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Why Digital Marketing Matters

Small businesses are more competitive compared to big corporations

If you think about it, larger corporations typically do not have to use large amounts of digital marketing tools. Everyone is already highly familiar with their brands, so sales come easy to them. They put more emphasis on the product and brand design rather than using all of their energy on digital marketing. Small businesses tend to be much more competitive since they have more competition. Digital marketing seems to help small businesses stand out to people online and are able to be seen as different. Their brand receives more exposure and awareness.  

Digital marketing is more cost effective

Rather than doing large marketing campaigns by going to shows, or rebranding, or sending out flyers, or even promoting a new product, digital marketing is essentially putting your name online. Digital marketing is much cheaper due to the fact that there are almost no up-front costs. All that needs to be invested in digital marketing is time and energy. Old school campaigns tend to require more costs for print products or promotions. Digital marketing uses algorithms and analytics to directly target the desired audience.  

More mobile usage

In today’s world, it is starting to become much more common for people to use mobile phones or mobile tablets for the internet rather than a desktop. This is because it is cheaper and almost everyone has access to a free computer somewhere, whether it is at a public library, a friend, or at their job. On mobile use, there are more opportunities for engagement with the audience and chances to further establish your brand into people. This means apps, surveys, online shopping, etc. Mobile use gives brands the power to reach anybody from anywhere, whether that is at home, the store, at work, or even in another country.  

Digital marketing allows brands to show their “personality”

Ever notice how brands active online seem to develop their own personality? This is because they are able to be more vocal at all times. Through blog posts, social media posts, hashtags, and googles ads, they are able to design their own brand and copywriting. Because of this, they are able to relate to more people and be seen as more attractive to people. For example, through Wendy’s social media, they have been able to be recognized for their humorous tweets. Developing your own personality and letting that shine brings more attention.  

Email marketing is one of the best ways of communicating

Email marketing has changed the way of doing digital marketing. Instead of uploading content in hopes of people seeing it, businesses now have a way to directly communicate to their audience and engage with them by promoting new products, sales, events, and much more. This is a way to consistently remain aware and to have maximum exposure to the audience.  

Automation makes your business grow bigger

The digital marketing analytics can be automated to where there is very little time needed to maintain a seo position. Because of this, it allows managers and strategists to direct their focus on more effective strategies and put more time into areas that are needed. It allows the team at a business to use their time more wisely and not be under pressure constantly. Whether or not you choose to outsource your digital marketing or do it yourself, automation is what makes digital marketing much more cost effective for every business.  

Someone once said, “Ignoring online marketing is like opening a business but not telling anyone.” It’s important to take advantage of the resources that are available to you and use every opportunity to grow your business to its fullest. This means diving into social media, email marketing, blogs, metatags, and search engine optimization.  

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Is Web Design that Important for your Business?

The Importance of Web Design

As someone once said, “Not having a website is like opening a business and not telling anyone.” In today’s current world, having a website is extremely important for businesses, as that is where they gain exposure and awareness to their target audience. Although it is important to have a site, it is also important to have the proper design and excellent user experience in order to attract the right audience. This means that the site should be designed with the audience in mind; it is for them, not for you. Here are some tips on how you can improve the visuals of the site and attract more traffic.  

1. Brand Image

Your site should communicate the brand’s values, what it means, and what it stands for. Every strong site reflects the brand. This means a consistency of fonts, colors, and images. If you go to Patagonia or Starbuck’s sites, there is a consistent use of fonts and colors, and it reflects what they stand for.  

2. Layout

You might have heard someone say, “less is more.” This is a general rule that every site should have. This means keeping the site clean, simple, and consistent. When a website is cluttered and highly complex, this seems to scare them away; they automatically shut down and refuse to go any further. As technology has further developed, the common design trend is to use less text and putting an emphasis on space and composition.  

3. Typography

As mentioned before, less is more. So, instead of using five different fonts that you love, use only one or two. Keeping it simple and clean draws more attention and allows better visual hierarchy. For the longest time, Helvetica was one of the most popular fonts to use. Now, the up-and-coming font is Montserrat. These are sans-serif fonts, which are typefaces without the serifs. Fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia have serifs, which are better used in paragraph formats. Also, pay attention to tracking, kerning, and leading. Having the proper settings set will allow your site to have better legibility and readability.  

