Category Archives: PR and SEO

PR and SEO

How Can You Monetize Video Streaming? A Guide for New Market Entrants

If you are considering getting into content or media, the first thing you’re bound to consider is how you make a living from it. It’s a valid question. We all have to pay rent and streaming is a new industry that seems to have only just established the ins and outs.

So, what are those ins and outs? What are your monetary options when it comes to streaming? We break it down here.

Creator funds

If your aim is to make content, the first step you will make is to head to TikTok or YouTube to create your channel/account, which means the first bit of income you are likely to get is going to come from the respective Creator Funds directly from the platforms.

This isn’t the most ideal option. Users have a long history of problems with the Creator Fund and YouTube’s managing of guidelines. Just look up the term “adpocalypse” for a starter. TikTok is a new app, with less income, and therefore a smaller creator fund that is spread amongst more people due to the ease of creating short-form video content.

Although it’s the first option, it’s not the best, and many creators very quickly realize they’ll have to look elsewhere for sustainable income.

Pay-per-view

Pay-per-view has its benefits and drawbacks when you get into it. It is most popular with UFC boxing, where users can pay to see the fight live. Users can pay for a ticket to see the event, and see it only once, unlike a subscription service where typically you can play as much as you want as many times as you want.

This offers a powerful feeling of exclusivity, where users feel like they’ll miss out if they don’t tune into the live event and it can lead to a pseudo subscription service where users pay each time that they watch something on your platform.

However, the other side of this “exclusivity” coin is that it is considered a one-off. Something that they will pay for only if they are 100% sure they want to see it and will enjoy it. For this reason, leaked recordings of the event are often posted to the internet for casual viewer to watch for free.

Pay-per-view is lucrative, but it’s important you use the right tools to pull it off. Red Bee offers a range of features that will better allow you to stream around the world, into any device, with high quality content.

Subscription services

Subscription services are the natural next step above pay-per-view. When put side by side, users would probably rather go with a subscription service. PPV ticket prices can range all over the place, rarely lower than the expected $10 or less from streaming services like Netflix and Disney+. It is a lot easier to justify one $10 bill a month for access to a catalogue of content that you can watch as much as possible, than a $20 “ticket” to a one-off event.

The perk for creators and media managers is that you will gain a steady stream of income that way. You aren’t putting all your fruits in the one basket of the one event. Entertainment is subjective, so even if someone isn’t watching your True Crime content, they might subscribe for the comedy stand-ups.

Affiliate marketing

All the above are ways of taking money from your viewers directly, whereas a few creators don’t love that idea. There has been talk of people conscientiously objecting to opening a Patreon account for example, and instead going down the route of commissioned advertisements.

Affiliate marketing is the industry of embedding products and brands into your content for a commission, the most obvious example being YouTubers and podcasters who interrupt their content to talk about Raid: Shadow Legends, or Instagram influencers who tell you to swipe up to see these make-up brushes.

Martech, News, PR and SEO

Mapp Closes 2021 with Record-Breaking Growth

New Customer Business Grows by 32%, Strong Subscription Revenue Growth

International provider of insight-led customer experiences and one of the world’s largest privately-held Martech platforms, Mapp, has reported record-breaking year-over-year growth for 2021. The company grew by more than 32% in new customer business and showed strong subscription revenue growth.

In its target markets of US, UK, Germany, Italy, and France, some of Mapp’s new clients include well-known brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Doves Farm, OPI, Sensilab, Jelly Belly, West Ham United, The Independent Pharmacy, Design Toscano, Corel, Piquadro, and Prénatal. Other notable customers include Black+Decker, Francesca’s, JYSK, PepsiCo, Varelotteriet, Westwing and Witt-Gruppe.

Mapp strategically partnered with several new agencies, system integrators, and technology vendors in 2021, eyeing its future expansion into 2022. New international partners include VTEX, Spryker and Shopgate, as well as leading agencies such as Accenture, GroupM, Wavemaker and Kenscio.

“We’re proud of the huge growth we’ve achieved in 2021 and welcome on board many new clients, partners and vendors who have joined Mapp past year and became part of our great expansion,” said Steve Warren, CEO of Mapp. “Mapp’s unique insight-led customer experience platform, Mapp Cloud, proves to be an invaluable tool for many brands we support worldwide. Our goal is to continue the momentum of executing plans for even faster growth in 2022, led by a focus on our sales and marketing efforts. I would also like to highlight that in 2021, Mapp set a record for its lowest churn – evidence that our customer-facing teams delivered an outstanding job on a daily basis.”

