"The world is yours to explore" This saying has never been more true than in the past few years, due to the rise of digitalization, increased power of social networks, the lessening of barriers between countries, and international communication being at almost everyone's disposition. However, to do things really well, there are a few key points to take into consideration when addressing an international audience. At GoodBarber, we've taken on the challenge of making ourselves available to different markets all over the world, all while remaining based on our wonderful, but tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean. 

When setting up a social network strategy, the ultimate goal we are trying to reach is creating interaction with our audience. Appealing information that is widely spread by internet users is the meaning of buzz, and therefore synonymous with boosting visibility. Every community manager is on the quest for more shares, so we often test many types of posts and measure the results in order to understand which has the most impact on our audience depending on the industry we're working in. But let's be pragmatic, maybe first we should try to understand what is motivating us and all of our fellow viewers to share content on social networks—Facebook in particular.  This is the question posed by Neil Patel , co-founder of several American startups, including Quickspourt . 

If you have followed our advice up until now, you've surely created a blog for your business. But despite your efforts, maybe your results are still not where you'd like them to be? Time to take a look and figure out what's going on.

"Music exists to speak the words we can't explain" Music is a big part of our world—it's the universal language. Today, music plays an integral role in the strategy of many big-name brands, just like design, visual identity, or even marketing as a whole. The times when consumers were open eyes and ears, receptive to any old advertisement have passed, and now it's necessary to raise awareness amongst them and make them feel close to you all through focusing on their main interests. Music is one of the best ways to effectively reach your target, regardless of what your final goals are.  Here are a few things to take into account when building a music strategy:  

We have talked a lot about ways to market your app (advertising, social media, etc.) but the world of Public Relations has not been mentioned much. While the two go hand in hand, they are not quite the same—the goal of marketing efforts is to make a sale (or download in your case) and the end goal of PR is to build reputation, which can later be reflected in sales figures. You should include both in your promotion strategy to gain maximum recognition and notoriety.

More and more companies are beginning to implement digital strategies in order to organize their online presence. Today, all companies (even the small ones), can benefit from this type of strategy, but for those who have limited expertise and resources for carrying this out, here are 3 questions necessary to reflect upon in order to create the most pertinent and useful digital strategy for your business.

If you have an Apple Developer account, you should have received an email announcing the release of the new App Analytics available at no additional cost in your iTunes Connect account.  Devices operating with iOS 8 or later will be able to agree to send information on their app usage to Apple, who will generate reports concerning the user engagement, marketing campaigns, and monetization of your app. 

Convincing someone to buy your product is no easy feat, especially for brand new products that have little to no visibility in the market. If you are currently struggling with this dilemma, fear not—there are many things you can do to increase conversion rate and gain new clients. Today we are offering 6 simple tips for your marketing strategy that will help increase customer conversions and boost your sales according to the most popular theory in the marketing psychology field: Cialdini's Six Principles of Influence. Influence is all about psychology. Through many experimental studies, Robert Cialdini , a highly respected psychologist and psychology/marketing professor, found the 6 principles of influence that have helped many brands to understand the mind and strengthen their strategies according to high-potential sources of influence. Take a look at his findings and consider applying the Cialdini principles of influence to your marketing strategy.

Engagement is an essential part of the customer relation. Years ago, the consumers were simply absorbing advertising but those days are gone. As nowadays the credo is "customer comes first", his behavior has a huge impact on brand reputation. In today's world, a lot of commercial information are displayed, but the time dedicated to purchases is decreasing. Consumers can filter the information they receive, and choose the ones they really want to see. This process brings us to the following observation: if your communication is not attractive, it will not have any impact on your consumers, because they will not even see it. To overcome that obstacle, and give your message a chance to be heard, there are only two words to say: Consumer Engagement.    

Long term customer retention is definitely simpler in some industries than others. Many products and services strategically involve customer exit barriers, such as contractual agreements, high initial costs, fine print, and other ways of locking in the client. In other sectors, (the app marketplace for example, which is often described as competitive and even saturated) this is not quite the case, and some extra work is required to maintain content customers.   Even if your product is unique and of high quality, there will always be a multitude of competitors out there who have superior performance in at least one aspect and are ready to do all they can to capitalize on this and swoop in on your hard-earned customers. When there is no significant obligation or penalty preventing your clients from leaving, what’s stopping them from switching at any given moment? This is where the significance of investing in creating customer loyalty is apparent—neglecting this piece of your strategy can cause a great loss that will be a real struggle to recover from. Here are a few of the most common and detrimental mindsets that are huge drivers in destroying customer loyalty. 

