Marketing

With so many tools and technologies at our disposal these days, it can sometimes be tough to figure out the best way to go about marketing a photography or videography business.

However, entrepreneurs who have just started out on their own may not realise that one of the most effective approaches to promoting their services and securing new projects may have actually been right under their noses the whole time.

New businesses can give themselves a real boost by forging strong relationships with their existing customers, as that very simple step can offer up big opportunities for new work.

Coming back for more

One fairly straightforward reason why keeping customers happy can create new business is that they may choose to come back to you for other projects in the future. This can be particularly useful for photographers and videographers, as it is well-known that retaining customers can prove a lot more cost-effective than going out to try and attract new ones.

In fact, according to this infographic from Invespcro, it can cost businesses up to five times more to bring new customers in, while the probability of selling to an existing customer is also far higher. With existing customers more likely to try new products and services, it is believed that they can spend around 31 per cent more than new customers.

However, there is more to having happy and satisfied customers than securing repeat business from them. By providing a great service, you might also just encourage them to become advocates for what you do.

Spreading the word

When it comes to providing photography services for events such as weddings, it seems that few tactics for drumming up new business can beat word-of-mouth. In fact, a study carried out by FormedFromLight.com found that referrals generated bookings for 70 per cent of the wedding photographers it polled. With this in mind, it is fair to say that happy customers may not be shy in telling others about your work and that in turn could lead to new opportunities.

Furthermore, such customers may also be happy to recommend you online, either via social media platforms or even online review services like Trustpilot. The latter platform has become particularly key to businesses across many sectors, with some even displaying testimonies or ratings from the service on their websites. For example, the mortgage broker and remortgaging specialist Trussle provides advice on home loans from around 90 lenders, displaying its five-star rating right at the top of the homepage. Slightly further down, they have also featured short quotes from customers who have written about them. Another company which has taken a similar step is the home set up service Just Move In, which focuses on helping people through the process of moving to a new property. Like Trussle, its site displays a five-star rating from Trustpilot on its homepage.

Such an approach could work for your business too, as it would not only highlight that you have satisfied customers but also act as a mark of quality and trust for potential new ones too.

Satisfaction guaranteed

So, while you could look to market and promote your business in a range of different ways across a number of publications, platforms and more, it could be argued that few approaches will be quite as effective as simply having satisfied customers.

Whether you’ve just launched your own venture or have been in the business for a few years, the importance of having happy clients is something that should never be downplayed.

So, you’ve just launched your brand new business via a WordPress site. You’re confident in your product or service, now you just need to reach your target audience. How does that work exactly? By boosting your SEO.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that ranking in Google is purely down to the quality of your business and reputation. In fact, it’s more to do with the structure of your site and the level of fresh content available for users to soak up.

Boosting SEO will help you rise up the rankings in Google which, in turn, will make your site appear more relevant and trustworthy. If your site is difficult to navigate and uninspiring, then your chances of ranking are low.

In this guide, we’ll explore more about what SEO can do for your business and why it’s an important foundation for your WordPress site. Here are the steps:

1. Picking a hosting provider
2. Deciding on the best plugins
3. Optimising your blog
4. Change the permalink structure
5. Internally linking in posts
6. Create a sitemap of content
7. Optimising the images
8. Using Google Search Console

See below all the ways you can boost your SEO on your WordPress website:

Pick A Great Host

One of the most crucial steps in creating a successful site is picking a good wordpress host.

Give yourself a head start by picking a reputable host that specialises in speed. This is because Google takes into account the speed of your site when determining rankings.

Finding a reliable host is easy. Simply visit a community like ‘WebHostingTalk’ and browse reviews by other users. You’ll find out soon enough which hosts are worth your money.

Choosing an SEO plugin

Plugins are small pieces of software that can be installed on your WordPress site. They’re incredibly helpful, as they add new functions and features to your site which can improve the way you use it.

There are several plugins that can help with SEO. Plugins such as Yoast, WordPress SEO and SEOquake are among the most used. They help by analysing the content in your posts, suggesting improvements.

