Lancaster digital marketing agency, novi.digital, launch performance-based service model with new client, TCG Direct.

Novi.digital are happy to welcome new client and furniture sustainability experts, TCG Direct, as part of the agency’s Coronavirus Business Support performance-based SEO and PPC service. Novi.digital will begin working with TCG on a comprehensive digital strategy over the coming weeks.

The agency has stated that this support service is available for sectors that are most affected by the Coronavirus situation, such as the health and environmental sectors, but will consider other industries on a case-by-case basis. This tailor-made service has been created to help businesses to survive and thrive during this challenging economic climate. As far as novi are aware, their offering is unique to the market, whereby they offer a substantial reduced monthly rate which is balanced with a performance-based fee that involves meeting set target or, where preferred, as an agreed percentage of sales.

Aaron Crewe, Managing Director, stated: “At novi.digital, sustainability is central to our core values, with a focus particularly on sustainable business, along with individual and environmental wellbeing.”

“We are delighted to welcome a company with such an emphasis on sustainability. As an agency, we believe that sustainable businesses are vital and will only become more so in the future.”

With a furniture warehouse in Forton, TCG Direct upcycle office furniture with the goal of raising awareness of the concept of a circular economy that produces less waste. With their ethical disposal team and upcycling specialists, TCG Direct provide high quality office furniture to businesses across the UK. By doing this, the company not only supports smaller businesses but also halts the regular flow of used office furniture to landfills.

Ethan Giles, Senior Operations Manager, said: “As an agency, we have overseen a number of campaigns for businesses in both the furniture and sustainability sectors so we are looking forward to putting this knowledge to the test with TCG Direct.”

With the agency having also recently welcomed BBP Solicitors as a client and being shortlisted for the European Search Awards, they show no signs of slowing down.

Novi.digital is a data-driven and psychology-focused SEO and PPC agency that focuses on the fundamentals of business: sales, conversions, and traffic.

To find out more about novi.digital’s services and for all PR enquiries, contact Ethan Giles over email or ask for him by calling the Lancaster office on 0800 955 6684.

Homebrew Hand Sanitisers are all the rage at the moment, but how effective are they?

novi.digital have been tasked by a client to produce a press release to highlight some of the risks posed by producing ‘homebrew hand sanitisers’. In response to a global shortage as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, may people have taken to making their own hand sanitisers, putting themselves and those around them at needless risk. Our task, was to produce a factually accurate press release and distribute this across our network of approved partners. Like what you see? Get in touch today and find out more about our services.

Hand hygiene is an important part of the fight against COVID-19, but homebrew hand sanitisers can do more harm than good.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, more people are buying hand sanitisers than ever before. As one of the most sought after panic buy products, most shops and pharmacies are selling out as soon as they get a chance to restock. The result of this, however, has been a trend of people making homemade hand sanitisers with limited knowledge of what works against the virus or how to produce safe hand hygiene products.

How do hand sanitisers vary?

Broadly, there are two types of sanitisers to be aware of: alcohol-based and alcohol-free. Industry-standard alcohol-free sanitisers contain substitute chemicals that are just as effective in eliminating all microbes, including Coronavirus. The effectiveness of hand sanitisers will, however, vary dependent on the ratio and strength of their chemicals so this should be considered when making a purchase.

Are all alcohol-based hand sanitisers the same?

Alcohol is present within hand sanitisers in two forms that should be looked out for: Isopropanol Alcohol (IPA) and Denatured Ethanol (DE). Both of these types of alcohol are able to protect against the virus. There will also usually be a percentage found on any hand sanitisers, however, that is important. This percentage tells you the volume of alcohol present within the hand sanitiser. According to the CDC’s Hand Hygiene Recommendations, sanitisers should have contain more than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol to protect effectively against the virus.

While it may feel intuitive to go for as high an alcohol volume as possible, those that are very high in alcohol content can actually be ineffective. This is because, the higher the alcohol content in sanitisers, the quicker they evaporate when applied to skin.

Why not make my own hand sanitiser?

While self-isolation can inspire people’s DIY spirit, it is important to remember that there is a reason why hand sanitiser companies exist in the first place. From damaging or cracking skin after use (making them more susceptible to infection), to cross-contamination, making your own can hand sanitiser can cause more problems than it solves. IPA and DE also present a significant safety risk when handled outside a controlled environment, being highly flammable substances.

