30 Best and Effective Ecommerce Web Designs
The goal of an ecommerce businesses is to turn any website visitors into actual paying customers. The most important aspect of an ecommerce business is its website. An ecommerce website should help give users a smooth buying experience. The process should be quick, easy, and stress-free. With that being said, your ecommerce web design is paramount.
“94% of people mentioned web design as the major reason they mistrusted or rejected a website.”
SAGipl
Having an outdated and slow website is never good for business.
Your ads will not be effective if the people redirected to your page leave it due to your website design. You might even end up spending more than you earn.
If you’re an ecommerce business looking for inspiration for your web design, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve thoughtfully compiled a list of 30 of the best and most effective ecommerce web designs with reasons as to what makes these websites exceptional.
1. Hebe.
Hebe is a clothing website that does everything right. The design is clean and sophisticated. Their website is fast and easy to navigate. The typography embodies their entire aesthetic and is a great representation of their brand.
They built their entire website around beautiful photos that are both eye-catching and easy on the eyes. High-quality photos are extremely important for businesses that sell clothing. Users need to be able to visualize what the clothes would look like when worn. It’s an extremely effective tactic for these kinds of ecommerce businesses.
Their minimalistic aesthetic contributes makes their ecommerce web design very visually appealing. It also makes their website look professional, credible, and trustworthy. Most of the time, simplicity is the best route to follow. Try taking away unnecessary information from your website and incorporate as much white space as possible.
2. Bliss
Bliss is a skincare company that sells an array of face and body care products. Their ecommerce web design is incredibly endearing and energizing. They use bright colors to give users a cheerful and uplifting feeling. Even their photos are on brand and tie into the aesthetic of their website’s design.
Another factor that contributes to the success of their website is their pop up cart. You’ve probably noticed how most ecommerce sites have little shopping cart icons on the top of their page. This gives users easy access to view what they’ve added to their cart.
This option is one of the most effective ecommerce web design strategies there is. Bliss’s website has a pop-up cart for an even easier user experience. You can easily hide the pop-up if you want to continue browsing for more products.
Having a cart button that’s visible at all times has been proven to increase conversion rates. We recommend sticking to using icons like a shopping bag or cart so people won’t get confused. Make sure whatever icon you choose stands out and is easy to locate.
3. Glossier
Glossier is a cosmetic ecommerce business that sells everything from makeup to skincare products. The key to their wonderful ecommerce web design is their content. Every single detail in their website contributes to help users make decisions, this especially goes for their copy.
Their content is anchored on beauty inspired by real life. It’s compelling copy for users who are browsing their website. Their website design and copy puts the consumer first. In other words, the intent is clearly focused on the consumer. Everything they publish is made for their market.
4. Milk
Milk Makeup is another cosmetic company that sells makeup and skincare products. Just like Glossier, Milk Makeup has a strong branding personality. Their trendy and edgy approach is evident all throughout their website. Everything from the photos, product shots, copy, typography, down to the color scheme, are all on brand.
Aside from what we mentioned above, what makes this particular ecommerce web design extraordinary is their use of a grid style layout for their products page. This may seem like a small thing, however, it greatly impacts positive user-experience. Everything is organized and spaced out evenly, making navigation and browsing smooth and efortless for users.
Notice how Milk Makeup has everything spaced out evenly. Nothing on their website is cramped. Thus making the entirety of the website visually appealing. The white space in between gives breathing space to many of their items. Users can easily differentiate and spot the products they want.
5. Dress Up
Dress Up is an online women’s clothing store that knows how to do ecommerce web design right. They use big bold texts to highlight content they want users to notice. Dress Up also has a zoom in photo option as well as a "chat with us" button.
Having a "Chat with us" button isn’t all that common with ecommerce businesses, especially for clothing brands. With that being said, we genuinely appreciate Dress Up’s effort to include this in their website. Potential buyers can easily ask questions regarding their products. The implementation of a "chat with us" button is a great tactic for building consumer trust and relationships.
Another thing we can appreciate from Dress Up is their zoom in photo option. Users can see the photo as close as possible and examine the clothes’ details. The photos they used are high-quality images that don’t pixelate when zoomed in.
They also made sure to use photos of models interacting with their clothes. These photos are enticing and make it easier for users to visualize themselves wearing the clothes. Dress Up also included more than one photo of their models wearing the clothes for users to have different views of their garments.
6. Bohemian Traders
Bohemian Traders is another online clothing store to take ecommerce web design inspiration from. Just like Dress Up, their website design is easy to navigate. Not only that, their web design aesthetic is true to their brand. From the theme to the layout of their photos, Bohemian Traders's website reflects the bohemian vibe of their brand.
7. Ambsn
What we love about Ambsn’s website is how they included their article features on their homepage. Users will easily spot this when scrolling down. Seeing magazines with such big names on their website affirms their legitimacy and credibility as a clothing brand.
8. Moreporks
Moreporks is a clothing brand that focuses on the unique geographic features of New Zealand. Most people might get confused when seeing Moreporks' website for the first time. You'd possibly think they were selling tires because that’s the only thing you see on their homepage.
What we appreciate about Morerporks' brand is that they’re more focused on selling their branding message than their products. They emphasize on quality and capturing New Zealand’s unique colors, textures, atmosphere, and history through creating heritage garments that truly embody the essence of the land in which they were made.
This approach is unique and out of the box. Many businesses might see this as nonsensical. However, it’s what makes their website stand out. People are buying Moreporks message rather than their products.
9. Dick Moby
Dick Moby is another ecommerce website that places importance to their branding message as much as their products. They’re an eyewear company filled with wonderful elements of ecommerce web design. They have fun and colorful patterns all throughout their website and high-quality photos of their eyewear.
Dick Moby has a unique story page with graphics and illustrations. Aside from that, their message as a brand is something that many users will find compelling. Many people who care for the environment will immediately love their message and what their company stands for. We also love how they included a video on the page to show users how their products are made.
Their products page also has a feature that we admire. The photos change when you hover on a certain pair of glasses. This feature helps highlight their products and make them stand out. The hover over feature allows users to see the glasses alone and in action.
10. ESQUIDO
ESQIDO is an ecommerce business that sells eyelashes, eyelash glues, and eyeliner. They have a clean minimalist ecommerce web design that gives off a calm vibe. ESQUIDO also has exceptional product shots, as well as a ton of close-up photos of how the lashes would look on the eye. They even included a video on their homepage explaining how to apply their false lashes.
ESQIDO also has an amazing menu bar. You can easily navigate their website to find what you’re looking for. Their menu bar is at the very top of their home page, and it appears across all of their pages to make it easier for users to go back and forth between pages.
Their menu bar has drop-down menus for pages with more categories and isn’t cluttered with too many options. It’s an organizational strategy that won’t overwhelm and cause sensory overload for website visitors.
11. Poketo
The vibrant color scheme of Poketo is enough to steal anyone’s attention. Their website is literally an extension of their products. Everything is eye-catching, colorful, and geometrical.
What makes Poketo’s website special is their accessibility options. Having this option on their website is advantageous for their SEO. It also builds positive public relations, improves usability for all users, and broadens their market penetration. They’re helping others and their business, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone. Try incorporating this into your own web design. Make inclusivity an everlasting trend.
12. Jackie Smith
Jackie Smith is a business that isn’t afraid of loud colors. Everything from their gradient website, products, down to their groovy looking fonts is eye-catching.
But that isn’t what we want to focus on with Jackie Smith’s website. When you browse through their products page, you’ll notice how they have sold out stamps on products that are, well, sold out. Users will immediately assume that these are the brand’s best sellers.
Having these tags will create scarcity. This is a psychological branding trick that gives users major FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). Many users will then result to impulse buying, adding to their wishlist, or signing up for the waitlist, thus boosting a brand’s sales.
13. Grovermade
Grovermade relies on an array of beautiful photos of their wooden accessories and furniture. The lifestyle shots are compelling and extremely calming. Even their use of a Sans Serif font for their logo fits the entire aesthetic.
