Every generation needs a great story about battles between titans: Greece vs. Troy, Sparta vs. Athens, USA vs. USSR, Ivan Lendl vs. John Mc Enroe, Microsoft vs. Apple, Porsche vs. Ferrari, etc., etc., etc... you get the idea.
 
And, with Apple's latest iOS update and the rollout of Apple's newest policy, AppTrackingTransparency (ATT), we have a new titanic battle before our eyes - the battle of the tech giants: Apple (still them) versus Facebook... with Google in ambush.
 
This post explains the changes this new policy brings to small and medium-sized businesses that advertise on social media and explains how you, the small business owner, can best prepare to limit the damage, and ideally even come out on top, while the tech giants battle it out.

In short, Apple recently updated its operating system, iOS 14.5 (including iPadOS 14.5, tvOS 14.5), which gives users more control over how and with whom they share their data. 

In what may be the biggest data privacy change to date, Apple is putting control of data collection back in the hands of app users and giving them the ability to "opt out" of sharing their data when using apps like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

While undoubtedly a sign of a larger development to come (will Microsoft follow Android's lead?), this update is just one company's proactive response to what has been years of discussion about privacy issues and, more importantly, the power held by certain technology and social media companies. 

While almost everyone agrees that the increased focus on data privacy and digital security is a big step in the right direction, this change, like all changes, has its share of detractors - especially those who want to give companies more opportunities to target their customers and personalize their ads.
 
Facebook, for example, argues that this change will unfairly harm small and medium-sized businesses at a time when many small businesses are already feeling overwhelming pressure. By removing one of the key tools small businesses have found to survive the pandemic, Facebook believes Apple is forcing the hand of business owners to develop their own business interests.
 
On the other hand, Apple says that the applications on its App Store should be subject to stricter privacy and security standards, as nothing should be more important than maintaining the trust of their users.
 
So here is the origin of this battle. On the battlefield, the black and white team represented by iOS 14 and fighting for the privacy of consumers, we have Apple, and opposite, against the blue team, representing the free market and fighting for small business advertisers, Facebook (and other advertising platforms based on applications) ... The choice of colors obviously representing the shades of their logos without looking for a more occult analysis of the meaning of the color of opponents ;-)

In a word: they submit while grumbling.
 
Most social media platforms understand the relationship between their product and the Apple App Store. Even a company like Facebook, which has a strong international presence and only 15% of its users come from iOS, knows better than to poke the bear.
 
If it fights back, it exposes itself to retaliation from Apple that could, at worst, damage its business and, at best, negatively affect a large portion of its users.
 
While companies, such as Twitter, have expressed concerns about the loss of ad revenue due to the update, most social media platforms are making the necessary changes to align with Apple's new policy.
 
Here's how Twitter is preparing, here's Facebook' s plan, and here's how Google is helping you prepare. We'll continue to update this list as more companies share information and publish their recommendations.

If only we had a magic ball that could definitively answer this question. Unfortunately, the best and most honest answer to give at this time is: only time will tell.
 
What we can expect is changes in all the applications on our iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. Soon, apps will start asking us via a message whether or not we agree to have our data collected. This is in line with the "data nutrition" labels we started seeing earlier this year, requiring all app developers to present how their app collects and uses their users' data.
 
It seems fairly intuitive that, when prompted, the average person will choose not to share their information, and the implications of this change will likely be felt most by those who rely on data from these apps for advertising purposes.
 
What does this mean for a small business that currently uses Facebook or other social media platforms to advertise? Well, it means several things.
 
First, expect your targeted audiences to shrink, both on Facebook and in its broader audience network. If you're using data collected from Facebook app users to target your ads, such as location, age, or interests, you may need to broaden your focus to ensure the same size audience in the future.
 
In addition, expect attribution gaps. For example, if a customer discovers your website through an app on their iPhone (which they chose not to track), but later returns to their desktop and converts. It's likely that their first experience with your company will not be tracked or attributed to their purchase.
 
