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INSERT INTO `articles` VALUES (6,'Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing: Why is Inbound Better','Traditional outbound marketing is losing its attractiveness in recent years – vs inbound marketing. Here is a detailed comparison of the two approaches.','01.jpg','image/jpeg',206453,'2017-08-12 13:04:14','<p>Traditional marketing involves many different ideas and techniques such as sending out emails to long lists of people, attending trade shows, cold calling, and so on. All these traditional methods have one thing in common; they&rsquo;re a form of outbound marketing. This is any marketing technique that involves you trying to shout out about your company/message. In years gone by, this was highly effective.</p><p><br></p><p>These days, there&rsquo;s a new player on the scene called inbound marketing. This idea revolves around the concept of drawing people into your business and getting found by consumers. It&rsquo;s a very popular concept, and more and more companies are advised to prioritize inbound over outbound marketing.</p><p><br></p><p>But, why?&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>To understand this shift to inbound marketing, we need to look at some of the major drawbacks of outbound marketing in the modern world.</p><p><br></p><h2><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Disadvantages Of Outbound Marketing</span></span></h2><p><br></p><p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">One of the biggest drawbacks of outbound marketing today is that consumers find it much easier to block your attempts. In the past, you could spam email lists with promotional emails and have a fairly high success rate. Now, people have spam filters that prevent them from even seeing some marketing emails. Likewise, all telephones have caller ID which makes cold calling ineffective. Consumers are sick and tired of being bombarded with marketing material and have adapted to filter it all out.&nbsp;</span></span></p><p><br></p><p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Secondly, the internet came along and changed the way consumers participate. Nowadays, all it takes is a quick look online to find all the information you need on a product. You can watch product demonstration videos and view all the specs without leaving your room. So, fewer people are heading out to business events to gain this info.</span></span></p><p><br></p><h2><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-310b70f7-a816-fa7b-25f0-6a176b56b465\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">Benefits Of Inbound Marketing</span></span></span></span></h2><p><br></p><p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-310b70f7-a816-fa7b-25f0-6a176b56b465\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">To do this, you need to create a website and use it as a portal for people to come to and find all the info they need. You should work on making your website more visible in search engines by optimizing it and getting it up the search rankings. Use social media and blogs to reel consumers in and allow them to find your business on their terms.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></p><p><br></p><p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-310b70f7-a816-fa7b-25f0-6a176b56b465\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">It&rsquo;s crucial that marketers and businesses learn to adapt to consumer demands. These days, people hate being bombarded with marketing material, it&rsquo;s too forceful, they&rsquo;re tired of it and ignore it. Instead, they like being the ones in control, they like searching for information and finding companies themselves.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></p><p><br></p><p><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">What you have to do is become a magnet that attracts the right people to your business. Inbound marketing leads to a higher conversion rate as the people that find your business is going to be interested in it, or they wouldn&rsquo;t be searching for relatable keywords! So, not only do you generate more leads, but you convert more of them into customers.</span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></p><p><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-9710f00e-a814-200b-b3a8-527506ddba5e\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span id=\"docs-internal-guid-310b70f7-a816-fa7b-25f0-6a176b56b465\"><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\">In this manner, keeping customer engagement in mind, you can formulate a stringent Inbound strategy that can help your business get found and stand apart from the masses.</span></span></span></span></p><p><br></p><p><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><span><span style=\"vertical-align: baseline;\"><br></span></span><br></span></span></p><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><p><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c\" id=\"hs-cta-94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"></div><![endif]--><a href=\"https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2627927/94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"hs-cta-img fr-fic fr-dii\" id=\"hs-cta-img-94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" height=\"206\" width=\"597\" src=\"https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2627927/94e24c10-3daa-482a-b9c2-aed542cc713c.png\" alt=\"Download the Buyer Persona eBook\"></a></span></span></p><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->',NULL,'Karthik Kashyap','Active','inbound-vs-outbound-marketing-why-is-inbound-better','2017-08-03 11:47:29','2017-12-06 14:03:54',3,'Inbound Marketing',2,'Awareness','Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing: Why is Inbound Better','Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing: Why is Inbound Better | 7EDGE','Traditional outbound marketing is losing its attractiveness in recent years – vs inbound marketing. Here is a detailed comparison of the two approaches.','Inbound Vs Outbound Marketing: Why is Inbound Better | 7EDGE','Traditional outbound marketing is losing its attractiveness in recent years – vs inbound marketing. Here is a detailed comparison of the two approaches.','7E-OG-InboundVsOutbound.png','image/png',81302,'2017-11-13 12:53:46','4 Min Read',12,1),(7,'Key Inbound Marketing Tactics to Run Successful Campaigns','Digital marketing campaigns require a lot of hard work and can be challenging. Here are the best inbound marketing tactics that can help solve key challenges. ','02.jpg','image/jpeg',186855,'2017-08-12 13:05:02','<p name=\"10i2\">Digital marketing campaigns require a lot of hard work and effort. Consequently, you want to ensure yours is successful. To do this, it&#39;s important to understand the many challenges that crop up during a campaign and how to solve them. This is where inbound marketing comes into play, as it can be used to solve a lot of the issues and drive your campaign towards success.</p><p name=\"10i2\"><br></p><p name=\"fny1t\">Below, we&rsquo;ve listed some common challenges and how you can get by them:</p><p name=\"fny1t\"><br></p><p name=\"ugzm8\"><strong>Finding A Target Audience</strong><strong>:&nbsp;</strong>The first challenge is finding your audience. You need to find the right audience, as it dictates how you go about the rest of your campaign. Research your industry, look at your company and figure out the key demographic that will be most interested in your business. Now, you have the framework for a campaign that&rsquo;s built to appeal to a certain audience, and increase engagement.</p><p name=\"ugzm8\"><br></p><p name=\"2jlxi\"><strong>Generating Leads:&nbsp;</strong>Lead generation is always a challenge, particularly in the competitive online world. A lot of businesses spend money on online adverts or traditional email marketing. While these ideas can work, they&rsquo;re not amazingly effective at generating lots of quality leads. Instead, focus on inbound ideas like SEO, content creation, and social media. With <a data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/search-engine-optimization\" href=\"/search-engine-optimization-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">SEO</a>, focus on certain keywords that are relevant to your business website. These are keywords your target market is likely to be searching for. Then, adapt your site to include these keywords in its content, page titles, headers, meta descriptions, etc. With good keyword density, you&rsquo;ll move your website up the search rankings meaning you&rsquo;re one of the first sites to appear when your target market is searching for these keywords. So, there&rsquo;s an increased likelihood they&rsquo;ll click your link and find your site.</p><p name=\"2jlxi\"><br></p><p name=\"3kywq\">You should also use social media to connect with your target market and direct them to your site. Along with this, creating content via blogs also helps you use keywords and draw in the right audience. With an inbound approach, your campaign is built around drawing in the right audience, helping you generate quality leads that are easier to convert.</p><p name=\"3kywq\"><br></p><p name=\"gcle1\"><strong>Competing With Rivals:&nbsp;</strong>Another challenge you face is competing with your rivals for your leads. As such, it&rsquo;s vital you study your competition and analyze their performance. Make a list of your top competitors for certain keywords in search engines, then look at what they&rsquo;re doing well. By doing this, you can adapt your campaign to do everything your rivals are doing, as well as including ideas that they&rsquo;re missing out on.</p><p name=\"mys3f\">Engaging Your Audience We mentioned the importance of finding your target audience earlier on. Well, it&rsquo;s vitally important that you keep them engaged or your campaign won&rsquo;t have the desired effect. To do this, you need to focus on <a data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/content-marketing\" href=\"/content-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">content marketing</a>. It&rsquo;s one of the best forms of inbound marketing and is focused on creating great content that your audience enjoys and can engage with. With great content, you keep people interested and make your campaign live longer in their memory.</p><p name=\"mys3f\"><br></p><p name=\"ecdu\">As you can see, if you adopt the inbound approach and focus on doing things that attract the right people to your business, your campaign will be far more successful. You&rsquo;ll get over the biggest hurdles and have a campaign that engages a target audience and helps generate quality leads that could be easily converted.</p>',NULL,'Karthik Kashyap','Active','key-inbound-marketing-tactics-to-run-successful-campaigns','2017-08-03 13:02:06','2017-12-08 14:54:20',3,'Inbound Marketing',1,'Consideration','Key Inbound Marketing Tactics to Run Successful Campaigns','Key Inbound Marketing Tactics to Run Successful Campaigns | 7EDGE','Digital marketing campaigns require a lot of hard work and can be challenging. Here are the best inbound marketing tactics that can help solve key challenges.','Key Inbound Marketing Tactics to Run Successful Campaigns | 7EDGE','Digital marketing campaigns require a lot of hard work and can be challenging. Here are the best inbound marketing tactics that can help solve key challenges.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',17,3),(9,'How to Choose the Best Programmatic Buying Platform','How do you choose which programmatic buying platform is going to be the right choice for your business? Here we present a few options based on some key factors.','05.jpg','image/jpeg',209053,'2017-08-12 13:06:35','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"axzq\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/internet-first/martech/an-introduction-to-programmatic-media-buying\" href=\"/blog/elucidating-internet-first-approach-to-programmatic-advertising\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Programmatic media buying</a> can help you to get your adverts seen by the most important people. But how do you choose which programmatic media buying platform is going to be right for your business? There are various factors and variables that you will need to keep in mind when you&rsquo;re choosing which of them to use. You can learn more about those factors, as well as some of the options that are out there, by reading the information below.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"j5u9c\"><strong><br></strong></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"eidjb\">What Are the Important Things to Consider When Looking for a Platform?</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0i21n\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"58h2\">One of the first things you should think about is how many inventory providers you want to use. If you want to use many, it will make more sense to opt for a customizable platform. Next, you should decide where you want your online adverts to appear. If you&rsquo;re happy with a general inventory pool, then a turnkey platform will be fine for your business&rsquo;s needs.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ifb2a\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ra1p\">Some platforms are better than others when it comes to targeting a specific audience. You will need to remember this when you&rsquo;re choosing which is best for you. For businesses that want to target people precisely and accurately, a platform like Doubleclick Bid Manager is considered best. That&rsquo;s because it has an onboard list of existing customers that can be used from your CRM. Third party data can also be used to enhance targeting.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"nlofm\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"31lrd\">Different platforms offer different tools. You will need to assess each of the options and decide which of them is going to be best at offering you the tools that you think you&rsquo;re going to need. This is something that will be different for every business out there, so think very carefully.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"31lrd\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"kj8lj\">The Options</h2><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"j4f2t\">AppNexus</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"rftu\">AppNexus has decent targeting capabilities, and the budget pacing feature means that you shouldn&rsquo;t accidentally spend more than you want to. However, the user interface that you will have to interact with is not the best. And the customer service is lacking slightly compared to other options.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zvvvj\">Doubleclick Bid Manager</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"41y1d\">As mentioned above, Doubleclick Bid Manager is a very good platform for businesses that want to target very specific groups of people with their ads. So, if targeting is your number one priority right now, this is probably the one you should opt for. It can also be customized, meaning you will have more control and flexibility.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l43f\">DoubleClick for Campaign Manager</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ghi5e\">Doubleclick for Campaign Manager is different to Bid Manager. It helps you to simplify how your campaigns are run, and you are then better able to stay in control. If media planning and reporting are the things that are most important to you, this rather than Bid Manage is the platform for you.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"asebp\">Adobe Media Optimizer</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"1hbbp\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/internet-first/martech/how-adobe-media-optimizer-can-help-you-realize-more-roi-out-of-your-media-buying-efforts\" href=\"/blog/how-adobe-media-optimizer-helps-realize-ad-buying-roi\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Adobe Media Optimizer</a> is useful if you want to track data closely and ensure that your media buying efforts are turning out as you planned. You can manage your spending and make continual tweaks and improvements to your strategy. The accuracy reporting feature is something many users find very helpful.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"kkbh\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"jrcfh\">Now that you have all the information you need, you can choose and deploy a platform that aligns with your business goals.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Karthik Kashyap','Active','how-to-choose-the-best-programmatic-buying-platform','2017-08-03 13:18:55','2017-12-07 09:49:45',2,'Programmatic Media Buying',1,'Consideration','How to Choose the Best Programmatic Buying Platform','How to Choose the Best Programmatic Buying Platform | 7EDGE','How do you choose which programmatic buying platform is going to be the right choice for your business? Here we present a few options based on some key factors.','How to Choose the Best Programmatic Buying Platform | 7EDGE','How do you choose which programmatic buying platform is going to be the right choice for your business? Here we present few options based on some key factors.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',13,1),(10,'How Adobe Media Optimizer Helps Realize Ad Buying ROI','Everyone wants to get as much return as possible from their media buying efforts. Here we explain how Adobe Media Optimizer helps you realize maximum ROI.','06.jpg','image/jpeg',189739,'2017-08-12 13:06:55','<p dir=\"ltr\">If you are about to undertake some new media buying efforts, it makes sense to start using Adobe Media Optimizer. The reason for this is that it can help you to maximize your return on investment (ROI) out of your media buying efforts. Everyone wants to get as much return as possible, so it makes sense to think very carefully about this. Here are some of the best examples of how Adobe Media Optimizer can help you do exactly that.</p><p><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">It Helps You to Spend Your Budget in a Strategic Way</h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Efficiency is important when it comes to planning your budget on media buying. You will never succeed in getting more ROI if your money is not spent in an efficient manner. This is one of the things that Adobe Media Optimizer is best at doing for you. On top of that, it can ensure that your money&#39;s always spent in a strategic way. Rather than wasting money on techniques that are not as clever or as efficient as you want them to be, the platform will help you do things differently and achieve success in media buying.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">It Has an Accuracy Reporting Feature</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Accuracy reporting is one of the best features that the platform has to offer its users. If you are struggling to decide how to spend your online advertising budget, the accuracy reporting function will help you with that. It&rsquo;s not just focused on telling you where to spend that budget, though. It can help you to spend it at the right time as well. In many ways, this is something that is just as important as where you spend it. This is something that the people behind Adobe Media Optimizer understand very well. Actionable findings can then be reported to you to help you get your approach right.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">You Can Track Your Campaign Performance</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Once your campaign is underway, you need to be able to track it and its performance. If you can&rsquo;t get this part of the process right, you will never fully understand how your campaign is doing. You&rsquo;ll also not know what your business needs to do better in order to succeed and get maximum ROI out of your media buying efforts. The platform aims to help you see the bigger picture, which includes understanding how customers are interacting with your brand online. All this information is vitally important if you want to improve and advance your efforts.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">It Helps You to Provide Content to Relevant Audiences</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">The most important part of all this is delivering the right and best content to your relevant target audience. If you don&rsquo;t do that, you will clearly never see positive ROI, which is not what you want. If you do decide to start using Adobe Media Optimizer, you will be able to make sure that your adverts only get to the people that matter. Importantly, you can continually test and examine the relevancy of the audiences that you are targeting. By doing this, you will maximize your efforts and ensure you find real success.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Now that you are well-aware about the benefits of Adobe Media Optimizer, you can effectively redefine your media buying strategy and realize maximum ROI.</p>',NULL,'Prasant Roy','Active','how-adobe-media-optimizer-helps-realize-ad-buying-roi','2017-08-03 13:26:25','2017-12-06 14:04:18',2,'Programmatic Media Buying',2,'Decision','How Adobe Media Optimizer Helps Realize Ad Buying ROI','How Adobe Media Optimizer Helps Realize Ad Buying ROI | 7EDGE','Everyone wants to get as much return as possible from their media buying efforts. Here we explain how Adobe Media Optimizer helps you realize maximum ROI.','How Adobe Media Optimizer Helps Realize Ad Buying ROI | 7EDGE','Everyone wants to get as much return as possible from their media buying efforts. Here we explain how Adobe Media Optimizer helps you realize maximum ROI.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',16,1),(11,'What is Programmatic Advertising and Marketing','If you are in the digital marketing space, you would most probably know what programmatic advertising is. Here we explain it to you in detail.','04.jpg','image/jpeg',128784,'2017-08-12 13:06:09','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"f5ztv\">If you work in advertising or know anything about media buying, you will probably have heard of <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-media/programmatic-media\" href=\"/programmatic-advertising-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">programmatic media</a> buying. It&rsquo;s a term that gets thrown around a lot without many people actually having an in-depth understanding of what it&rsquo;s all about. It&rsquo;s time that you learned about the meaning and the practices behind the buzzword. Read on now if you want to do exactly that.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"f5ztv\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"ot6ol7\">What is Programmatic Media Buying in Basic Terms?</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"od0u\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"od0u\">To put it simply, programmatic media buying is when technology is used to automate and optimise online ad buying. The process can be long and complicated, not to mention repetitive, when you try to do it without the use of technology. But many companies are not choosing to use programmatic media buying to their advantage. A simple example of this is AdWords. It uses algorithms, not humans, to get results for the businesses that use it.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"od0u\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"v8cxk\">Targeting Specific Individuals</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ydvip\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ydvip\">Having already mentioned AdWords, it&rsquo;s vital to discuss targeting. These days, businesses want to target specific groups and people and demographics with their adverts. They don&rsquo;t just want to throw them out there in front of lots of people because many of them won&rsquo;t have any interest in what&rsquo;s being offered. Targeting customers is so much easier when programmatic media buying is used. Highly targeted adverts can be put in front of the individuals most likely to be interested in buying what your company has to offer.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ydvip\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"5nzje\">Programmatic Direct</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uypc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uypc\">There are two main types of programmatic media buying; the first of them is programmatic direct. This form of ad buying does not use auctions. Instead, as the name suggest, it&rsquo;s a direct ad buying process. This is when an inventory is guaranteed or reserved, so the buyer of the ad space and the publisher fix all of the terms in advance. This refers to both the price of CPM as well as the scale of the inventory. There are no real-time auction purchases involved at any stage.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"vxiom\">Programmatic RTB</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mcrfk\">Programmatic RTB is the more common and more widely-used method of media buying out there at the moment. RTB stands for real-time bidding. A demand-side platform is used to bid for advertising that can be used by the company wanting to place adverts online. The publisher is attracted to this kind of arrangement because it allows them to sell remnant inventory. But this is now changing as premium inventory is being sold on these platforms too. It&rsquo;s all automated and is done very quickly.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"po48a\">Why All this Matters &amp; What it Means for the Future</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wml7\">Programmatic media buying matters because it&rsquo;s more transparent and open than other forms of media buying solutions. It levels the playing field while helping advertisers reach their target audience in no time at all. Perhaps most importantly, programmatic media buying is very cost effective for advertisers, meaning they can save money at the same time as improving their advertising setup. It&rsquo;s something that is currently on the rise, and many people believe that programmatic media buying is the future of all online advertising.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"ee9ql\"><br></p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20','Prasant Roy','Active','what-is-programmatic-advertising-and-marketing','2017-08-03 13:30:47','2017-12-06 14:04:07',2,'Programmatic Media Buying',1,'Awareness','What is Programmatic Advertising and Marketing','What is Programmatic Advertising and Marketing | 7EDGE','If you are in the digital marketing space, you would most probably know what programmatic advertising is. Here we explain it to you in detail.','What is Programmatic Advertising and Marketing | 7EDGE','If you are in the digital marketing space, you would most probably know what programmatic advertising is. Here we explain it to you in detail.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',6,2),(12,'How Cloud-based digital marketing is Rapidly Booming','Since the cloud-based technology was first used, it has changed the way enterprises do business. Here we see how cloud infrastructure is changing the digital marketing space.','07.jpg','image/jpeg',78158,'2017-08-12 13:07:18','<p name=\"xmv08\">Since cloud technology was first used it&rsquo;s changed the way we&rsquo;ve done a lot of things. There are many benefits of cloud computing and using a cloud infrastructure to manage your workload. What this article will address is the relationship between cloud infrastructures like Amazon Web Services and the marketing space.</p><p name=\"b5vb\"><br>Specifically, we want to look at the different ways the cloud is changing the world of <a data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing\" href=\"/digital-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">digital marketing</a>:</p><p name=\"b5vb\"><br></p><h2 name=\"h4vl\">Scalable Digital Marketing Campaigns</h2><p name=\"9giim\"><br></p><p name=\"9giim\">All digital marketers work tirelessly to make their campaigns work. They put in hours and hours to try and drive more traffic to a specific website or web page. The main struggle is learning how to cope with large streams of incoming traffic. You have to have servers in place to deal with the extra activity, but you don&rsquo;t know exactly when you can use them. But, with cloud software like AWS, you have the ability to auto-scale your campaigns. By using auto-scaling cloud software, your website will be ready for the incoming traffic and can handle it so easily ensuring everything runs smoothly.&nbsp;</p><p name=\"9giim\"><br></p><h2 name=\"mr7h\">Easier Management Of Sales Cycles</h2><p name=\"lqnn\"><br></p><p name=\"lqnn\">It used to be a chore trying to keep track of all the different sales cycles happening at one time. Previously, you&rsquo;d use regular spreadsheet software to try and keep tabs on everything. Now, cloud-based programs like Amazon Web Services mean you can use spreadsheet software in the cloud. This allows you to manage your sales cycles from anywhere at any time as you can access the spreadsheets via the cloud. Consequently, productivity is greatly improved.</p><p name=\"lqnn\"><br></p><h2 name=\"5s419\">Better Analytics Opportunities</h2><p name=\"8y2bi\"><br></p><p name=\"8y2bi\">Cloud-based software has opened a whole world of opportunities for analytics in marketing campaigns. You can use cloud-based software to analyze things in real-time, which is such a benefit for digital marketers. It means you get to see site stats and traffic numbers as they happen. As a result, things can be spotted extremely quickly meaning you can alter your campaign and scale it to make it even better. For example, you could use real-time analytics and find out that you&rsquo;re getting loads of traffic from one source and not a lot through another. Therefore, you know it&rsquo;s right to really push the profitable traffic source and direct more resources there.</p><h3 name=\"12x36\">Support Across Different Channels&nbsp;</h3><p name=\"12x36\"><br></p><p name=\"12x36\">When digital marketing first came on the scene, it was confined to web-based campaigns only. Now, people are using all manner of devices to surf the web, and digital marketing needs to adapt. Cloud infrastructure makes this possible by offering support across lots of different channels such as mobile, etc. You can access the cloud on any device and use it to create campaigns for any device too. This greatly increases your exposure and means your marketing campaigns are seen by larger audiences.</p><p name=\"zgp7\"><br></p><p name=\"qcats\">Cloud-based software such as AWS has helped change the dynamic of digital marketing. Now, it&rsquo;s a lot easier to create scalable campaigns across multiple devices thanks to the wealth of software available. Campaigns are better managed too, meaning there&rsquo;s a greater chance of success if you use the cloud to your advantage.</p>','2017-10-20','Prasant Roy','Active','how-cloud-based-digital-marketing-is-rapidly-booming','2017-08-03 13:37:51','2017-12-06 14:03:35',1,'Cloud Computing',3,'Awareness','How Cloud-based digital marketing is Rapidly Booming','How Cloud-based digital marketing is Rapidly Booming | 7EDGE','Since the cloud-based technology was first used, it has changed the way enterprises do business. Here we see how cloud infrastructure is changing the digital marketing space.','How Cloud-based digital marketing is Rapidly Booming | 7EDGE','Since cloud-based technology was first used, it has changed the way enterprises do business. Here we see how cloud infrastructure is changing the digital marketing space.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',19,4),(13,'Comparison Between the Industry\'s Leading Cloud Platforms','With so many cloud vendors out there, it’s important to make the right choice and use the best one. Here we make a comparison of the three prominent cloud platforms','08.jpg','image/jpeg',86542,'2017-08-12 13:07:40','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"5cnun\">With so many cloud vendors out there, it&rsquo;s important you make the right choice and use the best one. At the moment, Amazon Web Services is out in front as the best cloud vendor on the market. It&rsquo;s reporting increases in revenue and a huge profit increase too.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"95y9\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0ut6\">But, what makes it the better option compared to other big cloud vendors such as Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure? In this article, we pit AWS against these other two vendors to see just why it comes out on top.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0ut6\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"tilmb\">Computing</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jokq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jokq\">All three vendors have computing services that people can use. AWS&rsquo;s Elastic Compute Cloud is by far the most complete and extensive computing service out of the three vendors. It gives you the chance to create your own virtual machines that are either preconfigured or full customized to your desires. It also allows auto-scaling, which is very important as it leads to fewer disruptions and means your computing service scales to your demands automatically.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jokq\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"c2p2\">Storage</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"m5irj\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"m5irj\">Storage is perhaps what most people think about when they see the words &lsquo;cloud software&rsquo;. Naturally, you want a service that can store a lot of data, securely. AWS has something called Simple Storage Service that allows you to store loads of data and documents in the cloud. It&rsquo;s been running for far longer that Google&#39;s Cloud Storage and Microsoft&#39;s Azure Storage. As a result, it&rsquo;s more reliable and far more extensive. There are even free webinars, articles and tutorials that come with the service.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"m5irj\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"v03nt\">Analytics</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"lbjc7\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"lbjc7\">Analytics is very important when you&rsquo;re looking for a good cloud vendor. Ideally, you want something that handles big data and can analyze things in real-time too. While Google has a lot of products that are useful for handling big data, Amazon EMR (a product of AWS) is a great choice if you want a fast and cost-effective framework to analyze lots of data in real-time. Not only this, but you can also run many of the most popular frameworks like Apache Spark and Presto in EMR too. It&rsquo;s a complete analytics service and offers more variety than Google and Microsoft.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"lbjc7\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"j7h7h\">Data Center Locations</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2y9q\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2y9q\">You might not think the data center locations are that big of an issue, but they can be. The closer they are to your base of operations, the better it is. If you want the best user experience, then you&rsquo;ll need to have access to data centers that are relatively close, to minimize latency. Amazon Web Services has by far the most data center locations all over the world. Azure is second, and Google third.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"q7jni\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"xtpb9\">As you can see, AWS comes out on top in every category, and it&rsquo;s easy to see why. Amazon launched their service before everyone else and has all the experience to make things work better than the competition. It seems as though it was a classic case of the early bird catches the worm - they got their first, and have firmly established their dominance over the rest of the field. At the moment, AWS is the biggest and most complete cloud vendor on the market today, and everyone else is simply trying to play catch up.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"awoml\"><br></p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Prasant Roy','Active','comparison-between-industry-leading-cloud-platforms','2017-08-03 13:41:34','2017-12-12 13:24:33',1,'Cloud Computing',1,'Consideration','Comparison Between the Industry\'s Leading Cloud Platforms','Comparison Between the Industry\'s Leading Cloud Platforms | 7EDGE','With so many cloud vendors out there, it’s important to make the right choice and use the best one. Here we make a comparison of the three prominent cloud platforms','Comparison Between the Industry\'s Leading Cloud Platforms | 7EDGE','With so many cloud vendors out there, it’s important to make the right choice and use the best one. Here we make a comparison of the three prominent cloud platforms','07-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',181491,'2017-12-12 13:24:33','4 Min Read',18,4),(14,'Creating Scalable Digital Marketing Campaigns Using AWS','With the wide array of cloud-based software and products, AWS helps create scalable digital marketing campaigns.','09.jpg','image/jpeg',268500,'2017-08-12 13:07:59','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"zzff8\">Amazon Web Services (AWS) has indeed become a commonplace for large organizations trying to migrate their websites and campaigns to the cloud. Consequently, this has led to organizations seeing a lot more success in their business operations. As a matter of fact, it largely narrows down to AWS being able to help create scalable digital campaigns; thanks to its massive array of cloud software and products.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fiayr\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lv7ra\">Today, we&rsquo;re going to have a look at AWS and figure out what makes it so valuable for many popular businesses nowadays.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lv7ra\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"5u3i\">Stability &amp; Security</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lxw5\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lxw5\">One of the main reasons companies use AWS is due to its incredible stability. There are numerous case studies where businesses have said that the stability of AWS allowed them to focus on their main operations rather than maintaining and managing their cloud infrastructure. Furthermore, AWS has incredible security features which helped companies feel comfortable using the service as they knew it would protect their private information. As a result, they could avoid focusing on things like security and be more mindful of their main jobs.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lxw5\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"dw94\">Automated Scaling</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"pag1l\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"pag1l\">If you look at all the case studies involving AWS and digital marketing, there is one clear thing that stands out; every business has enjoyed success due to the automated scaling features. AWS is designed to automatically scale infrastructures during periods of peak activity. What this means is that when traffic spikes happen, websites don&rsquo;t crash due to the abnormal overload of activity. This has proved extremely helpful as companies are able to scale their digital marketing campaigns with ease and create ideas that drive lots of traffic to a site all in one go, without worrying about whether their site can handle it.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"pag1l\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2 is-selected\" name=\"kyo6e\">Mobile Solutions</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yfn3x\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yfn3x\">In a world that&rsquo;s dominated by mobile technology, many businesses are moving their marketing plans to mobile devices. AWS caters to this with loads of mobile applications and software that plenty of mobile business are using. It allows users the ability to scale their digital marketing campaigns and tailor them specifically for mobile devices. As well as this, they can access data and analytics for all of their mobile activities.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yfn3x\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"x5zz\">Low-Cost Marketing</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mrpz\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mrpz\">AWS enables businesses to create digital marketing campaigns without breaking their budget or being forced to hire new people. By using a cloud infrastructure, a lot of the technical work is done behind the scenes and automated by AWS. Infrastructure costs are brought to an all-time low, which means businesses are able to use their marketing budgets in more effective ways too. Instead of spending a portion of their budget on maintaining a physical infrastructure, they can spend it on revenue-generating ideas. They&rsquo;re able to grow their campaign and include new ideas that they wouldn&rsquo;t be able to afford if they paid for a physical infrastructure. Likewise, this low cost makes it possible for smaller businesses to manage and run a digital campaign.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7rokh\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"6kln\">It is clear from the countless case studies out there that AWS is a brilliant tool for businesses of all sizes. A lot of popular companies are migrating their infrastructure to AWS in the hope that they&rsquo;ll reap the same rewards being seen by other businesses.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Prasant Roy','Active','creating-scalable-digital-marketing-campaigns-using-aws','2017-08-03 13:44:06','2017-12-11 12:39:15',1,'Cloud Computing',6,'Consideration','Creating Scalable Digital Marketing Campaigns Using AWS','Creating Scalable Digital Marketing Campaigns Using AWS | 7EDGE','With the wide array of cloud-based software and products, AWS helps create scalable digital marketing campaigns.','Creating Scalable Digital Marketing Campaigns Using AWS | 7EDGE','With the wide array of cloud-based software and products, AWS helps create scalable digital marketing campaigns.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',8,4),(15,'Key Points to Remember About IT Infrastructure Automation','Agility empowers productivity. Today\'s enterprises are automating their overall IT infrastructure by adopting the cloud.','10.jpg','image/jpeg',118484,'2017-08-12 13:08:23','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"tn6wj\">These days, many businesses and organizations are trying to automate their IT infrastructure to improve the productivity and efficiency of their operations as well as stabilize their entire IT infrastructure. Cloud computing is massive, and it serves to make life a lot easier for these organizations. Consequently, the many cloud providers out there are trying their best to provide the most automated IT infrastructure possible.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jd7gc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"a1s78\">At the moment, there&rsquo;s isn&rsquo;t a single tool that is able to offer a completely automated package. This, however, does not mean that you cannot automate your infrastructure. In this article, we will talk about how you can automate cloud IT infrastructures, and why it will benefit your organization.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"a1s78\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"j837x\">How to automate your IT infrastructure</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wt02a\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wt02a\">The process of automation revolves around finding areas of your infrastructure that need improving and can be done automatically instead of needing human involvement. The more things you can automate, the easier it becomes to manage an IT infrastructure. Consequently, you can deploy more resources in different areas of your business, instead of focussing on this.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0q9ve\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lifrb\">Before getting into the task of automating your organization&rsquo;s IT infrastructure, there are two main aspects you should consider regarding cloud automation. The first aspect is automating time-consuming tasks that are usually done by professionals. This is a very popular way of automating your IT infrastructure, as it takes a lot of weight off the shoulders of your employees. It also gets rid of one big potential issue; human error. If humans are constantly managing your IT infrastructure and launching cloud services, then there&rsquo;s a chance they can make a mistake and cause problems. But, if these tasks are automated, the risks are removed.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"3m8kq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"k71m\">The second aspect of <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/devops/infrastructure-automation\" href=\"/it-infrastructure-automation-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">infrastructure automation</a> involves automating virtual servers and applications. The whole premise behind this is to make your apps and virtual servers more efficient. They can help themselves if any problems occur that require a change in how they&rsquo;re run.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"k71m\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"yya4p\">Automating Management Functions</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"iny79\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"iny79\">A big way that your IT infrastructure can be automated is by looking for certain functions that take up a lot of time and effort. For most, this is largely going to be the core management functions. Instead of having an administration team look at<s>&nbsp;</s> the various parts of your IT infrastructure you can call upon different tools that do it automatically. So much work is now shifted off the shoulders of your admin team and handled very quickly by your automated cloud infrastructure.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"iny79\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"2070i\">Applications/Server Automation</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hta8l\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hta8l\">Your cloud IT infrastructure will be built up of various applications that all serve certain roles. You can automate these to avoid any problems occurring when things change. Something could happen that requires a certain server or application to need more resources. When this happens, you want to take action immediately, without taking the time to figure out the best course of action. With application automation, any issues get ironed out as soon as they spring up. They get dealt with automatically, which ensures your applications and cloud servers remain stable and don&rsquo;t fall victim to any issues.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hta8l\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"p3v5d\">Conclusion</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zofi7\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6l20a\">IT infrastructure automation offer you several benefits including reduced costs and improved efficiency. The market today is filled with several tools and solution providers who help you optimally automate your IT infrastructure. With the right understanding of the essentials, you can derive the maximum benefits of automation.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uzs1g\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hh1gq\">Several configuration management tools available in the market help you manage and maintain servers easily at one time. Among these, Puppet, Chef and Ansible are popular.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"khqqj\"><br></p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Harisha V','Active','key-points-about-it-infrastructure-automation','2017-08-03 13:47:54','2017-12-06 14:03:09',6,'Infrastructure Automation',6,'Awareness','Key Points to Remember About IT Infrastructure Automation','Key Points to Remember About IT Infrastructure Automation | 7EDGE','Agility empowers productivity. Today\'s enterprises are automating their overall IT infrastructure by adopting the cloud.','Key Points to Remember About IT Infrastructure Automation | 7EDGE','Agility empowers productivity. Today\'s enterprises are automating their overall IT infrastructure by adopting the cloud.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',20,4),(16,'Comparing the Leading Configuration Management Tools ','A comparison of Configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, and Ansible enable enterprises to choose the best option effectively.','11.jpg','image/jpeg',111046,'2017-08-12 13:08:43','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"kpmt5\">Technology keeps on getting bigger and bigger, which has a profound effect on many organizations. In the past, companies could make do with a few physical servers in a data center within their building. Now, thanks largely to cloud computing, organizations have far more servers that need to be managed. Sometimes, these servers could even be dotted throughout the world.