A Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Services
If you’re a small to mid-sized business owner, you almost certainly don’t have enough time in the day to get everything finished to your satisfaction. Often, the day-to-day operational demands that come with running a business make it difficult to focus on the broader strategic picture — something that is essential for growth. In order to create a truly high-performance enterprise, it’s sometimes necessary to contract with outside agencies for help with key creative and technical tasks. By working with a trusted agency, business owners don’t have to work outside the limits of their own expertise and have more time to focus on their own high-value tasks. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most important services offered by today’s top creative agencies. Marketing research In order to validate their hypotheses, marketers need to collect hard data, and this comes in form of data collected by a marketing research agency. This research may occur through focus groups and brand awareness studies. Many brands partner with a marketing research agency to help complete these tasks and conduct primary market research. By working with a consumer insight agency or focus group research company, brands can gather the kind of data that helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of their products and services, while also better understanding their target market. Additionally, a usability testing company can help a company determine how an intended audience interfaces with a product or service, while Florida research companies specializing in market data can assist with consumer profile services and qualitative research services. This gives their clients a broader picture of who their audience is, and how those audiences are responding to products, services and marketing campaigns. Creative services Creative work is the heart of effective marketing and branding. Whether it’s print advertising, sales materials design, collateral design or annual report design, creative work is the conduit through which audiences and brands connect. Most small to mid-sized businesses don’t have the budget or expertise to deploy an in-house creative team. That’s not an insurmountable hurdle, however; by contracting with a copywriting company, outdoor marketing agency, tradeshow display company or packaging design agency, brands can realize their creative vision and better connect with their customers. Digital marketing We’ve reached a point where the terms “marketing” and “digital marketing” are almost interchangeable. Most of us live, work, communicate and play online — which means that businesses need to do their utmost to connect with people in the digital realm. This is accomplished by the following techniques such as email and content marketing and various forms of pay-per-click marketing services or display advertising services. By working with a digital marketing consultant, a content marketing agency or an email marketing agency, brands can help ensure that they reap the rewards of a digital approach. A new and critically important trend is voice technology. Given the staggering adoption numbers for smart speakers and digital assistants, forward-thinking brands should also consider pursuing voice development services from an Alexa app company or a top Florida digital marketing company. Strategy Great marketing campaigns all begin with a smart, overarching strategy. This strategy should encompass everything a business does in terms of marketing creation and distribution, including various content types and channels. Marketing data analysis conducted by a marketing strategy agency can play a key role in this process, as it provides a sound foundation on which to build campaigns and test assumptions. Businesses may also wish to focus on more niche areas by employing an audience segmentation consultant or social media strategy company, both of which can play an integral role in helping brands identify and engage with ideal audiences for their products and services. Today, a comprehensive marketing strategy must cover a wide variety of channels, reflecting the nature of how audiences live, work and consume content today. This means that working with a multi-channel marketing company that specializes in this kind of approach is often a smart idea. Media buying When it comes to good marketing, distribution is just as important as creation. You can have the most compelling campaign in the world, but if nobody sees it, what good does it do? That’s where media buying enters the equation. The right media strategy services or media planning agency can help ensure that your marketing content gains maximum exposure through every relevant channel, including print and TV. Digital, too, is an important piece of the media puzzle. A digital media buying agency that specializes in this channel can help ensure your campaign gains traction, while an attribution modeling company can provide you with measurable data that confirms whether or not particular marketing or advertising approach is effective. In today’s changing world, it’s also important to ensure that your media campaigns reflect the viewpoints of all consumers, which means that it makes sense to work with a multicultural marketing agency that has the perspective to connect