Today is National Book Lovers Day, and there are so many books that are relevant in the digital space, especially with the constant changes. It is important to stay up to date with all that is happening in the industry, which is why you should grab one of these books for your next beach trip:

Building a Story Brand: All you need to know about this book can be summed up in one line, “Your customer should be the hero of the story, not the brand.”

This Is Marketing: This book highlights the new strategies in marketing and why the traditional approaches won’t work today. It dives into every relevant topic: the importance of audience trust,  how to use marketing to solve problems, and why you need to be proud of your work.

UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging: This book identifies that the key to successful marketing today is audience engagement. The sales pipeline has changed and it now starts with recognizing your audience’s wants and needs, responding to them, cultivating a trusting relationship, and that will lead to a purchase or brand loyalty.

Ogilvy on Advertising: David Ogilvy is one of the most influential advertisers and has made a lasting impact on the industry. Ogilvy on Advertising is a thoughtful collection of his thoughts, mindsets, and vision for the industry.

Crushing It: Author Gary Vaynerchuk is another influential figure and his book examines the necessity in developing a brand image.

Is your website visit rate low? Is your design outdated? Do you have a high bounce rate? If so, it’s time to revamp your website!

Here are a few signs that indicate if you need to do a website overhaul:

Slow Site Speed

If your site loads too slowly on a user’s phone or computer, this leads to a poor user experience and a greater chance of users leaving your site. Google states a load time should be 3 seconds or less to maintain user interest.

High Bounce Rate

A bounce is when a website visitor comes to your website and leaves without visiting other pages or interacting with your site. Google Analytics can give insight into your bounce rate.

Unorganized Site Without a User Journey

Users need a clear site journey and organizational structure to find what they were looking for when they first discovered your site. If there isn’t a clear structure, users might lose interest and bounce off your site. This will lead to missed opportunities.

Too Much Text & Not a Clean Design

Too much text, especially on your home page, can be overwhelming for the visitor and lead to a higher bounce rate. Additionally, it makes your site look cluttered, hard to navigate, and people will not read all that you have to say. Instead, break the text up with white space, images, sections, and amongst different pages to easily tell your brand’s story.

Not Mobile-Friendly

A friendly user experience extends to mobile viewing, and if your site isn’t mobile-friendly, pictures and text may not load properly and lead to a poor user experience. Make sure your website looks as good on mobile as it does on desktop, especially since mobile viewership has surpassed web.

As 2019 unfolds, here are a few emerging digital trends to keep in mind:

Conversational Social

Social media posts are two-way now. Instead of just posting, brand should try to engage consumers in a conversation and gauge their wants and interests. The key here is having a quick response time.

Geo-targeted Ads

This might seem like old news, but for Starbucks app users, you’ve already started experiencing this new type of geo-targeted ads of walking into a targeted location or area and then having an ad populate.

More Personal

Emails are going to get even more personal. They are going to focus on what the user is interested in, has engaged with, and more creative, impactful content will be treated as a result.

New Opportunities

As always, with each there will be new technologies, new trends, and new ideas. A strong brand is flexible and ready to jump on emerging trends.

During the holidays, every retail store is flooding people’s inboxes with emails, therefore, it is important to make sure your email does not get lost is the masses. We have a few strategies to help ensure your email, and more importantly, information is distributed to your clients.

1. Have a creative, compelling subject line: Subjects that ask a question, advertise a sale, or have an upcoming end-date tend to be opened more readily because they pull the individual in and pique their interest.
2. Link to content on your website: The purpose of any email is to get people to your website so make sure links are on every picture, product or word where appropriate.
3. Promote your emails on social media: Ask people to sign up for your emails on social media and offer a short-term discount for doing so.
4. Have picture-heavy content: We live in a visual world, so don’t have text heavy emails. Instead, let pictures and graphics do the talking.

Have you finally opened your dream company? The life of an entrepreneur is hectic at first, but there are a few marketing tasks you should not put off.

• Research your competitors. Know the landscape of your product line.
• Identify your audience. This will guide all future marketing decisions if you know who you are targeting.
• Narrow down your company’s branding and identity goals. This is the aesthetic side of business, but branding is important as it differentiates you from your competitors.
• Claim your URL and build your website. In this digital age, a website is a very necessary early step.
• Claim all social handles, even if you don’t activate the accounts initially. Your future self will thank you.
• Familiarize yourself with SEO best practices, or hire an agency to do this for you. Once you have a web presence, this will be crucial in putting your new business in front of potential clients.