Category: Real Time Monitoring & Tracking

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Media & Analytics Multi-Family Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
real time marketing scaled 1
real time marketing scaled 1

By adroitly executing a real-time marketing strategy, property managers can decrease vacancies without breaking the marketing budget.

The velocity of online communication has never been more accelerated. Today’s hilarious memes or social trends typically curdle into irrelevance or irritation within a few days. Today’s breaking news comes faster than ever — and is forgotten about almost as quickly.

This is a significant challenge for marketers, who must do their best to stay fresh, relevant and vital. Real time marketing helps solve this problem by using breaking news — and emerging online trends and conversations — as a springboard for targeted and timely marketing campaigns.

Let’s take a closer look at how real-time marketing can be deployed in property management, and how marketing analytics can help determine the best way to implement such a strategy.

Real time marketing and your apartment complex: a hypothetical case study

Let’s assume you’re the manager of a 1,000 unit multi-family property. Your tenancy rate is hovering around 85% and has been bouncing between 80% and 90% for the last two years. You’re seeking a new way to push it closer to 100%, and you believe a change in marketing strategy is the best way to achieve this.

Years ago, you considered incorporating real-time elements into your marketing strategy. Yet you decided against it, as the challenges seemed to outweigh the benefits. Tracking news developments and identifying the ones likeliest to resonate was a laborious job. The need to act quickly on breaking news created high levels of reputational risk, as brands raced to get marketing content out with limited context about the news they were leveraging. Additionally, you have limited tools for gauging the impact of your efforts. It seemed much simpler to pursue a conventional approach.

Today, however, you discover that the real time marketing landscape has shifted considerably. Social media, social listening tools, real time analytics and the use of a digital marketing dashboard made the process of monitoring and measuring media and marketing campaigns vastly easier. New marketing tools made it simple to build data-informed buyer personas and to connect these profiles with targeted, real time messages. These tools also allow you to closely track conversations and engagement on social media, giving you unprecedented insight into how conversations ebb and flow in real time.

Armed with these tools, you devise a real time strategy built around four elements:

  • The initiating event. What development is the impetus for real time marketing? This could be breaking news, a popular meme or pre-planned triggers such as holidays. In the case of an apartment complex, you’re looking for any event that can be related in some way to property leasing. It might be a news story that talks about the rising cost of interest rates, or a lack of affordable housing in the area.
  • The real time target. This helps you define who you’re trying to reach with this real time marketing message. Customers who fit certain demographics? Customers in specific locations? Customers with a search history that aligns with your property or the real time development you’re tracking?
  • The plan of attack. How are you going to send your message in real time? Social media? Text? Email etc.?
  • Objectives and measurements. What’s your ultimate goal? More sales? Higher brand awareness? In this case, you’re trying to increase tenancy rates. By defining objectives and tracking apartment marketing campaigns with real time analytics, you can determine how effective and engaging your messages are — a leading indicator for how much or little you’ll ultimately increase your tenancy rate.

The end result? You run the campaign, supported by social marketing tools and analytics. By following the four point plan, you generate much greater traction among your targeted audience by serving them timely and relevant messages that benefit from increased visibility thanks to their real time hook. Within three months, the tenancy rate has broken through to 95%. 

Adding real time marketing to your property marketing mix

Property rental is big business — generating roughly $4.5 trillion over the last decade. The business, however, is likely to grow more competitive. Tenancy rates have been propped up by a lack of new inventory coming online in recent years, as builders have not kept pace with population growth. That’s expected to change, however: The National Association of Home Builders projects multi-family construction growth to rise 4% in 2021, after a decade of remaining stuck at around 1%. Why? Because as more millennials and Gen Z renters and buyers enter the market, inventory will need to grow significantly. This means property managers will need tools such as real time marketing to keep tenancy rates at the desired level.

Sometimes working with a third-party agency with expertise in real time marketing is the best way to approach this.

Working with a real time marketing expert

At Bigeye, we help property developers and manager create the kind of real time campaigns that engage audiences and fill buildings. If you need help crafting your next marketing campaign, don’t wait to contact us.

