What a Creative Advertising Agency Can Learn from Geico
Studying Geico ads, your creative advertising agency can learn invaluable tools for your brand campaigns—making them more effective, memorable, and fun. Everyone knows Geico Insurance. Whether you’re a fan of the gecko, caveman, or another one of their mascots, we’ve all got to hand it to Geico for their incredibly well-done ads. We fully recognize it’s no accident either, they consistently make brilliant, strategic decisions ultimately getting them to where they are today. Our curiosity peaks when we ask the question: What drives those ever-changing concepts? Here’s what we’ve learned. 1. Don’t let the product be the only focus. Let’s be real, insurance is not the most engaging subject. Consumers don’t pay attention to ads centered on jargon and driven by industry best practices; they want to be entertained. Geico’s creative advertising agency does an amazing job of having fun with their product with a purpose. For example, the caveman ads. A campaign that revolved around the concept that cavemen exist today and the slogan, “so easy a caveman could do it” deeply offends them. This has absolutely nothing to do with insurance, any industry has a convenient pull and this could have resonated in any of them. It’s simply that Geico coined it. You can see this idea in most of their ads. However, the product isn’t just tacked on either. It’s a big plot point. Who is saying their product is, “so easy a caveman could do it?” Geico. They are central to the plot but not the only focus. Your campaign strategy should do the same thing. Get a creative ad agency with strategies that will weave your brand into the content in interesting, innovative ways. 2. Put in the resources. Amazing ads can’t be crafted in 2 hours on $10. Giving your creative ad agency the time and resources they need to truly capture your voice and vision is a huge step towards long-term campaign success. According to Forbes, Geico invested $5 million in ad creation for 2017 alone. That’s an astronomical number, but for the breadth of ads, quality content, varied target markets the results show it all. That year, Geico’s brand awareness hit 53%. For context, Progressive’s high-point that year was 43%. Now it’s not all about spending, Progressive had spent $4.5 million and got significantly lower results. The talent must also be there, as well as avid and clear communication on vision and goals. Look at the top creative agencies in your industry, target markets, and locations before you decide which creative advertising agency should get that big investment. Money can only take you so far, you need the right people. 3. Don’t keep repeating the same ad. Even the most energizing and unique concepts can get monotonous and bothersome over time. Don’t make your audience watch the same thing over and over. Whether it’s through one concept with multiple executions or multiple different campaigns running at once, give your audience varied the content. Geico is a great example of both practices. Their creative advertising agency ran many spots featuring their acoustic musicians in ads such as Hump Day and Christopher Columbus. Then ran separate campaigns at the same time by keeping their Gecko ads running while ads featuring fun facts in realistic situations were also on air. More than varied content, you need to also use multiple channels. Geico ads can be found in print, on TV, and YouTube Pre-roll too. Get a creative digital agency that works across platforms. This way, your content will be seen and won’t get stale. The Takeaway Memorable advertising is a complex order, and every brand is different. You can achieve high brand awareness and drive profits with a few key concepts. So, what are the takeaways? Have more than one ad, keeping your consumers engaged demands innovative, plentiful content. Let the story drive the ad, your brand should be a key plot driver but not the only focus. Tell a complete narrative that lets your products shine without being the only concept at hand. Finally, give your agency the time, information, and funding they need to reach your goals effectively. As a creative advertising agency, we understand how vital engaging, varied advertising is to a thriving business. We’re strategy first in all aspects, tailoring our services to your industry, target market, and needs to optimize your ad spend and drive effective results. Reach out to learn about what we can do for you.
