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March 6, 2019

Let’s Get Personal: How To Win At Personalized Marketing

If you’ve landed on our Hawaii Marketing Tips blog by accident while searching for Team Vision Marketing, please visit our homepage, creative portfolio or client video testimonials. If you’re interested in learning more about Personalized Marketing, please continue reading.

Let’s Get Personal: How To Win At Personalized Marketing

How sweet is it when brands remember your birthday or curate suggested items that are complementary to your taste? It’s as if the brands really know you and really go the extra mile to give you great customer service. This level of VIP treatment can be accomplished by personalized marketing, a very important branding tool.

Today, brands are constantly seeking out technologies and strategies to efficiently pursue a deeper relationship with their consumers and increase brand awareness by personalizing their brand experience. For a lot of local Hawaii businesses, it is almost impossible and highly impractical to execute a well thought out personalized marketing strategies without the aid of Artificial Intelligent (AI) technology or the help of a competent advertising and marketing agency.

Personalized marketing and using AI technology is tricky because it can easily give an impression of a brand being invasive or annoying to your consumers. To guide you, here are some recommended personalized marketing strategies for you to try out in 2019. If you need help in setting up these personalized marketing strategies into your 2019 marketing plan, give Team Vision a call at (808) 536-0416.

But What Is Personalized Marketing?

Personalized marketing is any marketing strategy or campaign that goes into a personal level with your consumers. The main goal of personalized marketing is to convert your consumers into brand loyalists. This is vital to branding your business. It’s believed that personalizing marketing strategies will make each individual feel extra special and form a deeper connection between consumers and your brand, despite the fact that thousands of other people received the same messaging.

What Role Does AI Technology Play In Personalized Marketing?

AI is one of today’s best marketing tools. When combining data analysis and AI, brands can deliver curated messages and other marketing materials based on customer data.

AI commands high interest and investment from businesses around the world. A 2018 PwC survey reports that 27% of companies around the world use AI technology, and 20% more plan to utilize it later in 2019. Recent predictions foresee that companies worldwide will spend $11.45 billion on AI technology.

With AI Technology, Marketers Can Achieve:

Collecting Insightful Consumer Data

The more information collected, the more you understand your consumer. This will help you develop and target your personalized marketing more efficiently and accurately.

Sorting And Organizing Data

Segmenting the data into groups helps brands identify not only who to they can direct their personal marketing strategies to, but what type of information they prefer to receive.

Finding The Best Channels To Reach Their Audience & Sending Automated Personalized Responses

This function will free your employees from doing the mundane, repetitive tasks to focus on higher-value work

Recommended Personalized Marketing Strategies Using AI Technology:

Create Automated Follow-Ups Or Reminders.

Local businesses can send an automated follow-up after consumer registration, an event, purchase, or delivery. While, Hawaii service-based industries, such as doctors or hair salons, can send automated reminders for upcoming appointments. This strategy is ideal for encouraging repeat purchases, maintaining good customer service, creating a following, and engaging with audiences.

This can also remedy the abandoned cart issue. Brands can either send a soft follow-up or offer an incentive to encourage their audience to complete their purchase.

Check-In And Ask For Feedback On Your Products And Services.

We recommend offering an incentive to encourage participation. For example, participants can receive 10% off their next purchase if they complete a short survey on their latest purchase.

Create Personalized Emails And Enewsletters.

This strategy might include emailing reminders for restocking products, sending educational materials, etc. Personalized emails are great for encouraging monthly subscriptions and ensuring that you’re giving great customer service.

Take this opportunity to expand your brand’s awareness by educating your consumers on your products or services. Show your audience how you stand out from your competition and why you are the best choice for their future purchases and orders.

Personalize The Opt-in and Opt-out Options.

Let the consumers decide the frequency and the type of marketing materials they will receive. It makes them feel more in control and gives insightful information on what materials your consumers prefer to receive. Most importantly, your brand won’t be a nuisance to the consumer.