Second, expect delays in data reporting. Under the new policy, real-time reporting will no longer be supported, and companies could see a delay of up to three days.
 
Finally, expect limitations on ad creation. When creating new ads for app users, there will be restrictions on purchase options and the ability to bid on certain parameters.
 
To read a full analysis of how Apple's iOS 14 release could affect your ads and reporting, check out Facebook's Help Center post on the topic.

All of this may seem trivial, and, for the moment, it may well be. But, as noted above, it should be seen as the beginning of a much larger movement away from the way we use user data for advertising.
 
In the short term, it may be more difficult to target specific customers, track events from mobile or social media users, or accurately attribute conversions. But, assuming broader appeal in the future, this small step could lead to a significant change in the marketplace.
 
For example, Facebook expects this change to have dramatic effects on its audience network (its primary targeting engine). If that's the case, it's not hard to imagine a future where companies, like Facebook, choose to remove this feature altogether, dramatically reducing parity in the marketplace and empowering large companies with larger budgets who can afford to drench the market with less targeted ads, taking us back to the prehistory of the golden age of TV advertising in the middle of the last century.

Start auditing your current ad campaigns and identify the ones where detailed targeting is most important. As we begin to lose consumer data, we may need to adjust these campaigns to maintain the same returns as previous years.
 
To better comply with Apple's policy, companies have also made changes to their internal systems. Research how the companies you advertise with are preparing for these changes. For example, in the future, Facebook will only allow you to track a total of eight conversion events. If you are currently tracking more than that, it would be wise to reduce that number to the conversion events that really matter most.

Here are some other things to consider:
 

• Web site domains may need to be verified. This can be done by placing a special Facebook code on a website. Updates may be required, but this is not a major problem.

 

• The choices of conversion events may be limited. However, since we generally focus on a targeted set of conversion events, this should not be an issue for most (if not all) customers.
   
• Delayed Reports. Advertisers may experience a slight delay in conversion reports due to changes in the way clicks and purchases are recorded. The solution is quite simple: keep this lag in mind when evaluating ad performance.

 

• Custom Audiences. Custom audiences allow advertisers to find existing customers/leads among Facebook users (i.e., by targeting users who have visited a website in the last 180 days). Advertisers may see a decrease in the size of these audiences, which means adjusting targeting strategies.

 
 
Remember, this doesn't just impact your business, but all businesses that advertise on Facebook, so you won't be left behind as you adapt to these changes. And, as always, these are issues we can handle on your behalf, allowing you to focus on other things.
 
Regardless of where you stand in the Apple vs. Facebook debate, if Facebook is right, these changes may hit the small business market harder. As a small business owner or small business marketer, you'll want to make sure your business or customers are prepared for the upcoming changes to the advertising platforms you use. In our agency smartketing.ch / smartketing.eu , we are passionate about helping small and medium sized businesses and freelancers. We stay on top of these changes to identify the best ways to deal with them. In doing so, we can help you plan for these changes and ensure that your campaigns are built to the highest standards of privacy and security, while remaining effective for your business.
 

Our digital agency specializes in inbound marketing - an effective strategy that capitalizes on non-advertising content creation and uses blog posts, social media and other digital channels to attract and engage your target audience. Our team is skilled at using custom personalized content (text, images, videos), ad copy, e-books and other marketing materials to help grow your small business by helping you build your own audiences with or without advertising support.
 
As with all digital developments, we're taking stock of what this iOS 14 update means for our clients, and how we may need to adjust our strategies to ensure continued results. If you have any questions or would like help marketing your business and getting out of the gate, feel free to contact us via hello@smartketing.ch or schedule a free, no-obligation initial consultation online.

Unfortunately, I have seen many marketers provide very poorly written briefs to their agencies. For example, I have seen some briefs that are missing concrete business or marketing objectives, lack audience insights, or are too focused on the features of their product/service rather than the benefits to their customers. Worst of all, I have seen marketers provide no briefs at all.
 
