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What are the ways to run a successful webinar on lead generation?

Webinars are very important for lead generation. It is used by a lot of digital marketing agencies, business organizations, and individuals as a tool to promote themselves.

A lot of businesses are hosting webinars these days. Your audience is not only paying attention to the webinars alone. They expect a lot from the complete process. Starting from the signup to the follow-up, the webinar has to be carefully arranged so that it makes a good impression.

In other words, if you want to generate leads from webinars, you have to pay attention to every detail. Therefore, in this blog, we will share some of the best ways to generate leads through webinars.

But before we get into the details of generating leads with the help of webinars, let us share why you should use webinars to generate leads.

Why should you use webinars to generate leads?

Webinars help build trust & credibility

Hosting a webinar gives you an open platform to stand out from your competition. People want to do business with people they trust. Webinars allow you to interact with your audience. Therefore, it helps in building rapport and trust.

Easy to capture high-quality leads

Webinars will not only give you a lot of subscribers, but it will also offer you high-quality leads. people who register for your webinar, want to have a meaningful connection with a brand. People become willing to share their contacts if they find a valuable webinar. Therefore, you will have more chances of collecting customer data.

More leads from anywhere

Seminars are a good way to increase leads, but arranging a seminar includes a lot of costs. On the other hand, webinars help you in reaching more prospects all over the globe. Therefore, you have more chances of increasing the customer base.

Webinars bring up new partnership opportunities

Through webinars, you can connect with other brands and audiences that are into similar businesses. Not only will you be able to provide them with valuable insights, but you will also gain your partner’s email list to grow your leads.

What are the ways to run a successful webinar and generate leads?

Define the objectives and audiences

With webinars, you will target audiences who are new to the brand. Most of them might have signed up for the webinar after seeing Facebook ads or heard about it somewhere. Therefore you have to spend some time warming them up.

On the other hand, if the attendees of the webinar are familiar with your products or services, but they haven’t made a purchase, then you have to shorten the introduction. So you will not lose your audience’s attention.

Your webinar should educate the audience and offer them a solution.

Choose your partners

If you want to team up with a business that shares a similar audience and objective, then you have to do some research. Collaborating with a new partner will bring a fresh perspective and increase your brand exposure.

Choose your partner wisely. Make sure that they offer complementary products, however, you don’t compete directly with each other. Finally, choose partners that offer high-quality products, content, and services.

Setting up a landing page

A landing page is extremely important to make your visitors stay on your website, collect email addresses, names, and other contact details. The landing page is important for lead generation because it will give the visitors a reason to sign up for your events.

Here are the best ways to create an optimized landing page for any business organization. You can track the effectiveness of the individual sources. Create unique links for every one of the tactics using Google URL Builder. You can get in touch with a professional digital marketing company to make things easier for you.

Create excitement and let your audience anticipate

There will be a lot of time between the date of a webinar and from when you start promoting it. If you want people to attend the webinar, then it is important to remind them and ensure they are excited about the webinar.

You can schedule emails, make social media posts & ads, or promote in any other way possible. Share additional content or other resources that will help the audience to get the most out of the webinar. Create surveys to find more about the questions of your audience. As a result, you can increase engagement.

Decide the type of webinar

Firstly, you need to think about the type of webinar that you will be hosting. For instance, it could be masterclass, Q&A sessions, demo sessions on products or services, and more. The end goal of the webinar should be to offer value and solve a problem. Therefore, choose a format that suits the nature of your product and solves the audience’s problems.

To generate leads, the best way is to set the stage by listing out the pain points of the potential customers and show them that you are offering a solution. After that, you can show them how easy it is to overcome the challenges with their product. Remember that do not overwhelm them with a lot of details.

Create a webinar framework

This will help you organize the content that you are going to share with your audience and also engage with them later on. Here are the steps to follow:

Create an introduction where you grab the attention of your audience and set their expectations.

Gradually get into a story that helps you in developing a rapport with your audience. make sure that your story relates to the context of your webinar.

The next step is to deliver valuable information. This is the “meat” of the webinar. Make sure you deliver actionable content that shows your expertise and how can you help your audience. Make them feel empowered.

Next is what you offer along with the products or services. The offer has to be in sync with customer requirements and business objectives.

Finally, end the webinar with a question and answer session. Remember that real-time interaction is very important to keep the audience engaged. Therefore you have to share something that requires their response. What can be better than a question-answer session?

Choose the correct technology, rehearse and rock it

There are a lot of webinar platforms on the market. The popular ones are Zoom, WebinarJam, and GoToWebinar. All these applications are easy to use. Therefore you will not have any problem operating them.

In addition to that make sure you have a stable internet connection. Rehearse your presentation a lot of times, especially if you are doing it for the first time. Finally, remember that your audience could be relatively new to the business. Thus, don’t hesitate to go the extra mile to make them feel confident.

Your webinar should continue giving

Put time and research into creating such a webinar that will continue to be useful even after it ends. For instance, you can edit the recordings, cut out the time-limited offers, and make sure it becomes a piece of evergreen content.

Also, you can update the video and use it as a lead magnet. repurpose it for content marketing, blog posts, audio clips, Slideshare presentations, and more. You can use snippets of it in shorter formats and use a well-designed CTA at the end to get your audience to sign up for it.

And lastly, do not forget to follow up after the webinar. you must have a follow-up plan to interact with your audience after the webinar. Add a link to replay the webinar and get the valuable information.

In conclusion, webinars are your opportunity not only to generate leads but also to establish credibility, communication, and build trust. Do not just read away from the slides. Engage with your audience in a way that the experience is fun for them.

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What are the Benefits of Digital Marketing for the Financial Sector?

Digital marketing agencies have an important role to play in the banking sector because most of the consumers manage their lives digitally these days. Leading financial firms are investing in digital marketing companies and advertising.

The financial services sector includes many institutions like banks, private money lenders, investment firms, and insurance companies. Financial marketing connects the financial services providers with business organizations and consumers.

In addition to that, it helps in getting more online reach. It is important to use the help of digital marketing agencies to reach a wider market.

Therefore, in this article, we are going to explain in detail how a digital marketing agency can help the banks.

What is the role of digital marketing in banks and the financial sector?

Increase social media presence

Everyone uses social media platforms these days; therefore, the financial sector needs to take advantage of it. Social media is a great way to build trust, promote services, and increase communication with customers. In addition to that, a strong social media presence helps to build trust among new users.

Online reputation management

A digital marketing agency can help in online reputation management. Since it becomes easy to connect with the customers, the banks can respond to the negative reviews and issues of them. With better services, banks can create loyal customers. It has become easy to offer better client care and increase overall customer experience through digital marketing.

Track competitors and customer behavior

It helps to keep an eye on your competitors and track customer behavior. Customers are the key to a successful business. So, knowing about their activity is the best way to offer better services. In addition to that, you can test your self-performance. This will help the banks to make changes and grow.