4. User Experience

An overall rule of thumb to follow is to make sure the main pages can be accessed within less than three clicks. User experience is making sure the website, or the mobile app works according to the consumer’s standards. It is not always how good something looks, but how well it works. Making sure the website’s navigation is strong will allow it to bring in more traffic. If a certain page is tough to get to or hard to find, it can turn people off and they can give up. People want results quickly and on the spot.  

5. Trends

Be sure to keep up with the trends of designs, colors, and typefaces. Trends come and go extremely quickly, and it can be challenging to appeal to the modern audience. For example, two dimensional is highly popular at the moment, whereas ten years ago, three-dimensional design popularized. In order to stay with the current generations, you must stay with the current trends.  

Conclusion

Something to take away from this is consistency is key. Creating a site and remaining consistent with the brand, the colors, the typefaces, and the user experience is what will draw in more website traffic and expand the exposure of the brand. Over time, people are becoming more active on mobile websites and applications, so it is important to meet their demands and deliver the proper results to them. Not only does the website need strong visuals, but it needs strong accessibility. It needs useful SEO tools that draw the attention of the audience and is reachable.

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Skills of a UX Designer

UX Design is short for user experience, which is the focus of designing and developing apps, websites, and software for digital use. It is not 100% on the visual aspect of design, but also on the way something works. UX Design has become an important occupation in the marketing and tech industry. This allows developers to direct more focus on the consumer and be able to make the experience as pleasing as possible.  

Fortunately, UX design is a career that anyone can pursue, and the reason being is because it is still fairly new. People with all sorts of backgrounds have become highly successful in UX. This is including print designers, engineers, and even marketing directors. Safe to say, UX is not a fad, so it will be around for a while.  

You might be wondering, how can one become a UX Designer? How does one immerse themselves in the world of UX, especially with a different background? Thankfully, there are around 9 different skills that UX designers have, and all it takes to acquire these skills is practice.  

1. Research

To be the most successful at their jobs, they are required to be able to conduct strong research. This means being able to understand the target audience and knowing how to target them specifically. The ability to plan, conduct, and analyze research and execute it properly will allow them to become highly successful.  

2. Information Architecture

Information architecture involves the ability to lay out the information in an understanding manner. For example, a sign-in page must come before the homepage, and the homepage must come before the about page. So, getting in the mind of the consumer and understanding the thinking process is extremely important when designing apps and websites.  

3. Wireframing

A wireframe of an app or a website is basically the foundation of the digital product. This means there are no photos and no text. The purpose of a wireframe is to show how it works in the hands of a consumer, not how it looks. The visual aspect almost always comes last. A wireframe is usually bland, with no color or personality.  

4. Prototyping

Prototyping is where designers test the functionality of their product. This is where they discover their bugs and issues that they can fix before they launch a product. They often work with their director and help solve issues in order to make the consumers’ experience better.  

5. Visual Communication

UX designers must understand the principles and elements of design, color, typography, icons, images, etc. Often times, designers pursue a degree or receive a certificate in graphic design and apply their visual communication skills to a field of UX design.  

6. Time Management

Often times, user experience designers are working on several projects at a time. Not only are they working on their own projects with prototyping, but they are also working with developers and programmers to design the most efficient product. It is highly important to be able to juggle multiple projects at once and be able to jump from different brands to another.  

7. Curiosity and Inspiration

One of the most important questions designers can ask themselves is, how can I make this design more efficient? Designers must be able to dive deeper and make their digital product better every time. They also need to be surrounded by inspiration and use that inspiration towards their projects.  

Thankfully, UX design is a career that anyone can pursue. All it takes is practice and an understanding of certain tools and principles. UX design is one of the highest paid careers in the design industry, and it is projected that thousands of jobs will be created in the next decade.  

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Why UX Design is Important for your Business

First of all, what is UX design? And why are we suddenly hearing about it now? What does it mean and how can it benefit your business? UX is short for user experience, and UX designers are responsible for taking a holistic approach when they are creating a new product or service, such as an app. They take a step back and look at the functionality of it rather than the visual aspects. They look at how it is used, and they find solutions to making the consumer’s life easier. A perfect example of a company that emphasizes UX principles is Google. They deliver friendly services that are easy to navigate, and their services almost understand our needs. It’s not always about how it looks, but how it works.  

So why is UX essential for your business?

1. UX Design can cut down costs down the line

UX is all about analytics, research, and testing. This means that when you are focusing on the user experience from the foundation of the product, you are preventing any later problems in the outcome. Statistics show that only about 20% of issues in a product are bugs. The rest are usability issues. Because of this, you are saving money dealing with the usability issues now rather than later. The way testing is done is through prototyping. A prototype is essentially a fake version of the product. It doesn’t work for the consumer. Detecting any issues in the prototype will save great deals of money in the long run.  

