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We understand that managing a company’s digital marketing is not an easy task. There are many aspects of a business that needs to be taken care of in a daily basis: finance, data analysis, project management, purchasing, sales and last but not least, marketing.

The good news is, in the last decade with the development of Software as a Service (SAAS) model cloud software in which companies typically charge a monthly fee for their use, users can have access to several excellent digital marketing tools.

We have listed a few digital marketing tools with free plans for small business:

HootSuite – Social media

HootSuite is a Network Management System to easily manage your accounts on different social networks. In a single dashboard, the tool allows you to schedule posts in several social media channels at the same time, optimizing time and performance when dealing with multiple posts and social media channels.

The company offers a free 30-day trial but also a free plan when you choose up to 3 social networks. It supports multiple accounts and channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Foursquare, YouTube, Pinterest and WordPress.

Mailchimp – Email Marketing

If you are planning an email marketing strategy, Mailchimp can be your best ally! The very user-friendly platform allows you to not only design your own templates but also upload your database into excel and ensures compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standards.

In addition, you can analyse several points such as:

• Feedback and the opening rate of your emails;
• Rejection rate;
• Whether or not they are being marked as spam;
• How many people subscribed to your email list;
• Which channels did you subscribe to the email;

Free membership includes a monthly send out of 12,000 emails, for a maximum of 2,000 people.

Hubspot – CRM

Briefly, HubSpot CRM is a software that allows you to control the sales process easily, allowing complete management of leads, prospects and sales pipeline. So far nothing very different from the others, besides gratuity, right? Well, the big difference is in the design of the software, in the functionalities and flexibility in adapting the stages of sales to the customer, integrating marketing and sales in one place, generating a unique and personalized experience along the way.

Canva – Design

Canva is an online service that aims to be an uncomplicated tool for creating design and image editing pieces.

If creating original pieces is part of your online marketing strategy, Canva is the best solution. The tool is super intuitive and has many features, including uploading your own images. Among other functionalities, the service allows you to create pieces for social networks, posters, resumes, YouTube video covers, slide shows, and create virtual identity creation for brands. Canva is free, but you need to pay to use some templates and images from the database.

Slack – Communication

Defining what Slack is in a nutshell: a comprehensive communication platform for your company, with features that resemble a chat that also makes video calls, but with much more customization and interaction capacity among the participants, as well as commands agile and easy to share the most diverse types of files. Many big companies use Slack as primarily form of communication, either through sharing documents or the loved gifs. And it’s totally free.

Trello – Project management

Trello is a task manager that allows you to organize activities in a shared way with a team member, a virtual framework system for managing daily tasks, in a dynamic and visually pleasing way.

It allows the creation of several tables (Project A, B or C) and columns divided by task status (To Do / In Progress / Revision / Completed). Within each column, you can add one or more cards with a description of the tasks to be performed.

Bonus – Free stock photos

Whoever runs a business knows that it is not always easy to find quality images. When looking for free images, this can be an even bigger problem. These are free image banks with no copyrights:

Free Photo Bank

Free Images

Freepik

Pixabay

Pexels

Unsplash

User experience (UX) refers to how a user feels when browsing a website, application, or using the services of a company. In other words, it is how satisfied the customer is after using one of these items.

This goes beyond the ease of completing tasks on your company’s website. User experience is related to user satisfaction and measures the accessibility, usability and efficiency of customer interaction with company services.

User experience is about people, not design

There are several elements that contribute to the design of good experiences, such as user interface, usability, and search engines. However, the design of the experience is not the same as the user experience. It seems redundant, but UX is what people actually experience, not the separate elements that UX professionals gather to influence the experience. Optimizing and refining design components can considerably affect how the end-user feels, but there will always be some elements that are beyond the control of the designer.

While there is no reason why the user experience cannot be applied to physical interactions, the term is generally reserved for interactions with digital technology. This is evidenced by the way UX methodologies focus on areas such as wireframing, usability, and other specific digital processes.

FUNDAMENTAL PILLARS OF UX

1. Aesthetics

Aesthetics is certainly not the single most important element of the user experience, but it is one of the pillars when we consider it. Why?