Content marketing

The use of content marketing is important for banks because it increases brand awareness. As a financial institution, a bank should share knowledge and information to educate the users. This helps in building more trust and increases the chances of communication with present customers. Financial blog posts are a good way to attract more users.

Video marketing

Video blogging is a very popular way to communicate with your customers. It works better if your target audience is young. A lot of financial institutions are using video blogging to get more attention. Videos help in telling a story and share emotions. This is a better way to connect with your audience instead of newspaper advertisements. Also, video blogging provides opportunities like public campaigns, sponsorships, and partnerships.

Press Releases

Press releases are important for the financial services sector to share vital messages. Before it was tough to share the press releases but with the digital marketing companies it has become easier to spread them to a lot of people. Thus, anyone can get the details on the latest stock developments, banking interests, and accounting information.

What are the ways to combine digital marketing and advertisement in banking services?

It might sound easy but if you are not aware of the tricks and tips to use, then it will take a lot of time. However, an expert in digital marketing can help you in getting the results in a short time.

In the following section, we will share ways to add digital marketing services and advertising in the banking sector.

Search Engine Optimization

Firstly, it is important to use search engine optimization. A lot of us use Google or Bing to search for banking services. If your website ranks on the first page, you will have more visitors. In addition to that, if they find useful content on your website, they will choose your services.

An expert digital marketing company can get your website ranked on the first page using a lot of SEO tricks. Above all, it increases the visibility of your website on the search engine results page. With On-page SEO, Off-page SEO, and Local SEO the companies can get ahead of their competition.

A lot of us use cell phone software like Siri to find something we are looking for. For instance, if you ask “Siri, where is the closest bank?” SEO can help you get Siri to suggest your name. Most of us want to do our own research when choosing a bank. Therefore, banking sectors can use the help of a digital marketing agency to be on top of the search results.

Social media marketing

Social media is a better option to reach people than any other way. The number of social media users is increasing exponentially. This makes it simple for the banks to target a large number of people on public forums. Moreover, it is simple to use, pocket-friendly, and offers instant messaging services.

Banking services are widely used in different countries. Therefore, the competition is strong. A strong social media presence will help in setting up a unique connection between the users and banks.

App Store Optimization services

The number of mobile users has increased. It is close to 500 million in India. Subsequently, the use of smartphone users has increased too. Therefore the use of mobile applications in the banking sector has increased.

A lot of banks are getting mobile application facilities to serve their customers. However, a mobile app will not solve anything. It is important to make the users install the app. To do this, you need to have an app store optimization strategy in place.

Expert digital marketers will help your mobile app to get ranked higher on the play store and app store. Rest assured that your app will be visible at the top of the search queries.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the best ways to keep your existing customers and get more new ones. This will make them feel that you are there to serve them. For example, you can send out many offers, promotional services, and customized financial information to the users.

In addition to that banks can use live chatbots to interact more with the customers. The chatbots make it easy for anyone to get answers to their questions.

In conclusion, we can say that the banking sector is in need of proper digital marketing. There are so many ways to increase traffic. If you are a banking institution you should use these services to stay ahead of the competition.

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A catalog of top 10 digital marketing trends in the education sector

Technology is an important tool that is taking us forward. It has helped us in creating many jobs that didn’t exist five years ago. The nature of education too has changed in the process. In other words, educational degrees are no longer location-specific.

Many online courses are created for the benefit of students in different locations. This is good news for students because the education system is expanding its horizon. As a result, higher education institutions are taking the help of digital marketing agencies for strategies.

The digital marketing agencies are helping the educational institutes to communicate with more students online. It is helping to connect with industry experts and stakeholders to build a strong brand image. Today, more and more people are using digital mediums; as a result, digital marketing has become so much important.

Digital marketing has become important for the educational sector because students have the highest internet usage. Digital marketing helps in targeting and re-targeting. Here are the top 10 digital marketing trends that educational institutions need to use.

  1. A good website

At this time, a proper website is going to be the first point of contact. Most of the students like or dislike an institute based on the website. A well-designed website helps the students get an idea of the college campus and facilities.

In addition to it, the website should give the students an idea of the courses. There must be enough details on admission, fees, and other facilities. This will help the students a lot.

  1. A strong social media presence

It is true that the students of this era are interested in social media. Most of them are active on many platforms and influenced by it. These platforms influence the decision of students a lot.

This is why it is important for educational institutions to have a strong social media presence. It helps them to connect with students in a better way. An institute should be present on different platforms because it increases its fame.

Regular posts on different platforms work as proof that the school/college is a genuine one. The posts can be on anything. It could be on the activities of the college, success stories of students, programs held in the college or school, and more.

  1. Online seminars by different experts

You cannot deny that students these days are curious about everything because they learn through their curiosity. They want to know the details and therefore the schools or colleges have to bring the sources of knowledge to them.

For instance, colleges and schools can arrange online seminars. This will help both college & students. In addition to students learning from it, the college can promote their services.

There are a lot of colleges and schools that increase admissions by using online seminars.

  1. A website for mobile devices

A website should be a source of knowledge for students, but most importantly the students should know why they will choose you. This is why schools and colleges need a website for mobile devices.

Most of the students use mobile phones these days. It has become very common. Therefore, if the website doesn’t look perfect in mobile devices you will certainly have a disadvantage over other schools.

In other words, a school or college needs a mobile-optimized website. If you don’t have a website for mobile devices, you will miss out on a lot of students.

  1. Using Google search in the best way

Google is the most popular search engine at present. We all use Google search to get details on the things we don’t know. Similarly, students too use Google search to know about schools, colleges, and a lot of other things.

With the details from Google about their schools and colleges, they decide which one to choose. So, it is important for the institutes to feature themselves in the search engine results page.

The institutes that rank on top of the schools and colleges that are present on the first page of the search engine results, catch the most attention. Students then visit the website of that school or college.

In this way, schools and colleges get a large number of admissions. However, to get placed on the first page of Google search results, it is important to take the help of a digital marketing company.

There are a lot of tricks to get ranked on the first page of Google search results. For example, you need proper research on keywords and create many contents with them.

Similarly, there are many other tricks that help you get ranked on Google search results page. An expert digital marketing firm can help you rank on the first page.

  1. Email marketing for schools and colleges

A lot of us think that emails are not important for marketing these days. But, this is not true. Most of the professional interactions are done through emails.

Therefore, schools and colleges can use emails to send details on courses, promotions, and more. Email marketing is useful to target the audience. Here the students are your audience.

The emails work as a brochure to share the details of the school and college. However, to send emails it is important to have a database of students’ email addresses.

To create such a student’s directory you need the help of a digital marketing firm that tracks the visits on your website. The experts can create beautiful landing pages for the website where the students will feel interested to share their email ids and contact details.