There is also the risk that popular homemade sanitiser recipes are actually not going to protect against the virus. One such recipe, popularised here on the Verge, requires 91 percent rubbing alcohol and one part aloe vera gel. This recipe should produce something with theoretically 60.6% alcohol content. According to CDC guidelines, however, an IPA-based hand sanitiser should contain at least 70% to be effective against COVID-19.

Keeping hands sanitised

 Local newsagents along with online cleaning product suppliers that are still stocking hand sanitisers, such as Cleanroom Supplies, can both be effective alternatives to making regular trips to the supermarket. While in the home, it is also important to remember that soap and warm water are effective for protecting against COVID-19, meaning that you can save your hand sanitiser for whenever you need to make a journey. As the CDC highlight in their hand sanitiser factsheet, however, you must make sure that your hands are clean and washed before using any hand sanitiser.

For any press queries please send an email to: [email protected].

Award-winning digital marketing agency, novi.digital, begin work for respected local solicitors.

Novi.digital are pleased to welcome expert solicitors Baines Bagguley Penhale as a new client. The Lancaster-based solicitors have chosen the innovative agency to develop their online presence, citing novi’s pace of response, detail-driven market research and flexible pricing structures.

MD Aaron Crewe said: “We are thrilled that BBP have chosen our services as part of their move to prioritise digital by reallocating event and networking spend.”

“As the importance of digital marketing only continues to grow, it is refreshing to see already well-established companies such as BBP embrace forward-thinking marketing services such as ours.”

With offices in Lancaster, Morecambe, and Kendal, BBP Solicitors have a team of experts that are able to advise and assist with wills, trusts, probate along with specialist areas, such as company law and dispute resolution. BBP were the first practice in the Morecambe area to receive Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), the recognised quality mark for legal experts in buying or selling property.

Ethan Giles, Senior Operations Manager, commented: “Working with a practice as successful and experienced as BBP Solicitors gives us the opportunity to build upon our years of experience working within this sector. We are excited to begin developing a strategy with their team and get to work on their campaign.”

The agency’s new client signing also comes off the back of recent recognition from the European Search Awards as a finalist for the B2B PPC Award.

Aaron Crewe added: “Being nominated for such a prestigious award and signing a client of BBP’s calibre within the same week serves as an affirmation of just how far we have come over the last ten years and the path that we are on as an agency.”

The agency’s focus on academic research and data has been central to their services along with their made-to-measure approach, something they aim to demonstrate further in their upcoming efforts with BBP Solicitors.

Novi.digital is a data-driven and psychology-focused SEO and PPC agency that focuses on the fundamentals of business: sales, conversions, and traffic.

To find out more about novi.digital’s services and for all PR enquiries, contact Ethan Giles over  email or ask for him by calling the Lancaster office on 0800 955 6684.

novi.digital has been selected as a B2B PPC finalist in the prestigious European Search Awards for helping PropertyData reach new heights.

Over the last 18 months, novi.digital has worked extensively with the data platform, PropertyData, on their PPC campaigns. During this time, novi.digital has achieved 1000% growth for PropertyData and, in turn, has established PropertyData as a market leader in their space. As a result of these efforts, the agency has now been selected as a finalist in the B2B PPC category of the European Search Awards. 

Aaron Crewe, Managing Director, comments:

‘We are incredibly proud to have been selected by the European Search Awards for our work with PropertyData. It is an honour to be placed alongside Europe’s top agencies but also a recognition of the quality service we provide for all our clients.’

The European Search Awards gala ceremony will take place at the Palace of Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, on 3 September 2020, featuring the best in PPC, SEO, and Content Marketing. Awards are judged based on the performance metrics of each agency’s submitted campaign, meaning that only those that have proven quantitative results are considered.

Ethan Giles, Senior Operations Manager at the agency, said:

‘Previous winners and finalists have shown strong entries, so seeing our efforts being recognised is especially pleasing.’

Novi.digital’s nomination at the European Search Awards follows quickly. The Drum Search awards recently shortlisted the agency for the same PPC campaign.

Crewe added:

‘Aside from the recognition of being shortlisted for such an award of our continued ability to work effectively within the property and construction sector, we are also pleased that PropertyData has felt so confident in our performance to renew their contract with us. Our focus on innovation and personalised customer care is something that we provide across all of our services, so this recent campaign’s success has been very encouraging.’

Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on 3 September 2020, with event tickets still beingNovi.Digital is a data-driven and psychology-focused SEO and PPC agency that focuses on the fundamentals of business: sales, conversions, and traffic.