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Audience Consumer Journey Mapping Digital Targeting Services Insights Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
Agency Blog
Agency Blog

Advertising is all about making a product or service known and this service is usually accomplished by the individual himself or by a marketing agency. Having the passion and creative talent to build and manage an advertising agency is one thing, however to stay in business; you have to learn how to market your advertising agency as well, not just your clients.

The first thing in marketing your business is to make sure that you plan and develop ways to reach your target audience, which is usually companies and businesses that will want to advertise their products or services by using your expertise in advertising. Though you will often use networking and different media such as radio, television and the internet, your efforts will usually work best if you create space for yourself in a particular advertising medium by specializing in one or two advertising media and by developing a presence in this area.

For example, if you are running an ad agency in Orlando or a marketing agency in Florida, you will want to focus primarily on businesses in Orlando. You can even narrow down your search to only radio networks, television networks or internet advertising depending on your expertise.

Your business needs to have a unique identity. You need to give it a name and a description that sets it apart from other advertising agencies. You should try to describe yourself in a way that sets you apart as unique and professional, and communicate how advertising with you will bring more value to your customers just by adding themselves to your network. Be creative!

While in this process, you also have to identify who your potential client is and in doing so you will easily know where to locate them and engage with them either directly or indirectly to learn more about your business and to take interest in your offers.

For marketing efforts that are localized, as in the case of Orlando ad agencies as mentioned in the example above, localizing your marketing efforts does make sense. However if your company is looking to reach a worldwide audience, and also planning to go international, then you do not have to leave any avenues untouched. The larger you are able to spread your net, the greater the possibility of catching new business. You should be positioned to try satellite television, magazines, newspapers, radio, social media, and even other non-traditional media.

However, you will need to research each medium appropriately in order to find out where your target population is and then focus on this niche for maximum effect so you dowaste your resources.

Going online can easily bring you to a worldwide audience, and to keep in touch, you will need to be constantly supplying keywords and new content. Spread your reaches by sharing in advertising networks where you can put your adverts on certain networks and pay a commission or post links and adverts on certain networks who in return will also post adverts on your site. You can also work through social media platforms to create links and make new customers.

Are you in need of a comprehensive approach to determine which solutions best meet the needs of your clientele? Contact our advertising agency’s team of strategists to identify your perfect marketing mix.

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Creative & Production Media & Analytics Paid Search Real Time Monitoring & Tracking Search Engine Optimization Voice Development Website Development
Chatbot observations from a full service advertising agency 1200x600 c default
Chatbot observations from a full service advertising agency 1200x600 c default

Chatbots are little computer programs designed to engage in lifelike, real-time conversation with humans, typically on a company’s website or on social media platforms. If you spend any time shopping on the web, you’ve probably chatted with a bot, whether you knew you were or not.

With ongoing advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the chatbots’ “people skills” are getting pretty impressive. That’s why more companies are starting to take advantage of them to beef up their “human” workforce without actually adding any humans. Businesses are getting a big boost in productivity by letting chatbots handle initial interactions with prospects and customers. In fact, according to a study by Oracle, 80% of marketing and sales leaders say their organizations already use chatbots or will by 2020, making a partnership with a full-service advertising agency more valuable.

As a digital marketing agency that helps companies grow sales by attracting more visitors to their website, we’re thrilled about the power of chatbots to enhance the customer experience. And, we see huge potential for human/AI interactions from our work with clients in providing voice engineering services.

In efforts to emphasize the increasing implementation of chatbots, here are a number of ways that chatbots are changing the marketing and sales landscape:

24/7/365 availability and prompt answers

Chatbots don’t sleep, don’t need breaks, and don’t take vacations. They are absolute workaholics and are available to answer questions around the clock. That’s a significant advantage in our ever-more-global economy and with people who have expectations of getting the information they need when they need it.

Proactive customer service

Even as a full-service advertising agency we recognize that interactions with human customer service agents are usually reactive; the website visitor asks a question and the staff member replies. Chatbots can be programmed to be proactive. They can offer help when they detect indicators that the visitor is confused or is interested in a particular product or service and ready to “talk” about it.