Start With Your Blog

A blog can attract lots of attention from new customers when they search online.

When you first set up your blog, click the ‘discourage search engines from indexing this site’ feature until you’re finished.

Thanks to the improvements with app developers work, more and more users are browsing on their mobile rather than desktop. So your blog needs to be mobile-friendly with a clear structure.

When you’re writing your blog posts, always ensure you have the correct heading structures, Heading 1, Paragraph etc.

Once you’re finished, unclick the search engine indexing option so Google can now find your blog.

Change Your Permalink

Permalinks are the permanent URLs that point to your site’s posts and other content. You’ll see many automatic permalink options on your WordPress site.

They’re easy to change if you wanted to include a specific keyword in the edit bar at the top.

Alternatively, you can create a custom permalink going to the backend of your site by visiting: Settings>Permalink.

Link Within The Content

As previously explained, content is still very much an important aspect of SEO.

Linking internally between pages on your site can help Google and other search engines see which information is connected to similar content.

These links should fall in the next naturally, with the reader in mind first and foremost.

Create A Sitemap

It sounds complicated, but a sitemap is essentially a contents page of all the content on your website. It makes your site easier to navigate.

This also makes it more attractive to search engines as information is clearly laid out. Meaning it can easily crawl the pages on your site to see how they relate to one another.

Your Yoast SEO plugin can generate a sitemap for you.

Optimise Images

Images are not only great for breaking up long blocks of text, they also allow you to further optimise your site.

However, they can sometimes contribute to your site running slow. There’s a WordPress plugin called ‘WP Smush’ that will compress your images to make them website ready.

To help boost SEO, always fill in the ‘alt text’ with a detailed description of what the image is. You can even include a keyword in here.

Add New Content To Google Search Console

Search Console is a tool powered by Google. It allows users to upload their pages and prompt Google to crawl new content.

Simply head to the Search Console page and add your site’s URL. It can also give you an insight into how your site is viewed, including how each page appears in the search results. You’ll also be able to gauge mobile usability.

Boost Traffic to Your Site With These Simple SEO Tips

You may think your WordPress website is ready to go once it’s been beautifully designed, but what’s the point in a great site if nobody sees it?

Correctly optimising your website and doing your technical due diligence is the best way to keep user interaction high and bounce rates low. At the end of the day, the aim is to make sure users engage with your site as much as possible.

Following these simple yet effective ways to boost your WordPress site’s SEO can help your website stay fresh and relevant.

Video has dominated the content marketing scene for the last few years, but will it still be as potent and as valid in 2019? Well, the answer is a resounding yes, and if anything, including video in your marketing budget this year is going to be even more important. Focusing on some of the reasons as to why that is expected should make things seem more relatable.

Consumers Prefer Video Content

According to the findings of research published on HubSpot, about 54% of the consumers are more interested in watching content in video format, as compared to any and all other types of marketing material. If the majority of your target audience prefers to have their marketing materials delivered to them in video format, who are you to disagree?

Video is More Successful in Bringing in Web Traffic

It has been estimated that in 2019, roughly 80% of the redirected web traffic will be brought in by video marketing content. As relevant web traffic generation is the objective of every online marketing campaign, excluding video is not even a feasible option in 2019.

Conversion Rates are Higher Too with Quality Video Content

It is one thing to bring in traffic, but entirely another to convert the leads into sales. Video content, once again, has a significant role to play here. Taking a detailed look at the statistics published by Forbes regarding the performance of video marketing, we can summarize a few key points.

• If there are relevant and well-made videos on the landing pages, the conversion rates can go up by as much as 80%
• About 90% of consumers rely on video content to make purchase decisions
• 64% of consumers admitted to their tendency towards making a purchase if there is an associated video

However, in order for the video content to be convincing enough to convert, it has to be professionally made by a production team that knows what it is doing. Beverly Boys Productions is a popular name in the Miami video productions business as they have worked with multinational brands as big as Taco Bell and Airbnb with amazing success. They don’t just make videos for the big names, though, because this production house can effectively work with budgets as low as $1,500 – $3,000.