What we love about their website is their filter option on their products page. Having this feature will instantly improve your ecommerce website. This filter allows users to easily search the website for any particular product they’re looking for, thus resulting in a more seamless navigation process.
14. Helbak Ceramics
Helbak's website is the epitome of clean and beautiful. They’re a small business that sells ceramics. Their website highlights their products well and makes sure to use background colors that complement the products. It’s a simple, yet effective approach that's easy on the eyes.
FAQs aren’t necessary for all ecommerce websites, but it’s a great addition. Helbak has an extremely helpful FAQ page. They didn’t include unnecessary questions and bulks of text that would cause information overload for users. Instead, the answers are short, simple, and straight to the point.
15. Skullcandy
Skullcandy’s website colors jump out at you in the best way possible. Everything looks alive and vibrant, especially since it’s contrasted against a black background. The colors, text, and layout all contribute to enhancement of user experience.
Notice the social media icons on the bottom left of Skullcandy’s page. These icons are links that direct website visitors to their social media accounts. Including these in your website will encourage visitors to engage with your brand. This helps build a long-term customer-brand relationship. Plus, adding your social media links to your website will also boost your SEO rankings.
16. Thing IND.
Thing IND. is a clever and witty website. Their colors and typography are fun and unique, but their website copy is what steals the show. Thing IND. is an ecommerce website that sells a range of products, from hooks, to banana pillows, to sacrificial chairs. Users will immediately perceive this as a business that knows how to have fun.
Even though we acknowledged Thing IND.’s witty copy, we also admire its lack of it. If you open their website, you’ll find that their copy is actually kept to a minimum. You’ll only be able to see text once you hover on a certain product. The great thing about this is that once you’ve read the text, you’re in for a chuckle. The clever content is enough to make you want to hover on all products to read the witty pop-up text.
Keep in mind that users are on your website to browse through your products, not read a novel. With that being said, try to make your text short and straight to the point, just like Thing IND.
17. Crossrope
Crossrope is another ecommerce business that sells the experience as much as the product. They’re a brand that aims to build a culture out of their product. This is evident all throughout their website. It’s clear that their website is a safe place for fitness enthusiasts to find a community that can support each other to achieve their health goals.
If you scroll down Crossrope’s homepage, you’ll notice they have a section dedicated to before and after shots. This a great trick to increase your conversions. By doing this, you’ll be able to show users the benefits of using your product. You’ll be able to provide value to your consumers.
18. TRUE linkswear
TRUE linkswear is a business that sells golf shoes, apparel, and golf gear. Their aesthetic clearly shows they cater to athletes, mostly male. The website is customized to their liking, including specific functions and features like drag-and-drop, pop-up, etc.
"97% of shoppers say reviews influence buying decisions"
- (Fan and Fuel, 2016)
What we really admire about their website is their inclusion of reviews and testimonials. Users will be able to easily spot this once they scroll down the homepage. This tactic is statistically proven to boost conversions. According to Qualtrics, 93% of shoppers read customer reviews before making a decision to purchase.
Another tip is to add product-specific reviews under each product. Make sure you only include positive reviews that aren’t too long, or short.
19. Signal Boosters
Signal boosters’ website gives their consumers the perfect amount of information about the products they sell. People browsing through their website hoping to buy something will also learn a thing or two about the product/service and how to use it.
What we really like about Signal Boosters’ website is their search menu. Yes, something as simple as that can have a substantial impact.
Think of it like this, many of your website visitors come to your website with a specific product in mind. With that being said, having a search bar will be convenient for them. They can easily type in the product’s name, add it to their cart, and check their carts out. This saves customers valuable time.
20. Home Science Tools
The wonderful thing about Home Science Tools’ website is that they include a sort of tutorial for users. It teaches the customer what the products are and the many ways they can use them. They also have a shop by age and gift selector to help navigate to products that meet their needs. Overall, It’s a straight to the point, responsive, and engaging website.
21. Frank Body
Frank Body’s website design aesthetic is fresh and playful. The pink pastel color scheme and the fun fonts are telltale signs they cater to a fun and young audience.
Our favorite part of this website is their easy checkout process. Users can buy without having to login or sign-up to their website. They only request necessary information like shipping address, name, and payment information. Make buying easier for your customers by incorporating this tactic into your website design.
22. Rest.
Rest is an ecommerce business that sells wooden desk accessories. They offer handcrafted woodwork that you can customize or design yourself. Not only that, they use a lot of lifestyle shots that highlight their products. Rest also made the website look as calming as possible.
Upon opening Rest’s website, the first thing that greets you is a play button. It’s a video that describes their products and brand. This is a smart move because it engages website visitors. Plus, it drives more traffic to your site, and quickly delivers your branding message.
23. The Letter J
The Letter J is an ecommerce website that sells art prints and phone cases. It’s not a typical ecommerce business. It stands out and it has an amazing website design. Their product shots are beautiful and their use of color and white space thoughtfully highlights their products.
Aside from the aesthetics, we love The Letter J’s honesty. They are upfront with product information and prices. Being upfront on your website will make is easier for users to trust your brand.
Be honest with everything, from pricing, down to shipping fees. Studies show that displaying shipping information too late leads to increased cart abandonment rates. Always give your customers the total cost of their purchase, including shipping, before they make the final purchase.
24. Simply Chocolate
Simply Chocolate’s website is extremely unique and engaging. If you scroll down their website, you’ll see a different variation of chocolate bars float in the middle of the screen, drag down the arrow button to open the wrapper, and you’re immediately redirected to page specifically made for that variant.
Users will love this kind of website. Even the details such as the ingredients in the background will change if you scroll down to a new chocolate bar. It’s simply brilliant.
25. Northernism
Northernism’s website design makes good use of its white space. Everything is placed strategically. Their website design follows the natural flow of the user’s eye. Studies show that people view websites in an E of F formation. Users will start at the top-left corner, making their way horizontally across the page, down the left side, then horizontally again, so on and so forth.
26. Oi Polloi
Oi Polloi is an ecommerce clothing brand that sports a minimalistic home page, but still remains fun and vibrant. They use large photos of their products, with a zoomed in photo of the product as the background.
What we admire from Oi Polloi is their mobile optimized website.
A mobile optimized website is essential for this day and age. Many people use their mobile devices to make purchases. If your website isn’t mobile friendly, you’re more likely to get kicked out by Google from mobile search rankings.
"57% of consumers said: A business with a poorly designed mobile website is not likely to be recommended."
Quora Creative
Just like Oi Polloi, your website layout needs to be responsive and adapt to any screen of operating system. Make sure all of your content will work on all platforms, and always be sure to check how it pans out on different devices.
27. All Birds
We love All Bird’s navigation bar. They made it as easy as possible for users to find a product they like. Everything is organized and categorized.
All Birds also included pictures beside their product’s name. This is clever approach for an ecommerce website. The search process becomes easier and users get a glimpse into their product categories.
Users can also easily compare the styles of the shoes. This is useful because even if they have a specific style in mind, they might end up purchasing another product they ended up liking as much.
28. 100% Pure
100% Pure shows how a simple website design can also be as effective as fancy and creative ones. If you’re a new ecommerce business, you don’t have to immediately go all out for your web design. You can start simple. What matters the most is that your website is easy to navigate.
We’re also fans of 100% Pure’s popup contact us box. Users can easily send in their questions without going through the trouble of leaving a certain page.
29. Ratio
Ratio’s website has luxury written all over it. Users can easily tell they are selling a high-end product. Everything about this website is clean and sophisticated, even the video that acts as the header’s background.
30. The Soap Co.
The Soap Co. has a minimalistic website design, but what makes it great is that they let their products sell themselves. You’ll notice how they don’t use that many banners or fancy designs. Instead, they provide exceptional photos of their products.
Conclusion
To close this article, we’d like to leave you with a little bit of advice. When you’re planning for your ecommerce web design, make sure you’re designing for your consumers, not your business. Many brands forget that, and end up missing the mark. Try to be a business that’s consumer-centered. For help creating an amazing ecommerce web design, contact us!
