Radio vs Digital Marketing

Pros and cons of Radio and Digital Marketing

What is the most effective form of marketing for your company? Digital marketing vs Radio marketing? Well that’s really a question only you can answer, but here I will break down some pros and cons of each medium to make that decision easier.

Radio vs Digital Marketing

Pros:

Radio:
  • A proof advertising on radio is that you can target a specific audience with your ad. Radio stations often have a specific demographic that it caters to. If your target demographic matches the one a radio station serves to, then you can easily reach by purchasing ad spots on the station.
  • With the right timing, radio advertising can be relatively cheap. If you know the demographics your targeting and what station cater to it, advertising during off times can be cheap and effective.
  • A radio ad is more personal than an internet banner ad. With radio, you can tell stories, personally talk to the listener, which makes you more memorable and favorably received.
  • Advertisements can be easily made. Radio ads can be as simple as a 30-second copy you pay the radio station to read for you. The more produced your ad is, the better returns you’ll find, but simple is still effective.
  • Since radio ads are relatively easy to produce, the turnover time on ads can be quick. Going from idea to finished ad on air can be a short process if it’s not overly complicated of an ad.
Digital:
  • Digital marketing can reach a massive audience. The internet is a global infrastructure, and buying ad space on the web can reach a global audience.
  • When you advertise online, you have faster response rates to your service. When someone sees an ad that his helpful to them, they’ll often go immediately to that website. If you answer their problem, then you’ll have their business rather quickly.
  • Helps you expand your customer service. If you advertise or have a presence through social media then you can interact with customers at a near-instantaneous rate. Answer a customer concern, posting an update on your page, or responding to a comment builds a relationship with customers and brings you into a favorable light in their minds. Relationships mean repeat business and brand loyalty which can drive future sales.
  • Online marketing is fast. It doesn’t always have to be a banner ad or a side ad designed professionally. Sometimes just posting a promotion on your social media is enough to get people talking about your company. Just Chipotle tweeting something like “free burritos today” or something of that sort, will see interactions with their brand rise exponentially for that day

 

Cons:

Radio:
  • Radio spots during peak hours can be expensive because stations know they reach the most people. There is a reason for the price, as these spots are the most effective ones and where you’ll see the most return on your money, but they’re expensive nonetheless.
  • Not every product will thrive on the radio. Certain products and services either can’t be sold on audio alone. Services that answer problems listeners might be facing on their drive home from work do the best with radio advertising. This is especially true for places like restaurants that answer the question “What’s for dinner?” Keep in mind that when you decide to advertise on radio
  • Some radio listeners block out the radio or change the channel when ads come on. This is hardly surprising, people use the radio as background noise, or only want to listen to music, no matter the music. When the ads come on they’re either not listening or they change the channel and don’t even hear your ad. Repetition is one way to fight this, and is essential for any successful radio campaign, read this post to learn more about it!
Digital:
  • Digital marketing is going to take up a lot of your time to keep up with it. Staying on top of all the comments and questions, and making sure your social media is up to date and engaging with your customer base can be a time drain. It may not be expensive to start a digital campaign, but it can sure take up your time during the day.
  • You lose some control. When you advertise on digital platforms, and especially on social media platforms, you’re at the mercy of those platforms. Algorithms can bury your ad if it doesn’t create enough interaction (or if you didn’t pay enough) which creates a negative feedback loop, just pushing it down. If a site or platform goes down for whatever reason, then you no longer have it to advertise on, and if you lose internet service or power for a day, then you’re no longer able to engage with your customer base.
  • First impressions matter more here than in some other places. You have mere seconds to leave a favorable impression on someone online, if you fail then they’ll move on and forget about you. You have to be captivating and enjoyable in those first few instances, which can be difficult to get right.
  • There can also be some negative reactions online. Some people can be annoyed with your ads, sometimes they might feel wronged by you for whatever reason, or they can just be there to mess with you. This is a fact of working on the internet, and can sometimes have a negative impact on your perception online if not handled properly.

Conclusion: Radio vs Digital Marketing?

