Understanding Digital Marketing and It’s Importance

~ Aleyra ~ Leave a comment

Marketing encompasses many different paths, disciplines, strategies, and tactics. Marketing revolves around four things: product, price, promotions, and place. As marketing grows, so does one of its methods, digital marketing.

Digital marketing refers to any type of advertising that is delivered through digital channels such as websites, emails, social media, search engines, and mobile apps. In a very little amount of time, digital marketing has become one of the most important marketing disciplines.

A Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT Analysis is based upon internal and external factors that have an effect towards a business. The internal factors are the strengths and weaknesses of an organization. When identifying strengths, a company should think about everything they have done right and have seen results for. While weaknesses are aspects of a business that reduce the ability to thier sell products or services.

On the other hand, a SWOT analysis has external factors, which are opportunities and threats. When thinking about opportunities, businesses should focus on factors that represent why they are going to prosper. Threats are factors that could potentially put a business at risk for failure.

SMART Business Goals

SMART goals are established using a specific set of criteria that ensure objectives to be attainable in a certain time frame for a business.

Specific: In order to achieve the desired goal, it needs to be specific.

  • What exactly does the business want to achieve?
  • What is the overall goal?
  • What needs to be accomplished?

Measurable: Looking at numbers and qualifying statistics makes it easier for a business to track their progress and know when their goal has been conquered.

  • How will a business know when they achieve their goal?

Attainable: When setting goals, they should be realistic. Attainability means ensuring a goal is reachable.

  • Is it something you can realistically reach?
  • Is it something a business or team could accomplish?

Relevant: There should be a real benefit attached to the goal. During this step, it is important for marketers to understand that their goal should align with long-term objectives.

  • Why is this applicable to the business?
  • Why does the goal matter to the organization?

TIme-Based: It is important to set a realistic end-date for the task that is being accomplished. When setting a time, businesses should take in consideration their priorities and motivation.

  • When do you want to achieve your goal?

Marketing Segmentation

Market segmentation is when an organization divides their target market into groups with common needs,  demographics, priorities, and other psychographic or behavioral criteria. This is a great method to help a business define their ideal target audience, market, and customers. Creating market segments can help a business leverage their products or services to similar groups.

Getting a sense and understanding segmentation starts with the various ways you can segment your audience. There are four primary categories of segmentation, shown below:

Demographics: The classification of demographics is based upon individuals’ attributes. This segmentation method is one of the most simple and commonly used forms. This is because almost every buying decision is based upon this method.

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Education Level
  • Income Level
  • Language Spoken

Geographics: This segmentation method allows businesses to create different audience groups based on geographical boundaries. It is crucial to understand the climates and the regions in which customers live in order to determine where to advertise, sell, and generate an idea of where the audience is coming from.

  • City
  • Region
  • Size
  • Climate
  • Countries
  • Urban areas

Psychographics: The psychographics segmentation method allows marketers to divide their market into psychological aspects of consumer behavior.

  • Budget
  • Lifestyle
  • Personality traits
  • Values
  • Social/Cultural
  • Activities

Behavioral: This is for businesses that want to classify their audience based on their purchasing behaviors. It allows marketers to craft a more customizable approach because they can focus on what their customers are most likely to buy.

  • Usage Rate
  • Hobbies
  • Habits
  • Purchasing style
  • Decisions
  • Media consumption

Build Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are representations of a business’ ideal customer which is based upon data and research. This is very helpful for marketers to focus their time on qualified prospects and develop  products or services that serves their needs and wants.

As a result, organizations will be able to attract visitors, leads, and customers. Some things to take into consideration when building a buyer persona are the following:

Background: 

  • Geographics
  • Demographics
  • Psychographics
  • Behavior

Problems: Marketers should create a list of problems they wish their customers would solve.

Goals: It is important to determine the buyers’ purchasing motivation.

Benefits: What is the key benefit a business can provide to their buyer?

Objections: Marketers must ensure they answer common frequently asked questions that may come up before the buying process.

Digital Marketing to Understand

Digital market covers a massive network of digital touchpoints that allow interaction between customers multiple times a day.

Paid Search

Paid search, also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC), is a sponsored post that show results on top of a consumer’s timeline.  Paid search ads are sometimes tailored to appear and target audiences that are looking for something in particular. The level of effectiveness on these types of ads is very high because they rely on data from people’s online behavior. Lastly, they are used to boost website traffic by relaying relevant ads to the right audience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the process in which a business can optimize their content, technical setup, and their website in order for their site to appear on top of the results page. This is a great way to drive visitors into a website who would be interested in a certain product or service. Using keywords and phrases is crucial to drive leads. Because visibility is the first step in creating a relationships with consumers, SEO is very common in digital marketing campaigns.