Among the 2021 Mapp Cloud platform improvements are the addition of two new marketing channels: direct mail and web push notifications. These join Mapp’s network of email, SMS, mobile push, in-app, retargeting and web channels. Marketers can also intelligently track their most important KPIs with Goals & Forecasts. Unifying data can be streamlined, with integrations to eCommerce platforms like Shopify and Shopgate, or data synchronization with relevant external sources thanks to the new Data Feeds functionality. Mapp’s Analytics API consolidates different data sources, processes calculations, automates reporting, and enables data visualization in any office application.

According to Forrester, “insight-led businesses” are expected to grow 7-10x faster than the global economy. Additionally, “The Forrester Wave™: Cross-Channel Campaign Management (Independent Platforms), Q3 2021” report validated Mapp Cloud as a strong performer with 5/5 stars in 13 categories.

Mapp’s insight-led customer experience platform Mapp Cloud offers unique possibilities for scalable marketing. The Intelligence Module combines data, analytics, and AI to generate actionable insights, allowing brands to engage with their customers along the buying journey. The Engage Module orchestrates and automates seamless, personalized cross-channel campaign management; and the integrated Customer Data Platform (CDP) provides an industry unique 360-degree view of each contact comprised of unified data, which enables advanced segmentation and automation.

 

About Mapp

Marketers and data specialists should always be able to focus on their core business instead of spending their time taming the technology behind it. With the insight-based customer experience platform Mapp Cloud, marketing decision-makers have more time for the essentials and can place their brand messages in the best possible way. Through customer intelligence and marketing analytics, companies easily and effectively gain cross-channel customer insights from data, which in turn enable highly personalized marketing activities. Mapp’s customers benefit from customized and self-optimizing cross-channel campaigns based on AI-powered predictive models. Automated messages can thus be sent in the ideal marketing channel, at the optimal time and with the right contact frequency. Thanks to powerful one-to-one personalization, maximum engagement as well as long-term customer retention are achieved. More info here.

Mapp operates offices in seven countries. Mapp’s digital marketing platform helps over 3,000 businesses stand out from the crowd. Mapp’s clients include Ella’s Kitchen, Expert, Freesat, Francesca’s, MyToys, Pepsico, Quint, Vivienne Westwood, and The Entertainer.

 

Charity & CSR, Events, PR and SEO, Tech, Training

Innovative Ideas for FREE with Code Computerlove’s Make Change Fridays

Organisations looking for innovative ideas to solve their biggest problems or improve digital service areas this year are being offered a free workshop by leading digital product and service studio Code Computerlove.

Its ‘Make Change Fridays’ workshops aim to help organisations with tech for good initiatives that are seeking solutions to challenging problems – whether that relates to strategic direction, comms, digital platforms, or positioning.

​​Code has recently trialled the workshops with charity Manchester Pride, where the agency provided strategic communications support in preparation for 2022 marketing planning.

Lizzy Holroyd from Manchester Pride said: “The team at Code were very insightful and generous with their time. They introduced a range of strategic and tactical comms ideas that has given us lots of impetus and a greater focus for our activities this year.”

Rob Jones, Managing Director of Code says: “This is our way of giving back and supporting tech for good initiatives that make meaningful change to people’s lives and communities.

“We have previously dedicated 10% of our time on Friday afternoons for our team’s personal development, but many felt that working on live briefs would be a more beneficial way to develop their skills. We’re also passionate about supporting organisations like Pride who are making a real difference, and our team now have the option to support if they wish.”

Rob added: “We have developed time-effective and impactful methods to deep dive into our client’s needs which we implement in our experience design and day zero workshops. Our ‘light touch’ Make Change Fridays workshops take elements of these methods to provide a boost of inspiration, direction and actionable ideas to shape future roadmaps.

“We can support organisations with common business problems and use our expertise across strategy, marketing, tech and customer experience design to hone in on exciting ideas for how they might be tackled.

“We have always offered our event space for free to the local Manchester digital community to share ideas and collaborate, and we hope this initiative is another way we can help businesses thrive this year.”

Businesses can find out more about the workshops and register interest here: https://www.codecomputerlove.com/make-change-fridays-workshop/

News, PR and SEO

The Six Different Marketing Strategies And When To Use Them

Marketing your business is the most important step to guarantee that you make money. The general public will not invest in something that they do not understand. Therefore, you need to create a marketing strategy that relays all the important details about your business in the most precise way.

Every business is unique, which means that they will need a unique advertising plan. However, there are seven strategies that you must adhere to when marketing your business. This article will look at each of these and hopefully inform you about when to use them.

What Product Are You Selling?

The most important part of any marketing strategy is detailing the type of product that you offer as a business. Whether you are selling a household item or a service, you have to make your audience aware of your product and why they need it.