How to Reach the Parents-to-be through Effective Maternity Marketing
Maternity marketing typically reaches out to the current mom, without putting much emphasis on the woman who’s expecting. But particularly for first-time moms, these women and their supportive family members must also make decisions about what’s best for their as-of-yet unborn children… what color to paint the nursery, which toys to purchase for the tot, what types of formula to buy and what kinds of clothes the child should wear.Companies that target the current mom without thinking of the present mom may be too late – once she has the child, she may have already made up her mind about the best formulas, baby wipes and other newborn needs to suit her child. And once you lose the expectant mother, you may lose her for life – if she becomes loyal to one brand, it will be hard to get her to switch over. Many Expecting Mothers Google Everything Marketers can target expectant moms by reaching out to them through the avenues they’ll be using most. Perhaps one of the easiest ways is through SEO content and Google AdWords. First-time mothers may be anxious about what constitutes a “normal” pregnancy, potential parenting woes and the “right” parenting methods. They’ll often look to Google and other search engine tools for help. A Google search for “how to change a diaper” produces more than 29 million results. While it may be difficult to provide SEO content to beat the top-ranked page, a Google Ad campaign for your brand could do wonders for your diaper company and maternity marketing strategy. Educational Content is Valuable to New Parents Instructional content may also be a promising avenue for reaching your target mom-to-be. Content marketing is a way to reach out to your target demographics, and therefore a blog directed to the mom-to-be and the newborn mom practically has a built-in audience. Younger, hipper, smartphone-wielding moms may be drawn to video content, which is easily accessible from multiple devices. From Mom-Focused Content to “DADvertising” Okay, but what about the dad-to-be? According to a study conducted last year, 52% of millennial parents told us that ads they see are made for mothers more than fathers, and 83% say they think advertising for parents should appeal to both mothers and fathers equally. In fact, there was a successful online movement in the U.S. that put pressure on the site “Amazon Mom” to rename its service to “Amazon Family.” Some maternity marketing tips we think would be helpful in reaching dads would be to make it easier for dads to find the right information on their mobile devices at any time, to include dads in the story since household duties are shared amongst both parents, and to understand what motivates and works with dads may be motivated differently than their female counterparts. We’ve already begun to see a shift toward “dadvertising” – and we’re diggin’ it. So if you’re aiming to reach soon-to-be parents, our Orlando advertising agency encourages you to think about both parts of the story. Catching a mom-to-be in the pregnancy phase may mean that you’re attracting a loyal and valuable customer for life, and speaking to a “dad-in-training” may stand out more amongst a sea of mom-oriented messaging. To learn more about how you can market to parents in order to create brand preference and instill brand loyalty, contact us today!
4 of BIGEYE’s most creative minds spill favorite design advice
We’re about to let you in on a BIGEYE exclusive. Four of our Orlando marketing agency’s most creative minds dish on their favorite design advice. Whether you’re a designer, a business owner, or a production specialist, their advice speaks to the challenges we all face in our fast-paced, marketing-driven world. So sit back, relax, and soak in the good stuff. Seth Segura, Creative Director: Solve the right problems. Our Creative Director Seth brings a lot – and we mean a lot – to the table. His experience ranges from copywriting and design, to thought leadership and brand strategy. But at the end of the day, he always leads with results-first, which is why his favorite design advice hinges on solving customer or business problems. As a designer, it’s always tempting to lean into what is aesthetically pleasing; but as a creative marketer, you need to think about what problems you’re solving for your customers through design. When you look at a print ad or a web page: yes, it should absolutely look visually pleasing. Color balance, line, and composition are always king (unless you’re talking to the content folks on our digital team). But, your design must also enable customers to experience a new emotion or help them accomplish a specific task. For this reason, designers who specialize in user experience (UX) creation and page layout are some of the most highly sought-after talent in the marketplace. In addition to having a strong creative eye, these types of designers are trained to think about how customers will interact with their work. For them, that webpage button isn’t just red because it looks good … It’s red because it draws the customer’s eye to your business call to action and signals how they can complete a task. Fashion, meet function. Rhett Withey, Lead Designer: Be up for the challenge. Rhett has amazing intuition about what creative elements will work, and which will fall flat. In addition to having a natural sense of design principles, part of his success stems from tackling challenges head on. When thinking about his favorite