  1. PR for schools and colleges

PR is also known as public relations. This is very important for schools and colleges because their reputation depends on it. Keeping a proper PR for schools and colleges helps them to have a strong online presence.

Just like any other business, PR helps in increasing traffic to the website. Therefore, every school and college should have a proper PR strategy.

To increase PR activity, the institutions can look for guest posts and submit articles in reputed third-party websites. This helps to increase the credibility of the school or college. As a result, the admissions increase.

  1. Educational blogs and posts

The blogs are important for two reasons. Firstly, it is a source of knowledge for students. Secondly, it is a tool for marketing.

In other words, the institutes that blog on a daily basis can connect better with students. The blogs increase the online presence and credibility of the institute.

Most importantly when the blogs show up on the search engine results page, they increase the chances of admission. However, the blogs have to be written by expert web content writers to make sure the use of correct keywords.

In addition to that, the readability factor plays a vital role in ranking content higher on Google. Getting the blog posts written by a professional will increase the chances of your website getting rank higher.

  1. An admission bot or a personal assistant

Students visit many websites of schools and colleges at different times and through different mediums. However, not all of them choose to get admitted. The reason is they don’t get the details they want.

In addition to that, not everyone is comfortable talking with a customer support team. But, a chatbot can work wonders. Institutes can add a personal AI assistant to talk interact with anyone who visits the website.

This will create a smooth admission process and increase conversions.

  1. Live streaming classes for students

Live streaming is trending nowadays; therefore schools and colleges need to use it. You can host a session to address different questions from students regarding fees, courses, and admissions.

In addition to that, the colleges can take the help of professors and faculties to influence the students in taking decisions.

This is how digital marketing is used for schools and colleges at present. In conclusion, we can say that every school or college should use these trends to attract the number of students and increase admission.

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Can Indian organizations take out the Chinese tech giants? A detailed Study

Indian and China, the two Asian superpowers have been in competition for quite a long period. We might think that China’s GDP is 5X times higher than India. This puts China at a competitive edge. However, in 2015, India’s growth rate surpassed China and attained a shining spot in the global economy.

The rising conflict between India and China has raised a question. Which country can be the global leader in the future? Can Indian companies outsmart the Chinese tech giants? We have brought you the detailed India-China internet market report. This will help you understand the existing scenario.

Reliance-Facebook merger in April 2020 and Google’s investment in July 2020 paved the way for fundraising in India. Major investment firms have bought over $20 billion worth of stake in Jio. Reliance is looking for ways to create an Indian version of WeChat or a better version of it.

India is also working on creating an Indian version of Facebook. Market talk is that India will replicate Alibaba’s model of commerce. So here is the question.

What has China done right to awaken the surrounding countries?

The BAT companies comprising Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent are the most significant tech giants at present. Their combined value is almost $1.3 trillion. China is the home to 206 privately-owned companies worth at least $1 billion each. The combined value of these companies is close to $700 billion.

50% of these companies are supported by the BAT. All of these started when China initiated its copycat business models of successful tech companies. For instance, China created Baidu as an alternative to Google. Alibaba became an alternative to Amazon. Tencent’s subsidiary WeChat became an alternative to WhatsApp and Facebook (kind of).

The Chinese government applied tight domestic restrictions with the US internet companies. This prevented them from doing business in the Chinese markets. China got rid of Google & Facebook by 2010. Thus, it cleared the way for BAT companies to capture the Chinese market.

The BAT companies used this opportunity and adopted a platform-based strategy. They expanded through major acquisitions and continued buying equity. In 2017, the Chinese government started to open innovative platforms. These included Baidu’s autonomous vehicle rollout. Alibaba developed a Cloud initiative for smart cities. Tencent offered AI-based medical imaging solutions.

They have continued active recruitment from the USA, Israel, and Europe. The recruitments were for predictive healthcare research and conversational AI. At present, the BAT companies have access to more data than the combined population of the US and Europe.

Chinese alternatives to global tech conglomerates

Baidu is China’s answer to Google. It is mostly into search and AI. Also, it holds a major interest in iQiyi, which is a video streaming platform in China. Baidu-iQiyi nexus is identical to a fusion of Google and Netflix.

Alibaba is China’s reply to Amazon. In fact, Alibaba is the closest alternative e-commerce services platform for Amazon in Asia. Alibaba was the second-largest organization to cross a $500 billion market cap after Tencent. At present, it has got the 6th highest global brand valuation.

Tencent is a major platform in China for games, video streaming, and chatting. It is an alternative to WhatsApp, Facebook, and online games. The company is one of the largest gaming firms. It also owns the Chinese messaging portal known as WeChat.

All these happened within the Chinese tech space in the last 15 years. It doesn’t matter where they started. It didn’t matter whether their government helped them or not. They utilized all they had. The BAT companies helped in developing the economy through tech, finance, and all the opportunities they got.

India and China’s major conglomerates’
India and China’s major conglomerates’

What is India’s scenario compared to China?

India and China both are densely populated countries. The massive internet user base of these two countries is the source of their internet development. Also, it works as a major factor for the growth of internet companies in these two countries.

At present, China has got the world’s largest internet market with 721 million users. India surpassed the USA and became the world’s second-largest internet market user in 2015. It has 333 million users. Considering the growth, India’s internet market can catch up. India’s internet user base grew by 52% in 2015.

It is the fastest growth rate for all member states. On the other hand, the internet user base in China has slowed in the last few years. Amazon brings out a lot of offers for Indian e-commerce companies in India. It is the most-liked e-commerce brand followed by Flipkart.

India’s food delivery companies have better global ambitions than Chinese companies. Zomato was launched in 2010. By 2012 it went overseas. By 2013, the company entered Middle East, South Asia, South Africa, and North America.

Will the next tech giant come from India?

According to the American venture capitalist, Mary Meeker, India’s internet growth rate in 2014 was equal to China in 2008. China’s rapid internet development resulted in Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu. If India can achieve the same levels of growth, in the next 10 years, its internet market will face massive development.

There is a big chance that India can produce world-class internet giants. One of the main reasons for that is India has become a popular place of investment for numerous foreign investors. Even the Chinese companies that are looking to invest in foreign markets, cannot simply ignore the Indian “gold mine”.

A major section of the foreign countries is considering India to be an important overseas market. The logic is simple. Use a successful business model from a densely populated country and duplicate it on another densely populated country. No country can ignore a market of 2.7 billion people for business expansion.

In conclusion, the only question is will our mighty companies like Reliance, Tata, Adani group, and more, be able to carry out the strategies in the same way China did? Considering the Indian tech space and the direction we are heading, we might even do it better than China. With players like Reliance at the helm of affairs and generating unlimited capital, India is off to a great start.

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The ultimate digital marketing practices for an automotive industry

Online search is the first place where a buyer’s journey begins. The key to generating new leads in business and establishing a strong online presence requires effective digital marketing practices.