This strategy sounds like a mountainous task, and that’s because it is. However, you will find that you get the best results by putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. Try to market your product as if you know nothing about it. By using this outside perspective, you can get to know both your product and your audience base on a different level.

Where Are You Selling Your Product?

The location has become an extraordinarily important part of the marketing strategy. You need to know where your core customer base is found, but also where it is best to reach them.

For example, a small local business should try to remain central in their area to ensure that they receive regular foot traffic. On the other hand, a large online company that ships globally will need to find out the best location for their warehouse based on transport and shipping routes. Again, the location of your business is unique to the product you sell but still plays an important role in reaching your desired customer base.

What Does Your Product Cost?

Of course, the pricing of your product is often one of the first things that your customers are going to look at. You should always price your goods in a way that makes sure that you cover your manufacturing costs while also retaining a profit. However, if a person can’t afford something then they won’t buy it. It is simple as that.

This means that you should always keep an eye on the pricing of your product and adapt to meet certain challenges. Perhaps you need to start low to put your product in the hands of a select few before hiking up the price when demand grows.

Who Are You Selling To?

As you now know, your customer base is going to change as time moves on. In the beginning, you may only sell your product to a few, innovative individuals. These are the people that are comfortable with adopting new things and see expanding into new markets as an exciting challenge. However, these customers will often move on to the next new thing before you know it. This means that you will need to adapt to the next phase.

It is important to learn how to market yourself in the most generic way possible. The people that need your product will jump on board immediately, but not everyone is this trusting. That is why it is a good idea to give these initial customers the ability to express their thoughts. Set up a review page, or ask them for feedback. Gamma’s horizon contact can also provide easier ways for customers to contact you. All of this information can help you reign in the next set of customers and continue making a profit.

How Do You Reach Your Audience?

The few points that have been discussed so far have all been centred on your business operations. You will find that these simple things can put you ahead in terms of marketing. However, the most important part of your business strategy will always involve being able to reach your audience.

If you have done your research correctly, you should already have a good idea about who your target audience is and where you can find them. As such, you will then need to tailor your marketing to target these demographics.

For example, a younger demographic is more likely to be found in the online space. Therefore, you should opt for viral marketing strategies or social media marketing to get your message to them. However, an older audience is probably still receiving their marketing from the television or radio.

Marketing your business properly is all about research. Get to know your target audience, and advertising to them should become a breeze.

Summary

Things change in the world of business so rapidly that it can sometimes feel like it is impossible to keep your head above water. Follow these steps and make room to change with the times and you will find that your business’s marketing strategy just got a whole lot easier.

 

News, PR and SEO, Web Design

RAF Benevolent Fund launches new web platform

The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund has launched a new web platform https://www.rafbf.org/ to drive more online donations and provide a comprehensive audience-focused resource that can better support those who need the charity’s services.

The new platform has been designed and developed by digital experience agency Access.

The RAF Benevolent Fund assists veterans and serving Royal Air Force personnel with welfare support. This also extends to their families.

The new website introduces innovative technical features including a support finder tool, which provides faster access to relevant pages; a new online beneficiary form to replace a PDF process and a Progressive Web App to enable quick app installation to devices.

Site editors can also easily create and update microsite pages using the new platform. Microsites include RAF Widows’ Association, the RAF Disabled Holiday Trust and the Alexander Duckham Memorial Schools Trust. These microsites contain alternative brand colours and content. The build process included utilising a colour palette option in a settings area for the content types, and setting up a series of pages and content related to one site, where site editors can alter the colour palette for each page.

Ruth Patterson, Digital Engagement Manager, from the RAF Benevolent Fund said:
“Through in-depth audience research and user feedback we have created a web platform that will better meet the needs of all of our audiences. Our website serves two core functions, and we’ve facilitated the best user journeys for each.

“For those wanting to support us, the means to donate or get involved in fundraising is a much simpler, audience-focused journey. We’ve developed a suite of features that will help us to build stronger ongoing relationships with supporters, and promote
advocacy to get involved with us.

“For those that need support, we’ve expanded our services to beneficiaries and improved accessibility to our resources so that they are clear and easy to find. Our new site also hosts an array of content so being able to access this in a more intuitive way is a huge step forward.”

Patrick Hamilton, Operations Director at Access, said:

“Central to the new platform is that different user’s needs have been considered at all stages of the journey, alongside a fresh and inspiring design. Our development process began with in-depth audience research, creating personas and holding interviews, before moving on to prototyping and validation.

“Using our Drupal experience we’ve created a best-in-class experience that is both user friendly and easy to manage, to meet all of the charity’s objectives including a need for greater efficiency and measurability. Accessibility and the user journey is front and centre at all stages, alongside a fresh and inspiring design.”