Wednesday 16 November 2016

5 Tips to make your content marketing more successful

Content Marketing is a boon if tackled correctly and strategically. It calls for high quality and frequent updation for it to be successful. Very often when we think of content marketing we restrict to Blogs but that is not the case. Adding written content to the website and social media platforms artfully so that the most relevant and popular keywords are connected is the most basic and important requirement. This helps in increasing the visibility in search results and bringing the website on top searches which in turn increases the traffic to the website with relevant browsers.

Today we bring you 5 tips to make your content marketing strategy even more successful:
 
1. Understanding the audience:

This is the first and foremost important aspect for a successful content marketing strategy to be successful. Understanding your audience gives you a perspective on their needs and demands and a guide to design the content marketing strategy around. What to write, how to write are addressed properly when the correct set of audience is identified and understood.

2. Timeless Content:

Creating content that doesn’t go out of context is one of the best moves for any content marketing strategy as then the content is here to stay and keeps bringing more and more browsers even long after the content was posted. 

3. Quality Content:

Often we focus on quantity over quality to keep the website updated but that proves to be a misconception in the long run. Quality content ensures relevant browsers and organic traffic and is also very crucial in converting them into sales. With quality and relevant content you get repeat browsers which marks the true success of a content marketing strategy.

4. Build Email Subscribers:

With email subscribers, you create a pool of browsers with similar choices and interests and who might look forward to your content as it is relevant to them. Email subscribers receive the updates in a mail and brings them to the website for more. 

5. Be patient and re-strategize:

Content marketing takes time and patience to show results and calls for patience and dedication. But keeping in mind the dynamics of your industry it is also important to revisit and re-strategize in order to understand the mistakes and stay in top of things when it comes to content marketing.
- See more at: http://sanicondigital.in/blog/5-tips-to-make-your-content-marketing-more-successful#sthash.cSSrVJfw.dpuf

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Digital Marketing Strategies: What is the difference between Paid Vs Free Traffic?


Before we get onto what is Paid traffic and free traffic, we need to understand the word traffic in the digital world and how it is important for a website. Digital traffic can be defined as the number of users visiting as well as taking an action like purchasing, saving or subscribing on the website. It can be said the every digital marketing strategy is aimed at getting traffic to the website. 

Free Traffic:
Free traffic or commonly known as organic traffic is the mostly generated through the website content itself, your social media and SEO. In order for your website to generate a good level of organic traffic or free traffic, the content needs to be top quality, original and fresh! This helps in gaining visibility through SEO and good placing in the search results which helps in redirecting the traffic towards your website. For social media to generate free traffic for the website, you need to have good networking and an understanding of your target audience.

Paid Traffic:
Paid traffic is when the advertiser i.e. you pay the publisher for the traffic they redirect to your website. The most popular method to gain paid traffic is the Pay Per Click method. This includes banner ads like we see on Facebook, twitter and other social websites or blogs. Another method for obtaining paid traffic is with keyword bidding (Google Adwords and Microsoft Bing Ads) for better search engine results.

Pros and Cons for Paid Traffic and Free Traffic:
Although paid traffic is the fastest route to generate website traffic and is successful in reaching a wide number of users, it is not a medium that generates customer loyalty. This is the reason it is often known as rented traffic as it does not ensure a repeat view from the user, whereas on the other hand, Free traffic has more branding and brand image associated with it since it involves high research and quality content curation relevant to the user. It requires a great deal of time and energy and an expert strategy to achieve.
It may appear that free traffic is the best option to choose since it is free and generated through content purely but it is also important to note that free traffic does not necessarily ensure conversion into sales. With paid traffic the results are quicker and the leads generated are useful, given that the strategy is on point.

Hence, we can conclude that both Free Traffic and Paid Traffic have their pros and cons, they hold a very different set of approach and it all depends on your set of requirements, which traffic to choose.

Monday 17 October 2016

5 Ways content marketing helps your business.







In this digital age, content marketing has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and with huge competition in the market, all businesses are in the race of grabbing the customers attention. In order to get ahead, business owners and marketers need to get crafty with their marketing strategies in order to get noticed by their target audience. Content marketing is one of those creative marketing strategies. Content marketing is when small businesses communicate with their target audience by providing information instead of a sales pitch. This content needs to be relevant and enticing to the customer.