There are a lot of pros and cons to both sides of this argument. Ultimately, both forms of marketing have their advantages, and thus their place in any marketing campaign. Which one you do is entirely dependent on your company, your product or service, and what you can afford to do. Both can be successful, and both can fail, making sure you understand the pros and cons of both will help you avoid the later. For more information or help with either form of marketing, contact us here!

The Basics of Typography

typography

Words are an important part of our lives. We use them on a daily basis. We type them on computers, write them on paper, and speak them to each other. With all this being said, we can assume that words are also important in advertising. It’s almost important how you present these words. Here we are going to breakdown the basics of typography, and how to use it.

Typography is a term that refers to the style, arrangement, or appearance of typeset. It is the font, the bolds, the italics, the size of the text, and the layout you choose.

Readability is the most important part of any print or web media. And choosing the right background, the right font, and the right font color are all vital to this. Avoid textured or busy backgrounds. These are both distracting and make the text hard to read. Keep the contrast between the background and text high, as the more contrast there is, the easier it is to read. Also, keep good spacing on your page, don’t bunch up your text as it makes it harder and more frustrating to read. Too small of text can be frustrating for readers and may end up driving people away from your copy. Finally, use contrast throughout your page. The contrast between colors, but also contrast between sizes and images on the page. Larger text is a good way to direct attention to certain topics of the page.

Font

Choosing the right font is an important decision to make. There are two different types of fonts. Serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have little tails on the letters, and stroke lengths change through letters. An example of serif fonts is Times New Roman.

Sans Serif, or “without” serifs, fonts do not have the tails on letters, and stroke lengths are consistent throughout the letters. An example of sans serif is Arial.

Serif fonts are considered by consumers to be more traditional. They represent the structure and a sense of establishment. Sans serif fonts, however, represent more modern sensibilities. They represent a more casual setting.

Differences between Serif and Sans Serif font
Display vs Text

The next two distinctions between fonts are the differences between display and text fonts

Display fonts are meant to draw attention to themselves. They’re bold and guide the eye across the advertisement. They might be stylized, they might not be, but most are not supposed to be read for more than a few words. Think about any Coca-Cola ad you’ve ever seen. The Coca-Cola logo is iconic, whenever you see that cursive you think of coke. Whenever you think about coke you see that cursive.

Text fonts are the opposite of display fonts. This font is used for continuous reading, it’s simple and easy on the eyes. We see it so much that we take it from granted. We see text fonts in newspapers, magazines, books, webpages, even this blog. It goes unnoticed because it’s simple, easy on the eyes, and your eyes move easily across the page from word to word.

Finding the right balance between display fonts and text fonts is crucial for any ad, webpage, or piece of media. If you overuse display fonts, you run the risk of annoying the reader and pushing them away from your ad. If you underuse the display font, then you run the risk of people never reading the ad in the first place. Too much copy and people will get bored and move on. Too little copy and people might not know what you’re selling.

Differences between Display and Text Font

 

Conclusion

Typography is an important part of any design. There are a lot of fonts out there, and a lot of choices that aren’t easy to make. Hopefully, this blog has given you some more information on this vast sea of choices. Whether you go with serif text, sans serif, or plaster your company in the flashiest display font you can find. Any questions about typography? Or want to get into touch about getting the design just right? Contact us here.

Everything You Need To Know About Landing Pages

landing pages
You’ve sent out your email campaign, paid to put your ads on every webpage google could find, what’s next? Your website? Well ideally you want your customers to find you, but how will they find whatever specific product or discount or service you’ve just spent so much money on advertising. The answer is landing pages.

WHAT ARE LANDING PAGES?

Landing pages are web pages that allow you to capture a visitor’s information through a conversion form. A good landing page will target a particular audience, like that email campaign you just did. Creating landing pages allows you to target a particular audience, offer them something of value, and convert a higher percentage of your audience into leads. Landing pages can also capture information about who’s visiting your page and what brought them there.
Landing pages also give your offers places to live. Any special offers you might be running have a specific spot where visitors can trade their information for the offer. This allows you to gain some new customers, information about your demographics, and new leads to maybe sell to. The new leads give you fuel for other marketing campaigns. Maybe they didn’t bite on the original campaign, but they were engaged enough to respond, so another campaign might do the trick. Landing pages also give you information on what your consumer base is engaging with, as well as insights as to the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LANDING PAGE?