First impressions serve to give a sense of what the rest of the experience will look like. Thus, an attractive interface already strengthens the user’s confidence that navigation will be good.

2. Usability

Usability is crucial to complement aesthetics, to make them look not only beautiful but also functional.

Usability defines how easily and efficiently users can navigate the site or app. The better usability, most likely the person will be satisfied with the overall experience.

3. Architecture

Information architecture deals with how information is organised on a page.

In other words, well-done AI work is one that puts the most important information in focus and direct users’ attention to the right places on the page.

Without it, the interface can be beautiful and easy to use, but will not lead to conversions.

4. Interaction Flows

Interaction flows are maps of the different paths the user will take when using your product. This way, the person will always know where they are and what are the next steps they can take while browsing.

This helps users locate and keep in mind the possibilities the product offers, rather than feeling lost and searching for features that do not exist.

5. Content

Content is critical to good user experience. Imagine, for example, an institutional website that has all the other pillars but lacks the relevant content.

The user will not get a good experience and will leave the page (probably never to return).

When used well, on the other hand, content gives practical instructions and helpful information that will further enrich their experience.

WHY USER EXPERIENCE IS CRUCIAL TO YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

What aspects of digital marketing strategy does user experience really make a difference? The answer is very simple: everything!

An essential point to keep in mind is that this experience is defined by all user interactions with your brand, so if at some point the person has a disappointment, the whole experience will be compromised.

Also, good user experience is all about helping visitors navigate efficiently and provoking positive feelings as they do so.

It is obvious that the relationship with a persona who is satisfied will be much more peaceful and lasting than dealing with someone frustrated and nervous.

To show help you understand, here are 4 moments of the brand-customer relationship that affect the relationship with your persona:

Attention and engagement

From the first contact with your brand, which will probably be through the content of your website, the need to create a positive experience is already evident.

If the read is difficult, with too many distractions and pop-ups, the time spent on the site will be shorter and the engagement will be insufficient to generate leads.

Buying decision

The purchase decision is also greatly affected by the user experience.

Especially in e-commerce, elaborate forms, security seals placed in strategic places and other navigation elements can guarantee a greater number of purchases.

Landing pages also follow the same principle: The better the user experience, the higher the number of conversions.

Support Requests

Customers who need support often do so because of a problem that they couldn’t solve on their own.

Now think that to ask for help, they face a confusing and tiring process. How willing are you to talk to the attendants? Are they likely to cooperate or fight?

On the other hand, when the experience is pleasant it will be easier to report the problem and get help without delay.

Recommendations

What about the recommendations that come from brand loyal customers? They will be much more frequent for those who feel confident of a good digital experience.

The opposite is also true: If the user experience is not so good, customers may even continue to use your product but are unlikely to be inclined to recommend it to others.

Design Thinking or UX?

Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems and find desirable solutions for customers. Design Thinking relies on logic, imagination, intuition and systemic thinking to explore the possibilities of what it could be and to create the desired results that benefit the end-user (the customer).

UX Design, on the other hand, addresses all iterations between users, products and services and their motivations, anxieties and behavioral patterns. The goal is to build products that are not only useful but deeply desired by customers.

In a nutshell, Design Thinking is more concerned with creating new products intelligently, thinking about innovation, while UX Design aims to develop truly excellent, user-focused products.

ou have invested a lot in your website. Creating content, updating blog, feeding your social media channels, paying for email marketing tools, SEO, Google AdWords and yet you don’t sell as you always dreamt of? Cavaon can help you.

In fact, a website that does not convert in sales is a common thing in the digital world. Unfortunately, this is one of the main reasons why small business goes bankrupt. If your website is not reaching its goal, you need to evaluate your strategies and understand where things are going wrong.

Here are some key reasons why your website traffic is not converting into sales:

The offer is bad

Investing in traffic is essential and often the website has excellent content, sponsored links, online advertising and yet still has poor results. This is because the offer is not being perceived as it should Offering is not about promotion or discounts, but about how you organise information and present it to your customer. This information is your “Unique Selling Proposition”, the benefits your customer will have when buying your branded product or service, not going to the competition. It also comes to the experience gained with the product, the guarantees, and all the advantages they will have when buying.