Create Interactive Materials.

Marketing is now all about tailored experiences. Let your consumers explore the product, service, or your brand on their own terms with impressive functions, such as an interactive site map or a tutorial.

Curate Or Cater Marketing Strategies Based On Consumer Data.

After collecting consumer data, either through surveys or past purchases, organize your consumers into databases. Then, create marketing materials specifically for each database. Consumers might appreciate this because it saves them time from browsing or, discover new products or services.

For our client, Castle & Cooke Hawaii, we designed and programmed their Web Advantage Program (WAP), which logs registered prospective buyers into databases in exchange for exclusive benefits, such as information on upcoming real estate projects. During the WAP registration, prospective buyers are required to answer engaging questions in our quick questionnaire. Based on the results of their questionnaire, the program segment the prospective buyers into databases based on when they expect to be buying a home if they have a family, or what community are they interested in learning more about. The WAP program databases help our team create the best marketing programs and target the best people for them.

Remembering Birthdays, Anniversaries, And Other Celebratory Occasions.

This is an extra bonus, but when companies like Sephora, wish you a “happy birthday” or offer a free sample or a birthday discount as a gift, anyone would feel special.

Tips:

Develop More Personalized Messages.

Put more effort into the messaging and make it sound more relaxed and casual than corporate. Make it enjoyable and easy to understand.

Make The Questions On Your Surveys And Questionnaires Short And Sweet.

Instead of having your consumers fill out 100 questions, take it apart into 10 or even fewer questions and send it periodically. Consider writing concise questions and simplify the selection of answers with pictures, provide a rating scale, or create multiple choice answers.

Get Creative And Make It Fun.

Design something engaging to encourage participation. Give the questionnaire a theme or create a “personality” quiz. Check out BuzzFeed quizzes for inspiration.

Don’t Go Full Out On AI Tech.

It’s important to add actual human elements. This is especially true for customer services. Customer services can use AI to help the consumer find the right department to talk to and collect data on what the brand needs to improve on.

 

In order to efficiently pursue a deeper relationship with their consumers in today’s market, local Hawaii brands need to invest their efforts into incorporating personalized marketing strategies into their new year’s marketing plan.  AI technology and the help of an accomplished advertising and marketing agency, like Team Vision Marketing, can offer a simplified, smooth execution.

To help you set up and recommend the best personalized marketing strategies or AI technology, reach out to Team Vision. We are more than happy to help you with all your marketing needs.

Team Vision Marketing has been serving local brands from O’ahu, Maui, the Big Island, and Kaua’i for over 20 years – check our past creative works in our portfolio. Then, subscribe to our marketing tips blog to stay up to date on today’s advertising and marketing trends.

Listen to what Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, has to say on his experience working with Team Vision.

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December 28, 2018

11 Must Have Web Site Features For Hawaii Business Web Sites

11 Must Have Web Design Features for Hawaii Businesses

With the introduction of more and more “do it yourself” web design tools like Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and others, you may think it’s easy to create and maintain your own web site but there’s a lot more to it than you might think. Trust us, Team Vision Marketing has been designing and programming web sites over the years for Hawaii clients, including Ke Kailani, Ainamalu, Islander Ukulele, Castle & Cooke Hawaii, Koa Ridge, Wailele Ridge and many more.

If you’re about to engage in the process of either designing your own web site or hiring someone to create a web site for you, here are eleven must-have basic web site design features your business web site needs.

If you need help with your business’s web design, let us know! We would love to help!

1. A Well Structured Menu

An organized menu is a KEY element for achieving a higher Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking because search engines want to present the best web sites on their search results page, which considers such factors as ease of navigation and content organization. A well-structured navigation will also prevent high bounce rates. New visitors should be able to instinctively know how to navigate through your web site and not waste their time digging through your menus to find the content they want.