with all audiences. Web development services Maintaining fully-functional websites with smooth and intuitive user experiences should be a key priority for just about any business. Websites serve as the public face of a business and also often play an important role in generating revenue. If a business can’t be trusted to offer the public a professional and reliable website, prospective customers may wonder about the quality of the products and services they will receive. However, not every business is equipped to maintain a reliable, user-friendly digital presence. In such cases, it makes sense to partner with a web design company or website development company that can handle every aspect of creating and maintaining digital properties. Additionally, a good content management company can help ensure that businesses place high in organic search rankings by following the principles of search engine optimization and content marketing. Continuity is also critically important, as downtime can result in lost revenue and angry customers. An Orlando web development firm offering website maintenance services can help local businesses ensure that their digital properties suffer from minimal technical interruptions. By partnering
Know The Top Tips for Financial Institution Marketing
With so many tools, webinars and publications available for marketers within the financial services industry, it’s often difficult to sift through the clutter to figure out the most “essential” strategies for bank marketing success. However, some strategies do stand above others, and these tried-and-tested outreach methodologies can create sizable success within your financial institution. That’s why BIGEYE’s Florida marketing agency is offering a few highly effective tips to help increase your bank or other financial service’s ROI. Develop a Strategy Prioritization Matrix The first step to success in the financial realm is prioritization. A Strategy Prioritization Matrix can help you to determine the most strategic projects to help your business get the most “bang for its buck.” Create the matrix by listing the impact on the X axis (high or low) and the ease of implementation on the Y axis (hard or easy). Then, within the matrix, classify potential projects in one of four buckets: Quick Wins (High Impact, Low Effort), Must Haves (High Impact, High Effort), Low-Hanging Fruit (Low Impact, Low Effort) and Money Pits (Low Impact, High Effort). Your matrix might look something like this: This will help clarify those areas requiring the greatest focus. For most banks and credit unions, the Quick Wins will be of highest priority, as the ROI impact is highest, and the strategy is easy to implement. Implement a “New Mover” Customer Acquisition Strategy Prospective clients that may be relocating to your area will likely be in search of a local bank. Depending on a potential customer’s degree of wealth, he or she may also need other financial planning services such as estate planning or wealth management. Creating a strategy to deliver your message into prospect’s inbox will assist in the growth of your audience. Of course a direct mail customer outreach campaign is only portion of the process. It’s important to have a strategy in place to ensure that yours is the first financial services company to reach these potential clients, including the development of efficient on-boarding processes. For many financial service providers, these outreach efforts can prove to be “Quick Win,” as outlined in the matrix above. Invest in Digital Retargeting According to Wagner dos Santos, BIGEYE’s senior director of marketing and strategic planning, retargeting is often the most effective and efficient acquisition strategy on a cost-per-account basis. It’s also a good way to capitalize on a person’s interest, as retargeting is only triggered after a person visits your site or clicks on your content. In many ways, digital retargeting can successfully work in tandem with direct mail efforts, as one banking business achieved a lift of 40% after pairing digital retargeting efforts with a direct mail campaign. Collect Insights for Iterative Improvement [quote]Email marketing is still one of the leading ways to reach people, even in spite of significant levels of email glut.[/quote] When your business can tailor communications to send the right message to the right individuals through segmentation, it significantly improves the chances that the prospect will convert (as compared to a general email blast). Be sure that in all financial services relationships, you’re not only collecting email addresses, but also analyzing customer profiles so that you can provide information that is relevant to their individual banking and financial needs. Through surveys and new account processing, you can grab significant information about your customers that you can then use for future marketing and outreach efforts. And, through iteration, you can continue evolving your campaigns and strategies for optimal growth. [featured] Need more ideas for effective ways to reach potential audiences with your bank or financial services marketing? Contact us at our Orlando ad agency, and we can help you tailor your customer acquisition strategies to help generate the most ROI for your business. [/featured]
Business is Great! What Are the Benefits of Advertising?