Freeing humans for other tasks

With chatbots handling initial inquiries, human workers can focus on higher-level tasks, and in the process grow their careers and contribute more to the company’s bottom line.

Zero errors

Chatbots answer questions accurately every time. Where a human worker might occasionally make a mistake in explaining a promotion, resolving a problem resolution, etc., your faithful chatbot will only share the information that you’ve carefully programmed into it!

Perfectly calm demeanor

Everyone knows that customer service can be a little… let’s say… challenging. But while humans might eventually lose their cool with a particularly grumpy prospect or customer, a chatbot never will.

Easier and more complete data collection

Nobody likes to be faced with a form of seemingly endless fields when they need to provide information. Chatbots can get the required data in a conversational manner that feels less like work for the site visitor. This includes reminders about missing information or explanations about what a particular piece of data is or why it’s needed.

Wondering how chatbots can figure into your marketing efforts, customer service plans, and help drive greater success? We’re a full-service advertising agency that loves to talk artificial intelligence! Contact our team today to learn more. (We promise you’ll reach us and not a chatbot!)

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Audience Audience Analysis Branding Consumer Insights Conversion Optimization Digital Targeting Services Identity Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
3 Tools every brand strategy agency uses to increase conversion 1 1 1200x600 c default
3 Tools every brand strategy agency uses to increase conversion 1 1 1200x600 c default

A strong brand strategy agency knows there are a few tried and tested tools that will boost conversions across every industry. At BIGEYE, we pride ourselves on championing multi-channel marketing so our clients can meet their customers’ needs on any device, across any platform, and raise the collective benchmark for digital marketing best practices. These are the three tools we use to help our clients transform their  brand within months – guaranteed.

1. Segmentation is more important than ever

While content is still king, a one-size fits all model will quickly overthrow the throne. Partner with a brand strategy agency like BIGEYE to fully understand your audience and the different segments shopping for your products. Create custom content for each segment and use tokenization, analytics tagging, social sign on, or self-identification to recognize and adapt to your site visitors by serving them content relevant to their needs. This will increase customer loyalty and boost the likelihood for conversion. Segmentation will also help you understand what types of customers are most valuable so you can budget your marketing dollars around their potential.

2.Invest in omni-channel marketing

It is rare for a customer to enter the marketing funnel and complete a conversion in the same visit, or on the same device. Investing in an omni-channel marketing strategy allows you to anticipate the natural jump your visitors will make between devices and across channels throughout their customer journey.

In addition to anticipating your customers’ needs and increasing the likelihood of being able to serve compelling content, retarget, and ultimately convert your site traffic, omni-channel customer engagement also boosts retention, which can increase your lifetime value and returning site traffic. According to Invesp, brands with omni-channel engagement retrain 89% of their customers compared to 33% for companies who do not invest in this strategy.

3.Don’t make assumptions about your competition or your customers

When clients ask us why a brand strategy agency will help them succeed, we often highlight assumptions they may be making about their competitions or their customers. It’s natural for product and brand leaders to make assumptions based on their own experience using their products day by day. Having a fresh pair of eyes set up the a/b testing, seek answers, and translate data into actionable insights is one of the most valuable outputs of working with an agency.

Amp up your conversions by working with a brand strategy agency today. Contact our team of experts to learn more about how we have helped brands like yours grow and scale for success.

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Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
biometric targeting filtered
biometric targeting filtered

Biometric measurements are being used by some of today’s most savvy and forward thinking marketers. You’ve probably even experienced biometric marketing without thinking twice about it. Think: Snapchat’s facial filters that conveniently transport you into a cool, new nightclub or morph your face into the villain from this Halloween’s creepiest thriller. Those are all biometric marketing techniques to get you to notice and connect deeper with a brand or product.
At BIGEYE, we believe it’s important to stay ahead of the competition because you simply can’t reach everyone at once. Instead, by engaging with those you do, you’ll boost chances of creating a meaningful and mutually beneficial customer relationship. Here’s how you can start preparing for the increasing use of biometric marketing:

HOW YOU CAN USE BIOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS TODAY:

There are a few easy ways to use biometric measurements to your advantage today. The amazing part is that these tools are highly effective, but relatively low tech to implement.