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hwlzc\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"f4q7\">The question is, how do you maintain and manage all of these servers and remote data centers? Well, step forward configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, and Ansible. These tools make it easier for companies to configure and maintain handfuls of servers all at one time. Now, what we&rsquo;re keen to figure out is which of these tools is the best? So, we&rsquo;ve compared the three against each other to see who comes out on top:</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"f4q7\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"sal14\">Users &amp; Developers</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"9yg1f\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"9yg1f\">To start off, which of these tools is the most widely used? While Chef and Ansible have adequate user bases, it&rsquo;s Puppet that&rsquo;s the clear winner here. There are far more people that use this tool, which also causes there to be far more developers for the software too. As a consequence, there are loads more third-party additions and support systems in place for Puppet too.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"9yg1f\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"bc9wp\">Platforms</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hzlnk\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hzlnk\">Finding a good configuration management tool involves looking at what platforms the tool supports. Again, Chef supports a respectable amount of platforms, including the most common ones, as does Ansible. However, Puppet supports so many different platforms, including older operating systems as well as the most modern ones. This allows any organization to use this tool to configure and automate their server infrastructure.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hzlnk\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"wxw9h\">User Interface</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"33fwz\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"33fwz\">The UI is another important feature to look for in these tools. Ideally, you want something that&rsquo;s easy to use and allows you a high degree of control. Once again, Puppet comes out on top here. Its web UI is easily the most well-rounded and complete of all the tools. You can control managed nodes in real-time, and there are easy-to-use reporting tools that allow you to keep an eye on everything and see how things are going on. If any changes occur, you&rsquo;ll see them in real-time on the UI.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"33fwz\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"scdqp\">Resources</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5stm9\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5stm9\">Nothing in life is ever going to be 100% straightforward. Even configuration management tools like these will spring up problems from time to time. When any problems happen, you want to be in the best place to deal with them swiftly, so that they don&rsquo;t damage your organization. So, you need to use a tool with plenty of resources available to help solve any common problems. Both Ansible and Chef have very little going for them in the resources department. Puppet, on the other hand, has a huge catalog of resources from a wiki that&rsquo;s contributed to by users. Consequently, there are solutions to almost every Puppet problem on the planet.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"auqf\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"bsg3r\">In conclusion, it&#39;s clear that Puppet is simply the most well-rounded tool out of the three. The user interface is clear and easy to use, there are loads of helpful resources, and it&rsquo;s used by so many people which means there are much better development options too.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Roopa','Active','comparing-the-leading-configuration-management-tools','2017-08-03 13:50:30','2017-12-28 12:38:02',6,'Configuration Management',3,'Consideration','Comparing the Leading Configuration Management Tools','Comparing the Leading Configuration Management Tools | 7EDGE','A comparison of Configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, and Ansible enable enterprises to choose the best option effectively.','Comparing the Leading Configuration Management Tools | 7EDGE','A comparison of Configuration management tools such as Puppet, Chef, and Ansible enable enterprises to choose the best option effectively.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',22,4),(17,'Puppet\'s IT Automation: Improving Business Agility','With the power of Puppet IT automation, 7EDGE\'s strategic solutions help enterprises inject agility into their IT infrastructure.','12.jpg','image/jpeg',80098,'2017-08-12 13:09:02','<p>IT enterprises are often incredibly diverse and stretch across numerous different data centers. Due to this, the management of said enterprises can be quite complex. Deploying servers can often take days and result in massive time wastage unless the right automated software and tools are used. There are many challenges of an IT enterprise such as agility and visibility, but all can be addressed with the use of the correct software. This is where Puppet fits into a complex, enterprise IT environment.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">What Is Puppet?</span></h2><p><br></p><p>Puppet can save IT administrators time and money in the business model. It&rsquo;s a next-gen form of IT software that is able to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks making the entire model easier to run. However, it doesn&rsquo;t just fix the simple and mundane. Puppet can also deploy critical software to ensure that the enterprise continues to work effectively across a multitude of networks without any network administrator input needed.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>There are multiple areas that automated software should provide a benefit within the complex IT environment. It should, for instance be able to work with multiple OS and provide support for virtualisation. Puppet certainly deals with issues and challenges like this.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">Create and Establish New Servers</span></h2><p><br></p><p>Without an automated software, you would need to create and provision new servers manually using a tool of your choice. You could use scripts, but flexibility is usually an issue here. Neither problems are present with Puppet. Instead, this job is handled for you. The agent is able to run and establish a server without any input from you. Within minutes, you have a full model ready to use and operate as you see fit.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">Handling Virtualization&nbsp;</span></h2><p><br></p><p>We have already mentioned the heterogeneous environment of modern IT companies. They are often spread across different resources from public and private cloud servers to multiple operating systems and application stacks. As well as this, clients and customers continually demand faster output and production for IT products. Due to this, Puppet and similar tools certainly have a role in the industry today, handling virtualization challenges. Without losing productivity, Puppet is able to benefit VMware deployments. As well as this, the designed configurations can be reused across all areas of the IT environment, without any necessary changes.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">Puppet Vs SCCM</span></h2><p><br></p><p>IT administrators will be familiar with the System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) that is a window operating tool, directly connected to the OS. Puppet expands on this with infrastructure as code configuration management. Built for use with a variety of different types of frameworks, Puppet is a brilliant alternative to the typical SCCM.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">Monitoring Your Enterprise</span></h2><p><br></p><p>Finally, you can use Puppet to effectively monitor your IT enterprise. With a massive inventory of data, it is possible for system administrators to report on expected or unexpected behavior and react accordingly. By doing this, Puppet is able to help the sysadmin operate on multiple levels by managing policies and automating changes at the same time. With a solution like this, Puppet is able to analyze, adapt and improve the infrastructure of any IT environment where it is in use.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 18pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;\">Conclusion</span></h2><p><br></p><p>The IT environments of an organization can be quite complex, diverse and spread out across various locations. Added to these complexities are challenges such as visibility, agility, IT compliance and configuration drift. Puppet is one next-generation IT automation software that allows system administrators streamline the management of IT resources as well as scale workloads efficiently across diverse environments. 7EDGE&rsquo;s IT infrastructure automation services uses Puppet to helps enterprises automate and scale their infrastructure as per their changing business needs.</p><p><br></p>',NULL,'Sajith Ravi TK','Active','puppets-it-automation-improving-business-agility','2017-08-03 13:56:22','2017-12-06 14:02:41',6,'Infrastructure Automation',1,'Consideration','Puppet\'s IT Automation: Improving Business Agility','Puppet\'s IT Automation: Improving Business Agility | 7EDGE','With the power of Puppet IT automation, 7EDGE\'s strategic solutions help enterprises inject agility into their IT infrastructure.','Puppet\'s IT Automation: Improving Business Agility | 7EDGE','With the power of Puppet IT automation, 7EDGE\'s strategic solutions help enterprises inject agility into their IT infrastructure.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',23,4),(18,'6 Industries that Realize the Benefits of Cloud Migration','Identifying the benefits of cloud computing, businesses from diverse industrial realms are trying to migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud arena.','13.jpg','image/jpeg',190375,'2017-08-12 13:10:20','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cip8f\">You may think that the benefits of migrating the cloud are only relevant for certain businesses and industries. But in reality, businesses in almost every industry have benefited from switching to the cloud and migrating their company applications. You can see what we mean in some of the examples below, proving that large and small companies benefit from the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cip8f\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"ifos9\">Travel</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cf2oo\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cf2oo\">The travel industry is now almost entirely based online. When customers head on a holiday, they regularly start with a keyword in a search engine such as &lsquo;Barbados flights.&rsquo; By doing this, they typically reach a site such as Expedia. In the travel industry, it is important to ensure that customers find the results quickly, can make purchases easily and don&rsquo;t run into unexpected delays. A site page that isn&rsquo;t working or an error on a search is one of the most common reasons why companies lose customers. Expedia knew this and that&rsquo;s why they worked to develop a fix and ensure that their applications worked effectively with no error. They were able to do this by utilizing development through the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cf2oo\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"iub8l\">Food Production</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wjowc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wjowc\">Every industry needs to think about marketing and what is proving to be effective through promotion. This is particularly true in the food industry where a single image could impact sales. As such, it is crucial for a company like this to understand what has impacted customer sales. One of the ways to do this is to look at sales reports as well as spending to assess whether money can be cut back in certain areas. That&rsquo;s exactly what Kellogg&#39;s was able to do using cloud applications. They found they could send sales reports out to different sectors of the company in minutes and ensure everyone was on the same page. This led to a more effective marketing campaign based on real-time sale reports.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wjowc\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"vrbp\">Entertainment</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tm7ms\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tm7ms\">Everything about entertainment is now in some part based online, and the best example of this would be video streaming. Netflix is quickly becoming more popular than blue-ray or any other type of media output. The reason for this is a catalog of media that worldwide customers can easily access in seconds. Netflix was able to provide this for their customer by operating on the cloud ensuring that everything was kept up-to-date and that new media could be easily added.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tm7ms\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"j7e3s\">Healthcare</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gxa1d\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gxa1d\">Siemens was able to build a healthcare data management system through the cloud that was secure, effective and is now used in multiple medical practices across the world. For them, the main issue was security. But with the software already available through the AWS cloud platform, they found it easy to guarantee protection for their medical company clients.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gxa1d\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"olu8m\">Media</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"asgm\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"asgm\">The news industry has quickly adapted to focus on online content with news websites, blogs, and apps. However, with so much data coming in and be released businesses find themselves focusing more time on maintenance rather than creation. This was the issue for Dow Jones, a financial news agency with a huge popularity in Asia. By migrating to the cloud, the business was able to make data management simple and focus more time on releasing products instead.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"asgm\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"2fvi4\">Telecom</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ozh0d\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ozh0d\">Finally, telecom these days doesn&rsquo;t just mean phone, text or even email. It can include everything from online applications to live video. Vodafone wanted to create an app that could be used for a specific purpose and provide for demand from customers without investing more resources into development. They were able to do this by working on the cloud and created the app, releasing it to customers without the typical expense from a new resource.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ozh0d\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"73yvs\">Conclusion</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ozwq7\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ozwq7\">It is pretty evident that the cloud offers enormous opportunities for innovation and disruption across various industries. The industries and enterprises given above form just a few of them who have already incorporated the technology and already reaping the benefits in various ways. It is just a matter of time before cloud computing becomes commonplace across industries.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"zfx9g\"><br></p></div></div></section>',NULL,'Harisha V','Active','6-industries-that-realize-benefits-of-cloud-migration','2017-08-03 14:03:58','2017-12-12 13:05:48',1,'Cloud Computing',2,'Awareness','6 Industries that Realize the Benefits of Cloud Migration','6 Industries that Realize the Benefits of Cloud Migration | 7EDGE','Identifying the benefits of cloud computing, businesses from diverse industrial realms are trying to migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud arena.','6 Industries that Realize the Benefits of Cloud Migration | 7EDGE','Identifying the benefits of cloud computing, businesses from diverse industrial realms are trying to migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud arena.','04-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',206724,'2017-12-12 13:05:48','4 Min Read',24,4),(19,'4 Benefits of Cloud Computing You Realize Post Migration','Today\'s enterprises identify the key benefits of cloud computing that transforms their business operations post-migration.','14.jpg','image/jpeg',105950,'2017-08-12 13:10:39','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zvt2v\">There are numerous key benefits of cloud technology. Working with the cloud allows businesses to keep their data and information private and secure. Many experts believe that the cloud provides the most secure storage option for data in the world today. As well as this, the cloud allows information to be transferred and accessed instantly, ensuring that businesses are able to reach their maximum potential. The business world is constantly evolving, growing and changing. With the cloud, it&rsquo;s possible for businesses to stay up to date as the market continues to shift.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"niu3m\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jpmye\">That&rsquo;s why businesses should be thinking about migrating their company apps to the cloud. There are numerous advantages of doing this.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"jpmye\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"ez91a\">Simplified Management</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"obvsq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"obvsq\">Using a platform such as AWS, the infrastructure of a business can be simplified by ensuring that the apps are on a cloud. This guarantees that all the different areas of a company can become one and work effectively together. It also enables a business to be more flexible with employees working from anywhere to the same goal. Not only that but with AWS, you will be able to use data and applications, releasing them to all customers around the world in seconds. If anything does go wrong, it can quickly be resolved because all the tools and resources that you need will be accessible through the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"obvsq\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"r3elj\">Faster Than Ever</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ht4h\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ht4h\">It is absolutely vital that any business on the market today provides a fresh service to customers that is constantly evolving. By using the cloud for business apps, it is possible for business owners to release, review and update applications within minutes. However, it is not just about releasing the applications on to the market. Using tools such as CodeDeploy, you can build and develop any app for your business in minutes. You also get all the benefits of a virtual office without having to set one up for yourself.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"ht4h\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"py6o\">No Breaches</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"sakf\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"sakf\">We have already briefly mentioned how the cloud is the most secure form of data storage. But now, using a platform like AWS there is software in place to combat and prevent breaches in security. It&rsquo;s an active software that is able to pinpoint an attack and set up a defense against it. Today, the threat of a hack or breach to your business systems is constantly changing. But now, when you migrate your business applications to the cloud, your security will be adapting as well.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"sakf\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"lvey5\">Constant Support</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bzku8\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bzku8\">The cloud is set up in a way that resembles an ecosystem with different parts to help companies grow and evolve. If you face any issues migrating your applications, you will discover the support you need is readily available. You will be able to get help analyzing your migration portfolio and using companies working on the cloud to make sure that you have everything you need. The cloud isn&rsquo;t just run by one team. There are various partners accessible through the server who can help with your requirements and ensure that you reach the full potential with your company.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"t73ca\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"54fvr\">It is evident that cloud computing offers several benefits for enterprises. While there are a few concerns such as data privacy and security that may put some organizations on the backfoot, the benefits certainly outweigh the concerns and limitations. And this is a good enough reason for organizations to migrate their business applications to the cloud.</p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20','Sajith Ravi TK','Active','4-Benefits-of-cloud-computing-realized-post-migration','2017-08-03 14:07:58','2017-12-08 14:45:24',1,'Cloud Computing',1,'Awareness','4 Benefits of Cloud Computing You Realize Post Migration','4 Benefits of Cloud Computing You Realize Post Migration | 7EDGE','Today\'s enterprises identify the key benefits of cloud computing that transforms their business operations post-migration.','4 Benefits of Cloud Computing You Realize Post Migration | 7EDGE','Today\'s enterprises identify the key benefits of cloud computing that transforms their business operations post-migration.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',25,4),(20,'How Can Amazon Cloud Services Add Flexibility to Business?','With a wide array of innovative features, Amazon cloud services render its extended support for enterprises in their cloud journey.','15.jpg','image/jpeg',252412,'2017-08-12 13:10:52','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"mvfc7\">Enterprises should be moving towards incorporating a cloud server into their business model. Using a cloud, you can get your business to operate more effectively and rapidly in the market. As such, you will be able to reduce costs, and this will ensure that your business is more efficient. But that is not the only advantage. With a cloud server, you can take your company to the global market in minutes, dramatically expanding the options for growth. Using Amazon Web Services, it&rsquo;s possible to provide a support for your journey when using the cloud for your business.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"mvfc7\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"nd9mh\">Lead Your Business With Knowledge of The Cloud</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"a2ezn\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"a2ezn\">Using the AWS, you will be able to gain more knowledge of the cloud, understanding its uses and benefits. Once you start using AWS, you will be able to discover what makes a cloud server so beneficial to companies. As well as this, you will be able to explain the benefits to other members of your company and point out why using a private server is not the right answer. Private servers are expensive, time-consuming and complicated. With AWS you will understand the benefits of using cloud servers that are already set up and established.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"a2ezn\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"u4mko\">Choose How You Use The Cloud</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uf78n\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uf78n\">Once you have determined that your company will benefit from the cloud, you can use AWS to ensure that it operates to your needs. You will be able to determine whether you want to use the cloud mobile apps, for instance. Using mobile apps on the cloud, you will have access to a wide range of different tools and developers are able to work with a higher level of productivity. Alternatively, you can use the cloud to analyze data and share it with employees. Doing this, you will be able to gain real-time information to improve the performance of your business. These are just some examples of the Use cases you can choose for your business.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uf78n\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"l4rg2\">Address Security</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"umlqx\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"umlqx\">AWS can help you address any security concerns you have using the cloud by tackling them early on in the process. Once you have identified use cases, you will be able to task an employee with selecting resources to ensure security is a key feature. Working with a multitude of businesses, AWS has always put security as the top priority.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"umlqx\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"b6gpk\">Provide Training</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dpq4s\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dpq4s\">You can use AWS to train employees in using the cloud effectively. It is important to understand that when running an enterprise on the cloud, you should not just be training IT employees. Instead, you should be providing training to every stakeholder that could be impacted by IT from legal teams to financial sectors. AWS ensures that provide that right training for different individuals in your enterprise is easy and every part of your enterprise can be on the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dpq4s\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"tqvtc\">Drive Fast Outcomes</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"z0hiv\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"z0hiv\">Finally, using the cloud with AWS, you can guarantee fast outcomes for your team. You can design a charter and then form a team around it with operation integration. You will be able to build up your enterprise and deliver quick results with a cloud enablement team. You can do this by examining whitepapers, videos, tools, and resources that are all available through AWS.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"euoq\"><strong><br></strong></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"womrx\">As you can see, there are plenty of ways AWS can support you when integrating the cloud into your enterprise. AWS forms one of the important cloud platforms 7EDGE works with in order to provide powerful cloud solutions to enterprises.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"i0vjf\"><br></p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20','Harisha V','Active','how-amazon-cloud-services-add-flexibility-to-business','2017-08-03 14:10:35','2017-12-06 14:02:10',1,'Cloud Computing',3,'Awareness','How Can Amazon Cloud Services Add Flexibility to Business?','How Can Amazon Cloud Services Add Flexibility to Business? | 7EDGE','With a wide array of innovative features, Amazon cloud services render its extended support for enterprises in their cloud journey. ','How Can Amazon Cloud Services Add Flexibility to Business? | 7EDGE','With a wide array of innovative features, Amazon cloud services render its extended support for enterprises in their cloud journey. ',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',26,4),(21,'5 Effective Ways to Build Brand Awareness','If you are an organization who is trying to build brand awareness among your customers, here are five powerful programmatic brand awareness techniques you should try.','S17615-S17-05.jpg','image/jpeg',107092,'2017-09-13 10:56:19','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"i9eic\">In an increasingly crowded marketplace where businesses are trying to make their mark and capture a sizeable market share, getting recognized is a huge concern for many organizations. They have so much to offer to their customers, but their customers do not know that these organizations even exist. Does this sound familiar?</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"i9eic\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e19j\">If you are one such organization who is trying to create an awareness of your brand among your customers, here are five things you should try.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e19j\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"9etz\">Use search engine ads</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dlv56\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dlv56\">When creating visibility of your organization or brand is on your mind, the search engines are something you must first target. While you may be already aware of the regular <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/search-engine-optimization\" href=\"/search-engine-optimization-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">search engine optimization</a> (SEO) techniques, paid search ads too can help you in boosting a company&rsquo;s brand image.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dlv56\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"d0w6p\">This is supported by a study conducted by Levi Strauss &amp; Co. in association with Google. The study showed that paid ads helped increase consumer awareness of Levi&rsquo;s brand by 23% and also drove considerable traffic to its website, even though the paid ads did not always generate clicks. This means that search engine ads that may not create enough click through rates can still boost awareness of your brand amongst your target audience.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"d0w6p\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ypqwb\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-media/search-engine-marketing\" href=\"/search-engine-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Search engine ads</a> also offer you the benefits of having control over your budget, your ad messages and tracking audience responses using valuable analytics tools.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ypqwb\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"qawyy\">Attract people to your website through attractive content</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"da2y\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"da2y\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/content-marketing\" href=\"/content-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Creating regular and high-value content</a> offers several benefits to your brand. Writing blogs and creating impressive content is a great way to create brand image among your target customers, attract them to your website and possibly convert a majority of them to customers. In fact, creating regular content is an essential part of the inbound marketing strategy, which is increasingly becoming popular among organizations.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"da2y\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"geb48\">Firstly, a blog is an essential part of an SEO strategy. Google rewards websites that keep adding fresh and high-quality content. Secondly, regular blogging on your website or writing guest articles on other digital platforms such as online magazines and well-known blogs help you establish an identity for yourself as an expert and a thought leader in your industry.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"geb48\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bahfk\">You can choose to write on issues commonly faced by other organizations in the industry and possible solutions for their challenges.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bahfk\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"y50t\">Establish your social media presence</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l106\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l106\">It shouldn&rsquo;t be news to you that several organizations and brands today are on popular <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/social-media-marketing\" href=\"/social-media-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">social media</a> platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin and Youtube as a majority of the population spends a significant time on these platforms. With these platforms, you can reach out to thousands and millions of your target audience, giving you an opportunity to engage with them and convert them into potential leads.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l106\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ys6vq\">However, creating a social media profile for your organization is just the beginning. In order to create a powerful social media presence, you should regularly engage with your audience, always be on the lookout for conversations around your brand, products, services, and industry as well as provide your audience with valuable service offerings.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ys6vq\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"1typo\">Create an effective email marketing campaign</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2267e\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2267e\">Several organizations tend to ignore the power of email marketing campaigns for telling people about their brands. However, done the right way, email marketing can prove an excellent way of delivering your brand content right across to your audience&rsquo;s inbox. Most often, businesses fail at email marketing due to the wrong approach.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2267e\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"98lzc\">An email newsletter is more than asking people to download your freebies or avail your services. An email newsletter should keep your audience in mind. It should be relevant and must consistently offer something of value to the consumer. It is a good practice to listen to your customers&rsquo; sentiments and make changes to your email campaign accordingly. This enhances the perception of your brand among your customers, making them your brand advocates.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"98lzc\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"cy7qk\">Collaborate with industry influencers</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"i9z1\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"i9z1\">Influencers have the power to influence a particular section of audience and followers within their circle in making key purchasing decisions. A top influencer in your industry can become your ambassador and promote your organization and brand among their followers. Hence, collaborating and <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.7edge.com/services/digital-marketing/influencer-marketing\" href=\"/influencer-marketing-services\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">building a strong relationship with the right influencers</a> in the industry not only helps you in boosting your brand awareness but can also help you in realizing a few key business goals such as increased conversions and sales.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"i9z1\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"7muihb\">As an organization, one of your key priorities is to get more people to become your customers and brand advocates. Creating awareness of your brand among people is the first step to achieving this goal. Following the powerful techniques mentioned above will not only create much awareness of your brand among your customers but will also lead to increased engagement, leads, customers and return on investment (ROI).</p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20',NULL,'Active','5-effective-ways-to-build-brand-awareness','2017-09-04 10:30:08','2017-12-08 14:53:29',3,'Brand Awareness, Brand Image',5,'Awareness','5 Effective Ways to Build Brand Awareness','5 Effective Ways to Build Brand Awareness | 7EDGE','If you are an organization who is trying to build brand awareness among your customers, here are five powerful programmatic brand awareness techniques you should try.','5 Effective Ways to Build Brand Awareness | 7EDGE','If you are an organization who is trying to build brand awareness among your customers, here are five powerful programmatic brand awareness techniques you should try.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',27,2),(22,'Why is Cloud Computing Security More Reliable?','Keeping the customer\'s business-critical data in mind, cloud providers solely focus on staging the best-in-class cloud security practices.','S17615-S17-13.jpg','image/jpeg',79658,'2017-09-13 10:41:38','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"ozv6i\">With endless capabilities, the paradigm shift to cloud technology has indeed taken the world by storm. And as the cloud continues to evolve, enterprises &ndash; large and small &ndash; are trying to reap the most benefits&mdash;such as ease of use, unlimited access, flexibility, automatic software updates, and storage options. All of these at low capital expenditures.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"ozv6i\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"t1yni\">However, even today, there is a lack of trust among some organizations as they are typically concerned about the security aspects of cloud. This fear is reinforced by the fact that they sense data breaches and hackers constantly lurking around them. In fact, security happens to be the prime reason that thwarts most organizations from opting for the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"t1yni\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ii23n\">It&rsquo;s truly unfortunate, as most cloud providers today stage far more enhanced levels of security than on-premise data centers. You&rsquo;ll get a fair idea only when you think about those security threats and data breaches from the cloud provider&rsquo;s perspective. Now, imagine a situation where numerous organizations are getting impacted by a potential security threat at the same time. Yes, it will indeed be a catastrophic event. This makes evident that cloud providers are more inclined towards taking security far more seriously than other organizations. Their focus always remains on effectively reinforcing their IT infrastructure with best-in-class security practices.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ii23n\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"d9dpo5\">Key Security Features of the Cloud</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cp7hl\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cp7hl\">To shed some light on how the cloud outperforms on premise IT infrastructure, we have come up with some key security features of the cloud:</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"ytlvd\">Top-Notch Surveillance</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"is1yg\">As you already know, if you adopt a cloud option, you need not manage or store your data on-premises anymore. It&rsquo;s the cloud provider&rsquo;s responsibility. And they need to make sure your data stays safe all the time.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"dcpw8\">Unlike on-premise data centers that are vulnerable to unauthorized access and data breaches, the cloud provider&rsquo;s facility is endowed with a multi-layered security. Some of the precautions include - high and rigid fences, barbed wires, concrete barriers, guards and CCTV cameras. Taking security to an unprecedented level, these barriers prevent visitors, employees and even the top-level officials from entering the facility. Which means, loads of your business-critical data is safe and secure&mdash;allowing you to focus on your core business tasks.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"ggvva\">Cloud Expertise</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mb0k\">This is where the actual aspect of security comes in&mdash;highly skilled professionals work behind the scenes to make sure your business-critical data is free from potential cyber attacks. This involves a 24/7/365 monitoring and maintenance.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"1ag6l\">Regular Audits and Updates</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"xhd1q\">When it comes to regular audits and upgrading your on-premise IT assets, managing legacy systems can be painstaking. But once you go in line with the cloud, the need to undergo these two crucial processes almost vanishes.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"xhd1q\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"okle8\">Today&rsquo;s cloud providers are efficient. They conduct audits on a regular basis to identify the underlying security flaws in the systems. Moreover, they provide essential updates for the applications on the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"okle8\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"sk02r\">The Future of Cloud Security</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"vzvd9\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"vzvd9\">Envisioning the scope of security on the cloud, <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3744617\" href=\"http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3744617\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Gartner</a> predicts that the cloud-based security services market will reach close to a staggering $9 billion by 2020.&nbsp;</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"vzvd9\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"kfnb\">Ruggero Contu, Research Director at Gartner, says &quot;Email security, web security and Identity and Access Management (IAM) remain the organizations&#39; top-three cloud priorities.&quot; He adds further, &ldquo;Mainstream services that address these priorities include Security Information Event Management (SIEM), Identity and Access Management (IAM), and more offer a significant growth potential. Emerging offerings include cloud-based malware sandboxes, cloud-based data encryption, threat intelligence enablement, Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), threat intelligence and endpoint protection management.&rdquo;</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"kfnb\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"6lr0q\">Although the security features of the cloud are innovative in all aspects, the key to a safe and secure cloud journey lies in how you choose your cloud provider. If you do it right, your cloud journey will lead you towards long-term profits&mdash;driving your overall business growth.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,NULL,'Active','why-is-cloud-computing-security-more-reliable','2017-09-13 10:41:38','2017-12-12 13:01:50',1,'Cloud Security',6,'Awareness','Why is Cloud Computing Security More Reliable?','Why is Cloud Computing Security More Reliable? | 7EDGE','Keeping the customer\'s business-critical data in mind, cloud providers solely focus on staging the best-in-class cloud security practices.','Why is Cloud Computing Security More Reliable? | 7EDGE','Keeping the customer\'s business-critical data in mind, cloud providers solely focus on staging the best-in-class cloud security practices.','02-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',180254,'2017-12-12 13:01:50','4 Min Read',28,4),(23,'How Cloud Migration Helps You Optimize Your IT costs','Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.','S17615-S17-23.jpg','image/jpeg',91007,'2017-09-13 10:51:45','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2 graf--first\" name=\"naynu\">Cloud: Shifting to the Budget-friendly Technology</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"olypm\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"olypm\">Most often, the big question that pops up in your mind is - Why migrate to the cloud? The reasons are plenty, but you already know the basic one&mdash;to inject innovation, agility, and clarity in business operations. As a matter of fact, the cloud adds flexibility and redefines your IT infrastructure in its entirety; letting you focus on what actually matters - your core business. Apart from this, the efficiency of cloud can be leveraged to host almost all types of business applications with minimal efforts.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"olypm\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ny74o\">As you can see, the benefits of <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://blog.equinix.com/blog/2016/11/28/optimizing-your-cloud-migration-for-the-best-possible-outcome-and-roi/\" href=\"https://blog.equinix.com/blog/2016/11/28/optimizing-your-cloud-migration-for-the-best-possible-outcome-and-roi/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cloud migration</a> are enormous; and they all converge towards a single point &ndash; it saves your money. Large organizations across the globe have already adopted cloud as the heart of their IT operations. And if you are running an SMB (Small and Midsized Business), we bet you are on the right track.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ny74o\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"t10wl\">Let&rsquo;s focus on how can cloud help you <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://www.centurylink.com/business/enterprise/blog/thinkgig/optimize-workloads-costs-across-cloud/\" href=\"http://www.centurylink.com/business/enterprise/blog/thinkgig/optimize-workloads-costs-across-cloud/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">optimize your IT costs</a>.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"7600s\">No Capital Costs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tyzqx\">Yes, you heard that right. It is an obvious fact that when you adopt cloud, you need not manage servers anymore. Your data resides on the cloud provider&rsquo;s servers. Thus, saving you the capital investment costs involved in installing servers. This is one major turnaround of migrating to the cloud arena.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"95zi\">No Maintenance Costs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"w4g6d\">If you don&rsquo;t need to install servers on-premises, you are also free from the maintenance costs involved. Apart from staging an entire IT infrastructure on the cloud, cloud providers are also responsible for the maintenance costs. In simple terms, you don&rsquo;t even have to think about the complexity involved in managing a plethora of hardware and server issues; helping you maintain business continuity.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"mh6fu\">Lower Energy Costs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yfwp\">It&#39;s a no brainer that servers consume heavy loads of power even if they are kept idle. But, now that your servers reside on your cloud provider&rsquo;s premises, there will be a considerable amount of energy savings, and of course, the costs associated with it. Whether it is the services, or data storage, or the electricity, you only pay for what you consume; minimizing the TCO effectively.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"8hy\">No Disaster Recovery Costs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"8m4x\">Disaster Recovery planning and implementation require a great deal of time and money. Moreover, it requires you to store massive amounts of backups that could probably take a long time to access in the event of an emergency. But, moving to the cloud not only helps you with the DR planning and implementation but also accelerates the process and saves costs without interrupting your core business.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"hih2\">Apart from providing a competitive edge in terms of cost optimization, the &lsquo;cloud&rsquo; has indeed become a disruptive technology that adds agility to businesses. Harnessing its capabilities, you can tailor the usage of services based on your specific business needs.