Healthcare Branding: How to Make Your Healthcare Brand Stand Out
Since healthcare is an industry in high demand, it might be easy to overlook the importance of healthcare branding and marketing. However, keep in mind that in today’s world, people have a lot of options and competition is only increasing, so standing out from the crowd is imperative for your long-term success as a healthcare provider. Now is the best time for healthcare companies to invest in branding that sets them apart and helps establish loyalty with patients.
One of the ways healthcare brands can stand out is by focusing on the consumer experience. It's time to shift from a metric focus to value-based assessments. Patient satisfaction will carry more weight than any other metric factor. Your patients have the power to influence others to choose your practice over competitors.
Creating a brand that is attractive, unique, memorable, and sends the right message to the right people will help you stand out, attract new clients, give your current patients a positive feeling about you, and build brand loyalty.
Don’t take branding for granted. There are far more pros than cons when it comes to branding in the healthcare industry. Building an entire brand takes time, but the time spent will be worth it in the end.
In order to fully grasp healthcare branding and what you can do to build and improve yours, let’s start by defining branding.
What is Healthcare Branding?
By definition, branding is a marketing practice where a company creates assets around a business’ identity, like its name or logo. It helps distinguish the company from other similar businesses and make it easily identifiable.
But that's just the beginning. Your brand is everything from your website fonts to your value proposition. It's your logo colors and your mission and vision statements. Brand is not just digital assets, it's how you exist in the minds of your audience.
Having a strong, consistent brand can help you create an impression on your consumers that will last for decades. Your brand will also serve as a messenger by letting people know what to expect from your company.
Your brand will distinguish you from competitors, clarify what you have to offer, and highlight what makes you the better choice. The brand will represent your business and how you want to be perceived.
Why is Healthcare Branding Important?
Branding plays a crucial role in marketing, as it strongly influences how your prospective patients view your practice. Solid healthcare branding, or branding in general, can help with the following things:
- Improving brand recognition - Sticking in the mind of your audience is crucial. How else will they be able to pass on your information to their friends or come back years later? If your visual identity is strong and it matches your patient experience, you'll have no problem getting referrals and gaining traction.
- Creating a consistent brand experience - Clients crave consistency when it comes to businesses. As we’ve mentioned, branding can control the way people perceive and experience your company. A strong brand subconsciously relays to your audience that you will consistently deliver high-quality services.
- Generating new clients - None of us can deny the marketing power of word of mouth. Having an established brand with a strong identity can help drum up referral business. A good branding strategy can increase positive impressions on customers, which will in turn lead them to refer your company to others.
- Refining employee relationships and satisfaction - Employees like to work for companies that share their beliefs. A powerful brand that communicates what your organization cares about will motivate your employees and gain their loyalty. Your brand encompasses your entire business identity, including your company’s values and beliefs. The stronger and the more developed your brand is, the more your employees will feel a sense of belonging, trust, and satisfaction with their work. A business with a reputable brand will hold their employees in high regard, making the work more fulfilling.
- Building trust - Branding builds credibility. People are enticed by brands that look polished and professional. The better your branding strategy is, the more familiarity and assumed dependability there is.
Elements of Healthcare Branding
Branding in healthcare marketing has elements you have to create and cultivate in order to build and strengthen your brand. Some of these include:
Mission, Vision, and Brand Values
Your company’s beliefs will be the foundation of your branding – the guidebook for how you want your brand to be. A mission statement is usually a short sentence that declares and describes the purpose of your business as well as what it stands for. Your mission statement is basically your past and present, while your vision is your brand’s future. Your vision describes your ultimate goal and what you want to achieve for your brand.
Brand Style Guide
Your brand style guide is the document that lays out the visual elements of your brand. Your logo variations, fonts, color palette and typography are all included. The brand style guide is the key to consistency – everything visual follows these guidelines so that there's no wandering from the correct visual expression of the brand. Shown below is a page out of Simour Design's brand style guide.
Logo
This is what imprints on the minds of your audience. People perceive your logo as the face of your brand. Logos are extremely important when it comes to branding. Your logo design should be able to represent your brand. Make sure its design aligns with how you want to be perceived by your audience and the message you want to convey. It's definitely best to use the services of a branding expert to create the perfect logo for your practice.
Website
Websites are extremely important, especially during these trying times. People don’t have as much access to healthcare facilities as before, which is why having a well designed website is crucial. Your website should be treated like your clinic or office. It should be comforting, engaging, functional, and you. Your website is the digital extension of your clinic, hence it should be designed to represent your brand. Your branding identity should be consistent throughout all platforms, including your website. The logo, the color palette, the fonts, the layout, and the tone of voice should be consistent.
Examples of Healthcare Companies With Great Branding
There are a few healthcare companies that have stood out for adapting a more creative and unique branding strategy. They fused great service with creativity and have therefore created an unforgettable brand.
Take Sage Therapeutics for example. This is an example of medical branding done right. The brand expresses their identity with vibrant color schemes that are fun and exciting. Even their logo is cute. However, even with all of the vibrancy, Sage still remains true to its name. The name Sage means wise. It only makes sense that their copy is informative yet entertaining. Clients won’t lose interest in what they have to say. The visual elements support the copy and vice versa.
Another example is Juno Therapeutics. Next to Sage, Juno Therapeutics is a stark contrast. Their brand uses grey as its main color and orange to accent or highlight important parts. Everything from the copy to the design and logo complement each other, making one cohesive brand.
There’s also The Healthy Skin Coach. Their entire brand embodies tranquility and happiness. Their use of teal and green can induce a calm feeling for their audience, all the while using copy that has emphasis on long lasting results. Everything is endearing and youthful.
As a digital marketing agency, we’ve also had our fair share of clients that have come to us to help them with their healthcare branding.
For example:
Pure Dermatology is a dermatology clinic in Denver who wanted to be able to compete against other dermatology clinics in the area. We created a logo and a website to help them do that.
First, the logo. We leaned toward a pastel color set to reflect the soothing and relaxing ambiance of the practice. The symbols in the logo suggest the words "delicate," "soft" and "modern.” In the end, we decided to go with a minimalistic symbol in a typeface that embodied the same fresh, modern, and clean aesthetic form.
The website focused on close-up shots of the skin with images set in a cool blue or a gray background color palette. Furthermore, we selected photos with less background elements in order to convey that fresh, modern, carefree feel that is Pure Dermatology.
Another healthcare brand we’ve worked with is Cure Cardiovascular Consultants. This logo was very important to our client – he has always had a personal interest in the Archangel Michael, even from childhood. He requested a logo with a fighting angel that was neither cheesy nor cliche. We played around with three different themes: an angel, a heart, and armour. In the end, we were able to create a logo that stayed true to Dr. Bagheri and Cure Cardiovascular’s values.
How to Make Successful Healthcare Branding Strategies
If you want to be able to create a successful healthcare branding strategy or hospital branding strategy that lasts, then follow the 5 tips below.
Research, research, and more research
No branding strategy will be successful without initial research. You need to gather quantitative and qualitative data in order to create a branding strategy that represents you and connects to your audience.
Identify your brand’s position
You may notice how many healthcare brands position themselves to be “leaders” or “cutting-edge.” These aren’t bad things to be, but the thing is, it doesn’t set you apart from the rest. It won’t make you stand out from other healthcare brands.
Even though you do have leading physicians and are cutting-edge, you should position yourself as something a little different.
When positioning your brand, you should carefully consider your unique traits in order to distinguish yourself from other competitors. Ask yourself what makes you different.
Positioning your brand will help you create a strong message that can resonate with your people and your audience.
Brand values and patient experience
Once your practice declares its mission statement and core values, you’re going to have to make sure it’s communicated even in the tiniest details.
Brands need to be consistent in order to produce a remarkable patient experience.
Patients want to be handled with care. It’s the reason they reach out to you. Their experience with your brand starts from the minute they discover you, continues to the very first moment they reach out, and lasts even after the entire process of acquiring healthcare services from you is over.
Patients also want to be able to access your healthcare brand online, so it’s best to start improving your website. Add patient portals, online scheduling, and online consultations.