This is applicable for all the industries and the automotive industry is not an exception. Online advertising is the key to a sustainable automotive organization. However, digital marketing strategies for the automotive industry come with certain challenges.

It is a competitive market. You will find it hard to gain the trust of your target audience. This is a challenge that almost every automotive marketer has to face. So, how do automotive marketers deal with this scenario?

The only way is to figure out smarter and better digital marketing practices for the automotive industry. Here in this blog today, we are going to share the best digital marketing strategies for the automotive industry.

We hope that this blog makes things easier for you. Let’s begin, shall we?

  1. Establish an online presence

This is imperative to survive in the World Wide Web. Frankly speaking, if you don’t have an online presence, you don’t have any business at all.

Why is it important to establish an online presence?

People now let the search engines do the legwork for them. A car dealership cannot rely on extraordinary signage and traditional advertising. The importance of online marketing is at its peak.

If you don’t own a website, you needed it yesterday. To sustain in this competitive market you need to ensure that it meets the standards of search engines. Make sure the website is optimized for mobile devices as well.

User experience design is an important aspect. It is going to be the first point of contact for most of your visitors and prospective buyers. A 2015 Auto Trader survey found that the internet is 20x times more influential than any other source.

It is applicable for the millennials and Gen X car buyers. Since then, the influence of online marketing got increased with the increase in smartphones and fast data connections.

  1. Leave no stones unturned to attract prospects

The automotive industry cannot expect people to do business with them immediately, especially if the company is in its early years. Online marketing for car manufacturing is a long haul.

You might get the best products in town. However, the majority of people will make their decisions after they have searched for different options and providers.

How to attract prospects towards your brand?

To enhance the number of leads and sales, you need to be visible to people. This means rigorous digital marketing, use of paid ads, native and display advertising. These can help you get in front of your specific audiences and demographics.

Using website cookies and Facebook pixels, it has become possible to show ads to the audience who visited your website. These tools make it easier to be visible to people while they decide to buy a new car.

  1. Build an authority over the automotive market

With online search facilities available, most of the buyers want to make an informed purchase. For those looking to buy cars, the model, price, build and year of manufacturing are the basics.

Along these, they also want to know the features that address the pain points and make life easy. In simple terms, they want to know what to expect from a vehicle and how effective it is for their lifestyle. That’s where influencer marketing techniques come in.

How to build a brand authority over an automotive market?

The first step is to make use of content to garner attention and generate leads. By content, we mean video contents, images, blog posts, social media posts on multiple accounts, discussion forums, groups, and communities.

The target should be to quench people’s thirst for information. Create product comparisons, reviews, share industry insights, reports, and more. Make sure to deliver clear and accurate information so that even a layman can understand it.

When you are marketing cars for niche audiences, you cannot rely on run-of-the-mill materials and traditional tactics. You have to demonstrate your expertise and experience in the automotive industry domain. That’s how you build stable brand authority and online reputation.

  1. Engage with your audience – keep it consistent!

A lot of automotive marketers feel that social media is optional for car industries. This is not true at all, especially with the rise of smartphones and easy internet connectivity.

Why is brand engagement important?

With the increase in the number of ride-sharing services and smart booking applications, we have easy access to car rides. This is why a lot of us don’t think of owning a car. But this doesn’t stop the automobile manufacturing and marketing process, right?

In fact, this is your chance to expand your business through social media. Whether your target audience opts for paid car rides or buying personal cars, they express all their issues on social media.

Setting up a grievance resolving community or group on different social media platforms is your best chance at engagement. Along with establishing authority, creating an engaged community will offer you an opportunity to keep in touch with your audience.

Merely setting up a Facebook page will offer you a valuable tool. Share articles, post original content, and gauge the reactions of their audiences. Soon it will become a place for customers to leave their reviews and feedback.

This will offer you a chance to modify your brand operations depending on your customer preferences. Also, Facebook says 53% of the people are likely to shop with a business where they can message directly.

  1. Generating return traffic

Staying on the minds of your target audience is difficult. High-quality blog posts will not mean anything if you post them twice a year. Again, posting daily videos will not make sense if they don’t add any value to the customers.

It is important to maintain balance while posting different content on social media platforms and marketing channels. Make sure to create a proper content strategy and implement it across all the channels. You will create a base of users that a loyal and will return.

Car reviews are a vital source. People that read the reviews in the car-buying process will be back for more within the next few months.

  1. Nurturing the leads

This may sound a bit old school, but car dealers and automotive marketers cannot ignore email marketing. Make sure that your lead management and sales team do not abandon customers that don’t sign on the dotted line.

With a bit of time and follow up, you will find them coming back when they are ready to buy. Set up an email newsletter and target your entire pool of prospects. Monitor the open and click-through rates for identifying strong prospects. Follow them up.

In conclusion, we can say that if you are in the automobile sales market, these digital marketing tactics will get you the ammunition you need. You might find some strategies to be more effective than others. However, there is no silver bullet.

Don’t get upset if you don’t receive a significant bottom-line impact from a single channel. Cars are high-involvement and high investment products. Thus, you have to hit multiple customer touchpoints.

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Google Penalties – Find, Fix or Remove the unnatural inbound links

Did you know that in 2018, webmasters received 4 million messages from Google about manual actions taken on their website? A Google penalty comes like a sudden shock that leaves you puzzled.

A lot of website owners receive the Google penalty. This means the website has violated Google’s guidelines. When this happens, the organic visibility of a website goes down quickly. Most of the time, Google penalizes a website if it uses black-hat SEO techniques.

A lot of websites have backlinks that redirect to another website. Make sure that the website you are backlinking, follows Google’s guidelines. If it doesn’t then your website will be penalized too.

Including the backlink of a website that doesn’t follow Google’s guidelines, is considered as a black-hat SEO technique.

What are the factors to remember in a Google penalty?

The most common reason for a Google penalty is a spammy outbound or inbound link. As we said, you will be penalized for using the website links that don’t follow Google’s guidelines. In a recent study, SEMrush collected data on more than 830+ websites where 53% of them received Google penalties due to sponsored and paid links. More than 50% of the websites had exact match anchor texts. If you are not aware of how Google penalties work, read more here.

All those websites got penalized in the last two years. Now, there are certain factors that you need to remember while using backlinks.