A good offer demonstrates your differential, which will be converted into benefits to your customer. There are a few things you could do to enrich your offer:

• Add value: show why the consumer needs it; make clear its differential with the competition; indicate all benefits and apply social proof (testimonials from people who were satisfied with your product).
• Provide ALL relevant and useful product and/or service information: be thorough in this regard. If you demonstrate to the consumer that you have more information to offer you will generate value.
• Awaken a sense of need: explain the practical utility of that product for the customer. Customer needs to see himself using what you sell and realise the transformation it will cause in his life. With this insight, he will understand that he needs what you offer.
• Awaken Consumer Confidence: If there is no consumer confidence, it will be difficult to generate conversions. One thing that can help you build confidence is to use the trigger of authority. It can help your client see you as a true expert who can help you.

You do not generate qualified leads

It’s no use investing in sponsored links and having a great offer if you’re not attracting qualified leads to your business. Random leads simply won’t convert to customers, and that means all your work can go down the drain.

Leads are people or companies that can really become customers. Therefore, attracting people who are interested in what you do, who may be real and potential consumers, is essential to achieve conversion.

Persona study helps you understand who your target audience is, and through this planning, you can think of how to act on what they are looking for and consuming.

For you to turn a lead into a qualified lead, it is very important to align your strategies by attracting not inquisitive but future buyers to your business. Invest in digital marketing strategies that help you put it into practice. Offering free downloadable content such as e-books, whitepapers, and themed videos, for example, can help you generate more qualified leads.

Always remember that good results mean work and marketing effort aligned with a good sales action.

You are not using social proof

Social proof is one of six elements of persuasion addressed by psychologist and writer Robert Cialdini. Some digital marketing strategists consider this to be one of the strongest strategies for building trust and encouraging a lead to buy.

Social proof generates comfort because there are other people talking about the product. Therefore, testimonials from users who know your work and are happy with it is essential to generate this feeling in your potential customer.

You can start by inviting your customers to give their opinion about the product or service and then make that information available on your site. As we are social beings, we care a lot about what others are thinking, doing or following. If a lot of people are buying that product it’s because it must be very good, isn’t it?

Unique Selling Proposition is unknown

Having a differential makes all the difference!

People are very tired of seeing “more of the same”, so you should always strive to stand out from the competition for having some significant differentiator. If you are just one in the market, why should people buy from you and not from the other?

You might ask yourself: “If my product is very similar to the one offered by competitors, how can I differentiate myself?”

Start by knowing your competition and your audience very well. You can only show your difference if you can assess every detail of what others are doing and know your own consumer’s mindset well.

Your differential may be in service, payment methods, agility; solving problems, ease of communication, bonuses, excellence in service, information, something very good and unique you must have.

Landing pages are unsatisfactory

Landing pages can also hurt your website sales. In fact, they do a lot of damage. And this is another very common mistake that hits more business owners than you might think. Maybe you are suffering from this and have not even realised it yet.

The ease of customizing their own pages has led many people to start creating landing pages on their own without the support of qualified professionals. This can be a good side as it optimises the time and allows the page to be done exactly the way you want it to.

But it can also be a problem, as lack of knowledge and experience can be a disaster for your conversions. And when it comes to landing page design, it’s not enough to have a beautiful layout and attractive design. Each element must be in place, working hard to make each conversion happen.

There are a few things to ensure your website has a good landing page:

• Rule 1: Give a good first impression so the visitor stays for more than thirty seconds on the page.
• Rule 2: Ensure good page speed. Slow loading is synonymous of fast quitting.
• Rule 3: Give a lot importance of titles. Your landing page title should bring a clear, useful and have a persuasive message. It’s through the title that the consumer decides whether to continue the navigation.
• Rule 4: Make sure you look good. Layout and designs are very important.
• Rule 5: Do not put elements that take the user off the page. Landing page calls-to-action should be solely and exclusively focused on conversion. You must convince the customer to take the action you want him to take.

You despise the contact form

This is common for a non-converting website, but this basic element is still very important and relevant and can help a lot in the success of your business.

In many cases, this page will be the most efficient means of communication between you and your customer. That’s why it’s good for you to invest in an objective contact form with an attractive, simple layout that is accessible to the reader.