Remember, brand consistency, especially in brand values, creates for better patient experience.
Create a brand story
Your brand story should resonate with you and your patients. People relate to stories, and will support a brand that speaks to their emotions.
Instead of creating a brand story that’s all about you, create one that focuses on the reason for your brand. Why are you doing it for your patients?
Hire professionals
You are going to have to be the one who decides what you stand for and what your main message to patients will be. You will carry out your values and mission every day. What you can get help with, though, is creating the digital assets that are going to define your practice for years to come. A professional brand identity and website company can give valuable insight into how to communicate your message, create a brand that looks great and says the right thing, and set you up for long-term brand consistency and success.
Conclusion
There is no shortage of ways to define and differentiate your healthcare brand. You have the opportunity to redefine and reinvent your brand to address the concerns of your audience and reflect your own beliefs and passions.
Everything mentioned above can guide and support you to align your brand with the wants and needs of your patients and stand out from the competition.
Of course, if you need help with your branding or have any questions, feel free to contact us here.
Dermatology Marketing: How to Grow Your Practice Online
Dermatology, and thus dermatology marketing, is growing rapidly. Not only has awareness of and need for skin cancer treatments increased, cosmetic treatments like Botox and anti-aging procedures are also on the rise. Dermatologists are the life-saving heroes of skin cancer patients and the fairy godmothers of aging. They provide both clinical treatment and cosmetic services to those who need it.
With an increase in demand, dermatologists need to push more and stand out from the crowd to make sure all those people searching for their services can find them with ease.
And what’s the best way to do that? Marketing.
It isn’t easy to create and carry out an entire dermatology marketing plan from scratch. It takes expertise, experience, and most of all, time. Now, I know time isn’t something you have when you’re juggling running a clinic, managing staff, and getting better at your practice! But it's absolutely essential that you know the basics of marketing your dermatology practice if you're going to keep running it.
So, to make things easier, we’ve created a dermatology marketing guide that will help you reach new patients. We’ll be listing what you need, some strategies, and some tips at the end.
Now, so we don't waste any time:
Dermatology Marketing
More and more healthcare practices are turning to digital marketing to keep up with the new world of business.
Even if healthcare is an essential business, people are now aware of the choices and options they have. It’s so easy to go online and search “dermatology clinics near me.” If the patient doesn’t find you online, you’re immediately off the table.
This makes digital marketing an essential for dermatology practices. You need to show up online and look good!
Dermatology Marketing Necessities
Before starting a marketing campaign online, there are a few things you’re going to have to set up.
Website
The first thing you’re going to need is a website. Your website is your front desk, online. This is where potential patients will go when they want to learn more about your clinic or if they’re considering your practice.
It’s also where prospective clients will form their first impressions of your clinic. With that said, your website needs to be dressed to impress.
It should exhibit your skills and credibility, your services and the conditions you treat, your staff and location, and an easy way to get in touch. You can also provide clients an information section or an about page where they can read more about you and your clinic, your vision, mission, core values, ethics, etc. Make sure to include lots of testimonials!
Aside from design, how your website functions is vital. User experience is a big deal for website visitors when it comes to deciding whether or not they should contact your clinic. Users should be able to easily navigate your website and find the information they need. It should be optimized for both mobile and desktop users.
One great way to make it easy for patients to reach out is a chat bot, where they can ask questions regarding their suitability as patients and make contact with a real person without picking up the phone.
If you really want to get into the 21st century, have a booking page where clients can fill out intake forms and schedule appointments with you online. This will definitely give you an edge over competitors who insist on their patients going the old school route of calling to book an appointment and spending the first 15 minutes of that appointment filling out forms.
You can hire a dermatology marketing agency like us to create a website that perfectly represents your brand. Give us a call or send us a message and we can make a kickass website like the one below.
Pure Dermatology wanted to stand out with their branding and digital presence. They were looking to expand their medical practice by creating a brand identity that is cohesive and consistent across all digital and print materials.
So we created a website that focused on close-up shots of the skin with images set in a cool blue or gray background color palette. Furthermore, we kept the images focused on the portrait, selecting photos with fewer background elements to convey that fresh, modern, carefree feel that is Pure Dermatology. Their website features lots of reviews, clear call to actions, and all the information you could ever need on their services.
PPC Ads
The best thing about PPC (Pay Per Click) ads is that they only target users who are actively searching for your services, and you only pay every time someone clicks on your ad. It’s efficient and cost effective in that sense.
Another bonus is the fact that you can track and analyze your campaigns. There is analytic software you can use to track your ads to improve, optimize, and create more effective ad campaigns.
The trouble is, mastering Google Ads is not a pain-free process. It takes a lot of time, testing, and retesting to figure out an audience, ad, and keyword set that are going to work for you, and you will lose money in the meantime. We don't recommend venturing into the world of PPC management without an expert to help you out.
Listings
More and more people are turning to Google to search for local products and services they need. It’s an increasing trend for users to search “near me” queries for their convenience.
“Near me” or "close by" type searches grew by more than 900% over two years.”
Chat Meter
Google My Business is a free platform that helps local businesses be seen online. Google My Business lets you manage how you want your business to appear on Google Search and Google Maps.
Your listing should feature important, up-to-date, and accurate information about your business. When you create your listing for your dermatology clinic, you need to specify your clinic name, location, hours, and contact number. This is crucial information that your potential clients will want to know.
Aside from basic, yet important, information, Google My Business allows you to reply to customer reviews, add photos, accept bookings, see your analytics, and share any updates about your clinic. Once you have a listing, make sure you take advantage of the many features, and above all, request reviews! You will be favored by search engines and gain more interest from potential patients for your efforts.
Having your clinic listed with Google will give you a chance to reach locals who are searching for a dermatology clinic near them.
Social Media Pages
Social media has evolved from being platforms that connect people to something more. Most people use them as a kind of background/credibility check for businesses. Users will check a clinic's social media page to get a better idea of what the practice is like and whether or not they want to become a patient. Now, social media accounts are a must for all dermatology practices.
If your social media page is unkempt, people will assume your clinic isn’t legit. An active business on social media shows authority, builds trust, and keeps you top of mind with your patients.
Another important thing to keep in mind when it comes to social media is consistency. Your tone of voice, your overall aesthetic, and how regularly you post should all be consistent. It's a lot of work, but absolutely crucial to a successful social media strategy. If you decide this is the direction you want to go but you don't want to personally be responsible for the work, use a digital marketing agency to ease your load. That way you can focus on your practice and leave the dermatology marketing to the experts.
Dermatology Marketing Strategies
Be clear on your services and target audience
This is going to sound like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many dermatologists don't do this: list all of your services on your website, social media, business listings, and any other place your clinic info appears. If you're going to grow your dermatology business, you really have to be clear on the services you offer. After all, it’s the services your patients are after. They might not know you can take care of their condition if you don't list it in your services.
Speaking of your patients, make sure you are making an effort to get to know your audience. How old are most of your patients? Are they mostly there for cosmetic services, or medical? Why did they choose you, and can you get them to recommend their friends or leave a review? You must know who your market is and how to maximize the impact of each patient.
Patient experience first
We all know nothing can beat how effective word of mouth is when it comes to marketing and advertising. The majority of people have bought something or acquired services through a friend’s recommendation.
The best way to get the word of mouth marketing campaign rolling is by concentrating on your patient experience with your clinic. Each person should leave your clinic feeling like the money they paid was worth it.
Positive patient experience can be achieved by making sure their interaction with you, from the first moment they discover your clinic until after their appointment, is pleasant and comfortable.
Respect your client’s time and make sure the booking process is smooth. Your staff needs to be welcoming, approachable, kind, and gentle. You can also track the satisfaction of your patients by doing patient surveys. Ask for their feedback so they know you care, plus you get to improve your services.
You can also ask them if they could leave you a review online. This way, those who see your dermatology clinic online can see the experience of your previous patients. These reviews are as powerful as word of mouth, so don’t forget to ask your patients for one.