Everyday we face thousands of decisions that can have a major or minor impact on our lives. We choose between products, brands, flavors, smells, landscapes, and even whether or not to take the risk of trying new products. This leads me to some pertinent questions: how is my product distinguished amongst so many similar ones? What are the most important factors for the decision maker? How do people react when facing a decision online? If you want your product to be a top contender in a purchase decision, you need to understand exactly how your consumers make choices online and what you must do to be a part of their choice. Today I'm going to help you understand the thought process of a consumer faced with a decision and what the primary factors are in that decision.   

The tourism market is very vast and contains a large number of sectors. Travel agencies, hospitality, transportation companies, local businesses, and more. Today we are also seeing new professions emerging, such as travel bloggers (professional or not), playing a considerable role in the tourism industry. We've said it before—we can't emphasize enough the importance of having an app in order to be successful in this sector. You just have to choose the proper tool to create the perfect tourism app. So, why choose GoodBarber?

A typical sequence of events when a company is first created normally begins with establishing the business along with a website, and allowing it time to get on its feet before incorporating supplemental “Add-ons”, such as an application. However, as we’ve said before: apps are no longer an optional, bonus feature, but are rather a must-have for any successful business. Perhaps waiting to create an app isn’t the most strategic choice, and maybe one should even consider it a preemptive step in the entrepreneurial process.  No need to wait around for the physical business to get under way—create the app now and gain traction for later on. 

Everyone knows that there is an extraordinary bond between children and their parents. It's strong, beautiful, and nothing (or almost nothing) can come between them...well let me tell you, it's also good for business! Why? Simply because if children are too young to be consumers, their parents have no problem doing it for them. And in this case, there are no feelings of guilt. They aren't consuming for themselves, but for the well being of their little ones, and that makes the difference.  The change today comes with the increasing emergence of technology gadgets for children. This market is undoubtedly growing, and the industry is finding more and more ways that represent children in terms of sales opportunities. Parents today are part of the generation that grew up with the Internet and technology, so it is natural for them to use these tools in educating their children. Wearable devices, mobile apps, or connected objects are all innovations that can be adapted to the childhood industry, and that can easily appeal to this new generation of parents due to three fundamental characteristics. 

Mobile devices have been seen as the bad guy in schools for quite some time now, and administration has fought long and hard to stop kids from bringing their beloved smartphones to class (I definitely endured a gloomy detention or two back in the day for texting during Calc). I think we can all agree that mobile devices can certainly play a negative role in school (they can be a major distraction, facilitate bullying/other inappropriate behaviors, the list goes on..), but the reality is that they are not going anywhere. Diane Barry, an 8th grade Spanish teacher describes prohibiting kids from using their phones as “an uphill battle that can never be won, but if kids can put aside their desire to text, check e-mail, and watch Netflix, mobile devices can be a great tool for everyone”. This is perhaps indicative of the fact that it’s time to start embracing smartphones and tablets in school and explore what kind of benefits they can offer in this previously controversial setting. The spread of technology is only going to increase, especially amongst youth, so if you can’t beat them, join them.

2015 will be a year full of important events and changes. The mobile market is growing faster than ever, and to make a name for yourself in this industry a lot of hard work and great ideas will be required.  Last week I asked my Beautiful Country Managers to make a list of the most exciting events coming in 2015. It's unnecessary (and impossible) to participate in all of them of course, but following them and staying informed about what's happening in the tech, mobile, and communication markets is imperative.  This information will help you to build your business and strengthen your presentation strategy.  Let's take a look at what's on the program for this year.   

Hello GoodBarbers, I'm Giacomo, I'm a strategic planner, and I work with a kind of unusual colleague: a chimpanzee that orbits in "digital" communication space. That is why my business is called Space Chimp Design  and it was founded with the purpose of transmitting a fundamental principle for me: There are no impossible projects (as it would have been impossible for a chimpanzee to be in space before 1961), the important thing is to always think that they are "#StrategicallyPossible".

Has your app been in poor health lately? Low percentage of downloads? Less traffic than before? No reviews in the stores? Perhaps your app has a weak immune system and could have a nasty case of “Lack of optimization”.