Content Marketing

The purpose of effective content marketing is to educate and inspire consumers who are interested in gaining information. Marketers should offer content that is relevant to their audience in order to secure a sense of trust within their organization. As times has evolved, the age of self-directed buyers has as well. Content marketing generates more leads than paid search advertising, meaning that this is a strategy  marketers should be thinking about implementing into their campaigns.

Email Marketing

After many years, changes, and technology, email marketing still remains one of top strategies for digital marketing. Email is one of the quickest and most direct ways to reach an audience with information. In order to create a successful email campaign it must be engaging, relevant, informative, and appeal to the right audience.

Social media marketing

Social media is the future of marketing. Generating an effective social media marketing strategy is more than just having an active account. Sharing, engaging, and being consistent are some of the key elements a business must have in order to have a successful social media presence. The more audience a business reaches with their content, the more shares, which converts into new leads.

Efficient Tools

It is crucial for businesses to have a deck of digital marketing tools that help them generate content, store information, and track and measure data.

HubsSpot

HubSpot is a great tool in order for marketers to manage their content, social media, track emails, and connect their leads. HubSpot allows marketers to grow their traffic, convert leads, short deal cycles, and increase close rates.

SurveyMonkey

SurveyMonkey is a free tool that is very useful to capture the voices and opinions of a business’ audience. This tool allows organizations to create different formats of surveys  that help them know what their audience thinks, wants, and needs.

Canva

Canva is a design platform that offers millions of templates for customers to create images using custom pictures, icons, shapes, colors, and fonts. It helps companies create logos, presentations, images, or graphs.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is IDEAL for tracking website data. This tool shows where the traffic is coming from, who is coming, and what are the points they spent the most time on.

HootSuite

HootSuite is a tool that is more specific for managing social media accounts. It is very powerful and very popular among marketers. This tool allows content to be stored, develop tags and keywords, and track social media performance.

References 

Digital Marketing Strategy. Atlanta Web Design Company & Digital Marketing Agency. (2021, August 5). Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://m16marketing.com/digital-marketing-strategy/.

Marketo.com. (2019, August 23). What is Digital Marketing? – marketo. Marketo.com. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.marketo.com/digital-marketing/.

Market segmentation: Everything to know in 2020 // Qualtrics. Qualtrics. (2021, September 24). Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/brand/what-is-market-segmentation/.

Tolbert, L. (2021, September 8). The 17 best digital marketing tools in 2021. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/digital-marketing-tools.

How To Effectively Work From Home

~ Aleyra ~ Leave a comment

Times Have Evolved

Due to a global pandemic the world had a major change in people’s daily routine. In some cases, many people had to say goodbye to their onerous commute to work. Over time, the global pandemic made work from home a routine for millions of people all over the world.

Nowadays, for many organizations, it is not necessary to go into the office to have a productive day. There are people who are more productive throughout their day when they work from home.

Effectively Work From home

Getting started with an at home workday can be very difficult, some people lose motivation, which leads to less productivity. In order to have a successful work from home day, people must set themselves to be productive, free from distractions, and must be motivated. This includes having a designated work space and dealing with any  distractions. Here are some strategies and tips to have success and productivity as a remote worker.

Have a Set Schedule

Having structure throughout the day is very crucial for productivity. This allows people to get things done more efficiently. Sticking to a schedule is good to better manage the expectations set by an organization, a client, or a boss. Whether a job requires a nine-to-five schedule, or if there is more flexibility, it is important to use those hours to focus on work and avoid disruptions.

In order to stay motivated and focused, people should add some structure into their days. A set schedule should not be strict and it is an amazing method to know your work flexibility.

Create an enjoyable work space

Not everyone has a designated space for a home office, but it is very important to have privacy and a quiet space for work. For the most part, separating the designated work area from personal spaces allows people to be more functional.

Moving from personal spaces, such as the bedroom, can help promote a better work-life balance. Having a designated work area is KEY to help with someone’s mindset and motivation to be productive at work. Lastly, creating a positive and productive space is inevitable to stay focused.

