July 2021 - TILL IT CLICKS

4 Reasons Why Marketing Must Manage Your Website and Not IT

A majority of businesses across the world today have established their digital presence by building websites. This helps brands considerably in gaining better reach across multiple locations and boosting their business growth. IT and marketing departments are the major powerhouses that help businesses in building and maintaining an online presence.

IT specialists look after connectivity, security and other technical aspects of website management and generally lack the skills necessary to communicate a brand’s message. Marketers, on the other hand, are experts in understanding the requirements of the target audience. They are proficient in articulating a brand’s value proposition through a website very clearly.

Since website management is a long-term responsibility, it is always beneficial to hand over the reins of website management to just one team. But which of these two departments are more capable of completely controlling a website? The answer is – your marketing department. Here are 4 reasons that explain why businesses must prefer marketers over IT professionals when it comes to managing their website.

1. Web Presence isn’t Completely Reliant on Coding

Image Source: Business Pro Designs

Contrary to common perception, coding is not the only factor influencing web presence. It is also dependent on factors such as the website structure and SEO. While IT professionals use technical skills to lay the foundation for a website, marketers play an important role in shaping the look and feel of the website. This helps in delivering a great user experience to website visitors.

Strengthening web presence requires the basic knowledge of SEO which IT professionals do not usually possess. On the other hand, SEO and keyword research expertise enables marketers to incorporate the right keywords into URLs, headers, content, and build effective internal links. Moreover, with site structure having an impact on SEO and ultimately, on your web presence, it is always wise to let your marketing team manage your website.

2. Marketers Understand the Target Audience Better

Image Source: Swansea

The first and foremost prerequisite of managing a website is to assess why visitors would land on your website and provide them with exactly what they’re looking for. This is extremely helpful in creating and delivering personalised experiences to prospects visiting your website. As a result, your website is always visited by the right customers. But to achieve this, it is necessary to first identify and know a great deal about your target audience.

With the IT team in charge, you can build a website successfully but fail to identify and target your right customers. But marketers can conduct research activities and have the skills to assess the preferences, buying behaviours, etc of customers. This helps them present the website in a manner that delivers value and grabs the attention of the target audience.

3. IT Teams Can’t Communicate the Brand Message

Image Source: Total Jobs

Once you have identified your target audience, you need to focus on delivering your brand’s message through the website. This involves incorporating an apt approach to display designs and content so that people perceive your business in the exact manner you want them to. Since marketing revolves primarily around communication, marketers are best suited when it comes to looking after your brand’s messaging.

Although IT professionals are well-versed with the technological aspect of website building, they lack the proficiency to communicate a brand message effectively. As a website is the online face of a brand, it is also important to maintain consistent messaging across the entire website. With their creative skills, marketers are able to keep branding consistent by delivering the same message and value proposition throughout the website.

4. Marketing Experts Can Regularly Update Your Website

Image Source: Mind Studio

To keep on winning new clients for your business, it is extremely important to always keep your website up to date. Constant modifications are useful in ensuring that at any given time, the most relevant and SEO-friendly content is up on the website. Regular updations enable the incorporation of the latest design trends which compels prospects to visit your website again and again. These factors help in improving your website’s search engine rankings.

A website with the latest information and design revolving around the target audience’s needs plays a crucial role in displaying your business as a thriving organisation. It can help businesses in grabbing the attention of new customers. As the IT team is not capable of carrying out such website modifications, it is thus necessary to assign the website management task to your marketing team.

The primary purpose of establishing and managing a website for a business is to improve brand awareness so as to boost sales. This can be carried out through the website by showcasing your brand’s value proposition and influencing how visitors perceive your brand. However, these activities require certain creative skills and expertise that marketers possess and IT professionals do not. Hence, it is quite advantageous for any brand to let marketers have complete control over the website creation and management and not the IT team.