Content marketing proves crucial for small businesses in the following ways:

1. Builds brand awareness 

Regular and authentic content builds create a name and brand for small business. The content increases and improves visibility of the business by updating fresh content regularly. This helps the customer in remembering your brand and doing business with you when their need arises the next time. 


2. Convinces and encourages the customer to take action

Just like any sales, the customers may need added encouragement to make a purchase or take any other action such as subscribe or register. This task can be very creatively handled with correct content marketing as it can encourage the customer to take an action by slyly convincing them.  

3. Creates your identity as an expert in the industry

When your content is correct and is updated frequently, the customers often start looking up to your website for information with a certain trust and considering your brand or website an expert in the matter.


4. Keeps the website fresh and updated

With regularly updated content, the website remains fresh and can become more and more visible in search results. A stale and less frequently updated website tends to attract less customers or browsers the next time. This hampers the reach of the website. 

5. Helps build a community 

Regular viewers, subscribers and bloggers come together as a community and exchange ideas and information through the blog/website. This also brings new people to the website. Covering new and unique topics relevant to the events also brings in more viewers and helps create shareable content which can help increase the visibility on social platforms.content marketing helps your business.

In this digital age, content marketing has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and with huge competition in the market, all businesses are in the race of grabbing the customers attention. In order to get ahead, business owners and marketers need to get crafty with their marketing strategies in order to get noticed by their target audience. Content marketing is one of those creative marketing strategies. Content marketing is when small businesses communicate with their target audience by providing information instead of a sales pitch. This content needs to be relevant and enticing to the customer.

Content marketing proves crucial for small businesses in the following ways:

1. Builds brand awareness
Regular and authentic content builds create a name and brand for small business. The content increases and improves visibility of the business by updating fresh content regularly. This helps the customer in remembering your brand and doing business with you when their need arises the next time. 

2. Convinces and encourages the customer to take action

Just like any sales, the customers may need added encouragement to make a purchase or take any other action such as subscribe or register. This task can be very creatively handled with correct content marketing as it can encourage the customer to take an action by slyly convincing them. 

3. Creates your identity as an expert in the industry

When your content is correct and is updated frequently, the customers often start looking up to your website for information with a certain trust and considering your brand or website an expert in the matter.

4. Keeps the website fresh and updated

With regularly updated content, the website remains fresh and can become more and more visible in search results. A stale and less frequently updated website tends to attract less customers or browsers the next time. This hampers the reach of the website. 

5. Helps build a community 

Regular viewers, subscribers and bloggers come together as a community and exchange ideas and information through the blog/website. This also brings new people to the website. Covering new and unique topics relevant to the events also brings in more viewers and helps create shareable content which can help increase the visibility on social platforms.

Monday 10 October 2016

5 Digital marketing aspects to grow your business


Every digital marketing is strategist keeping in mind the business’s needs and goals. Since every business has their own USP, they need to have their own digital marketing strategy that works best for their brand image and their product. Earlier when sellers were the trendsetters, it didn’t matter much what the customer feedback was, but today due to such huge advancements in technology, it is the customer calling the shots, making it very important to know the customer’s feedback and quantify their digital activities. This resulted in tools that help marketers to devise and observe the digital marketing activities and their effects. Some of these tools are:

1. Pay Per Click (PPC)

Pay per click, commonly referred as PPC, requires the users to click on links in order to generate revenue whereas for retail stores, the aim is to lead the customer to their shopping page and get direct sales. Hence, PPC requires careful and skillful planning and strategizing in order to obtain maximum results. 

2. Social Media optimization (SMO)

Social media has brought and new wave of digital marketing platforms for all business small or big. With social media names such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest,Instagram and now Snapchat provide easy and free digital marketing platform to business owners even with no or minimal marketing experience. This has resulted in small business owners coming online and promoting their product while interacting with their customer at the same time. 

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is vital in generating organic leads to the website. SEO works by identifying and analyzing the keywords searched by the relevant or target audience to increase the visibility of the website in search engine results. These keywords help create a trail of breadcrumbs for the user to follow and reach the website and also provides an insight to the business owner as to what the audience is looking for online.

4. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization is a system to convert the website visitor into a customer. Three tools that help us in CRO are:

1) Google analytics provides a set of credible keywords that are favoured by the users and have a high probability of converting the browsers into customers.

2) Scroll map and hit map tells us what the user was looking for in the website and how far did they browse within the website.

3) A/B test and Multivariate test helps recognize the progressions, big or small, to a website that encourages a better reaction from the targeted audience or users.

5. Online Reputation Management (ORM)

ORM is vital to create and maintain a brand image of the business online, hence it refers op the core of digital marketing. In order to manage the reputation of the product or business in the digital world, feedback provided by the customers plays an important role. As digitally it is easier for the business owners and customers to interact globally in real time, ORM is the major element to achieve success in creating and sustaining a brand image.The major role of ORM includes:

1) Prompt response on queries

2) Using feedbacks efficiently and

3) Carefully handling adverse feedbacks.

Monday 3 October 2016

Why does your business need SEO?



SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Today, SEO has become an integral part of any digital marketing strategy for every industry and product. SEO determines the visibility of a website in the search results by any search engine. SEO analyses how search engines work, what people are searching for, the keywords in these searches and who are the target audience for which searches. With this analysis, the ranking and visibility of a website is determined amongst the relevant search results. 

Let’s go over the reasons that make SEO imperative for any internet marketing strategy: 

1. Increased Visibility  

Just creating a website is not sufficient today. The consumer must also be able to find your website easily. Good visibility on the search results help direct the customers to your website easily. This is done by using keywords relevant to your target audience, through which the website is optimized by the search engine and can be viewed in the top search results. 

2. Promotes Traffic   

Once the website become visible in the top search results, the traffic is directed to the website as more and more people from the target audience click on it. This is done with the help of keywords relevant to the focus audience and their search patterns.

3. Analytics   

With SEO the results can be tracked and quantified which helps in providing the insight for return on investment (ROI) for any and every kind of website, whether ecommerce or non-ecommerce. It also provides an in depth analysis of the performance of your digital marketing strategies and how the website’s visibility can be improved. 

4. Organic Traffic 

 While the Ad’s are a paid feature, the website’s ranking in the search result depends upon the keywords in its content. This results in relevant and genuine visitors on the website. The correct mix of both the strategies can help a business get more out its digital marketing strategies. 

5. Brand Awareness   

When the website is viewed in the top results, it is viewed as a trusted source by the audience, since companies on the first page are generally perceived to be more trustworthy. As  more of your web pages rank in higher positions in the search engines, there is more chances for the users to see your content and associate it with your brand.  

Someone truly said that “The best place to hide something is page two of Google search results, as nobody checks it”. This is because people seldom move to pages 2nd and more as the results on the first page are considered by the audience and the traffic gets redirected to these pages.

Tuesday 27 September 2016

How is a responsive website vital for any business?



A Responsive Website or a Responsive Web Design or in simple term we can say Mobile friendly website can be defined as the approach that suggests that the website design should be such that it responds to the user’s environment based on its screen size, platform and orientation. A little hard to understand? Worry not, let’s take you over the subject step by step by going over the basics. 

1. What is it?

Simply, a website that follows the same theme and layout throughout various gadgets even with different screen sizes and orientations. A screen friendly websites is known as a responsive websites. Have you ever seen websites with similar layouts no matter which screen you view them at, like desktops/laptops, phones, tablets or phablets? These websites that function well in terms of structure and layout on all kinds and sizes of screen are known as responsive website. You can check here if this site is responsive or not  and see the difference between all the screen and their screen adjustments.

2. Why we need it?

Over the years, as technology has advanced, we have seen many changes and improvements in the electronics market too. When earlier, owning a GSM phone such as those manufactured by Nokia used to be a huge deal, today the smartphones keep getting their better upgrades in less than a year. Such huge changes in such small durations often make us wonder how long will an investment take us digitally. Keeping up with the speed of digital and technological development is hard. With responsive websites, it is easier to create websites that are not only functional today but have total scalability in the future when technology advances even more. 

3. What are the benefits of a responsive website?

1) With advancement in technology, we can see changes in the screen size as well and the responsive websites can be opened in any size of screen without making changes in its structure every time a new screen size is launched. 

