Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme

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Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme

What is the Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme?

The Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme is a grant to businesses that meet the specified criteria to help them develop or enhance their online trading capabilities.

The grant covers 80% of the costs of the proposed activity. So for example, if your proposed activities are quoted as costing €12,500, Enterprise Ireland will cover €10,000 (which is the minimum cost and grant allowed. The maximum grant is €40,000).

So what does this mean for your business?

It means that, from as little as €2,500 investment, your business can enter into the world of eCommerce and online marketing. Activities carried out by WebResults that would be covered by the grant include:

Research:

This includes analysing your current and potential online presence and opportunities. We will explore your market and learn about your brand, target audience, products or services and more. We will also present you with options in terms of the tools, applications and platforms you can use to drive your business forward. This will help you make informed decision in regards to how you want to proceed.

Strategy development:

  • Development of a written digital strategy and a roadmap for implementation including resource and business process considerations
  • Identifying how the company’s value proposition should be demonstrated online, what aspects should be emphasised and how best to present this
  • Ensuring that your business’ online presence is being fully utilised / optimised to fulfil its overall potential, supporting the overall business strategy
  • Consideration of omni-channel offering (including marketplaces and social media)

Implementation:

  • Optimising the company’s online presence to ensure domestic and international visibility (e.g. web enhancement and localisation, associated business process enhancements, search engine optimisation etc.)
  • Enhancing related “back end” systems (e.g. product presentation, supply chain management, systems integration to improve consumer experience etc.)

How can WebResults help you?

We have been involved in the world of digital marketing for over 20 years. In that time, we have learned what methods, tools and channels work and more importantly, what does not. Put our expertise to work for your business. If you want to survive and thrive during this COVID-19 crisis, talk to us today about your application. Call us or fill out our callback form and we will reach out to you.

Bord Bia Announce Marketing Support Package

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Bord Bia Marketing Support Package

Bord Bia has announced it has released a Marketing Support Package to 250 client companies to the value of over €2million.

This Marketing Support Package has been awarded in an effort to support Irish companies experiencing difficulties in the wake of COVID-19. Eligible businesses included food, drink and horticulture (edible and amenity) producers, who are client companies of Bord Bia, with a turnover greater than €100,000 and less than €25m in 2019.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Irish food and drinks industry has ready access to every support Bord Bia can provide in order to navigate the change brought about by this crisis,” said Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, at the openin of the grant application process.

The Marketing Support Package will cover 70% of approved expenditure for these companies, up to a specified limit and up until December 2020. The awarded companies went through an application process and have already been notified. The Marketing Support Package covers activities such as:

  • Website design
  • Development of E-Sales/Marketing and On-Line activities
  • Purchase of published reports and market information
  • Marketing consultancy costs
  • Design and origination of POS material
  • Design of packaging, labels and brochures
  • Quality Consultancy
  • Quality Training and Audit Costs
  • Nutritional analysis
  • Market research visit
  • Participation at trade fairs and exhibitions and related costs
  • In store tastings

If your business has been awarded a grant and you are looking at the best ways to maximise your Marketing Support Package, talk to our Digital Marketing experts here at WebResults. Call us for a no-obligation chat, or fill out our contact form and we will call at a time convenient to you.

Don’t let the grant go to waste and make your money work for you.

Full Press Release available at bordbia.ie.

Drive Your Online Business Sales Revenue Remotely

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Working From Home Drive Sales

Working remotely as a result of Covid-19? Use focused digital marketing activities to drive sales and combat slumping revenue.

You may find yourself working remotely and feel restricted in terms of how to combat slumping revenue and sales and whether your job or livelihood will remain intact. 

One huge positive is the fact we are living in a world where we can work, communicate and sell online.

Consider the following ways to boost your businesses profile, sales and conversions (such as contact form completions, brochure requests, call back requests) through digital activities.

Working From Home Drive Sales

Build Your Brand Awareness

Before focusing on driving your sales, establish your business as a trusted seller/service provider in its space.

This does not just mean investing in paid ads on Google and social media. It requires you to ensure that your website is adhering to SEO best practices. It means you need to create relevant compelling content and distribute it frequently, whether that’s videos, blog posts, images, podcasts or whatever formats your customers like to consume media. It means spending time daily “social listening” to understand your potential customers’ issues, motivations & behaviours and jumping in on that conversation in an authentic way.

Having the best website in the world with the best UX is rendered null and void if nobody knows who you are. There are a range of digital tools & activities to help build brand awareness online. Invest the time and you will reap the rewards.

Email Marketing

Email has consistently proven itself to be the highest returning channel of digital marketing. A 2019 study by the DMA found that for every $1 spent on email marketing (eg. lead generation, email automation platform subscription etc.), there was an average return of $42.

On top of the massive potential for return, email marketing allows you to exert the most control. You are responsible for generating the high quality leads (in a GDPR-compliant way). This means you can build relationships with those leads. You communicate directly with your customers and can inform them of sales, discounts or some behind-the-scenes stories. You are not at the mercy of algorithms and you will always own that email list.

If you connect your email marketing automation platform (eg. Mailchimp) with your CRM and/or eCommerce platform, this means you can segment your list and send customers highly relevant content/discounts based on their purchase behaviour. This is vital to keeping your email list engaged and will lead to a lower Cost Per Acquisition too.