The Scope of Video is Immense

Even a short, two-minute video can deliver an immense amount of information, which is something that no other form of media can even come close to. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” has never been truer than in video marketing, as marketing videos are essentially recorded actions devised expertly to deliver specific messages to specific audiences. In that sense, video is even cost-effective, as delivering a similar amount of information via any other form of media would take a much longer time and perhaps a much bigger budget as well.

We are living in a time when people spend hours looking at electronic screens every day, and they do not nearly spend as much time reading on those screens as they do scrolling or watching interesting videos on their social media news feed. As 2019 is only going to get even more digital, excluding or even not paying sufficient attention to video marketing would be a huge mistake from every aspect.

From the beginning of your trading career in Forex, the journey will be very slow. You will have to learn about some of the things for the trading process. The things like the position sizing will be a must for all kind of trades. Traders will also have to learn about controlling the risks per trade for a proper ratio. For that, you will also need to make the right profit target. It must not be any more than what the trading edge can handle. All of those will be learned by the traders slowly. Many traders cannot take this fact granted for their own business. Thus, there will be many problems found in different trader’s working process. We are here with some proper tips for the right trading business. In this article, we will try to make the most out of the novice trader. They are the most sufferer with all kind of strategies for the trading business.

Start with simple risks and profit margins

Every trades of your will show a ratio. It will be based on the risks per trades and the profit margins per trades. So, you will have to work for making the most out of your account for a well-reputed ratio, right? It is not good for the traders to try hard for a proper risk to profit margin. They will not be able to do that with their own business. Instead, the executions of the trades will be poor. Who knows, most of your trades may come out negative instead of a 4R or 5R of the investment. So, do not try too much for the trading business to make a lot of money from the beginning. Use very little risks per trades (about 3 to 5 percent of the account balance) and aim for a decent ratio like 1:2 at the beginning of the trading career.

Learning from your mistakes

New trader in the United Kingdom often think the Forex market is rigged. If you do some research you will understand this is the most transparent business sector you can ever imagine. If you can place the perfect trade in your online trading account, you can easily make huge profit within investing big sum of money. At the initial stage, you will always make some mistakes. Never become frustrated after losing the trades. Consider it as your learning opportunity. Always make sure you are not risking more than 2% of your account balance.

Use most of the demo trading account

It does not mean that you will have to maintain the trading business with mild setup and aims. With time, you will have to improve the performance of the trading business. Only then the business quality will be improving. But for that, you will have to improvise all of those things which we mentioned in the introduction of this article. The position sizing and the market analysis process will have to be the most important thing for the traders to improve. But, do not use the live trading account for improving them with experiments. Try to go sideways and use the demo account for learning some advanced stuff like the Fibonacci tool.

Never experiment until you are a pro trader

Many traders try to modify themselves with the markets of their choice. With the change in volatility, they change their own profit targets and the position sizing. Their expectations stay on the side of making the right market analysis. The actual result from that happens poorly with the traders because inconsistency never helps the traders to make the proper performance. You will not be able to stay on track with that kind of planning. So, the experiments will have to be kept aside for the pro level of your own trading performance. The unprocessed trades will also need to be kept aside.

Video has always been an exciting medium to use. The opportunity that it gives to present ideas in a dynamic way is perhaps its main benefit. While the use of video in areas such as music or the arts has always been high, business is now beginning to rely on it more. Indeed, Cisco has reported that it expects 80% of all internet traffic to be video related by 2021. When you look at it like that, it is clear to see how essential video can be to any organisation.

Why make awesome video content part of your digital plan?

Overall, digital marketing and engaging your customers online is of huge importance. As many people spend much of their time there now to shop, research services or products, and simply hang out, it means that your business needs to also. By making top-quality video a vital part of this overall online strategy, you will create a brand profile to impress.

What specific reasons are there to use high-quality video on your website or social media accounts?