2. UX Design can improve your SEO

Solid user experience can bring up your SEO rates. Google tends to bring up sites with the best UX, because Google is all about finding the best solution to one’s problems. This also means more paid per click marketing. Google ads with actually grade the UX of your site and give recommendations to improve it. User experience plays a big role in Google’s algorithms. So poor UX can lead to poor SEO, almost like a chain reaction.  

3. UX Design can increase your brand loyalty

A strong user experience will significantly improve the chances of someone using your product again. Poor UX will almost scare people away. People want a product that works appropriately, not just pretty visuals. Creating a strong UX will strengthen the relationship between your brand and the consumer. This means that good UX also retains existing customers. This exposes new metrics and ways of understanding the customer throughout the process.  

4. UX Design increases word of mouth

This is simple. If your product has strong user experience, people will refer your product to new customers, thus expanding your target audience. Remember, this is in the digital realm. So, this makes it easy to share with others on social media platforms, which then increases awareness on social media. You are also receiving free advertising at this point.  

5. UX Design can increase your conversions

There are multiple websites offering the same product, and the truth is that one with the best user experience will have the most conversions. Consumers want to use a site or app that works the best. Again, it is not always about the visuals. One way to make it easier for your consumer is to reduce the steps. Bring the solution closer to them. This means instead of clicking on ten different links to find something, let it be 3 clicks. Include more dropdown menus or carousels. Reducing the steps on a site means that a customer will stay there longer. Sites with improved UX increased their conversion rates by 400%.  

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Six Ways to Overcome Creative Block

Over time, designers, animators, artists, and even writers and copywriters eventually hit creative blocks. A creative block is known as the barrier to inspiration; this is when a creator becomes incapable of reaching their internal creativity. They struggle to find meaning in their work, and they struggle to continue creating new and unique art that will be attractive to others. This is completely normal, so here are five techniques for overcoming those barriers and reaching new heights in your work.

1. Set a routine

A study once showed that writers were more creative when they wrote specifically within their routine. They simply decided to start writing and begin exercising the creative side of their brain. Often times, people wait until they are inspired to work. Unfortunately, inspiration can take a large amount of time to arrive. Instead, start working even if you have no inspiration. This can mean brainstorming and sketching ideas. Get into a routine of working certain hours and start somewhere, even if it is writing down a list of ideas.

2. Step away from work. Go on a walk

Even though it’s important to set a routine, stepping away from your work can do wonders. Letting the brain rest and taking your mind off stress allows you to realign your creativity and find your inspiration. While you are away from work, take a walk, emerge in nature, do something that you love and something that inspires you. Lack of sleep is also a crucial part of creative block. Tiredness makes our thoughts more complex and scattered, therefore leaving us incapable of creating new ideas. Be sure to sleep every night and to allow your body to rest.  

3. Change your environment

Sometimes creative blocks come from a boring environment that chokes out any creativity you have. Instead of facing a wall, maybe face a scenic view. Hang up some artwork you love. Set up a trendy office. Go to a coffee shop, outdoor park, or your favorite chill spot. When we remain in familiar environments, our thoughts start to become distorted, and we begin to lose inspiration. Changing your environment will feed you new ideas and allow you to focus.  

4. Read

A book is filled with tons of ideas, more than we realize. Reading nonfiction and fiction books widen our consciousness. They give us new ways to think and help us form our own perspectives. They develop our thinking skills and expand our horizons. Set time aside every morning and night to read at least fifteen to thirty minutes. Besides, it is one of the most relaxing activities to do.  

5. Carry a Notebook

Take notes of everything and become more observant of your surroundings. This might mean taking notes of your feelings, your current view, other people, quotes, or things that stick out to you. Write or sketch out things you want to remember. Later, go back and read what you wrote down. Through this, you will be fed new ideas and perspectives, thus allowing you to expand your potential within your creative work.

6. Talk to fellow creatives

Expand your network and surround yourself with a community of like-minded individuals. Talking to others will change your perspective on creative work and will consistently give you new ideas. Discuss and sharing struggles with others takes the weight and pressure off and see different and unique solutions to your challenges.  

Remember, creativity is something that cannot be forced. You must step away and look at your work from different perspectives. It is okay to walk away. It is certainly okay to fail. The best way to become successful is by making mistakes and learning from them. Embrace the challenges and go forth with your best effort.