  • A single bad link will not cause a penalty. A combination of 2-3 or more bad backlinks will trigger penalties. Audit your backlink profiles one a month to detect the unnatural backlinks.
  • The lifespan of a website or a backlink has got nothing to do with the toxicity of a backlink. A backlink of 2016 can affect a website of 2019 and vice versa.
  • The reputation of a website doesn’t matter. Regardless of the popularity of the backlinks website, Google will still penalize it if it shows manipulative tactics.
  • When penalizing, a complete website is penalized instead of specific webpages.
  • Google algorithms find out the exact match anchor texts and consider it a spam. In the survey conducted by SEMrush, more than 50% of the websites had exact match anchor texts.
  • Google will not offer any example of an unnatural link. You have to file a reconsideration request. Maybe after a few reconsideration requests, you will see one or two examples of bad links.
  • Removing the penalty and recovery takes time. It will take at least 2-3 reconsideration requests to remove a penalty. It might take up to six months to remove an inbound link penalty.
  • Do not send too many reconsideration requests. It will only extend the penalty. Just stay calm and follow Google guidelines.

Make it a habit of running monthly website audits. This helps to get rid of the bad links.

What kind of inbound links cause a Google penalty?

For the sponsored and paid links

  • Sponsored and paid links within the articles and blog posts cause 53% of the penalties from Google. Some of the common phrases include, “the article was sponsored by”, “information was provided by”, “advertorial content”. Don’t add these texts next to the link.
  • Buying & selling links to get the link juice flow causes a Google penalty. If you are exchanging money for links, exchanging goods or services for links, or offering a free item for an article and posting a link to it, will cause a penalty.

How to avoid penalty and get it removed

  • Don’t promote products or services without using nofollow or sponsored attributes like rel=”sponsored”.
  • Request for a “re=sponsored” attribute while placing a link to another site.
  • Do not use too many keyword-rich anchor text.
  • If you don’t find the website’s administrator, disavow it.

For guest posting & press releases

Guest posts that use exact same keywords in the anchor text to build links are violating Google’s guidelines. It will lead to a penalty for unnatural inbound links. The search engines will not consider it as a helpful resource, causing a red flag.

How to avoid penalty

  • Do not post numerous press-releases with links to your website. It is not a good SEO strategy.
  • Avoid using too many keyword-rich anchor texts.
  • Use rel=”nofollow” in the author’s signature or text.
  • Avoid all sorts of direct promotion.
  • Disavow if the nofollow or sponsored attributes don’t work.

For private blog networks (PBNs) and link networks

Private blog networks and link networks are toxic practices. It doesn’t increase the SERP results. In fact, it does the opposite. Private Blog Networks are created with free blog services and standard templates.

The anchor texts mostly contain the same keywords with limited variations.

The only way to avoid a Google penalty is to remove or disavow such links.

How to determine if the site is spam?

  • It is recently launched or the owner recently changed.
  • Poor traffic
  • Not much traffic from PBNs
  • Low domain authority score
  • No privacy policy and Contact us

For the user-generated spam

  • Google penalizes if there are spammy links from forums
  • Links within profiles and signatures
  • Spam links in the comment sections

How to avoid the penalty

  • The best idea is to disavow the UGC spam link and keep your backlink profile clean.
  • Also, use the rel=”ugc” attribute

Web directories and link listings

If you get a penalty in this case, your website must have multiple toxic backlinks distribute throughout the web directories. 3-5 backlinks are not enough for such a penalty. There must be dozens of such backlinks.

While monitoring the backlinks, you have to pay attention to the directories and listings traffic and performance in the SERPs.

To avoid the penalty

  • Audit the backlinks from the directories and listings
  • Monitor the traffic you get from these directories and listings. Also, check their overall performance in SERPs.
  • If a link generates valuable referral traffic, ask the webmaster whether the link has rel=”nofollow” attributes or rel=”sponsored” attributes.

For Pure Spam

Google is extremely sensitive about pure spam. They have zero tolerance for such activities. Pure spamming activities include keyword stuffing in website content, sneaky redirects, links that are irrelevant to the topic.

The only way to avoid such a penalty is to stop such black-hat SEO practices at once.

For the direct ads and affiliate links

Google loves to spot the “buy now” or “sign up now” links and the discount offers. Doesn’t matter what in what form it is.

If you have to promote products of other brands or services, Google asks you to use rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” attributes. This is how you avoid a penalty.

For business directories and bookmarking sites

Not that all businesses are bad, but the problem is most of the directories are of low quality. Thus, if you have listed your websites on such low-quality directories, it is better to remove them. If you can’t remove them, then just disavow them.

For links in widgets

This is pretty simple. If you are allowing third-party sites to post widgets along with an embedded code pointing to the website, add the rel=nofollow” attribute. If you don’t get a nofollow attribute, then disavow.

The only exceptions can be the links that direct to a relevant page of your website. Also, there are some free widgets that you can use on the website to link back to the service without a nofollow attribute.

For hidden links

People use hidden links deliberately. If you disguise a link in plain text, Google will penalize you for it. There is no other way.

To avoid this penalty, make sure that the links are visible with a nofollow attribute.

For Sitewide Links

These links are present on the footer, sidebar or blogroll. If an inbound link includes words like “powered by” or “designed by”, especially if there are keywords, you need to deal with them right now.

To avoid the penalty

  • Set up rel=”nofollow” attribute
  • Replace the anchor texts
  • Remove the links

Some other minor reasons for penalizing

  • Not removing old job posts for a job posting site
  • Too many product review links, podcast links, scholarship links
  • A direct link to another website causing theft of link juice or bandwidth. It is called hotlinking.
  • Links to adult content
  • Links with autogenerated content
  • Infographic links or reciprocal links

Key takeaways about Google penalties

In conclusion, we shall say that there are certain factors you have to remember. If you can avoid them, Google will never penalize you.

  • Pay attention to any irregular data spike in your website. Use website tracking to monitor the backlinks from different data sources.
  • Perform monthly audits to keep your backlink profile clean.
  • Analyze the inbound links and classify them as good, paid, and spammy.
  • For spam links, contact those responsible, add a nofollow (rel=”nofollow”) attribute, or get rid of them.
  • Don’t promote paid/sponsored links directly without a sponsored (rel=”sponsored”) attribute.
  • Disavow links carefully. Create a .txt disavow file and submit it to Google.
  • Send a reconsideration request.

Handling Google penalties is tricky. This is why you have to run audits periodically. This will help you keep your backlink profile clean and monitor the weird breaks in data.

A lot of webmasters might think that Google penalties won’t hit them, but it can happen to anyone anytime. It happens more if there are a lot of unnatural links on your website.

Thus, stay on the safe side and opt for the white hat SEO tactics.

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The 7 ‘Must-Have’ Elements of a Powerful Digital Marketing Strategy

Did you know that 46% of the brands don’t have a proper digital marketing strategy in place? 16% of the online brands do have a strategy in place, but they haven’t integrated it into their marketing strategy.

If you don’t have a strategy, you cannot expect to grow, innovate, and derive meaningful results. A digital marketing plan comprises details of your digital marketing campaigns and actions.

Apart from that, you must not forget the following while creating a digital marketing strategy.