2) Since a responsive website is future ready, they are here to stay for a long run. Any kind of changes are easier to make in these websites and hence don’t incur high costs for every small change in the website.

3) They are fundamental in good customer experience. Responsive websites are easier to access and navigate and are very user friendly. 

4) Responsive websites are easier to load and seldom give a loading error, this encourages the user to visit website again. They are fundamental in good customer experience. Responsive websites are easier to access and navigate and are very user friendly.

5) As their layout remains same or viewable for all screen sizes, it is convenient for the user to access the website as and when required. 

6) All sets of target audience can be focused as all can view the website correctly through any device.

The website is the first impression on the customer about the business and plays an important role in the long run. And as for a customer, the website is a window into your business, it becomes crucial to provide a great picture and a heart winning experience when they visit the website. A responsive website gives a great start to help the business move in the right direction.

Monday 19 September 2016

Why is a Blog crucial for any business to grow?


Blog has become an integral part of digital marketing strategy for every business. This new trend has gained more popularity over the last few years as more and more brands are coming up with their own blog sites. A Blog not only help the buyer but are also beneficial to the seller. 

Here are a few benefits of maintaining a Blog:
 
1. Exchange of Information:

Through a Blog, the seller and buyer have a dialogue among them, the seller can better convey information and receive the feedback from the buyers. This helps the sellers to improve their product and services.

2. Know the Audience:

With good information on the blog, the target audience can be engaged. And with the correct target audience , not only can the sales be increased by manifold but it also helps as a marketing tool in the market.

3. Brand Image:

Once the target audience is engaged, with good content strategy, a blog helps creating a brand image in the minds of the audience. With a great brand image, new leads and traffic is generated as the brand gets recognition in the market.

4. Introduce new product:

A blog is a great free platform to introduce a new product or service or even make your audience aware about the detailed information regarding an existing product, which is not possible with other marketing tools.

5. SEO:

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. SEO is the process of increasing the visibility or ranking of a website or webpage on any search engine’s result. Relevant and active content on a Blog helps in it getting indexed on the search engine results.

A blog offers a long term results. With traditional marketing, the advertisement once shared is available for a limited time frame, whereas information on a blog stays for the lifetime. Anytime someone searches for the information over the internet, they are directed to the relevant link. This keeps the views and leads on the blogs increasing. Some help generate leads even after longer time since they are posted.

It is very important for the business to maintain a blog with relevant keywords and information pertaining to the products. It is also crucial to keep the posts updated with fresh articles to keep the business active on the digital network.

Monday 12 September 2016

Why is website a necessity for growing your business?


Today a website is a universal identifier for a business. Living in the digital world, gradually we all are moving to convenient and fast solutions for our problems. But still many small businesses are reluctant to enter this ocean with the fear of drowning. This might look as a logical decision based on their offerings, whereas in today’s fast paced environment, an online presence is a must for every business. These 5 reasons show why your business needs a website:

Accessibility:

Well informed customers because of all time accessibility. Having a website helps in keeping the customers well informed about your progress and offerings. A website is accessible 24x7 and does not have an opening and closing time like a physical place which helps the customers to be updated all the time.

Wider Reach

Reaching a wider target audience through online catalogue is much easier through a website. A website is an open mall for everyone even if there are some customers for window shopping, as they can come, browse and know about you. Like a mall, there are so many things present on the website that people can choose from and gather the knowledge about. With your website, you’ll be able to reach a whole new user market which would otherwise remain untapped.

Credibility

A website improves your business credibility. Every business runs on credibility and having a website improves the overall credibility of your business in the eyes of consumers and potential customers. Hosting a website gives your business the scope of building trust in the eyes of your consumer, as people can search and know about your business before making any purchases. 
 
 
Marketing Cost

It saves overall advertising and marketing cost. The traditional method of paper and print advertising are way too costly and time consuming. A website helps in having customized ads running every time and changing to a new offer/banner can be done within minutes. A website gives you the advantage of exploring new target segments and demographics without reaching them physically, making it an overall cost efficient method of finding new consumers.

Customer Feedback

Instant answers to customer queries at no cost. answering customer queries and gaining feedback from them is one of the major roadblocks in smooth functioning of a business. Maintaining a website gives your business the leverage of giving customer their answers instantly and more over, regular queries can be consolidated under the FAQ’s section in your website so that you save time with repeated questions and focus more on growing overall.