The best briefs are insightful, provocative, and brief. When done right, all parties are clear on the deliverables, and it reduces the chance of misinterpretation and delayed timelines. In essence, a brief serves as a contract between the brand and the agency.
There are some variations between briefs but the key elements include the following:

What is the context for this particular project or campaign? Are you launching a new product? Do you see an opportunity for a new audience? Are there macro trends that you are trying to capitalize on? This helps the agency understand the reason for the campaign.

What realistic business objectives are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to become #1 in the category, gain x% market share, or achieve a certain number of subscribers? Remember these objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).

What marketing objectives are you aiming to achieve? These should ideally map back to the business objective. Are you shifting x% of marketing funds on awareness activities? Do you want to lower your cost per acquisition by $10? Like the business objectives, the objectives need to be SMART.

These are subordinate to the marketing objective and might include goals such as increasing awareness, acquiring or retaining customers, generating demand, or increasing loyalty and advocacy.

In this section, you should go beyond the demographic profile of your audience (e.g. male/female, age, education, income level, location) and include both psychographic traits (e.g. attitudes, values, personality, interests) as well as behavioral insights (e.g. how they think, feel, and act). Giving your agency a clear understanding of your target will help them in crafting a focused, relevant campaign that will engage your customers.

What is the one thing you want the campaign to communicate to your audience? If you were to imagine it as a headline in a top publication, what would it say? This is one of the hardest parts of the brief because we have a tendency to cram as many things as possible in the key message. However, the more focused and concise the message, the more memorable it will be.

This section is all about providing proof points for your key message. The benefits should be supported by the features of your products (i.e. techs and specs). Quite often, I see these two things reversed. In general, your customer doesn’t care about the features as much as how your product or service improves their lives.

Once your customer has seen your campaign, what do you want them to do next? It’s good to be intentional about the action you want the customer to take.
 

In this part of the brief, you’ll want to include the brand guidelines for the agency (i.e. logos, colors, fonts, style of imagery or illustrations, tone-and-manner) as well as any mandatories (e.g. include partner logo, size requirements). It’s best not to keep the agency guessing here.

With budgets, it’s always good to provide a realistic budget so that your agency doesn’t brainstorm a million-dollar campaign idea when you can only afford a fraction of that. It’s also a good idea to breakdown the budget into creative, production, and media so the agency knows how much they actually have to spend.

Include an approximate timing for the launch. I understand that we are always under tight timelines but we should still be fair. I have seen teams brief an agency and expect something in return in two days. It’s difficult for anyone to thoroughly research and create an entire campaign in a short period of time.

Here is a sample template that you can leverage. There are many different templates out there (Word, PPT, even video). Use the one that you prefer and tailor it to your specific industry/service/product. Just remember to cover all the key points.

Writing a brief is as much an art as it is a science, but the key is that the document forces you to be clear and concise.

2021 will be a competitive year for digital marketers; especially content marketers so here are some points that can help you in conquering the top position and dominating the content game.

COVID-19 has changed the perspective of individuals towards their online behaviour and product expectations. Consumers surely faced or are still facing adversities in their daily lives. So brands shall consider including the latest news and updates about novel coronavirus.
The content that they prepare shall have a more positive tone, and it should also notify them how the brand is affecting the new policies.

It is safe to say that COVID-19 has different effects on each section of society, so it is possible that every business’s unique target market might also be facing the different adversities of the pandemic.
The reason why you shall know this is to connect better with your audience, whether through social media, blogs, or more. You can include the tips for them to adjust better with the changes.

We all are well aware of how much witty and sarcastic social media posts have been shared and engaged with. But the pandemic has brought everyone to still and led individuals to be more serious than before and brands need to empathize with it.
The content, to be relatable, needs to have a strong and firm voice with emotions so consumers can know that brands are more than just engaging posts. Emotions also allow customers to connect with brands on an individual level.

Here we mean to react in real-time on insights as trends have been changing like anything. Consumers spending increased time on social media has led to trends changing faster than ever; something new already gets old in not more than two weeks of time.
This puts extra pressure on content creators, social media experts, and designers for making up with the pace at which content is being shared and produced.