Remove Distractions

When working from home, distractions can be very easy to follow. For many people, their home is their happy and safe place, which makes it very easy for people to get distracted. When someone breaks concentration it can take much time to get their state of mind into a working mood.Some tips to avoid distractions are:

  • Hide Your Phone:  The phone should be placed in a distance that allows people to have visibility, but not so much reachability. Placing the phone away is a great start to avoid distractions.
  • Use timers: Using timers is a great way to help someone stay focused throughout the day. Setting specific blocks of work time before taking a break helps to be more productive.

Take Breaks

People sit behind their screen for hours, thus,  it is important to take breaks. Taking breaks is very helpful for people’s physical and mental health, this gives people time to take their mind off work and avoid feeling burnout. Additionally, taking breaks provides time to help rest the vision, get blood flooding faster, and regain focus. Some activities people can do while their breaks are, eating lunch or going for a small walk.

Productivity Tools

With the revolution of technology, there are now many helpful tools that make working from home a little more simple. There are amazing tools to help stay organized, to communicate between co-workers, and to increase the overall productivity of the job. Additionally, there are various tools that are great for storage, marketing, and taking notes. Below is a few list of the most common and helpful tools for a remote worker.

Extra social interaction

Many people have a misconception of working from home. Remote work does not mean there is no communication, engagement, or interaction within the organization. If possible, organizations should try to  set time aside for conference calls, trivia days, or other social interactions between employees. After long hours of working on projects, scheduling something special for employees is important to increase their productivity.

Which Tip You Will Try Next?

Managing a life that involves working from home is not easy, it is definitely a long-term game that people need to get comfortable with and do what works best for them. It is important for people to understand their ideal working environment, their work style, and use tools that will make working from home more manageable.

References

Christine, O. (2021, August 10). 20 crucial survival tips for working remotely. O. Christine. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://www.ochristine.com/blog/wellness-productivity-tips-for-working-remotely.

Cook, J. (2021, July 29). The ultimate guide to working from home. Investopedia. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/work-from-home-guide/.

The Perfect Morning Routine For A Productive Day

~ Aleyra ~ Leave a comment

What is the first thing you do in the morning?

How you start your day can be a huge indicator on how the rest of your day is going to play out. Sometimes, mornings can be SO though. There are days where you wake up and all you want to do is hit the snooze button and stay in bed.

Having a good morning routine is important in order to gather yourself and prepare for the day. Even though everyone has different morning routines, there are some things you can do to make sure you have a productive day. With this being said, here are some habits you can add to your current morning routine to make it perfect and help you have a more successful day.

Morning Habits for a Productive Day

Wake Up Early

Having an early morning rise allows you to function better because your “energy levels are higher and more productive during that time” (McCoy & Oré, 2020). Waking up early is a great method for you to  accomplish so much more throughout your day.

Interested in learning more about waking up early in the morning? Read this article: How to Wake Up Early, According to Sleep Experts. 

Make Your Bed

Making your bed as soon as you wake up is one of the easiest things you can do at the start of your productive day. It makes your room look clean and it creates a positive atmosphere. This will get you ready for your upcoming tasks and it prevents you from going back to bed.

Meditate

This is one of the most important habits to add into your morning routine. According to this article by Healthline, there are six different types of meditation which include: mindfulness, spiritual, focused, movement, mantra, and transcendental (Bertone, 2020). Read more about each meditation type here.

Whichever type of meditation you do, just make sure you find something that invokes peace into your life. Even if you only have 10 minutes, spend that time keeping your mind clear and quiet to help you have a peaceful day. Meditating regularly allows you to feel more calm and perform better throughout your day.

Drink Water

Staying hydrated is KEY in the morning. Our bodies have been resting for hours which means they are very dehydrated. Not only does water help our bodies rehydrate, but it also helps you fully wake up, purifies your system, and most importantly water is very beneficial for you. Drinking plenty of water sets you up to feel good and be productive overall.

Exercise

You want to feel productive today? Get an hour of yoga done, a three mile run, go for a walk, or do a workout. Exercising is a great way to release any build up tension that you have and it helps your body and mind get going in the morning.

Keep in mind that whichever form of exercise you decide to do, it does not have to be extensive and exhausting. As long as you do an exercise that you enjoy and get your body fueled, you will find benefit.

Plan Out Your Day

A very effective morning habit to have a more productive day is planning out your day in advance. You can create a to-do list, not only will this hold you accountable throughout the day, it is also a great push into getting your tasks done by a certain time.