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"98gta\"><br></p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20',NULL,'Inactive','how-cloud-migration-helps-you-optimize-it-costs','2017-09-13 10:51:45','2017-11-29 05:18:10',1,'Cloud Migration,Cost Optimization',1,'Awareness','How Cloud Migration Helps You Optimize Your IT costs','How Cloud Migration Helps You Optimize Your IT costs','Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.','How Cloud Migration Helps You Optimize Your IT costs','Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',7,4),(24,'6 Business Benefits You Gain by Moving to the Cloud','For organizations seeking operational efficiency and flexibility, moving their on-premises IT assets to the cloud becomes a prerequisite factor.','S17615-S17-14.jpg','image/jpeg',92306,'2017-09-13 11:06:40','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"sma5s\">It is a no-brainer that the advent of cloud computing has certainly paved a productive path for numerous businesses across the globe; simplifying every aspect of computing. Today, the so called &lsquo;cloud&rsquo;&mdash;powered by the internet&mdash;is well-accepted as a reliable platform for storing and executing applications seamlessly. Identifying its operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility, more and more organizations are trying to <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://blogs.partner.microsoft.com/mpn/migrate-your-customers-it-environments-to-the-cloud/\" href=\"https://blogs.partner.microsoft.com/mpn/migrate-your-customers-it-environments-to-the-cloud/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">migrate their on-premises IT environments to the cloud</a>. As matter of fact, we are witnessing a full-scale transition towards the &lsquo;cloud era&rsquo; - where hardware devices and cables won&rsquo;t exist on-premises anymore.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"sma5s\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6v49s\">Recent reports suggest that the cloud services giant <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/04/29/roundup-of-cloud-computing-forecasts-2017/#7900ac7031e8\" href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/04/29/roundup-of-cloud-computing-forecasts-2017/#7900ac7031e8\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon Web Services</a> (AWS) attained a staggering 43 percent of the growth in its revenue compared to 2016. Citing the reason for this growth, AWS states that their customers migrated more than 23,000 databases using the AWS Database Migration Service since it was made available last year.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6v49s\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"1a57\">Still clueless about why you should migrate to the cloud? Perhaps you should check out the below-mentioned benefits of cloud adoption.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"gzg6\">Operational Agility</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ie7eo\">As we already know, the gist of cloud services lies in its exceptional level of flexibility that it offers. You can scale your cloud-based services according to your fluctuating business needs &ndash; a feature that an on-premise IT infrastructure fails to deliver. For instance, you can increase your cloud capabilities if your needs are high. Similarly, as data reside on remote servers, you can minimize the capabilities when your needs are basic. It is this unique level of flexibility that drives the operational agility of core business operations. The cloud also offers automated software updates, eliminating the need to install them manually.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"kzroq\">Enhanced Security</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0kske\">Talking about security, most cloud-based services are backed up by a fully-managed Tier 4 data center with best-in-class security; taking data security to a whole new level. In the event of a disaster, you can easily retrieve and access your data anytime as it resides on the cloud. This also comes with the comes with the ability to remotely wipe your data from lost devices.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"cntt5\">User-friendly Interface</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5qh6u\">When compared with an on-premise IT infrastructure, cloud platforms are easy to manage and administer &ndash; due to its user-friendly interface. For example, you can handle tasks such as managing permissions, adding users, resources and more in a hassle-free manner.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"0y8kc\">Mobility - The Freedom to Work on the Move</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"qtb8a\">We are well-aware of the fact that cloud injects an unprecedented level of flexibility in computing. Apart from this, it also offers mobility - the ability to work on the move. Your employees can access and work on crucial business documents and applications from almost anywhere; and from any internet-enabled device.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"a9ti\">Promotes a Collaborative Environment</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"1rixa\">Apart from offering a user-friendly interface, a cloud technology platform stages a highly collaborative environment &ndash; allowing your organization to access, edit and share documents on the move. The entire scenario is supported by cloud-based file sharing apps that enable real time updates; also portraying full visibility.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"5hi2f\">Zero Server Maintenance Costs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lvdek\">Traditional on-premise environment comes along with the hurdle of maintaining multiple on-site servers at high operational costs. Cloud migration can set your organization free from this time-consuming process. All you need is a device that connects to your workload that resides on the cloud. Thus, in an innovative manner, adopting cloud services saves a considerable amount of hardware costs that can be invested in core business operations.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"23uig\">As you can see, the cloud is a package of endless possibilities!</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"7h504\">And now that you are well-aware about the opportunities that a cloud computing platform can open up, it is time to choose best cloud service provider that can instantly streamline your business operations.<br><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"7h504\"><br></p></div><!--<!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code ----><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" id=\"hs-cta-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"></div><![endif]--><a href=\"https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2627927/c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"hs-cta-img fr-fic fr-dii\" id=\"hs-cta-img-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" height=\"200\" width=\"600\" src=\"https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2627927/c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea.png\" alt=\"Cloud Migration Solution Sheet\"></a></span></span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --></div></section>','2017-10-10',NULL,'Active','6-business-benefits-of-moving-to-the-cloud','2017-09-13 11:05:27','2017-12-12 13:44:40',1,'Cloud Platform, Cloud Computing',2,'Awareness','6 Business Benefits You Gain by Moving to the Cloud','6 Business Benefits You Gain by Moving to the Cloud | 7EDGE','For organizations seeking operational efficiency and flexibility, moving their on-premises IT assets to the cloud becomes a prerequisite factor.','6 Business Benefits You Gain by Moving to the Cloud | 7EDGE','For organizations seeking operational efficiency and flexibility, moving their on-premises IT assets to the cloud becomes a prerequisite factor.','01-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',176462,'2017-12-12 12:47:34','4 Min Read',29,4),(25,'Cloud Migration: Reinventing Business Computing','With cloud migration, enterprises today are trying to transform their business operations—streamlining data management and analysis.','S17615-S17-07.jpg','image/jpeg',92867,'2017-09-13 11:19:21','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"q9nwq\">It&rsquo;s 2017, and we have reached a point where we can finally ditch most of our physical means of computing to harness the flexible and innovative form of technology - the cloud. Enterprises today &ndash; envisioning the scope of computing on the cloud &ndash; are effectively trying to reinvent their business models, and streamline data management and analysis. Having said that, it is evident that in years to come, we can expect heavy investments in the cloud arena; as reliance on the innovative technology continues to evolve.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"q9nwq\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"rdb4j\">The Cloud-First Policy</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l8vk\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l8vk\">As per <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3354117\" href=\"http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3354117\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Gartner&rsquo;s predictions</a>, by the year 2020, a corporate &quot;no-cloud&quot; policy will be a rare phenomenon; just like today&rsquo;s &quot;no-internet&quot; policy. Considering the current scenario, &lsquo;cloud-first&rsquo; and even &lsquo;cloud-only&rsquo; approach are dominating the IT domain. Moreover, the research firm also predicts that, by 2019, 30 percent or more of the 100 largest vendors will have their software investments focused on &lsquo;cloud-only&rsquo; philosophy&mdash;moving ahead of &lsquo;cloud-first&rsquo;.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l8vk\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l965\">Although the benefits of cloud computing are enormous, adopting a cloud-first strategy for your organization is definitely not a piece of cake. It requires a great deal of planning.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l965\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"q02ql\">By now, a plethora of technical challenges might be surfacing on your mind. In fact, to identify and solve those challenges, initially, you need to understand the value proposition of the three tiers of cloud services. This will give you an idea about which one of those tiers best aligns with your specific business needs.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"7319\">SaaS (Software as a Service)</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ymipo\">This tier is for enterprises planning to migrate their existing applications to the cloud, or looking for an entirely new set of applications. However, this tier gives you little or no freedom for customization at all. Moreover, it is not recommended to adopt Saas in mission-critical areas &ndash; as software updates often happen abruptly &ndash; disrupting your workflow.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"fr7zu\">IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"o9udv\">IaaS is flexible in all aspects&mdash;capable enough to virtualize most of your on-premises workloads. However, most of the IaaS providers refrain from managing systems that exist above the hypervisor layer. Moreover, hyper-scale providers and market leaders&mdash;<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-backup-cloud-first-architecture/\" href=\"https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-backup-cloud-first-architecture/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Microsoft Azure</a> and the <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-named-as-a-leader-in-gartners-infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas-magic-quadrant-for-7th-consecutive-year/\" href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/aws-named-as-a-leader-in-gartners-infrastructure-as-a-service-iaas-magic-quadrant-for-7th-consecutive-year/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a>, are not an option for SMBs. This is indeed a limitation that leaves most enterprise operations like the patching of operating systems and applications, and monitoring unsettled.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"6zof\">PaaS (Platform as a Service)</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fk5rd\">As a matter of fact, PaaS is considered as the smallest tier among the three. Moreover, it is a suitable option for in-house-developed applications, and open-source solutions&mdash;where enterprises can access the source code. However, the service comes along with some pitfalls - such as outdated runtimes and the lack of freedom to add custom or third-party libraries.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fk5rd\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"sii3\">Now that you are well-aware about the cloud services, we bring you the two best practices that can broaden your viewpoint. These practices form a base of addressing the key challenges and paves a path towards a successful cloud migration.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"6kj5q\">1. Invest in a Cloud Architect or a Team of Cloud Administrators</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"pynp3\">You simply can&rsquo;t deny the fact that the cloud is getting more and more complex as it evolves. Consequently, this opens a window for numerous technical and legacy issues in areas such as IT operations, application development, security, compliance, finance, procurement, privacy, identity management, data integration, mobility, &nbsp;business development and customer experience. To manage these areas efficiently, you might need to hire cloud architects, or even a team or cloud administrators.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"pynp3\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"d0goq\">Apart from assisting your organization in cloud adoption and migration, the primary responsibility of these cloud architects must be to orchestrate changes across many crucial areas, when required.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"izwod\">2. Organize Training and Certification Programs</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lrj0j\">Even though it is true that cloud architects transform your cloud infrastructure, it is equally crucial to make sure that your in-house technical team that implements, manages and supports the infrastructure have exceptional skills in cloud technologies. So, you may encourage your system administrators and engineers to upgrade their skillsets&mdash;by enrolling them for a various cloud-based training and certification programs.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"lrj0j\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6jtwo\">You may also prompt your employees to use the free trial offers from cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, and the Google Cloud. This will help them gain some hands-on experience.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6jtwo\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7zkcq\">Information empowers innovation. Now that you know what matters the most, kick start your journey and soar to new heights in the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7zkcq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7zkcq\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" id=\"hs-cta-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"></div><![endif]--><a href=\"https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2627927/c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"hs-cta-img fr-fic fr-dii\" id=\"hs-cta-img-c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" height=\"200\" width=\"600\" src=\"https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2627927/c445a636-98b3-4efc-9718-78a60075f0ea.png\" alt=\"Cloud Migration Solution Sheet\"></a></span></span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><br></p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20',NULL,'Active','cloud-migration-reinventing-business-computing','2017-09-13 11:19:21','2017-12-14 09:29:27',1,'cloud migration, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, software as a service',3,'Awareness','Cloud Migration: Reinventing Business Computing','Cloud Migration: Reinventing Business Computing | 7EDGE','With cloud migration, enterprises today are trying to transform their business operations—streamlining data management and analysis.','Cloud Migration: Reinventing Business Computing | 7EDGE','With cloud migration, enterprises today are trying to transform their business operations—streamlining data management and analysis.','03-Cloud-Computing-Creative-V4.jpg','image/jpeg',192999,'2017-12-14 09:29:27','4 Min Read',30,4),(26,'6 Key Points to Know Before Migrating Applications to Cloud','Today\'s enterprises are migrating their on-premise applications to the cloud. However, to best utilize the cloud, it is crucial to know some key points.','S17615-S17-09.jpg','image/jpeg',102650,'2017-09-13 11:43:07','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"2vcxw\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.slideshare.net/vickimmel/the-4-things-you-need-to-know-before-migrating-your-business-to-the-cloud\" href=\"https://www.slideshare.net/vickimmel/the-4-things-you-need-to-know-before-migrating-your-business-to-the-cloud\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Cloud computing</a> has indeed unleashed a massive wave of productivity enhancements across diverse industrial realms&mdash;a fact that you most probably know already.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"2vcxw\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5y4f4\">So, can you just dive in to adopt the best-in-class cloud solution available? Just like that? The answer is - A big no. Although moving your IT infrastructure to the cloud may seem like a bold and wise step, it is crucial to consider some key points before you actually hop into the technology. This will help avoid all possible pitfalls that may come in your way.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5y4f4\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ecwbh\">To make your <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/ten-factors-to-consider-when-moving-to-the-cloud-02.html\" href=\"http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/ten-factors-to-consider-when-moving-to-the-cloud-02.html\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cloud migration</a> planning and execution hassle-free, we have formulated a short yet comprehensive checklist that might come handy.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ecwbh\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"stuh\">1. Understand the 5 R&#39;s of Cloud Migration:</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"1ruxc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"1ruxc\">Initially, before you even start the migration process, knowing the various cloud migration options is important.</p><ul class=\"postList\" name=\"s94uk\"><li class=\"graf graf--li\"><strong>&nbsp;Rehosting</strong> - This involves deploying your existing applications in a different hardware environment without impacting the architecture.</li><li class=\"graf graf--li\"><strong>&nbsp;Refactoring</strong> - This means executing your applications on a third-party infrastructure.</li><li class=\"graf graf--li\"><strong>&nbsp;Revising</strong> - This gives you the freedom to modify the applications as per your fluctuating needs&mdash;on a third-party infrastructure of course.</li><li class=\"graf graf--li\"><strong>&nbsp;Rebuilding</strong> - Adding flexibility to cloud migration, this option allows you to rebuild your applications by discarding the existing ones.</li><li class=\"graf graf--li is-selected\"><strong>&nbsp;Replacing</strong> - This option is almost similar to rebuilding, except the fact that you can replace a single application or a cluster of applications with commercial applications.<br><br></li></ul><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"qdnzh\">2. Know Your Applications</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"25ubr\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"25ubr\">Understanding how your business-critical applications work&nbsp;is always the key to success. This will help you draw the overall performance metrics of your applications. Moreover, to a considerable extent, it will also help you predict how they will work in a cloud environment. If you manage to get through this initial step, expect some skyrocketing performance metrics&mdash;when your applications start functioning on the cloud.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"25ubr\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"umdk\">3. Be Good at Predicting Your Application&rsquo;s Performance</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"p9dd\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"p9dd\">Now that you know all about how your applications work, put all your efforts in formulating a detailed current performance profile. Moving further, analyze this profile and project the performance of each application&rsquo;s compute and storage resources&mdash;considering multiple &ldquo;what if&rdquo; scenarios.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"p9dd\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"g4ib\">4. Consider Cost Optimization Early</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zfzq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zfzq\">To make your cloud journey profitable and reliable in every aspect, you need to plan your budget and keep your priorities straight&mdash;prior to migration. This means identifying the applications that are not business-critical and costs more on the cloud than on-premises&mdash;driving cost optimization effectively.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wfy9a\">Moreover, you can use the money saved to educate your employees about their new cloud environment!</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wfy9a\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"nrgi2\">5. Implement a Disaster Recovery Plan</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tu37\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tu37\">A successful cloud application migration involves - harnessing the ability to manage disasters in the most innovative way. This is exactly where automation plays a vital role&mdash;killing hazardous cloud instances on the go, and creating new ones.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"tu37\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"f5v0s\">6. Look Out for Migration Tools &nbsp;</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7wdyb\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7wdyb\">Watch out for the most trusted and best-of-breed migration tools available in the marketplace. Talking about industry trusted tools, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) serves as an all-inclusive solution for application migration.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"7wdyb\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"z34o\">We know, migrating applications can sometimes become a massive hurdle. But, no matter how complex or confusing the entire process may seem, if you do it right, you can reap the numerous benefits that the cloud has to offer.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"wyc9\"><br></p></div></div></section>','2017-10-20',NULL,'Active','6-key-points-to-know-before-migrating-applications-to-cloud','2017-09-13 11:43:07','2017-12-12 13:09:55',1,'cloud migration, application migration',6,'Consideration','6 Key Points to Know Before Migrating Applications to Cloud','6 Key Points to Know Before Migrating Applications to Cloud | 7EDGE','Today\'s enterprises are migrating their on-premise applications to the cloud. However, to best utilize the cloud, it is crucial to know some key points.','6 Key Points to Know Before Migrating Applications to Cloud | 7EDGE','Today\'s enterprises are migrating their on-premise applications to the cloud. However, to best utilize the cloud, it is crucial to know some key points.','05-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',200237,'2017-12-12 13:09:55','4 Min Read',31,4),(27,'7 Lead Generation Tips to Help Generate More Leads','Many organizations struggle to generate qualified leads who are more likely to convert. These expert tips will help you generate more qualified business leads.','S17615-S17-17.jpg','image/jpeg',120941,'2017-09-14 07:00:51','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"ug8nl\">When it comes to generating business leads, it is a relatively simple task for most organizations. However, where they really struggle is in generating more qualified leads who are more likely to get converted into customers.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"ug8nl\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0zo0h\">A qualified lead is a business prospect in your company&rsquo;s marketing funnel who has expressed interest in your products or services by giving their contact details and possibly requesting a quote or meeting with your organization. A qualified lead would also have been taken through a lead qualification process and their details would have been verified. These leads can then be passed on to your sales team for them to meet and close.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0zo0h\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"olee4\">A qualified lead has a higher chance of closing to a customer than an ordinary lead as they have already expressed intent in knowing more about your offerings. Here are seven tips that will help your organization to generate more of these qualified leads.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"olee4\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"7sff\">Create attractive and high quality content</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y9sw\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y9sw\">High-quality and targeted content is of paramount importance for creating more qualified leads. And, the more content you have,, the better as it keeps your leads and potential customers engaged. It is also absolutely important to identify your buyer personas and their place in the buyer&rsquo;s journey before creating content. As you do more research, you will be able to unravel their pain points and generate high value and tailored content that addresses these pain points and requirements.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y9sw\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l4l5c\">You can create content in the form of blogs, research papers, guest articles, reports and even videos to attract potential customers.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"l4l5c\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"2e0uz\">Make your content visible</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"r8ajc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"r8ajc\">When people look for solutions to their requirements, they should see your content. This is done by optimizing your content and sharing it on digital platforms where it is visible to your prospects. For example, social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, and even Quora are good platforms where you can promote your content and generate valuable marketing and sales leads.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"r8ajc\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wjwdi\">Search engine optimization (SEO) helps you in your website content being visible on search engines when someone types a search query. However, ensure that your SEO efforts are in line with the latest developments of search engine algorithms, as not complying with these algorithms may damage your page ranking. and reputation.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wjwdi\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"0i4oa\">Leverage your existing customers</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yj2zzr\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yj2zzr\">Your existing customers are your best spokespersons. A delighted customer always helps in bringing more qualified leads and customers to your organization. Hence, ask your existing customers for referrals. You can offer them incentives to refer more leads to your organization.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yj2zzr\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"76szu\">At the same time, you can also interview them to find out what they liked about your product, service or brand so that you can prepare testimonials and case studies. These are valuable content assets for a lead&rsquo;s comparison and evaluation stage which help them make quicker and better decisions about your solution offerings.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"76szu\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"scna\">Nurture your leads</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gaf8g\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gaf8g\">You may already have a solid strategy in place to convert more website visitors into leads. However, not all will be qualified leads. Hence, nurturing these unqualified leads becomes an important exercise. Nurturing your leads is done by constantly educating and engaging them so that they can do their homework and self-select your organization to contact when the time is right for them. Content assets such as emails newsletters and case studies are excellent options to nurture your leads.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gaf8g\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"njo8\">Keep in mind that nurturing your leads is a continuous process as you may want to have a steady flow of qualified leads into your marketing and sales funnel so that your database never goes empty.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"njo8\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"8wep\">Align your marketing and sales team goals</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gr3l8\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gr3l8\">Aligning the goals of the marketing and sales team is necessary without which, many leads can wither away without becoming customers. Traditionally, marketing and sales teams often do not get along very well with each other. However, realizing that both teams are really working towards achieving the same revenue goals of the organization can create a productive relationship between these two teams, thereby allowing better information sharing and coordination that can help your organization achieve better conversions.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"gr3l8\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"8fn8w\">Reform your landing page and call-to-actions</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y6t5h\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y6t5h\">You may have a great website content, but without a strong contact form and call-to-action, your page visitor will not convert into a lead. A good CTA, landing page and form fields play a huge role in converting a visitor into a well-qualified lead. As per Neil Patel, founder of Crazy Egg, &ldquo;a strong CTA compels people to click on it&rdquo;. An enticing CTA placed in an appropriate place grabs your visitor&rsquo;s attention and compels them to take action.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"y6t5h\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bvvmf\">A landing page is where you communicate to your lead the benefits of your solution in a clear and concise manner while capturing the essential details of the lead. A good contact form should neither be too short nor too long. It should have all the necessary fields that can capture the appropriate lead information as well as qualify the lead.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"bvvmf\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"6oplx\">These are some of the time tested and most effective ways of generating more qualified leads organizations are making use of.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,NULL,'Active','7-lead-generation-tips-to-help-generate-more-leads','2017-09-14 07:00:51','2017-12-06 14:04:22',3,'lead generation, business leads, sales leads',5,'Awareness','7 Lead Generation Tips to Help Generate More Leads','7 Lead Generation Tips to Help Generate More Leads | 7EDGE','Many organizations struggle to generate qualified leads who are more likely to convert. These expert tips will help you generate more qualified business leads.','7 Lead Generation Tips to Help Generate More Leads | 7EDGE','Many organizations struggle to generate qualified leads who are more likely to convert. These expert tips will help you generate more qualified business leads.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',32,2),(28,'5 Tips to Create Brand Awareness Using Inbound Marketing','Inbound marketing is a powerful way of creating brand awareness, attract and convert visitors. Here is how you can use it to build your brand awareness strategy.','S17615-S17-21.jpg','image/jpeg',114109,'2017-09-14 07:12:07','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"3b65o\">One of the common concerns of most organizations is to create awareness of their brand among potential customers in a crowded space. There are multiple ways of creating brand awareness among your potential customers. You can create advertisements for traditional and online media, appear in trade shows and events or apply the inbound marketing strategy among many others.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"3b65o\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yqfau\">Among the various methods available, inbound marketing appears as a powerful way for not only creating awareness but also in generating more business prospects and converting a sizeable number of these leads to customers in a highly efficient way.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"yqfau\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"sfsjn\">What is inbound marketing?</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"eo5k9\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"eo5k9\">Inbound marketing is a marketing approach employed by several enterprises today to attract more visitors to their website, convert them into valuable customers and generate revenue to the organization, instead of using traditional marketing techniques which are highly interruptive. Most people find traditional marketing techniques annoying and irrelevant, and have found ways to block irrelevant ads.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"eo5k9\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zuf67\">Inbound marketing, on the other hand, focuses on using user personas, the buyer&rsquo;s journey, and rich content to attract only the right people to the website, convert suitable visitors into leads and eventually, loyal customers. This makes the marketing exercise more efficient in comparison with the traditional outbound marketing.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"zuf67\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"o8932\">How can you use inbound marketing to create brand awareness?</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"28s2t\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"28s2t\">The ultimate goal of an organization&rsquo;s marketing efforts is to bring more traffic to its website so that prospects can be converted and closed. Unlike traditional marketing, inbound marketing helps in bringing a steady stream of traffic from people who are looking out for services and solutions that the organization has to offer.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"28s2t\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"h8o1\">In order to utilize inbound marketing strategy to create brand awareness, you should do the following.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"zzp7k\">Understand your user persona</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"6nwb\">Before you embark on spreading awareness of your brand, it is absolutely necessary that you first identify who your ideal customers are, which can be done by creating user personas. This helps you understand your customer demographics and their potential goals or challenges they are trying to solve, so that you can target them better and come up with suitable awareness-building strategies. Doing this also helps in reducing unnecessary wastage of time and money in targeting people who are not your target customers.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"y0ckr\">Create valuable content</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0d48\">Creating valuable content is the second major aspect of inbound marketing for spreading brand awareness. However, before jumping into creating content, it is important to identify your user persona and identify where in the buyer&rsquo;s journey your potential customer is - whether they are trying to find a solution to their challenge, considering alternatives or deciding on a particular solution and a provider. Coming up with a content offering that suits your user persona and addresses their needs is key to attract a customer.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0d48\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"23wbj\">The most common content offerings used to create brand awareness are blogs, guest articles, videos, white papers, expert content, eBooks, and reports, which provide valuable information and solutions that address the problems and challenges faced by prospects. Offering this type of content helps in building a reputation for your brand as an expert and authority in your field. However, maintain caution that you do not overly promote your brand or solution at this stage.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"186rm\">Distribute your content and actively engage</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fffva\">Once you have created content, it is important to distribute it so that it reaches a wider audience. The most common way of distributing this content is through social media platforms and search and optimization (SEO). Not only should you look at distributing your content, but do it in a consistent and regular way. In addition to distributing your content, it is also important to actively and strategically engage your potential customers on these social media platforms. This improves the visibility of your brand as well as user engagement.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\" name=\"5y9y\">Optimize your website</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e8j0r\">SEO remains one of the key components of attracting more people to your website. To achieve success, you must think from the perspective of a prospective customer and optimize your website accordingly. Google algorithms have become smarter and rank website content based on search intent rather than pure keywords-based search. For example, people often look for a long-tail keyword or ask a question on Google. Tailoring your content so that it can address such queries can help website or blog rank higher.</p><h3 class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e8j0r\">Analyze results</h3><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"c3an\">It goes without saying that you should measure everything you do so that you can identify what works and what doesn&#39;t, so that you can make appropriate changes in your approach to achieve better results. Hence, in order to improve your brand&rsquo;s outreach, it is a good practice to collect relevant data using some of the popular tools and analyze the data so that you can optimize your content as well as awareness creating strategies to attract more visitors.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"c3an\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"zufu\">Conclusion</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"k4kv\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"k4kv\">The key to successfully creating awareness of your brand through inbound marketing is to create and distribute the right content to the right people at the right time while maintaining consistency. Following these simple inbound techniques can undoubtedly help you attract more visitors to your website and convert them into potential leads and customers.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"k4kv\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"k4kv\"><br></p></div></div></section><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><p><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e\" id=\"hs-cta-3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"></div><![endif]--><a href=\"https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2627927/3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"hs-cta-img fr-fic fr-dii\" id=\"hs-cta-img-3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e\" style=\"border-width: 0px;\" height=\"206\" width=\"597\" src=\"https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2627927/3e053a39-a0ad-4f06-9069-c612b4ca1e9e.png\" alt=\"Inbound-Marketing-Checklist\"></a></span></span></p><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->','2017-10-10',NULL,'Active','5-tips-to-create-brand-awareness-using-inbound-marketing','2017-09-14 07:12:07','2017-12-07 09:46:10',3,'Inbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Strategy, Brand Awareness',2,'Consideration','5 Tips to Create Brand Awareness Using Inbound Marketing','5 Tips to Create Brand Awareness Using Inbound Marketing | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing is a powerful way of creating brand awareness, attract and convert visitors. Here is how you can use it to build your brand awareness strategy.','5 Tips to Create Brand Awareness Using Inbound Marketing | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing is a powerful way of creating brand awareness, attract and convert visitors. Here is how you can use it to build your brand awareness strategy.','7E-OG-Brandawareness-071117.jpg','image/jpeg',178123,'2017-11-17 12:02:30','4 Min Read',33,1),(29,'7 Inbound Marketing Best Practices to Boost Your Sales','To make your inbound marketing successful, you should follow certain fundamental practices. As part of the inbound marketing strategy, here are the best practices you should follow.','S17615-S17-08.jpg','image/jpeg',112117,'2017-09-14 07:22:06','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"yl29\">By now, you may have already considered taking the inbound marketing approach to bring in more business leads, convert them into sales and grow your business. If you have not yet considered inbound marketing, you should read our <a href=\"/blog/inbound-vs-outbound-marketing-why-is-inbound-better\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">blog</a> to understand why this is the best marketing approach to grow your business.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--first\" name=\"yl29\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"9ql3\">In order to make your inbound marketing successful, you should follow certain fundamental practices. Here we list seven best practices of inbound marketing you should follow in order to grow your website visitors, leads, and sales.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"9ql3\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"ljmdw\">Identify your buyer personas</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2txh2\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2txh2\">Developing a user persona is fundamental to the success of inbound marketing. A buyer persona gives you an idea of your target audience and helps you tailor your offerings and campaigns accordingly. Do some research about your target customer&rsquo;s background, their general lifestyle, goals and pain points, and create a person around this. In case you have multiple types of potential customers, create multiple user personas. it is also a good practice to identify who drives the most revenues and profits for your organization and create your personas and campaigns accordingly.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"2txh2\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"hz5ed\">Identify your buyer&rsquo;s journey</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cwgxn\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cwgxn\">Identifying where a customer is in the buyer&rsquo;s journey is another fundamental practice for the success of inbound marketing. Most prospects today don&rsquo;t like to be prospected. They try to look for additional information about a problem or solution that can&rsquo;t be found anywhere else. They may be at different stages of their journey - becoming aware that they have a challenge or a need, looking or comparing possible solutions, or about to make a decision about the solution or solution provider. Understanding this helps in tailoring information and your sales process to the buyer&rsquo;s context.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"cwgxn\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"vz6l\">Create and publish valuable content</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uolzs\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uolzs\">Content is another cornerstone of a successful inbound process. This should not be just any content but should be educative, of high quality and add value to the prospective buyer. It should also be contextual and relevant to the buyer persona and the buyer&rsquo;s journey. Depending on the type of customer and the stage in their journey, you can offer content in various formats such as blogs, emails, research papers, videos, thought leadership articles, whitepapers and much more. One thing you should keep in mind is to refrain from blowing your own trumpet or hard sell your services as much as possible.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"uolzs\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"1bou\">Ensure visibility</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"n00et\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"n00et\">Once you have created high-value content, it is essential to distribute it across various digital platforms so that it is visible to the maximum number of prospective customers. However, content distribution is not a random and disorganized process. Content needs to be marketed in an organized and strategic manner. The right timing, platform, context and the right audience are crucial to successful content marketing.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"n00et\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wh6xb\">Besides marketing your content, you should also ensure that your website is visible to people on search engines. Following the best practices of digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) helps your website and content rank higher on search results.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"wh6xb\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"j6bw\">Build effective CTAs and landing pages</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e693a\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e693a\">The ultimate goal of your organization is not just attracting visitors but also converting them into leads and sales. Effective call-to-action (CTA) and landing pages play a huge role in doing this. A simple and attention-grabbing CTA placed strategically along with a valuable content offering in return such as an eBook or case study, compels visitors to take action while enabling you to make them willingly give you their contact information. &nbsp;</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"e693a\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ua2k\">Landing pages play an equally important role in the conversion process. Having a minimum of 15 high-quality landing pages helps you in improving your lead conversion rates. A landing page should consider the stage of the buyer&rsquo;s journey, clearly communicate what is on offer and should have a form length that mirrors the perceived value of what is being offered.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"ua2k\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"cz55a\">Nurture your leads</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fbby\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fbby\">Most leads you get on a regular basis are not sales-ready at a given point of time. However, this does not mean that you ignore them. Nurturing your leads is one of the things you should do regularly so that you can have a steady pipeline of leads you can close to sales when the timing is right. An effective lead-nurturing program using rich content and email helps your leads remember you when it is time for them to make a purchase. As per Forrester Research, organizations that excel at nurturing leads produce 50 per cent more sales-ready leads at 33 per cent lesser cost per lead.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"fbby\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"vl2lu\">Align your marketing and sales teams</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"141f\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"141f\">Lastly, the alignment of the two key functions of marketing and sales is critical to your inbound marketing success. Alignment promotes better understanding, cooperation, developing better definitions, share common goals and streamline processes. Research shows that higher return on investment (ROI) is achieved through a marketing-sales service level agreements.