Team Vision recommends listing what type of content or web pages you need to have on your site. Then, group the web pages into relevant categories or subcategories.

Pro Tip: Map out your web site design with all of its web pages in a flow chart and then refine that flowchart to create the most simple and organized navigation menus you can.

2. Visually Engaging, Responsive Web Site Design

There’s no excuse for a business web site to have a bad web design. If you make the effort to look your very best for face-to-face interactions with potential consumers or clients, then you should make the effort to make your site visually engaging. See TeamVision.com as an example of a well-designed, mobile-friendly business web site.

It takes less than 15 seconds for potential consumers or clients to analyze the look of your site and determine if they want to continue browsing through it. A clean layout, high-quality imagery, and well-written content make your site appear more trustworthy and give you a higher SEO ranking, which can result in increased web site conversions.

If you have the budget for it, there are many web site design companies that can help you create an aesthetically pleasing, responsive web design that’s fully customized to your needs. If your budget dictates that you need to go the less expensive route, DIY web site tools, like WordPress, also possess some decent web design templates, but your customization may be limited without an experienced web development team assisting you.

3. Call-To-Actions (CTA)

Call to actions are instructions designed to provoke an immediate response from your web audience, such as “Call XXX-XXXX Today!” or “Buy Now!” buttons. CTAs are important for conversions, so make them conspicuous and readily available throughout the site. Ideal CTA locations are on applicable sections of web pages, and within the site’s header and footer.

4. Visual Components: Images, Videos, and Infographics

Strong visual elements are a must for any web site design. Photos, graphics, and videos are much easier to comprehend than text, they increase brand awareness, and can help increase conversions.

• 46% of users take action after viewing a video ad (Geniusmonkey.com)

• Videos on landing pages can increase conversion by 80% (Forbes.com)

According to the 2018 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, three of the top six content types being prioritized by B2B marketers are visual content, such as videos, infographics, and illustrations/photos

Although photos and graphics still provide creative visual interest, videos are the fastest growing form of visual content. Videos are more engaging, helpful for testimonials, demos, and storytelling. Infographics are also growing in popularity for tutorials and sharing analytics.

5. Well Written Copy with Keywords

Copy is vital for gaining more traffic, increasing conversions, and keeping your web visitors on the site longer. For SEO purposes, your web site’s text content factors in heavily. So, your copy should be relevant, concise, and rich with keywords that relate to your business, products, and services. Bad grammar, misspellings, and poor organization will get your web site flagged by search engines as a low-quality site, negatively affecting your SEO ranking and your web traffic.

Your copy should also clearly communicate all the information your audience needs to know in a concise fashion. If your web visitors can’t find the information they’re looking for, then they will quickly leave your site and go to one of your competitors. But be mindful of not sounding too sales orientated. If the tone is too promotional, then it might deter your audience from wanting to read more.

6. Enhanced Tracking and Tracking Pixels

These little snippets of code are important for measuring the effectiveness of your online marketing programs. When someone visits and takes action on your web site through Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, the pixel’s report the action and automatically adds the web user’s information into a remarketing or lookalike audience list. Pixels also optimize conversions so Facebook and Google ads can determine how to best deliver your ads to audiences that are more likely to take action.

7. Quick Load Times

Load time speed plays a primary role in building traffic and retaining visitors on your site. Long load times can result in high bounce rates, which will negatively impact your conversions and SEO strategy. SEO algorithms heavily weigh on your web site’s bounce rates when ranking your site on search engine results pages (SERP).

There are a number of ways to improve your web site’s load time, however, most of these techniques will require some coding. There are WordPress plugins that can help but hiring someone to program these techniques might serve as a better investment for your web site.

• Visual content is the usual culprit for long load times. Try compressing and resizing your images and videos before uploading them to your website. Think about it, bigger files take more time to load.

• Use browser caching. This technique allows data to be temporarily stored on a visitor’s computer, resulting in faster load time for repeat visitors.