HEADLINE:

The headline of a landing page is the first thing visitors see when they arrive at the web page. Headlines should be clear and concise, summing up what the offer is in simple, plain words.

COPY:

The copy of the landing page should be simple and short. It should clearly express what the value of the offer or product is in a plain and compelling way to attract the customer. Keeping it short is essential. Having a quick turnover from access to the conversion of the customer is ideal.

KEYWORDS:

Your page title, headline, headings, and copy should have keywords to optimize for search engines.

SOCIAL SHARING:

You should enable links to your social media and links that allow the visitor to share your offer on their own social media. This should go without saying, but you want them to share your products around for you.

HIDDEN NAVIGATION:

You should hide your site’s navigation on landing pages, or at least minimize it. This will reduce irritation for your customer, focusing the page on the specific product or offer the page is promoting. It will also decrease distractions for the visitor, and stop them from easily leaving the page.

CONVERSION FORM:

A simple form that allows your visitor to trade their information for the offered product. Keep it simple, name, email, maybe a phone number if you absolutely need it.

IMAGE:

A good quality image that gives visitors a tangible idea of what they’ll receive. Give them a reason to want to sign up, something to want.

THANK YOU PAGES AND RESPONSES:

After they sign up for your product, send them to a thank you page. If they give an email, send them a response email with either the offer or if it’s a service something of that sort. Be sure to give them a reassurance that you’ll be in contact with them soon.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

The more conversions on your page, the better. While this may seem simple, it is important that every offer you have has a landing page. This allows you to track the numbers of separate campaigns you’re doing and how successful they are. Minimize the distractions. Earlier I mentioned that you should do away with the navigation links of your website, and that’s to reduce the distractions. The entire point of a landing page is to get the visitor to sign up for your product, reducing the complexity and extra links on your page will help to achieve that. Keep the page “above the fold.” That is don’t make the visitor scroll on your page. Keep everything on a single page that sells everything at once. This makes it simpler for the visitor to sign the conversion form and the simpler the better here. Have any questions? Contact us here!

6 Tips For Better Audio Recordings

audio recordings

AUDIO RECORDINGS

If you’ve ever recorded yourself with your phone, or on your computer, then you know just how hard that is to hear. When you craft something like a radio ad or an audio message for your website, headset microphones just don’t cut it. So how do you improve the quality of your audio recordings? Here are some tips for better audio recordings.

1. Get the right kind of equipment.

This might sound like a no brainer, but it is incredibly important. Headset microphones might work on a phone call, but anything beyond that, your audio quality is going to take a hit. Buying a USB microphone to plug into your computer can seriously improve the quality of your recordings instantly. Also, getting a good pair of headphones is a must. Quality headphones allow you to hear the sounds and quality as you record. This will prevent you from realizing later while you’re editing that your recording is useless. Another key piece of equipment is a pop filter. A pop filter is a fabric screen in front of your microphone. The purpose of a pop filter is to cut down on the plosive sounds the speaker makes when they’re close to the microphone. The noise made from the p,t,k, and the b,d,g sounds can cause a pop in the recording. A pop filter works to cut down on that.

2. Get the right software

Getting the right software, like the right equipment, can really take your recording to the next level. Audio recording and editing software is an important part of getting a finished product out there. Audition, part of the Adobe package, is some of the best out there, with others such as Cubase and SADiE being good options as well. Be sure when you record, you record each audio source into separate channels. Record someone talking into one track, music into another, a second person into a third and so on. This will really help you when it comes to editing and releasing the track. For example, if you record all of it on a single channel, then if someone blunders in a speech, you’ll struggle to fix that blunder without fully removing all audio from that section. It is also important to know the difference between mono and stereo for recording. In monaural sound, one single channel (signal) is used. It can be reproduced through separate speakers, but all speakers are copies of the original signal. Stereophonic sound uses more than one channel. You can use two different channels and make one channel feed one speaker and the second channel feed a second speaker. This is used to create directionality, perspective, and space. Usually, you want to record speech in mono and music into stereo.