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"141f\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p is-selected\" name=\"lxb0o\">Inbound marketing is not a random process but is something that requires discipline and following the best practices so that you can see success. If you follow these practices, you can be sure that your organization will witness seamless sales and business growth.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,NULL,'Active','7-inbound-marketing-best-practices-to-boost-your-sales','2017-09-14 07:22:06','2017-12-06 14:04:05',3,'Inbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Best Practices',1,'Consideration','7 Inbound Marketing Best Practices to Boost Your Sales','7 Inbound Marketing Best Practices to Boost Your Sales | 7EDGE','To make your inbound marketing successful, you should follow certain fundamental practices. As part of the inbound marketing strategy, here are the best practices you should follow.','7 Inbound Marketing Best Practices to Boost Your Sales | 7EDGE','To make your inbound marketing successful, you should follow certain fundamental practices. As part of the inbound marketing strategy, here are the best practices you should follow.','7E-OG-7waystoinbound-071117.jpg','image/jpeg',189836,'2017-11-14 04:27:40','4 Min Read',35,2),(30,'5 Things to Check Before Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency','If you are looking to take an inbound marketing approach, check these five things before hiring an inbound marketing agency for your organization.','S17615-S17-16.jpg','image/jpeg',119038,'2017-09-14 07:31:15','<p name=\"o4lyf\">If you have decided to take the inbound marketing approach to build your business, then congratulations! You have taken the right step towards growing your business which many organizations today are taking up or have already implemented.</p><p name=\"o4lyf\"><strong><br></strong></p><p name=\"4npyg\">The next step for you is to identify whether you have the necessary inhouse capabilities to do it yourself or if you would like to approach a consultancy who could help you do it in a fast, efficient and cost effective way. If the latter is your choice, then hiring the right partner could be tricky, with so many agencies and consultancies claiming expertise.</p><p name=\"4npyg\"><br></p><p name=\"ym2q7\">However, let us make it is easier for you to choose your marketing partner. We have listed here five things you should check before selecting the right inbound marketing partner for your organization.</p><p name=\"ym2q7\"><br></p><h2 name=\"vv9nh\">1. The ability to understand your business</h2><p name=\"x1djq\"><br></p><p name=\"x1djq\">It goes without saying that you cannot hire someone who does not understand your industry and business. A good partner is one who will try to understand your business requirements by asking the right questions during the assessment process. A good consulting firm or agency will understand your pain points and offer solutions accordingly. It should also help you understand more about your business and identify your blind spots.</p><p name=\"x1djq\"><br></p><h2 name=\"dtxa\">2. Full service or specialized offerings</h2><p name=\"btdz3\"><br></p><p name=\"btdz3\">There are several types of consultancies and agencies available in the market today. While there are companies who offer the full range of inbound marketing services from buyer persona research, regular blogging and SEO to lead scoring, analysis and reporting, there are other organizations which offer only certain aspects of inbound marketing. There are also companies that offer only advisory services while the actual work will have to be done by your organization in-house.</p><p name=\"btdz3\"><br></p><p name=\"bel3r\">Hence, it is better to first ask yourself what in-house capabilities you have and what you would require or if you need a complete solution. You should also check what aspects of inbound marketing the agency you are considering specializes in.</p><p name=\"bel3r\"><br></p><h2 name=\"v0zko\">3. Practicing what they preach</h2><p name=\"lqpm\"><br></p><p name=\"lqpm\">While so many agencies and consultancies claim to be experts in inbound marketing, very few actually practice what they preach. Log onto their website and spend some time on it checking how they define their user personas, how many landing pages they have, how they come up with content, how consistent their blog posts are and so on. It should become apparent to you if the organization is practicing inbound for their own business or not. A company which is not practicing what they preach can hardly do a good job executing it for you.</p><p name=\"lqpm\"><br></p><h2 name=\"ckgrq\">4. Organization&rsquo;s capabilities and certifications</h2><p name=\"d1i8\"><br></p><p name=\"d1i8\">Your inbound marketing strategy is only as good as the people who implement it. A great inbound marketing company has top shelf talent including content creators, marketers, SEO professionals, web designers and, developers. Certifications from market leaders such as Hubspot provide additional credibility to the professionals as well as the marketing agency.</p><p name=\"d1i8\"><br></p><p name=\"wb5g3\">The reputation of the marketing automation platforms these organizations use such as Marketo, Infusionsoft and Hubspot can also help you in identifying the potential partners you would like to work with. If you already have an automation software, see if the consultancy is able to work with it.</p><p name=\"wb5g3\"><br></p><h2 name=\"kqleb\">5. The ability to understand the sales process</h2><p name=\"xlod8\"><br></p><p name=\"xlod8\">The ultimate goal of executing an inbound strategy is not to establish a robust marketing process but to generate more sales in a faster and efficient way at a lower cost of acquisition. To achieve this, it is necessary to have an alignment between the marketing and sales functions. The marketing partner you are looking for should have a deep understanding of your sales without which, there will be no alignment between these two important functions. The company&rsquo;s sales knowledge is crucial for your organization&rsquo;s success.</p><p name=\"xlod8\"><br></p><p name=\"5rug\">Inbound marketing is a relatively new approach that is gaining rapid popularity in the recent years. Hence, it is critical that you hire the right partner who understands the in and out of this marketing strategy and can help you achieve your sales goals.</p><p name=\"5rug\"><br></p><p name=\"x20we\">At 7EDGE, we work with our clients to understand their business and sales goals, and help them achieve the desired results through our deep knowledge and hands-on experience of implementing the inbound marketing strategies and techniques.</p>','2017-10-20',NULL,'Active','5-things-to-check-before-hiring-an-inbound-marketing-agency','2017-09-14 07:31:15','2017-12-06 14:03:57',3,'Inbound Marketing Partner, Inbound Marketing Strategy',5,'Decision','5 Things to Check Before Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency','5 Things to Check Before Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency | 7EDGE','If you are looking to take an inbound marketing approach, check these five things before hiring an inbound marketing agency for your organization.','5 Things to Check Before Hiring an Inbound Marketing Agency | 7EDGE','If you are looking to take an inbound marketing approach, check these five things before hiring an inbound marketing agency for your organization.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',36,2),(31,'3 Crucial Ways to Reduce Your Cloud Migration Costs','While enterprises migrate their IT assets to the cloud, cost optimization becomes a major concern. Considering some key points can change this scenario.','S17615-S17-03.jpg','image/jpeg',164438,'2017-09-14 11:25:13','<section class=\"section--first section--last\"><div class=\"section-divider layoutSingleColumn\"><hr class=\"section-divider\"></div><div class=\"section-content\"><div class=\"section-inner layoutSingleColumn\"><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"x4xm\">By now, you might probably know about the countless possibilities that the cloud has to offer; and how it can transform your IT infrastructure&mdash;injecting innovation on the go. This is true, undoubtedly. But you might also be concerned about the <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"https://www.stratoscale.com/blog/cloud/cloud-migration-savings/\" href=\"https://www.stratoscale.com/blog/cloud/cloud-migration-savings/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">unexpected costs</a> and workflow delays that may come in the way during cloud migration.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"x4xm\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"aj5oq\">According to leading research firms such as Gartner, Forrester and 451 Research, 50 percent and more cloud migrations result in an exceeded budget - causing unexpected disruption in the overall business. As a matter of fact, although the cloud is flexible in every aspect, formulating a stringent <a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" data-href=\"http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Cloud-migrations-often-but-not-always-reduce-app-TCO\" href=\"http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Cloud-migrations-often-but-not-always-reduce-app-TCO\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cloud migration strategy</a> can sometimes become a hurdle. But if you do it right, the entire migration scenario can turn out to be a cost-effective one.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"aj5oq\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"nfqy5\">Let&rsquo;s make it simple. Your cloud migration efforts should focus on these three factors&mdash;Your ROI goals; your individual assets that you are moving to the cloud; and the level of support your cloud provider can offer.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"nfqy5\"><br>Moreover, the below-mentioned key points can shed some light on how effectively you can make a headway in cloud cost optimization.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"nfqy5\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"e2mss\">Know Your Applications And Map Them</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mfven\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mfven\">The prime reason that thwarts the success of most cloud migrations is the company&rsquo;s inability to understand their applications&mdash;how they work, and how they communicate with other on-premise applications. This paves a path towards unstable applications post-migration. Moreover, identifying the underlying errors may require strenuous efforts, and can be costly and time-consuming. Before you even start migrating, mitigating the risk holds vital importance.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mfven\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"su2hi\">All you need to do is map all your application dependencies; also making sure that you are migrating its resources simultaneously. Now that you have accuracy and clarity, executing this entire procedure helps you troubleshoot the applications post-migration.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"su2hi\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"53ebr\">Inject the Right Technology</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"edg8t\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"edg8t\">In order to make your cloud migration a success story, you need to keep analyzing your cloud infrastructure&mdash;in a bid to identify and rectify loopholes that may occur over time in your cloud journey. An effective solution - blending your cloud with the right technology and tools that not only streamlines your initial workload migration but also helps you maintain its stability altogether.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"edg8t\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"z5g6l\">For instance, the cloud technology solutions you choose should inhabit features such as:</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"z5g6l\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0fghn\"><strong>Automated Migration:</strong> Powered by automation, this feature migrates your on-premise applications to the cloud&mdash;allowing you to worry less and focus on your core business.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"0fghn\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"4yfwl\"><strong>Performance Monitoring:</strong> As this involves real-time monitoring, you will be able to identify and resolve issues quickly; or even before they occur.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5unok\">Analytics: This feature enables you to understand the overall performance, and have enhanced control over your cloud platform&mdash;helping you optimize your cloud costs effectively.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"5unok\"><br></p><h2 class=\"graf graf--h2\" name=\"fkn1\">Know Your Cloud Storage Needs</h2><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mutur\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mutur\">It is true that the widespread availability of storage options such as Azure, AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Google is often confusing. During migration, you are likely to over-provision, under-provision, or even end up adopting the wrong cloud storage. The trick is to evaluate the IOPS (Input-Output Operations Per Second) and choose the storage option that best suits your IT infrastructure.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"mutur\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"c8r2na\">Although these points can help you make a positive impact, at the end of the day, the key to cost-optimization in the cloud narrows down to how well you understand your IT infrastructure and the applications within. This also involves being constantly updated with the features of best-of-breed cloud solutions that are available in the marketplace; such as AWS, Azure, IBM, and HP.</p><p class=\"graf graf--p\" name=\"c8r2na\"><br></p><p class=\"graf graf--p graf--last\" name=\"t1hif\">Now that you have the information you need, go ahead and make your journey to the cloud a great success.</p></div></div></section>',NULL,NULL,'Active','3-crucial-ways-to-reduce-your-cloud-migration-costs','2017-09-14 11:25:13','2017-12-12 13:20:07',1,'cloud migration, cost optimization',6,'Consideration','3 Crucial Ways to Reduce Your Cloud Migration Costs','3 Crucial Ways to Reduce Your Cloud Migration Costs | 7EDGE','While enterprises migrate their IT assets to the cloud, cost optimization becomes a major concern. Considering some key points can change this scenario.','3 Crucial Ways to Reduce Your Cloud Migration Costs | 7EDGE','While enterprises migrate their IT assets to the cloud, cost optimization becomes a major concern. Considering some key points can change this scenario.','08-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',186162,'2017-12-12 13:20:07','4 Min Read',37,4),(33,'Digital Transformation: Adopting The Internet First Approach','Today, companies are realizing the importance of digitally transforming their business to stay relevant. Here\'s an Internet First way to enable digital transformation.','Digital-transformation.jpg','image/jpeg',159541,'2017-11-13 09:08:34','<h2>What is digital transformation?</h2><p><br></p><p>The term &lsquo;Digital Transformation&rsquo; has become a buzzword in recent years. It is a term that is being used in most enterprises across the world. However, what exactly is digital transformation?</p><p><br></p><p>Digital Transformation can mean different things to different organizations. It can range from getting on social media to implementing advanced tools and technologies-such as cloud technology, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT). In general terms, we can define Digital Transformation as the following:</p><p><br></p><p>Digital Transformation is the &ldquo;Integration of digital technology into all areas and aspects of a business that results in fundamental changes to how enterprises operate and how they deliver value to their customers&rdquo;. Besides the said definition, it also involves cultural changes that requires enterprises to experiment often, continually challenge the status quo, and stay comfortable with failure. This can also mean sometimes walking away from long-standing business processes that businesses were built upon in favor of newer practices that are still being defined.</p><p><br></p><h2>Why does digital transformation matter?</h2><p><br></p><p>There may be different reasons why organizations undergo digital transformation. However, looking at the manner in which digital transformation has changed the way enterprises do business, there is little doubt about its impending large-scale impact in the days to come.</p><p><br></p><p>Most organizations today have realized that their business&#39;s success is linked to the adoption of new technology and platform-based business models that helps them cater to their customer needs in a better manner. And, increasing digitalization in all aspects of business has made it imperative for organizations to constantly innovate and hence renovate the way they provide products and services to their customers. Moreover, the question of survival in a competitive world is a key driver for the digital transformation of several businesses.</p><p><br></p><p>As per a report by IDC &ldquo;FutureScape: Worldwide CIO Agenda 2016 Predictions&rdquo;,&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>One-third of the top 20 firms in industry segments will be disrupted by new competitors within five years,&quot; and that it&#39;s a matter of transform or perish.</p></blockquote><p><br></p><p>While the chief drivers of digital transformation are changing customer demand, changing competition and technology, there are also a few other reasons and benefits why organizations should consider digitally transforming their business. Here are a few of them:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><pre><strong>Improved Efficiency: </strong>Digitalization makes organizations more efficient. Research has shown that nine out of IT ten decision makers claim that legacy systems have been preventing them from harnessing the digital technologies they require to grow and become more efficient. With the right tools and technologies at the organization&rsquo;s disposal, their teams can collaborate between the various departments and locations thus making business decisions and operations more streamlined. It also enables organizations to quickly solve problems, meet deadlines, increase productivity, and improve customer care.\r\n\r\n<strong>Better Profitability:</strong> It goes without saying that improved efficiency leads to improved profitability. Companies that embrace digitalization within their business models and systems lead to significant increase in revenues and company valuation. Projects that drive digital initiatives with commitment change management can witness even greater improvements in profitability. As per MIT Center for Digital Business, &ldquo;Companies that have embraced digital transformation are 26% more profitable than their average industry competitors and enjoy a 12% higher market valuation.&rdquo;\r\n\r\n<strong>Enhanced Customer Value:</strong> It helps improve customer lifecycle management starting from acquisition, to maturation, retention, and to advocacy. It also provides superior customer insights such as shifting customer demands to organizations through more detailed and diverse customer engagement data that can lead to prediction of product and operational impacts, optimization of planning, thereby creating more effective and relevant products or services that will help you win new customers and retain your current ones.\r\n\r\n<strong>Extended Organizational Reach:</strong> Part of digital transformation is to utilize the tools and technologies that enhance the organization&rsquo;s reach to the target customers. When the business applications and website are adopt to different digital platforms and utilize appropriate technologies, the organization becomes visible to the prospects and customers and has the potential to gain more sales.\r\n\r\n<strong>Empowered Employees:</strong> Empowering an organization&rsquo;s employees will enable them to be more proficient at their jobs, resulting in greater productivity. For example, an organization&rsquo;s staff will not only be able to instantaneously collaborate with colleagues and management, but will also be able to consult with experts and get questions answered in real time. Additionally, employees can now work from virtually anywhere, anytime, allowing the team to fully optimize their time.</pre><p><br></p><p><br></p><h2>Digital Transformation Framework</h2><p><br></p><p>Digital transformation varies based on an enterprise&rsquo;s specific challenges and demands. There are however, a few common themes that all businesses should consider as they embark on the journey to digital transformation. Enterprises that are leading the way in digital transformation have the following chief elements in their reinvention framework:</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Customer Decision Journey Study </strong>Understanding the customer&rsquo;s requirement and the stage of the buyer&rsquo;s journey &ndash; whether they are becoming aware of the brand or they are considering to make a purchase &ndash;  is becoming the cornerstone of successful businesses. A recent research by McKinsey shows that enterprises that are able to understand and act upon their customer&#39;s&rsquo; journey are able to cut down the costs by 15-20 percent. In addition, these organizations are able to improve customer satisfaction by up to 20 percent, and revenues by about 15-20 percent.\r\n\r\n<strong>Strategy and Innovation </strong>A digital strategy is an inseparable part of a business strategy for most organizations today. However, the best strategies don&rsquo;t come from past analysis and execution, but are in fact based on where the firm believes the value is likely to shift in the next few years. Digital leaders identify where they are, the changing trends and a few possible disruptions in their industry and market, prioritize them and then craft a digitized business model to exploit opportunities.\r\n\r\n<strong>Technology Adoption </strong>Today&rsquo;s changing business environment requires that organizations deploy technology and tools like cloud technology and data analytics tools that support high-performance. Legacy systems alone do not work anymore if the company has to become agile and flexible. Hence, digital leaders are taking a two-tiered approach to implement technology and drive personalization for the customers while focusing on robust performance. While on the one hand, they focus on designing and developing customer-facing software which is fast and responsive, on the other, they design core systems for greater stability and high-quality data management.\r\n\r\n<strong>Data Analytics </strong>High-speed data analytics form one of the core elements of a strong digital transformation framework. Companies that lead in digital transformation know what data to use, draw critical insights from the data, and focus on delivering on their goals based on this data. According to a recent research by McKinsey, organizations that made extensive use of data analytics saw approximately 126 percent improvement in profits over their competitors.\r\n\r\n<strong>Process Automation </strong>Process automation forms an important part of the digitization framework. A well-automated process helps in reducing redundant processes and inefficiencies while enabling rapid scaling of business at no substantial additional costs. Over time, a significant cost performance can be achieved while helping the firm to become agile and responsive to changing demands, thus gaining a competitive edge.\r\n\r\n<strong>Organization Culture </strong>While technology and tools are an important part of digital transformation, it seldom drives transformation alone. In reality, it is the people, both employees and customers that help drive the digital transformation. Everything about the organization, from structures and business processes to the mindsets and behaviors play an important role in implementing digital initiatives for transforming their businesses digitally.</pre><p><br></p><p>While different experts give their own recommendations, varying steps or considerations, CIOs should look for those important shared themes when they embark on a journey of developing their own digital transformation strategy.</p><p><br></p><h2>Digital Transformation Strategy and Consulting</h2><h4><br>What is a digital transformation strategy?</h4><p>A common mistake most organizations make is to believe that digital transformation is all about technology. However, The 2015 Digital Business Global Executive Study and Research Project by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte states that it is strategy and not technology that drives digital transformation. Digital transformation consultants help understand the change in customer behaviours and embraces digital strategies that make it simpler for customers to interact with the organization, irrespective of the time and place.<br><br></p><h4>Why do enterprises need it?</h4><p>In a world of growing digitalization, having a strategic consultant is no more an option, but a necessity for businesses. Most start-ups and businesses have digitalization ingrained in their DNA as they identify the customers&rsquo; increasing shift towards the digital. However, the process can be difficult and painful for large enterprises. Hence, with the help of a consultant, developing an effective digital strategy that identifies this shift becomes absolutely necessary.</p><p><br></p><h2>Steps to build a successful digital transformation strategy</h2><p><br></p><p>So, what is needed to develop a digital strategy that transforms? Here are five steps that are necessary to create a successful strategy:</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Change the Point of View </strong>The first step necessary for creating a successful digital transformation strategy is to change the enterprise&rsquo;s point of view. Successful digital transformation should be able to get the right people on board which includes all stakeholders.\r\n\r\nThe organization must be able to map out every area of business which it wants to improve and plan how the management intends to take these steps. It should then make it clear what the outcomes will be for everyone involved. A digital transformation strategy does not work if all the stakeholders are not on board. So it is necessary to ensure that the organization is letting them know why it&rsquo;s so critical to digitalize and the benefits that will be achieved.\r\n\r\n<strong>Translate Business Goals into Digital Processes </strong>Every business has goals. However, figuring out how those goals will be translated to digital and identifying the digital processes that&#39;ll get the organization there is important. For example, one of the key goals for an organization is to increase its sales. By using the appropriate user personas and digital tools, they will be able to make sure that only the relevant products or services that will resonate with the potential customers will be showcased. Personalized content not only helps improving user experience but also leads to improved conversions.\r\n\r\n<strong>Conduct Research </strong>In order to achieve business goals, knowing their customers becomes extremely important for enterprises. This goes beyond knowing what they do or like to purchase. It is also about understanding their purchasing patterns such as what time of the day do they usually like to purchase, what platforms do they utilize, how many times do they browse before making a purchase decision and what drives them to make a purchase.\r\n\r\nCustomer data and analytics help organizations understand their customers&rsquo; behavioral patterns. A deep understanding of how their customers utilize digital to make purchase decisions helps organizations target their customers better and drive more conversions as well as sales.\r\n\r\n<strong>Adopt a Collaborative Approach </strong>A successful digital transformation strategy ensures that all the technology being utilized allows collaboration within the organization, lead to lower costs and saves time. Another important requirement for digital transformation is connected data. Big brands actively use customer data to offer better user experience and utilize tools and technologies that provide a unified platform that provide customer data across devices and channels. Ultimately, the more connected the people, digital technologies and processes are, the more effective they will become.\r\n\r\n<strong>Evolve </strong>Digital transformation is all about evolution. Organizations that are being digitalized must be willing to change and evolve. As times and people&rsquo;s demands and digital behavior change, organizations must be willing to change in order to cater to their customers or cease to exist. The best way to evolve is to continually track changes using analytics and evolve the business goals. It is also a good idea to keep experimenting with patterns, so that when a new pattern emerges, it will be easier to adapt to the changes.</pre><h2>Digital Transformation - Key Areas to Focus</h2><p><br></p><p>Technology implementation and transformed customer experience are probably the most visible and exciting aspects of digital transformation. However, to obtain a completely transformed business, various other elements of the organization too must succeed. Here are the few business elements that we address as key areas of our digital transformation consulting services.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/077/original/Digital-Transformation-Consulting.svg?1509194490\" style=\"width: 933px; height: 267.794px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><h3>Digital Strategy</h3><p>As customer expectations change and as they increasingly move towards the digital world, businesses are forced to develop strategies to cater to the changing customer demands. Developing a digital strategy cannot be however, be treated as an IT strategy and needs a different approach.</p><p><br></p><p>Customers are increasingly going from paper to laptops and mobile devices, and even internet and cloud. They are all on major digital media platforms from Facebook to LinkedIn and emails. Hence, developing a digital strategy, especially in the marketing area, that connects and caters to the changing customer expectations as well as achieves the key business goals such as sales and ROI becomes important.</p><p><br></p><p>A company&rsquo;s business strategy must involve a digital action plan, a practical set of initiatives that align with the organization&rsquo;s goals as well as a bold vision for how the pace of innovation will likely reshape the industry over time. It should also focus on creating policies and priorities that are agile and flexible to the constant changes in technologies and customer behavior.</p><h3>Content Strategy</h3><p><br></p><p>When it comes to the digital world, content is the king. It can drive massive traffic to a company&rsquo;s website that can be converted to leads and sales. However, just great content or content marketing do not ensure website traffic and digital success. It requires a strategic approach to ensure better success rate.</p><p><br></p><p>Content strategy delves deep into the creation, publication, and control of content. An excellent content strategy employs audience research, developing a user persona and the stage in their buyer&rsquo;s journey. It then determines the best form of content for the target customers, tailoring the style of content, the delivery frequency and the keywords they use to search online.</p><p><br></p><p>By engaging in this process, repeating it and refining it, organizations will be able to develop a powerful strategy that leads to a steady amount of website traffic and conversions.</p><h3>Digital Marketing</h3><p><br></p><p>Another important area of a business that requires attention is digital marketing. The purpose of a digital marketing plan is to take the organization through the process of thoroughly researching and articulating the goals of its digital initiatives, clearly targeting digital personas, methodically selecting the relevant channels to go after these personas and planning how to do it.</p><p><br></p><p>An organization must consider the following aspects while creating a digital marketing plan and campaign.</p><p><strong><br></strong></p><pre><strong>Determine Objectives and Goals:</strong> Setting the goals is fundamental to a digital marketing campaign as it determines the direction of the whole campaign. Creating goals at the beginning of the campaign ensure that focus is maintained. Goals also help optimize the returns of the campaign.\r\n\r\n<strong>Identify a Strategy:</strong> Creating an effective digital marketing strategy requires a good understanding of the various digital channels, how they work, and the best practices to get maximum outcomes. A digital marketing strategy must consider every single aspect of the campaign, from identifying the target audience to the message to be conveyed, and from the execution channels to the budget.\r\n\r\n<strong>Understand the Audience Better:</strong> To launch a successful marketing campaign, it is important to know the audience better. Doing this helps organizations contacting the right audience and delivering targeted and relevant communication to them. Organizations must spend time defining their target customers, their digital presence pattern, general time of digital activity and so on.\r\n\r\n<strong>Optimize:</strong> A critical requirement for successful digital marketing is to optimize the content so that it can be found by people when they search using specific keywords and topics. A search engine optimized content makes the website and content rank higher on search engines. Care should be taken that the best practices are followed, else websites can get penalized with lower page rankings.\r\n\r\n<strong>Identify Digital Channels:</strong> Understanding what digital channels their target customers spend most of their time on, how much time they spend, the right channels to target their customers, etc helps organizations make best use of the channels to reach their customers and achieve results.\r\n\r\n<strong>Revise CTAs:</strong> A call to action (CTA) can act as a good on-page marketing tool for an organization&rsquo;s website. An effective CTA has the power to convert a website visitor to a lead.\r\n\r\n<strong>Monitor Success:</strong> Everything said and done, what doesn&rsquo;t gets measured doesn&rsquo;t get improved. It is absolutely necessary for organizations to analyze the success of their digital marketing campaigns to identify what can be optimized and improved to make it more effective so that better results can be achieved.</pre><h3>Customer Experience</h3><p><br></p><p>It is common knowledge that revenue is directly related to customer experience. This means that providing a better customer experience can help organizations improve customer loyalty and drive better revenues. So, how can organizations enhance customer experience? Following methods given below can help organizations achieve this:</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Step into the customer&rsquo;s shoes:</strong> It is a good practice to step into the shoes of the customer and ask oneself, what kind of experience do I want? Doing this helps organizations identify the kind of experience they can provide their customers that will keep them coming back for more.\r\n\r\n<strong>Don&rsquo;t dodge the feedback:</strong> A negative feedback is something that everyone fears. However, customer feedback is valuable as it provides organizations wonderful opportunities to improve and grow. It is a good practice to keep a lookout for customer feedbacks and also respond to them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Offer educational content:</strong> The age where organizations need to actively advertise their products and services is coming to an end. Customers are using the <a href=\"/internet-first\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Internet First approach</a> to look at an organization and its offerings. What they need instead is a solution to their problem and not an advertisement. Organizations that excel in educative and high-quality content that address their challenges create better customer experience.\r\n\r\n<strong>Experiment:</strong> Sometimes, all an organization may have to do is see what works and what doesn&rsquo;t work with its customers is to perform simple experiments with alternatives, generally referred to as A/B testing.</pre><h3>Digital Technology Enablement</h3><p><br></p><p>Digital technology platforms are an inherent part of Digital Transformation. Digital technology enablement is all about influencing an organization&rsquo;s digital transformation journey through the utilization of technologies such as Cloud and DevOps, Big Data Analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies help in achieving smarter and efficient business processes; consequently driving customer experience. So what exactly are they? And how can they help enterprises?</p><p><br></p><h4>Big Data Analytics</h4><p>As data evolved over the years, Big data Analytics emerged as a process that involves advanced techniques such as machine learning, text analytics, predictive analytics, data mining, statistics, and language processing. These techniques effectively help enterprises declutter and arrange their diverse, massive data sets.</p><p><br></p><h4>DevOps and Cloud</h4><p>Adopting DevOps alongside Cloud services can help inject automation at all levels&mdash;by using the extra layer of flexibility to empower new DevOps processes; thus maximizing the benefits. This approach helps enterprises stage a well-built cloud architecture that leverages automation for configuration management, infrastructure provisioning, container management and continuous code delivery. At the end of the day, they can achieve greater levels of operations and developer productivity and security.</p><p><br></p><h4>IoT</h4><p>Talking about the IoT, it is an innovative technology that injects the power of Internet connectivity and data analytics into consumer appliances, automobiles, sensors, industrial and utility components, and other everyday products to transform the way we live and work.</p><p><br></p><h2>Parting words</h2><p><br></p><p>Digital transformation is a significant undertaking and a continuous process that never ends. It is not only a transformation in terms of technology, but also in terms of organizational culture. And, it is something that requires a strong leadership to drive change. When done right, the result will be - a business that is more aligned with customer demands, and resilient in the fast-moving digital future.</p><p><br></p><p>Moreover, as organizations formulate their own digital transformation strategy, there is much to be learned from other organizations and CIOs who have already successfully transformed their businesses.</p><p><br></p><p>Reach out to us to learn more about our capabilities and how 7EDGE as a strategic consulting firm, can help your organization take a digital transformation journey.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-11',NULL,'Active','digital-transformation-adopting-the-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-07 09:19:32',10,'',1,'Awareness','Digital Transformation: Adopting The Internet First Approach','Digital Transformation: Adopting The Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, companies are realizing the importance of digitally transforming their business to stay relevant. Here\'s an Internet First way to enable digital transformation.','Digital Transformation: Adopting The Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, companies are realizing the importance of digitally transforming their business to stay relevant. Here\'s an Internet First way to enable digital transformation.','OG-Consulting.jpg','image/jpeg',239142,'2017-10-27 06:18:53','4 Min Read',15,1),(34,'Mastering Digital Advertising: An Internet First Approach','Today, brands need to strengthen their online media presence to connect with their customers. Here is the Internet First approach to master digital advertising.','Digital-media-Ad.jpg','image/jpeg',180796,'2017-11-13 09:08:13','<p>In today&rsquo;s world, people&rsquo;s lives have been taken over by digital media. Be it reading news online or finding a restaurant to visit, being connected to another person living in another continent or even making purchasing decisions - digital media plays an important role in our lives. So, what is digital media?</p><p><br></p><p>We can define digital media as a blend of technology and content. It includes all electronic devices and digital platforms that can convey content which can be in the form of text, images, audio or video. Very simply put, digital media can include a smartphone app, eCommerce social media platform, a blog or even a video game console.</p><p><br></p><h2>Why does digital media matter to businesses</h2><p><br></p><p>The past two decades have seen a massive explosion of the digital media world. Digital media is changing people&rsquo;s day-to-day life. It has impacted the way people and businesses connect, communicate and collaborate in civil, work as well as business contexts. It is empowering and enabling people and speeding up democratization of knowledge and understanding. According to a survey conducted by World Economic Forum, half of the respondents agreed that digital media had improved their overall quality of life and roughly two thirds of the respondents agreed that it had improved their ability to learn and develop professionally.</p><p><br></p><p>With the world increasingly becoming digital and consuming more electronic content than ever, it presents a huge opportunity for brands and organizations to reach out to their customers as well as bring in more revenues and growth.</p><p><br></p><h2>Types of digital media platforms</h2><p><br></p><p>There are various digital media formats and platforms available today for businesses to take advantage and communicate with their potential customers for promoting their products and services. For businesses and brands, the following types of digital content, platforms and devices become important.</p><h3>Types of Digital Content</h3><p><br></p><p>When we talk of digital content, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a blog or website. However, digital content is more than these. There are various forms of content offerings that are making their way into the market. Here are some of the types of content businesses and brands should focus on so that they keep their target customers attracted, engaged and keep them coming back for more:</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Blogs: </strong>Blogs are some of the most common types of content enterprises invest in. A blog can be either long form (typically more than 1,500 words) or short form (limited to 1,000 words). While long form blogs contain more information and are ranked higher by search engines, short form blogs are precise and to the point. Irrespective of the length of the blog, you should keep in mind to make them educational, relevant and of high quality.\r\n\r\n<strong>Infographics: </strong>An infographic is the presentation of data and information in a visually appealing way. An infographic is usually a combination of either photos, graphical images or GIFs, and textual content. The advantage of an infographic is that it is viewed, liked and shared more than many other content types. Another advantage it has is that it is a powerful way of conveying a message to your audience.\r\n\r\n<strong>Videos: </strong>Till a few years ago, textual content such as blog posts and other text-based digital platforms were very popular. However, in recent times, videos have gained an equal importance in a brand&rsquo;s marketing efforts. In fact, there are different forms of videos an organization can experiment with today - ranging from Youtube videos to Facebook videos. Irrespective of what type of video it is, it conveys the message across to the audience in a memorable way. If done really well, it can become extraordinarily successful in driving massive revenues to the brand.\r\n\r\n<strong>Social Media Content: </strong>It is common knowledge that most people are on different social media platforms today, be it for social, professional or for business reasons. This offers business the best opportunity to strategize their marketing efforts to drive more awareness, engagements and sales. The type of content used for social media should talk about your brand while keeping your audience hooked on to you. The combination of good social content and campaign can prove very beneficial to the business.\r\n\r\n<strong>Ebooks: </strong>Ebooks are typically long form content packaged in a different format, which is usually in the form of PDF and can be downloaded for free in exchange for joining a mailing list by providing your contact details. An eBook can be a guide, whitepaper or a case study, all serving different purposes but with the ultimate goal of educating the potential customer. An eBook helps in establishing the enterprise&rsquo;s authority in the subject matter and makes for a powerful way of sharing knowledge with key decision makers.\r\n\r\nA good eBook should have a catchy title, well-defined content sections, and a combination of text and visual content. Creating an eBook and placing it on strategic pages of your website or your email newsletter can work wonders by creating better conversions and sales.\r\n\r\n<strong>Guest Authorship: </strong>Guest Authorship typically involves sharing valuable knowledge through content on popular and authoritative third party platforms such as magazines and blogs. Writing a guest article serves the same purpose of establishing oneself as a subject matter expert in a particular field. This not only creates awareness of the brand but also helps in driving leads to your organization.\r\n\r\n<strong>Podcasts: </strong>While a podcast is not a widely used form of content, it helps organizations interact with their followers and potential customers. A podcast is typically an audio file that can be played on an mp3 player, laptop or mobile at any time. With podcasts, companies can share information about themselves, their latest offerings or even the latest trends in the industry. Podcasts are a great way of building trust among customers as the audience can hear directly from the organization. A transcript of the podcast also helps in adding to the SEO value.</pre><p><br></p><p>The list given here is not an exhaustive list of types of content as organizations can experiment with other forms of content such as book reviews, copywriting and interviews among others. However, the types of content mentioned above is something most of the successful businesses have utilized and continue to use.</p><h3>Digital Media Platforms</h3><p><br></p><p>Now that we know the various types of content a business has at its disposal, it is also important to know the platforms that are available to establish and enhance the organization&rsquo;s presence.</p><p><br></p><p>Some of popular digital media platforms for promoting and marketing a brand include:</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Social Media:</strong> As already mentioned, social media is used by most people, from individuals to professionals and business owners. Hence, this is a great platform for organizations to promote their business. Some of the popular social media platform include Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and LinkedIn.\r\n\r\n<strong>Search Engines:</strong> It goes without saying that search engines are great places to be visible to people who are actively searching for products, services and solutions similar to what you have to offer. Optimizing your content and website for search engines can easily get you to the top of search results.\r\n\r\n<strong>Email:</strong> There are several businesses that think that email marketing is dead. On the contrary, if done correctly, email is a powerful way of staying in touch with potential customers.\r\n\r\n<strong>Knowledge platforms:</strong> Knowledge platforms and popular forums offer great opportunities for businesses and brands to get connected to potential customers.\r\n\r\n<strong>Mobile applications:</strong> Today, everything is going mobile as people expect to find everything at their fingertips. Hence, smartphones and other mobile devices offer a powerful platform for businesses to promote themselves and drive ROI.</pre><p><br></p><p><br></p><h2>Types of paid digital media</h2><p><br></p><p>At a high level, digital media marketing involves marketing and advertising on various digital channels including search engines, social media platforms, and other mediums. This could be in an organic way or through paid promotions. Learn how you can promote your brand and services in an organic way by clicking <a href=\"/blog/developing-digital-marketing-strategy-an-internet-first-approach\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>Let us see in detail the different types of paid digital media channels and platforms available as well as the digital marketing and advertising activities that can be done in order to maximize your brand&rsquo;s exposure to your potential customers.