1. Eye tracking software: Eye tracking monitors the movement and focus of users eyes as it relates to various pictures, products, or website elements. Scientists have been able to create an eye tracking algorithm over the years. It mimics what the average eye will do when scanning your advertisement or website. Companies, such as EyeQuant, are able to scan your creative assets with 80-90% accuracy and highlight what the average user would focus on. You can even adjust the filter to see what a first time visitor might look at versus what a brand-familiar user might focus on. Eye tracking helps you highlight issues with your user experience and information architecture quickly and easily in order to prioritize your creative updates. This is especially helpful for website testing and quick site fixes.

2. Body language and facial expression analysis: These tools aren’t just helpful in criminal investigations. Body language and facial expression analysis allow marketers to understand the emotional response to your creative assets. This qualitative insight can help you understand whether what customers are feeling matches what they say, and capture first impressions. One of the easiest and best ways to accomplish this is by hiring a biometric expert to sit in on a focus group experience. You can ask a small group of customers or would be customers to participate in a focus group. There your face and body language expert assesses their responses and behavior.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR BIOMETRIC MONITORING:

If you’re in the tourism and hospitality, retail, or security industry, staying on the cutting edge of biometric monitoring is especially important. These industries rely on our ability to accurately understand and identify human emotion or behavior. As biometric monitoring becomes more routine, it will help dramatically improve and enhance the customer service experience. Biometric monitoring allows us to anticipate our customers’ needs and serve them experiences they will genuinely enjoy.

Click here for more insight into the types of forward-thinking tools we think your business can’t live without.

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Banking Branding Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
Online Reputation Management in the Bank Industry 1200x600 c default
Online Reputation Management in the Bank Industry 1200x600 c default

Social media is an important channel of interactive, two-way messaging for many industries, and banking and financial institutions stand to greatly benefit from using this medium to help distribute information. Although social media outlets provide opportunities for banks to engage with current and potential customers, there are also obstacles that banks must overcome to implement a successful social media strategy. One of the most complex issues facing financial institutions in this realm is that of online reputation management.

While some banks seem to be behind the times when it comes to adopting social media and new technologies, it is not always because of a lack of desire to integrate them. Rather, these financial instructions face a number of challenges in the area of digital reputation management, namely in facilitating a large volume of comments – and not all of them positive.

One major challenge in managing the client feedback issue is the allocation of resources dedicated to social media management. Limited resources pose an even greater challenge to a company that has so many client-facing interactions in touchy circumstances. For instance, a person who has just learned that his bank has foreclosed on his home might direct his angry tirade at the financial institution. This situation has the potential to lead to a very public outburst on social media. This customer service orientation skews the purpose of instituting a successful social media program.

Even in cases where banks might have the allocated resources to maintain control of customer relationships via social media, another threat to implementation of a successful program pertains to federal and state regulation. In this regard, there are numerous stipulations in place as to what can, and what cannot, be done on social media. In fact, it’s so highly regulated, that in some financial service industries, these companies are forbidden from “liking” others’ content, as it may be considered an endorsement. Along the same lines, in some cases banks cannot “share” content unless it has been vetted for regulatory purposes by a professional association.

[quote]With so many legal and regulatory mandates in place to how social media managers may address certain issues, these efforts can become more complicated than in other industries.[/quote]

Luckily, banks are not without options. For instance, they can implement social media listening to help inform them of customer service issues before they become larger, unmanageable issues. One approach is to integrate a plan that encourages positive feedback and reviews, which has potential to catch fire and become contagious among the audience.

In fact, the team at BIGEYE’s Orlando marketing agency has significant experience in working with financial institutions to help develop their social media marketing campaigns, incorporating strategies for digital reputation management as a component of the plan. Through ongoing digital research and strategic planning, we can help your bank address these needs to implement a successful social media initiative, while keeping in mind resource management to implement cost-effective solutions.

If you’re interested in learning more about how BIGEYE’s social media team can offer valuable insights to grow your business’ reach through proactive social media measures, please contact us for a consultation, and to learn more about our services.