SEO strategy
All businesses want to be on the first page of Google’s search results, and an awesome SEO strategy is key. There are countless benefits to having a kickass SEO strategy, like:
- Higher search results ranking
- Increased website traffic
- Increased brand awareness
- Credibility
- Generate leads and increase conversion rates
The only way to acquire those benefits is by optimizing your dermatology website.
We can't go through all the ways to optimize your website for search engines here, but this article on Tips to Improve Your Website’s SEO Ranking should give you lots of action items!
Content marketing
One surefire way to improve your SEO is by blogging. Include a blog on your website and make sure to update it regularly to increase your chances of getting a higher SEO rank. Blogs are great for driving traffic and attracting potential patients to your website.
There are many topics you can explore, such as product reviews, how-tos, skincare tips for different skin types, etc. Just make sure it's valuable to potential clients and includes the keywords you want to rank for. Google will see the new content going up on your site and deem you relevant, up-to-date and knowledgeable. Make sure you share your blog posts on your social media page, emails, etc.
Blog posts don’t have to be super formal or even long. Make them conversational, easy to read, interesting, and informative. These pieces of content have to provide value to get more users to read them.
If you’re too busy to manage a blog and consistently produce content, you can hire freelance writers or work with a digital marketing agency that can write and manage for you.
Dermatology Marketing Tips
Promos, Specials, & Giveaways
Promos, giveaways, and specials are great for engagement, brand awareness, and tempting potential patients to buy your products or acquire your dermatology services.
These promos and specials will leave people with a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out.) They will want to grab the opportunity of a discount or promo code while it lasts.
Giveaways are a great way to gain attention for your brand. If your contest requires sharing a post or tagging people, more and more people will know your brand and join the hype.
You don't have to sell products to do specials or giveaways. Offer a one-time cosmetic treatment for free or 50% off – it just has to be enticing enough for social media users to be willing to share it or tag a friend. It's a great way to spread the word about your services, gain followers, and get your social media engagement up! It's usually a cheap dermatology marketing campaign with great payoff!
Online Booking & Payment
We live in a time where there is software available that can ensure the safety and privacy of patients who want to book an appointment online and make their payment.
ZocDoc is a trusted software that allows patients to book the appointment they want any time, any day.
Video Marketing
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCBjVvyHLRo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
LA Beauty Skin Care Center Does a great job of posting videos on their Instagram profile. They post anything from procedures to before and after videos and fun shots of their team.
Videos have been a trend on social media for quite some time now, and it won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
You can incorporate video marketing by posting video ads or just short clips on social media.
Videos are great for holding peoples’ attention. You can shoot a video that shows your procedures, a before and after, a tour of your clinic, you giving advice, your staff, a day in the life of a dermatologist, skincare tips and secrets, and many more.
There’s no need for fancy equipment. We’re lucky to be living in a world with smartphones that shoot high-quality photos and videos.
Trust us when we say that video marketing is a worthy investment. Your dermatology clinic will attract attention and generate brand awareness, increase engagement and get higher conversions.
Social Proof
Credibility and trust are extremely important when it comes to dealing with anything related to the medical industry.
People want to be sure they’re in good hands, but how can you prove that?
The answer? Social proof!
Make sure ample reviews and testimonials appear on both your website and all business listings and profiles. We recommend a minimum of three on each platform you appear on, but more is always better!
However, there are other ways you can provide users with social proof:
- Write blog posts on any awards you receive
- Share news publications or features
- Use the logos of certifications you have on your website
- Repost images shared by happy patients
- Post glowing reviews on social media
Anything that signals to potential patients that you are trustworthy and provide good value is great social proof!
There are various tips, tricks, and strategies you can use to improve your dermatology marketing campaign. You have some good ideas here, now you just need to execute them!
Digital marketing requires you to learn a lot, from editing websites and creating ads to writing content, SEO, SEM, and much more. It can get really overwhelming when you're already running a dermatology practice.
There’s no shame in asking for help! You can always partner up with experts like us to turn your ideas into a reality. We’re your growth partners, let us help your practice reach greater heights with our dermatology marketing services!
Display Advertising - What Are Display Ads and When Do You Use Them?
What is Display Advertising?
“Google’s Display Ad Network reaches 90% of global internet users.” SEMrush
Display advertising refers to the use of individual ad units like banners or videos/photo content on websites that do the obvious - advertise. Display ads are published on sites like Google Display Network, Facebook, etc.
You’ll see these ads as banners, images, text, video, or animation on relevant third-party websites. Essentially, they are any kind of visual ad featured on a website. There are 3 types of display advertising:
- Site placement advertising - The advertiser/marketer chooses which website they want to run their ad on.
- Contextual advertising - Display ads are featured on relevant websites. (Ex. showing skin care ads on dermatology websites.)
- Remarketing -Display ads will be shown to users who have previously been on your website or landing page but left without completing the targeted action like buying a product or setting an appointment.
These ads are often seen at the top or along the sides of web pages. They are placed on distinct slots of a website that are reserved for paid advertising. Wider banners tend to perform better than tall and narrow ones. Google states that the top performing ad sizes are:
There are other display ad sizes you can try like:
- 320x50 - known as "mobile leaderboard"
- 468x60 - known as "banner"
- 234x60 - known as "half banner"
- 120x600 - known as "skyscraper"
- 120x240 - known as "vertical banner"
- 160x600 - known as "wide skyscraper"
- 300x1050 - known as "portrait"
- 970x90 - known as "large leaderboard"
- 970x250 - known as "billboard"
- 250x250 - known as "square"
- 200x200 - known as "small square"
- 180x150 - known as "small rectangle"
- 125x125 - known as "button"
Display Advertising VS. Search Advertising
Display advertising uses a push approach while search advertising uses a pull approach.
Display ads are seen by users who are purposefully targeted. In other words, the ads users see depends on their online behavior.
Search ads are seen by users who are actively looking for products or services that are similar to yours.
Display advertising is also different from native advertising.
Display Advertising VS. Native Advertising
Native advertising is a form of advertising that matches the look, feel, and function of the media format where the ads appear. Social media feeds or recommended content on web pages often contain these ads.
Native ads help users of the website or platform easily consume the message of the ad. They are in-feed and non-disruptive.
In other words, native ads blend in and soft-sell, while display ads stand out and hard-sell.
When Should You Use Display Ads?
It all depends on your marketing goals. If your marketing goal is to build brand awareness, generate leads, market with affiliate links, or retarget users, then it’s time you incorporate display ads to your campaign.
Display ads are perfect for companies who want to increase brand awareness. Unlike search ads, they work to create a demand rather than answer it.
To put it another way, it cultivates a feeling of wanting and needing compared to capitalizing on feelings that already exist.
You’re essentially paying to have your ads featured across a variety of websites. If your goal is to get your brand in front of as many relevant users as possible, start using display ads.
You can measure how successful your campaign is by tracking reach and impressions.
Generating leads can also be done with display ads. You can do this by luring a user to your website’s landing page to complete a purchase or fill out a form.
Interactive elements like product feeds and in-banner searches can also be included to make your ad more interesting.
You can track your campaign results by cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and click-through-rates (CTR).
Affiliate marketing is the process by which an affiliate earns commission for marketing another brand’s products or services. The website owner promotes a company’s ad or affiliate network ads in exchange for a share of the sale or the conversion that comes from the ad.
There are display ads that are specifically made for affiliate campaigns that encourage click-through. In order for your ad to work, it must stand-out and grab the user’s attention. Aim to create an ad that’s obvious, unique, and enticing. The offer of the ad should be something hard to refuse.
Retargeting is a marketing technique you can implement to get users to come back to your site and complete an action. When using retargeting, the users previous behavior on your website determines the display ad.
Your display ads can act as a reminder to users who have shown interest in your business. You can read more about retargeting here.
Why Should You Use Display Ads?
Aside from accomplishing your marketing goals, display ads have tons of other benefits. To begin, they provide businesses an opportunity to showcase their offers and products with different ad formats. In addition, you also have the potential to reach millions of users on websites around the world.
Benefits of Display Advertising
Display advertising can help increase conversions and drive sales from users who might not have initially been interested in your brand. Therefore, your display ad can turn out to be a relevant solution to what those individuals were looking for.