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/067/original/DigitalMedia.svg?1509191897\" style=\"width: 701px; height: 701px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><h3>Social Advertising</h3><p>Social advertising involves advertising on social media platforms. As mentioned earlier, social media is where most people spend a significant part of their day. Hence, advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Youtube can help in achieving an organization&rsquo;s objectives such as reaching more customers, building brand awareness and improving customer service. Creating the right content that can attract your target customers on the social media is the key to achieving ROI on social media platforms.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few tips to achieve success in your paid social media efforts.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Create multiple versions:</strong> When you consider posting an advertisement on the social media, it is always a good practice to create multiple versions of the advertisement. This is because, if one of your ads is not working, you can test the other one. A successful social media ad is likely to have gone through multiple variations and testing of each variation for its effectiveness.\r\n\r\n<strong>Add a call-to-action (CTA): </strong>Every traditional ad ends with a call to action. So, why should a digital advertisement not? Including an effective CTA in your social media ad compels your viewers to click the CTA irrespective of whether they end up becoming your leads or not. The best way to add a CTA in your advertisement is to include one of the standard buttons such as Book Now, Learn More or Shop Now, that is appropriate to your niche. There is growing evidence which point to &ldquo;Learn More&rdquo; being the most effective button of all.\r\n\r\n<strong>Create a landing page:</strong> The end goal of most social ads is to convert the audience into leads and customers. This means that they should have a landing page they should end up after clicking the ad. The most successful social media ads include custom landing pages where the visitors are carried to from the ads and the message on these landing pages is crystal clear. Care must be taken to create a landing page that is as targeted as the ad itself to increase its effectiveness. You can also choose to create a click-through landing page which acts as an intermediate between the ad and the landing page as it keeps the focus on the offer.\r\n\r\n<strong>Offer a discount:</strong> People love discounts. According to a Facebook user survey, about 67 per cent of the users said that they were likely to click on a discount related offer. Hence, it is a good idea to include a discount offer and mention it in your ad to drive more conversion and sales.\r\n\r\n<strong>Adjust your targeting: </strong>When you are creating an ad copy, ensure that the content is relevant to the target customers. Facebook gives an option of checking the relevance score of your social advertisement. The score determines if the audience are likely to interact with your ad based on the expected and actual positive and negative feedback it gets from the target audience. If the score is less than 8/10, it is better to adjust the targeting.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Search Engine Marketing</h3><p>Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the process of driving website traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. For example, Google Adwords is the most popular paid search platform available on the internet and used by search marketers. There are also several pay-per-click (PPC) advertising options available for digital marketers. SEM and PPC ads appear when a specific search term is typed in the search query. Hence, this type of advertising helps organizations create contextual and targeted ads for a particular set of audience.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few tips to improve your Adwords and PPC campaigns.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Research negative keywords: </strong>While looking for the right keywords for your campaign, it is not sufficient to search for the right keywords but also be mindful of the negative keywords that you don&rsquo;t want to come up for in the search results. Hence, researching and specifying negative keywords also becomes very important as they ensure that you are saving money on unnecessary traffic and lesser returns.\r\n\r\n<strong>Capitalize on site links and ad extensions: </strong>A beautiful feature of Google is that it allows you to add extensions and CTAs to your ad copy and enables you to show more information in your ads. While site links allow several links to be displayed in your ad, each of them leading to a different page, other extensions you attract the user and obtain a higher click through.\r\n\r\n<strong>Combine PPC with organic marketing:</strong> When it comes to digital marketing, it is not about choosing between organic and paid marketing but about combining both to obtain the maximum result. When organic marketing is combined with Adwords and PPC, the website stands a higher chance of dominating search engine rankings.\r\n\r\n<strong>Optimize your landing page: </strong>Adwords and PPC are ultimately helpful in bringing more visitors to your company website and landing pages. However, once they are on your website, it is up to your landing page to live up to the expectation as well as perform the conversion. Hence, ensure that your landing page is as attractive as your ad itself. You will also need to ensure that the landing page is completely relevant to the ad being displayed so that more visitors stick around and make purchases.\r\n\r\n<strong>Customize your Adwords settings: </strong>When it comes to Adwords, one set of keyword settings does not fit all. You cannot have default settings and expect brilliant results all the time. You will need to configure a few settings in your Adwords that include search and display network-related keywords, device-specific bids and keyword match types, as different settings yield different search and display results.</pre><h3>Mobile Advertising</h3><p>As smartphones increasingly become an integral part of our lives, it is important that digital marketers understand the importance of mobile platforms for advertising. Smartphones are devices that people check very frequently on a given day, which provides them huge marketing potential. From SMS to in-app marketing, there are many ways advertisers and brands can market on mobile devices. Hence, finding the right method is the key differentiating factor for a particular business. Not only as a stand-alone platform, but mobile devices should also be taken as part of cross-platform marketing efforts.</p><p><br></p><p>Achieving success in mobile advertising follows some of the same rules of any digital advertising such as having a mobile strategy, targeting the right customers, creating highly engaging ads and measuring your efforts. Here are a few additional tips on how you can achieve success using mobile marketing and advertising.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Leverage your character-limit: </strong>When it comes to text-based advertising, you are limited to only 160 characters. Hence, it is absolutely important that you make the best use of this character-limit. Focus on communicating your message in a clear, concise and attractive way. You can also add a short link while limiting the text, so that your audience can click the link to reach your landing page which can give out additional information.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use mobile-friendly ad formats: </strong>Similar to an application that is expected to have a mobile-friendly format, it is also expected that your ad should have a mobile-friendly format. A popular mobile-friendly ad format is IAB Rising Star adhesion unit, which looks great on a mobile device of any type. Apart from taking up a small screen space and being anchored at the bottom of the screen, these units produce strong results.\r\n\r\n<strong>Respect the user: </strong>Mobile devices are something that is personal to the users. Users want to be in control of when, where and how they want to use their devices to interact with the brands. Hence, hand over the control to your user. Mobile advertisements should be opt-in so that users decide whether they should or should not engage with the advertiser&rsquo;s message. They should also be made easy for users to dismiss as well as easy to access if they want to engage with it.\r\n\r\n<strong>Make the terms transparent: </strong>When creating an in-app advertisement, you should ensure that you clearly communicate the terms as well as adhere to the rules and regulations, as not adhering to the regulations may land you into legal problems. You should also ensure that making in-app purchases should be made completely optional for app users.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use QR codes: </strong>iOS and Android have the ability to scan in-app QR codes. Hence, if you have a native app and a slightly tech-savvy audience, then using a QR code in your app really clicks with your intended audience. This is also a smart way to lead them to your website&rsquo;s landing page. This way, smartphone users can scan your QR code and reach your website for making use of your promotions.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Programmatic Media</h3><p>The digital advertising industry is rapidly moving towards automation. Several leading advertisers are increasingly realizing the benefits of programmatic advertising. Programmatic or automated advertising uses algorithms and artificial intelligence to enable brands and marketers purchase ad space in real-time in a more efficient and flexible way while reaching out to the maximum number of target audience. Programmatic advertising helps businesses create highly targeted and personalized advertisements to their audience.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are some of the benefits of using programmatic advertising.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Flexibility: </strong>Programmatic advertising offers advertisers great flexibility for customizing their ad campaigns. It allows advertisers to decide their budget and how they want to place their ads. For example, as an advertiser, you can choose to either pay only for the relevant impression that you actually receive or sign up for a minimum budget. Programmatic advertising also enables you to opt for a minimum number of impressions as well as ad inventory across publishers. Moreover, you have the option of optimizing your campaigns mid-way based on views, clicks and conversions from the campaigns.\r\n\r\n<strong>Improved efficiency: </strong>Automated marketing has greatly improved the efficiency of digital advertising owing to several factors. For starters, it eliminates the requirement for long-drawn negotiations between advertisers and agencies which would otherwise cost both time and money. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms makes the process of placing ads a lot simpler and efficient. The ability to measure the performance of campaigns in real-time also helps advertisers in making the necessary changes to their campaigns, which improves the efficiency of the campaigns.\r\n\r\n<strong>Efficient targeting: </strong>Programmatic marketing uses extensive data that allows you to place targeted ads with high precision and accuracy. It allows you to target audience based on a number of factors such as audience geolocation, age, search terms, behavior, categories and site visits or even IP addresses. It also allows you to retarget customers after the site visitors have visited the advertiser&rsquo;s site, which helps in better conversions.\r\n\r\n<strong>Wider reach: </strong>Programmatic enables you to reach out to a wider spectrum of target audience across multiple platforms and multiple publisher websites at a lower cost when compared to traditional forms of display advertising. Not only this, but you can also track your campaign&rsquo;s reach. You can find out how many people have looked at your ad, where the audience was located, the demography of the audience, time of the day they saw the ad and much more.\r\n\r\n<strong>Real-time data and insights: </strong>Programmatic advertising provides you real-time data and insights into how your creatives and campaigns are performing. With programmatic, you don&rsquo;t need to wait till the end of the campaign to make changes but can obtain data as soon as the campaign is launched. You can see where your ads are being displayed, how much engagement the campaign is receiving and obtain other important insights. You can also measure, analyze and optimize your campaigns in real-time so that they perform better.</pre><h3>Display Advertising</h3><p>People read blogs, news articles, forums and other forms of online content on a regular basis. This offers tremendous opportunities for brands to reach out to customers through digital display advertisements. Display ads include banner ads, interactive ads, video ads, overlays and other similar ads that are usually linked to the organization or brand&rsquo;s landing page. However in recent times, display advertising is slowly losing its efficiency in attracting customers.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few tips on how you can improving the efficiency of your display ads.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Better targeting: </strong>One problem advertisers often face is the poor delivery of ads across the target customers. Many ads reach the audience to whom the product is either irrelevant or are the people who are least likely to buy it. Hence, focus on the audience who are most likely to drive value for your business. The better you can define your consumers and the more specific you are with your criteria, the higher the quality of the clicks your ads will get and more likely the visitors will convert.\r\n\r\n<strong>Personalize your ads: </strong>Personalizing your ads is taking consumer targeting a step further. Researching your audience and using information obtained through analytics can help you create more relevant and personalized advertisements that drive better engagement from the right people and lead to better conversions. A few strategies you can use to personalize your ads include local segmentation, controlling the context of delivery and using consumer information obtained through their search history.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use appropriate content: </strong>When it comes to digital marketing, the content is of utmost importance. To improve the efficiency of your online advertising, your ads must have the right content in it. For your advertisement to work, it must have content that delivers delightful user experience so that it drives user conversations and engagement. One tactic you may use to improve the quality of your ad is to display product-attributes effectively than focus on brand-led messaging.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use cross-promotions: </strong>Cross-promotion of your ads is absolutely crucial to improve their reach to your potential customers. It is a powerful and inexpensive way of delivering targeted and personalized experience your ads have already delivered. By doing cross-promotions, you gain access to a wider range of a potential customer base that is already present on another channel or platform. It also offers brand consistency to your customers thus improving your brand&rsquo;s credibility while giving an additional push down your marketing and sales funnel.\r\n\r\n<strong>Test and optimize your ads: </strong>Your ads should to be continuously tested and optimized to ensure that they lead to the highest level of conversations and engagements among the target audience. A/B testing is a popular way of testing the effectiveness of ads so that they reach their full potential. Through this testing, you can make small changes in the ads and see what impact it has on the campaign. Testing and optimizing of advertisement copies, images, targeting and landing pages must be part and parcel of your display advertising efforts.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Digital PR</h3><p>Digital PR can be considered part of content marketing as it involves tying up with key content writers and journalists to create promotional content and increase web presence. Digital PR helps improve brand visibility across digital media and generate traffic through exposure using online PR networks. It also has a positive effect on brand reputation and search engine visibility.</p><p><br></p><p>If you want to succeed in a digital public relations campaign, here are a few tips you should incorporate in your campaign.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Identify news content: </strong>When it comes to PR, you should learn to differentiate between different types of content. You should know how to identify what can become news and what cannot. You should also know which news is vital and can be sent to news organizations.\r\n\r\n<strong>Identify the right people: </strong>It goes without saying that if you want your PR story to be read by a wider audience, you should identify the right organizations, journalists or influential people who have a good audience following. It is also a good idea to build up rapport with them as it will help you in the long run.\r\n\r\n<strong>Write engaging press releases: </strong>Engaging press releases grab the attention of the readers. The first 20 seconds are most important as this time fraction decides whether your intended audience will continue to read the article or flip the page. Engaging content is also important to ensure that the news organization you send it deems it worthy to be published, with tens of emails sitting in their mailbox to be read every day.\r\n\r\n<strong>Write an active title: </strong>It is very important to write the active title of your organization&rsquo;s story in the subject line. This helps the news organization to identify and differentiate your press release story from the rest. Else, with so many people writing &ldquo;Press release&rdquo; in the subject line, your story will become just another that may see the recycle bin.\r\n\r\n<strong>Develop necessary skills: </strong>If you decide not to take the help of an external agency and plan to do it in-house or by yourself, ensure that you develop the necessary skills required to run a successful digital PR campaign. Along with gaining the necessary skills, you will also need some experience to take the DIY PR route.\r\n\r\n<strong>Utilize current events: </strong>A smart way of coming up with new and engaging press release stories is to leverage the current events and industrial news, and tie it to your offerings. However, ensure that you take up only those current events that will gel well with your offering as a loosely tied story can become a wasted effort.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Native Advertising</h3><p>Native advertising is a form of paid marketing which is gaining increasing prominence among content marketers due to its non-invasive and non-interruptive nature. Unlike regular advertisements, native advertisements do not get ignored or blocked by users as they blend into the content people read or consumer. Native advertisements come in various forms including sponsored content, recommended content, advertorials, in-feed social ads and promoted listings.</p><p><br></p><p>Unlike display ads, native advertisements are considered better at building trust and engagement among customers. Having said that, you need to use them in the right way to ensure success in your campaign. Here are a few tips for running your native advertising campaign successfully.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Identify your channels: </strong>One of the best ways to start is to identify a list of digital channels and platforms where you want native advertisements to appear as only a few channels offer the option for native advertising. Some channels may also not be suitable for your efforts as they don&#39;t reach the right audience or cost too much. Review social networks such as LinkedIn, industry news sites and digital magazines, and similar channels to determine where your native ads fit best.\r\n\r\n<strong>Know your audience: </strong>You cannot create an advertisement without knowing who your audience, what they like, and what their goals and challenges are. Once you know what your audience is, you can create your content to address their needs.\r\n\r\n<strong>Identify the right formats: </strong>There are certain ad blockers that block not only banner ads but also native ads. This means that if you are using a format that can be easily blocked by ad blockers, you will not be able to reach out to your intended audience at all. Hence, it becomes necessary for you to look for opportunities that respect your content. For example, create your content in the form of an authoritative article that can be placed alongside similar articles, hence building up your authority.\r\n\r\n<strong>Focus on content: </strong>Speaking of authoritative content, people expect you to write content that is not only of high quality but that which is also relevant to them and helps them solve their challenges. You can create content that is thought-provoking as well as articles about unexplored avenues in the industry. Additionally, test your titles for their efficiency to capture eye balls. You can use A/B testing to see which titles and descriptors attract more viewers and use them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Explore various content formats: </strong>Besides textual content, you can also explore other formats of content. For example, you can use infographics to communicate your message. While they may be too common in the B2B world, they are also an excellent choice for native advertising as they contain quick and digestible facts with attractive graphics and a catchy title. Hence, if you are confused about which format to use for your native advertising, you can always start with an authoritative article or an infographic.</pre><p><br></p><h2>Challenges in digital media marketing</h2><p><br></p><p>The world of internet and digital media is constantly changing and is doing so at a rapid pace. It takes only a few months for one digital resource to go out of favor as some other new tool or technology may replace it. The constant change also is directly connected to the change in audience choices and behavior. This naturally presents certain challenges when it comes to digital marketing.</p><p><br></p><h4>Generating traffic and leads</h4><p>As per Hubspot&rsquo;s 2017 State of Inbound report, this came up as the top challenge most marketers are facing with about 63% of the poll respondents facing this challenge. According to few other research reports too, driving traffic and conversions is a major challenge for marketers. Evidently, marketers are having a tough time generating enough demand for their content. And as time progresses and the competition becomes tight, the task will just get tougher.</p><p><br></p><p>The solution to this problem is to ask oneself while creating content whether the content is something the audience actually wants and whether it is of high quality. The focus should also be on the way of promoting content such that the audience takes notice.</p><p><br></p><h4>Increased advertising costs</h4><p>While the right kind of advertising can give marketers the necessary visibility, the ad costs have gone up due to increased competition for advertising. Search engines and popular social media platforms are pushing up prices especially for competitive niches. Creating attractive ads and placing them on the right networks as well as programmatic ad buying can help you take the guesswork out of ad placement and ensure that you get your money&rsquo;s worth.</p><p><br></p><h4>More ad blockers</h4><p>Display ads are increasingly being blocked by website visitors and ad blocking software continue to evolve. This presents a huge problem for advertisers as they can send across the message to their audience with their ads being blocked.</p><p><br></p><p>Native advertising and inbound marketing are two solutions available to combat this problem. High-quality, contextual and targeted content can help attract the right visitors to your website as well as improve conversion rates.</p><p><br></p><h4>Lesser focus on keywords</h4><p>There was a time when SEO was all about keyword stuffing. When people used to search for something on the internet, content with the right keywords used to come up on top. However, the search landscape has changed. Users have changed the way they perform their search query. Online search now has evolved from search of fragmented terms to being conversational. Consequently, search engine algorithms too have evolved. Keywords have become less relevant. Instead, search engines focus on the intent behind the search query.</p><p><br></p><p>This means that you will have to start building your content around topics rather than keywords. The priority has to shift towards making your website a resource for the search topic instead of keywords.</p><p><br></p><h4>Lack of knowledge and time</h4><p>As per <a href=\"https://learn.infusionsoft.com/resources/tools/2017-small-business-marketing-trends-report\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Infusionsoft&rsquo;s report on small business marketing trends</a>, about 19.4% of the marketers said that they didn&rsquo;t have enough resources or time for their marketing efforts and approximately 10% said that understanding the trends and tactics of marketing was a challenge. In some other case, while the organization may have the necessary budget, it was challenge to get the people with the right skills.</p><p><br></p><h4>Targeting the right audience</h4><p>Targeting the right audience is a key component of digital marketing. To do this, organizations must first identify the buyer persona. However, many companies find it a challenge to create the user personas of buyers that can help them drive the maximum revenues.</p><p><br></p><h2>Keys to digital media success</h2><p><br></p><p>While organizations and brands realize that digital marketing is one of the necessary verticals they need to focus on, many of them do not find the necessary success in their digital media marketing efforts. The following are key points you should remember if you need to achieve the desired success and ROI from your digital marketing efforts.</p><p><br></p><h4>Set constructive goals and KPIs</h4><p>The first obvious step towards achieving digital marketing success is to create constructive goals. As an organization, it is important to set clear and quantitative goals in terms of the number of visitors, the number of leads and the sales you want to have at&nbsp;a certain period. It also involves setting a few performance parameters against which, you should be able to compare your achievements.</p><h4><br></h4><h4>Digital Media Strategy</h4><p>Before you start implementing your digital marketing goals, you first need a strong and powerful strategy. A digital media strategy is a blueprint and a plan of action that will help you achieve your goals. Your digital strategy will depend on the scale of your business and your objectives.</p><p><br></p><p>Your digital media marketing strategy should keep your buyer personas, the tools you need to achieve your goals, existing digital channels and assets, planning your media, and budgets for acquisition, conversions and retentions among others.</p><p><br></p><p>It may also be a good idea to keep a lookout on what your competitors are doing as their digital marketing success or failure may teach you something you ought to do or not to do.</p><p><br></p><h4>Improve your content and content marketing strategy</h4><p>A common phrase in the digital marketing space is, &ldquo;Content is king&rdquo;. And this is true. Good content and content marketing are key components of a successful digital marketing plan. Developing good and relevant content for your target audience and marketing it on the appropriate channels that will drive engagements and conversions is crucial for your business. Hence, you need to continuously evolving your content strategy to get the maximum benefits from your content.</p><p><br></p><h4>Optimize conversions</h4><p>Once you drive the right traffic to your web page, the next task for you is to convert visitors to leads. To ensure that you drive maximum conversions, you need to focus on conversion optimization techniques which involve tweaking the design and content of your website. For example, improving your Calls to Action (CTAs) and landing pages compels your website visitors to convert.</p><p><br></p><h4>Stay agile with your efforts</h4><p>With the customer behavior rapidly changing, the digital marketing landscape too is changing. While it is good to have a long-term goal and strategy, it is necessary to break them down into smaller goals and tactics that keep evolving with the changing landscape. For example, the recent changes in Google&rsquo;s algorithms have the changed the face of SEO and the way pages are ranked.</p><p><br></p><p>Social media as well paid search too are continuously evolving. A digital marketing strategy that is agile can help organizations take advantage of the opportunities while staying away from problems that may affect them.</p><p><br></p><h4>Measuring and Analyzing Marketing Efforts</h4><p>It cannot be stressed enough that measuring marketing efforts against key performance indices (KPIs) should become an indisposable part of the process to achieve digital marketing success. Your analytics give you valuable information about your customer demographics, engagement rates, traffic to your website and conversions among other critical parameters. This naturally helps you evolve your digital marketing strategy to achieve a higher rate of success.</p><p><br></p><p>The digital media landscape is undergoing rapid changes in the way content is created, promoted, digested, and monetized. Winning against your competition on this rapidly changing digital playing field needs a solid strategy, commitment, and expertise in order to deliver the best customer experience.</p><p><br></p><p>7EDGE provides unique strategies as well as transformative digital tools and technologies that help you strengthen your digital media presence and achieve measurable results.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-10',NULL,'Active','mastering-digital-advertising-an-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-07 09:44:00',9,'',1,'Awareness','Mastering Digital Advertising: An Internet First Approach','Mastering Digital Advertising: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, brands need to strengthen their online media presence to connect with their customers. Here is the Internet First approach to master digital advertising.','Mastering Digital Advertising: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, brands need to strengthen their online media presence to connect with their customers. Here is the Internet First approach to master digital advertising.','OG-DigitalMedia.jpg','image/jpeg',202452,'2017-10-27 06:19:18','4 Min Read',21,1),(35,'Advanced Big Data Analytics: An Internet First Approach','Today, the volumes of data have become massive. Enterprises are adopting big data analytics to capture the data and gain actionable insights.','Big-Data.jpg','image/jpeg',187505,'2017-11-13 09:07:54','<h2>What is Big Data Analytics?</h2><p><br></p><p>Decades before the term &lsquo;big data&rsquo; came into existence, businesses used basic data analytics &ndash; numbers in spreadsheets &ndash; to gain meaningful insights on customer behaviour. Today, the advancement of technology has reached a point where the volumes of data have become considerably massive. And as enterprises &ndash; large and small &ndash; are well-aware of the fact that data empowers most of their business operations, they are adopting big data analytics to capture and gain actionable insights from all the data that streams into their businesses.</p><p><br></p><p>Unlike the yesteryears, big data analytics now brings new benefits such as agility and efficiency; transforming the way enterprises delve deep into the ocean of &lsquo;data&rsquo;. Precisely speaking, Big data analytics is described as the use of advanced analytic techniques such as machine learning, text analytics, predictive analytics, data mining, statistics, and language processing to declutter and arrange massive, diverse data sets. This is because these data sets have become complex, making it impossible for traditional databases to capture, manage, and process with agility.</p><p><br></p><p>Endowed with the efficiency of numerous sensors, devices, applications, networks, log files, web, and social media, big data analytics processes data sets in real time; and on a large scale. Eventually, it is this streamlined analysis that enables data analysts, researchers, and enterprises to make better and faster business decisions.</p><p><br></p><h2>What are the Basic Characteristics of Big Data?</h2><p><br></p><p>Due to the complexity of data and analytics procedures involved, big data is plainly categorized into three V&rsquo;s:</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Volume:</strong> The massiveness of data has caused enterprises to face numerous challenges when it comes to its storage and processing. In fact, today&rsquo;s ongoing popular trends such as e-commerce, social media and the Internet of Things (IoT) are constantly producing large amounts of complex information; making the volume a matter of concern for almost every organization across the globe.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Velocity:</strong> Velocity is another key feature associated with big data. Organizations generating new data at rapid speeds oftentimes need to make business-critical decisions in real time. Injecting the power of analytics, big data offers this velocity with its fast-paced data processing capabilities.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Variety:</strong> When it comes to big data, it is quite obvious that the massive volumes of data come in a variety of formats &mdash; such as email messages, images, videos, spreadsheets and the data that resides on structured databases.</p><p><br></p><h2>Why is Big Data Analytics so Important for Businesses?</h2><p><br></p><p>As we already know, big data paves a productive path towards greater profits and happy customers for organizations worldwide. Although the benefits are numerous, below mentioned are the key ones that make the maximum impact.<br><br></p><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/056/original/Exceptional-Accuracy_.svg?1509187005\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Exceptional Accuracy</strong></h4><p>In an ideal scenario, working with data brings the imminent risk of inaccurate or incomplete data that misleads businesses to make bad decisions. But, when it comes to accuracy, big data analytics has incredibly reduced these risks by generating more accurate and holistic view of business data. With the right analytics platform, businesses can gather data from a plethora of trusted sources.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/057/original/Cost-Reduction.svg?1509187017\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Cost Reduction</strong></h4><p>Ever emerging technologies such as Hadoop and cloud-based analytics is cost-effective when it comes to data storage in massive amounts. Additionally, these technologies help identify smarter ways of doing business; boosting the overall revenue.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/058/original/Scope-New-Products-Services.svg?1509187028\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Scope for New Products and Services</strong></h4><p>Big Data analytics closely analyzes the customer&rsquo;s behavior data, preferences and browsing habits. In an innovative manner, this process helps organizations identify their customer&rsquo;s fluctuating needs and enables them to introduce new products and services &mdash; to give the customers exactly what they want.</p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><h2>Big Data Challenges</h2><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><br></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/059/original/Staying-DataGrowth.svg?1509187042\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Staying Ahead of the Data Growth</strong></h4><p>As we already know, dealing with big data clearly means constantly dealing with the exponential data growth. This obviously involves monitoring and processing the massive pool of data on a regular basis; also keeping the security aspects in mind.<br><br></p><p>Considering the current situation, enterprises are trying to adopt a wide array of technologies &mdash; to tackle data growth. Talking about storage, they are implementing converged and hyper-converged infrastructure, and software-defined storage that streamlines the way companies scale their hardware. Moreover, technologies such as compression, deduplication and tiering help them reduce the amount of space and costs associated with big data storage. Focusing on management and analysis, enterprises are deploying NoSQL databases, Hadoop, Spark, big data analytics software, business intelligence applications, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/060/original/GeneratingReal-timeInsights.svg?1509187053\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Generating Real-time Insights</strong></h4><p>When it comes to big data, the final goal of every organization is - to make quick and better decisions that drive business processes. And, generating insights based on reports is the first step to achieve that feat. Organizations are constantly in search of the best-of-breed analytics tools that can effectively reduce the timeframe of report generation. This can only be made possible with software integrated with real-time analytics capabilities that empower agility.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/061/original/Hiring_SkilledBigDataAnalysts.svg?1509187063\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Hiring Skilled Big Data Analysts</strong></h4><p>Most business decisions rely on big data analytics, enterprises are exploring new ways to make the most out of the technology. However, as the data gets more and more complex, big data analytics requires being handled by experienced professionals. Today, enterprises &ndash; apart from training their employees &ndash; are also hiring big data analysts who can manage data in a streamlined manner. Consequently, this has paved a path for numerous job opportunities worldwide &mdash; filling the void for fresh talents.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/062/original/DataIntegration.svg?1509187072\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Data Integration</strong></h4><p>Technically, the variety of data formats associated with big data oftentimes lead to challenges in data integration; meaning - combining that pool of data to generate reports is an incredibly difficult task. To tackle this, numerous big data solution vendors are offering the best-in-class data integration tools to simplify and add agility to the overall process.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/063/original/DataValidation.svg?1509187088\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Data Validation</strong></h4><p>In big data analytics, with large data streams, comes the risk of inaccuracy and incompleteness of data sources. To be precise, the trustworthiness of big data is negatively impacted by these 4 key factors:</p><ul class=\"devops\"><li>Errors in incoming data that goes undetected</li><li>Desynchronized data sources</li><li>Operating on multiple big data platforms</li><li>Structural change in the data</li></ul></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/064/original/DataSecurity.svg?1509187098\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Data Security</strong></h4><p>Data security is another obvious challenge when it comes to dealing with massive amounts of data. Analytic tools that handle unstructured big data and databases like NoSQL are newer technologies that are still undergoing development. Hence, protecting the new data sets can turn out to be a strenuous process for most security software.</p><p>So, in a bid to avoid potential breaches of business-critical data, enterprises are now trying to adopt and deploy big data solutions that are integrated with the latest security features.<br><br></p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><h2>Open Source Big Data Analytics Tools</h2><p><br></p><p>Although the availability of big data analytics tools &ndash; focused on specific tasks &ndash; is enormous, open source tools are also flexible in all aspects. As for today, the below mentioned open source tools are widely implemented by enterprises:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Apache Hadoop</li><li>&nbsp;Apache Storm</li><li>&nbsp;Apache Samoa</li><li>&nbsp;HPCC</li><li>&nbsp;Lumify</li><li>&nbsp;Elasticsearch</li><li>&nbsp;RapidMiner</li><li>&nbsp;R-Programming</li><li>&nbsp;MongoDB</li><li>&nbsp;Talend Open Studio</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>Techniques used in Big Data Analytics</h2><p><br></p><p>Enterprises are leveraging the efficiency of big data analytics by deploying some innovative techniques; such as:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Association Rule Learning</li><li>&nbsp;Classification tree analysis</li><li>&nbsp;Machine learning</li><li>&nbsp;Genetic algorithms</li><li>&nbsp;Regression analysis</li><li>&nbsp;Sentimental Analysis</li><li>&nbsp;Social network analysis</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>Applications of Big Data Analytics in Diverse Industries</h2><p><br></p><p>As big data analytics continues to evolve, industries are gradually accepting the fact that this can be a game-changer for them. Over the past few years, big data analytics has been used in the diverse industrial realms to achieve a common goal - declutter their underlying data and gain meaningful insights that could lead them towards higher productivity.</p><p><br></p><p>The industries are:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Banking</li><li>&nbsp;Communications, Media, and Entertainment</li><li>&nbsp;Healthcare</li><li>&nbsp;Manufacturing</li><li>&nbsp;Education</li><li>&nbsp;Government</li><li>&nbsp;Retail and wholesale Trading</li><li>&nbsp;Insurance</li><li>&nbsp;Energy and Utility</li><li>&nbsp;Transportation</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>Things to Consider Before Implementing Big Data Analytics</h2><p><br></p><h4>Analyze your Enterprise Needs</h4><p><br></p><p>Before you even start considering big data analytics solution, try asking this simple question: Do we really need this?&nbsp;</p><p>If the answer is yes, you might also want to consider the following questions:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;What issues are we trying to address the solution?</li><li>&nbsp;Does the solution support/streamline business-critical operations?</li><li>&nbsp;Will the solution drive profits in the long run?</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>What Does the Future Hold for Big Data Analytics?</h2><p><br></p><p>According to IDC, the worldwide revenues for big data and analytics is expected to reach a staggering $203 billion mark in 2020, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7 percent. The firm further adds - industries such as banking, manufacturing, government, and professional services will drive a major part of this growth.</p><p><br></p><p>Dan Vesset, Group Vice President of Analytics and Information Management at IDC highlights:</p><blockquote><p><br></p><p>The availability of data, a new generation of technology, and a cultural shift toward data-driven decision making continue to drive demand for the big data and analytics technology and services market.</p></blockquote><p><br></p><h2>The Final Say</h2><p><br></p><p>Data &ndash; as we know &ndash; is transforming the way enterprises deal with business operations; due to the rapid advancements in three major areas - bandwidth, processing power, and storage. Looking into the future, today&rsquo;s &ldquo;big data&rdquo; will definitely be incomparable with respect to the massiveness of data that will be generated &mdash; by billions of devices, and ever-evolving tech products such as smartphones, wearables, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-13',NULL,'Active','advanced-big-data-analytics-an-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-07 09:33:15',8,'',1,'Awareness','Advanced Big Data Analytics: An Internet First Approach','Advanced Big Data Analytics: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, the volumes of data have become massive. Enterprises are adopting big data analytics to capture the data and gain actionable insights.','Advanced Big Data Analytics: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Today, the volumes of data have become massive. Enterprises are adopting big data analytics to capture the data and gain actionable insights.','OG-BigData.jpg','image/jpeg',208596,'2017-10-27 06:20:03','4 Min Read',7,4),(36,'Simplifying IoT Technology: An Internet First Approach','As the world adds simplicity to almost everything, technology is no exception. IoT is rapidly evolving to make it happen—connecting a wide array of devices.','IoT.jpg','image/jpeg',178715,'2017-11-13 09:07:38','<h2>What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?</h2><p><br></p><p>The Internet of Things (IoT) may not be a new concept. But it is indeed a widely discussed topic among the masses from various technical, economic and social backgrounds. So what is the IoT? and why is it so important in our lives today?</p><p><br></p><p>In a nutshell, the IoT technology means - injecting the power of Internet connectivity and data analytics into consumer appliances, automobiles, sensors, industrial and utility components, and other everyday products to innovatively transform the way we live and work.</p><p><br></p><p>This transition towards the IoT era is driving consumers towards a vision known as the &ldquo;smart home&rsquo;&rsquo;; offering enhanced security, flexibility, and energy efficiency. Moreover, focusing on healthcare, personal IoT devices such as wearable health monitoring devices and network-based medical devices are adding to the rapid transformation; boosting the quality of living. In a similar manner, IoT based vehicles, traffic systems, and sensors installed in roads and bridges effectively help us inch closer to the idea of &ldquo;smart cities&rsquo;&rsquo; which minimizes the overall traffic congestion and energy consumption in cities.</p><p><br></p><p>Thus, with a bunch of network-based sensors and devices, IoT injects innovation across diverse industries, as well as agricultural realms.</p><p><br></p><h2>Benefits of IoT</h2><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><br></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/068/original/Efficiency.svg?1509192205\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Unprecedented Level of Efficiency in Operations</strong></h4><p>As the IoT provides real-time and intelligent operational insights, enterprises can make smarter business decisions and effectively reduce their operational costs. The real-time data received from actuators and sensors help them monitor and improve the efficiency of their business-critical operations; while reducing the energy costs and minimizing human intervention.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/069/original/Visibility.svg?1509192217\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Enhanced Visibility and Protection of Assets</strong></h4><p>IoT offers an enhanced level of visibility and real-time insights for enterprise as well as consumer assets. Leveraging the power of sensors and tracking devices, organizations and consumers can effectively locate their assets with ease.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/070/original/Experience.svg?1509192227\" class=\"img-responsive fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\" style=\"width: 229px; height: 237.035px;\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Better Customer Experience</strong></h4><p>With the level of flexibility and security offered by the IoT technology, it is obvious that the users can operate the connected devices in a seamless and hassle-free manner. Today, businesses and consumers can have full control over their devices with the simple touch of a finger.<br><br></p><p>However, as the IoT arena is still undergoing a maturing phase, there exist certain underlying issues and challenges that need to be considered in order to reap its full potential.</p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><h2>What are the Key Challenges in IoT?</h2><p><br></p><p>While the possibilities of IoT are enormous, below mentioned are the key challenges that need to be addressed to make a headway in the technology.