Digital Marketing from the Trenches : Live at the Hive

The long weekend is behind us, we only got one glorious day of perfect weather, but it was just enough for us bees to recharge and dig into some new and exciting topics. This week we’re looking at headless commerce and how small businesses can leverage social media as a sales channel. And we’re super eager and buzzing about our amazing guest this week, and can’t wait to share what she has been doing with her business online, so let’s just dive right in. Interview With Sofia Lustgarten Biaggini – Quinta Quinoa We’re excited to welcome Sofia Lustgarten Biaggini, the Business Development Manager of https://quinta.ca/. We’re talking about how they brought their business idea online, and how they have been navigating the new normal and what that looks like for their business. First off, what is Quinta Quinoa all about? Here’s the scoop, straight from the source: Quinta Quinoa is part of Quinta Local Superfoods Inc. in Ontario, specializing in growing gluten-free crops. Quinta Quinoa honours the ancient Inca history of quinoa and represents a major step forward in the local research and development of this SuperFood crop in North America. Quinta Quinoa varieties are grown using best practices by Canadian farmers focusing on local quinoa of the highest quality and purity, grown right here in Ontario. Watch or listen as we discuss how the sudden changes in the market impacted the business, and how being digitally prepared with Shopify and Amazon already set up was an incredible benefit that has helped them see huge gains in recent months. We talk about their experience with eCommerce and the tactics used to support online shopping, what challenges they’ve faced, and what advice they have for other local businesses who are curious about taking their business online. Check out the video at the top of the page, or subscribe to the podcast and take it on the go to get the full details of the interview. Headless Commerce and Social Selling What is headless commerce, you might be asking? It’s not as scary as it sounds, we promise. Quite the opposite, in fact. Simply put, it’s awesome. In more technical terms, it’s the separation of the customer-facing front end-user experience of a platform from the back end processes that manage all commerce functionality – so that the front end can be customized or personalized without affecting the back end processes. Traditionally, the front and back ends are tied together in an all-in-one system that was limited and difficult to change or customize. With headless commerce and the ability to separate, you can choose the best options for each system and then connect them together. It’s a strategy many retailers are using to accomplish a content-led online store. With the rising popularity of eCommerce and the fierce competition of customer acquisition online, headless commerce is a way of enhancing the digital experience by blending content and commerce. When half of mobile shoppers spend less than 3 minutes on an ecommerce site, you need to have something with the flexibility to be creative if you want to catch consumers’ attention. So, why Headless, and why now? Headless commerce opens up a world of possibilities for brands that are looking for content-led strategies, and there are really no limitations to the customizations in the digital eCommerce space. Recent times have been an example of what happens when you don’t have the ability to adapt quickly to change. If the preferences of your customer base change overnight, only a headless commerce platform is flexible enough to change with them. Headless Commerce vs. Traditional Ecommerce *         *         * Here are a few great articles that go more in-depth on headless commerce and its benefits:

With stage one of re-opening officially underway here in Ontario, many businesses are scrambling to get their doors open and to reach out to their audience to let them know. This week we’re taking a look at some strategies for social storytelling and tactics for how to break through the noise on social media, as every business is reaching out to their audience at the same time. What are some challenges you’ve been finding? What strategies have been working for you? Join in the conversation and share your experiences with us! Subscribe if you’d like to stay up-to-date and be notified when our new content drops – we have weekly live streams on Facebook and podcasts you can take on the go. What is Social Storytelling? For years we’ve been inundated by aggressive marketing, with the focus blatantly on promotion and selling. Things have changed. Marketing has evolved. Social media allows consumers to communicate directly with brands, and the focus of marketing has shifted to an emotional appeal with goals ranging from community building to brand awareness, by simply telling your audience what your brand is all about. Social media storytelling can come in so many different shapes and sizes, and can be drastically different, depending on the platform you’re engaging with. For example, if your audience is on Instagram (or Pinterest), you’ll want to tell your brand story with beautiful, curated imagery. On Facebook you’ll want to take a casual, community-minded tone, tell relatable lifestyle, human stories, and share captivating imagery or informative videos. What’s New We’ve scoured the internets for some juicy tidbits of knowledge and have compiled a list of great reads about social media storytelling and different strategies you can use for inspiration and insights. Let’s dive in. * https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/how-to-tell-a-story-on-social-media/ – Some really great insights by the social media master of genuine storytelling, https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/. He talks about our on-demand culture, Hollywood vs social media storytelling, and the most valuable commodity to us all and how we spend it – time. * https://neilpatel.com/blog/how-to-leverage-storytelling-to-increase-your-conversions/ – Another great thought leader we love here at the Hive is https://neilpatel.com/. In this blog post he talks extensively about the art of storytelling, content segmentation, how audience engagement can define your brand, and how to use storytelling to increase conversions. * https://sproutsocial.com/insights/brand-storytelling/ – This article talks about the importance of knowing your audience, how to create resources that relate to your brand to use as content to share, using content from your community, and giving back. * https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/social-media-storytelling – This article has a ton of great content on the nature of storytelling, with insights into the different approaches of social media storytelling, breaking down the distinct voices for the most popular platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. * https://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/brand-storytelling-examples/

As the weather gets warmer and we get closer to the next stage of this new normal, our busy bees at the Hive have been collecting delicious tidbits of helpful information that we want to share with all small businesses. How are businesses making the move to adapt to the new normal? What promotional/social calendars could help small businesses? Getting back to the new normal involves more than just switching on the lights and providing masks. How can small businesses do this successfully? We get it. We know you have lots of questions, and we’re here to help you answer them! So let’s dive in. Plan For The Rush. We’re all a little anxious to get back to normal, but how do we adapt and make the required changes, so we get back to business safely? 1. https://fortune.com/2020/05/01/business-reopen-economy-coronavirus-new-normal/ 2. https://www.clickz.com/three-steps-to-prepare-for-the-post-covid-19-business-world/261265/ 3. https://www.marsh.com/us/insights/research/reopening-for-business-in-a-post-coronavirus-world.html 4. https://www.bdo.ca/en-ca/insights/industries/retail-consumer-business/planning-for-the-post-covid-19-retail-world/ 5. https://www.ey.com/en_ca/transactions/companies-can-reshape-results-and-plan-for-covid-19-recovery   What’s New? With all the changes happening, businesses are busy coming up with new and creative ways to help all of us navigate through this new frontier. We’ve rounded up some of the top stories of new products, services, and business models being developed and inspired by the changes we’re all facing. https://marketingland.com/shopify-launches-post-covid-pos-yelp-rolls-out-omnichannel-tools-for-smbs-279252 With all the changes happening, businesses are busy coming up with new practices and new innovative products to help navigate through this new frontier, as we all look forward to the re-opening of our communities and businesses. Let’s take a look at some new innovations hitting the market: https://marketingland.com/shopify-launches-post-covid-pos-yelp-rolls-out-omnichannel-tools-for-smbs-279252 A great article on changes in the e-commerce world, with POS technology and new Omnichannel tools for SMB’s, as businesses shift toward deeper integration between online and offline operations. *         *         * https://www.business2community.com/branding/how-brand-narrative-has-evolved-globally-during-covid-19-and-the-way-forward-02309918 https://www.business2community.com/branding/how-brand-narrative-has-evolved-globally-during-covid-19-and-the-way-forward-02309918This article introduces a 3 phase plan to guide businesses to the new normal, answering some hard hitting questions, such as: How have some of the top brands across the world coped up with this crisis so far to stay relevant yet sensitive to their consumers? And, more importantly, has it worked? What should be the brand narrative going forward?

There are amazing examples of businesses of all sizes being creative, pivoting and in some cases entirely redefining themselves in an incredible way. In our first podcast episode Dan, Matt and Miguel discuss what's and what's working in the world of Digital Marketing.