design advice, he knows that chasing new design trends and emerging media every time something new comes out can turn a designer into a jack of all trades and a master of none; but that getting stuck in a rut, or resting on your portfolio’s laurels isn’t enough to stay on cutting edge of the design world. Rhett balances his own deep expertise against stretch goals and challenges that cultivate his leadership and design skills. To do this in your role, spend at least 15% of your time experimenting with new design media, raise your hand to lead a challenging new project, add research spikes into your work flow, take a class to explore new techniques, or partner with other creatives on your team. There are literally hundreds of ways to polish your skill set without compromising your current projects once you commit to doing it. While it’s always tempting to stick with the status quo, taking on new challenges fine-tunes your intuition and will make your work even sharper. Dani Alfonso, Designer: Value your work. One of the best pieces of design advice we can offer is to be passionate about and value your own work. Dani’s passion for her work shines through in both her professional output and in all areas of her life. Whether she’s traveling, enjoying time with her miniature schnauzer, working at her desk, collaborating with our team, or finding inspiration in the world around her, Dani lives with earnest passion that embraces creativity around her. And that is critical when designing for a living. As Chris Spooner, design blogger and theorist once said, “the clients aren’t always right. It’s okay to disagree with their demands if you can back up your own opinions with professional theory.” There will be times, as a designer, you will need to throw away work that you love, or defend work your clients hate. The trick is recognizing those situations when they arise and handling them with grace and confidence. Designers are one part creative expert and one part translator, charged with interpreting their clients’ business needs against the background noise of opinions, deadlines, and resource constraints to create something beautiful and functional. To do this, a designer needs to be confident in their knowledge and skills — and not afraid to share them. Matt Hutchens, Video Producer: Manage the madness. As a video producer, Matt needs to manage crew members, wrangle environmental factors like lighting and weather, anticipate unexpected snafus, capture the perfect angle, balance timing, and weave together tone and messaging … to just name a few. It makes sense that his design advice is about having a design process that inspires creativity and ensures quality work. To help manage the madness that inevitably arises as business needs change and situations evolve, have a design “Q&A checklist” that covers the basic checks and balances necessary before signing off on a project such as spacing, spelling, contrast, and color in line with your brand guidelines. Designers often bear the brunt of the creative burden, so don’t be afraid to consider time savers such as collaborating, outsourcing, or finding good ways to use stock photography or video (when appropriate). Strategic time saving techniques free you up to do your best, most inspired work. Put some space around your creative process so your ideas stay fresh and your focus on point. Whether that means creating a design den for your creative team or letting people work from home once a week, figure out what your business needs to thrive and don’t be afraid to do something unconventional to enable your most talented minds. Still want more from our star-studded team? Check out examples of their work here, or give us a call to discuss how we can add a little inspiration to your creative process. We are always eager to share design advice with our customers, but would love to hear
The art of integrating customer service into social media management
Social media is a powerful, organic force that can make or break a brand – or even set the tone and personality of an organization. One of the most overlooked facets of social media management is its power to enhance your customer service strategy. According to Nielsen’s Social Media report, 67% of your audience uses social media to seek advice, share a review, or make some noise (aka complain). Did we mention that 33% of social media users also prefer this type of customer care to complex phone prompts or sitting on hold for 45 minutes? Yeah, we weren’t surprised either. If you aren’t already using social media monitoring to integrate customer service into your social media strategy, we’ve put together our top eight reasons to jumpstart your social care team. 1. Social care drives social media strategy: If the heart of social media strategy is about creating authentic brand experiences, then it should be easy to understand how a personalized social media experience might satisfy your customers’ need to feel heard. Social media is a proverbial platform or soapbox for your customers to cheer for, or on the flip side – to chastise your brand. When you use social media to monitor your clients’ satisfaction and respond to issues openly in an arena where they arguably have more control than you do, you are setting your brand up for resolution more quickly because the audience knows they are being taken seriously. 