• Better engagement with the public – the simple facts are that people respond better to video content and content in general that offers visual appeal. As people get more used to being contacted in this way, they will begin to expect it more. To keep up with demand and stay relevant, it is important to be using high-quality videos within your online identity.

• Helps to connect on a deeper level – another great reason to make video content part of your online identity is that it engages people on a much more personal level than text. Videos can help them see the person behind a brand and also feel the passion you have for your company. This, in turn, makes them far more likely to listen to what you say and do business with you.
• Easy to track – one of the things that can be tricky with traditional content is tracking the small details of how it performs. This can then make it hard to see what needs changing or what is not working. Video eliminates this problem by giving you the freedom to see exactly what works and what does not. With video content, you can see exactly where people stopped watching or which bits they really liked.

Creating awesome video content is easy

One thing that can put off some businesses from using video is the idea that it is time-consuming, complicated and expensive to make. This is just not true at all! Products such as an online Facebook video editor deliver top-quality results while being very easy to use. Many will even be free in their most basic form with lots of optimised templates on hand to use.

Make video your new online friend today

As the above shows, there are many great reasons to start using video content online now for marketing, either on your company website, blog or social media accounts. When you do, you will love how many more people engage with it and what a great return it gives from the small amount of time invested in making it.

Video marketing is one of the best ways to reach millennials – and they generally engage far more with videos than any other type of content. However to engage millennials your video marketing content needs to be tailored to the very specific nature of their demographic.

If you want to create video marketing content that millennials actually respond to, there are a few key ways to go about it:

Don’t try to ‘sell’ to millennials

Creating video marketing content that is too ‘salesy’ is out of the question, and most millennials will just blithely ignore it. The fact that millennials have been exposed to such videos most of their lives mean that it likely won’t even register to them.

Instead of creating salesy videos or attempting to hard sell, you’d be far better served with a softer approach. Put the experience of using the product or service that you’re marketing in the spotlight, and focus on what it can do, the problems it will solve, and the benefits it will provide.

Showcase your brand culture in videos

Millennials are far more likely to buy from a brand with a culture that they can get behind and support. Part of your video marketing should focus on convincing them that your brand culture is worth buying into.

That can be done through several means, including behind-the-scenes peeks into the workplace, impromptu interviews with employees, and even explainer videos. The one caveat is that any video involving your brand culture must feel authentic – or it simply won’t resonate.

Keep it short, direct, and to the point

Overall the attention span of millennials is much lower, and they aren’t going to sit around as you wax poetical about something that they don’t feel they need to be interested in. Instead of wasting their time (and yours), it would be better for you to be direct and get to the point quickly.

As you can imagine that also means that the video marketing content that you create should be short – especially on social media. The shorter and more direct it is, the more engaging the video is likely to be.

Get an expert or an authority that millennials recognize

One of the most difficult aspects of video marketing to millennials is convincing them that your brand is the real deal. To effectively accomplish that you should get an expert with the right credentials to back it up, or some other authority that millennials recognize.

In part this is the reason why influencer marketing works well among millennials. As a figure of authority if an influencer with a large following recommends your brand – more millennials are likely to buy into it.

Keep in mind that millennials are a demographic that are inundated with content and have high expectations from the videos they choose to watch. The quality of your videos must be good and they should look polished and well-edited. For example you could use Movavi Video Editor, and may even want to use it as a video collage maker to spice things up.

Make no mistake targeting millennials with video marketing will require time, planning, and no small amount of effort. That being said considering how large a demographic they are and their growing spending power – it is definitely something that you want to do.

Video Marketing Explained

It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, have we then stopped to think how valuable a video could be?  A custom-made video to create awareness, to advertise or to even inform does what plain text is not capable of doing. For this reason, a video stands to benefit us by reaching a larger audience when it comes to marketing.

In marketing, videos are used for several purposes including:

• Fostering a working relationship with the client
• Company brand promotion
• Products promotion
• Customer sensitization of new products you are about to introduce into the market
• Informing your clients about your discounted products

The Nitty-Gritties of Video Marketing

The graphics design department of a company creates short and informative clips of the company and its products or services. This is used to push the agenda of the company in their quest to market their products or services to their customers.