To find out more about novi.digital services, and for all PR enquiries, contact Ethan Giles over email or ask for him by calling the Lancaster office on 0800 955 6684.

Open for business or here for you?

During the past 3 weeks, we have received a number of emails from several businesses stating that they are still operating. Whilst this is great to see and we glad that businesses are continuing to trade, in some instances these emails have been sent without any real consideration for their customers. In such emails, businesses have positioned themselves as “we are still open to help you”, but let’s be honest, SMEs need more than this!

This isn’t a statement to simply say that we are still open or to simply state, as others are, that we are here to serve you without any substance. We are here to help you and your business to survive and I shall explain how.

Why is offering support important?

Everyone is currently ensuring some degree of adversity, each and every person has their own story, both at home and work (which for many are now very much one and the same). Sacrifices are being made by everyone and in many different ways. This article relates to businesses, so the tips below are presented as potential ways in which businesses can help assist other businesses:

As a supplier:

• Offer to pause services.
• Offer immediate discounts.
• Offer deferred payments.
• Offer extra products or services for the current price.

As a buyer:

• Rather than cancelling a service, just reduce to a minimum.
• Offer to pay now for a service for the future.
• Offer to have a discussion about an exchange of services.

Some businesses haven’t seen the impacts yet, others think that this is simply temporary. Some businesses are fortunate enough to be in high-demand, and others are awaiting the impact. Either way, this pandemic will impact every business in some way, if it hasn’t already. Even the businesses that provide cleaning-related products, protective gear or other currently in-demand products will quite possibly see sales subside once the demand has diminished, leaving them with a hole to fill. This in itself is a problem that needs to be considered. This is not likely to be over any time soon, so let’s all work together to plan for the here and now, as well as the longer-term.

As a business, what can you do during this time?

Whilst you might not wish to spend on marketing, or in fact wish to spend any money at all, allow me to explain a few ideas that you can benefit from…

5 options for grants and funding

Fundamentally, try to avoid loans at all costs. You don’t want that looming over you, especially if and when the markets start to recover. Taking a loan to make payments may not be necessary, instead, try to speak with your suppliers to ask them what they can do to assist you. There are still a number of grants, bursaries and other ‘free’ funding options available for businesses, you might just have to look a little harder.

• Grants for Cumbrian Businesses
• The North East Business Support Fund
• Google Ad Credits 
• Facebook Ad Grants 
• Government Grants 

There might be many more, so take the time to have a scour around the internet. Most grants can be spent with novi.digital, so feel free to let us know you if you need assistance with the application process. 

Continue using demand-led marketing

SEO and PPC are both types of demand-led marketing, here are 6 reasons why you should continue to do both:

1. It’s now easier to compete with PPC. Most businesses are thinking they shouldn’t spend, in turn, this is bringing PPC prices down meaning that you are able to obtain traffic for a lower cost than before.
2. PPC will help your business be seen. There are still people searching for your services. Whilst search volume has decreased, it’s unlikely to impact conversion rates dramatically. Ultimately, with PPC, you only pay if someone clicks your Ad and if your campaigns are set up correctly, you should only be paying for highly-relevant visitors in any case.
3. PPC and SEO Together will give you the edge to survive. Some businesses have already closed and ceased trading, meaning that there is less competition and thus more opportunity for you to capture a larger share of the market. This is particularly beneficial with regards to renewals, if you sign up a business now at a low cost, they will likely renew with you. Like buying shares, you are buying when the market is low.
4. SEO is low cost, high reward. With SEO, you aren’t paying per click, so this can keep costs low at this time.
5. SEO takes time, so you need to invest now.  Whilst there might not be a demand right now, there will be in good time. If your markets open up again in several months and you start to think about SEO at that point, then there will be a period of time where you are missing out on opportunities. Do SEO now, whilst your competitors are letting it fall by the wayside. You’ll have to do less SEO than you would in the more competitive times and will likely achieve better search performance in the short-term and longer-term.
6. SEO and PPC agencies need you more than ever. There are good offers to be had from agencies right now, so you are in a position whereby you can get a premium service for a reduced rate.

How do you know whether there is still a demand? It’s quite easy really, you can check on Google Trends. Let us know if you would like our team to walk you through how to best utilise Google trends for your business.