The best way to reap the benefits of display advertising is to target the right user on the right website. Knowing who to target and where can make your campaign successful can potentially increase your ROI.
Furthermore, like all other content you upload or publish online, you need to optimize your display ads. You can do this by including keywords in your ads that can also be found in your landing page or homepage.
Some other display advertising benefits are:
Visual Appeal - Ads have to be visually appealing in order to work. You’re trying to grab the customer’s attention and visually communicate or convey your product’s/service’s main selling point. Since display ads are visual content, you can customize and design them to fit your brand’s personality.
Display ads allow you to use graphics, photos, videos, audio, animation, or make your design more engaging. Creatively, you can do a lot more with display ads that you wouldn’t be able to do with search advertising.
Effective Targets - Just like we’ve mentioned above, your display ads are only as good as the people you target them with. You need to customize and create specific parameters for your display ads. These include: which sites your ad will appear on, the location or geographic area they appear in, demographics, and a specific niche. This allows you to spend efficiently and not waste money on insignificant leads.
Measurable Results - It’s important for businesses to track and analyze the results of their ad campaigns. Good or bad, the results provide valuable information. Having the opportunity to see what works and what doesn’t will contribute to making your next campaign better.
Display ads can provide you that kind of data. You can measure and track your marketing activities through different analytic softwares like Google Analytics. You can examine exactly how many times your ad is seen and how many times it’s clicked on with this software.
How Display Advertising Works
You don't have to be a genius to implement display advertising in your marketing strategy. All you have to do is follow these 4 steps :
STEP 1
To begin, you must create and assemble your ad. Use image and text elements to create an ad that fits the ad size you prefer. The first ad you make will act as a master creative or something like a template for future ad campaigns.
Remember good display ads need to have:
- A color palette that matches your brand’s identity as well as sets the mood of the ad. Colors are great for channeling emotions.
- Readable copy that uses appropriate fonts and font colors that contrast with your background.
- High quality and relevant images or videos
- Your company’s name or logo
- A call-to-action (CTA) button to tell users what you want them to do. Try making the color of the button stand out from the rest of the ad.
STEP 2
Split test your ad by scaling it out into different ad sizes. You’ll get better results if you mass produce your display ads and publish them into different sizes to work with multiple devices and screen sizes.
STEP 3
Before you officially publish your ad and launch your campaign, make sure you’ve optimized your copy, images, and ad sizes.
Next, you will need to upload each ad individually. It takes a lot of time and effort, so try using a software to help you publish and control ads with the push of a button.
STEP 4
The work doesn’t end after publishing your ad. As we’ve said, one of the benefits of display advertising is the ability to track and measure your campaign costs, conversion rates, and your A/B test to see which image, copy, and ad size works best.
*Tip : The next thing you can do to improve your display ad campaign is by creating a post-click experience that your audience will appreciate. Your display ad is only the first step to convincing visitors to continue their journey with your brand after they click on your ad.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. We'd love to hear from you!
Online Restaurant Marketing Tips
There is no better time for online restaurant marketing than now. With so many people unable (or unwilling) to dine out due to current health and safety concerns (FYI we are talking about the coronavirus), ordering takeout has just become the new go-to.
“51% of consumers have downloaded at least one new app to purchase food and essentials since COVID-19”
- Bluedot.
Undoubtedly, we live in a time where the food delivery industry is booming. This means more and more restaurants are pivoting from strictly dine-in options to add delivery to their services, or are partnering with businesses that do. The competition online is getting fierce.
We want to help you succeed, so we’re giving you 11 online restaurant marketing strategies, tips, and tricks to help you improve, grow, and adapt. It’s time we get cooking!
1. Perfect & Refine Your Website
Having a small, locally owned restaurant isn’t an excuse to not have a website. We’re living in a digital age where people go online to search for everything, especially restaurants.
In fact, studies show that 90 percent of consumers research a restaurant online before dining.
Consumers create their first impression of your business through viewing your website. This is where they will judge your credibility and the quality of your food and services.
If consumers see a professionally made website with mouth watering food photos, chances are they will want to buy what you’re selling.
Same goes for the opposite: a poorly designed website may cause a consumer to search for another restaurant, simply because the online experience isn't good, and that sends a message about the in-person experience. If you have no website, consumers who are searching online have no reason to believe your restaurant is still in business. You can bet they'll jump to the next option that has hours and contact info online, and looks legitimate.
Your website needs to be professionally made. It has to be functional and easy to use. Put yourself in the consumers' shoes and ask yourself what the best experience would be for browsing a restaurant online. Then, apply that to your website.
A good example of successful online restaurant marketing is when consumers are able to navigate through your website with ease. They should be able to find essential information such as your hours of operation, your contact information, and your online menu.
Many people use their phones to research. This is why it's important to keep your website optimized for mobile use, thus making ordering as convenient as possible.
Lastly, make sure your website represents your restaurant brand. Your website is an extension of your physical restaurant. Let people have a taste of what they could experience when they dine with you through your website. Let them leave your site wanting seconds.
2. Invest in Mouth-Watering Foodie Photos
Whether it be for your website, a blog post, or social media content, your food photos have to make people feel hungry even when they’re not.
Although the majority of your visual content should be photos of the food you serve, you don't have to limit yourself. A good idea would be to post photos of your restaurant (inside and outside), your merchandise, staff, and happy customers in your restaurant. You can even ask for a short review or quote from your satisfied customers and use them as your caption.
You can even turn the photos into something more graphic and playful to add a bit more oomph, just like what we did with Little Fluffy Head’s photos for their Instagram.
You can always take your own photos. Your phone will suffice as long as it can produce high-quality photos. It’s all about being creative. Look for the best angles, lighting, and make sure to style your food. There are many tutorials online you can watch or read for you to get some tips.
If that seems like too much, you may consider hiring a professional food photographer. After all, being able to make food look delicious in photos is a skill, and sometimes it's easier to leave it to the pros.
3. Focus on Local Geo-Targeted SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in attracting new customers. You should aim to grow the amount of organic traffic to your website. If your SEO strategy is effective, you'll get all of the benefits of paid ads for free.
In case you didn’t know, SEO is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic by increasing the visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine.
SEO is all about keywords. For example, whenever someone searches for “vegan (or whatever keyword) restaurants near me," your website will appear on the first page of the search results page if your SEO ranking is high enough. Optimizing with your location in mind will also help. This way, whenever someone searches “restaurants in [location]," you’ll be the go-to restaurant.
We have other posts on SEO, but to give you a brief synopsis, the simplest way to boost your SEO is to choose common search terms and use them as keywords throughout the content. Choose one keyword phrase per page and focus on that one, sprinkling it throughout the titles and main body copy, add it to alt tags, and include it in the meta description. Make sure Google knows what that page is all about and your SEO will improve!
You've probably noticed that every website has a blog these days. It isn't because every business owner has a passion for writing all of the sudden – blogs are actually a great way to boost your SEO. Go with the same technique described above for blog posts and you'll have a better chance at showing up for more keyword phrases. Of course, you'll need to create relevant content that is engaging and interesting enough for readers to want to keep reading as well.
4. Time to Ketchup On the Social Media Trend
Social media has been a huge game changer for many industries. An optimized website is great, but a social media presence can garner just as much attention.
Statistics show that nearly 3 in 4 customers use Facebook to choose a restaurant based on comments, images, and reviews shared by other users. Don't pass up this incredible way to engage with your customers and build a loyal following!
There are a couple different ways to use social media marketing. The first is organic – that means anything you do on social media that you don't have to pay for. This includes posting regularly, sharing stories, hosting giveaways and other mini competitions to grow your audience, and commenting on other people's posts. This is your chance to engage like a real person and get more attention for your business at the same time!
The second is paid advertising. Ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are effective because your audience can be very specific. You can target based on interests, location, buying habits, age, etc. Social media advertising uses the pay-per-click advertising method, which allows you to decide on the amount you’re willing to spend on a daily basis for your campaign. You also can monitor and track the success of your advertising campaigns. You can see the stats on clicks, impressions, follows, shares, and other forms of engagement to help you track each ad and fine-tune ads that aren’t converting well.