The Takeaway

Practicing discipline and investing time on yourself the first minutes in your morning is a very effective way to set yourself up into having a more productive day. Add these morning habits to your current routine, make it fitting to you, to your schedule, and personalize it to create the ideal morning you want to have. It is not easy to form new habits, but the more you try, the sooner you will find your perfect morning routine to have a productive day.

Which habits are you most looking forward to adding into your morning routine?

See you again next week!

References

Bertone, H. J. (2020, October 2). Which type of meditation is right for you? Healthline. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/types-of-meditation#overview.

McCoy, J., & Oré, C. R. and M. (2020, December 31). How to wake up early, according to sleep experts. Glamour. Retrieved September 12, 2021, from https://www.glamour.com/story/how-to-wake-up-early.

Your Way to Happiness

~ Aleyra ~ 1 Comment

As human beings we are always thinking about living a meaningful and happy life. However, our own state of mind is often what keeps us away from our happiness.

We constantly find ourselves in an unhappy state of mind when we worry about things, something is stressing us, or when we have  bad routines.

Yes, MANY times life is very difficult, but we cannot spend our days worrying and letting our problems take the best of us, we have the choice to be happy.

Living Your Best Life Today

I am going to share with you a phrase from the article: “How to Live Your Best Life Starting Today”

 “You are a unique individual, so living your best life is exclusive to you”   (Gower, 2021).

The article mentions that a person’s best life is a reflection of their true values. In the end, your true values are a combination of what makes you happy and what making a difference really means to you.

It highlights how people can spend so much time trying to live the life that society expects us to live. Thus, we lose focus on the things that truly make us happy and what our lives really look like. (Gower, 2021)

How Do You Start?

Living your best life starts with being the best version of yourself. And I know what you are probably thinking, sometimes it can be SO hard  to be or feel the best version of myself. This is where you focus on who you want to be, your strengths, and feel proud of what makes you unique.

Ways to Live Your Best Life 

Live in the Present

You wake up every day with a new opportunity in life, a new chance to live your best life. We often find ourselves getting stuck simply because we put things off or we leave things for the next day.

People many times think that in order to be happy we need new things. However, in the process you forget about everything you already have.

Wear comfy clothes, go out, and enjoy the present. Go and do something fun,  interesting, maybe try something new, hang out with people that make you feel happy, just do something.

Be Intentional 

Intentions let you decide what kind of positive emotions and feelings you are trying to seek. Often, intentions are perceived as more motivating because if you do not achieve them, you simply just try again another time.

Setting intentions gives you something to really focus on, distract yourself, and relieve that feeling of being overwhelmed.

Self-Care

Sometimes all we need is 3o minutes of alone time, taking a bath, or even window shopping.

Doing something for yourself is a great way to recharge your body and mind so that you can do better. Give yourself permission to feel the way you are feeling and then just simply, when you are ready, let go.

Take time to appreciate the little things in life. Even in the moment when you are feeling your lowest, there is always something to be grateful for.

Conclusion

Live every day with intentions, enjoy your life, and remember you have the choice. Your feelings are valid, don’t let others tell you otherwise. Focus on living your best life and make sure you enjoy the process, the learning, and the experiences that come along this journey.

I hope to see you back next week for our chat!

References

Gower, L. (2021, January 25). How to live your best life starting Today. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/863545/live-your-best-life.

Welcome to My First Blog Post!

~ Aleyra ~ 3 Comments

Hey, I’m Aleyra!

So glad you found your way to my blog! I am a sarcastic marketing junkie and weekend lover who wants to inspire you to live your best life. This is currently my last semester of grad school and as my final project, I will be posting weekly lifestyle blogs for you.

I am passionate about living my life with purpose and improving every day of my life. I’m here to share with you my journey as I am constantly improving myself, exploring, and doing things that make me happy. I would love for you to join me on this journey, and we can start living our best lives together.

About Bold and Lively

Self-improvement is a constant journey that will always require to put some effort on. “The idea should be focused on continuous self-development at every stage of our life and become better versions of ourselves” (Belin, 2021). Learn 12 reasons why self-improvement is important irrespective of your age here.

Bold and Lively is a safe place where we talk about self-improvement, life lessons, adventures, and marketing. If you love simplicity, want to balance your life, make the most of what you already have, enjoy the little things in life, and a couple marketing tips then you should definitely spend more time here!

See you next week for our weekly chat!

References:

Belin, A. (2021, January 12). The importance of self improvement no matter how old you are. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/819195/importance-of-self-improvement.