Email Marketing Drive Sales

Search Ads

Search ads capture your customers at a different stage in the buying process. The first of which is the “awareness” stage, the importance of which we have already discussed.

Next up is the “consideration” stage, and this is where search ads really shine. If a customer has taken to Google to search for a specific product or service, this means they have moved on to the consideration stage. Search ads will allow you to firstly appear at or near the top of the search results page. Secondly, search ads allow you to drive highly relevant traffic to highly relevant landing pages. Finally, if your website is fast, your landing pages relevant and your UX in good order, this will dramatically increase your chances of a website visitor converting there and then.

As search ads are usually charged on a Cost Per Click model, with clear adcopy, you will only pay for traffic that is interested in your product or service.

Google Shopping

If your business sells physical products online, Google Shopping will drive intent based shoppers.

Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend, generating 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads. Long story short, you need Google Shopping if you’re an eCommerce business.

The integration of Google Shopping and your website/eComm platform is often what puts businesses off venturing into this territory, but many of these platforms provide out-of-the-box integrations. You can also hire an agency or developer to take care of this for you and to ensure that your data feed is optimised. However you decide to approach it, Google Shopping is well worth implementing.

Try a range of channels

When it comes to online shopping, it typically takes 3-5 “touchpoints” for a visitor to convert. Therefore, it is important to identify who your customers are, where they spend their time online and direct your time, money and efforts there.

Analytics and insights are crucial to be able to gauge where you are getting the most return, so you should be digging into these at least twice a week. Look at what pages have the lowest bounce rate/highest time on page, and where your traffic is coming from. Check the demographic info and also the interest category and in-market reports, all of which are available on Google Analytics and most analytics packages. Knowledge is your competitive advantage, so gather as much of it as you can and use it to build a profile of your customers.

Remember, technology can and will help you prevail in this time of uncertainty, particularly when it comes to marketing and sales. Capitalise on the resources available, and you will continue to prosper. 

If you need a helping hand along the way, contact Webresults and let us help you bring your business to the next level. Call us or fill in our contact form today.

How Do SEO And SEM Work Together?

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SEO SEM Searches

We are often asked by clients, “If I am already paying for ads, why should I bother with SEO?”. It’s a fair question, as is the reverse; If you are ranking very strongly in organic search results, is it really worth paying for Ads?

However, investing in both SEO and PPC advertising (also known as SEM) simultaneously can dramatically increase your business’ revenue, traffic and conversions.

First of all, it is important to highlight the differences between organic search (SEO) and paid search (SEM/PPC).

Google Ads and SEO services

SEO/Organic Search:

Search Engine Optimisation is all about the long-term health of your digital presence and strategy. If you follow SEO best practices, your site is more likely to appear in organic (unpaid) searches.

SEO is the foundation of good SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and when you have them harmonising perfectly, you will drive high-quality traffic and leads as well as improve your site’s conversion rates. SEO incorporates everything from using keywords throughout your site to the User Experience and performance of your site on mobile.

Once you have an SEO-friendly site and sponsored ads that are using the right keywords, you have a better chance of showing up at the top of paid searches. But you need to have your SEO in place in order for Google to see you as a credible website.

SEM/Paid Search:

One of the biggest strengths of SEM is that it can deliver success and growth quickly. If your website/business is reasonably new, you can prioritise your paid search efforts first, as it can take a while for SEO rankings to become established. However, do not ignore your SEO during this process. Think of SEM as a platform to launch your search efforts, and SEO as a way of maintaining a strong and healthy digital presence.

It is important to note that having PPC ads running does not do anything for your site’s SEO. However, by improving your SEO, you can make your PPC costs more efficient.

How Do SEO And SEM Work Together?

In very simple terms, if your organic rankings are strong and your paid efforts are optimised, you will dominate Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

For example, if your business sells hammers as its main product, prioritise hammers (and associated terms such as “claw hammers”, “mallets” etc.) in your keyword strategy, both in an organic and paid context. What that means is, make sure your site pages are built with your priority keywords in mind. This includes everything from your page content to your alt, image and meta tags, captions, URLs, etc. This will improve your organic search results.

But what’s the point in appearing twice on a search engine page?

Paid search ads help you recover any missed opportunities. A study by Google found that when search ads for a keyword were paused, approximately 89% of traffic generated by these ads were not replaced by the organic rankings. That means that, even if your site is ticking all of the SEO boxes in terms of keywords, it’s very possible that you will be missing valuable traffic and thus, potential customers.

By relying on PPC, you’re recovering clicks and interest from searchers that you might have otherwise missed. Even if you aren’t ranking #1 naturally, PPC can help you draw in traffic from those looking for your products or services, often at a small cost.

Remember, by the time a person is conducting a search on a product, they have more than likely reached the “intent” stage and are asking to be converted. That is why search marketing is so important and so valuable.

Conclusion

While SEM can help deliver fast results, SEO is imperative to building and maintaining a successful digital marketing strategy for your business.

By following SEO best practices, you will not only enhance your chances of ranking organically in search engine results (thus driving free clicks to your site), but it will also lend your site credibility in the eyes of Google (which is the primary search engine used by approximately 81% of the entire web population). This means you will see higher levels of valuable traffic on your site and thus, bring your business to the next level.

Are you interested in Google Ads, SEM or SEO services? Contact us today at info@webresults.ie and talk to our team.

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