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/072/original/SPI.svg?1509192322\" style=\"width: 763px; height: 236.53px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><pre><strong>Security</strong> It is a well-accepted fact that the IT arena is always exposed to a wide array of security and privacy issues round the clock. But, when it comes to the IoT, these issues scale up to a new and unique level of complexity that has to be considered as a top priority&mdash;to maintain the integrity of the connected devices, and services. To be specific, the interconnected nature of IoT devices clearly highlights the fact that every poorly secured device connected online potentially affects the security and resilience of the Internet in its entirety. Moreover, instances such as the wide-scale implementation of IoT devices, deploying those devices in unsecured environments, and the ability of few devices to automatically connect to each other adds to the overall complexity in terms of security.\r\n\r\nConsequently, even a minor loophole in the IoT device security can expose critical data and pave a path for numerous cyber attacks. Thus, it is crucial for developers and users of IoT devices to establish a collaborative approach to address the IoT security challenges.\r\n\r\n<strong>Privacy </strong>The gist of a successful Internet of Things (IoT) implementation lies in formulating a stringent strategy that best aligns with the privacy expectations. Offering Privacy rights to IoT users effectively help establish reliability in the Internet, connected devices, and services. Moreover, this step redefines the way personal data is collected, analyzed, used, and protected, while still staying updated with new technology and services available in the marketplace.\r\n\r\n<strong>Interoperability and Standards</strong> When it comes to IoT, users can reap the maximum benefits of the proprietary device implementations are done in a fragmented manner. This stages an enhanced level of integration flexibility, low ownership complexity, and no vendor lock-in periods.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, poorly designed or configured IoT devices may have a negative impact on the overall connectivity of Internet-based architecture. Thus, considering appropriate standards, reference models, and best practices will help address this risk innovatively. Implementing generic, open, and widely available standards (Internet Protocols) for IoT devices and services will carve a productive path towards innovation and enhanced user benefits.</pre><p><br></p><h2>What are the Different Types of IoT Communication Models?</h2><p><br></p><p>With unique wide-scale characteristics, the IoT technology uses 4 types of connectivity models to operate: Device-to-Device, Device-to-Cloud, Device-to-Gateway, and Back-End Data-Sharing. These models effectively portray the way in which IoT devices connect with each other and perform in a collaborative manner.</p><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/073/original/D2D.svg?1509192345\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Device-to-Device</strong></h4><p>A Device-to-device communication model stages a platform that enables two or more devices to directly connect and communicate with each other. The devices can communicate over various types of networks&mdash;which includes IP networks and the Internet.</p><p>Ideally, this model is implemented in home automation systems - to transfer small data packets of information between devices at low data rates. For instance, devices such as light bulbs, door locks, and thermostats can send small packets of information to each other.<br><br></p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/074/original/D2C.svg?1509192355\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Device-to-Cloud</strong></h4><p>A Device-to-cloud communication model involves IoT devices connecting directly to an Internet cloud service to exchange data and control message traffic. This allows the user or an application to gain remote access to the connected IoT devices. Adding an extra layer of flexibility, this model not only uses Ethernet or Wi-Fi connections, but it can also use cellular networks.<br><br></p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/075/original/D2G.svg?1509192373\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Device-to-Gateway</strong></h4><p>The Device-to-Gateway model enables IoT devices to connect to an intermediary device to gain access to a cloud service. In simple terms, the model involves application software operating on a local gateway device such as a smartphone that connects the IoT devices with a cloud service. Moreover, this software provides essential features for the devices to work seamlessly&mdash;such as security, and more.<br><br></p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><br><br><br><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/076/original/BackEndData.svg?1509192384\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\" style=\"width: 179px; height: 126.651px;\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Back-End Data-Sharing</strong></h4><p>By implementing the Back-End Data-Sharing model, IoT users can export and analyze smart object data from a cloud service while combining them with the data from other sources. Simply speaking, they have the ability to send those data to third-party services for analysis, visualization, aggregation, big data analytics, and predictive analytics.</p><p><br>By implementing the Back-End Data-Sharing model, IoT users can export and analyze smart object data from a cloud service while combining them with the data from other sources. Simply speaking, they have the ability to send those data to third-party services for analysis, visualization, aggregation, big data analytics, and predictive analytics.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><p><br></p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><p><br><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><h2>What is IoT Analytics?</h2><p><br></p><p>As more and more devices get connected to each other, the amounts of data being generated and consumed are increasing exponentially. Embedded with intelligent data analysis tools, IoT Analytics help analyze and gain meaningful insights from these massive volumes of data; just like big data analytics.</p><p><br></p><h2>The Future of IoT</h2><p><br></p><p>According to Gartner, the IoT is making a positive impact worldwide. The research firm projects that around 8.4 billion IoT powered devices will be used worldwide by the end of 2017; rising up from 31 percent in 2016. The figures are expected to reach a staggering 20.4 billion mark by 2020.</p><p><br></p><p>Moreover, Gartner states that the consumer segment is the largest user of IoT&mdash;with 5.2 billion units in 2017. This represents 63 percent of the overall number of IoT applications currently in use. On the other hand, enterprises are expected to deploy around 3.1 billion connected things by the end of 2017. Peter Middleton, Research Director at Gartner points out:&nbsp;</p><blockquote><p>Aside from automotive systems, the IoT applications that will be most in use by consumers will be smart TVs and digital set-top boxes, while smart electric meters and commercial security cameras will be most in use by businesses.</p></blockquote><p><br></p><h2>To Sum Up...</h2><p><br></p><p>It is no brainer that the Internet of Things (IoT) is filling the void between devices, and the internet&mdash;ushering new and innovative ways that help them communicate with each other securely. In years to come, with the emergence of new devices and practices, IoT will completely reinvent the concept of &lsquo;being online&rsquo;.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-02',NULL,'Active','simplifying-iot-technology-an-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:34:44',7,'',1,'Awareness','Simplifying IoT Technology: An Internet First Approach','Simplifying IoT Technology: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','As the world adds simplicity to almost everything, technology is no exception. IoT is rapidly evolving to make it happen—connecting a wide array of devices.','Simplifying IoT Technology: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','As the world adds simplicity to almost everything, technology is no exception. IoT is rapidly evolving to make it happen—connecting a wide array of devices.','OG-IoT.jpg','image/jpeg',231613,'2017-10-27 06:20:30','4 Min Read',34,4),(37,'Leveraging DevOps Automation: An Internet First Approach','Addressing the evolving trend of DevOps, enterprises are adopting the internet first approach to stay ahead of the curve in software development and delivery.','Devops.jpg','image/jpeg',132232,'2017-11-13 09:07:24','<h2>What is DevOps?</h2><p><br></p><p>Previously, software development and operations teams were constantly in conflict with each other for many reasons&mdash;technical or personal. However, since recent years, the paradigm shift from traditional practices to DevOps has certainly changed the face of software development and delivery. In fact, this change can also be considered as cultural. To be precise, the cultural aspect of DevOps is collaboration&mdash;bringing the teams together at one place; and as always, focused on a common goal - user experience. In the entire process, consistent and clear communication happens to be the crucial factor that helps the teams achieve their goal.</p><p><br></p><p>In a bid to translate business opportunities into success, organizations &ndash; large and small &ndash; are embracing the cultural change to swiftly deliver the best-of-breed software and applications to users. However, this success doesn&rsquo;t come overnight. It emanates from the right blend of DevOps tools managed by skilled professionals.</p><p><br></p><p>According to Research and Markets, during the 2017-2023 timeframe, the global DevOps market is expected to reach a market size of $8,763.8 million at a CAGR of 18 percent. Needless to say, this massive growth prediction is indeed a proof that more and more enterprises are adopting DevOps to innovate their software development.</p><p><br></p><p>So the big question is - Can DevOps really make a difference for enterprises?</p><p><br></p><p>Let&rsquo;s explore.</p><p><br></p><h2>What are the Key Practices in DevOps?</h2><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/081/original/DevOps-Image1.svg?1509195618\" style=\"width: 671px; height: 720.411px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Continuous Planning </strong>Continuous Planning is always the first step in a DevOps environment which requires the involvement of the development and operations teams, business analysts and testers on a single platform. Together, they formulate a release plan for their software product. This step promotes collaboration and the overall efficiency of product lifecycles.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Integration </strong>Previously, software developers used to work in isolation and integrated their code later with the rest of the team&rsquo;s main code. This process often takes days or even weeks; giving rise to numerous merge conflicts, diverse code strategies, bugs, and more. The advent of DevOps changed this scenario&mdash;paving a productive path towards Continuous Integration (CI) which requires the development team&rsquo;s code to be continuously merged with a shared version control branch. This helps them validate their codes instantly and regularly.\r\n\r\nTechnically speaking, Continuous Integration (CI) automates the process of building and testing codes every time a team member incorporates changes to the version control. In a nutshell, CI effectively helps maintain the integrity of codes.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Delivery </strong>In a DevOps environment, Continuous Delivery (CD) is the next step that comes right after CI. With CD, organizations can make modifications to their software&mdash;based on user feedbacks, fluctuating business strategies and market trends. This requires all teams &ndash; test, support, and development &ndash; to collaborate with each other, and work closely towards automating the build, test, and release cycles. Benefits of a successful CD process include - optimized costs, minimized risks and quick time-to-market.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Testing </strong>Continuous testing plays a vital role in DevOps. It enables teams to execute automated tests that act as a prominent part of their software delivery pipeline. This step injects agility in the software release process by helping organizations get feedback on their business risks. In an innovative manner, Continuous Testing takes automation to a whole new level&mdash;addressing the complexity of today&rsquo;s software development and delivery.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Deployment </strong>Continuous Deployment is oftentimes confused with Continuous Delivery. In fact, Continuous Deployment ensures that every code modification incorporated by the developers is implemented throughout the entire software pipeline. Moreover, the code (including its updated working version) is automatically put into production. As a result of this process, numerous production deployments are staged regularly.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Monitoring </strong>Continuous Monitoring is considered as a part of the DevOps environment that effectively supports all the above-mentioned software development practices. Implementing this step helps the development and operations teams to constantly check for errors in their codes with a collaborative approach.</pre><p><br></p><h2>What are the Business Benefits of DevOps?</h2><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/082/original/DevOps-Image2.svg?1509195919\" style=\"width: 764px; height: 162.987px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Highly Communicative Environment </strong>As the central focus is on communication, a successful DevOps culture portrays a scenario where members of the teams communicate very often over emails, chats, social media apps, and more. This promotes collaboration and maintains integrity among the members; helping them solve problems easily and quickly.\r\n\r\n<strong>Flexibility </strong>As we already know, the basic principle behind developing DevOps is to enable a flexible and agile environment driven by collaboration between teams. Hence, team members should be aware of this, and work towards their common goal. Additionally, staying updated with the latest trends and practices also becomes a prerequisite factor.\r\n\r\n<strong>Exceptional Problem-Solving Capabilities </strong>The gist of a successful DevOps environment lies in the organization&rsquo;s ability to solve complex problems effectively and efficiently. This is indeed a result of team members working together with integrity, and injecting the essence of agility in software and application development.\r\n\r\n<strong>Continuous Deployment, Testing, and Monitoring </strong>Talking about today&rsquo;s software development practices, there is a constant requirement for teams to continuously deliver high quality software, reduced go-to-market timelines, and effectively adapt to shorter release cycles. With the touch of innovation, DevOps helps them manage these operations swiftly&mdash;by staging productivity-oriented practices such as Continuous Deployment, Continuous Testing, and Continuous Monitoring.\r\n\r\n<strong>Cost Optimization </strong>As most workflows in a DevOps environment are automated, organizations can spend less on their resources and achieve cost savings to a considerable extent. Moreover, this is undoubtedly supported by factors such as&mdash;team collaboration that lowers the time required for fixing errors; enhanced communication; and shorter development cycles.\r\n\r\n<strong>Saves Time for Innovation </strong>Apart from cost optimization, the automated deployment feature of DevOps transforms a complex software development scenario into a highly predictable and easier one. Consequently, as there is no need to carry out repetitive routines, the process effectively saves time for team members; giving them sufficient time for innovation.</pre><h2>Key Challenges in DevOps Implementation</h2><p><br></p><p>Injecting DevOps into the IT infrastructure of a hectic enterprise environment is no easy task. It requires dealing with a wide array of challenges. However, addressing the below mentioned key challenges can be the first step towards success&mdash;unlocking the true potential of DevOps.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Adapting to the Change in Culture </strong>This is perhaps the foremost challenge that impacts the future of DevOps in organizations. Gradually, yet definitely, the &lsquo;Dev&rsquo; and &lsquo;Ops&rsquo; teams should make sincere efforts to adapt to the change&mdash;post DevOps implementation.\r\n\r\n<strong>Integrating Team Projects </strong>It&rsquo;s an obvious fact that the collaboration between two teams (development and operations) will branch out the need to integrate their projects. This may involve effective planning and teamwork focused towards a common goal; maintaining the right balance in the entire software development lifecycle.\r\n\r\n<strong>Ditching Legacy Systems </strong>This might probably be the hardest part of DevOps implementation. To embrace new opportunities and possibilities, the teams must be willing to stop thriving on legacy systems and adopt the latest technologies available in the marketplace.\r\n\r\n<strong>Dealing with Tool Diversity </strong>With DevOps implementation, comes the hurdle of choosing and managing the wide array of tools used by both the teams. Apart from its diversity, the tools may also be task-specific, which makes this a painstaking challenge altogether.  </pre><p><br></p><h2>What are the Best Open Source DevOps Tools?</h2><p><br></p><p>When it comes to DevOps, considering the level of flexibility and cost-effectiveness, enterprises across the globe are rapidly inclining towards open source solutions. This also depends on the constantly changing needs of enterprises that need to be addressed efficiently and effectively. For enterprises, to gain a competitive edge in a constantly challenging marketplace, below mentioned are the widely adopted open source DevOps Tools that might come handy.</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Elasticsearch for Log Analytics</li><li>&nbsp;Docker for Container Management</li><li>&nbsp;Puppet, Chef for Configuration Management</li><li>&nbsp;GitHub for Source Control Management</li><li>&nbsp;Icinga for Monitoring</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>What is AWS DevOps?</h2><p><br></p><p>By combining the best-in-class DevOps practices, AWS offers a comprehensive set of flexible services that are designed to help enterprises rapidly develop and deliver their applications. Blended with innovation, these services streamline -</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Application Code Deployment</li><li>&nbsp;Infrastructure Management and Provisioning</li><li>&nbsp;Software Release Automation</li><li>&nbsp;Performance Monitoring</li></ul><p><br></p><h3>Why Choose AWS DevOps?</h3><p>AWS facilitates a pay-as-you-go approach, which elevates flexibility for enterprises. That&rsquo;s not all about flexibility&mdash;AWS enables development and operations teams to access standardized production environments anytime, anywhere in a cost-effective manner. Moreover, it effectively aligns with the fluctuating needs of an enterprise development environment.</p><p><br></p><h2>Managed Services are Here to Help</h2><p><br></p><p>The primary objective of a managed service provider (MSP) is to monitor and manage the customer&rsquo;s IT infrastructure round the clock. Also known as third-party monitoring and maintenance, MSP&rsquo;s ensure system availability for numerous enterprises across the globe. Moreover, they detect problems in a timely manner and boost system uptime. Consequently, managed services improve employee productivity; guiding enterprises towards higher profitability. Today, as most enterprise assets reside on the cloud, MSPs have also changed their approach by offering cloud-based services.</p><p><br></p><h2>What do Cloud Managed Service Providers Offer?</h2><p><br></p><p>Today&rsquo;s enterprises are often in a &lsquo;state of turmoil&rsquo; when they try to manage their IT assets; which negatively impacts their core business. Thanks to managed cloud providers, as they are constantly focused on offering an exceptional level of expertise for enterprises when it comes to IT infrastructure management. Moreover, apart from managing an enterprise&rsquo;s computing, storage, networks, and operating systems, MSP&rsquo;s engineers also handle complex tools and applications that operate on top of their IT infrastructure. This involves working on the latest databases, e-commerce platforms, and DevOps automation tools. As an added advantage, enterprises are also offered the flexibility to choose the specific IT assets they would like to manage in-house while leaving the rest to their cloud MSPs. Projections from the MarketsandMarkets research firm state that the global cloud managed services market size is expected to grow from USD 27.15 billion in 2017 to a staggering USD 53.78 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 14.6 percent.</p><p><br></p><p>Although the list expands further, following are the key offerings of cloud MSPs:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;System monitoring, alerting and reporting</li><li>&nbsp;System performance testing and maintenance</li><li>&nbsp;24&times;7 support powered by proactive communication</li><li>&nbsp;Cloud Security and Compliance Management</li><li>&nbsp;DNS Management</li><li>&nbsp;Architecture services</li><li>&nbsp;Cloud Database Management</li><li>&nbsp;Training for developers</li><li>&nbsp;Cloud Migration</li><li>&nbsp;Cost Optimization</li><li>&nbsp;Backup Management and Disaster Recovery</li><li>&nbsp;Auto Scaling</li><li>&nbsp;Log Archive Management</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>What are the Benefits of using Managed Cloud Services?</h2><p><br></p><p>Now that we know the key offerings of MSPs, let&rsquo;s take a look at the key benefits of those services:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Ability to focus on core business</li><li>&nbsp;Better and faster disaster recovery</li><li>&nbsp;Unparalleled efficiency and agility</li><li>&nbsp;Availability of leading-edge technologies</li><li>&nbsp;Custom services</li><li>&nbsp;Quick response times</li><li>&nbsp;Reduced Costs triggered by flexible billing</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>What is AWS Managed Services?</h2><p><br></p><p>AWS Managed Services is a cloud-based ecosystem of services that provisions, runs, and supports the enterprise IT infrastructure; helping them focus on their core business. By deploying the best-in-class practices and management procedures, AWS Managed Services minimizes the operational overhead and risks associated with the overall IT infrastructure. The sole focus of AWS Managed Services is to effectively streamline cloud operations, improve agility and reduce the costs.</p><p><br></p><p>The Key Features:</p><p><br></p><ul><li>&nbsp;Change Management</li><li>&nbsp;Provisioning Management</li><li>&nbsp;Incident Management</li><li>&nbsp;Patch Management</li><li>&nbsp;Access Management</li><li>&nbsp;Continuity Management</li><li>&nbsp;Security Management</li><li>&nbsp;IT Service Management (ITSM) Integration</li><li>&nbsp;Reporting</li></ul><p><br></p><h2>All Things Considered</h2><p><br></p><p>The evolution of new technologies are bridging the gap between &lsquo;ease of use&rsquo; and &lsquo;innovation&rsquo;, no matter how complex an enterprise IT infrastructure may be. However, when it comes to DevOps and Managed Services, the roots of enterprise success lie in the ability to choose the right vendor from the masses; making a groundbreaking business impact.</p><p><br></p>','2017-09-01',NULL,'Active','leveraging-devops-automation-an-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:47:10',6,'',1,'Awareness','Leveraging DevOps Automation: An Internet First Approach','Leveraging DevOps Automation: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Addressing the evolving trend of DevOps, enterprises are adopting the internet first approach to stay ahead of the curve in software development and delivery.','Leveraging DevOps Automation: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Addressing the evolving trend of DevOps, enterprises are adopting the internet first approach to stay ahead of the curve in software development and delivery.','OG-DevOps.jpg','image/jpeg',193785,'2017-10-27 06:20:54','4 Min Read',9,4),(38,'Developing Digital Marketing Strategy: An Internet First Approach','As more enterprises go online, only the right approach ensures a brand\'s digital success. Here is how to develop a digital marketing strategy using the Internet First approach.','digital-marketing.jpg','image/jpeg',183270,'2017-11-13 09:07:09','<p>As more enterprises go online, the competition to be recognized and capture the market share has increased. More organizations have realized the importance of digital marketing and have resorted to various internet marketing tactics while leveraging digital channels to gain more leads and customers for their business. While millions of dollars are being spent on acquiring customers via online channels, very few have been successful in cracking the digital code.</p><p><br></p><p>Achieving digital marketing success depends on different elements and having the right strategy comes at top.</p><p><br></p><h2>Introduction to a digital marketing strategy</h2><p><br></p><p>A digital marketing strategy, also sometimes called digital strategy, is a plan to achieve maximum results utilizing the digital assets available at the organization&rsquo;s disposal and technology-focused initiatives. A good digital strategy involves combining marketing and information technology to provide a reliable digital experience to the audience, acquire more customers and achieve return on investment (ROI).</p><p><br></p><p>A good digital strategy is customer-focused and looks at ways to improve the organization&#39;s organic search results, social media footprint, brand recognition, and customer engagement, acquisition and retention.</p><p><br></p><h2>Why is a Digital Marketing Strategy important?</h2><p><br></p><p>Very simply put, having a digital marketing strategy solves a lot of problems that commonly arise during your marketing exercise. Here are the problems a good strategy can solve and the reasons you need a strategy.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>It gives you direction: </strong>For starters, having a digital strategy gives you a proper direction. Organizations that don&rsquo;t have a strategy often lack clear strategic goals for the final goals and objectives they want to achieve. And without goals, they are less likely to commit the necessary resource, put efforts and evaluate their performance.\r\n\r\n<strong>Understand your online customers: </strong>Sometimes, you may be able to evaluate certain metrics such as number of page visits using certain analytics tools. However, without a strategy, you won&rsquo;t be able to gain an insight into your customer sentiments as to what they like or what they don&rsquo;t about your offerings. A strategy helps you identify tools that can help you gain better insights about your customers.\r\n\r\n<strong>Understand your marketplace: </strong>Having a clear strategy enables you to understand your online marketplace and the demand for your services from the customers. Without having the knowledge of your marketplace, you won&rsquo;t dedicate the appropriate resources and there is a high chance that your competitors will eat up your market share.\r\n\r\n<strong>Set clear value proposition: </strong>A strong digital strategy helps you define a clear value proposition for your online customers. This allows your customers to engage with you to start with and become loyal to your brand.\r\n\r\n<strong>Set proper budget and resources: </strong>Digital marketing requires a specific set of funds, resources and skills to ensure that you achieve your ultimate goal. However, by not having a clear strategy, you will become oblivious to what resources are needed and hence, will not be in a position to effectively combat competitive threats.\r\n\r\n<strong>Save money: </strong>Let us assume for a moment that you have sufficient funds for your digital marketing efforts. However, without a proper strategy, you will just end up wasting money either through duplication or by performing unnecessary activities.\r\n\r\n<strong>Stay agile: </strong>If you look at some of the top brand names such as Amazon, Google, Dell and Tesco, all of them are agile in catering to what the customers want and need. Having a strategy helps you constantly look out for trends and change your approach to keep up with your audience.\r\n\r\n<strong>Optimize your efforts: </strong>Having a good strategy compels you to continuously improve and optimize your digital marketing assets and efforts so that you can enhance user experience and ensure that they come back to you.</pre><h2>Categories of digital Marketing strategies</h2><p><br></p><p>The digital space offers plenty of channels, platforms and technologies which businesses can use to market and advertise their services, and attract more customers. Some of the common channels and platforms include social media, blogging platforms, organization web pages and other knowledge platforms. While some of them require you to pay for promoting your brand and services, others allow you to do it organically by attracting customers to your web assets. Hence, your digital marketing strategies can be broadly divided into organic digital marketing and paid marketing.</p><p><br></p><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/078/original/Organic_Digital_Marketing.svg?1509195146\" class=\"img-responsive fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Organic Digital Marketing</strong></h4><p>So, what is organic digital marketing? Simply put, it is the act of attracting more customers towards you naturally over time rather than paying channels and platforms to boost marketing campaigns and advertisements to acquire customers in an artificial manner.<br><br></p><p>Organic digital marketing plays a critical role in your digital marketing efforts. While it appears slow in showing your expected results, it offers several advantages over paid marketing activity and is a worthwhile effort. Here is why.</p><p><br>There is no substitute to the effort you put on your own website&rsquo;s content, its flow and the user experience it provides.<br>Paid advertising has its place, which is an important one as well. However, when a visitor comes to your website following your campaign, it is ultimately your own website which has to do the job of converting the visitor into a sales lead. If your website does not deliver the user&rsquo;s expectations, the person will just walk away, making your paid campaign worthless. Organic marketing may take time but will eventually lead to more and better engaged leads and customers.<br><br></p></div></div></div><div class=\"custom-row\"><div class=\"col-md-12\"><p>Out of the three forms of media - owned, earned and paid, organic digital marketing focuses on making the best use of both owned and earned media. Owned media includes the web properties you own such as your company and brand website, content, social media channels and mobile platform, while earned media includes third party channels and platforms that help you share, post and repost your content and campaigns. Earned media essentially helps you engage your potential customers as well as boost your customer shares and engagements, which is why a good digital marketing strategy is necessary.</p></div></div></li></ul></div><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/079/original/Paid_digital_marketing.svg?1509195169\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Paid digital marketing</strong></h4><p>Though the discussion is about achieving organic digital marketing success, it is necessary to briefly touch upon paid digital marketing.<br><br></p><p>As already mentioned, any paid efforts to promote ads or marketing campaigns on social media and other digital platforms can be considered as paid digital marketing. This may include paid Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) model for search engines and even paid influencers.<br><br></p><p>Paid advertising and marketing efforts help in generating brand awareness in a quick way and drive instant traffic to your website. The moment your social ad goes live, you can start seeing visitors on your web pages. Additionally, well optimized paid ads can help in targeting the right audience. However, the resulting is not long-lasting as the moment you stop paying for the advertisements or campaigns, you will start seeing a dip in your website traffic. While paid advertising takes up money upfront, it is really helpful when you are launching a new product/service or making a new announcement.<br><br></p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><h2>Components of successful organic digital Marketing strategy</h2><p><br></p><p>When it comes to digital marketing, there are a few key components that make up a successful organic digital strategy. These include content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization and influencer marketing. All of these components together form a strong organic digital marketing strategy. The individual components that make a greater strategy are explained in detail below.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/080/original/CSIS-Imags.svg?1509195382\" style=\"width: 764px; height: 262.307px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><h3>Content Marketing</h3><p>Content marketing is a major component of an organic digital marketing strategy. While your web page and blog do a good job of presenting content, content marketing is absolutely important for your audience and potential customers to take notice of your content. Content marketing closely ties up with social media as social media channels are the popular way of sharing content and engaging people. Having said that, there are also other ways one can successfully market their content.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few forms of content as well as a few ways in which you can market your content effectively.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Social Media posts:</strong> When one thinks of content marketing, the first thing that probably comes to mind are the social media channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. As these platforms have thousands and millions of active members, it is easier for organizations to reach out to more customers with simple social media posts. Social media posts can be as simple as a blog post, an image, a video or an infographic about your brand, product or service. To utilize social media effectively, it is always advisable to develop a social media strategy.\r\n\r\n<strong>Images:</strong> &lsquo;A picture is worth a thousand words&rsquo; is a common adage and this holds true when it comes to marketing. For example, if you are telling a success story about your company, adding a beautiful picture that is relevant to your post can strengthen your message. Images and videos are in fact some of the most commonly shared content in comparison to plain text. You can choose to brand the image with your logo so that when someone shares your post, your company/brand logo will be visible.\r\n\r\n<strong>Videos: </strong>Using a video is an attractive, powerful and effective way of driving your message across to your target audience. In fact, creating a corporate video today has become a common form of delivering your message. Having said that, caution should be maintained to strike a balance between creating an entertaining and a professional looking video. You can post your videos on your blog, website as well as social media.\r\n\r\n<strong>Infographics: </strong>An infographic is another popular way of spreading your message in an attractive manner. Infographics combine graphical images and textual content to deliver your message across to your customers. Just like images, you can opt to brand the infographics with your company logo so that people will identify it to be yours.\r\n\r\n<strong>Guides and whitepapers: </strong>While your blog posts carry relatively shorter form of content, your guides and whitepapers comprise a longer form of content. These are effective resources that help establish your expertise in the subject matter and build authority. A guide or a whitepaper also helps decision makers consider and take decisions based on the information it contains. A guide is usually placed strategically on certain pages of a corporate website where information of the lead can be collected while allowing the person to download the resource for free.\r\n\r\n<strong>Guest posts: </strong>A guest post is usually an authoritative article posted on a third party digital platform such as blog or a popular digital magazine. Similar to guides and whitepapers, they help establish your authority on a particular subject matter. The right way to write a guest post is to address one aspect of the relevant industry and not to promote oneself. The article may either solve a problem commonly faced in the industry or provide information that may help others.\r\n\r\n<strong>Emails: </strong>Most people underestimate the ability of emails as a powerful marketing tool. It is true that many emails end up getting marked as spam or viewers end up unsubscribing from them on a day-to-day basis. However, if done well and in a proper way, emails can act as powerful conversion tools. An email newsletter is a popular way of sending mails to your customers. An effective way of making an email newsletter an effective tool is to provide valuable information rather than filling it up with a sales pitch.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Social Media Marketing</h3><p>Social media marketing (SMM) simply refers to the process of gaining more traffic on the organization&rsquo;s website and other properties and creating active engagement using social media platforms. SMM is a powerful way of reaching out to a large number of audience and prospective customers for organizations. Social media has a close relationship with search engines as social media feeds into the discovery of content and this discovery is essentially a &lsquo;search&rsquo; activity. Social media also helps build valuable links which enable to gain SEO points.</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few tips on how you can make the best use of social media to boost the efficiency of your marketing campaigns.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Plan your social media content: </strong>Before launching a social media campaign, it is necessary to first build a social media marketing plan. Consider keyword research as well as competitive research as they will help you brainstorm content ideas that may interest your target audience. It is also a good practice to see what other businesses in your industry are doing to improve customer engagement on social media.\r\n\r\n<strong>Have great social content: </strong>Just like any other area of digital marketing, content is the key when it comes to social media marketing. You need to make sure that you post regularly and offer information that is really valuable, helpful and interesting to your customers. The content you share on your social media platforms may include blog posts, images, infographics, videos, and more. Social media is a very good platform to share your blog posts, best website content and any exciting news pertaining to your organization with online readers.\r\n\r\n<strong>Share well-curated links: </strong>While using social media is a great way for promoting your own original and unique content to acquire fans and followers, it is also necessary to keep them engaged with other useful information that may not necessarily belong to you. You can use social networks to share outside articles that will provide great, valuable information to your target audience. Sharing reliable outside sources and links improves trust and reliability among your customers for your own brand, and you may even get a few good links in return.\r\n\r\n<strong>Have a consistent brand image: </strong>Using social networks for marketing helps your organization project your brand image across a wide range of social media platforms. While each of these platforms has its unique voice and environment, your organization and brand&rsquo;s core identity should stay consistent.\r\n\r\n<strong>Track your competition: </strong>While you may be doing an excellent job at using social media for your campaigns, it is always important to keep an eye on what your competitors are doing, as it can help you gain valuable data and social media marketing insights. If your competitors are seeing success by using a specific social media marketing channel or technique, then you can consider doing the same thing and in a better way.\r\n\r\n<strong>Measuring your social media success: </strong>The only way you can really determine your social media marketing strategy&rsquo;s success is by tracking data. There are various analytics tools available such as Facebook analytics and Google Analytics, that will help you identify your successful marketing techniques as well as techniques that are better off abandoned. Besides using the standard analytics tools, be sure to utilize the analytics available within each social networking platform for more insights about the performance of your social media campaign.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Search Engine Optimization (SEO)</h3><p>For an organization to have more traffic to the website, people must be able to find it when they type a search query. For this to happen, the website should appear on the top of search results and search optimization (SEO) helps you achieve it. A website that appears on top of the search page has more traffic and can attract more conversions and sales.</p><p><br></p><p>However, reaching to the top of search results is not a simple task as search engines have their own algorithms which will decide your page ranking after evaluating your website against set of parameters. Moreover, there are other organizations in your industry and other industries that are vying for the top spot for the same search terms. Hence, to succeed in ranking at the top, you must follow a solid SEO strategy.</p><p><br></p><p>If your organization is finding it hard to reach to the top of the first page of search engines, here are a few tips that can help you reach there.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Ask a question to find your keyword:</strong> Most of the search queries today start with a question. For example, a user may ask a question about finding a good restaurant in a particular area. You may have noticed that content that answer such questions appear on the top of search page as their organic ranking is higher. Answers to those questions typically contain the keywords or keyword variations that can help the content rank higher. This means that you need to stand in your audience&rsquo;s shoes and leverage their possible questions for identifying your keywords. You can then use these keywords in your content and its title so that they can be easily detected by the algorithms.\r\n\r\n<strong>Target long-tail keywords: </strong>Google and other search engine algorithms are evolving and hence, your SEO strategy should evolve as well. It is the time where long-tail keywords that are 3-4 word phrases carry more weightage than short keywords of one or two words. As per HitTail, <a href=\"https://blog.hittail.com/2016/04/21/the-hidden-value-of-long-tail-seo/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">over 70% of website traffic comes from long-tail keywords</a>. Using long-tail keywords enable you to target less competitive and more specific search terms. These keywords help you connect with customers in an easier way. When incorporated properly into your website content or blog post, they can drive up your website traffic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Get your on-page optimization in place: </strong>There are certain elements on your website that should be in place so that search engine algorithms can rank your website higher. WIthout these in place, you will end up ranking in a place where your audience won&rsquo;t even notice you. Some of the elements that should be optimized include your website URL, page title, multimedia elements, H1 and H2 tags, placement of social media sharing options, keyword placement and meta description.\r\n\r\n<strong>Attract high-quality links: </strong>&lsquo;Backlinks&rsquo; is a common term heard in the SEO circle. These are basically external links from other websites that link back to your website. However, having any backlink won&rsquo;t help your search rankings as the wrong approach and the wrong links can damage your rankings. To achieve higher rankings, you should obtain high quality backlinks from websites that are relevant to your industry. Backlinks from industry experts and authority provide your website additional points.\r\n\r\n<strong>Write for your audience first: </strong>This is an important factor you should always keep in mind. As already mentioned search engine algorithms are changing and becoming search friendly and only the content that is relevant and contextual to the user query will rank higher. This means that you should start writing for your human audience rather than focusing on content that &lsquo;search engine-friendly&rsquo;. How do you do this effectively? Focus on topic clusters where you can gain authority on topics people usually search for. Topic clusters are explained in detail further down this article.\r\n\r\n<strong>Monitor your website performance: </strong>This may sound repetitive but no marketing strategy is complete without monitoring your results against your goals and objectives. In order to come out on top of search engine rankings, you should dive deep into your analytics and understanding which strategy is working well, which is not and how you can make things better to achieve a higher ranking.\r\n\r\nKeyword and topic research, content marketing and building quality backlinks are some things you should always do and continue to do even if you have reached the top of search rankings.</pre><p><br></p><h3>Influencer Marketing</h3><p>Having influencers promote and talk about your website and content has a huge impact on your website&rsquo;s organic search ranking. Consumers often trust recommendations from a third party about a certain brand rather than the brand talking about itself. The recommendation carries more weightage when it is been given by someone who is an authority in the particular industry or an influencer. Getting an influencer on your side can make a significant difference in the success of your brand and organization.</p><p><br></p><p>When you and an influencer align with each other, the influencer not only brings his/her followers but also their entire audience&rsquo;s network with them. Due to the influence they command, they will improve your social media exposure, drive traffic to your website, and enable more conversions and sales on your website.</p><p><br></p><p>So, how can you create a successful organic marketing campaign using influencers? Here are a few tips that will help you.<br><br></p><pre><strong>Know your goals:  </strong>Before you even set out to talk to an influencer, you should know what exactly you want to achieve through the exercise and work backwards from there. This will give you a clear idea and a direction on how you should proceed on identifying influencers and successfully collaborating with them. It is also a good practice to set key performance indicators (KPIs) such as audience reach, engagement, increase in followers and conversions.\r\n\r\n<strong>Collaborate with the right influencer:</strong> Before you talk to an influencer, it is necessary to keep certain factors in mind. For starters, understand that a true influencer drives actions and not just awareness. The second thing is to determine whether the influencer is the right fit for your brand and service. This is because if the influencer does not align with your thought process or your organization values, he/she can end up doing more damage than good.\r\nThere are plenty of platforms available in the market that will help you connect with suitable social influencers.\r\n\r\n<strong>Let influencers create content: </strong>When it comes to creating content, you don&rsquo;t need to create everything for your influencers. Your influencers have a specific personality that grabs attention. They also know what resonates with their audience. Hence, creating the content as per their personality should be left to the influencers to handle. However, you can offer them help wherever needed. You can also share tips on what other influencers are doing that is giving them positive results.