COVID-19 Pandemic | Social Media | Till It Clicks

Decoding the Evolution of Social Media Post the COVID-19 Pandemic

The ways of using social media are evolving. The expectation from social media is evolving. Change was and always will be constant in marketing, but the last year has been very aggressive with changes in social media. Social media growth in 2020 was insane. While the world was forced to remain physically distanced, social media bridged the gap and kept the world connected.

Helping Global Businesses and Brands Thrive

Image Source: Brafton

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, social media was looked at as a mere communication or networking tool. However, amid the global lockdown mandates, social media has been the fuel that’s propelling businesses forward and helping them widen their reach successfully. Clearly, social media has become a must for each and every brand in the post-pandemic world.

Popular social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc have become the most useful platforms for businesses to establish and grow their digital presence. Consequently, businesses have begun investing time and money into strategizing their social media plans. Brands have also started allocating more budgets for social media marketing as it is one of the best ways today to generate higher ROI.

Transitioning into a Customer Acquisition Tool

Image Source: Shane Barker

Earlier, brands were using social media to achieve their objectives of brand presence, brand recognition, engagement, brand loyalty, listening, content promotion and advertising. But today, the primary expectation of most brands from social media is the ‘increased acquisition of new customers’. Several reports have suggested that social media is the most effective tool to boost traffic, get leads, and attract new customers in 2021. Thus, social media has evolved from being a platform that merely connects people, to a favourable lead generation platform!

Beneficial Platform Driving Positive ROI

Image Source: E Marketing

After transforming into a customer acquisition platform, social media is now in a race to drive positive ROI. The expectation from social media today is :

1. Short term objective of delivering ROI with targeted performance marketing.
2. Long term objective of building digital experiences to win loyalty with crisis response, social customer care and engagement, etc.

Another reason why social media is gaining prominence as an ROI tool is that new groups of audiences are becoming social media friendly. For example, marketers have always targeted baby boomers through traditional & conventional media and not social media as baby boomers were never on social platforms. It was like a generation ignored by digital marketers.

Interestingly, since the pandemic outbreak, baby boomers have started using social media platforms to connect with their friends and relatives. As a result, they are spending a large amount of time on social platforms than they did earlier. Hence brands are now seeking ways to target and attract this increasingly digitally savvy audience through social media.

The growth of social media in recent years, especially during 2020, has been staggering. The transformation of this medium from a simple networking platform to an ROI-generating tool has introduced new opportunities for businesses across the world. It will be interesting to see how social media evolves further and how the expectations from social media grow. Stay tuned to know more!

Apple Vs Facebook and Google | Till It Clicks

Apple Vs Facebook and Google: Clash of the Tech Titans Over Data Privacy

Apple recently announced a significant iOS privacy update that will make it mandatory for the app owners to seek permission from the users before tracking their usage. Facebook soon released a statement against Apple, openly criticising this iOS update as they believed this is against the freedom of the Internet and will be detrimental to small businesses. So what’s the full story and the end game? Let’s find out!

As a digital marketer, it is a little frustrating when people loosely say things like :

“You know that all major tech companies track you every second.”

“I just told my friend that I want to go to McDonalds and wham! I started seeing McDonalds ads on Instagram.”

“How does Whatsapp make money?” When I ask this question in a digital marketing class that I am teaching, I often get an answer which is on the lines of “They sell our data”. While it makes for a good joke in the class, the ignorance that the general public has about data and privacy is staggering. Most people are under informed about the privacy debate. So, let me start by clarifying a few points.

Image Source: Amazee Metrics

What sort of information do the cookies track?

You are on a website that belongs to the ‘XYZ’ domain.
You opened an email from the ‘ABC’ Domain.
You have visited the website 5 times in the last 7 days, and once every other day for the past month.
Your timezone is GMT+05:30 (During Mon-Friday – Evening).
Which city, state and country do you live in?

While these points may raise some eyebrows, an equally pertinent question to ask is:

What sort of information do the cookies NOT track?