To know how successful the undertaking was, they analyze the data from the clip. This could be direct responses from customers, conversations going on social media regarding information communicated by the clip and finally the health of the company’s sales.

To have a working and a successful video marketing strategy, your team ought to:

1.    Allocate resources

A budget needs to be set aside for the graphics design department if you are to have quality output. If a graphics design team is not present, you can create one and hire professionals, or you can contract an existing graphics design company. Your budget should cover equipment like powerful computers, HD video cameras, editing software and a responsive website.

2.    Make a Video to tell your story

From the clips the team has taken, brainstorm on which story of the company you want to tell and how you want to tell it. Afterward, settle on the clips that tell your story best.

3.    Make sure the video is engaging

Make your audience want to watch the clip for at the last minute. Telling your story is not enough if the audience loses interest along the way and dismisses the video. Find ways to make the video enjoyable and at the same time not forgetting your main aim which is to market the company.

4.    Short and informative

It is not clearly defined how long a marketing video should be. Although from past experiences different people have had, they recommend having a short clip which covers everything and is captivating enough to keep the audience watching.

5.    Push your content to the public

Get your videos published on different platforms. Have them on your website, all of your social media platforms; upload them to YouTube and also on different television stations. Make sure that you have all of your employees and other stakeholders help push the video by sharing the video on social platforms they are in and are comfortable doing so.

6.    Employ data mining and analyzing techniques

Have your IT department help with this. Big data analysis helps make sense of data that has been collected on different platforms then use the data to get a feel of how the market is responding. With these results, you will be able to know where to improve on.

Advantages of Video Marketing

Video marketing has quite some advantages:

1.    Creates a connection with your clients and other audience

A video familiarizes the audience with company. This helps build trust in the company as well as their products and services. In a nutshell, a video gives your customers a chance to know you better.

2.    Marketing videos help bring traffic to your website

Videos help build backlinks on your websites which in turn increases your website’s SEO ratings. When your audience clicks and shares the marketing video you have posted, this boosts your Google ranking. Having good traffic will bring business whereby bigger companies will want to advertise with you to get a share of your audience. Build your brand loyalty and monetise your following by offering your own custom merchandise (using print-on-demand technology).

3.    The video, being a visual aid helps retain information

Research has confirmed that we retain 10% of what we hear which is after three days but with visual information, we tend to retain 65% of the information passed after three days. This goes to show how powerful and effective video marketing is. You are sure of customer retention by what you communicate to them.

Virtual Reality in a Glimpse

Some of us may never visit space or even have the guts to either scuba dive or even take that leap to a bungee jump. Not to worry though, going by the current trends in virtual reality, you might be able to experience all these and even more without even leaving your home. Virtual reality simulates parts of our world and even other imaginary worlds using computers and sensory equipment.

In the business world, virtual reality (VR) can be used in team building meetings where a virtual world is simulated to you as the employee, and you are required to use your strength to help the other team members achieve a common goal. Virtual reality can be used to stir up the leader in you by having a problem you are facing or a decision you are supposed to make simulated in an environment then you are guided by a professional through the situation to help you come up with ways to solve that issue. This will build confidence within you in leading the others.

Future of Virtual Reality in Video Marketing

This is not about the future anymore, it is happening now, and you better get on board. Many companies are currently using immersive videos, i.e., a combination of virtual reality and 360-degree video in their marketing endeavors. Virtual reality ads and marketing videos have shown to elicit emotions and also engage the user for longer periods.

With the increasing advancements in technology, this is the space to watch when it comes to digital marketing and advertising.

With December now here and Christmas firmly on the horizon, it is safe to say that time is running out for many of us to get our acts together and start shopping for presents. But how do you intend to go about it? Will you book in a day to try and get it all done in one fell swoop, or have you already been quietly and slowly building up your stockpile for December 25th? Whatever your gift-buying strategy, it is more than likely that going online has had a part to play somewhere. After all, with life being so hectic for a huge number of us the convenience of purchasing with a single click and then having items delivered to your door is simply too good to be true at this time of year.