Focus on working on your business

This is an opportunity for some downtime, so use it wisely. What can you be doing? Here are my top 10 tips:

1. Work on your business plan and business strategy for the next 1, 3, 5 or 10 years.
2. Conduct market research to find new opportunities.
3. Pivot your business to supply a new demand.
4. Training yourself and helping to train your team.
5. Updating your website.
6. Revising your mission statement and brand values.
7. Audit your business processes to find areas for improvement.
8. Create a recruitment plan.
9. Speak to your customers, past customers and potential customers to ask them how you can help. Listening to their needs will help you to create solutions to fit their needs.
10. Take a break from the business and focus on your wellbeing.

How can novi.digital help?

We have a number of different services that we can offer you at this time, these include:

1. Website Updates – images, text, plugins, dev, design.
2. SEO Management.
3. PPC Management.
4. Paid Social and Managed Social – for branding and customer engagement activities.
5. Digital Marketing Strategy.
6. SEO and PPC Audits.
7. SEO and PPC Training.
8. Conversion Rate Optimisation and UX Testing.
9. Business Planning.
10. Business Consultancy.
11. Market Research.
12. Competitor Research.
13. Recruitment for your digital marketing roles.

Adjusted Payment Options

1. Retainer-only Fees – Pay us a monthly retainer of £100 + VAT. This keeps us on as your digital agency, available as and when you need us. This retainer will grant you a 20% discount on our standard prices. Think of this like a taste-card of sorts, or a really low-cost law firm retainer!
2. Performance-based SEO – Pay us a small administration fee and we’ll conduct our services without further charge until we generate you leads or sales. Note: This is restricted to certain specific sectors.
3. Reduced-rate Training – Haven’t got a day to spare? Instead of a full day, we are offering a 1-hour training session for £50 + VAT, this will be followed with a 15 minute Q & A. If you want further employees or colleagues to join, it will only be £20 + VAT for anyone else in the company who wishes to conference in. 

Further Tips:

1. Follow further tips on operating during Covid-19
2. Make sure you are looking after your mental health during Covid-19, as well a the wellbeing of others 
3. Ensure that you continue focus on Digital ROI 
4. Look at the most profitable industries during recent years and see where you can look to expand

In summary, we are here to best serve you as our clients. Let us know if there is anything that we can do to help you during this challenging time, either by emailing us or calling us.

Our Data Science in Digital Marketing service removes guesswork. Performance is improved in this service through the comphrensive collection and analysis of data gathered for all areas of your customer’s journey. By calling upon our network of academic partnerships, carrying out research, and utilising our own proprietary software, this service establishes a secure account-based marketing framework relies on quality data.

Data Science Strategy

Rather than making assumptions about your audience and their behaviour, by effectively accumulating and interpretating data, your business’s progress can be quantified. As a data-driven agency, we utilise data to improve a wide range of key performance indicators (KPIs), from conversion rates, to average transaction values. Before we begin using data to make progress in these important areas, however, we first focus on the fundamental of any successful digital marketing campaign: your audience.

Defining a Good Quality Lead

Before we begin a deep-dive into the data, we first set out what you define as a good quality lead. It could be, for instance, that there is a particular sector or market that it is worth targeting to ensure growth. Similarly, it may be that you consider an enquiry to be a much better-quality lead than a mailing list sign up. It is only be reaching a consensus on what is a high quality lead for your business that we can use data effectively. 

Building a Data Science Strategy

As the name suggests, data science relies on data. More than this, however, it relies on useful data. That’s why the second stage of our service is focussed on collecting data based on outlined conversion and lead targets. Not every business will use analytics software that stores data on your customers and their behaviour. For those that do not have readily-available data, our goal at this stage is to begin collecting important data that can be called upon to achieve your KPIs.

 Maintenance and Adaption

Once an account-based marketing strategy has been reached and data is being captured on your audience’s behaviour, we can continuously refine our approach. Whether this is done by carrying out UX tests on important page’s of your website, or refining target search terms for your campaign, by continuously collecting data, every aspect of your business’s digital presence can be scrutinized. This stage of our Data Science in Digital Marketing service also focuses on streamlining a campaign’s efforts by determining ineffective areas with the aim of maximising return of investment (ROI).