5. Post User-Generated Content
One great way to build a following is to repost user-generated content. When a happy customer Instagrams their meal or tweets about you (as seen above), don't pass up the opportunity for double publicity! Share it on your stories or repost with the caption to spread the good news. Not only is this an effective way to instantly share reviews, it makes the customer feel special and encourages others to post about their experience.
How do you get more user-generated content? Here are a couple ideas:
- Create a fun hashtag for your restaurant that people can tag their posts with.
- Make a spot for selfies!
- Hold photo contests and ask your customers to post their best food photos for a prize. You can share their posts on your website and repost on your social media accounts.
It only takes a little creativity for the user-generated content to start flowing in!
6. Donut Be Afraid to Reach Out to Influencers
Being a new or small restaurant might make it difficult for you to generate reviews and enough hype to amass a strong following. Partnering up with food bloggers and influencers will open doors for you to reach out to a larger target audience.
Food bloggers are influencers who have an established following based on credibility. Their honest reviews make them a trusted source for the next great place to eat.
It’s never a bad idea to reach out to food-specific influencers in your area. Invite them to your restaurant and give them a free meal. If they liked their experience and things work out, you can come up with an influencer marketing contract that works for both of you.
The more influencers you work with, the more attention you gain online. Don’t let the fear of rejection hinder you from this opportunity.
7. Develop a Strong Branding Identity
Branding is the sum of a company's visual elements and messaging, often related to marketing but not always. For restaurants, it includes everything from the name and logo to the design on the aprons and the restaurant interior. A clear brand that's consistent helps to distinguish your restaurant from other competitors. Statistics show that presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%.
When building your brand, take into consideration your business and your consumers. Build an identity that represents you and connects to your target audience. This is no easy feat alone – we highly recommend talking to a branding expert about your restaurant's brand identity.
8. Create an Enticing Up-To-Date Online Menu
Whether you offer delivery services or not, you should provide potential customers with an online menu that is easy to find.
Add your menu to your website or even your social media channels. It's important that the menu is up to date. Get rid of the dishes you no longer serve or leave a note if it’s not up for delivery. You could even update the date regularly on the page so users know it's recent information.
9. Offer Delivery Services or Partner Up With One
Consumers began demanding convenience from the restaurant industry before the COVID-19 outbreak. Since then, the demand has only increased to the point where it's a necessity.
Even as more and more restaurants have started reopening their doors, many consumers are still wary and prefer dining at home.
There is no better time to jump on the food delivery service bandwagon. Restaurants either have their own private delivery service or they partner up with third-party delivery providers.
Using a third-party providers has benefits beyond adding a delivery service. You get access to their regular customers by showing up on their website, and partnering with one of these services is usually very simple.
Some examples of third-party delivery providers are:
10. Offer Discounts and Promotions
There is simply no denying that everybody loves free stuff. Offering coupons and discounts is an effective way to attract customers.
One way you can do this is by establishing a loyalty program. Loyalty programs offer incentives to convince your customers to return.
Usually, a loyalty program rewards customers with points every time they make a purchase at or visit your restaurant. Then, these points can be redeemed for discounts or free prizes.
A wonderful way to increase your customer base and gain profits is by having contests. In this case, Pandamonium Doughnuts gave away raffle tickets to everyone who bought a doughnut, giving them the chance to win free doughnuts for a year, among other things.
Contests don't have to have prizes that last a whole year. Chances are, customers will still be delighted at an opportunity to win something as simple as a free meal.
These strategies have the potential to please your customers as well as gain exposure and increase engagement for your restaurant.
11. Gather Online Reviews
People trust what other real people say. This is even more true in the restaurant world, which means online reviews are extremely important when it comes to online restaurant marketing.
It's no secret that consumers check reviews before making a purchase. Online reviews have an almost instant effect on people. Positive reviews can directly help grow your customer base and profits.
Take advantage of this by gathering reviews from satisfied customers. Encourage your customers to write reviews that can be posted on your social media page, Yelp, Google, website, etc.
You might even want to consider offering a discount or a free food item as an incentive to those who review your restaurant.
Negative reviews can also have an instant effect on the way consumers perceive your restaurant. On many review sites, business owners can publicly respond to consumers. While getting a negative review may be frustrating, it's important to handle them professionally and with poise.
Consider offering the dissatisfied customer a free food item or discount if they return, and try to make it right with them. This will not only show the dissatisfied customer that you care, it says a lot to other potential customers as well. People conducting research before they try out your business will see that you genuinely care about the satisfaction of your customers.
Time to serve!
There are tons of creative ways you can use online restaurant marketing. All it takes is a little bit of courage to try something new. In the marketing business, some things will work and some things won’t, just like with trying a new recipe.
If you still have a lot of orders to go through, hand us an apron! We can take over your marketing strategy, make sure it’s cooked, and deliver results. Give us a call, we’re always ready to help.
Digital Marketing Agency VS Creative Agency – What's the Difference?
Design and creativity have always been integrated with marketing and advertising. In order to have a successful marketing campaign, you need good design, whether it be logos, website design, or any other promotional material.
Visuals are becoming more and more important in marketing, especially since the industry is saturated with new and creative content every day.
However, because digital marketing and design/creativity often go hand in hand, it’s easy to confuse whether or not you need a digital marketing agency or a creative agency. Most business owners don’t know the difference and end up hiring the wrong agency.
For this article, we want to help you make the right decision by discussing the key differences between a digital marketing agency and a creative agency. Let’s start by defining each one.
What is a digital marketing agency?
A digital marketing agency does the job of advertising agencies online. It’s basically an evolved form of advertising that takes your traditional methods to the next level.
Marketers needed to adapt to the ever progressing digital landscape and technology. It’s a way to keep up with the times.
Unlike your traditional advertising methods, digital marketing is more targeted and data driven. The internet has opened doors for marketers to gather analytics and in-depth information in order to deliver an accurate message to the right people and the right time.
Digital marketing fuses marketing with technology, content writing, and visual design. This makes for a highly creative mix of art, psychology, engineering, and problem solving to help businesses provide consumers with solutions.
Digital marketing agencies produce effective marketing campaigns using technology, tools, and softwares available online. Their campaigns may include creating websites, landing pages, online ads, mixed media (video, images, graphics), website content, and social media marketing to help your business grow an online presence.
A typical digital agency will help you with:
- Website design
- Website development
- Website copy
- Branding
- Content production & management
- Online advertising
- Social media management
- Copywriting
- Analytics
- Business/marketing strategy
What does a digital marketing agency do?
Traditional advertising agencies would often produce ads for businesses on television, radio, or print to market products or services to consumers. It took a lot of time and money, but with little certainty that it would work.
These days consumerism has reached an all time high, with people willing and able to access products and services at a tap of their fingertips. Because of this, digital marketing takes on a more strategic approach towards marketing and advertising.
Digital marketing agencies also tackle a more active lead-generation approach towards developing campaigns. Thorough customer research is done and a more targeted branding strategy takes place.
The internet and the information age has made consumers more and more savvy when it comes to their buying behaviour. It’s so easy to find a business that sells the same products, with the same quality, for cheaper. This is why digital marketers need to be more creative and strategic.
Digital marketers can keep up with consumers, while most business owners can’t.
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“We want to know what consumers are looking for, what their values are, and how we can meet their needs. It’s not just about Big Data; it’s about translating that into the truth.” – Gayle Fuguitt
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Designing and developing websites or apps, SEO marketing, advertising, social media marketing, content production and management (blogs, videos, graphics, photos), brand engagement, online lead generation, brand development and management, email marketing, analytics and ROI assessments are some of the things digital marketing agencies do.
It takes a lot of time and effort to fully grasp the different elements that make up digital marketing. You need to have a deep understanding of marketing, consumer behaviour and psychology, and the different mediums to successfully help a brand flourish and grow through digital channels.
