New websites / redesigns must be at the Enterprise level, $15,000 or higher.

 

 

How To Improve Your Email Marketing With Mailchimp

September 2, 2020/in eCommerce, Marketing /by Kevin Richards

Our goal at Ventura Web Design and Marketing is to be educated on and utilize new services and tools so that our clients get maximum results. The goal of this blog is to explain what the email creation software, Mailchimp is, its different features, and explain how you can use it to reach your customers with creative emails based on analytics within the software.

 

What Is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp allows you to create marketing emails, Google and social media ads, websites, landing pages, surveys, social posts, sign-up forms, and postcards. For the purposes of this blog, we will be focusing just on their email services. 

 

Types Of Emails Mailchimp Provides

Mailchimp has an in-depth, but easy to use email generator section with premade templates to customize. There’s no coding required to make these emails, but if you’re tech-savvy and want to give coding a go Mailchimp still gives you that option. 

One-time Emails

Great for:

    • Announcements
    • Product specials
    • Blogs. 

Automated Emails

Used for:

    • sending welcoming emails new subscribers
    • Sending birthday messages
    • Delivering abandoned cart offers

Plain-Text Emails

Used for sending out emails that are:

    • Text only
    • Free of images
    • Not formatted using their software
    • Hyperlink-free

A/B Test Emails

Great for testing different styles of emails on your subscribers. Test:

    • How well images/GIF’s work
    • Most effective subject lines
    • What days of the week are your emails most effective

 

Effective Email Marketing Strategies

When sending out your marketing emails think about what content a friend would want to read. While big brands send out super detailed design heavy emails with large (somewhat aggressive) eyecatching font would you send an email like that to a friend? Probably not. Here are a few ideas to try when sending your marketing emails:

Storytelling 

Rather than just focusing on a tip or promotion, tell a story. Maybe its something that happened while working with a client. Explain this story in as much detail and as creatively as possible.

Incorporate Videos

Video viewership and videos in marketing have exploded in popularity. There’s many guesses as to why this may be from an anthropological perspective, but the simple explanation is a well-made video is entertaining and easy to follow. When sending an email that includes a video subject indicate it in the subject line like this:

“Video: How To Make A Peanut Butter Sandwich”

While that’s a silly video example writing your subject line like that will increase open rates by 6% according to SuperOffice. 

Automated Content Series

This is for businesses that have enough content to string together a few weeks of content pieces to create a series. This process will prompt potential customers or current customers to subscribe to this free content with their email. You will then create an automated email series with content that is released on a weekly basis. Content that lends itself well to this type of series is podcasts, videos, or blogs.

Segmentation Tracks

This is a unique way to market to customers. You provide freebies sent via email for customers based on a subject they chose that you have email series set up for. You can start by releasing free content about two or three subjects related to your business. Let’s refer to these subjects as X, Y, and Z. Someone signs up for the freebie information on subject X, they would then be sent emails in a series relating to that subject while people that may choose subject Y and Z receive different tailored emails related to their subjects.

 

Tips To Get More Opened Emails

Editing Your Mailing List

When your emails are consistently left unopened it signals to an email provider like Gmail or Hotmail that your content is spam. This can cause your emails to be automatically be filtered into the spam folder by email providers.

Along the same lines if you send out emails that are causing people to unsubscribe email providers can again interpret your content as spam. 

To prevent this you should go through your email list and only keep the people most likely to engage with your content.

 

Creating Emails For Client’s Subscribers

When we are creating emails for our client we consider a few different factors like what color schemes, paragraph structure, and content that will appeal most to your subscribers. 

Contact us online or by phone to find out how your business can take advantage of a service like Mailchimp to improve your marketing emails and convert subscribers to customers. The phone number for our Las Vegas office is (702) 515-2057 and the number for the Tampa office is (813) 556-7990.

2020 Holiday Marketing Trends And Planning

August 28, 2020/in Marketing, Small Business /by Kevin Richards

How 2020 Holiday Marketing and Shopping Are Different

Moved Up Timelines

We see companies release holiday-related products in August. Expect to see holiday campaigns ramp up in September. Get your holiday campaign together now, so you’re prepared for the accelerated timeline.

Even More Emphasis on Online Sales

Shopify broke its 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday record with $2.9 billion in global sales. This was pre-pandemic and online shopping has only increased due to safety precautions. It’s not only essential to gear your 2020 holiday marketing to online sales, but make sure your website is optimized to handle an influx of visitors.

Highlight Safety Precautions

In your holiday marketing campaign, it’s important to make customers aware of precautions taking place in the business and if you are offering special services like contactless pick-up or delivery services. 

Emphasis on Affordability

It’s no secret that people will be looking for deals this holiday season. You should be tailoring your sales to emphasize affordability. 

Experiential Gifts are on the Rise

If you’re a business that can pivot to experiential gifts, it would be the ideal time to do so. Millennials have always loved experiences over tangible things, but it is becoming a more popular trend among other demographics. 

Typical Holiday Marketing Timeline

April – July: This is the typical planning phase. This timeframe is where all potential blunders are thought through and mitigated so you can come up with a foolproof marketing plan.

August – September: This is where you start spreading brand awareness with campaigns. 

October – December: After you’ve successfully created brand awareness and sales intent, you begin your full-blown holiday marketing campaign to generate revenue. 

2020 Holiday Marketing Timeline

Due to quarantine, most companies saw a sizeable decrease in revenue. We’re seeing companies like Starbucks react by releasing their Pumpkin Spice Latte in August, nearly a month earlier than previous years. This is expected to be a trend in the marketing industry to make up for lost revenue. 