A few years ago, creating an app for one’s business was something only for the most dedicated of techies—it would surely set you apart from your competition, but it was nowhere in the realms of your customers’ automatic expectations. Nowadays, without an app you are easily set apart from your competition in the complete opposite direction; customers may not even bother with your company if it is not available to them through a smartphone-friendly channel. To further understand why having an app is a huge advantage to your business, and what you risk by not having one, read on. 

A huge trend of 2014, videos have become an unavoidable means of communication. Read on to find out why and how to use them efficiently... The video has the ability to greatly increase the popularity of a site, and there are many who can attest to this. The video is a multipurpose communication tool that proves to be pertinent to several stages of client relations: it encourages interactiveness and increases user engagement on sites.  Video content can also, under certain conditions, boost the SEO of your site.  In fact, a video has 53 times more of a chance of coming up on the first page of a Google search than written content does.  However, remember that only written characters are taken into account by Google search algorithms. To improve your SEO through a video, you will have to pay a lot of attention to the title, the description, and the key words you have chosen. If you take this criteria into account, your video should be able to considerably increase your visibility on the internet. To give you an idea of the super powers that video content has in strategic marketing, a study done by Forrester  revealed that "from this point on, an online video may have more of an impact than a 30 second television commercial". So, are you convinced by the considerable advantages that video content is offering us? Now we will have to develop a strategy that defines the type of video and the channels of communication that you should use.  What better way to enlighten you than to show you how we, at GoodBarber, have decided to use the video?

As there are 1.3 million apps available in the market, user engagement has become a key factor in the success of an application. Today, I'll show you how to achieve this engagement on social networks through five steps (Exist, Know, Offer, Identify, Award).  

Huge! Facebook is the largest online social network and according to Facebook stats has more than 1 billion monthly active users. Almost 90% of worldwide active users are using mobile phones to check their news feed, chat with friends and update their Facebook profile. There is no doubt that Facebook has conquered most of the world's internet users and brings to the table a great opportunity for brands, companies and entrepreneurs to launch their products with a low budget or even, for free. The mobile apps promotion are not an exception. In the last two years, Facebook has improved the advertising tools for mobile promotion, becoming more successful than conventional Facebook ads. The variety of advertising formats, the deep segmentation (gender, language, interests, behavior, connections, pages), and the placement of your ads on the News feed helps to increase the number of downloaded apps, the app's engagement and retention of app users. These facts also contribute to achieve a more relevant position through search tools of Google Play and Apple's App Store. But let's understand how it works in detail.

With the advent of mass production, mass advertising was invented too. In the 60s, the goal of most marketing strategies was just to get as much views of their ads as possible. Television spots and street posters were the most popular media because with those means of communication marketers could easily and quickly spread their message throughout the whole country. These were the days of glory for marketing agencies like the fictional Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in Madmen; these agencies could make big money with a poster and a catchy line directed to the general “frustrated housewives” category of consumers. The segmentation was mainly demografic: marketers based themselves on age, sex, income and such other general features... No need for me to tell you that their business model would never work today. It has become increasingly complex to segment a market in any sector. Also, the overload of marketing messages that consumers have been bombarded with over the last decades has made them much more insensible to any communication, so to reach them you really have to stand out. This is why it’s important to really know who you are targeting, so that you can give them something thats truly interesting.

Stefano Mongardi, an expert of Online Marketing who is also passionate about tech and innovation, tells us everything you need to know to implement a successful e-commerce business and stand out from the competition. Nowdays we're all quite practical with online purchases. We simply land on a website, scroll through the products, decide the best one for us and order it. Seems easy huh? So now you think: "Wow! ecommerce is exploding, let's open an online store and start selling our products worldwide! It's a piece of cake!". Well, actually it's not. Today the competition is fierce and if you want to bring an added value you either have to work really hard or spend a LOT of money to let people know about your great new ecommerce business. You may even have the coolest products in the world, but just being online doesn't mean you will right away get tons of visits and conversions without doing anything.  Most of the times when an ecommerce platform is created, people invest most of their time and budget setting up a PPC campaign on Google, Facebook and maybe even Twitter. The result is: you spend a lot of money and get a lot of vistas but most people won't come back to your website again. Why? Because you offer products and not added value. Don’t forget that your competitors offer the same or similar products. Unless you are the only person in the world selling that specific product, you have to give people some added value to convince them to buy from you and not someone else.