• Slim down your code. This includes deleting unnecessary HTML, Java script, CSS, and white space between code lines.

• HubSpot suggests adding your site’s external Javascript files to the bottom of the page before closing the body tag.

8. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

We cannot stress this enough! It’s 2019, your web pages should already be optimized for search engines. SEO is no longer treated as a bonus in your online marketing, it’s an absolute must! This is how your web site will become more visible on search engine results pages, which will generate increased web traffic and potentially higher conversions.

Read more about key SEO strategies and how to optimize our web site for voice search in our previous blog posts.

9. SSL Certificate, Terms Of Use, And Disclaimers

Security is an increasingly important component of web site design, not just for the audience, but also for web site owners. Adding some security measures is easier than you think.

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate
Buying and installing an SSL certificate is essential for your web site. This standard security technology establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser, ensuring that all the data passed between a server and a browser is kept private. Without it, Google will label your web site as “NOT SECURE”, which will negatively affect your search engine ranking and send red flags to your audience. This certificate also gives your audience some peace of mind.

Read more about SSL Certificates here.

Terms of Use
This legal document lays out the rules that users must agree to in order to use the site and use content from the site. It prevents abuses, protects your intellectual property and registered trademarks, and limits your liability if your content has been used incorrectly or inflicts damage. The Terms of Use also states your right to terminate accounts and establishes age restrictions.

Disclaimers
A Disclaimer is a legal notice that protects the company by limiting the legal liability for the outcome of your web audience using your web site. Without disclaimers, you can potentially face lawsuits.

10. XML Sitemap

Building an XML sitemap into your web site helps Google “crawl” through your web pages to determine your site’s indexing on search result pages. With some coding, you can customize which web pages you think are high quality that Google should pay more attention to and which pages Google should ignore. See Team Vision’s XML Site Map as an example.

Learn how to build an XML sitemap and view Google’s sitemap guidelines.

11. Integration With Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an essential tool for every web site. It provides insight on who your web audience is and which online marketing strategies are working best for your site. It can track how your audience found your site, which device they accessed it from, track their full interaction with your web pages, and much more.

Bonus:

Testimonials & Reviews

Testimonials are effective buying influencers. If you have consumers that have enjoyed your product or service, share that with your prospective customers. If you have the capability, video testimonials are more effective than text testimonials.  View examples of quality video testimonials here.

•HubSpot Research also found that 60% of consumers believed customer reviews were either trustworthy or very trustworthy

• According to Nielsen research, “92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer, and 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don’t even know”.

Portfolios

If you’re selling a service, like advertising and marketing, you should show off your recent and past work. Give your prospective customers an idea of what they can expect from your business. Of course, include some text to give your prospective customers some context.

As an example, check out Team Vision’s extensive advertising and marketing portfolio.

Link Your Social Media Channels to Your Web Site

If you promote your web site on social media, then you should also promote your social media on your web site. Linking your social media to your site can help increase your followers and engagements. Let your audience easily discover a more personal point of view of your company.

Incorporating these 11 key basic web features can help you achieve a higher Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking , improve your web site traffic, and increase your online conversions. Are you scrolling through your web site and noticing that you are missing some of these important features? Team Vision can help you with all your web design and Search Engine Optimization needs. We’ve designed and developed many successful Hawaii web sites and SEO marketing programs for Hawaii businesses on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, The Big Island of Hawaii and Lanai.

Reach out to us at (808) 536-0416 or use our website inquiry form at www.www.teamvision.com/contact.

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his 20 years of experience working with Team Vision.

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Sources:

http://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlbJKOWEPEM

https://www.godaddy.com/garage/does-your-website-really-need-terms-of-use/

https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2012/trust-in-advertising–paid-owned-and-earned.html

https://blog.hubspot.com/service/get-customer-reviews

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80471

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-reduce-your-websites-page-speed

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2018-b2b-research-final.pdf

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/20-web-design-stats-you-need-to-know-first-infographic/524656/

December 7, 2018

Hey Google, Why Should We Optimize Our Web Site For Voice Search?

