In today’s digital age, establishing a strong online presence and connecting with customers through purpose-driven content are essential components of building a successful brand. As a digital marketer, you’re probably familiar with the numerous advantages of content marketing, but convincing executives to support your content strategy can be a significant hurdle, particularly in larger organisations. Whether you’re well-versed in content marketing or just starting out, you’re likely seeking to build a persuasive business case for implementing a content marketing strategy for your brand. When ..read more

Keywords are a crucial element of any successful SEO strategy. A well-implemented keyword strategy can help your website rank highly in search engine results, leading to high-quality, relevant traffic to your site. There are two types of keywords: short-tail and long-tail. Whilst each can be used separately, or in conjunction with the other, they serve different user intents and yield different results. Short-tail keywords have higher search volume, are more generic and competitive, and generally yield lower conversion rates. Whereas, long-tail keywords tend to have lower search volu ..read more

In this article, I’ll be looking at the role design plays in creating digital experiences that have a positive impact on both customer and business. For many, creating something ‘innovative’ is the holy grail in terms of achieving success in business. If I create something new, it will give me an edge over my competitors. This is true, but only sometimes. There are many examples where new and ingenious ideas have failed to find an audience: the Sinclair C5 and the Segway are two famous instances of novel engineering solutions that, in the end, didn’t do enough to appeal to potential buyers. Te ..read more

Google Optimize has been a great tool for digital marketers and those investing in conversion rate optimization (CRO). The native integration with Google Analytics provided access to behavioural insights making it easier to target segments you’ve discovered using Google Analytics. With Google’s recent announcement that it will be sunsetting Optimize on September 30, 2023, companies are having to search for alternatives to keep their experimentation programs running. It’s important to note that whilst Optimize will definitely be sunset in September this year, Google have alluded to integrations ..read more

As the saying goes, “60% of the time, it works every time”. And while it is most likely ill advised to take anything Anchorman’s Brian Fantana says with more than a pinch of salt, but he perhaps was onto something with this one.   Harvard Business Review shared that at Booking.com, a meer 10% of experiments generate positive results. Let’s flip that – 90% of experiments fail at Booking.com. But does that mean those experiments were unsuccessful? Uninformative? A waste of time? As continuous optimisation continues to be an area our clients at Candyspace are investing more time and resource ..read more

WhatsApp is now the world’s most popular messaging app. It can boast over two billion users in over 180 countries, and unlike many of its rivals, that number is still growing. Until recently, almost all WhatsApp messages were between individuals and of a personal nature. In recent years, companies have started to realise the potential of WhatsApp, and the platform’s owner, Meta, which also owns Facebook, has responded by making the systems available to businesses. Companies love WhatsApp because of its informal conversation style that seems to connect in a way other messaging systems can’t rep ..read more

In the first of our series of pieces looking at the top digital trends of 2023, Lead Web Developer, Craig Wheatley, discusses what the current state of owning our own data is and how Web3 is revolutionising how it can be used for your benefit. The year is 2023 and with laws like the GDPR and the CCPA, you can be 100% certain that you own all your own data, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. While we can be confident in knowing what PII we share with websites, there is so much more “anonymous” data that is collected and stored that most of us aren’t even aware of. The term “anonymous ..read more

This is the first article in a short series discussing a collection of UI components that may be perceived as trivial, but they happen to be very significant. In my experience and when working with other designers, the footer always seems to be the last component to be designed. So much UX and UI time is spent on the header, search and navigation along with other high priority content, that the footer can get overlooked. It’s important to get the footer correct. This comment from NN Group, nicely summarises my thinking: ‘Footers can be found at the bottom of almost every web page, and oft ..read more

A story that resonates is a story that is remembered. Marketing is no longer just about the product that you sell but the stories you tell.  Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools to influence, inspire and engage an audience. It’s how we forge deep and authentic connections, share ideas. It’s how we learn. Creating a vivid voice across social media allows you to deliver your narrative content to your target audience; touch people on an emotional level and etch your brand in your audiences’ minds. However, we know that every brand has a story to tell, no matter how long or short, o ..read more

This is the second part in a series where we’ll be looking at the role design plays in creating digital experiences that have a positive impact on both business and customer. A phrase we’re all familiar with is “Familiarity breeds contempt”. Meanwhile, a mantra for product design is “Don’t make me think”, taken from the title of Steve Krug’s excellent book. Together, those two phrases contradict. But when designing a digital experience intended to surprise, delight and empower people, we must balance the new with the familiar. Standing out from the crowd A common, and completely understandable ..read more