It’s time to cater to each individual aspect of your audience/target market. Apart from the pandemic, this year also has been the year of inclusiveness and ignoring differences. So brands (especially B2C) shall be prepared with a content strategy that includes all types of individuals.
As smarketers, we think too hard about the content, and now one more point needs to be added in those thoughts and consideration is about the viewpoints of all types of individuals that form our audience/consumer.

• They are performing marketing day to day, not looking forward
• They have limited budgets so don’t see the point of a plan
• They are time-poor and it’s not a priority
• I’m a small business and that’s what big brands do

 
What’s interesting is that this list of reasons is actually why they SHOULD have a marketing plan, let me expand: 
 

1. They are marketing day to day, not looking forward

This is understandable and for those smaller startups that are essentially living off a local area Facebook Group, it has some merit. However, as soon as you are trying to grow your business and put forward a consistent, targeted message for customers and prospects alike, a marketing plan is essential.
A marketing plan will help you identify who you should be talking to, what you should be saying and how frequently you should be talking to them. Without this in place, your ‘day to day’ activity may be harming your brand and putting potential customers off — remember you only get one chance to make a first impression.
 
2. They have limited budgets so don’t see the point of a plan
Having a limited (or potentially zero budget) is NOT a reason to forgo a marketing plan, quite the opposite. When you have limited finances, you need to maximise that spend, so you must focus on the channels that will work for you, avoid wasted spend. The message needs to be spot on, as you cannot afford to have multiple attempts at attracting the same people, you need to make that first or second interaction work for you.
To do this, you need a clear strategy for the channels you will use, how you will talk to them and understand that different channels and segments have different needs.
It’s also vital you get your content and SEO strategy correct, as these are your best ‘free’ ways of attracting customers. A marketing plan is not just for brands with big budgets so they can decide how to spend them, its about making the most of the resources you have and how to allocate that spend accordingly.
The smaller the budget, the more important a marketing plan becomes.
 
3. They are time-poor and it is not a priority
Similar to the budget question, not having enough time makes having a marketing plan even more important. The small business owner does not have time to waste. They shouldn’t be putting effort into any activities that won’t deliver a return, whether that’s acquiring new customers or getting more spend from the existing ones.
Your marketing plan will tell you what channels to use, so you don’t waste time on channels that your audience is not using. So it is key to understand who your audience is, which is another key element of the marketing plan.
By having the brand mapped and understanding the messaging you want to use, you don’t waste time when putting live new campaigns, because all these elements are automatic. So much time is wasted by small business owners trying to work out these things each time they put a campaign live, but it can be avoided by having a marketing plan in place.
The other advantage of a marketing strategy on time-poor business owners is lowering the level of multitasking that occurs with each campaign. Studies show that multitasking reduces productivity by 40% because the brain cannot multitask. The proper term is really task switching and because we know it can take over 20 mins to focus on a new task, it’s easy to see why the focus of a marketing strategy saves business owner so much time.
 
4. I’m a small business and that’s what big brands do
This is the one reason (which I have heard far too often) that I push back on pretty hard. If you think that big brands have a monopoly on working properly, then you are shooting yourself in the foot and certainly not giving yourself the credit you deserve. The small businesses I know are more agile and innovative than so many big brands, I’d hate to think of them missing out on growing just because they took a regressive view on a marketing plan.
 
I would argue that because these big brands have such big budgets, you need a marketing plan even more. It will help you compete, it will enable you to focus on what you are great at, building a product that people want. A marketing plan is not designed to be a complex and unwieldy document (which it certainly can be for these big brands) but instead, a short and dynamic document that helps you focus your message, reiterate what makes you special and understand what you sell and to whom — can you afford not to do these basics?

If you are wondering what should be in your marketing strategy, it is not as complex as you might fear and is quite a simple document. It’s really important to note that your marketing plan should be a living document, one that you evolve as your business evolves.
 
But it should not be a large enterprise, as a business owner you have 101 things to complete and so it is important that your marketing plan is simple to create and maintain.
 