Online spending on the rise

According to new figures from the Centre of Retail Research and VoucherCodes, British families are set to spend an average of £821.25 on Christmas presents this year with online spending expected to grow by almost a third. The reasons given were hardly surprising, with respondents outlining that using websites will help them avoid the crowds, escape long queues and also offer them the chance to easily compare prices. Perhaps more of a surprise was the revelation that 23 per cent of people also intend to only shop online in order to avoid hearing Christmas songs while they are out and about. With all of this consumer feedback in mind, it is unsurprising that online has encouraged many brands to try to unleash their digital business. Retail is one obvious area where this can be seen, with the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco moving on from a supermarket-only format to offering online ordering and home delivery services. However, it is also happening across a huge number of other sectors too. Take for instance gambling and how the rise of iGaming has – literally – changed the game in that industry. The Hippodrome Casino may be a hugely popular central London nightspot, but the growth of online services means that fans of poker and blackjack can now play these games in the comfort of their own home through the same brand’s online casino. So, with so much focus being placed on the online world, it is time to be frank – is there any need for brands to bother having a real-world presence anymore?

The benefits of offline

Well, while there is much evidence to suggest that offline is on the decline, there is also still a lot which suggests that the end is not quite nigh. According to Ripen eCommerce, while online is on the rise, the vast majority of purchases still happen offline, with the firm’s own research putting a finger on why people still want to head to the high street to complete their purchases.

The study in the US found that more than 30 per cent of people simply want to be able to see or feel a product in person, while a similar number also stated that the immediacy of taking home items straight away was another big reason for going offline. Other notable issues raised were buying offline to protect privacy, saving on shipping costs which can emerge when going online and people generally finding the returns process easier in real-world shops. As if to emphasize the important role that offline brands still play in so many people’s lives, it is interesting to note how many major players synonymous with online have taken the leap into the real world in recent times. Perhaps the most obvious example is the online retail powerhouse Amazon, with its growing number of offline shops in the US which are selling books as well as electronics and small gifts. According to Fortune, while going offline is unlikely to make a huge difference to their predominantly online business revenues, it does give consumers opportunities they have not previously had – specifically, the chance to sample the company’s ever-growing range of gadgets like the Echo and Kindle and also an opportunity to speak face to face with representatives of the brand. There is also speculation that Amazon is planning to expand its offline presence even further in the coming years, particularly by flipping the traditional real-world shopping experience on its head and introducing some digital elements to the mix including virtual and augmented reality. Amazon are far from the only company to have taken this step through, with the strength and popularity of card retailer Funky Pigeon.com’s brand also leading to the opening of fully fledged high-street stores. Furthermore, you could argue that this switch from online to offline is not necessarily limited to just retailers. The Deliciously Ella food brand grew from a hugely popular blog, with the minds behind it now putting its name to several delis and also energy ball snack-foods which can be bought in major stores.

Still has a role to play

All of this points to one simple fact – while an online presence can have a monumental impact on a business, making a mark in the offline world is still a valuable approach. Undoubtedly it could create challenges, particularly in terms of legal and regulatory issues which may need to be addressed, but as an online business you may have already faced similar situations so do not let that put you off.

After all, a little bit of that human touch may be just what you need to take your operations to the next level.

Card games have been enjoyed forever, but the good news is, this doesn’t mean that millennials aren’t interested. In fact, card games are very popular with this generation, and it’s a market that a lot of brands have managed to tap into. Sure, some require just your standard deck, but many still have challenged what you think of when you think of “card games”. In fact, marketing a card game to millennials is not difficult because it’s a novel idea, but because there is already quite a lot of competition in the market.