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Audience Branding Consumer Insights Consumer Journey Mapping Digital Targeting Services Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking Strategy & Positioning
Increasing Income Outcomes Tips for Financial Marketers
Increasing Income Outcomes Tips for Financial Marketers

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:

Strategy Prioritization Matrix

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.

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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.

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Entertainment Media & Analytics Media Planning and Buying Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
The 3.5 Million Question Why Superbowl Ads Are On the Money 1200x600 c default
The 3.5 Million Question Why Superbowl Ads Are On the Money 1200x600 c default

Here’s a list of things that cost $3.5 million:
Lunch with Warren Buffet

A Resort-Style Home in Paradise Valley, Arizona

Living to 100 Years Old

Lena Dunham’s Book Deal

One Thirty-Second Advertising Spot During the Superbowl

When considering what else you can get for $3.5 million a Superbowl ad may not seem as alluring as a gorgeous new mansion.  But, it’s probably at least as good of an investment as Lena Dunham’s book deal (in order to recoup, she’ll have to sell as many copies of her book as Tina Fey’s best-seller Bossypants has sold to date).  And, as much as we love the business of business, I doubt Warren himself would approve of spending $3.5 just to eat some caviar with him when you can read an interview on the Internet for free.

A 30-second Superbowl spot offers almost unlimited business growth opportunity. In 2012, 111.3 million people watched the Giants defeat the Patriots. The magic of the Superbowl is that is appeals to a broad demographic, which is why advertisers don’t bat an eye at spending such excessive sums. Men, women, children and teens all watch – some of them watch just to see the commercials.

But what other television event do people watch just to see the commercials? Make a truly funny one, and in addition to 111.3 million impressions, it can lead to thousands of interactions on Twitter and Facebook, and can garner you tons of free publicity in the blogs and newspapers the next day.  Through the commercial itself, you can encourage your visitors to become Twitter followers and to like your brand on Facebook for exclusive content.  In theory, your $3.5 million investment could lead to more than 350 million (or more) interactions and impressions – 100 impressions per every single dollar spent on your ad spot.

These days, a Superbowl ad is no longer just an ad.  It’s a marketing opportunity; a way to reach out to a broad demographic through an entire campaign, through which an ad spot is just one outlet.  A Superbowl spot is guaranteed exposure, which not even network television can guarantee in this day of DVR technology (if your Superbowl party host DVRs the game instead of watching it in real time, our Orlando marketing agency suggests you come to our party next year instead!).

[quote]

Check out the ads and marketing campaigns we’ve done for our loyal clients. Get ready to have your mind blown.

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No matter which team you’re rooting for this year, pay close attention to the ad messaging in the commercials.  Which major brands message a call to action?  Which entice you to purchase their products, like, now?  And which are utterly forgettable or downright bad? Even if you don’t have $3.5 million, you can still use these ideas as a guide to developing your own media and content strategy.

At our Florida advertising agency, we believe that the Superbowl is prime time for the best of the best in our industry shine.  While there may be some fumbles, most companies are bound to score touchdowns with their Superbowl ad campaigns. As an Orlando video production company, we love watching the commercials.

Which are your favorite Superbowl Ads of all time?

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Digital Targeting Services Healthcare Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
With physician marketing ask the right questions
With physician marketing ask the right questions

One of the best things a hospital marketer can do is show genuine knowledge of and respect for physicians’ duties and responsibilities by learning about the service line. This shows a demonstrated commitment to service, and will allow the marketing team to adequately address physician’s concerns with competence. When the marketing team meets with physicians, they should conduct this meeting with the answers to the following questions and concepts in mind.

WHAT’S THE BUSINESS PROBLEM?

As discussed in our Florida advertising agency whitepaper on physician marketing, physicians often come forward with the solutions, without ever addressing the actual problem. If the physicians are unable to properly articulate the underlying issues, follow a rule of thumb and ask them why they think such solutions will be effective. [quote] The physicians’ responses may offer some insights into the true underlying issues, which will help the teams in their efforts to work together to create the most practical solutions.[/quote]

WHAT’S OUR POINT OF DIFFERENCE? WHY CHOOSE US?