2. Multi-channel care supports flawless social media management: You know the value of multi-channel sales: some people like to talk on the phone, some people prefer to read information online and digest it before making a decision, and others flock to social media to choose the solution their peers recommend. The same applies to customer service. Multi-channel care allows your customers to seek the type of help they need. If they feel best calling in – let them. But if they prefer to interact with you on the fly as they are checking-in at their favorite lunch spot – why inhibit the conversation from evolving naturally? Letting your customers communicate with you how and where they want to do so is a small gesture that reminds them that you care about their needs. 3. Anticipate your customers’ needs with social media monitoring: Good social media monitoring allows you to understand and anticipate your customers’ needs. By listening to what your customers are saying on social media and adapting your self-service portals accordingly, or addressing hints of poor service experiences before they blossom into full-scale issues, you can cut back on the volume of care required of your customers. This can save you costs on call centers or service fees and – more importantly – create and maintain a satisfied customer base. After all, keeping a customer is a lot easier than finding a new one. 4. Set your own benchmarks. Against yourself: Social media monitoring also helps to ensure that you remain honest with yourself. With such a wide variety of monitoring tools from word cloud generators to social media attitude aggregators, it takes very little effort to gauge and track sentiment toward your brand. If one of your goals is improving customer satisfaction, use social media to get a quick pulse on how you’re measuring up to your expectations. It’s easy to blame slow customer service evolution on complicated or expensive measuring tools and unreliable or qualitative feedback. Social media monitors make it quick, simple, and (hopefully) painless. In other words, no more excuses. 5. Time is money: Most consumers expect a one day turn around when sending emails to a customer service account. And in a world filled with endlessly high call volumes, they also expect service calls to take anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour. It’s safe to assume that when a customer is reaching out about an issue, waiting does not positively impact the situation. Good social media management that supports your care team can alleviate this pain point in two ways. First, it frees up your customers to multi-task in a pleasant online environment while they wait for a response. Second, it frees up your team to respond to and resolve multiple issues at once on an as-needed basis. We like to think of it as instant gratification at its finest, and on all fronts. 6. Create brand advocates through social media management: Turn an issue into advocacy. If your social team responds to customers who are self-selecting social users in a speedy and thoughtful fashion, those same public complainers may quickly turn into public brand cheerleaders, touting your individualized service experience, responsiveness, and transparency when dealing with issues. That makes you look like a rock star and allows prospects to see how much you value your customers. This same audience of consumers understands that brands make mistakes. After all, they’re (run by) people, too. How a brand handles those issues is the real question. From that perspective, your customer support must to be included in your social media strategy. 7. Control the conversation by setting the tone: In the customer service world, it isn’t always what you say – it’s how you say it. Social care gives you the opportunity to respond in a tone that matches your brand, eliminating costly and time-consuming coaching, training, or any errors associated with maintaining call centers. If your brand tone is casual and cool, your social media responses can instill that same sense of calm in unhappy reviewers. If your brand tone is formal, a white-glove approach via customized social posts during and after an issue might be just what your clients need to restore their faith in your organization. 8. Because there’s no reason not to: And last – but not least – why not? Whether you use an agency to take care of your social media management or DIY tools such as Hootsuite, responding to customer service issues and formulating a seamless follow-up plan around your customers’ needs has never
Restaurant marketing strategies to encourage real reviews
Social media, travel, and review sites can be a great testament to your business’s credibility, customer service, amenities, and experiences. The problem is, most people only write reviews when they’ve had a shockingly horrific experience, or were completely blown away by something. But how do you encourage the masses of happy, satisfied customers in between those two spectrums to write reviews? A great place to start is with a well-devised approach- be it in terms of marketing your restaurant, or promoting your hotel, resort, or tourist attraction.The formula is simple. Whenever you make a request of your customer – whether it’s asking for an email address or seeking a review – you must be certain that you give them something of equal value in return. Simple campaigns that exchange real value for real reviews will bring your existing customers closer to your brand, while in turn, generating new reach within your target audience. Here, BIGEYE shares the following quick and easy recommendations – in case you were in need of a