Spin-offs of Popular Franchises

Cards aren’t just for gambling, either. In fact, there’s a whole new player in the game, and that’s card battle games. Titles like Hearthstone, Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Legends: Heroes of Skyrim, and Polish developer CD Project’s more recent Gwent all encourage players to battle their opponents while immersing themselves in a creative backstory. There are various characters, legends and entire worlds for players to get involved with – as well as different card types and complex rules, knowledge of which improves gameplay. These days, these are very popular, and in fact, spills over into various kinds of media. The Elder Scrolls brand attracts thousands of players worldwide per day. SteamSpy calculates more than 579,000 players for the Legends game alone. So how did these companies tap into these markets? The Elder Scrolls franchise already had a huge following behind it thanks to its success as an action role-playing fantasy series of video games, of which 2011’s Skyrim alone has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Perhaps the attraction to Mediaeval themes in the game makes players more open to “old-school” niches, such as collectible cards, which could explain the popularity when the Legends spin-off was announced in 2015.

Similarly, Gwent comes as a spin-off to The Witcher 3, which was released by CD Project RED in May 2015. It takes part in the same world, hash similar fantasy themes, with the Witcher himself having supernatural powers to defeat beasts. Gwent started out as a mini game, but as it’s been described as “addictive”, so it’s now become popular in its own right, with fans liking the idea that they can play the same games as their hero of the series, Geralt. Interestingly, what all three of these titles have in common is that they are card game spin-offs of popular RPG franchises. This has likely been the push that players needed to try the card games. The lesson we could learn here is that established brands will do wonders for new titles, so if you can somehow link a new product to an old product, you’re likely to benefit.

It’s Not Out With The Old, Though

Although there are now many more card games than just the decks with the standard hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades as suits, the traditional ones are still a much-loved option. However, some brands have done something that seems to have worked in any other industry – they’ve made things digital.

When it comes to millennials up to the age of 25, over 99% use the internet “regularly” – (99.2% to be exact). When you extend that socio-demographic to include adults up to 44-year-olds, you still come out with a figure of 98.8% regularly heading online. It makes sense, then, that card games have quickly adopted new technologies, and continue to do so eagerly. Playing games with traditional playing cards has always been a popular past-time, but with modern lifestyles the way they are, players appreciate USPs. Online casinos have done just that by offering what is known as live casino games. These are games played with physical card packs which are live streamed to the player’s computer, tablet or phone. Live blackjack follows the same rules as “traditional” blackjack played in casinos, including the option to split or double down, but does so on live video, where a real dealer will deal the player’s cards. “New-old things” are incredibly popular nowadays, and it’s not just card games which have been brought online after years of being traditional. A lot of our daily lives end up being digital, from photo albums through to the way we shop and eat.

Easy Rules and Popular Themes

Cards can of course just be played for a bit of light fun, with no previous experience required. Uno is incredibly popular, and part of its popularity is how easy it is: you can even win the first time you play it! All that’s required is making sure to pay attention to the rules. Exploding Kittens is rather innovative, too – it’s a highly strategic, “kitty-powered” version of Russian roulette. There are some incredibly high stakes and in fact, kittens can actually kill you! Exploding Kittens started in the cat and humour-loving world of the internet, when creator Elan Lee used Kickstarter to fund his idea. He was so successful that there is even an official Android app for it today. And finally, Top Trumps has continued to expand since its introduction in 1968. One of the reasons that it is still thriving today is its willingness to expand its universe according to its audience. When something is relevant, a new deck is released. There are Top Trumps packs for all kinds of topics, from classic cars through to Star Wars, and it is actually very easy to play. Of course, while these games are fun for all, millennials aren’t too cool to be involved – who doesn’t like to have fun?

Adult and Drinking Games

Of course, millennials love to party, and when they do, often cards are involved. Some games rely on a traditional pack, for example, Ring of Fire. This has a set of rules assigned depending on the card that is drawn, which usually involves silly mini-games, dares, or yet more drinking. In recent years, Cards Against Humanity has also become very popular in the market. While it is not specifically a drinking game (instead preferring to market itself as “a party game for horrible people”), it is definitely trying to capture a similar market. Just be warned, it can get a little wild (and more than a little inappropriate, in the very best of ways). These games – and the parties they play at – make for great sharing on social media. Good digital marketing relies on user-generated content to build a community, and when are you more likely to share images and videos than when you’re enjoying yourself at a party?