Building a positive image in the eyes of your consumer is just the start of your business, a website also helps you in gaining the user’s trust and overall business expansion.

Tuesday 6 September 2016

Reliance Jio's services to boost digital marketing in India: Lycos CEO


HYDERABAD: Reliance Jio's disruptive offer of free voice calls forever and data at just 5 paise per MB is expected to open up the digital marketing space in the country in a big way, a top expert has said.

Monday 5 September 2016

7 Reasons To Choose Digital Marketing Over Traditional Marketing

Digital marketing has become the go to marketing strategy since the advancement and rise of internet. Digital marketing provides the next stage of marketing where the businesses get access to huge markets and numerous tools to push their products and create their brand amongst the customers. Although traditional marketing strategies have not lost their ways but it is safe to say that online marketing is dominating these days. 

Span: Span of the market on potential customers is limited in the case of traditional market. But with digital marketing the internet has expanded the market on a global scale. Now businesses can reach a huge amount of potential customers globally by using internet techniques. 
Longevity: With traditional marketing, the campaigns were run for a limited time based on the user’s budget constraints and once these campaigns were stopped, business stopped getting the benefits whereas through digital marketing, we can keep promotions updated through blogs and social media.
Target Audience: These days, in life’s hustle bustle, everything is technology oriented. Most of the audience needs everything on the go and digital media techniques helps targeting the audience which is tech savvy. 
Scope: Traditional marketing promotes business or the product to the masses. With digital marketing, we can target the target set of audience with the same specific needs which are fulfilled by your business. 

Interaction: Traditional marketing was more or less a one way channel of communication and feedback from customers was seldom received. Digital marketing however provides an interactive platform where buyers and sellers can communicate with each other and attend to queries while receiving feedback almost instantly.
Cost: One of the major reasons why digital marketing is more preferable than traditional marketing strategy is that it brings down the marketing expenses considerably. If carried out properly and smartly, social media provides a free platform to a business to create brand awareness amongst the masses.

Feedback/Results: Since traditional marketing was a one way communication, the seller had no way of knowing the buyer’s reaction or queries to the campaign till a much later time. With digital marketing, the feedback or result is not only quick but also accurate.
With huge technological advancements, the marketing scenarios have changed considerably while giving rise to online marketing strategies and tools that are suitable for a large set of requirements at lower costs. To know more about the role of digital marketing for business read here. 

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Want to be successful on Social Media? Follow these tips from the Experts.


As an entrepreneur, it is my job to travel the world, a lot. Get introduced to new individuals, learn new things and implement those new ideas for reaping all the benefits involved. Social media is the latest addition to rising entrepreneurs under the list of factors of production and ability to utilize it effectively can guarantee the best possible returns.

Monday 29 August 2016

Why do you need Content Marketing?


Today, content marketing has grown to be the most effective and powerful tool for doing business and connecting with the target customers online. Upto 73% businesses rely on content marketing for promotion. When a prospective customer finds you through the content you provide, they begin to form a connection with you built on trust.  It is non-intrusion advertising, rather than pitching your products or services, you are conveying data that makes your purchaser more savvy.

Content marketing provides targeted audience with relevant information that can provide a solution to a particular need- a problem, an improvement or simply informations.

Benefits of using Content Marketing
  • Increases Traffic to the Website:
With customers gaining relevant and non-intrusive information, they favour your website for information.
  • Improved SEO
Great content attracts editorial links, which tell Google you're important and relevant. Google can also crawl your content, getting a far better idea of what your company is about, allowing it to return your site for more relevant queries.
  • Direct customer conversions
Great content can play crucial role in convincing potential buyer to make a purchase.

  • Brand Awareness
When there is consistency and quality in the content posted, it helps customer identify trust with your brand and establish a brand image in the market.

  • Recognition in the Industry
With good and relevant content, people in the industry start recognising your Blog as a source of credible information. It positions your business as an expert in your industry.
  • Open Communication
With everyone from potential customer to industry experts, active on social media platforms, it  opens a dialogue through social shares and comments.