3. Make sure your audio recordings sound natural

This is probably the hardest part of audio recordings to get right. You want to make sure your recording sounds natural like it’s someone talking to you in their kitchen. But you don’t want background noises like dog barks, cars driving by, or refrigerators running. This can be a challenge to get right. Recording speech with the microphone close to the speaker will minimize any disruptive background noises. Whenever your recording is done, then spend a few minutes recording the ambient background noises of your location. With these sounds you can lay them in post under the talking, bring the volume down to non-disruptive levels, giving your recording a sense of warmth and welcoming. Making sure speech flows naturally is also a key part of post-production. Cutting out any hesitation words like “err” or “ahh” will help make the speech clear for the listener. Knowing when to change the flow of speech is also important, and breaths can be added to pause and edit the flow.

4. Find the right space to record

Finding the right space to record can really improve any audio recording. Walls, tables, and tile can bounce audio waves back into the microphone, severely hurting its quality. Carpet, furniture such as couches, and non-parallel walls do a good job of either absorbing sound or reflecting it away from the microphone. Small rooms are also better for recording, as there is not as much of an echo, Soundproofing is also easier in smaller rooms. Making sure your equipment, like the microphone and pop filter, are attached to objects that are not constantly being bumped or touched will cut down on audio blunders. Renting out a recording studio is also an option and it will have all the amenities and soundproofing you need.

5. Always be prepared

Make sure your equipment works before using it. If you ever do offsite recording, make sure your equipment works before leaving. Do a test recording. Getting to a site and realizing something doesn’t work is a pain and can cost you time and money. When you’re at your studio, make sure you have backups of everything, as you never know what might break or go wrong. Stay in control of whatever you’re doing. If you’re interviewing someone, make sure you keep hold of the microphone, as it allows you to dictate the pace of the conversation. Make sure you’re prepared before you begin recording. Don’t waste your time or your money by fumbling through the first takes of a recording.

6. Have fun with your audio recordings

Have fun with your work. Your audience can tell when you’re genuinely having a good time and when you’re forcing it. Having fun will let your audience have fun as well. Know the demographic you’re playing to and be sure to know what you’re going to say. But have fun with it

CONCLUSION:

Hearing is one of the most important senses humans have. Making something that is pleasurable on the ears can go a long way in helping your product, service, etc. Investing in the production quality of your recordings can also go a long way in making your audio better. Whether you’re making a radio ad, a podcast, a news interview, or a voiceover for a video, using these tips, or going to a studio, can really help you make quality products. For more info about audio recordings, contact us here.

The Importance of Advertising on Radio

advertising on radio
Photo by Gavin Whitner

Is Advertising on Radio Still Profitable?

Radio is one of the cornerstones of the American entertainment market. According to Nielsen Ratings, radio reached 93% of American adults on a weekly basis in 2018. That’s millions of people who listen to the radio. They listen on their commutes to and from work, while they work, or while they’re around the house. So how do you tap into that kind of market potential? How does advertising on radio work? Well, this blog will attempt to tackle the lasting importance of advertising on radio.

The first question we must ask, is advertising on radio still an effective way of increasing sales? This is a hard thing to quantify and varies from city to city, but the short answer is yes, it is. A longer answer would be that in 2017 a New York radio station called Westwood One partnered with Nielsen Catalina Solutions to try and quantify the profits of a personal care brand’s radio campaign. The study showed, that a radio campaign ran from March 2017 to September 2017 brought an 8% sales to boost among male AM/FM listening households. The study showed for every $1 spent on AM/FM radio advertising for the male care brand, there was a return of $1.23 and parent brand saw a return of $11.96. Based on this study, it’s safe to say that radio advertising is still alive and thriving in the world.

Case Study performed by Westwood One and Nielsen Catalina Solutions for the ROI of radio advertising

So, what do you need to know before you start your advertising campaign? Let’s take a look at ad space.

Buying Ad Space

In advertising on radio, “when” you advertise is almost as, if not more, important than “how” you do it. Choosing consistent times to broadcast is a crucial part of building a consistent listener base to sell your product. Repetition is one of the most important parts of radio advertising. How often your ad plays, and when and where you play it is also something that can affect how successful your campaign is.

Ad spots are broken down into 15, 30, and 45-second-long commercials, and radio stations have an inventory of 18 minutes every hour for advertisements.