Pros and cons of hiring a digital marketing agency
If your goal is to generate more leads, increase sales, and grow your business overall, then you need to hire a digital marketing agency. If you’re still on the fence about it, here’s a quick pros and cons list to help you decide.
Pros:
- Quality - Digital marketing agencies consist of a team of creative professionals who are experienced in producing high-quality work in their field. These agencies have great internal quality control to make sure projects run smoothly.
- Order - Agencies are separate establishments, which means they have their own organized way of handling things. They can easily meet the requirements of large and small companies without a hitch. As outsiders, they can always assess and provide objective criticism on your marketing and help you without any biases.
- Credibility - Marketing agencies are easier to trust. Their process has more structure and it’s easy to check their legitimacy online.
- Results - Results are a given when working with a digital agency. Agencies provide concrete proof of the results via analytic softwares.
- Volume - Digital agencies are able to handle large amounts of work because they have an entire team to work on it. Each team member has their own specialty all while being familiar with other marketing elements.
- Flexibility - If you need anything on the fly, digital marketing agencies will have no qualms making it happen.
- Cost - Working with a digital agency is more cost efficient than hiring an in-house team.
Cons
- Communication - Or should we say miscommunication. It could happen. The way you describe what you want may be different from how an outside agency might interpret it. So, it may take a while for an agency to execute your vision.
- Workload - You won’t be the only client an agency will service. A good marketing agency will be able to manage workflow to make sure the needs of clients are always met.
When and why you need one
Digital marketing agencies provide businesses with cost-effective solutions. With digital marketing, marketers are able to target your audience and create campaigns that cater to them, saving you more money than a traditional advertising agency.
In fact, working with a digital marketing agency can:
- Help you focus on your business - Teaming up with an agency can help you focus on what you do best - running your business! The agency can handle everything for you: they have the tools, the expertise, and the experience. There’s no learning curve and you can spend your time working on your business instead.
- Cut down costs - As we’ve mentioned, hiring a team of digital marketers can help cut down your advertising costs. You won’t have to spend on software and gear, nor will you have to worry about salary and bonuses that you would if you hired in-house. Aside from that, your advertising spend is put to good use, since you’re actually marketing to people who are interested in your business.
- Stay relevant - Competition is becoming more and more fierce online, it’s only right that you stay relevant and remain at the top of people’s brains. Digital marketers will do the research and the work to keep your business present in the digital sphere.
- Get new ideas - Sometimes it’s better to look at your business with a fresh pair of eyes. You're a little biased when it comes to your business, so it’s easy to miss the things you may be doing wrong. A digital marketing agency will always be up ton date and on trend; they can give you a fresh new perspective. They will provide you with ideas and new techniques to better handle your marketing campaigns and make sure you get results.
- Deliver measurable results - Digital agencies can help you track your results. Agencies will determine your key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you figure out how your campaigns are performing in accordance with your goals and objectives. They can provide you with metrics to give you clear insight into your campaign.
If you feel stuck and can’t seem to generate any results through your online campaigns, just don’t have the time, or don’t know where to start, contact a digital marketing agency like us and we can help you grow your business to new heights.
How to choose the right digital agency
Digital marketing agencies have the experience and the expertise to grow your business. Choosing the wrong agency to hire can lead to wasting time and money. Look at reviews on sites like Clutch, Google, and Yelp to find highly rated agencies either in your area or agencies that specialize in remote work.
Whether you’re looking for help with strategy, web design, social media, or something else – Just Digital can help you. We’re a Los Angeles based digital marketing agency that believes sustainable growth starts with a strong marketing foundation. We can do all the services mentioned above regardless of your location. Need help? Send us a message.
What is a creative agency?
Creative agencies may not be words you hear often. The term itself is very vague and mysterious. So, what is a creative agency?
There actually isn’t a clear definition of what it is; however, creative agencies often combine strategy and design to produce content strategically. Content is produced in order to satisfy the needs, wants, and goals of the consumers.
A creative agency will handle everything, from solving your problems to creating solutions that will last through design and creativity.
Creative agencies are a relatively new phenomenon. They often focus more on the design aspect and partner up with marketing consultants or firms to create designs that produce results.
What does a creative agency do?
Creative agencies tend to dabble in many different things. Most of the time, they offer digital design services and print services. Creative agencies are known as branding experts for their ability to capture a company's essence in design.
A typical creative agency will help you create:
- Logo designs
- Digital art or prints
- Letterheads
- Business cards
- Website design
- Icon design
- Graphic illustrations and vectors
- Photo and video content
Kubix Media Office, a creative agency, explains how creative agencies are often divided into two work categories. First there’s digital, and second print.
Digital
Creatives all have their own different mediums when it comes to their craft; some are more into traditional, while others are more into digital. Digital-focused creatives design and produce work for the online world. There’s animation, video animation, graphic illustration, web design, posters, etc. Any digital art you see that promotes a brand likely has a creative agency behind it.
The word itself is pretty self explanatory. Anything you see printed on book covers, vinyls, flyers and posters, catalogues, stationary, etc are made by creative agencies. Some people focus on digital, while others create art to be printed.
Pros and cons of hiring a creative agency
Like everything else in this world, there are pros and cons to working with a creative agency. Here are a few.
Pros
- Visual appeal - Obviously, not all of us are gifted with artistic talent, and even fewer have taken that talent and made it into a real skill on a professional level. You need an experienced creative to give your brand consistency, appeal, and the right message to help your audience trust you. Brand awareness is not necessarily tangible, but it is a huge asset to your business. For the sake of your company, choose a professional to establish your visual identity.
A sample of a visual identity by Just Digital. - Cost efficient - Just like with digital marketing agencies, hiring a creative agency to do your bidding is cheaper than hiring an in-house team, providing office space, and buying equipment and software.
- Uniqueness - Successful brands are the ones you can differentiate from their competitors. These brands have something unique about them that sticks in the minds of consumers. To fully maximize your brand, work with a creative agency that can make your brand stand out.
Cons
- Focused on creativity - Since this is a team of creative professionals, it’s easy to keep their focus on the visual aspect of your business. Although building your brand is important, the numbers matter too! If you're looking for someone to increase conversions and get you more leads, a creative agency may not be the way to go.
When and why you need a creative agency
How do you know it's time to get creative?
There are a few situations where we would recommend definitely looking into a creative agency to help with your brand and overall look.
The first is when you're just starting out. There's nothing like putting your best foot forward with a solid brand that's going to serve you for years to come. A creative agency can take into account your audience, your message and tone, your values and the things that make your business unique, and translate that into a visual identity. Trust us on this one, don't go with a Fiverr logo and call it a day. Your brand, and all of its visual elements, matter.
Another scenario where you want to talk to a creative agency is when you've gone a couple years without touching your look. The world moves fast, and it only takes a couple years to look outdated. We're not saying you have to do a brand overhaul every 3 years, but you should definitely be looking at some touch ups that will keep you current and keep your customers engaged.
How to choose the right creative agency
Businesses who want to work with a creative agency may have trouble choosing the right creative team to work with. To help you with your decision, look at some of our tips below.
- Make sure the agency understands your goals and what you want from the partnership. Both of you should be on the same page.
- Review previous projects of the agency to get a feel of the quality of their work, expertise, and dedication.
- Work with an agency that’s enthusiastic about your project.
- Ask about the process and management of the project.
What’s the difference between both?
In simple terms, a digital agency focuses more on marketing strategy and execution, while a creative agency focuses more on brand design, content creation and production, and anything that involves building your brand identity.
You can say that a creative agency’s job is to help create the visual message of the business, while the digital marketing agency’s job is to get the message across to a targeted audience.
Conclusion
Both agencies have their own strengths and weaknesses. More often than not, these two agencies will end up working together for a project, with one outsourcing to the other.
It all really depends on what your business needs at the moment. For some, it could just be marketing, while others need to work on their brand image and identity first. It’s still best to have both; however, both agencies need to be able to communicate in order to not let the message get lost in translation.
Need help with both? We can help.
Just Digital is a digital marketing agency that can do both. We’re a team of creatives and marketers. Contact us here for more information and questions.