You can also make the contact email visible, so the reader can contact you and send you any questions or messages whenever they feel the need. And for that to work, you need to be fully available and willing when your customer to contact and ask any questions.

You can create your contact form yourself or ask your programmer to do it for you. Make it visible to visitors, preferably in the menu next to the other pages.

Time has come to convert more

It’s not so difficult to make a website convert more. You just need to invest in the right things and work harder to change the picture of what’s wrong in the strategy. There are numerous aspects that may be hurting your results. You don’t have to focus on all of them at once, but it’s important to know that all these areas deserve your attention in one way or another.

One thing you should never ignore when it comes to driving conversion is the importance of consistency. There are things that will take time to change, but with the right tools and actions, you can get the traffic on your website converting to leads.

“GOOD DESIGN IS GOOD BUSINESS”

The famous quote by Thomas J. Watson Jr. (former IBM president) sums up how important graphic designer work is to a company. After all, “good design” really does “good business”.

Only a few decades ago, high-level executives considered design as a matter of aesthetics or corporate image, left exclusively to the marketing team. Now design is widely recognized as a key element in every business strategy.

According to this article by Time, a survey shows that many of the world’s leading (and most lucrative) organizations have a design director and continue to invest heavily in this area. And half of them already believe that “design plays a big role in achieving success.”

The designer is also responsible for creating a brand’s visual identity, communicating with marketing and the consumer. It’s up to them to take care of the logo, business cards, look and feel of your website and e-commerce, how your product will look and how it will delight your customer.

But before you hire a designer at Cavaon there are 8 design basics you should know better. Having a basic understanding of the subject is important before writing a brief and hiring design services:

1. Alignment

Alignment is one of the most important elements in a design piece as it is responsible for creating the sense of organization and allows the design to be ‘clean’, easy to understand, eliminating the mess.

The orientation of texts in the West is from left to right, from top to bottom. When there is something out of these patterns, the brain gets confused, and the information may not reach its consumer.

Therefore, the elements and texts need to be aligned with each other and with the background. Of course, there may be exceptions to artistic creations, but they must be very well thought out.

2. Visual Hierarchy

When a design element has a lot of information, it is important to give more weight to what matters the most. We call this principle hierarchy.

This highlighting of information is usually done with fonts in different sizes, varying colours, etc.

When briefing your project, keep in mind the main message you want to get across. If you want your company name next to a symbol and its tagline on the main image of your website, for example, the designer should make it all appear neat, first of all by highlighting the brand.

3. Balance

Principle of balance establishes the overall design structure: it ensures that the work is pleasantly balanced, in its colours, shapes, text boxes, etc., without making it “user-unfriendly” or “heavy”, disrupting the ultimate goal.

There are two types of balance: symmetrical, which happens when design elements are evenly divided on both sides of the project; while the asymmetric uses scale, colour and contrast to achieve this principle.

4. Colour

Certainly, one of the most important principles, colour gives the tone and mood of a brand. The colour palette needs to be carefully chosen to convey the brand idea, its atmosphere and attract the public.

The graphic designer needs to have a basic knowledge of colour theory and psychology to build a logo according to what the client wants, as the palette is also paramount to the next principle, creating a pattern.

5. Repeat

As we said earlier, our brain assimilates better when there are patterns. That is why the principle of repetition is important: to give strength and consistency to the final product. The colour palette, for example, helps you create branding and make your brand easily recognizable. Or, the menus and appearance of a website must always be in tune, always.

Basically, the rule is: you should not randomly mix several things that make no sense or do not have connections with each other. There must always be harmony to create a comfortable standard for the consumer.

6. Spacing

What is left blank is as important as everything else. A certain amount of text, for example, needs to be wisely divided into blocks so that the reader does not get tired reading it (or even give up trying).

So-called negative spaces (or blanks) help make up the artwork. Often in a logo, they even form a new figure, discreet and simple, but one that speaks to the consumer’s subconscious.

7. Proximity

Proximity helps to create a relationship between elements in design work, such as text and images. These elements do not necessarily have to be grouped but must be closely connected.

This can happen not only literally but also by a connection of colours, fonts, shapes, sizes, etc.