Working in the field of advertising and marketing, I often come across people who don’t understand the benefits of advertising. “Business is great,” they tell me. “So why should I continue to pay money to push out ads when I could be spending money elsewhere?” You probably already know that the main point of advertising is to obtain-and-retain customers that will spend money with your business. But, assuming you’re a law firm, a consultant, or an ecommerce retailer who does most of your business through word-of-mouth networking and referrals, you may find yourself questioning whether your market budget could be better allocated elsewhere. The same people will tell me that since business is fine, there’s no need to waste money by pushing to get more. Oh, if only that were the case. If we were to rely on that kind of logic, then you wouldn’t see daily ads from the nation’s biggest brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Disney. [quote]Business is booming at these companies, and yet they still spend millions of dollars each year to remain in the public’s consciousness.[/quote] So, if business is generating high profits and you’re wondering whether your ad budget should be spent elsewhere, the team at our Florida advertising agency wants you to consider the following: Are You Concerned With the Possibility of Market Share Erosion? If you’re not advertising and your competitors are, then don’t be surprised if your potential customers choose the company that keeps advertising its lower fees and better results. Are You Satisfied with the Market Itself? By not advertising, you could be implying that you have little concern that others are offering better services and better deals. This is a sure way to lose out to your competitors. Do You Worry About Losing Touch With Potential New Customers? If you’ve been in business for a while and aren’t advertising, then you must consider how you going to rebuild your customer base when your target audience outgrows your business or service? By advertising, you can continue the cycle of trying to reach new customers without having to scramble once it’s too late. Does it Bother You that People May Forget About Your Business? People forget quickly, especially in this age of social media. The more advertising and marketing touch points you have in place to actively engage with potential customers, the higher the likelihood of making these people convert. This is precisely why ad remarketing and site retargeting work so well. How Do You Feel About Losing Your Existing Customers? The more you can be a part of peoples’ daily lives, the more they’re going to continue to come back to you. This is why advertising, social media, email marketing and direct mail are such effective methods of retaining customers. They have to remember you to want to select you, and when they don’t remember you, that’s when you lose them. [featured] Need more convincing of the benefits of advertising? Let BIGEYE show you real results. Contact us today, and we’ll show you how happy we’ve made our clients and their customers. [/featured] The reason big companies spend so much money on advertising every year is because they know it works. And, it can work for your business, too. To learn more about the ways that advertising can maintain steady business and potentially grow your revenue, contact the team at our Orlando advertising agency for a consultation. We can help you to navigate the complex landscape of advertising to help achieve the highest return on investment for your company, no matter the industry.
What makes a social media campaign so successful?
If there’s one thing we’ve learned here at our Orlando ad agency, it can be very difficult to offer a clear cut return on investment for social media efforts. In fact, most companies inherently sense that there is some value in having an active and engaging social media platform, but because they can’t always tie it to an actual return, it can be difficult to determine the exact value of a Twitter follower or a Facebook “like.” While it may be slightly easier to determine a return based on a campaign that successfully incentivizes people to purchase a product, it’s nearly impossible to determine how a successful campaign leads to brick and mortar sales, brand perception and other valuable consumer information. But, a new method of thinking suggests that marketers look to other data points beyond a dollar for dollar return. These new media experts suggest that, in the same way that advertisers can’t necessarily calculate an exact ROI based on the success of a single television commercial campaign, they should stop trying to attach a ROI to a social media campaign. [quote] In fact, with the field of data science constantly growing in value, it’s highly possible that in the future, big data will be more valuable for a company than dollars spent.[/quote] The following are some metrics that advertisers can use in order to help them determine an actual return on investment for a social media campaign. Data through qualitative responses: One of the best ways to find out what consumers want from your company is to ask them directly. If the goal of your social media campaign is to ascertain data about customer wants, then incorporating questions that encourage them to engage by providing information such as their favorite websites or types of features they’d like to see integrated with your product, then a breadth of data can be invaluable. Sharing: People tend to share content that triggers an emotion, and that they feel the need to share with others. On Facebook, “likes” are valuable, but sharing is what brings your content into the minds of people who wouldn’t have seen it otherwise. You can calculate shares in terms of impressions, and can compare your shares against previous campaigns. Click-through rates, conversions and other analytics: You can also use data tracking tools such as Omniture to find out where people are finding your content, how long they stay on your page and other useful information that can help you build more successful campaigns in the future. Press Impressions: You know you’ve built a strong campaign if the press are covering it in a positive light. AdAge and other companies are always reporting on businesses that use social media and digital marketing in innovative ways, and being able to capitalize on this helps to bring attention and viewership to your campaign so that even more people will pay attention. At our Florida advertising agency, we understand that the importance of developing social media campaigns that drive sales in the short term while also providing a lasting brand-to-consumer relationship. And in our book, a happy customer is always the epitome of success. Contact us for help developing your social media campaign today!