\r\n\r\n<strong>Don&rsquo;t go for big names: </strong>While using influencer marketing, it is a good practice to avoid big names in the industry. When starting out, you should always focus on influencers who have more followers than going with big names who have fewer interactions. Smaller names many times may be more engaging and drive more ROI for your business.\r\n\r\n<strong>Measure and analyze: </strong>Influencer marketing is not something that you sit quite after allowing the influencer to drive traffic and engagement for your brand. You need to track the KPIs you set for yourself at the beginning, measure and analyze them. Analyzing the results helps you identify your success as well as problems you may be facing so that you can rectify them in the future.</pre><p><br></p><h2>Tips to achieve success in organic digital marketing</h2><p><br></p><p>As incredible and innovative as your brand, product or service may be, if you are not ranking high on the search engine for a specific search query, you will be totally invisible to people. According to findings by the online ad network Chitika in 2013 indicate that the top ranking link on Google&rsquo;s organic search enjoys 33% of the traffic while the second one gets 18% and the traffic drops down from there. This means that improving the ranking of your web pages becomes important.</p><p><br></p><p>The following are a few tips on how you can improve your organic page rankings and website traffic.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Optimize pages for user personas: </strong>When people land on your website or your web asset, they take positive action only if they see that what is present on the website is relevant to them. Hence, the first requirement of achieving success in organic digital marketing is to have web pages and content optimized for your user personas. The website content and other elements that are more focused on the buyer persona rather than being generic are 2-5 times more effective in achieving results. This brings us to the the next point, which is the second essential cornerstone of organic marketing success.\r\n\r\n<strong>Content is the king: </strong>Content is undoubtedly the king when it comes to succeeding in organic marketing. However, this cannot be any content. The content you present on your website, blog or social media page should be relevant, insightful, consumable and of high-quality. This kind of content compels visitors to take further action, share and provide quality backlinks. Great content often also stands a chance to become viral and ranks higher due to the search engine algorithms that give it higher weightage.\r\n\r\n<strong>Create compelling landing pages and CTAs:</strong>  Besides persona-driven and high-quality content, your landing pages and calls-to-actions (CTAs) too play an important role in converting your website visitors to leads and then ultimately customers. A landing page allows you to communicate the benefits of your products/services to your potential customers in a clear way while capturing the necessary details of the lead.\r\n\r\nAccording to Neil Patel, founder of Crazy Egg, &ldquo;a strong CTA compels people to click on it&rdquo;. An attractive CTA placed in the right location of your web property grabs your visitor&rsquo;s attention and encourages them to take further action.\r\n\r\n<strong>Create compelling meta descriptions: </strong>Your meta description may not be a direct search engine ranking factor. However, if written well and if it carries the relevant information, it can create an impact as your visitors click on your website link based on the description. This boosts your website authority, thus making it automatically rank higher for certain keywords during a web search. Besides having good meta-descriptions, it is also a good practice to use ALT tags for your web page elements as they have a strong correlation with SEO.\r\n\r\n<strong>Create topic clusters: </strong>The way search engine optimization and page rankings work have changed. This is because the way people perform a search query and consequently search engine algorithms have changed. Search engine optimization solely based on keyword search is dead. It is all about human readability, relevance and semantic search now and SEO needs to evolve accordingly. The best way to optimize your content to cater to semantic search is the use of topic clusters, which creates visibility across the topic rather than focusing on one specific keyword.\r\n\r\nTopic clusters are based on a premise of enabling a deeper and wider coverage across a range of core topic areas. Topic clusters have the advantage of providing a better user experience. Moreover, one high performing cluster content can improve the search rankings for all the other cluster pages linked to the same pillar.\r\n\r\n<strong>Plan your earned media: </strong>Identifying the earned media you already have at your disposal and evaluating it against your present goals allows you to get an idea where to focus your time. For example, identify the third party social media channels and how much traffic and leads they are generating for your business and rank them for effectiveness. Analytics tools can help you get this information. The idea is to identify which earned media platform can help you reach your goals and worth spending more time on using historical data. Having said that, be open to explore newer options.\r\n\r\n<strong>Track your efforts: </strong>This comes as a no-brainer. Tracking how your website and other web assets are performing in terms of traffic and lead generation helps you optimize them so that they rank higher. There are various analytics, call tracking and marketing automation tools available in the market that can help you track how your marketing efforts fare as well as help you tie back your sales and leads to the SEO.</pre><p><br></p><p>Organic digital marketing is a long-term strategy that is proven to deliver significant returns. However, with the changing landscape of digital marketing, you need an expert who can help you create a successful strategy that enables you to make the optimum utilization of your digital assets as well implement techniques that deliver the desired results.</p><p><br></p><p>Our team of digital experts combines latest internet technologies, experience, and expertise to help your organization harness the true power of the digital world in realizing your goals and objectives of winning more customers and transforming your business.</p><p><br></p><p>To know more about our capabilities and services, reach out to us.</p><p><br></p>','2017-09-10',NULL,'Active','developing-digital-marketing-strategy-an-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:33:46',5,'',1,'Awareness','Developing Digital Marketing Strategy: An Internet First Approach','Developing Digital Marketing Strategy: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','As more enterprises go online, only the right approach ensures a brand\'s digital success. Here is how to develop a digital marketing strategy using the Internet First approach.','Developing Digital Marketing Strategy: An Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','As more enterprises go online, only the right approach ensures a brand\'s digital success. Here is how to develop a digital marketing strategy using the Internet First approach.','OG-Digital.jpg','image/jpeg',258701,'2017-10-27 06:21:20','4 Min Read',38,1),(39,'An Internet First Approach to Web and Mobile App Development','In today\'s world, the necessity for developing exceptional web and mobile applications has increased. Here is an Internet First approach to develop web and mobile apps.','web-and-mobility.jpg','image/jpeg',191007,'2017-11-13 09:06:47','<h2>Introduction</h2><p><br></p><p>Web and mobile applications are critical components of the 21st century business ecosystem. As more and more businesses get digitized, the necessity for developing web and mobile applications has increased in order for them to survive and stay in the game. However, as organizations and the way people do business evolve, web and mobile app development and strategies too should evolve in order to meet customer expectations.</p><p><br></p><p>The following is a step-by-step guide that will help you build web and mobile applications that are not only exceptional but also deliver value to your customers.</p><p><br></p><h2>Key elements of a good web application strategy</h2><p><br></p><p>The first and foremost step of developing a web or a mobile application is to have a strategy. A web application strategy is simply a plan of action that helps you achieve your aim and provides you a clear thought process for developing your application. It will help you understand what features users look for, the importance of each feature and the reasoning behind it. It also helps you analyze the thing as a whole and come up with the best solution using the best methods and resources.</p><p><br></p><p>The following are the key phases and elements of developing a good web application strategy.</p><p><br></p><p><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/055/original/W_M-Benefits_2.svg?1509184473\" style=\"width: 764px; height: 201.187px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><pre><strong>Discovery phase: </strong>Developing a strategy for your web project starts with a comprehensive research so that you get a complete understanding of the industry and your business itself. An in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape is critical to the success of your project from a strategy as well as design perspective. It is important to have a mix of both quantitative and qualitative research throughout the entire strategy process.\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to qualitative research, discussing with your organization&rsquo;s key stakeholders such as CEO, CMO or other key members about the web project will help clarify their role in the design and development process. Having the stakeholders of the business provide their opinions on the current website will provide valuable insight on areas that need improvement. It also allows you to assess any possible user experience problems they face when navigating the website. The research should uncover how the website can become a tool for users both in and outside the organization and help the specific needs of their job.\r\n\r\nOn the other hand, a quantitative research helps you gather high-level findings that are backed by statistics. Most enterprises are interested in doing research related to their target audience. Hence, this kind of research should focus on gathering concrete data that provides insights on how to reach them effectively. This type of information helps you plan your website&rsquo;s design elements, navigation, calls-to-action (CTAs) and other items that will increase the website&rsquo;s user experience and conversions.\r\n\r\n<strong>Audit phase: </strong>The audit phase is when you take your insights such as existing site&rsquo;s performance, bounce rate, ease of navigation and conversion rates from your research and use them to create an actionable plan for your website design and identify goals based on the analysis. You can also use these insights to generate more ideas on how to improve results and foster growth for your web project. Gaining important insights during your audit phase can help you spot potential areas for improvement. Moreover, in addition to comparing industry averages across various design elements and tactics, these insights can also help you discover significant trends that you can leverage.\r\n\r\n<strong>Strategy phase: </strong>This is the phase where you want to take your insights and turn them into various creative and web design elements. During this phase, you need to visualize a funnel that will reflect your buyer&rsquo;s persona, their journey and how the customer may likely go through the decision-making process. You may have certain conversion points at the top, middle, and bottom of the conversion funnel, which need to placed in the correct places on your website for them to be effective. Customers need to be taken through the buying process in a  systematic way in order to gain higher conversions. Hence, you need to identify how to guide them through the different stages of awareness, consideration, and then decision using your site&rsquo;s elements.\r\n\r\nThis phase also involves cross-departmental collaboration in your organization to enhance your site&rsquo;s design and development. Experts from other teams may involve the IT architect, graphic designers and branding experts. From the visual standpoint, creating several mockups help in conveying your design idea. You should also determine the top themes that will identify your brand, and use the images and words that represent your brand.</pre><p>A few other aspects you should keep in mind while creating a web application strategy involve:</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><div class=\"digital-benefits-content\"><ul class=\"benefits-list\"><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/052/original/W_M-Security.svg?1509183387\" class=\"img-responsive fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Security</strong></h4><p>Security is a critical aspect of any web application. Today, there are hundreds of ways even a teenage hacker can bring your website and business down. Hence, security must be one of the top priorities for a web development team. The team should look at adding features that do not hamper the user experience, but can clearly stop any kind of threats.</p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/053/original/W_M-Efficiency.svg?1509183400\" class=\"img-responsive fr-dib fr-fil\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4 style=\"text-align: left;\"><br><strong>Efficiency</strong></h4><p>A web application should have a rich set of tools that allows developers to make alterations. It should also accommodate any kind of future modifications, big or small. This means that the web application platform should be agile to changes. Test-driven-development (TDD) should be an integral part of web development.<br><br><br></p></div></div></div></li><li><div class=\"row\"><div class=\"col-md-3\"><div class=\"min-height-holder\"><br></div><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/054/original/W_M-Performance.svg?1509183430\" class=\"img-responsive fr-fil fr-dib\" alt=\"improved efficiency\"></div><div class=\"col-md-9\"><div class=\"benefits-content\"><h4><strong>Performance</strong></h4><p>Another key feature that every web application is expected to have is responsiveness. Users expect a response that is quick and does not take long page reloads. Additionally, the web application should also be scalable and allow for future optimization for any data and load increase. This means that the design of the back-end infrastructure and storage is as important as that of the front-end user interface.<br><br><br></p></div></div></div></li></ul></div><h2>Considerations for designing a web application</h2><p><br></p><p>Once you have laid out a detailed web application strategy, it is time to design your web application as this is an important exercise you should be doing before diving into developing the application itself. Here, we have listed some of the general design considerations and the specific considerations you should keep in mind while developing a web application.</p><p><br></p><p>The goal of web application design is to reduce the complexities of the application development process while designing a secure, high performance and user-friendly web application. Here are a few things you should consider to ensure that you meet these requirements.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Have a logical partition: </strong>The first thing to do while creating a design is to partition the application logically into presentation, business, and data access layers. This helps you in creating maintainable and manageable code, and allows you to monitor as well as optimize the performance of each layer separately. Layering also offers you more choices for scaling your application.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use abstraction: </strong>Implementation of loose coupling between the layers can be accomplished by defining interface components with inputs and outputs that translate requests into a format that can be understood by components within the layer. Additionally, you can also use abstract base classes or interface types to define a shared abstraction, which the interface components should implement.\r\n\r\n<strong>Understand how components will communicate: </strong>To understand how different components will communicate with each other, it requires an understanding of the different deployment scenarios your application must support. You must deduce if the communication across physical or process boundaries need to be supported, or if the components will run within the same process.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use caching techniques: </strong>When designing your web application, consider using caching and output buffering techniques in order to reduce round trips between the application browser, web server, and other downstream servers. This is one of the most important performance-related design considerations for your web application.\r\n\r\n<strong>Authenticate users: </strong>As mentioned earlier, application security should be an important consideration during the entire development cycle of a web application. For this, you should consider authenticating users whenever they cross a trust boundaries or layers. To protect data security, you should also encrypt sensitive data and use firewalls appropriately.\r\n\r\n<strong>User Interface: </strong>The user interface (UI), which is part of the presentation layer of your web application facilitates user interaction with the actual application. The design of this layer should consider using separate presentation logic components and UI components in complex interfaces, and base the UI components on standard web controls wherever possible.\r\n\r\n<strong>Testability considerations: </strong>As mentioned earlier, testability should be an important aspect of your web application design and development. Testability is the measure of how well your application or its components allow you to execute tests to determine if your test criteria are met. Testability makes it easier for you to diagnose problems in the early stages and reduces maintenance costs.\r\n\r\n<strong>Technology considerations: </strong>When it comes to designing web applications, there are different technologies that can be used depending on the purpose and intent of the web application. For example, if you are designing an application that will be accessed through a web browser, you can consider using progressive web apps. If the idea is to provide more interactivity and background processing, with limited page reloads, you should consider using AJAX. Alternatively, if your application has rich media content and interactivity, you could use Ruby on Rails.\r\n\r\n<strong>Deployment considerations: </strong>When you deploy your web application, you should consider how the layers and component location will impact its security, scalability and performance. You will also have to consider design tradeoffs for the application. Depending on your business requirement and IT constraints, you can take either a non-distributed or distributed approach to deploy your application. While non-distributed deployment generally maximizes your application&rsquo;s performance, distributed deployment will allow you to achieve better scalability while allowing protection of each layer separately.</pre><p><br></p><h2>The Web Application Design Process</h2><p><br>Once you have taken the different aspects of your web application into consideration, it is time to get down into actual designing of the application. The following are the essential steps of designing your web application.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Create a project roadmap: </strong>This is the first and an essential step of designing your web application. It involves establishing the goals and purposes of your web application. This step gives your project a proper direction and helps you keep your focus on the goal. \r\n\r\n<p><strong>Define target audience and scope: </strong>This step involves researching and identifying your application&rsquo;s audience and potential customers. It also involves preparing a report which includes the following assessments pertaining to your audience:</p><ul><li>Audience type: This contains statistics and percentage of user demographics such as audience age, gender or technological capabilities such as elementary, average and advanced users.</li><li>Level of security: This involves creating risk statistics that help you define the type of security that should be integrated in your application based on your audience characteristics, security breaches, etc.</li><li>Web access capabilities: This involves creating an access report and specifying the targeted audience&rsquo;s access to the internet, intranet, and other application assets.</li><li>Quantitative statistics: This involves creating a report of periodic time frames showing potential site visitors.\r\n\r\n</li></ul><p><strong>Create detailed functional specifications:</strong> This step involves creating a functional specifications document with the detailed list of technical specifications and functionalities the web application should accomplish. This is the most important document in an application development project and is created to eliminate any form of confusion in the future. However, if the project is large or complex, it can become difficult and overwhelming to detail each type of user behavior. If that is the case, then a feature summary document could be prepared instead of a detailed list.\r\n\r\n<strong>Identify third party vendors: </strong>Developing a web application often becomes faster and cost-effective if outsourced to a good third party vendor. This step involves identifying a third party vendor and includes identifying:</p><strong><ul><li dir=\"ltr\">A web developer or development company</li><li dir=\"ltr\">Providers of SSL certificate</li><li dir=\"ltr\">Managed service providers</li><li dir=\"ltr\">Providers of server, network, firewall, and load balancer equipment</li><li dir=\"ltr\">A merchant account and payment gateway</li><li dir=\"ltr\">Fulfillment centres</li></ul></strong><p>\r\n<strong>Select technology, identify web application structure and timelines: </strong>This stage involves identifying the technology and platform, development environment, and application development structure and framework. The stage also defines the timeframe within which the application&rsquo;s modules and features should be completed.\r\n\r\n<strong>Design layout, visual guide and wireframing: </strong>This is another important stage in the web designing process. It involves creation of a visual guide of the user interface and the interactions of the application in the form of either wireframes or simple sketches. The visual guide or a wireframe is essentially the skeletal framework of your web application and provides an approximate view of how the user interface components will appear on your web page.\r\n<strong>\r\n</strong>Once the interaction and interface models are approved, the design can be implemented and a web application can be developed. Once the application is developed, it is necessary to test the application to ensure that it conforms to the goals and specifications of the project.</p></pre><p><br></p><h2>Best practices for developing a web application</h2><p><br></p><p>Once your web application strategy and design are ready, it is time to get into the actual development and testing of your application. While developing the app, it is recommended to follow certain practices in order to optimize your web application.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Here are a few best practices you should follow while developing your web app.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Follow the development standards: </strong>The first thing to do while developing a web app is to follow the coding standards as it increases the efficiency of the application. Using standardized code also helps in augmenting the extensibility of the code, saving time while coding, improving the load times and accessibility of your web page, and even driving traffic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Focus on scalability, flexibility and performance: </strong>Smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices are becoming a common feature today. Moreover, the penetration of these devices in our societies are increasing every year. Hence, it becomes necessary to develop web apps that are cross-platform and responsive. You should also focus on responsiveness of the web application when it is opened across different platforms and devices. Irrespective of what programming language you use, it is wise to use either fully responsive or adaptive layouts to make your web app integrate with mobile and variable screen sizes.\r\n\r\nDeveloping the application that scales as per the changing scenario of the business and users such as changing loads, bandwidth and amount of data is another important factor you should keep in mind.\r\n\r\n<strong>Implement secure coding: </strong>As mentioned earlier, security breaches and threats have become common for websites and web applications. Conversely, the credibility of the application too becomes an important element to determine whether your audience will trust you with their secure information. Hence, you should keep security as one of the top priorities while developing the app.\r\n\r\n<strong>Implement MVC architecture: </strong>Most web applications are complex due to the complex architecture and multiple layers they involve. Hence, it is a recommended practice to deploy the efficient Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. This architecture allows you to code your application in a modular fashion, making it more extensible and easier to handle changes.\r\n\r\nThe Model portion is the central component where you develop the database hierarchies and design. The View portion is responsible for the front end design and complexities, while the Controller portion takes the input and converts it into commands for the other two components. This is where you implant the hard core logic. Using this architecture, you can extend the web application in any of these directions as per need.\r\n\r\n<strong>Adopt the right technology: </strong>Selecting the right technology that is suitable for your web application makes a huge difference to your application. For example, the technology required for an interactive web application with rich media is different than that which is required for more background processing. Technology considerations should take into account the programming language, database, framework and server.</pre><p><br></p><h2>Developing Mobility Strategy</h2><p><br></p><p>Smartphones have increasingly become part of today&rsquo;s society as more and more customers want solutions and services at their fingertips. Hence, it is not sufficient to develop only web applications to the customers, that are limited to desktops and laptops, but also mobile apps and web applications to cater to a larger audience.</p><p><br></p><p>However, in order create mobile applications that help you achieve your goals require a mobility strategy even before developing the application. While some of the considerations such as the target market, goals and KPIs, security, scalability and performance remain similar to that of developing web applications, other considerations are exclusive to the mobile environment. The following are a few essential elements of developing a good mobile application strategy.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Focus on user experience: </strong>When developing a mobile app or web application, user experience is a critical component. The goal here should be to create an interface that is not only eye-catching and pleasing, but also that is user-friendly. The question to ask yourself is how your customers will feel after using your app? Will they remember it for being easy to navigate or operate or for all the wrong reasons?\r\n\r\n<strong>Focus on the back-end: </strong>While the front-end is user-friendly, the back-end should be developer-friendly and should be a robust application programming interface, which means having all the functions and routines that allow you to interact with and access other software, operating system, data sources and third-party cloud services.\r\n\r\nTy Amell, CEO of StackMob, takes this one step further and suggests having a backend for developers that is fully cloud functional. According to him, having a cloud-based backend can free up your development resources so that they can focus more on the front-end.\r\n\r\n<strong>Flexible, functional and scalable platforms:</strong> As already mentioned, similar to web applications, mobile web applications as well as native apps should be able to scale as per the business and user needs. The application platforms should also be designed to be flexible and work well across other platforms as well as with different front-end designs.\r\n\r\n<strong>Secure data: </strong>Smartphones and cloud technology have changed the way data is accessed. In the mobile world, the concept of securing data is almost non-existent. Most people use their smartphones and tablets for both personal and business purposes. This means that organization should be able to segregate and control sensitive business data across corporate-owned and personal devices. Similarly, customers&rsquo; sensitive data too should be secured alike.\r\n\r\n<strong>Create monetization mechanisms: </strong>A key consideration of the mobile app development strategy is to build monetization mechanisms, which encourage users to make purchase decisions, into it. While it is alright to allow users to initially download it for free, organizations should consider making money through it eventually. This is where the freemium concept can play an important role, where users pay nothing to download it and use basic functionalities but are willing to accept a price point to access advanced functionalities and options. A successful mobile app strategy understands the wheres and whens of pay thresholds.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n<strong>Focus on improvement and engagement: </strong>While focusing on maximizing app downloads is important, the app is not successful if it does not create sufficient user engagement. Before developing the app, the organization should have a strategy to actively engage its users. Building analytics into the application is an essential part of this strategy as it helps organizations understand the customer behaviour and their user experience. Based on the analysis, the app functionality and features can be improved as well as optimized to drive user engagement.</pre><p><br></p><h2>Tips to design phenomenal mobile applications</h2><p><br></p><p>When designing and developing an application for mobile devices, which have shorter attention spans, your application must be such that it not only captures the attention of your users, but also encourage them to come back as well as help you drive user engagement. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when designing your mobile application.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Follow the rules of interaction design: </strong>When designing an app, you should remember to follow the rules of interaction design. There are five pillars or rules of a good interaction design - Goal-driven design, learnability, affordance and signifiers, usability, and feedback and response time. These five rules can be considered as the foundation of a good app design and should be followed for designing any form of interaction for a mobile device.\r\n\r\n<strong>Know your user: </strong>One of the first considerations while designing and developing a web application or mobile application is to identify who your customers would be. It is a good practice to create a user persona based on your ideal users&rsquo; demographics, habits, requirements, goals and challenges. Besides developing buyer personas, it is also a good practice to identify user scenarios and experience maps as they help you determine how your target customers may act and all possible conditions of interaction. All these will give you a direction and save you headaches during the development process.\r\n\r\n<strong>Map out content and build user </strong><strong>work flows: </strong>Another important component of the app design is mapping the content and building the user work flow. In fact, an app design cannot be completed without developing the user workflow. A user workflow helps in understanding how users flow between content and actions. Developing a workflow can be done by starting to write with a simple pen and paper. The outlining exercise helps you develop an understanding of the various pages of your app and come up with ideas.\r\n\r\n<strong>Build mockups and wireframes: </strong>Wireframes and mockups are inseparable elements of an app design, be it on web or mobile. Wireframes are basically visual guides or diagrams that will represent how your app screen view will look like and how the elements will interact with each other. Mockups provide lifelike images based on these diagrams. Wireframes and mockups help in smoothing out the narrative of your app while helping you write your code.\r\n\r\n<strong>Remember accessibility: </strong>One important thing to remember while designing the app is to pay attention to finger-friendly designs. Fingers are thicker than the mouse keys and cursors on a mobile device. Hence, enough space should be given for users to click them using their fingertips. If the space between the keys or the keys themselves are too small, users won&rsquo;t be able to tap them accurately, which leads to frustration, and eventually abandonment.  \r\n\r\n<strong>Use familiar mobile patterns: </strong>A good mobile design has to do a lot with usability. Using the right mobile pattern helps you create UI that puts your users at comfort. You can start with studying common mobile patterns and popular mobile app interfaces. While you don&rsquo;t need to simply copy these patterns for your app, you can use common UI as a baseline for the purpose of usability and then build upon it. This will make the design meet your expectations while not feeling boring. Two categories of interaction design patterns you may want to become good at are animations and gestures.\r\n\r\n<strong>Keep it clutter-free: </strong>When designing your app, ask yourself if you need all the screens and all the features or some can be done away with. Users should be able to perform their important tasks quickly and in as few steps as possible and your app should be designed to enable them to do exactly that. Your screens should support the person take an action of real value with a screen. If not, you may want to redesign your screens to retain only the necessary screens.\r\n\r\nYou should also make sure that you remove unnecessary elements. Owing to the limited attention span of the users, they should be guided to the appropriate content quickly. The lesser number of screens your users have to navigate and the fewer unnecessary elements, the more successful your app will be.\r\n\r\n<strong>Make your app responsive: </strong>It is not a good practice to make users wait for the app&rsquo;s content to appear. Developers should make sure that the app appears fast and responsive. Whatever actions the app needs to perform should be pushed to the background rather than the front-end, while only a fast response should be visible to the user.\r\n\r\n<strong>Use push notifications wisely: </strong>People already go through a number of notifications everyday which distract them from their day-to-day activities. They do not want one more notification to annoy them. According to a survey by Appiterate, the number one reason people uninstall an app is the annoying notifications they get. This means that you should avoid sending unnecessary notifications unless you feel that it is valuable to the user.</pre><p><br></p><p>While these tips help you improve your mobile app&rsquo;s user experience, most of them can also be used to improve the user experience</p><p><br></p><h2>Tips to improve your application&rsquo;s user experience</h2><p><br></p><p>One of the pillars of a great web or mobile application is its user experience (UX). The experience that your users have while using the application decides whether it is a hit among your users or not. It will also decide whether you will have more conversions or more bounce and exit rates from your application. Consequently, creating an excellent user experience becomes one of the top priorities of the application development exercise. Here are a few tips on how you can improve the UX of your application.</p><p><br></p><pre><strong>Optimize for the device and OS: </strong>Smartphones today come in various sizes and with different operating systems. This means that your mobile application should be optimized for various devices and platforms if you want to have a larger number of target audience using your application. According to Mashable, the value proposition of the platform, the APIs required for the design and the device&rsquo;s screen ratio play an important role in the final decision.\r\n\r\n<strong>Remember to test: </strong>It goes without saying that once you have designed and developed your app, it needs to be tested again and again to ensure that it meets the intended goals and specifications. The app needs to be tested at each stage as well as the final stage. The final product should especially be tested by not one but multiple users in order to identify different bugs and fix them.\r\n\r\n<strong>Add features: </strong>Besides improving your application by fixing bugs, you can update your application by adding new features that will help your customers as this can keep your users engaged and delighted. However, caution should be maintained to add only those features which people really use rather than giving them everything what they ask for. Otherwise, you will risk creating features that no one may use.\r\n\r\n<strong>Offer value before asking for signups: </strong>It is understandable that you may want your app users to sign up with you so that you can have more lead conversions. However, asking them to give up their information voluntarily the moment they start using the app, without giving them something of value is a lot to ask for. This is like asking for their credit card even before they enter the store. This will make your potential customers walk away and never come back.\r\n\r\n<strong>Include a Help section: </strong>While regular users of your application will know how to navigate through your application, first time users may get stuck and become directionless. In fact, even regular users may want to find help at some point of time. The Help and FAQ sections enable them to navigate through your application and get some common questions solved. You can also add a live chat window which enable your users to obtain immediate solutions for their queries.\r\n\r\n<strong>Offer loyalty incentives: </strong>It is not a bad idea to offer incentives such as loyalty points and rewards to your mobile app users. This is known to enhance stickiness, user engagement and possibly even revenues for your business.\r\n\r\n<strong>Include analytics: </strong>As mentioned earlier, including analytics in your application helps you understand user behavior. You will be able to learn what feature worked, what hasn&rsquo;t and and what needs to be improved or optimized. It is also a good practice to include crash logs in your app, so that you know what went wrong in the app while being used in the real world.\r\n\r\n<strong>Obtain feedback: </strong>Besides having application analytics, you should also have a feedback mechanism where users can send you a feedback about your application and its features or report bugs and crashes. This will help you fix problems and improve your application thus improving customer satisfaction. You can use email, social media or other means for your users to provide you feedback.</pre><p><br></p>','2017-10-08',NULL,'Active','an-internet-first-approach-to-web-and-mobile-app-development','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:33:17',4,'',1,'Awareness','An Internet First Approach to Web and Mobile App Development','An Internet First Approach to Web and Mobile App Development | 7EDGE','In today\'s world, the necessity for developing exceptional web and mobile applications has increased. Here is an Internet First approach to develop web and mobile apps.','An Internet First Approach to Web and Mobile App Development | 7EDGE','In today\'s world, the necessity for developing exceptional web and mobile applications has increased. Here is an Internet First guide to develop web and mobile apps.','OG-Web_Mobility.jpg','image/jpeg',152155,'2017-10-27 06:21:40','4 Min Read',39,4),(40,'Inbound Marketing: Leveraging the Internet First Approach','Inbound marketing is today overtaking traditional marketing as the preferred way of acquiring customers. Here is a guide to successfully implement inbound marketing.','inbound-marketing.jpg','image/jpeg',112920,'2017-11-13 09:06:32','<p dir=\"ltr\">Every organization has a marketing department whose major efforts involve generating leads and driving sales. Most of the traditional marketing activities include cold calling, sending emails to prospects, putting up billboards or advertisements on various media platforms. However in recent years, these traditional marketing activities are losing their effectiveness as more people are getting frustrated with the invasive nature of these activities and are finding ways to block ads from reaching them.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">With this being a common scenario today, organizations need to take up a new approach to attract customers and drive business growth. Inbound marketing has become this new approach for more organizations due to the various advantages it provides enterprises over traditional marketing.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">What is Inbound Marketing?</h2><p><br></p><p>Traditional outbound marketing focuses on getting the organization&rsquo;s message out to as many prospective customers as possible with a hope that a few people will resonate with the message, buy into it and become actual customers. However, people are smarter today and they do not want to see advertisements or read mails that are irrelevant to them. This leads to blocking these ads or inaction on the part of the viewer.</p><p><br></p><p><a href=\"/blog/inbound-vs-outbound-marketing-why-is-inbound-better\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Inbound marketing offers several advantages</a> over outbound marketing. It not only promises more business leads, prospects and sales, but also better experience for customers throughout their buying journey, thus making them your brand ambassadors. Moreover, this is done in a non-invasive way.</p><p><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Inbound Marketing Methodology</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Inbound marketing is essentially pull marketing where it uses certain methodologies along with the right content that addresses the problems and needs of potential customers. This builds trust and credibility for your brand among your target customers thereby generating more conversions.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Inbound marketing employs a 4-step methodology to convert strangers into customers and your brand promoters. The following is the 4-step approach.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><img src=\"https://cdn.7edge.com/file_managers/images/000/000/066/original/InboundMarketing-1.png?1509191498\" style=\"width: 595px; height: 519.273px;\" class=\"fr-fic fr-dib\"></p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Attract</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Attracting people to your web properties does not mean attracting random strangers. It means attracting the right visitors who can become potential leads and ultimately customers. We excel at creating buyer personas of your ideal customers to understand their goals, challenges and pain points so that you can build your offerings around them. We also make use of appropriate tools and techniques to help you attract these buyer personas to your website.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Convert</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Once the right audience has come to your website, it is important to convert them into leads by collecting their information. However, in order to obtain their details, you need to offer something valuable in return, which is usually in the form of content. We help you come up with the right content offerings such as eBooks and whitepapers as well as provide you the tools necessary to convert your website visitors to leads.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Close</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Once you have the right visitors coming to your website and getting the right leads, the next logical step is to convert the right leads to customers at the right time. We can help you implement the right tools and techniques such as emails, marketing automation and closed-loop reporting to accomplish closures more effectively.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Delight</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Our inbound marketing methodology does not stop at helping you obtain customers. It goes one step ahead to help you get satisfied customers who can become your brand promoters and help your business grow. We accomplish this through tools such as surveys, emails, smart content and social monitoring.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Overcoming Digital Marketing Challenges</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">In an era where more organizations are competing online to get noticed by their potential customer, digitally marketing your company&rsquo;s services can be quite challenging. However, given that the digital marketing has become an essential part of an organization&rsquo;s effort, you want to ensure that your efforts are successful. Inbound marketing plays an excellent role in <a href=\"/blog/key-inbound-marketing-tactics-to-run-successful-campaigns\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">solving a lot of these issues</a> and driving your digital marketing campaigns towards success.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Scoring your marketing and sales leads</h2><p><br></p><p>Marketing teams in most enterprises use lead scoring to qualify a lead so that the right leads are sent to the sales team. This is done through a qualification process that helps determine whether pursuing the lead makes business sense. However, scoring every lead manually can be a tricky and difficult process. Predictive lead scoring eliminates this problem by automatically bucketing your leads helping you to identify qualified leads.</p><p><br></p><h2>Setting up an automated workflow</h2><p><br></p><p>Marketing automation is increasingly becoming popular among marketers across industries due to its ability to improve the efficiency of marketing activities. Automated workflows are a great way to nurture your leads so that they are sales-ready when the time is right. Not only this, but they can also help you tackle several administrative marketing tasks.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">In a simple way, automated workflows trigger certain actions automatically based on your lead&rsquo;s contact details, their behavior or both together. However, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that you have set up a proper automated workflow in order to effectively nurture your leads.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Inbound Marketing Best Practices</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">While inbound marketing offers a lot of advantages as you may have already seen, it takes following certain practices to become successful at this approach. Some of the key pillars of inbound marketing include identifying your buyer personas, identifying your customers&rsquo; buying journey and create high-quality, attractive and relevant content that keeps your customers hooked to you.&nbsp;</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Read in detail about the inbound marketing best practices <a href=\"/blog/7-inbound-marketing-best-practices-to-boost-your-sales\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Inbound marketing is a relatively new approach gaining popularity among organizations across the world. Having said that, it requires a certain effort on the part of organizations. While some organizations may be more than willing to dedicate certain resources for this effort, others may not. In the latter case, it is critical that you <a href=\"/blog/5-things-to-check-before-hiring-an-inbound-marketing-agency\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hire the right partner</a> who understands the in and out of this marketing strategy and can help you achieve your sales goals.