Your full name.
Your email address (the mail client ID is kept, but for most websites, this doesn’t matter).
Password or any sensitive information like a credit card number.
Which school do you go to? Which college are you studying in? Which university/ institute do you work for?

It is important to note that cookies cannot track any personal information of an individual. It’s generally easy to get people riled up about privacy issues and how their personal details are being tracked and sold out to unknown third parties – much easier than getting them to realize that nothing of worth is actually going on. So who is listening to those cookies? Not really anybody! Maybe Google Analytics, but Google has been known to treat aggregated data from multiple sources carefully.

Another important piece of information that the general public needs to be aware of is:

Exactly who can access all the data captured by cookies?

Sundar Pichai made it clear that all the data captured by Google cookies is stored in secure servers, and no individual working at Google can access this data. This data can only be accessed by computers. You have to take on face value and trust the things these large, publicly listed companies say.

So in short, although the data is tracked, the (really) personal information is never captured. And no human can access the data that is tracked. I am sure most of the data privacy activists would be relieved if this information is communicated more clearly to them. But, there will still be a few people who wouldn’t want any sort of data to be tracked. I do respect these people who still want to use technology and want to steer clear of being tracked.

How can we use technology and yet, prevent our data from being tracked?

Image Source: Computer World

Fair Question. First and foremost, you need to stop using apps for individual platforms and start accessing their websites via a web browser. There is an incognito mode or a private mode in all the browsers. Use them, and your cookies will not be stored. Furthermore, there are VPS platforms that you can easily use to access the Internet, which will throw the cookie tracking websites off.

Moreover, Apple is coming with a feature in iOS 15 wherein you can disallow all apps from tracking your data. And that is precisely the point of this article. Android users currently don’t have a provision like this. It is not likely that Google will make such a provision, as it is counterintuitive to its own Google Ads ecosystem. However, there still are reasonably easy ways for a person who wishes to use technology and stay away from data tracking.

Why are tech giants protesting against this iOS update?

Image Source: Fossbytes

In India there is a saying, which is roughly translated as – An elephant has two sets of teeth. The one he uses for display, and the other he uses for eating.

Facebook recently issued a statement and openly challenged Apple’s update of taking users’ permission to track their data. It is believed that Facebook estimates 80% of its iOS device users to ‘deny’ this permission. This move from Apple, they said in the statement, will have major ill-effects on many small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat on the free Internet. There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses dependent upon hyper-targeted ads from Facebook, who will suddenly see their ads performing poorly. This will have a direct negative impact on these small businesses. Facebook stands in support of these small business owners.

These, one can say, are the ‘display teeth’ of this giant.

In most parts of the world, Google and Facebook dominate Internet usage. These two companies make a large amount of money off advertising, wherein they serve appropriate ads to their target audience. Approximately 70% of Google revenue comes from advertising whereas over 90% of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising. Through this update from Apple, if a large number of people opt out of tracking, it is likely to deliver a major blow to the performance of hyper-targeted ads. If the performance of ads drops, the advertisers will be forced to find new ways of reaching out to their customers. Clearly, Facebook does not want any negative impact on their revenue streams. Therefore, Facebook is openly taking a stand against Apple’s iOS update.

These, one can say, are the ‘eating teeth’ of this giant.

Google too will be impacted in a similar manner, but their model is not as heavily dependent upon ads, as Facebook. So they have not taken as forthright a stand as Facebook, but experts believe that this is likely to have a big impact on Google’s revenue model too. Because of the large ads revenue numbers, Google and Facebook are able to offer most of their services for free to the consumers. If ads are taken out of the equation, these companies will be forced to charge the general public for using their platforms.

Can you imagine having to pay Google every time to search for something? Or having to pay to Facebook, every time you want to post an Instagram story?

But why is Apple showing so much concern for its users?