Radio ad times are broken down into day-parts, not into hours. The parts are:

AM Drive Time (6 AM to 10 AM)
  • AM drive time is one of the two most heavily trafficked times on radio times. That makes it one of the two most desirable times to play your ad. This is the morning rush hours, when people are driving into work, and gives you the largest number of listeners. People tend to be the most receptive during the morning drive. All this makes this time one of the most expensive times to buy radio spots, along with its afternoon counterpart.
Midday (10 AM to 3 PM)
  • Many radio stations tend to lose listeners at this time, as everyone is getting out of their cars and heading into work. This is also the time when people listening has the most predictable habits. Listeners here tend to more loyal to certain radio stations or shows, making a conscious choice of turning on the radio while not in their car. Popular talk radio shows like Rush Limbaugh also happen during this time. While this time may not have the most listeners compared to other points in the day, listeners here tend to be more engaged and a good ad can effective here.
PM Drive Time (3 PM to 7 PM)
  • Like its morning counterpart, evening rush hour corresponds with some of the highest numbers of listeners as people drive home from work. This day-part is very desirable, especially for restaurants and entertainment advertisements as people look for ways to spend their night and suffer from choice fatigue. This slot also tends to be expensive for ad rates.
Evening (7 PM to Midnight) and Late Night (Midnight to 6 AM)
  • These two slots have the lowest number of average listeners as most people are not in their cars, and television is a more popular form of entertainment during these time slots. While listener numbers might be low during these slots, those listeners tend to be the most loyal, as they’ve made an effort to listen to the radio as their nightly entertainment instead of watching TV or other forms of entertainment. Rates for advertisement can be low during this time, and if the market is right for your product, it could be a very important impact on your sales.

Writing the Ad

Writing an Ad for radio can be a daunting task, and further producing it can be even more so. Here are some tips:

  • Make sure your ad gets people’s attention. Make sure your ad is well written and attention-getting.
  • Hiring a professional voice actor is one way to get a voice that really gets your attention
  • Get your point across in one or two simple, powerful and easily conveyed messages. You have less than a minute to sell your product.
  • Have a Call to action. Give the listener a reason to go out and get your product right now. Have a special limited offer that runs out in x number of days to incentivize the listener to make a purchase soon.
  • Clearly, state the next step the listener takes. If you have a brick and mortar store, give them a location. If you have a website, then give them the URL. While you have their attention, use it to tell them where to go. Most radio listeners are already driving, so tell them where to go next for whatever solution you’re selling them
  • Have plenty of repetition. As stated above, repetition is an essential part of any successful radio advertisement. Repetition of the product within the ad really solidifies said product in the listeners head. Repetition, and consistency, of when, what station, and what ad you run is vital to selling your product. Research suggests that at least 15 ads be played in a week. If you do a short run of 60 ads or so, having that ad appear at the same time will give you the best results
  • Hiring an ad agency with professional writers could be extremely helpful here. An agency is there to make every piece of information as easily digestible as possible for the consumer. Agencies know how to write an ad with all the features crucial to making a successful broadcast. You can also make the add whatever you want when going through an agency.

Demographics

Choosing what radio stations you broadcast your ad on is important, as not all radio stations are created equal. Each station has a certain demographic that it mostly caters too. Businesses should be cognizant of those demographics and their own target audiences, choosing stations that best fit. If you’re advertising for a nursing home, then pop hits might not be the best choice of stations. Follow the statistics for the best results:

  • Country music is the most popular kind of radio station and receives the largest number of average listeners in the US
  •  Talk radio, including news, sports, etc. is the #2 type of radio station. It attracts a larger number of high-income and highly educated individuals.
  • 70% of males in the 45-54 age demographic listen to Classic Rock Radio stations but only reaches the #4 spot overall for male listeners
  •  Over 72 million people listen to Contemporary Pop at least once per week.

Remember, you’re not buying a commercial to sell your product, you’re buying an audience to sell your product to.

Conclusion

Advertising on radio allows you to organically spread your message to many people without much effort on your part. Anyone listening to your ad, whether it be while driving in a car to or from work, or while working in their yard using radio as background music, will hear and subconsciously store your product in their mind.  You don’t need to encourage engagement either since engagement is an inherent part of the radio. Your product will spread just by the fact that it’s on the radio.