  • The short, medium and long-term business goals
  • The strategies to achieve all the goals at a digital level
  • The mediums to use
  • Action and development ideas
  • Budgets and investment plans
  • Time constraints, ETA’s and a roadmap to fulfill the desired goal

A digital marketing plan of action should have an organization’s strategic objectives that will be achieved through specific marketing tactics, considering the time frame and buyer persona.

The digital landscape is constantly evolving. A few years ago, SEO and PPC were considered to be the primary aspect of a digital marketing strategy. The marketing plan of action is definitely important. However, a digital marketing game plan should also include other elements as well.

In this blog today, we are going to discuss the different aspects tha-t a digital marketing agency should cover. When you hire a digital marketing agency, make sure that they offer all these services.

  1. Web Design & development

It can be said beyond a shred of doubt that a website is a primary center for any online business these days. Thus, it is imperative to hire a digital marketing agency that offers web design & website development services. The benefits of hiring such an agency include:

  • You get a well-optimized website that appeals to your audience
  • An easy to navigate site makes things easy for your visitors
  • An optimized website works well for mobiles and desktops
  • You can set up the site in a way that is easily indexed by the search engines
  • Easy to implement content management systems (CMS) to update webpage contents

  1. App/software development services

To establish a strong online presence, your business organization needs to have a mobile application. An average adult spends almost 4 hours every day on their mobile devices. With the increasing use of smartphones, the number of global mobile users will become almost 7 billion by 2021.

The annual figure of app downloads will increase by 45% within 2022. This is why you have to choose a digital marketing company that also offers app development services.

Some of the major benefits of utilizing an app for your business include:

  • Deliver value to your customers and ensure easy accessibility
  • Grow a stronger online presence
  • Connect better with your existing and potential customers
  • Increase profits

Remember that an app will help you stand out from the competition. You can send out quick updates and notifications on product launches, offers, and do so much more.

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Any digital marketing plan is incomplete without SEO. A digital marketing firm in India should definitely include SEO into the digital strategy to boost the search engine rankings. Using the proper SEO tactics, you will drive more targeted traffic to your website and landing pages.

Some of the primary advantages of SEO include:

  • Targeted high-quality traffic
  • More clicks and visitors than any other form of online marketing
  • Ensures PR contribution
  • Enables you to get ahead of the competition

  1. Google Ads or AdWords

Similar to SEO, pay-per-click is also an important part of any digital marketing strategy. Google Ads, aka AdWords, is the most sought after platform. Getting the PPC advertising services from a digital marketing firm will help you in the following ways.

  • Faster results than most of the strategies
  • Helps in developing brand awareness
  • Gets you connected with visitors to your site
  • Easy evaluation of your ad performance

Google Ads can also offer valuable insights that can support your digital marketing efforts. Here are some of the prominent insights that Google AdWords can offer:

  • The time spent by visitors on a webpage
  • The specific webpages that were visited more
  • The bounce rate of a webpage or landing page
  • Details of the new and returning visitors

  1. Social Media Marketing

At present, almost 2.3 billion people use social media. This is what makes it a valuable online marketing component. Social media allows you to connect with current & prospective customers and develop relations with them.

There are multiple benefits to using social media marketing. These include:

  • Social media helps in unlocking the key trends and insights into the customer’s thoughts and opinions regarding your brand, products, services, and competitors.

  • You can use this information to create different strategies.

  • Social media platforms allow you to run paid ads to reach your ideal customers.

  • At present, more than 70% of the people in the world use social media platforms for customer service. Whether it is to ask a question or state their concerns about a product.

Maximize the social media presence by responding to the comments in a timely and organized way. This is what makes your audience feel that they are being valued.

  1. Email Marketing

This is another component of successful digital marketing. Since a huge number of people opt-in to receive emails, you know they are interested in the products and services through emails. Email marketing is a great lead-nurturing strategy because it allows in following up with potential customers.

Using segmentation, you will be able to personalize the emails according to the subscribers’ requirements and interests. There are multiple benefits of using email marketing as a part of digital marketing.

You can send out customized and eye-catching emails and then track the results in real-time.

You can automate the email strategy to send notifications to customers when they subscribe or take a specific action.

To boost the search rankings and help potential customers to learn about your business, you have to incorporate content marketing. Quality content is a key component of a digital marketing strategy.

Target keywords that are relevant to your business with a focus on effectively answering search queries. Include a call to action that directs the readers to take the next step.

If you are seeking customized and creative email services, Skyram Technologies can help you get the best of them. Being an all-round digital marketing agency, we have got an experienced team of professionals that also offer web analytics and reporting.

We keep track of your key performance metrics so that you can easily monitor the revenue earned. Our comprehensive digital marketing solutions include a wide array of services customized specifically for your requirements.

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An ultimate guide to effective digital marketing for manufacturers

A proper digital marketing strategy for manufacturers will enhance the ability of manufacturers to connect with modern buyers. What do you want to do in your digital marketing strategy to get beneficial results as a manufacturer? The following factors should be your priority.

  • Get high-ranked in search of your key topics
  • Your target audience should find you easily when they search for topics of your business
  • Deliver helpful content to become a genuine source of information for your prospects
  • Engage online on different social media platforms
  • Focus on creating effective digital marketing strategies to grow your business organically

Think of your website as a platform to invest in digital marketing and not just an expenditure. As a manufacturer, it is true that your focus is going to manufacture the best quality products.

But when it comes to investing on a website for a targeted topic, SEO company in India, digital marketing, and content development, most of them would think of it as an “additional” expense.

Consider digital marketing as a long term investment instead of an expenditure. Because it is the most effective way to stand out online and get a competitive edge. Commit to a strategy, optimize your website, create content, and promote!

Otherwise, you will rely on traditional outbound techniques like cold calls, sending out boring emails, list buying, and ads. It may or may not be successful, but it will surely be very expensive.

On the contrary, digital marketing will slowly and steadily get you results without too much expenditure. The reason is, it’s a strategic decision and not a one-time investment like the traditional outbound techniques.

Why should a manufacturer prioritize a digital marketing strategy? The simple answer is because your target audience wants you to have one. They want you online, they want to see helpful content and be available when they need you.

You provide them with actionable solutions, they become your loyal visitors. This increases your chances of conversion and turning visitors into customers. 95% of the B2B searches start with an online search.

What should be the key elements in digital marketing for manufacturers?

Value for customers:

This is one of the most important elements to consider in a digital marketing strategy for manufacturers. Unless your prospects feel that they will benefit from it, why would they invest in something?

The first step of digital marketing for manufacturers will be to specify how you help them in resolving their problems. Focus on creating a strategy that clearly defines the value you add. Only then, your target audience and prospects will consider your services valuable.

Once you define how a digital marketing strategy will help a manufacturer, then it is time to promote your services.

Targeting the audience:

To get the attention of your target audience, it is important to define your ideal client. There are a lot of digital marketing companies available. So, why should a manufacturer feel that you are different from the others? The following factors will let you differentiate yourself.