Academic Partnerships

As a forward-thinking agency, we are keen to never rest on our laurels. That’s why we have, over the last number of years, worked with academic institutions to carry out innovative research. As an important field for the future of digital marketing, much of this research has been in relation to data science. We have strong research partnerships with both UCL and Lancaster University’s Data Science Institute, working with them both regularly on studies. In 2020 alone, we will have completed six studies on data science’s role in digital marketing with UCL. Should you have a brief that involves or could be improved with data science, we are able to work with our academic partners to complete it as part of our Data Science in Digital Marketing service.

Proprietary Data Science Software

Alongside our academic research in data science, we have also developed our own proprietary data science software to assist our account-based marketing tactics. For our Managed PPC services, this includes our auto-bid software, Captivise. By setting a desired target cost-per-conversion, the innovative algorithms of this software bid the optimal amount to ensure maximum profitability. To also assist with our PPC services, along with our Managed SEO services, we utilise our keyword-finding tool, Forager, and our search term targeting software, Keystone. All of our software is developed and continuously improved through our data science research. 

Get in touch

To find out more about our Data Science in Digital Marketing service and how it could benefit your business, speak to one of our experienced team via email or find the appropriate phone number on our contact page.

In response to the coronavirus health crisis, novi.digital are offering their PPC and SEO management services for significantly reduced rates to businesses that may be facing uncertain times ahead.

Aaron Crewe, Managing Director, commented:

‘Sustainability is a core value at novi.digital. Sustainability inside of a business begins with individual wellbeing but extends to the way businesses work together in the economy, more broadly. That is why, as an agency, we have decided to offer our services at a heavily subsidised rate to businesses that have been and will be affected most by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. As such, we are trying to create solutions to serve businesses as best we can’

The company has stated that this highly subsidised performance-based service will be offered to affected sectors for a small retainer of £100 + VAT per month, simply to cover admin costs. The performance-based element will be on a cost-per-lead basis at a rate agreed with the client, meaning that payment is based on results of the campaigns.

In addition to this, novi are offering free SEO audits, free PPC audits, free UX audits and free consultancy calls to any business within the most affected sectors, these include:

• Events
• Hospitality
• Travel and Tourism

novi.digital are also extending this offering to high-priority sectors, incorporating:

• Health and Healthcare
• Baby Products
• Industrial and Business Products
• Grocery and Food Produce

Ethan Giles, Senior Operations Manager at the agency, said:

‘As a form of inbound marketing, we strongly believe that SEO and PPC is best-placed for helping get the economy back on its feet in the face of the ongoing crisis. Unlike outbound marketing (such as telesales or email), the service that we are providing for affected businesses is based entirely on benefiting from existing demand. This means that clients will only pay when leads are generated.’

Beyond the heavily reduced services that the agency are offering, novi.digital has also made it clear that they will also be offering any assistance it can to NHS and healthcare workers (including nursing homes), in the form of remote training in any digital areas, or any way that they can.

Freelancers will also be offered work opportunities with the agency. Those that join as part of the novi.digital network will help manage any work overflow that will result from new clients that the agency is able to assist.

Please also mention that we will be launching further initiatives for our clients in due course and for any business interested in unique and innovative ideas to get in touch.

Aaron Crewe said:

‘As a digital marketing agency with a number of revenue streams, we are in a privileged position to be able to continue trading throughout these conditions. That’s why we are keen to offer up any assistance we can so that businesses are able to keep their heads above water during this difficult time. We are working on a number of initiatives with clients currently that will be launched shortly but we are also open to working with other businesses that get in touch on any unique ideas they may have.’

novi.digital are keen to support businesses in any way they can and are extending this offer to clients they work with in the Health and Safety and Productivity Software space who have also offered their help to businesses alongside novi.digital.

To find out more about the service on offer and for all PR enquiries, contact our team over email or over the phone on 0333 090 4442.

One of the UK’s fastest-growing digital marketing agencies today announces Clipper Round the World Yacht Race and Support the Goals as clients.

novi.digital – which has seen consistent growth each year since being founded 2009 – says it is looking to capitalise on its extensive sector knowledge whilst staying true to its company values with its latest acquisitions.

The first of its client acquisitions is Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, a record-breaking yacht race organiser set up by pioneering nautical expert Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Having firmly established Clipper Race as the world’s toughest ocean racing challenge for amateurs, the organisation has grown in scale each year since launching 24 years ago.

Through the agency’s continued work with adventure travel clients such as KE Adventure and Maximum Adventure, they are sure to build upon a uniquely comprehensive understanding of the adventure travel sector. 

novi.digital Senior Operations Manager Ethan Giles comments:

“We are incredibly excited to begin working with Clipper Round the World Yacht Race as we combine our extensive digital marketing experience as an agency with our knowledge of the extreme adventure industry. Our goal with Clipper Race is to increase the number of Race Crew participants around the world for the next edition of the race.”