All Ink’d Up: plastisol vs. water-based, what’s best for printing?
Got your brand perfected? All your social media marketing ducks all in a row? Well don’t stop there. Reward your customers for their loyalty with a real, tangible product that can also catapult your brand presence offline. A well-made, well-designed t-shirt can do just that. When executed correctly, a t-shirt can be quite a valuable marketing tool. Think of it as cost-effective, word-of-mouth advertising—social media in a real-life social setting. And who doesn’t love a t-shirt—especially when it’s free! Think of all the times you’ve seen fans go bananas for a free t-shirt at a Magic game or at a concert or event. But of course, your customers have to actually wear it for the whole thing to work. Start with a graphic or message that will connect with your target audience, then make sure you meet what we call the “t-shirt trifecta”: comfortable material, proper fit, and quality ink.Your printer may never mention ink types when you place your order, so it’s up to you to address the issue when collecting pricing and quantities. Don’t overlook this important part of the process or you will risk printing t-shirts that you and your customers will never want to wear. So what’s the best ink to use on your tee? There are two major types of inks used by today’s screen printers: water based and plastisol. The latter is a thermoplastic, so it will melt or smear when in contact with heat like an iron. It will also feel thicker to the touch than a water-based print. Plastisol inks are often cheaper for printers to use and, over time, they will chip or peel after repeated washings. Thus, plastisol inks are not our favorite inks at BIGEYE. In our opinion, water-based inks are always the way to go. It’s a little more expensive, but totally worth it in the end. Water-based inks are softer, lighter, and more eco-friendly than plastisol inks. When you place your hand over a graphic printed with water-based ink, it won’t feel stiff like a plastisol-printed graphic would. In fact, you’ll barely feel the graphic at all since water-based inks seep deep into fabric. We’ve recently designed and printed a variety of t-shirts for many of our clients, and the results have pretty impressive, especially when the “t-shirt trifecta” is met. It’s a great feeling when we see people around town wearing our clients’ tees or even our own. Check out this photo of our newest BIGEYE tee, designed for the summer and of course, printed with our favorite water-based ink. Our team can be a big help if you’re thinking about getting tees of your own. Call us at 407.839.8599.
Learn how the updated AP Stylebook gets social in todays terms
The highly esteemed Associated Press Stylebook, also known as the “Journalist’s Bible,” has recently inducted “unfollow,” “retweet,” “tagging,” and 18 other social media terms into its newly revised 2011 print edition. Surprised? We’re not. Over the past several years, new connotations of such words have emerged through social networking sites, and have moseyed their way into day-to-day dialogues. Language is extremely fluid, changing and adapting to current culture. A “wall” is no longer just a structure that ensures personal space; it’s now a public space where “friends” can post comments, videos and pictures. Created in 1953, the AP Stylebook has been a very prestigious source of information for more than 50 years. The fact that the AP editors think social media terms are worth publishing just goes to show the impact social media platforms have on the public. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer successful routes toward global communication, allowing you to essentially keep a public account of what’s happening in your world, and follow the lives of others. And it’s not just the younger generation that’s “tweeting,” but corporate companies and other professional organizations are as well. Company leaders are utilizing social media sites to increase exposure on the same platforms as their target audience. Even the AP Stylebook tweeted about the addition of these social media terms! With technology continuously progressing and advancing, the digital world is becoming the most efficient way to do, well … just about everything! So, in the past, if you have been wary about engaging in the alternate universe we call social networking, don’t be afraid. Submerge yourself; you will be surprised at the endless possibilities available to you within just a few clicks. Ready to jump in? Give us a call at 407.839.8599, or email us at info@bigeyecreative.com