  • Who can you help the most?
  • Highlight your unique perspective
  • What are the products/services that you make the most profit from?
  • Observe the common behavior of your profitable/loyal clients
  • Who can refer you to high-value prospects?

It is imperative that your prospects can differentiate between you and your other competitors. In most of the cases, the buyers prioritize the pricing aspects. This is why while creating a digital marketing plan for manufacturers, be specific about the target market.

You can focus on a certain technology, a particular industry or solve a specific problem. Identify the ideal buyer persona, you can create content that will speak directly towards resolving their issues.

That’s how you convince a manufacturer to invest in creating a website, SEO, digital marketing, and more. If you don’t focus on the ideal customer, your competition will be doing it, making your life difficult.

Lead generation

Lead generation activities will help you communicate the message regarding the kind of services you will provide. It is recommended that you opt for a combination of inbound marketing, outbound marketing, and direct sales proposition.

Inbound marketing helps you in attracting prospects using the website, SEO, PPC, social media marketing, blogging, and more. Outbound marketing includes a bit more traditional advertising tactics like direct mail, trade journals, trade shows, advertising, and public relations.

Sales prospecting will cover the activities that your sales team will engage in for generating leads. These include warm calling, networking, and referral generation. A good digital marketing strategy for manufacturing should include all of these three.

The key to creating an effective online marketing strategy is to test small and then scale up with what delivers the best result. Follow the KPI’s for measuring every tactic. Then hold your team accountable for the ultimate results that you want to see. That’s how you generate revenue.

Converting your leads to customers

This is the buyer journey. A major aspect of creating a successful digital marketing tactic is to understand the buyer’s perspective. To study the buyer’s perspective, consider the following factors.

  • How do the buyers consume information about the solutions they need?
  • What triggers them to like one company and dislike the other?
  • The time taken by the buyers to opt for a certain product or service
  • How do the prospects interact with the salesperson?
  • Do they prefer demos or sample runs to form an opinion?
  • In what way do they want you to present the solutions? The price? The delivery or the service?

The common factor among all these questions is how will they know about you, trust you, and invest in you. This is all about the buyer persona.

Digital marketing for your existing customers

Creating a digital marketing strategy for manufacturers is not only about new customer acquisition. A good manufacturing marketing will also depend on whether you are delivering enough value to the existing customers. The present customers should buy more frequently and buy more per transaction.

The strategy should include who is buying from you, how much, how often, and when. Then you used the marketing tactics to find new customers and also apply it to the existing customers. Keep helping your customers, continue educating them, and stay in touch with your customer base.

With an efficient digital marketing strategy, you can win in the marketplace. The tactics help you implement the steps for executing the strategy. A lot of companies execute marketing tactics well but they lack a coherent strategy. This is mostly the case with small and medium businesses.

It is important to define why you are capable of delivering value to your audience. Communicate specifically on their benefits. Then figure out what needs to happen to get them the benefits. That’s how you have a strategy for digital marketing for a manufacturer.

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5 Red Flags that make up a Bad SEO/Digital Marketing company

When it comes to choosing an effective SEO/digital marketing agency, you will find a lot of organizations at present. Given the number of emerging digital marketing agencies all over the globe, this is pretty much normal.

The problem is every organization will claim that it delivers the highest quality performance for every single client. But in the end, a lot of these organizations fail to keep up with the claims. That’s what affects your business.

In this blog, we are going to share the 5 warning signs to consider before choosing a digital marketing firm. This is going to help you sort out the agencies for your business.

1. Asking to own your data/logins

If a digital marketing company asks to own your data/login credentials it is a hallmark sign that this is not the right one. A lot of companies fall for this guise. But this can be tremendously dangerous if things don’t work out between you and the company.

There are a lot of shady organizations that will hold on to your data and logins as a hostage to get the contract going. This can lead to legal disputes getting stretched for months or years maybe. You will need to create new login credentials and add new tracking codes for your site causing unnecessary harassment.

Thus, before hiring any digital marketing firm, check their background, and obtain references. If they are not able to offer any references, look for other companies.

2. Guaranteeing #1 rankings in the search engine results page

There is no one and I repeat NO ONE that can guarantee #1 rank in search engine results page. There is no magic formula to crack Google’s algorithm. It is controlled by a machine learning AI. It modifies the search results depending on our search habits and learning.

What these companies do instead is they will get you ranked on page 1. Getting ranked on Page 1 and getting ranked #1 is a completely different story. You will find a lot of ads claiming to get you to rank on #1. You see those ads, get in touch with them, and convince you to give them a shot.

Now, the work starts and in a few weeks, you start to see certain keywords getting ranked to page 1. You feel that they are fulfilling their claims. The problem starts when there are no leads for quite a long time even when your website is on the first page of Google.

They will explain that SEO takes time; it’s a slow process…..blah blah blah, but you will not see any return. Ultimately after, 6 or 8 months when you look into it, you will find that they have used keywords that have no monthly search volume and are irrelevant to your business.

Always remember that there is no one that can guarantee #1 ranking on Google. If any of us could, that company would become extremely rich.

3. They will promote their story, not yours

Coming to the red flags of a bad SEO services company, their reports are filled with their story and not yours. This means, they would always shine a light on what they did good, what went right and why should you pay more.

Such a company is more desperate to get their contracts renewed. They would never talk about what didn’t go right and what is not working. SEO is all about trial and error. It is important to take the lessons when something doesn’t go right with your digital marketing strategies.

If the agency is not maintaining transparency from their end, do not choose them. Such digital marketing agencies are always afraid to share what they are doing. They are scared to give away their “secret formula”.

The point is it is important for you to know what worked and what didn’t work as well. If a company doesn’t offer you that, then it is not the right company.

4. A transactional partnership should be prioritized

Observe how an agency is pitching their products and services to you. A digital marketing agency that wants to help you will genuinely help. A company that doesn’t want to help you will only tell you how much their services cost. That’s the difference.

If any organization spends one/two hours and only talks about how great they serve, then it is not the right choice. When you are having a meeting with a company, they should have some insights into how they can improve your brand.

There is nothing wrong with bragging a little bit. But the important part is to provide actionable things that can be accomplished together. Those are the ones that genuinely care about your business. There should be some kind of partnership between you and the company.

5. Out-dated case studies don’t work anymore

When an organization is showing you the results of their previous work, make sure to ask what year the results are from. Old and out-dated case studies will not do you any good. This is an injustice to the organic search.

SEO tactics and trends change every single day. The tricks that used to work 2 years ago, will not work now. Consider the time of the case studies that the companies will present to you.

Skyram Technologies as a successful SEO agency

As a pioneering digital marketing agency in Kolkata, Skyram Technologies offer all-round SEO services for small, medium, and enterprise businesses. The objective of Skyram Technologies has been to deliver optimal digital transformation utilizing cutting-edge technologies. Our specializations include Social Media Marketing, Web Development, UI/UX, Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, CRO, Web Analytics, PPC, Mobile Marketing, SEO & Google Ads.