  • No Strings Attached Information
The customers rely more on your business as Content Marketing provides value with no strings attached.
Although Content Marketing is easier to grasp as a concept, there are a few factors to keep in mind while implementing any Content Marketing Strategy. Some of these factors are:
  • Determining your goals
The first and foremost step is to determine your goals for your marketing strategy and the role and scope of content marketing in the same. It gives you an overall direction for the long run and keeps the strategy in check from deviations

  • Focus on Audience
While implementing your content marketing strategy, keep in mind your potential and existing audiences, their needs and preferences to gain the maximised results out of each content that you post.

  • Time and Resource Allocation
Each content requires time and resource to make it credible and effective. Hence, proper time and resource allocation becomes vital for the content’s success.

  • Platform to post Content
Each industry has the customers preferring a certain platform for information, hence it is important to identify the platform where your content will receive the maximum relevant audience.

  • Measuring the effectiveness
Just like any strategy or plan it is important to keep measuring its effectiveness to gain feedback on what is working and what needs more improvement.

Almost any type of content, video, article or graphic, can lead links back to your website. If your content generates a lot of buzz and people start linking to it, the SEO link value from your content will only become stronger. Modern marketers understand that “set it and forget it” marketing strategy does not work anymore. To generate real leads online, you need to invest in a meaningful and effective content marketing strategy.

Tuesday 23 August 2016

Which social media sites are popular for business ?


Businesses are using a variety of sources to inform their marketing strategy. However, insights gathered through social-media monitoring have finally overtaken more traditional metrics such as market share data and brand tracking to become the most popular component used by marketers.

Which social media sites are popular for business ?


Social media marketing revolutionised the digital marketing scenario across the Globe. It not only provided low-maintenance and cost effective platforms for marketing but also opened up ways for small businesses to interact with their existing and potential customers. To create an effective social media marketing strategy, it is important to identify the social media sites that are most suitable to your industry, product and customer base and create a strong presence on such social media websites. Below are some major social media sites which have good reach and have proved useful for businesses.  

Facebook

With more than 1.55 billion active users, facebook is the biggest social networking website today. Since its launch in 2004, facebook has transformed from being just a social interaction platform to a website where large number of people connect globally. Facebook has become a versatile tool for businesses through its various features like the Pages Feature and Ads Manager.  A simple like or share on your Facebook page can help your business to increase its reach with the people who may not known you. You can use it to share photos, videos, important company updates and more.   

Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging website launched in 2004 with more than 300 million users worldwide. The messages conveyed are short precise and in 140 characters or less. Twitter is all the rage amongst youngsters, celebrities and big brands alike. Because of its wide reach, Twitter is not only a great way to market your business but also an effective channel for handling customer service.   

Youtube   

YouTube is a video sharing social media site where a new video is uploaded every minute. It is a great platform for small businesses to incorporate videos in your online marketing strategy and embed videos to your website. These videos can be infomercials, tutorials, product launches, offers, blogs etc.   

Linkedin 

Launched in 2003, Linkedin has become the premier B2B social networking site. Linkedin is a great platform for Networking with local professionals and Connecting with people in similar industries. And like other social networking sites Linkedin aides in Lead generation & reputation management for your business.   

Pinterest 

Pinterest is a very powerful image-based social media website. It consists of digital bulletin boards where users can save and display content they like in the form of pins. Pinterest connects users and boards with similar interests and thus helps boost the business in amongst a potential customer base.  
Instagram 


Like Pinterest, Instagram too is an visual based social media platform. Instagram started out as an image sharing site, but has now morphed into a site which has more advertising power than any other social media site. Instagram is used by businesses for sharing pictures and short video clips, creating their brand image by sharing company culture and “behind-the-scenes” insights. The main factor which boosted Instagram's acceptance amongst users were its filters and tools to easily edit pictures.  
Google+ 

Google Plus’s popularity is partially due to its SEO value. Google+ is great for getting customer reviews to show up in search results. Google+ has many features crafted with keeping the user in mind such as Hangouts, Circles, Messenger, Instant Upload etc.

Friday 19 August 2016

The Top Dos and Don’ts in Effective Social Media Management



Social media is the Swiss Army Knife of businesses in the 21st century. We use social media to drive our branding efforts, connect with customers, generate new leads, gain insights into buying habits, manage reputation, and bolster our digital footprint.