little added inspiration: For restaurants and bars If there’s one thing you need to know, it’s that locals are truly your best friends. Use this to your advantage by employing restaurant marketing strategies that encourage local reviews. Attract your seasonal audience by engaging restaurant review sites such as Yelp and OpenTable. Host “locals’ nights” and offer a free appetizer to anyone who writes a review. Invite reviewers to preview new menu items or cocktail variations on the house … in exchange for a review, of course. Chances are, your reviewers will want to come back for more … tell their friends … or maybe even spread the word to those random tourists they bumped into on the street. While some restaurants and bars host trivia night. Take things to the next level with your approach to restaurant marketing by hosting your very own branded “social media night.” Tweet-ups, meet-ups, and other social gatherings are hugely popular. Get people in the door by offering discounts, free bites, or some form of entertainment. Plan these activities on your traditionally slower evenings to boost business you wouldn’t otherwise have – and to encourage all your guests to review, post, and Instagram away. Possible prize offerings may be awarded for tweets and reviews, or simply let people generate their own buzz around your business. For hotels and resorts Offer customers a deep discount or give them one night free for a good review. Chances are, your guests will stay longer than one night, and will be so pleased with their “free” vacation they’ll be more inclined to make up the difference in food and beverage costs or on-site amenities. If you’re worried people will “game the system,” put straightforward terms and conditions around the offer to limit one freebie per household. (This will ensure that the reviewer was a visitor within the past six months.) You’ll get a great review – and some extra business in the process. Another option is to create a brand ambassador program. Use a point or discount system to reward guests for meaningful social media posts, photos, and reviews. This strategy may promote quantity over quality, so consider using an “application” process that asks potential brand ambassadors why they’d be a great fit, and what unique social media skills they bring to the table. For tourist attractions Most travel destinations boast a host of unique activities. You can’t miss swimming with the dolphins in Mexico. Wine tasting in France or Surfing lessons in California. And most of these activities are prime photo opportunities. But as you might have experienced for yourself, even the most seasoned selfie-taker has trouble capturing these moments from the perfect angle. At the end of each activity, guests begrudgingly head toward the photo stand, where professional photography of their adventure is on display. Sneakily, some guests may attempt to covertly snap a copy on their phone, while many visitors simply choose not to purchase these photos on principle. If you offer one digital copy in exchange for a review (which can be easily emailed after the review is verified), you are creating a currency your customers genuinely value. There’s no overhead cost to you, and consequently, plenty of opportunity for gain. Because most tourist attractions are one-off experiences that come with a premium price tag, providing discounts on future visits may not be the best strategy. Most often, this is due in part to the low volume of repeat customers. Instead, let your guests give the gift of their memories to others. Let them know that when they write a review, they have the opportunity to share a meaningful discount with a friend. This technique perpetuates your business and makes your customers feel good for reviewing you, while also sharing something with their friends and family. That’s what we call a win-win. Did these strategies peak your interest when it comes to encouraging your valued customers to share more about their dynamic, memorable experience with your brand? To continue the conversation by uncovering additional opportunities to engage with your target audience, and develop repeat clientele through reviews, contact our team of advertising professionals today!
Venturing Beyond the Fold in Web Design, Exploring New Designs
It’s time to have the talk- yes, the talk about scrolling. Everyone does it. You do it. We do it. Your grandmother does it. We all scroll through web pages- especially if we love the content. One of the biggest concerns brands have regarding their website is content exposure. The big question is, “Are visitors scrolling through my website or just glancing above the fold?” Scrolling is Habitual Today, scrolling down web pages is second nature to many computer users. [quote] Apple felt so confident in this statement that they removed the scrollbar from their recent Mac OSX update.