Another recent client acquisition, Support the Goals, is an initiative set up to rate and recognise businesses that support the UN Global Goals. The 17 targets set by the UN that the initiative works towards all centre around the issues of inequality, poverty, and climate change.

Senior figures of novi.digital spoke positively about their latest client acquisition.

Managing Director Aaron Crewe said:

“Our mission statement and values as an agency are something that we consider and incorporate into all areas of our day-to-day. We are dedicated to the sustainable growth of people and organisations and this is the mantra that we live by”

“Sustainability, both in terms of individual wellbeing and the environment, is one of our values that has become increasingly important in recent times. Support the Goals provide an exciting opportunity to engage with this beyond our own internal efforts as an agency.”

The importance of sustainability is something that Managing Director, Aaron Crewe, also discusses extensively, with a particular emphasis on how businesses should focus on being more environmentally sustainable. This is something that the Novi has also demonstrated with their recent commitment to donating funds to have a tree planted every month for every new client, this is 12 trees planted for every client each year!

The company’s focus on wellbeing is something that has developed significantly in recent years, with the agency now providing their services for both personal alarm bracelet company, Acticheck, and leading health club, 3-1-5. novi.digital’s success has help produce significant growth for 3-1-5, having doubled performance compared to the previous year.

Named as one of the top B2B service providers of 2019 in a report by review platform Clutch, it is difficult to imagine novi.digital slowing down. As their client base and team continues to grow, the agency has firmly cemented itself as one to watch in 2020.

Aaron Crewe added:

“As we continue to develop as a company, it is important that the individuals that join our team maintain our high standards as an agency all the while continuing to adopt new and innovative ideas. Through his years of industry experience, our latest Digital Marketing Consultant, Nathan Bentley, exemplifies this balance that we aim for with our new hires.”

novi.digital is a data-driven and psychology-focused SEO and PPC agency that focuses on the fundamentals of business: sales, conversions, and buying personas.

For all PR enquiries, contact Mike Kilburn over email or ask for him by calling our Lancaster office on 0800 955 6684.

As you may have experienced during recent weeks, many companies are reaching out out to clients and customers outlining their plan to address the current and pending situation with regards to dealing with the impacts of coronavirus. As such, we are doing the same.

Health is the primary concern

It goes without saying that we are all in this together and we must endeavour to look after those most by taking extra precautionary measures to significantly reduce the spread of the virus.

What are novi.digital doing?

Fundamentally, this post is to inform you that business at novi.digital will be continuing as normal. During recent years we have had in place a remote working policy to accommodate our flexible working arrangements for our team. This is something that we are trialling out with a full work-from-home day for all employees during this next week. We have already conducted a full audit of all working environments and each of our team already work from home up to 4-days per month at present, so for us, this isn’t a change from the norm.

We will be available as normal with calls being conducted predominantly via Zoom video conferencing and emails unless otherwise arranged. We aim to do everything we can for our employees, our clients and the wider network that we are a part of. Should you have any questions, please do reach out to your point of contact within our team for guidance, we are happy to help assist in any way we can.

How is Coronavirus affecting digital marketing?

The impact of coronavirus is certainly wide-spread and far-reaching, we are already seeing this in the physical stores and the high street. During recent weeks, there has been a radical shift in consumer purchasing trends. We will all have seen the empty shelves and the nationwide shortage of hand sanitizer. With this said, as yet, there’s been a very little negative impact on digital, if any. In fact, due to an increase in working from home and self-isolation, we are seeing an upward trend in purchasing of products and services online.

In businesses and organisations, with events, client meetings, training sessions and essentially anything face-to-face / on-site being postponed, we are seeing an upward trend in B2B enquiries. This is likely due to having an increase in available time to work on sourcing new suppliers. As well as this, we are seeing a substantial increase in B2C demand with regards to online product purchasing.

Considerations:

• We are likely to continue to see a reduction in people in the office during this time, with increasing numbers of people working from home.
• The vast majority of businesses in the UK are small businesses and SMEs, as shown here: https://www.merchantsavvy.co.uk/uk-sme-data-stats-charts/. Many businesses need the support of other businesses to continue to trade during this time.

What can you do?