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-28',NULL,'Active','inbound-marketing-leveraging-the-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:32:28',3,'',2,'Awareness','Inbound Marketing: Leveraging the Internet First Approach','Inbound Marketing: Leveraging the Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing is today overtaking traditional marketing as the preferred way of acquiring customers. Here is a guide to successfully implement inbound marketing.','Inbound Marketing: Leveraging the Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing is today overtaking traditional marketing as the preferred way of acquiring customers. Here is a guide to successfully implement inbound marketing.','7E-OG-360-Inbound-Marketing.png','image/png',72913,'2017-11-28 05:07:32','4 Min Read',14,1),(41,'Elucidating the Internet First Approach to Programmatic Advertising','Programmatic offers several advantages over traditional digital advertising and is hence gaining popularity. Here is a complete guide to programmatic advertising.','programmatic-ads.jpg','image/jpeg',130756,'2017-11-13 09:06:16','<p>Top organizations as well as leading marketers and advertisers across the world today are moving away from the traditional ways of ad buying, and are rapidly moving towards automated or programmatic ways of buying ads due to the several advantages they offer. As such, it is important for us to understand what this new form of ad buying is all about and how it can help your organization gain a competitive edge.</p><p><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">What is Programmatic Media Buying?</h2><p><br></p><p><a href=\"/blog/elucidating-internet-first-approach-to-programmatic-advertising\" rel=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Programmatic media buying</a> or automated media buying simply refers to the process of buying digital ad inventory using algorithms instead of taking the traditional ad buying route. The traditional process of ad buying is complex and tedious involving long-drawn negotiations. On the other hand, programmatic advertising eliminates the requirement of having these lengthy negotiations by employing automation.</p><p><br></p><h2>Benefits of Programmatic Advertising</h2><p><br></p><p>The main reason programmatic advertising is gaining more importance among not only marketers and advertisers but also publishers today is due to the number of benefits it offers over traditional ways of buying and selling digital ad inventory. For starters, programmatic makes the ad space buying and selling process far more efficient. Marketers can even choose to place their bid in real-time within the budget they decide. They can also gain key insights about their ad performance in real-time and optimize them for better performance. For publishers, programmatic advertising helps to extract the maximum revenues from their ad space.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><h2>Publisher and Agency Trading Desks</h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">While advertisers and ad agencies are preferring programmatic ad buying bidding for ad spaces in real-time and reaching a wide audience base successfully requires understanding the publisher&rsquo;s traffic data and their relationships. In these scenarios, a specialized agency trading desk helps them get the maximum bang for their buck. Agency trading desks help them not only connect with the right publishers and audience but also help them improve their ad performance and gain maximum value for their budget and advertising efforts.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Similarly, publishers too need the necessary capabilities to analyze their audience data in order to understand their audience better as well as the true value of their audience information, so that they can maximize their revenues through their ad inventory. A publisher trading desk empowers them in making real-time decisions by analyzing the data and helping them realize the true potential of their audience data so that they can charge advertisers the right price for gaining access to the precious audience across web properties they own and operate, thereby maximizing their revenues on each impression they sell.</p><p><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Choosing the Right Media Buying Platform for your Organization</h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">With programmatic advertising gaining popularity among enterprises, more and more platforms are coming into the market. While some of these platforms help advertisers, some of them help publishers and some - both. Some of the popular platforms available in the market today include AppNexus, Google&rsquo;s DoubleClick and Adobe Media Optimizer. Each of these platforms have their own features and serve different organization requirements.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">For example, AppNexus offers good targeting capabilities and offers features such as header bidding also known as advance bidding or pre-bidding. However, it has a smaller reach than DoubleClick. <a href=\"/blog/how-adobe-media-optimizer-helps-realize-ad-buying-roi\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_blank\">Adobe Media Optimizer offers benefits</a> such as allowing you to manage your ad spending and allowing you to make manual tweaks to your campaign.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Since each platform offers various features and has its own advantages and limitations, it is extremely important for you to <a href=\"/blog/how-to-choose-the-best-programmatic-buying-platform\" rel=\"follow\" target=\"_blank\">choose the right platform</a> that suits your organization and its requirements.</p><p><br></p>','2017-10-28',NULL,'Active','elucidating-internet-first-approach-to-programmatic-advertising','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2018-01-16 06:48:58',2,'',1,'Awareness','Elucidating the Internet First Approach to Programmatic Advertising','Elucidating the Internet First Approach to Programmatic Advertising | 7EDGE','Programmatic offers several advantages over traditional digital advertising and is hence gaining popularity. Here is a complete guide to programmatic advertising.','Elucidating the Internet First Approach to Programmatic Advertising | 7EDGE','Programmatic offers several advantages over traditional digital advertising and is hence gaining popularity. Here is a complete guide to programmatic advertising.','OG-Advertising-Cloud.jpg','image/jpeg',181178,'2017-10-28 14:20:52','4 Min Read',40,3),(42,'Cloud Computing: Embracing the Internet First Approach','Identifying the operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility of cloud computing; today\'s enterprises are effectively migrating their on-premise IT to the cloud.','Cloud-computing.jpg','image/jpeg',131802,'2017-11-13 09:03:00','<p>Cloud computing has certainly paved a path towards higher productivity for numerous businesses across the globe; simplifying every aspect of computing. Today, the so-called &lsquo;cloud&rsquo; &ndash; powered by the internet &ndash; is well-accepted as a reliable platform for storage, and executing applications seamlessly. Identifying its operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility, more and more organizations are trying to migrate their on-premise IT environments to the cloud. In fact, we are witnessing a full-scale transition towards the &lsquo;cloud era&rsquo; - where the use of hardware devices and cables will be drastically minimized.</p><p><br></p><h2><strong>The Cloud-first Policy</strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;\">Gartner predicts that, by 2020, an enterprise &quot;no-cloud&quot; policy will be non-existent. Today, &lsquo;cloud-first&rsquo; and the &lsquo;cloud-only&rsquo; approach is gradually taking the IT landscape by storm.</span></p><p><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;\">To identify and solve those challenges, initially, you need to understand the value proposition of the <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/iaas-paas-saas-which-cloud-model-meets-your-needs/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">three tiers of cloud services</a>, which are:</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service)</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service)</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong>Why Migrate from On-Premise IT Infrastructure to the Cloud?</strong></h2><p><br></p><p>As you can see, the possibilities in the cloud are limitless and innovative. Still clueless about <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/6-business-benefits-of-moving-to-the-cloud\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">why your business should migrate to the cloud?</a> Perhaps the below-mentioned benefits of cloud adoption can shed some light:</p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Operational Agility</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Enhanced Security</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;User-friendly Interface</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Mobility</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Promotes a Collaborative Environment</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Zero Server Maintenance Costs</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong>What Makes the Cloud More Secure than On-Premise IT Infrastructure?</strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">It&#39;s an undeniable fact that where there are massive amounts of data, the risk of security breaches arise. Irrespective of the platforms, on-premise or cloud, data security holds paramount importance at all times.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">You already know the benefits of cloud migration, now its time to focus on the <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/why-is-cloud-computing-security-more-reliable\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">security aspects of cloud</a>. Below mentioned are the key security features that make the cloud stand apart from the traditionally deployed on-premise IT infrastructures:&nbsp;</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Top-Notch Surveillance</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Cloud Expertise</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Regular Audits and Updates</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>How Can Cloud Migration Help Optimize Your IT costs?</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">It is evident that the benefits of cloud migration are numerous. Moreover, they all point towards a crucial point &ndash; it drives cost savings. Large and medium-sized organizations across the globe have already realized this. So, <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/advantages-of-cloud-computing-how-it-helps-reduce-costs\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">how can cloud optimize your IT costs?</a></span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Mentioned below are some crucial areas where the cloud saves big bucks for businesses.</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;No Capital Costs</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;No Maintenance Costs</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Lower Energy Costs&nbsp;</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;No Disaster Recovery Costs</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>Benefits of Migrating Applications to the Cloud</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Business applications are on the rise - a fact that most enterprises are gradually getting acquainted with. Indeed, cloud is the most flexible option available for staging those applications in today&rsquo;s technology landscape. Simply put, the <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/4-Benefits-of-cloud-computing-realized-post-migration\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">benefits of migrating applications to the cloud</a> are:</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Simplified Management</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Faster Than Ever</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;No Breaches</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Extensive Support</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>Key Points To Know Before Migrating Applications to the Cloud</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Migrating applications can be a tricky process sometimes. But, if you adopt the right approach, you can definitely see the brighter side of cloud technology.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The following <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/6-key-points-to-know-before-migrating-applications-to-cloud\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">checklist explains everything</a>:</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Understand the 5 R&rsquo;s of Cloud Migration</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Know Your Applications</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Be Good at Predicting Your Application&rsquo;s Performance</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Consider Cost Optimization Early</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Implement a Disaster Recovery Plan</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Look Out for Migration Tools</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>Cloud Migration Best Practices</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">A lot has been said about the potential benefits of cloud migration. Now, let&rsquo;s focus on the best practices that enterprises need to consider before they initialize the cloud migration process.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Step 1 -&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Invest in a Cloud Architect or a Team of Cloud Administrators</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Step 2 -&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Organize Training and Certification Programs</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\"><strong>How to Cut Down Cloud Migration Costs?</strong></span></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Cloud migration, apart from being a sophisticated and time-consuming process, it also requires businesses to shell out a considerable amount of money. Indeed, budget planning is a crucial task that has to be carried out before initializing the migration.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">In a gist, your cloud migration efforts should effectively cover the three areas&mdash;the company&rsquo;s ROI goals; the company&rsquo;s assets that are planned to be migrated to the cloud; and the cloud provider&rsquo;s efficiency.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Moreover, the below-mentioned key points can shed some light on how effectively you can make a headway in <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/3-crucial-ways-to-reduce-your-cloud-migration-costs\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cloud migration cost optimization</a>.</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Know Your Applications And Map Them</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Inject the Right Technology</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Know Your Cloud Storage Needs</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>Industries that Realize the Potential Benefits of Cloud Migration</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">You may think that the benefits of cloud migration are only relevant for certain businesses and industries. But in reality, businesses in almost every industry have benefited from switching to the cloud. You can see what we mean in some of the examples below, proving that <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/6-industries-that-realize-benefits-of-cloud-migration\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">large and SMBs from diverse industrial sectors benefit from the cloud</a>.</span></p><p><strong><br></strong></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">T</span><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">ravel</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Food Production</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Entertainment</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Healthcare</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Media</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Telecom</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong><strong>AWS vs Google Cloud vs Microsoft Azure</strong></strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">With so many cloud platforms out there, it is important for enterprises to make the right choice and choose the best one. At the moment, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is out in front as the best cloud vendor available in the marketplace.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">But, <a href=\"https://7edge.com/blog/comparison-between-industry-leading-cloud-platforms\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">what makes AWS stand apart from other major cloud platforms</a>&mdash;such as the Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure?</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Precisely speaking, following are the key benefits of AWS that give businesses a competitive edge in the marketplace:&nbsp;</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;</span></strong><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Exceptional computing capability</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Massive storage</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Best-in-class analytics</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Data Centers spread across the globe</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong>How Can AWS Support You In Your Cloud Journey</strong></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The cloud era, as we know, is dominated by the AWS&mdash;embedded with the best-of-breed cloud features. However, most enterprises are unclear about the level of flexibility and efficiency rendered by the industry-leading platform. It is this lack of clarity that comes in between AWS implementation and the success of enterprises. Perhaps the below-mentioned points can help understand AWS better.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Engineered with an ability to foresee the future, AWS can...</span></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Lead your business to the knowledge of cloud</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Choose how you use the cloud</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Address security</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Provide training</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Drive fast outcomes</span></li></ul><p><br></p><h2><strong>Parting Words</strong></h2><p><br></p><p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">It is undeniably true that in years to come, the scope of cloud computing will continue to evolve as the need for innovation, flexibility, and ease of use increase. Unfortunately however, for many enterprises and budding startups, cloud migration and security will still be a challenge for quite some time. To reap the maximum benefits of cloud and stay ahead of the curve in business, overcoming these challenges with a strategic approach will be the only viable option.</span></p><p><br></p>','2017-10-10',NULL,'Active','cloud-computing-embracing-internet-first-approach','2017-11-07 10:50:07','2017-12-11 12:31:34',1,'',1,'Awareness','Cloud Computing: Embracing the Internet First Approach','Cloud Computing: Embracing the Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Identifying the operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility of cloud computing; today\'s enterprises are effectively migrating their on-premise IT to the cloud.','Cloud Computing: Embracing the Internet First Approach | 7EDGE','Identifying the operational efficiency, scalability, and flexibility of cloud computing; today\'s enterprises are effectively migrating their on-premise IT to the cloud.','OG-Cloud-Computing.jpg','image/jpeg',133036,'2017-10-28 14:18:40','4 Min Read',11,4),(43,'Inbound Marketing Methodology: The Key Components','Inbound marketing employs a specific methodology to convert strangers into customers and brand promoters. Here are the key components of the inbound marketing methodology.','inbound-methodology.jpg','image/jpeg',145444,'2017-11-28 06:35:33','<p dir=\"ltr\">The marketing world is rapidly changing with increasing digitalization and traditional marketing is being rapidly being pushed down by the more popular inbound marketing. So, what is inbound marketing? Inbound marketing is pull marketing whereas traditional outbound marketing is push marketing. The key benefit of inbound marketing is that, unlike traditional marketing which involves chasing customers and using interruptive methods, it uses certain methodologies along with the right content that addresses the problems and needs of potential customers. This builds trust and credibility for your brand among your target customers thereby generating more conversions.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Inbound marketing employs a 4-step methodology to convert strangers into customers and your brand promoters. Let us understand these stages in depth.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Attract</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">The first stage of acquiring customers to any organization is to attract them. Hence, attracting people becomes the first stage in inbound marketing. Attracting people to your web properties does not mean attracting random strangers. It means attracting the right visitors who can become potential leads and ultimately customers.&nbsp;</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">The attraction stage involves creating buyer personas of your ideal customers to understand their goals, challenges and pain points so that you can build your offerings to address them. You can also make use of appropriate content, tools, and techniques to help you attract these buyer personas to your website. Some of the common forms of content you can use in this stage are blogs and simple guides and some of the common ways to attract people is to optimize your website and make use of social media platforms to promote your content organically.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Convert</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Once the right audience has come to your website, it is important that you convert them into leads by collecting their information. However, in order to obtain their details, you need to offer something valuable in return, which is usually in the form of content. In this stage, you can come up with content offerings such as eBooks and whitepapers. You also need to ensure that your call-to-actions (CTAs), landing pages and forms are made attractive and appropriate in a way that your website visitors are willing to give you their information.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Close</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Once you have the right visitors coming to your website and getting the right leads, the next logical step is to convert these leads to customers at the right time. To do this, you need to use the right approach. Remember that all leads are not in a position to be closed. That is why you need to nurture them. Emails and social media play an important role in helping your prospects close better. You can offer content such as vendor or product comparison, case studies, and product literature or offer trial downloads and live demos.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Besides this, you also need to make use of tools, techniques, and processes such as lead scoring, workflows marketing automation, monitoring, and closed-loop reporting to accomplish closures more effectively. One of the best approaches to close leads faster and better is to align your marketing and sales teams so that they are on the same page and achieve better results.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><h2 dir=\"ltr\">Delight</h2><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Inbound marketing methodology does not stop at helping you obtain customers. It goes one step ahead to help you get satisfied customers who can become your brand promoters and help your business grow. You can accomplish this through tools such as surveys, emails, smart content and social monitoring.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">The remarkable thing about following this methodology is that you are able to obtain results almost entirely organically and without having to invade any of your prospects&rsquo; privacy as results are achieved through content, channels, and tactics that attract your potential customers rather than pushing them away.</p><p><br></p>',NULL,NULL,'Active','inbound-marketing-methodology-the-key-components','2017-11-28 06:35:33','2017-12-11 12:29:08',3,'',5,'Awareness','Inbound Marketing Methodology: The Key Components','Inbound Marketing Methodology: The Key Components | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing employs a specific methodology to convert strangers into customers and brand promoters. Here are the key components of the inbound marketing methodology.','Inbound Marketing Methodology: The Key Components | 7EDGE','Inbound marketing employs a specific methodology to convert strangers into customers and brand promoters. Here are the key components of the inbound marketing methodology.',NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL,'4 Min Read',1,2),(44,'Advantages of cloud computing: How it helps reduce IT costs','The advantages of cloud computing are endless. Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.','S17615-S17-Advantages-of-Cloud-Computing.jpg','image/jpeg',118546,'2017-11-28 12:28:51','<p dir=\"ltr\">Most often, the big question that pops up in your mind is - Why migrate to the cloud? The reasons are plenty, but you already know the basic one&mdash;to inject innovation, agility, and clarity in business operations. As a matter of fact, cloud adds flexibility and redefines your IT infrastructure in its entirety; letting you focus on what actually matters - your core business. Apart from this, the efficiency of cloud can be leveraged to host almost all types of business applications with minimal efforts.&nbsp;</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">As you can see, the benefits of <a href=\"https://blog.equinix.com/blog/2016/11/28/optimizing-your-cloud-migration-for-the-best-possible-outcome-and-roi/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cloud migration</a> are enormous; and they all converge towards a single point &ndash; it saves your money. Large organizations across the globe have already adopted cloud as the heart of their IT operations. And if you are running an SMB (Small and Midsized Business), we bet you are on the right track.</p><p><br></p><p>Let&rsquo;s focus on how can cloud help you <a href=\"http://www.centurylink.com/business/enterprise/blog/thinkgig/optimize-workloads-costs-across-cloud/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">optimize your IT costs</a>&hellip;</p><h3><strong>No Capital Costs</strong></h3><p>Yes, you heard that right. It is an obvious fact that when you adopt cloud, you need not manage servers anymore. Your data resides on the cloud provider&rsquo;s servers. Thus, saving you the capital investment costs involved in installing servers. This is one major turnaround of migrating to the cloud arena.</p><h3><strong>No Maintenance Costs</strong></h3><p>If you don&rsquo;t need to install servers on-premises, you are also free from the maintenance costs involved. Apart from staging an entire IT infrastructure on the cloud, cloud providers are also responsible for the maintenance costs. In simple terms, you don&rsquo;t even have to think about the complexity involved in managing a plethora of hardware and server issues; helping you maintain business continuity.\\</p><h3><strong>It&rsquo;s Environment-Friendly&mdash;Low Energy Costs</strong></h3><p>It&#39;s a no-brainer that servers consume heavy loads of power even if they are kept idle. But, now that your servers reside on your cloud provider&rsquo;s premises, there will be a considerable amount of energy savings, and of course, the costs associated with it. Whether it is the services, or data storage, or the electricity, you only pay for what you consume; minimizing the TCO effectively.</p><h3><strong>No Disaster Recovery Costs</strong></h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Disaster Recovery planning and implementation require a great deal of time and money. Moreover, it requires you to store massive amounts of backups that could probably take a long time to access in the event of an emergency. But, moving to the cloud not only helps you with the DR planning and implementation but also accelerates the process and saves costs without interrupting your core business.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Apart from providing a competitive edge in terms of cost optimization, the &lsquo;cloud&rsquo; has indeed become a disruptive technology that adds agility to businesses. Harnessing its capabilities, you can tailor the usage of services based on your specific business needs.</p><p><br></p>',NULL,NULL,'Active','advantages-of-cloud-computing-how-it-helps-reduce-costs','2017-11-28 12:28:51','2017-12-06 14:00:28',1,'',6,'Awareness','Advantages of cloud computing: How it helps reduce IT costs','Advantages of cloud computing: How it helps reduce IT costs | 7EDGE','The advantages of cloud computing are endless. Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.','Advantages of cloud computing: How it helps reduce IT costs | 7EDGE','The advantages of cloud computing are endless. Adopting the cloud can help numerous organizations optimize their IT costs in an innovative manner.','S17615-S17-Advantages-of-Cloud-Computing.jpg','image/jpeg',118546,'2017-11-28 12:28:51','4 Min Read',4,4),(45,'IaaS, PaaS, SaaS: Which Cloud Model Meets Your Needs?','Understanding the three forms of cloud services – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS – can help enterprises lay the foundation for a successful cloud journey.','S17615-S17-IaaS-PaaS-SaaS.jpg','image/jpeg',163162,'2017-11-28 12:57:01','<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Cloud computing has been around for a while. And, it&rsquo;s a no-brainer fact that it is one of the most innovative and flexible forms of technology out there. But, even today, few businesses prefer to fill their office spaces with in-house data centers. That&rsquo;s truly unnecessary; wasting enterprise resources when they can opt for the cloud. By injecting the simple &lsquo;plug and play&rsquo; concept into data centers, cloud adds agility and transforms most of your &lsquo;chaotic&rsquo; business scenarios into hassle-free ones.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">However, intriguing as it may seem, when you finally start considering&nbsp;cloud computing, the availability of so many options oftentimes lead you into a state of turmoil. This is why sticking to the basics is always the initial step to do anything that brings success. And this rule applies while learning about the cloud as well.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\"><br></span></p><p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Currently, the three ever-evolving forms of cloud offerings include - <a href=\"http://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/iaas-vs-paas/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service)</a> and Saas (Software-as-a-Service). Let&rsquo;s take a quick glance at the differences between the three&hellip;</span></p><p><br></p><h2><span style=\"font-size: 30px;\">IaaS vs Paas vs SaaS</span></h2><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">With an exceptional level of control and flexibility, the IaaS stages an automated and scalable environment. On the other hand, PaaS facilitates a framework for effectively developing and deploying applications&mdash;by automating infrastructure provisioning and management. Lastly, SaaS eliminates the need to install and run programs on individual devices&mdash;makes applications available via the internet.</p><p dir=\"ltr\">So the big question is - Which one of these is the best cloud service that aligns with your business needs?</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Let&rsquo;s find out.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Why Choose IaaS?</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">If your organization is a startup, you probably wouldn&rsquo;t like to spend your valuable time in procuring software and hardware. IaaS eliminates this entirely; which makes it ideal for your organization. It can also give enhanced visibility and control over your high performing applications. As an added advantage, this option helps when you are unsure about how your applications will perform and evolve in future&mdash;saving a considerable amount of software and hardware resource costs.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Why SaaS?</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">SaaS is an ideal solution if your applications demands fluctuate between high and low. Moreover, this option is suitable for effectively launching applications on both&mdash;web, as well as mobile platforms. Talking about ease of use, SaaS facilitates a highly convenient pay-as-you-go model that can be helpful for short projects that require collaboration.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Why PaaS?</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">You must know the fact that PaaS is not much different from SaaS. The only difference is - PaaS doesn&rsquo;t deliver the software, it stages a platform for software development. Moreover, in a unique manner, PaaS offers unprecedented levels of agility and flexibility for multiple developers working on a development project. Ideally, this option should be preferred if - 1) you have a large organization, and/or 2) you need the freedom of customizing applications.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Now that you have a clear idea about the service that matches your business environment, you might be thinking about the best cloud vendors available in the marketplace. And, you might probably know this fact - the industry-leading cloud providers are none other than AWS (Amazon Web Services), Microsoft Azure and the Google Cloud.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Among these, AWS is the most preferred platform as it offers a comprehensive set of solutions and services; which includes all three - IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS. Undoubtedly, the best way to determine a vendor&rsquo;s efficiency is by evaluating its revenue growth. According to <a href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/04/29/roundup-of-cloud-computing-forecasts-2017/#4a64f54931e8\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon&rsquo;s latest quarterly results</a>, AWS achieved a staggering 43 percent year-over-year growth; contributing 89 percent of consolidated operating income and 10 percent of consolidated revenue.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">However, no matter how successful an industry-leading cloud provider may seem, your decision should always narrow down to one point - Which vendor&rsquo;s offerings best syncs with my business priorities?</p><p><br></p>',NULL,NULL,'Active','iaas-paas-saas-which-cloud-model-meets-your-needs','2017-11-28 12:57:01','2017-12-11 12:28:08',1,'',6,'Awareness','IaaS, PaaS, SaaS: Which Cloud Model Meets Your Needs?','IaaS, PaaS, SaaS: Which Cloud Model Meets Your Needs? | 7EDGE','Understanding the three forms of cloud services – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS – can help enterprises lay the foundation for a successful cloud journey.','IaaS, PaaS, SaaS: Which Cloud Model Meets Your Needs? | 7EDGE','Understanding the three forms of cloud services – IaaS, PaaS and SaaS – can help enterprises lay the foundation for a successful cloud journey.','S17615-S17-IaaS-PaaS-SaaS.jpg','image/jpeg',163162,'2017-11-28 12:57:01','4 Min Read',3,4),(46,'How Can AWS Managed Services Boost Operational Agility?','While migrating to the cloud, security is always a priority. Our AWS managed services can help enterprises to secure their cloud infrastructure.','S17615-S17-AWS-Managed-Services.jpg','image/jpeg',141415,'2017-11-28 13:10:42','<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Amazon Web Services (AWS) is undoubtedly turning out to be a game changer for most businesses out there&mdash;irrespective of their sizes. But, although there is a wide-scale availability of AWS features that are innovative and customizable in all aspects, chances are you might get puzzled in certain areas during your AWS journey. This is because processes such as initial cloud migration, security, architecture, and operations are complex. Moreover, these processes can distract you from your core business. You definitely don&rsquo;t want that to happen. This is exactly where 7EDGE comes in; we add agility and simplicity to your <a href=\"https://www.slideshare.net/AmazonWebServices/aws-deployment-best-practices-47899341\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">AWS journey</a>.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Now before we move further, let&rsquo;s have a quick glance at the benefits of AWS:</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">AWS is&hellip;</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;User-Friendly - Allows application providers and software vendors to host applications in a flash.</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Scalable - Leveraging innovative AWS tools, Elastic Load Balancing, and the Auto-Scaling feature, you can effectively scale your cloud performance.</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Flexible - Flexibility empowers ease of use. Thanks to AWS, which grants you the freedom to choose your operating system, web application platform, programming language, &nbsp;database, and other services as per your fluctuating business needs. Moreover, it stages a virtual environment that effectively allows you to load software and services for your applications. Consequently, the entire scenario simplifies the migration of existing applications and helps build new ones.</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Secure - AWS focused on exceptional levels of security. It deploys an end-to-end methodology to secure and strengthen your cloud-based IT infrastructure.</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Cost-effective - This perhaps is a crucial benefit that the AWS platform has to offer. You only pay for the compute, storage, and other resources that you use&mdash; excluding long-term contracts and other extra expenses.</span></li></ul><h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">How Can We Manage Your AWS?</span></h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Our technical team is endowed with AWS certified engineers and architects who are constantly focused towards supporting your AWS environment&mdash;24/7/365, while you focus on your core business.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Still wondering how?</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">We serve our expertise for enterprises in the following areas:</span></p><h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">AWS Migration</span></h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">This is perhaps the first and the most important area you need to focus to make headway in <a href=\"https://aws.amazon.com/cloud-data-migration/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">AWS</a>. The problem is, if you try to do this process yourself, most probably you might move away from your core business-critical operations. With the help of our AWS professionals, we empower a smooth transition to AWS cloud in a comprehensive manner.</span></p><h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">Building Architecture Design</span></h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">A well-designed architecture acts as a rigid foundation for your applications on AWS. We design and builds an architecture that effectively aligns with your evolving application needs. The architecture is based on detailed and accurate diagrams, cost models and best-practice AWS templates.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Apart from this, our AWS certified experts regularly provide recommendations for improving your architecture.</span></p><h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">AWS Security</span></h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">As you already know, without managed security, all your efforts to maximize the benefits of using AWS will go in vain. Not anymore. Our&rsquo;s extended AWS support includes security management which constantly monitors your systems; making sure everything is secure and stable. Precisely speaking, the functions include automated compliance checks, centralized management of accounts, permissions, and more.</span></p><h3 dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px;\">Automated Cost Optimization and Integration</span></h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Cost optimization and integration do make a difference. We manage these two functions effectively and ensures that you reap maximum benefits from your AWS environment. Moreover, the company conducts regular performance reviews and recommends the latest upgrades for your AWS platform. These recommendations are purely based on the analyzed performance data and industry best practices.</span></p><p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">So now you know the significance of AWS adoption, and how can we help you inch closer to higher productivity and perfection!</span></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>',NULL,NULL,'Active','how-aws-managed-services-boost-operational-agility','2017-11-28 13:10:42','2017-12-12 13:29:38',1,'',1,'Decision','How Can AWS Managed Services Boost Operational Agility?','How Can AWS Managed Services Boost Operational Agility? | 7EDGE','While migrating to the cloud, security is always a priority. Our AWS managed services can help enterprises to secure their cloud infrastructure.','How Can AWS Managed Services Boost Operational Agility? | 7EDGE','While migrating to the cloud, security is always a priority. Our AWS managed services can help enterprises to secure their cloud infrastructure.','09-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',201511,'2017-12-12 13:29:38','4 Min Read',2,4),(47,'5 Effective Ways to optimize your cloud costs using AWS','Before migrating to AWS, it is crucial for enterprises to consider the best practices that can help them cost optimization.','S17615-S17-Optimize-Your-Cloud-Costs.jpg','image/jpeg',139660,'2017-11-28 13:20:20','<p dir=\"ltr\">Ever since its genesis, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has indeed managed to transform numerous businesses from vivid industrial realms. Considering today&rsquo;s scenario, the rate of AWS deployments is constantly on the rise. This is solely because organizations are realizing the essence of flexibility and innovation, and are trying to instill AWS as the fulcrum of their IT infrastructure.</p><p><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Gartner predicts that the overall <a href=\"https://www.snowsoftware.com/int/blog/2017/01/10/true-cost-aws\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">IT spending</a> is expected to rise from $3.5 trillion in 2015, to $3.9 trillion by 2020. This indicates a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.0 percent. Moreover, the highlighting fact is - during the same period, the aggregate market for <a href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2017/04/29/roundup-of-cloud-computing-forecasts-2017/#665ff98e31e8\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">public cloud services</a> is expected to grow at an enormously higher CAGR of 17.5 percent.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Cost optimization on the cloud can be painstaking. AWS solves this effectively. In an innovative manner, AWS&#39;s wide array of services and pricing models offer the level of flexibility you need to manage your costs; while keeping your business performance intact. Apart from this, AWS offers other forms of innovative services such as the Amazon Redshift and Amazon RDS for Aurora. These services were developed keeping affordability and efficiency in mind&mdash;helping you run enterprise-grade solutions at rates far cheaper than the on-premise alternatives.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Deploying AWS gives you the ability to right-size your services effortlessly, utilize the reserved instances, and use best-of-breed cost management tools to monitor your cloud expenses. In short, you will be constantly updated with your cloud costs; opening the window for cost optimization as you proceed in your cloud journey.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">So what measures have to be taken to effectively&nbsp;control your costs with AWS?</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">Read the following steps to gain further insights.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Tailoring Your Services</h3><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">AWS allows you to tailor your services according to your specific capacity requirements. This avoids the risk of under-provisioning or over-provisioning the capacity. With AWS, you can adapt your services to address actual business needs at any time, with no penalties or incidental fees. Focusing on flexibility, AWS enables you to choose and change the services whenever you need&mdash;as per your fluctuating business needs. This also involves the freedom to run multiple services simultaneously.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Boosting Savings with Reserved Capacity</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Services such as Amazon EC2 and Amazon RDS allows you to choose reserved capacity. This can help you save a considerable amount of costs when compared to on-demand capacity.&nbsp;</p><p dir=\"ltr\">With AWS, you can avail reserved instances in 3 ways:</p><ul><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;All up-front (AURI)</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;Partial up-front (PURI)</span></li><li dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">&nbsp;No upfront payments (NURI).</span></li></ul><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Utilizing the Spot Fleet</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Amazon&rsquo;s EC2 Spot instances allow you to bid on the spare Amazon EC2 computing capacity. As a matter of fact, spot instances are offered at a discounted price, helping you save the costs of running your applications on AWS. On the other hand, with the &lsquo;spot fleet&rsquo; feature, you can request a set of spot instances from multiple availability zones and instance types by triggering a single API call.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Dig Deeper into Your Expenses with Cost Explorer</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">AWS&rsquo;s Cost Explorer is staged as an innovative platform that helps you analyze your costs and usage instantly. Technically speaking, it portrays a set of default performance reports that help you identify the usage trends and major cost drivers on AWS.</p><h3 dir=\"ltr\">Finally, Leveraging the TCO Calculator</h3><p dir=\"ltr\">Now that you have made all efforts to achieve unprecedented levels of cost optimization with your AWS, it is time to calculate your savings. AWS also provides a TCO calculator. The calculator allows you to evaluate the savings gained by using AWS&mdash;making an end-to-end comparison with on-premise environments.</p><p dir=\"ltr\"><br></p><p dir=\"ltr\">The gist of a successful cloud cost optimization lies in the ability to understand the key features of AWS, and how they work in a collaborative manner. In case you are still clueless about optimizing costs on AWS, 7EDGE is at the forefront of guiding your organization towards higher productivity. With a proven expertise and experience in AWS implementation, our AWS professionals are constantly focused on formulating a stringent cost optimization strategy.</p>',NULL,NULL,'Active','5-effective-ways-to-optimize-your-cloud-costs-using-aws','2017-11-28 13:20:20','2018-01-16 06:42:11',1,'',6,'Decision','5 Effective Ways to optimize your cloud costs using AWS','5 Effective Ways to optimize your cloud costs using AWS | 7EDGE','Before migrating to AWS, it is crucial for enterprises to consider the best practices that can help them cost optimization.','5 Effective Ways to optimize your cloud costs using AWS | 7EDGE','Before migrating to AWS, it is crucial for enterprises to consider the best practices that can help them cost optimization.','10-Cloud-Computing-Creative.jpg','image/jpeg',179106,'2017-12-12 13:33:55','4 Min Read',1,4);

--