When deciding what should be in your marketing plan, let’s remember the key reasons any small business needs marketing
To be efficient with their time and money, so they don’t waste either on marketing efforts that don’t deliver results
 
To deliver results! Obvious but needs stating. This is not a document to make you feel good about yourself. You are not a marketing director that has to deliver this to the board. For a small business, this is a practical document that MUST help you increase sales from existing customers and drive more leads from new prospects.

Please don’t get hung up on the format, how you produce it or what it looks like. This is a working document for you, to make decisions quickly. It’s not to impress other people, so it can be a simple word document, Google docs, slide deck if that’s how you roll — whatever format you are happy writing in and using when you need to reference the document. The only key is that it is not too long and it is easy to get to the relevant points when you are looking to launch a campaign.
 

So what exactly should be in your marketing plan? If you search online for template marketing plans, you’ll find thousands, each one different and unfortunately, 99% are geared towards big brands and are written by people who don’t understand the realities of a small business.
 
Your marketing plan needs to be relatively short and targeted to the things that matter.
 

• Vision / Mission Statement 
  You must be clear about what you are trying to achieve as a business because this feeds into who you talk about yourself and who your target audience is.
   
• Marketing Objectives 
  What are you trying to achieve with marketing? 10% increase in leads? 25% more Facebook fans? Increase your engaged email list by 20%? Increase the lifetime value of your customers? It’s important to understand what you want the marketing to achieve, measure the output and refine your approach.

 

• SWOT Analysis / Why you? 
  Ultimately you need to be clear on why someone would choose to buy from your company. Without this, it is almost impossible to do successful marketing and expect a proper return on any investment, time or money.

 

• Who are you selling to?
   Using everything in the plan so far, you will now need to identify who your audience is, the people you sell to! You could just say ‘everyone’ but that is just madness to the small business because you don’t have time to tailor a message to everyone and market to all channels to cover everyone. You need to understand who you are selling to, so you can target your messaging and only market in the channels they use.

 

• Brand guidelines 
  A brand guidelines is a vital document that doesn’t just contain your logo, fonts and colour palette (it should include those too). It should also detail your brand values, its tone of voice and ultimately how you would like your customers to talk about you when you’re not ‘in the room

 

• A channel strategy 
  Having identified your audience, you use this to understand where that audience exists online an then focus just on those channels. The strategy should list the channels that matter to your audience and how you plan to interact on the channel. For example, if Facebook is a key channel for you, will you use local groups, specialised groups, invest in ads and if you do, what Facebook Audiences will you target.

 

• SEO and content strategy
   If you’ve established that your audience is going to be searching for you online you’re going to need to at least consider optimising your online presence for the search engines. This isn’t just about stuffing key phrases into your copy — it’s about considering the pages on your site and building out content that would be of genuine interest to your target audience.

 

• Sales funnel 
  It is important that your marketing plan talks to the sales funnel and the process of how people will buy from you. The success of your marketing will be judged by driving people into this funnel, so looking at its success, by channel, will be the ultimate for any marketing plan. 
   
• Optional extras

The above constitutes what I believe are the core elements of a marketing plan. Other elements could be added, but they very much depend on if you (a) have the time (b) you believe they add value and will ultimately help you achieve the business goals. For example, many businesses will perform Competitor Analysis. This will be useful if you have a lot of competition and it is important you know what they do, so you know how to differentiate yourself from them. The reasons for not performing one are pretty simple, either you have no direct competition or so many of them that trying to compare would be a waste of time, as it would provide too much information that you cannot use.

Please don’t waste time on a lovely executive summary. I see them on so many templates and I always wonder who they are for. Great if you’re a marketing director submitting a plan to a board where you know half of them won’t read the document and just want a summary. But you’re a small business owner, at best you might show this document to a couple of people and I’d expect them to read the whole document, not stop after an executive summary
Don’t include tactics. It’s a strategy. Marketing tactics are the output from your marketing strategy, not part of it. Your marketing strategy should not say ‘build a website’. That’s a tactic, not a strategy. The strategy will tell you what should be on a website, not to build one.
 