As one of the most preferred digital marketing agencies in India, we have worked with both local and global clients. Delivering effective SEO strategies with increasing organic traffic has been our forte. Here is a quick look at the wide array of clients that we have worked on.

Skyram esteemed clients
Our esteemed clients

One of the primary reasons for the success of Skyram Technologies as an SEO agency is we evaluate the existing website thoroughly. Once that is done, we present actionable insights on how to enhance your website presence in the search engine results page.

Not only we ensure consistent growth in online presence but we also take care of your brand awareness. Rest assured that we shall capitalize on every opportunity to reach your target audience.

Our professional & certified SEO team evaluates the present SEO strategy and suggest optimized recommendations. This is what ensures a competitive edge. Our on-page SEO services include keyword research, technical optimization, and page optimization.

The search engines will amplify online presence based on your website ranking. Our SEO team ensures that you are creating the right connections by properly handling the outreach link building and cleanup. Take your business to the next level with premium digital marketing and off-page SEO services.

With premium Local SEO services, Skyram Technologies ensure optimal conversions and drive targeted traffic. Users that search with local terms are highly likely to convert. We will increase your brand recognition by targeting the people in the area where the business is located.

Using Local SEO we shall make things easier for your target audience to get in touch with your business/brand. Skyram Technologies has worked with a plethora of clients requiring customized SEO services for their business.

Get in touch with Skyram Technologies to avail a portfolio on how we have benefitted multiple clients. We share a detailed report on the kind of organic growth that we have delivered to our clients along with an evaluation of your website as well.

Digital marketing and effective SEO services can cause help to establish a strong online presence for any brand/business. If you are seeking to create a meaningful connection with your target audience, get in touch with Skyram Technologies today!

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More Gmail Work Tools! Google targets to get ahead of Microsoft Corp.

With an attempt to get ahead of Microsoft Corporation, Google announced that the corporate Gmail users will have more work tools. The corporate Gmail customers can no edit documents and other files without having to leave the email service.

The end-goal is to lure more customers from Microsoft by integrating more work tools in Gmail. Google announced it during its cloud unit’s annual customer and partner conference. It was a virtual conference for several weeks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, Microsoft had the sole authority over the global market for corporate email and document-editing tools. Google has been looking to catch up with the features of Microsoft Office for more than a decade.

A brief analysis of Gmail & Microsoft Outlook

Being a business owner everyone constantly looks for ways to save money and enhance productivity. For a lot of years, Microsoft Office has become the most popular option for email marketing and other activities.

Over the years, Google too has done a commendable job on developing their set of applications suite, aka the G-suite. The cloud-based platform offers Gmail’s powerful email client for business. Gmail is now the most preferred email client all over the globe.

A lot of people are switching from Outlook to Gmail because of the ease of use. Now, is shifting from Microsoft Outlook to Google a good idea? This is what we are going to share in this blog today.

Google’s attempt to cross over Microsoft – A clash of the Titans

According to Google, it has developed a competitive edge over Microsoft Corp. Gmail will become the single hub for work to have access to text chats, new documents, and video calls. On the other hand, Microsoft offers limited integrations between email, chat tools, outlook, and teams.

Both companies have added video-calling features and more collaborative tools. This has helped them in attracting new business from different companies operating from home amidst this pandemic.

Javier Soltero, a Google vice-president, and an ex-employee of Microsoft stated in an interview, “Microsoft is still telling you there are two separate places to check, two different habits, two inboxes to look at. They are not incentivized to do a deep integration between Teams and Outlook.”

Consumers, who are using the free version of Gmail, might also have access to the new and integrated work tools in the future. There have been no comments from Microsoft as of yet. Google has introduced some options that already exist on Microsoft Teams.

These features include the ability for the chat users to list an “out of office” notice. You can also “pin” conversations so that you can find them later.

Who bags the trophy? Gmail or Microsoft 365 Outlook

Both Gmail and Outlook offer similar email services and features, but there are a few differences as well. Let us have a detailed look at the features of Gmail and Outlook.

Features of Gmail:

  • Unlimited storage plans
  • Modern Interface
  • Available in desktop and mobile applications in all plans
  • Offline accessibility
  • Scheduling emails
  • Send & request money through email
  • In-built follow-up reminders
  • Smart compose feature with suggestions and words
  • Missing attachment notification
  • In-built language translators
  • Separate confidential mode to set an expiration date for emails

Features of Outlook

  • Available in mobile and desktop version
  • In-built appointment booking tool (standard & premium plans)
  • Offline accessibility
  • Customization feature to suit the user’s preference
  • Sorting options to find emails by date, size, and sender
  • No-attachment notification
  • Ignore conversations feature to put email threads in trash
  • Share & delegate multiple calendars

Gmail is a better option for businesses to save time and increase productivity. For instance, you can send & receive money through email, translate emails from a foreign language, and set expiration dates on emails.

Outlook is the better option for traditional companies with a large number of staff members who manage other’s inboxes and calendars.

When should you choose Gmail?

Gmail comes with tools included for collaboration and productivity in all monthly plans, with a user-friendly interface. It is better for startups. International businesses can use Gmail because of its translation facility. This makes it easy to send and receive emails in multiple languages. You can also send and receive money via Gmail.

When to Choose Microsoft Outlook?

Microsoft 365 outlook is the right tool to choose if you are seeking the best value for an entry-level plan. It costs less than Gmail and offers more storage. It is a great option for companies that require productivity tools. With Microsoft Outlook, you can easily manage other user’s inboxes, calendars, meetings, and schedule appointments.

Gmail’s weaknesses

  • It is a bit more expensive than Outlook.
  • Gmail doesn’t offer in-built appointment scheduling tools.
  • There are no secretarial features like the capability to easily manage multiple calendars.

Outlook’s weaknesses

  • Lesser time-saving and productivity tool than Gmail.
  • The advertised prices require an annual commitment.
  • It doesn’t with plans for unlimited storage.

Microsoft 365 Outlook offers more productivity solutions to hierarchical companies. It is suitable where a significant number of staff members in administration needs tools to help in managing others.

Most of the companies either use Gmail or Microsoft Outlook because of the cloud office suite that offers calendars, collaboration, spreadsheets, and documents. Gmail has already set the bar high. Microsoft, with its 2016 update, is now much more equipped to compete with Google.

G-suite email creative is a better option for modern and creative businesses. Microsoft 365 is a better option for traditional companies. The primary reason is G-suite offers a wide range of collaborative tools that serve teams in a better way.

For the majority of the business owners, the best option is to use Gmail as a part of G-suite. It is much more cost-effective, collaborative, and functional. It also offers better synchronization options. The best part is it has the most-preferred search engines in the world.