Uncertain times such as these can be difficult and challenging for businesses, but they can also be an opportunity to help others and this how we see it. Whether this is helping others in your community, or helping businesses, this is a time for us to unify our efforts.

Some companies, such as those in travel and hospitality sector are changing their policies, notable examples include AirBnB who are offering free cancellations, whereas Treatwell is reducing their cancellation policy from 24 hours to 1 hour and offering full refunds. In the food industry, both supermarkets and takeout delivery applications are offering contactless food drops.

Consider how you can help others and make it widely known, but be considerate with your messaging. This is fundamentally a global pandemic that is causing substantial illness and loss of life, it is not an opportunity to capitalise on money-making. With this said, it is important to have a business continuity plan and ensure that you weather the storm.

Forrester has released this playbook: https://go.forrester.com/blogs/responding-to-coronavirus-playbook-for-marketing-communications/, whilst this is primarily for larger businesses, there are some key takeaways.

Additionally, here is an interesting article discussing timing and message, which is well worth a read: https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-to-survive-a-brand-quarantine-during-coronavirus/.

As stated above, it is crucial that you focus on your customer service. It is your customer experience during these challenging times defines your business.

As the MerchantSavvy article above shows, these are normally The Biggest Challenges for SMEs In The UK:

1. Attracting customers
2. Increasing revenue
3. Maintaining profitability
4. Uncertainty over economic conditions
5. Developing new products and innovations

During this time, these priorities may to be realigned. Instead, you could focus on:

1. Focus on ensuring that your customer support is impeccable – You can use social channels, display remarketing, YouTube videos and email newsletters to convey your messaging of support. Most importantly ask your customers what you can do for them.
2. Accommodate your employees and teams– It is especially important to keep healthy during this time, as it is to help to reduce the spread of coronavirus to those who are more vulnerable. Ensure that your team have access to remote working options if this is possible.
3. Ensure that your profitability calculations are correct and accurate – Digital Marketing can often be closed-loop, meaning that you can easily see that if you spend X on marketing, generate Y in revenue, you are left with Z in profit. Know how much you should spend on acquiring a customer and know your conversion rates, average transaction values and repeat custom rates to avoid overspending. This allows you to be able to reinvest and continue to ensure that your campaigns are performing as they should.
4. Focus spending on areas that you know are producing ROI – Certain channels will perform better than others, for instance, we know that Shopping campaigns perform at a higher conversion rate than Search Campaigns and Search Campaigns perform at a higher conversion rate than Display Campaigns. As long as your calculations are correct, then either one of these platforms can work well. Ramp down spending on areas that aren’t working and instead, look at increasing marketing spend on the areas that are producing ROI.
5. Focusing on business continuity innovations– Can you offer your customers credit notes and discounts for future purchases? Can you partner with suppliers and providers to not only help them to continue trading during this time but to also see a better solution for your customers?

Whilst pausing of brand messaging might be key, pausing of ads for inbound marketing, as your key revenue source, could hinder your cash-flow and isn’t advisable. If your campaigns are continuing to run profitably, as they should be, then there is no reason for pausing such campaigns. It is likely that some sectors will see an increase in sales and enquiries during this time. If you work in a sector that is seeing increased demand then we are happy to work with you to ensure you are best placed to benefit from this demand in order to best serve your customer base. 

What can novi do?

• We can help you to establish a work-from-home arrangement for your digital marketing teams (and potentially your wider teams).
• We can offer consultancy to help you to consider the potential changes in your marketplace during this time. Get in touch to speak with us about ideas that you could be implementing.
• As a marketing agency, we focus on inbound marketing services rather than outbound marketing. As per the article above, our digital marketing is demand-led rather than brand-led, so our suggestion here is to focus on the market-demands rather than brand endeavours. We can help you to focus on what it is that your clients and customers need from you in order to make their experience better.
• Help you to use digital marketing channels to improve your customer service. We can provide you with trends data and market research to accompany these efforts.
• We are offering remote training sessions on all topics, so feel free to get in touch and we can look to create a bespoke plan that works for you.

As a side note, I’ve personally cleared my calendar of everything non-essential for the next month so that I can offer my time to help support business continuity for our clients. I’m happy to offer free consultation via video calls or phone calls to discuss any concerns, questions, ideas or otherwise to help your business during this time. It’s crucial that we are all doing everything we can to ensure support is given to individuals and businesses.