Don’t copycat your competitors. If you just copy what your competitors do, then what is special about you? The most important part of a marketing strategy is understanding what makes you special.
 
Hopefully, this gets you excited to pull together a Marketing plan for your business. If you’d like to read more about marketing for small businesses, please follow us at smartketing.ch and sign up to the newsletter on our website at https://en.smartketing.ch

The sooner you start your digital marketing campaign – the better. Everyone is in need of something to look forward to at the moment, so let’s look forward to Christmas! People may have mixed feelings about Christmas lights at the end of October, or Santa Claus Gifs been plastered on your social media. But this year, the festive season will be a warm welcome to those in need of some holiday cheer. People will be buying sooner this year as most of us have more time on our hands, and there may be delays in delivery times. It is important for SMEs to keep up with the holiday digital marketing campaigns of larger conglomerates – and starting the campaign early is crucial to competing.

It is so important for businesses, now more than ever, to embrace social media  as an essential marketing tool and to use it to the best of their ability. Much more than before the COVID-19 pandemic, People are spending more time on their phones, using new platforms such as Tik Tok and engaging much more with brands via their social platforms. Perhaps a 12 Days of Christmas social media campaign would help to get your followers in the festive spirit? Or a video campaign with a Christmas theme? Whichever idea you decide to go with, make it engaging, relevant and uplifting. Whether you’re using social media to pay for ads, collaborate with influencers or to improve the status of your own social accounts, make sure to stay active and have a plan in place. Begin your social media campaign today to be ready for Christmas.

Online shopping has skyrocketed since the pandemic began, which means that online Christmas shopping will be more popular than ever before. Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of supporting their local businesses and reports have shown that customers are happy to support local businesses who sell online. This means that you need to make sure your website is fully accessible to online shoppers, as if they experience any issues along the way, they may turn elsewhere. This is where your bailout rate is important – check where along the online purchasing process your customers are dropping out and this can help to improve your strategy and optimise your website. This is also an opportunity for businesses who currently do not sell online to jump into the world of ecommerce or offer a click and collect option – which is becoming increasingly popular with both small and large businesses. Contact smartketing.ch or smartketing.eu  if you are interested in turning your website into ecommerce.

Competitions are a great way of increasing your social engagement all year round – especially around the holidays. Giveaways can be great for businesses who were particularly affected by the pandemic such as hotels and restaurants. For hotels – offer a weekend away for two. For restaurants – offer vouchers (possibly with long expiration dates due to Covid). Giveaways can be great for retail businesses too. Perhaps give away a necklace to promote a new range of jewellery, or a hamper of Christmas sweets are treats. Whatever you decide to put up for grabs, make sure you conduct the competition in a way that will increase your social media engagement. For example, asking consumers to like, share and comment on an Instagram post in order to participate will increase the amount of exposure your brand is getting and will also improve your SEO ranking. Good quality social media competitions can often go viral, which exposes your brand to many more potential consumers – so make sure to give back to your customers this Christmas with an exciting competition!

While we may not be communicating with clients and customers the way we usually would at the moment, it is still important to offer as much customer support as we can online. Responding to emails, tweets and direct messages is crucial in maintaining good customer service, especially around Christmastime when shoppers can be busy and stressed-out. Answering customer queries promptly and effectively can be done with ease by using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Other functions such as chatbots or automatic responders on Facebook can be extremely useful to businesses who may not have the capacity to be dealing with a large number of customer queries. Whichever platform you use to communicate with, be sure to be polite and helpful as word gets around quickly about businesses that go the extra mile for their customers!
and more business online !

Christmas 2020 will be different. But don’t let that hinder your success when it comes to marketing your brand. Adjust your strategy, think positively and work with an open mind. With the right approach, anything can be achieved. If you are interested in standing your enterprise or your brand out from the crowd and developing online activities and online marketing contact our smartketing.ch  / smartketing.eu  digital marketing agency office in Switzerland or in the European Community. We are here to help you generating new