Hey Google, Why Should We Optimize Our Web Site For Voice Search?

Voice searching technology is changing the way we browse and shop on the internet. We can look up almost anything on the web just by saying, “Hey Google…” or “Hey Siri…” We can even turn on the lights, send texts, play music, and plan our day with a quick verbal request.
Google_voice_search_trend

Image Source: KPCB/Mary Meeker’s Annual 2016 Internet Report

As voice searching continues to gain popularity among all age groups, businesses must rethink their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies and how they write their web page content.

So, how can we incorporate voice searching in our SEO strategy?

1. Add Schema Markup To Your Site

Search engine algorithms are based on multiple factors that relate to your web site’s content. This is why in addition to producing quality content, it’s essential to incorporate keywords and metadata into your site.

A schema markup is essentially like metadata, which is a set of code that helps search engines organize and classify your website’s content and enables search enhancements. You can use schema markups to optimize information that voice search users will be looking for, like contact information, operational times, directions, and so on.

It may seem daunting for those who are not familiar with coding, but this is an important tactic to use. If you need assistance on any of your web-based needs, give Team Vision Marketing a call. We have extensive experience designing web sites and developing innovative digital and SEO programs for our clients. Check out our web design and marketing work in our portfolio.

2. Use Long Tail Keywords and Keep Your Content Conversational

It requires less effort to say a complete sentence than typing out one, which is why voice searches tend to be longer and more conversational than traditional search engine phrases. Thus, brands should be writing content in a natural speaking voice that includes long tail keywords, which are search phrases that are three to five words long. It might also be worthwhile to test bids on long tail keywords. For example, Team Vision would bid on keywords like “Top Hawaii Marketing Agency” or “Hawaii Advertising Agency”.

Tip: Use Google Search Console to see what voice searches you’re currently showing up on and brainstorm more voice searches your web site can relate to.

3. Anticipate For Specific and Stronger Intent

Along with general inquiries, voice search users can have stronger purchasing intent. So, it might be ideal to test full question keywords or answer questions, like “Where is the closest cafe?”.

The type of question can indicate the degree of desire. As explained on Moz.com, questions that begin with “Who” or “What” reveal interest, while questions that begin with “When” or “Where” shows more intent on an action.

How_voice_search_will_Change_Digital_Marketing_For_The_Better

Image Source: “How Voice Search Will Chance Digital Marketing – For the Better”

This also means that voice searches can have more specific inquiries, such as “Hey Google, search for mid-century furniture near me.” This is good news for brands that target a more niche audience or sell a specific product.

Take our client, Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii’s, newest residential real estate neighborhood, as an example. Their target audience for this community is people already living in or wanting to move to Waipahu, Hawaii. Thus, long tail keyword phrases like “Waipahu Real Estate” will be more valuable than just “Real Estate.”

4. Claim Your Business On Google

Although your business should already have done this, it has become even more essential to claim your business on Google, now that more local or “near me” inquiries are made on voice searches – as seen in the graph below.

“Near Me” Voice Search Usage

Near_Me_Voice_Searches_Growth

Image Source: Google Trends “Near Me” Report

Claiming the business gives you the ability to list what category it falls under, give some details about your products/services, and input the correct contact information. This will help your customers find your business easier during searches, provide accurate information, and it can help increase your ranking on the search engine results page (SERP).

5. Make Your Web Site Mobile Friendly

It’s imperative and highly recommended that your web site is converted to be responsive on all devices. Due to the fact that a majority of Google searches, including voice searches, are made on mobile, Google factors a web page’s mobile format into its search engine ranking algorithm.

It also provides your audience with a seamless and more enjoyable web experience. When a site is mobile friendly, the web site automatically formats the content to fit within the width of the screen, making it more aesthetically pleasing, easier to work with, and it keeps your bounce rates lower.