Pay-per-click marketing, or PPC marketing, is a tool designed to drive website traffic. The model is an advertiser who will run an ad and pay a publisher per click on the ad.

This popular form of advertising can be highly profitable but can also be disastrous when implemented incorrectly. This article will cover six common PPC mistakes advertisers make and explain why they should be avoided at all costs.

1) Using Too Broad Keywords

A common mistake PPC advertisers make is setting their keywords broadly. When it comes to PPC marketing, the general rule is the broader the keywords, the higher the PPC will be, and the fewer conversions you’ll get. 

For example, if you run a graphic tee store, simply setting your keyword to “tee shirts” is a surefire way to drive your costs through the roof. EVERYONE   is bidding on broad keywords. Instead, find hyper-targeted keywords specifically relevant to your business in particular. 

Focus your reach by stringing together words and phrases or explicitly targeting your company’s name. This will decrease your odds of starting a bidding war with other advertisers and help reduce your PPC costs. 

Regarding advertisers looking to run a cost-effective campaign, keyword specificity is critical. Finding specific keywords highly relevant to your business will help keep your PPC costs low and improve your chances of converting visitors into customers.

2) Bad Website Design

OK, you’ve run a great ad. 

People are clicking through, excited to make a purchase. 

But wait, nobody’s buying anything! Why could this be? 

Chances are, if you’re experiencing a high click-through rate and not generating sales, something is wrong with your website. If you’re advertising a specific product, make sure you’re linking directly to the advertised product and not your general landing page. 

People have short attention spans and aren’t likely to stick around and search for your product if you don’t immediately present it to them. A solid website should be clean, easy to navigate and professional. 

Running a great ad with a terrible and clunky website is counterproductive to generating sales. Remember, if customers hate your website, no amount of marketing dollars will fix that. At that point, you’re throwing money down the drain. 

Imagine paying people to walk into a lit store where they can’t find anything they’re looking for, and the customer service staff is completely unhelpful or nonexistent. You do that when you drive traffic to a poorly designed website. 

If you’re generating leads but aren’t generating sales, take the time to develop a solid website before throwing more money into marketing.

3) Not Setting Negative Keywords

A common mistake many marketers make is not setting negative keywords in their ad campaigns. Negative keywords will help filter out irrelevant searches, create a more profitable PPC, and increase your chances of boosting conversions.

What are negative keywords?

You can set These irrelevant keywords to be filtered out of search results. For example, if you’re selling men’s running shoes, you can select “women’s running shoes” as a negative keyword to filter out search results. 

Negative keywords will help narrow your results and improve your ad’s overall performance, ensuring you reach the right people and filter out the irrelevant ones.

4) Not Using Long Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords help advertisers specifically target users and can dramatically improve an ad’s PPC cost and conversion rate. Long-tail keywords are keywords strung together as phrases and are less likely to be bid on due to their specificity. 

Industry leaders dominate broad keywords, so for small marketers to remain competitive, they need to be creative by utilizing long-tail keywords targeting their audience. 

Sure, they might generate fewer click-throughs than broader keywords. Still, long-tail keywords can be a cost-effective method of generating hyper-targeted quality leads when done correctly. It’s a classic case of quality over quantity. When implemented correctly, it can provide that competitive edge that helps a small company go up against the behemoths in their space and stay competitive.

5) Not Targeting Location

Location, location, location! 

Location targeting is integral to running a successful ad campaign, especially for businesses offering local services or goods. The last thing you want is for your ad to show up to people halfway across the world who have no intention or capability of purchasing or using your product. 

Even if your website can sell globally, targeting specific locations is still almost always a good idea. Different markets require different marketing strategies, and going too broad will virtually always be a waste of money. 

Do your market research, find your target audience, and target them specifically. Location targeting will help increase sales and conversions, filter out unwanted clicks, and keep your targeted customers relevant.

6) Using Too Many Keywords

Sometimes, less is more. A common mistake many marketers make is listing too many possible keywords. Sometimes, keeping a small group of top keywords is better than recording thousands of keywords when only a handful perform. 

You don’t want to spread yourself out too thin. 

Focus on quality over quantity, and your budget will go much further (especially if you don’t have a large marketing budget). Don’t try to bid on everything. If you’re only looking to generate leads for a specific part of your business, focus your keywords on that part of your business. 

Avoid tangentially related keywords and keep your focus narrowed. Don’t try to go for every single keyword you think could be related to your business, or you can quickly find yourself an inch deep and a mile wide.