Recreating Their Success

Despite card games literally being some of the oldest tricks in the book, there’s thankfully no sign of their popularity waning. And, providing that games makers continue to come up with innovative ways using technology and new trends to market their creations, this should be the case for many years to come. If this is a market your business is interested in tapping into, as always, research is imperative, as is ensuring that you’ve done enough not just to create a game, but also a brand.

The world moves a lot faster than it used to – there’s a new iPhone every two years and a new Call of Duty game every year, while even the most bizarre science fiction technologies, like artificial intelligence and cyborg humans, seem to get a little closer to realisation with each passing day. The obvious concern for businesses is keeping up.

Millennials, people born between 1980 and 2000, are the most technologically adept generation in history. They’re also the hardest to please, having grown up on a diet of on-demand media like Netflix and NowTV; even Argos now offers same-day delivery just to stay relevant.

There are a few almost-guaranteed ways to stay on millennials’ collective good side, however:

Adopt New Payment Methods

It might not sound like something worth troubling the boardroom over but payment options change just as quickly as the technology that supports it. For instance, in 2015, both Apple and Android Pay were born. There’s also Skrill, Neteller, PayPal, paysafecard, Boku, iDebit, Envoy, and a host of other processors on the market today.

Mobile, in particular, is one of the more fertile arenas as far as new payment methods are concerned. A good example comes from PocketWin, an online and mobile casino almost unique in the industry for building its own games in-house. The company is also special in that it lets players make a casino deposit by phone, effectively deferring the cost of their games until the end of the month.

Consider how many times customers bail out of a purchase because the company they’re buying from doesn’t offer their favourite payment option – over months and years, the number of lost sales racks up. Not offering PayPal in particular is almost a cardinal sin for businesses, given that the processor had 192 million users worldwide in Q3 2016.

Embrace New Technology

According to a 2014 statistic, there are more mobile devices on Earth than people. It took just thirty years to put 7.2 billion devices in the pockets and homes of humans around the world. Technology is the single most important thing in the lives of millennials in particular. The phrase “life companion”, coined by the Galaxy S3-era Samsung, has never been more apt.

It’s not just about the fastest, prettiest device anymore though. Fingerprint and iris scanners recently emerged from Samsung and Apple’s respective laboratories, while Pokémon Go introduced the world to augmented reality technology earlier this year. With the above in mind, brands have to offer something different to succeed.

As a quick pointer, technologists are forecasting the arrival of the first true artificial intelligence before the end of the next decade and, should we survive the inevitable robot uprising, bots and automatons could become as prosaic as televisions. Asking questions around the applications for true AI in improving people’s lives is a great way to brainstorm for the future.

You can find many how-to guides and resources online to help with technology related tasks. BeBusinessed resource guides are great for this.

Make it Wearable

Smartwatches didn’t provoke the technological revolution Apple and Samsung expected, simply because they didn’t really do anything consumers needed; in fact, as far as usability and battery life were concerned, they provided a significantly poorer experience than smartphones. The true potential of wearables lies elsewhere.

Millennials are particularly excited about banking with wearable technology so, here’s an idea that’s not as hare-brained and dystopic as it sounds – microchip customers with their card details so that they can pay with a swipe of their hand. It’s not only a convenient alternative to plastic; it’s about as secure as banking gets.

Wearables need to solve a problem if they’re ever going to take off; they also need to reduce the amount of decisions involved in their use. For example, putting fitness trackers in shoes would mean that runners don’t have to decide whether or not to wear them on a daily basis.

As a final point, there’s a great deal to be said for taking things “old school” in 2016. Vinyl sales are soaring, the ZX Spectrum and NES consoles are back on the market, and paper books not only survived e-readers but sales are taking off once again. That’s not to say that there’s ever going to be a market for Crocs but looking backwards can sometimes reap rewards for the courageous entrepreneur.