With this new sense of urgency, it’s imperative to start pushing out a holiday campaign ASAP. Assume the traditional holiday marketing timeline has been accelerated by a month.

Planning Your Campaign

If you need help putting a plan together, we are here to help. We manage various clients’ marketing efforts throughout the year with fantastic results. Contact us online or by phone at (813) 556-7990 to let us know how we can help.

Three Reasons Everyone Should Have A Blog

August 27, 2020/in Marketing /by Kevin Richards

Marketing agencies and business owners have the same goal, and that’s increasing the client’s sales. Business owners may perceive services like blog writing as unnecessary, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. If it were superfluous or ineffective marketing agencies wouldn’t offer the service since agencies are results-driven. 

Many factors go into helping a business succeed. Every client is unique and requires varying combinations of the services we offer, but saying no to blog writing services is a mistake. In this article, we will discuss three reasons why you should be blogging.

Increase Website Traffic

Blogs are extremely helpful from an SEO perspective. By providing relevant, useful, and keyword laden blogs, you are more likely to rank higher on search engines.  Without getting too in-depth on SEO, your SEO rankings can be improved by a few factors like credible websites linking to your website, having an easily navigable website, and overall traffic. A blog is the best way to achieve two of those factors. 

Having and maintaining a blog is a significant advantage, and many websites don’t have one, which allows your business to differentiate itself. A blog is another page on your website that can generate traffic and links. Statistics show companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website, which in return helps your SEO.

When you have a well-maintained blog with helpful information website, viewers are likely to enjoy your blogs enough to read more of your content. People love free tools that improve their lives, and blogging is a great way to do that. In return, they will see you as helpful and knowledgeable and are more likely to become customers. 

Leads

A blog is a great way to generate leads. Many blogs have the option to opt-in for an email list or have a pop-up contact request form. While people have the opportunity to deny giving their info, there will inevitably be interested readers who give you their contact information. Blogging is a low or no-cost option that brings people to your website and generates leads. 

57% of marketers agreed that they had gained more customers through blogging. 

Present Your Business as a Thought Leader

As a business owner, you are an expert in your field, but how would someone who doesn’t know you understand that? That’s where blogging comes in. Demonstrate your industry-specific knowledge and present yourself as a thought leader with a blog. This will not only be impressive to potential customers as you will look more credible, but other businesses in your industry will take note.

This may sound like a crazy statistic, but 99% of internet users are content consumers, while the remaining 1% are content creators. Put your business in the 1% for a lasting impression on your industry and potential customers.

Writing Services

Whether you’re too busy or simply don’t have a way with written words were here to help. We have a full-time content specialist on staff to write blogs, create social media content, and spruce up your web pages. Contact us online or by phone at 813-556-7990 to learn more.

 

10 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Page

August 22, 2020/in Design, eCommerce, Marketing /by Kevin Richards
Did you know your Facebook page could be one of your best tools for increasing your revenue? With the proper relevance and frequency of your posts you could tap a whole new market you didn’t even know existed!

Read more

Our Mantra: Test, Analyze, Adjust, and Repeat

August 21, 2020/in Marketing /by Kevin Richards

Test, Analyze, Adjust, Repeat

At Ventura, we live by the mantra of test, analyze, adjust, and repeat, and we like to encourage clients to embrace that mantra too. 

Resting on your laurels, being fearful of change, and resisting new ideas; as humans, we are guilty of doing one of these things in our lives at some point. We want to reinforce the value of embracing new strategies and ideas and pivoting IF they don’t work. 

Every business has a different path and business strategy. Therefore you have to find the ideas and tactics that work best for you. The only way to find out what works is to get creative and test new ideas. If something doesn’t pan out, remember, you’re in no worse of a position than you were before you tried and you could unexpectedly find something that connects to your customer and brings in more revenue. 

Brainstorm:

Be open to our ideas or come up with new ones yourself. A productive way to brainstorm ideas is to place zero limitations on yourself and imagine what you would try if you anything were possible. This will allow creative juices to flow and can lead you to great ideas…and maybe some silly ones too.

Test:

Once an idea is chosen, it’s time to test it. At Ventura, we give the most considerable effort possible to implement new ideas. 

Analyze:

We will analyze the new idea’s effectiveness on an ongoing basis to see how it’s performing. 

Adjust:

After analyzing the steps, we will make adjustments where necessary.

Repeat:

We will implement any adjustments necessary to reach the desired outcome. 

 

Success Stories

There are many companies today that are incredibly successful because they continually test, analyze, and innovate their processes and products. 

Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1990s due to poor leadership and a lack of innovative products. It wasn’t until Steve Jobs returned to the company and introduced the cutting edge iMac that the company began to recover. They went on to build products that many of us carry around daily because Jobs wasn’t afraid to fail because of inventing new products.

Walmart is a brand we all know worldwide. For a long time, Walmart was considered a place to buy cheap things. This is mainly due to its branding. The tagline “Always Low Prices” was sending the message that Walmart sells cheap goods. They weren’t hurting for business while advertising that message by any means, but it was a reputation killer. So despite their tagline working, Walmart was not afraid to change their image and thus their tagline to “Save Money. Live Better.”. You’re buying goods at a lower price, but the connotation is different. Instead of buying cheap goods, you’re now enhancing your life by saving money. 

These are just two examples of well-known brands that innovated when business was going well and when it wasn’t. There are many more, but the point is to remain at the top of your game. You should always keep the creative wheel churning and be testing and analyzing new ideas. 

Whether you want to test new branding, processes, or creative ideas, we are here to help your business succeed. Rest assured, we will have our creative and analytical minds at work for you. 

 

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