[/quote] Scrolling plays a key role across all social media platforms. The 1.82 billion social users prefer to expose themselves to more and more content by scrolling through feeds. Sites that have parallax scrolling features have the cleanest conversions in terms of usability across desktop and mobile platforms. Exploring Below the Fold Back in the golden age of print media, newspapers would be folded in half on newsstands, and the top half was designated for the juiciest news to a grab reader’s attention and the same goes for websites. The information you want your audience to see should be placed at the top of the page, but it is important to follow certain design principles to keep visitors intrigued to keep scrolling for more. Major brand website’s like that of Burberry have less content above the fold to encourage users to venture beyond the fold by use of its alluring hero image. CX Parners notes: “ The screens show two different design treatments for the hero slot on the homepage. The surprising thing we have learnt was that actually having less above the fold (one large content block as opposed to 2 smaller ones) encouraged exploration below the fold.” Less is More Adopting a cleaner and simpler style, such as parallax scrolling, will not only make your website better-looking, but it will also assist in positioning your brand as modern, up-to-date, and innovative. If users visit your site and are curious in the content you have above the fold, they will scroll away. However, to ensure website visitors are doing what you want them to do, be sure to follow design principles including less is more, avoid horizontal lines, and avoid in-page scroll bars. [featured] Looking to optimize your site layout? Let BIGEYE improve your website to be even more user friendly! Contact us today, and we can guide your vision toward success! [/featured]
Know the Difference, Content Creation vs Content Curation
At our Orlando marketing agency, we know we live in an era where content is key. Good content can help engage your community, keep your business relevant in the eyes of your audience and can even impact your business’s ranking in search. But, good content doesn’t come without a cost, and even within that framework, different types of content generate different types of results. However, one of the questions we come across most frequently in talking about content is whether it’s more efficient to create content, or to curate it. First, let’s discuss the difference between content creation vs content curation. Content Creation Content created by your marketing team or business helps you get your own perspectives into the hands of your audience. This is typically comprised of things like original tweets, blogs, Facebook posts, infographics and all other content that someone creates on behalf of your business that you could potentially share via social media, website or email marketing. The benefit of this type of content is that if it’s shared, it’ll directly point others back to your business. Some studies show that original content is more helpful in creating conversions. This may be because original content about your area of expertise helps to build trust with the audience who will ultimately purchase from your company. [featured] Don’t have the time to create your own content? Let BIGEYE‘s copywriters handle it. Contact us today, and we will set up your business for success! [/featured] However, content creation can take significant effort to maintain. Many people start businesses and plan to incorporate blogs, only to find that blogging takes a lot of time and resources, resources you may not have if your business is working with a small staff. Still, these businesses seek to continue to create content in order to help maintain visibility and establish trust with their audience. Content Curation Content curation is the act of sharing content created by others. This might mean an interesting article, a great visual, an interesting tweet or even just a funny gif. Sites like Twitter make it extremely easy to share others’ content, but even sites like LinkedIn fill their content base by relying mostly on content created by others. For companies that primarily curate content, people can come to rely on your business as a great way to seek content on a variety of relevant topics that reach your target audience. Content curation typically takes less effort than content creation, but it’s still important to take the time to read each piece of content to make sure it’s completely on brand, and proposes an opinion you’re willing to support. Posts linking to third-party content tend to get more clicks. Realistically, the best content on the web probably comes from large media organizations with high brand recognition, so it makes sense that links from smaller sites might not have as many clicks. Content Creation and Content Curation: The Sweet Spot Many effective strategies apply a mix of each of these. Businesses can supplement some original content with content from third parties in order to help keep the original content flowing. This is a solid balance between the struggles of maintaining original content and the more passive engagement of curating content. In terms of conversions, companies that balance both types of content seem to generate the most conversions, according to Convince and Convert.[quote]Simply curating content doesn’t do enough to generate interest in your own brand, while creating all your own content comes across as self-promotion.[/quote] Companies should aim to link to others’content 50-75% of the time. This means that in additional to posting original content on your feeds, you should also be following your favorite companies, brands and influencers, and be willing to share their ideas in order to help your business become a go-to spot for the most current and up-to-date content in your industry. The team at our Orlando ad agency can show you numerous ways to use content to help generate conversions for your business. Contact us, and let us show help show you the sweet spot for content creation and curation that will help generate the most conversions.