Image Source: Magneti

Apple has always stood for its customer-first policies. Among the many things Apple is known for, one prominent thing is its emphasis on the privacy of its users. They are the pioneers of technologies like fingerprint unlock and face ID. Additionally, all app developers know that if they wish to publish their apps on the App Store, they need to tighten all the loose ends for the security of the apps. Almost all app developers have seen their apps being rejected by Apple for security compromises. Overall, Apple has been successful in building a highly secure ecosystem across its hardware and software platforms. One can confidently say that Apple really cares for the ‘Security’ and thereby ‘Privacy’ of its customers.

When Apple started noticing that a lot of apps are tracking information of the users, they had to stand by the general public and disallow all non-permission tracking. I believe Apple too, has the same two sets of teeth and ‘care for the customer’ are the ‘display teeth’ of this giant.

In the year 2008, when the App Store was launched, it was as if Apple had suddenly discovered a new way of doing business. Many believe the App Store has been Apple’s single biggest invention in the four decades-long, illustrious history of the company. A large majority of apps were paid, and Apple shared app download revenue with the app developers. This arrangement earned several app owners millions of dollars, while Apple made billions. But along came Android, backed by Google and they quickly had to share the slice of the market with them. Android launched its Play Store (Android’s own version of the App Store), where the majority of the apps were free. This model complimented Google’s Adsense beautifully, as app developers still made a lot of money, but not because of app downloads, but by the courtesy of displaying Google’s Ads in their apps.

I am sure Apple didn’t see this coming. And when they realised that Ads are the way for them to make money, they had already missed the bus. Google had already built an Ads ecosystem far too sophisticated. Because most app developers still made good money with Google Ads, they kept their apps on the App Store for free, and Apple lost a major chunk of their revenue. Naturally, Apple had to retaliate. According to me, the retaliation came in 2021 with the major privacy update on iOS.

These, I believe, are the ‘eating teeth’ of this giant.

I don’t blame Apple or Facebook or Google for having done what they have done. These are just businesses. ‘Survival’ and ‘Growth’ are two of the biggest objectives for any business. All of them have been trying to achieve just that.

So how will this tug of war end?

I have three theories about the end game:

Scenario #1 : Apple Wins

If Apple wins, we all live in a world where finally technology users will not feel like they are being watched. There will only be permission-based tracking. However, there will be a cost. Just like the old times, there will be an annual subscription fee for most of the apps of today, which the general public will have to pay out of their pockets.

Apple iPhone’s market share will catapult, as people will prefer a device which they can use freely without worrying about who is watching them. Facebook and Google will have to reinvent their models or will have to die a painful death. Small businesses will struggle to run hyper-targeted campaigns and will have to discover and rely on new ways of customer acquisition. Several digital marketing companies will have to relook at their business models.

Perhaps this scenario will be the ‘ding in the universe’ that Steve Jobs was talking about.

Scenario #2 : Facebook and Google Win

If Facebook wins this tug of war, advertising will be the go-to monetization model for all popular platforms. Ads will become more and more targeted. Facebook and Google’s revenues will continue to grow aggressively. They will continue to make efforts to broaden the horizons of the Internet so that they get maximum people to become their users.

The general public will enjoy cheap Internet and subscription-free platforms. However, there will always be a looming danger of the data being tracked. The server where this data is stored, being hacked and all the data being leaked on the dark web. Apple will be forced to consolidate their stand. Digital marketing agencies will continue to flourish.

Scenario #3 : Coexistence

The most likely scenario according to me will be the coexistence of both the above scenarios. People who are willing to pay for their privacy will let Apple charge them. The rest of them will perhaps enjoy free usage of platforms, but with Ads being run.

Now how targeted and effective these ads will be is anybody’s guess. But basically, this scenario means that the general public will be empowered to make their own choice.

Do you think there can be any other possible scenarios? Do you agree or disagree with the thoughts put forth in this article? Please write your thoughts in the comments section below.

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