A common problem in marketing settings is that companies attempt to appeal to the masses, rather than targeting specific niches that may be specifically interested in the business’s services or offerings. In identifying the specialists’ differentiators, the physicians and marketing team are able to begin to create a selling focus. These differentiators provide specific incentives for individuals in the community to elect this particular hospital, as opposed to others in the community. If there are numerous differentiators, it is important to target and tout those where success makes the most financial sense, such as a practice area expertise or a new state-of-the-art facility.

WHAT’S STANDING IN THE WAY OF SUCCESS?

By defining impediments to success, the teams are able to work through them in order to determine practical and efficient solutions. If there are barriers that need to be addressed, defining them can help the teams prioritize them and offer solutions for combating these roadblocks. Sometimes specialists have operational issues that are standing in the way. For instance, their office doesn’t have appropriate scheduling software, or their office location is hard to find. These are operational issues that come to surface when marketing discussions begin.

WHAT’S WORKED BEFORE?

Many businesses rely on data sets because they offer insight into what’s worked in previous marketing initiatives. Focusing on the positive, rather than the negative, allows the hospitals to achieve repeated success in marketing efforts by replicating successful past projects. Physicians may be able to relay stories of past successes that can lead decision-making. Remember, many physicians think of their practice as their own business, and can take a lot of pride of ownership in it. Their historical perspective is relevant.

Check out our whitepaper on Marketing to Meet Hospital Business Objectives,
While Keeping Physicians Happy

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Conversion Optimization Media & Analytics Real Time Monitoring & Tracking
Its Not So Black and White New Insights about Black Friday 1200x600 c default
Its Not So Black and White New Insights about Black Friday 1200x600 c default

Years ago, Black Friday marked the day when stores would stop operating at a loss for the year, and would enter “the black” in terms of the year’s sales.  Merchants and their employees would leak deals to consumers to lure them into stores with special offers.  This was all done in an effort to clear inventory in preparation for holiday sales, where the companies made a high percentage of their sales for the year while people spent money in anticipation of the holidays.

But Black Friday doesn’t operate like that anymore.  These days, Black Friday is more of a kickoff signal for shoppers to begin a month-long holiday spending spree.  Deals that used to only last during the 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. regular brick-and-mortar store hours have moved online, and may last through the weekend and into the following week, with an event called Cyber Monday.  (The original theory there is that while people had off on Black Friday after Thanksgiving and could visit the stores in person, Cyber Monday served to capitalize on peoples’ Monday morning shopping habits when they returned to work and were sitting in front of their computers).

Today, Black Friday is more of a ritual to get people into a spending mindset.  And spend, they do… Black Friday weekend in 2012 racked up $52.4 billion for merchants across the country.

If your company is planning to take part in Black Friday, then our Florida Advertising Agency has some ideas to help you make the most of it.

First, all businesses should know that it is typically cheaper and more cost-effective to run an online campaign than a print one.  Companies must plan print campaigns months in advance, and must pay for advertising space in their local publications.  On the other hand, these companies can build online campaigns in mere hours with no printing fees, and such campaigns have the capacity to reach far more people.

If you do opt to run an online campaign over Black Friday weekend, it’s also important to know what you’re up against.  You are in competition against a large number of massive Internet retailers (think Amazon, for starters), many of whom attract buyers through free shipping.  But as we all know, the Internet is a big place, and is big enough for all types of commerce.  Address this by developing a creative and attention-getting marketing strategy.  If you need some ideas, don’t hesitate to contact our Florida marketing agency so that we can help you get your gears turning.

Finally, if you want to make the most of Black Friday, you don’t need to put all your eggs in one basket.  Continuing to run sales through the holiday season will help you clear your inventory and drive sales throughout the New Year.  A mix of online and in-person discounts will help drive a diverse group of people to your store both online and in-person.

Black Friday can be a big moneymaker for your business.  It provides a platform for innovative marketing opportunities at both your retail location and at your store.  As the BIGEYE team gears up for another Black Friday to help drive commerce throughout the United States, we wish you the best of luck with sales.  And of course, happy shopping!

See how we can revolutionize your digital marketing strategy.