How to Maximize Budgets with Website Testing Tools
If you’ve been working in marketing for a while, you probably understand the importance of testing, at least on a theoretical level. When it comes to all things digital, website testing can help you optimize all your processes. But in the real world, when is there ever time to test? Unfortunately, failing to test means you’re relying on blind chance that your marketing plan will work. By failing to take the time to test your strategy in order to improve it, you could be costing your company tons of time and resources. At our Orlando marketing agency, we believe testing is one of the most important aspects of marketing, yet I see many marketers that allocate only a fraction of their budgeted resources to testing. If you’re not testing your marketing strategies, then you are missing out on chances to greatly optimize and improve your marketing and advertising activities. If you haven’t already, I implore you to sign your business up for Google Analytics. It is incredibly easy to sign up for Google Analytics, and companies that have not already implemented this data are at a disadvantage in understanding their audiences, user activities and the effectiveness of their marketing strategy. Then, start changing things on your websites to see if you can notice improvements. Does simply changing the verbiage of a call to action increase your site’s conversion rate? You’ll never know unless you test! Engagement metrics such as pages-per-visit, time on page and micro-conversions are great for measuring your whether people are investing their time and energy into your content strategy. Setting up goals is a great way to help track what you’re doing. This can be an email metric, an actual financial conversion or filling out a lead form. And, if you aren’t seeing results, then try making minor adjustments to the site content to see what helps.[quote]Sometimes something as simple as changing the color of a call to action button on a landing page can help to increase clicks.[/quote] Facebook also shares data about the demographics of your users, and by pulling out the demographic data from Facebook it becomes easier to design a comprehensive content strategy. Sharing metrics can also help gage the effectiveness of individual pieces of content. Compare something humorous to something simply informative. Do you see a difference in response? If so, then perhaps you’re learning that your readers’tastes, and knowing what resonates with your audience can help improve your conversions over time. You can also help boost the reach of your content by investing in your content marketing. Promoted tweets and sponsored stories are great ways to amplify your efforts. Extremely focused keywords can be very cheap, leading to a very cheep per-visit rate. These stories should be interesting, rather than self-promotional. As much as possible, it should seem thoughtful and organic. Test these by trying variations of different posts, and see which ones maximize results. Most platforms that offer promoted options also offer analytics to help review the effectiveness of your paid media. In testing the effectiveness of your marketing, marketers should also plan to invest in A/B testing. A/B testing involves replicating the exact same test, with a single variable that looks different to different audiences. Ideally, it works best to try only one variable at a time, but we know that in the fast-paced world of marketing, that’s not always possible. Still, any insights you glean from A/B testing can help validate ideas about how your audience reacts to different messaging and imagery. One of the easiest places to start A/B testing is with email marketing. MailChimp.com and ConstantContact.com both make A/B testing easy. Failure to test can cost companies thousands of dollars per year. By making sure you content is optimized for your audience, you can persuade even more people to use your product or invest in your service. At our averting agency in Orlando, we believe that if you want to be the best, you have to test! The resources it takes to test early on can help save your company money in the long-term. BIGEYE offers a plethora of website testing services including website conversion optimization where we can help you to establish goals, launch A/B testing, deliver monthly reporting and analysis and more. Contact us today to get started!
6 things to Look For When Selecting Email Marketing Services
Recently, a entrepreneur reached out to me, seeking my opinion on the best email marketing services for his business. It would have been easy to offer up a few answers and tell him to just choose the cheapest option —but at our Florida advertising agency, we’re also strategists, and we know there’s much more to it then choosing the company that’s offering the cheapest deal right off the bat. In this case, this business owner was in need of advice to assist his startup with a small email list. His plan: to generate messaging via a weekly or monthly email newsletter. Sounds simple enough, right? Many people would have directed him immediately to MailChimp, an email marketing service that offers its services for free for up to 2,000 subscribers and up to 12,000 emails a month. And, indeed, MailChimp would be the best service had he been looking to never grow beyond 2,000 subscribers. But we’re marketers, and we know that one of the goals of initiating an email marketing plan is to gain quality new subscribers. There’s a reason MailChimp operates under a freemium business model —its team knows that once you’ve put in the work to build your email list up to more than 2,000 people, you aren’t likely to swap email marketing services because you’ve already taken so much time to learn all of MailChimp’s features. [quote]When deciding which email marketing service works for your business, it’s important to think long-term.