written by Julia Rain
The market for digital products is soaring. With global internet penetration at 58.5% thanks to mainstream digital adoption, companies with digital services are in an advantageous position. In fact, a 2019 study by Total Retail and Forrester Consulting revealed that 74% of online purchases made in 2018 were for a digital product or service — and that’s before the worldwide digital adoption due to the pandemic. The researchers note that these covered on-demand services, digital media, software and apps, online gaming, and travel and entertainment services — all of which still have plenty of opportunity for growth.
However, with tech-savvy consumers becoming increasingly discerning and Internet traffic making it tricky to stand out, marketers must find relevant ways to target their customers. Listed below are just some of the easiest, most cost-efficient solutions you can try:
Leverage social media and schedule content
If you’re not using social media, you’re shrinking your playing field. Over 70% of Americans are on social media platforms, and 47% say that their purchasing decisions are influenced by these sites. This is why various platforms are rolling out shopping tools like Facebook’s Marketplace, Instagram’s swipe-up tabs, and TikTok’s Shop.
But, of course, leveraging social media doesn’t just mean using these social shopping functions. Instead, you should begin by focusing on your content strategy. Since every platform has a different set of parameters, it helps to pre-plan your content with scheduling tools. Case in point: Instagram. An Instagram scheduler enables you to plan a week’s worth of posts ahead of time, recommending personalized hashtags and the best times to post your content in the process. This helps optimize the algorithm that can expand your own reach. Another tool you can use is Facebook scheduling and publishing. This lets you curate your photos, videos, and copy in bulk for auto-publishing. Essentially, you can set it and forget it. Using such tools frees up your personal schedule for other business operations while maintaining (or increasing) your following because of consistency with your business’s content.
Create enticing visuals and free demos
While a few static posts announcing your brand can still drum up some attention, any meaningful recall and comprehension will rely on more creative visual marketing and interactive experiences. Granted, this will take a little more effort and budgeting but people are genetically predisposed to digest images better than text. An MIT study even says that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.
While developing your final product, try to create a free trial version for interested parties. Anywhere that you’ve got an online presence (social media, official website, etc.), you should frontload this demo along with well-made introduction and tutorial videos. Offering a free demo not only increases interest and prospective sales, but also improves your reputation. Consider your free demo as a proof of concept. When you have a good and trustworthy product, your openness to have people try it will translate well.
Optimize with SEO
Nowadays, most internet users are wary of online ads. Instead, many online turn to search engines for their queries. As the leader in online search engines, Google searches amount to around 6.9 billion daily worldwide. On top of this, Jumpshot says that 46% of all product searches begin on Google.
In order to optimize Google’s power and your own online presence, utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website will put it ahead of the pack. In fact, a 2019 study shows that 92% of all traffic goes to websites that are ranking on the first page of the search results. If your budget allows, there are SEO specialists that can do the analytics and content creation for you. However, if you want to keep everything in-house, you can still utilize SEO yourself. By determining relevant keywords, you can pepper these in your title pages, meta-data, and image tags. This alone will significantly hike up your Google standing.
Of course, just as you’re building and polishing your external communications and credibility, you should also focus on your internal communication. Most software projects fail because of faulty team communications and lack of soft skills. Remember that for any business—especially one in the fast-paced digital industry—to thrive, you must nurture an agile and proactive ecosystem that can meet the demands and expectations of its stakeholders.
For more guides, trends, and analyses on software development, check out our post ‘Why Do Your Software Projects Fail and How Can You Fix Them?’.
This post was written by Julia Rain for Canecom.