6. Optimize Your FAQS Page

Since questions are more likely to be voice search phrases, optimizing your FAQ page would be worth your while. FAQs pages are another opportunity for businesses to add in more searchable long tail keywords, which can make your web site more attractive for voice search results.

Team Vision recommends researching what common questions your audience might ask in a voice search that relates to your business and title your FAQs exactly like that. For example, a possible voice search question and FAQ for Team Vision could be: “What is a full-service marketing agency?”.

Tip: As previously mentioned, keep in mind that voice searches are more conversational, so adopt a casual tone for the FAQ title and content.

7. Update Web Content for Google Quick Answers

In 2014, Google created Quick Answers, a more convenient method of pulling up content relevant to certain inquiries, like “how to…” or “what is…” searches, from specific web sites. This Quick Answers box is featured above the first organic result of the SERP and includes the link to the page. See an example below.

Google_Quick_Answer_Example

Web pages featured in the Quick Answers box are determined by the web page’s SEO, quality, data structure, and relevance to the search inquiry.

How does this relate to voice search? Voice searches tend to be direct questions. Google will favor citing high-quality pages that are also optimized with long tail keywords.

Voice-activated technology will continue to change the way we surf and shop online. It’s a self-learning AI technology that will inevitably become more and more sophisticated, so businesses need to constantly update and adapt their digital marketing and SEO strategies.

Don’t stress about it! Team Vision can help you with all your online marketing and SEO needs. Over the years, we have developed hundreds of successful SEO and online marketing programs and created many  responsive web site designs for clients across Hawai’i. Just give us a call at (808) 536-0416, or use our website inquiry form at www.www.teamvision.com/contact.

Hear from Harry A. Saunders, President of Castle & Cooke Hawaii, on his 20 years of experience working with Team Vision.

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May 14, 2018

SSL IS NO LONGER OPTIONAL

HTTPS IS NO LONGER OPTIONAL FOR YOUR WEB SITE

At Team Vision Marketing, we have been building web sites for Hawaii clients for over 20 years. Up until just a few years ago, many client sites that didn’t include ecommerce, or that didn’t request or store confidential information, didn’t require HTTPS encryption installed on the site. An SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Security Certificate was an added annual recurring expense that many clients didn’t feel they needed, and quite frankly, best practices didn’t yet call for.

What is an SSL Certificate? And How Does It Work?

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. After July 2018, Your Site Will Show as “Not Secure.”

SSL Graphic - Team Vision Marketing Agency Hawaii
Image: Beginning July 2018, your non-HTTPS web site will show as “Not Secure” as shown above.

For the past several years, Google has been moving customers toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that ALL web sites adopt HTTPS encryption. Within the last year, Google has been labeling more and more HTTP (Non-HTTPS) web sites as “NOT SECURE” in order to help users understand that they could be at risk by using a particular site.

Google has now announced that beginning in July 2018, it will mark ALL HTTP pages as “NOT SECURE.” If you’re still operating a non-secure web site, this warning message will more than likely deter users from proceeding to your site (just imagine users seeing the following warning before entering your site: “NOT SECURE. Would you still like to proceed to this web site?”). It will also have a negative effect on your search engine rankings as Google’s algorithms will place a preference on secure web sites for search engine result rankings. The adoption of SSL/TLS encryption for online organizations has become a security best practice.

Moving to HTTPS is now easier than ever and the cost of annual SSL certificates has also dropped significantly in recent years. And, if you used a third-party CMS such as WordPress, you may be able to set up the SSL yourself using one of WordPress’ popular SSL plugins like Really Simple SSL.

If you need help setting up HTTPS security on your web before the July 2018 deadline, or if you just want to learn more, please give us a call at (808) 536-0416, or send us an inquiry via our web site.

For more information, check out Googles Security Blog.

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