[/quote]Where do you expect your business to be in a year? In five years? If you’re a growing commerce business with a popular product, it’s likely that you’ll have well over 2,000 subscribers within the year. So, which email marketing service is best for your business? Well, it depends on your business needs. Many of the email marketing services offer free trials, so it’s worth it to sign up with those and do some investigating on your own. That said, we understand it isn’t always realistic to do months of testing to choose an email marketing service. Here are 6 essentials to look for when investigating the most appropriate email marketing service: 1. Templates: How easy is it to build a sleek, well-designed email? And, once you have that template, how difficult is it to optimize it? If you find yourself wasting valuable time trying to work out the kinks, then you might need to go with a different provider. 2. Analytics: What kinds of analytic data can the service give you about your customers? And, how easy it is to navigate the numbers? Does the tool offer suggestions to help you improve those metrics? Be sure to have a baseline familiarity with the service provider’s analytic features before you commit to the provider. 3. Mobile Optimization: How do your emails look when someone opens them on mobile or tablet? In some industries, more than 50% of email opens are on mobile or tablet (and that number is growing every day). 4. Service: How does the email marketing service support its customers? Even as a marketing pro, you probably still don’t know as much about email marketing than the team that handles your business’s email marketing. That’s why customer service is essential —an email marketing service with pro coaching can help you optimize your emails to get optimal conversion rates. 5. Pricing Plans: Which service provider can give you the most bang for your buck? Because there are so many variances in features and capabilities, it’s important to think long-term rather than going with the cheapest option. Figure out your goals, and then choose the best solution to help you reach them. 6. Ability to Grow: As your business continues to grow and evolve, you’ll become aware of the need for more and more features. Some email marketing service providers remain in close contact with their clients, adding new features regularly to keep up with changes in the email marketing landscape. While we don’t want to advocate for any email marketing service that may not be right for your business needs, here are a few worth checking out. Constant Contact Boomerang MailChimp iContact Aweber Campaign Monitor Are there other things you look for when selecting an email marketing service? The team at our Orlando marketing agency wants to know! Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Unleashing the Power of LinkedIn for Business Development
It’s no secret that LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable networking tool. However, like all social channels, LinkedIn isn’t simply about the number of connections. Business owners that know how to leverage LinkedIn can build it into their business development strategies, helping them to create strategic partnerships with people who have compelling experience or interesting skills to help grow the business. Business owners who want to use LinkedIn for business development efforts may accomplish this in a variety of ways. LinkedIn offers areas for sponsored content, which means that if you can provide interesting content specific to your industry, you can use paid LinkedIn marketing to grow your business and your personal brand by solidifying yourself as a thought leader in your area of expertise. However, while paid placements can be tremendously valuable, the platform is really about the engagement.[quote]It’s more than simply posting updates and interesting articles, though that’s a great starting point.[/quote] If you want to be truly effective at using LinkedIn, it’s important to incorporate it into your overall business development initiatives. [featured] Check out the ads and marketing campaigns we’ve done for our loyal clients. Get ready to have your mind blown. [/featured] One of the easiest ways to get started using LinkedIn to help grow business is to develop a strategy. This way, you can create goals and desired outcomes, and can even create a playbook of best practices. Because LinkedIn is a professional social media outlet, as opposed to Facebook or Twitter, which are designed more for general interest, it’s easy to overlook the effectiveness of creating a LinkedIn campaign the way you’d create a Facebook or Twitter campaign. But, if you’re planning to attend a conference soon, you can develop a creative LinkedIn campaign to do outreach, with an attempt to set up meetings prior to the conference or introduce yourself to noted speakers. Or, if you’re pushing out a new product, you can reach out to your network on LinkedIn for feedback and validation. Hearing from people in your related field can prove much more valuable than the feedback you might get from friends and family. Active involvement with LinkedIn groups and engagement with your favorite companies is a great way to make the most of LinkedIn. In using LinkedIn as an effective business development tool, it’s important to consider the value proposition you’re offering. You don’t want to waste anyone’s time, and this holds especially true if you’re reaching out to a person in a powerful position to help you achieve your business goals. If you’re asking someone for a meeting, think about what you can offer him or her. Is it as simple as a cup of coffee, or can you offer to introduce that person to someone else who might be in a position to help them? Having an idea in mind of how you can help them is a great way to facilitate contact, and creates a more tailored experience than just a sales pitch. Like any campaign, using LinkedIn as an outreach tool requires testing and optimization. Experiment with InMail subject lines and outreach strategies. Creating goals can help you measure the success of your campaign, and can help you revise future campaigns to make them more effective. If you’re having trouble managing your contacts due to the sheer breadth of them, look into using tools such as Contactually to help store and manage your contacts. This program provides easy ways to keep in touch, so that your contacts remain on your “hot leads” list until you close a deal. Contact our team of strategists today for more LinkedIn expertise!