Advertising on radio is far from dead. In fact, it reaches millions of people on a weekly basis. Radio gives you an audience to sell to, all you have to do is make the pitch. Be sure to follow the tips above, do your own research. You can contact us here if you want to start your radio campaign now.

Website Building Process for Business

website building

Building a website is a vital part of any business in today’s world. The internet is an everyday tool almost everyone in the world uses, and having a website enables you to engage with an ever-growing customer base. There are a lot of options out there to build a website, and whether you go to a code your own, go to website building service, or hire a professional developer/designer, the choice isn’t an easy one.

Website Building Sites

If you’ve watched many videos on YouTube or listened to any Podcasts in the last few years, then you’ve probably seen ads for services like Squarespace or Wix. These sites offer the ability to create your own professional looking websites through their company. These are website building sites. They are straightforward, easy to use, and give people the ability to create websites without years of education in coding. You pay these services, and they give you some templates for websites and online stores. Like anything though, there are pros and cons to everything. So let’s look at some of the most popular website builders out there:

 

Wix

Wix is one of the most popular and highly rated website building sites out there. It comes in a multitude of different price packages for whatever your needs might be ranging from free to $500/month. Some of the features that Wix offers are mobile optimization, an online store option, domain name, and social media integration. Wix has an easy to use and intuitive editor with over 300 different templates, giving you a wide array of personalization capabilities. One of its best points is the drag-and-drop editor that allows you to essentially point and click your way to a beautiful website.

One of the biggest downsides of Wix, however, is that it’s not the most SEO friendly platform out there. Poor SEO can really slow down the organic growth of your platform. The ease of its user interface is also something that can eventually hamper Wix since it can make large changes difficult to do. It also makes customizing your site in your own unique way difficult, do to the cookie-cutter nature of these services. Wix also makes it difficult to export your website data if you ever want to change services, and for any decent-sized company, the more expensive premium packages are the only ones worth considering.

Pricing for Wix :

Free: Free

Combo: $14.50/month

Unlimited: $17.50/month

Business Basic: $25/month

 

Squarespace

Squarespace is a big competitor of Wix. While both offer very similar services, they each have their own fans. Squarespace really excels at making visually aesthetic and beautiful websites. With gorgeous templates, you can really make a memorable impression on anyone who visits. Squarespace also has the drag-and-drop feature that makes website building simple and intuitive. The backend design, or the user interface for its customers, is also beautiful, which gives off a polished and measured feel to it. Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support that is helpful and always there should any problem arise.

The biggest slight against Squarespace is that it is not very customizable. Beyond the templates offered by the service, there is very few, if any customizable options to really give your website a personal touch. Like any template service, Squarespace suffers from the fact that everyone uses the same set of designs. While the websites themselves can really look beautiful, they also look just like any other Squarespace website, so making a website that really sticks out can be a challenge. One of Squarespace’s biggest selling points is its eCommerce options, and while they’re solid, there are a lot of better options out there can be used. If you want a website to sell your merchandise, Squarespace probably shouldn’t be your first stop.

Pricing for Squarespace:

Personal: $12/month

Business: $18/month

Online Store (Basic):$26

Online Store (Advanced): $40

 

WordPress

WordPress is probably the oldest website building sites on the market, and arguably the most popular. A primarily free blogging website, WordPress offers people the opportunity to post their own thoughts giving them a platform. Since 2003, they have expanded, like its competitors, into a website builder that thrives on template designs and user-friendly interfaces. With a simple design which allows its users to easily and freely edit their websites, WordPress has made a name this market. There are also a wide variety of 3rd party plugins that allow going beyond WordPress’s offering.

Although the service has been around for over a decade and a half, its offerings are somewhat limited, and the user interface, while intuitive, can be frustrating at times. The templates are also limited and offer minimal customization for personal branding.

Pricing for WordPress:

Free: Free

Blogger: $3/month

Personal: $5/month

Premium: $8/month

Business: $25/month

eCommerce: $45/month

 

Professional Design

The last option you have is to go to a professional designer or firm. This can be expensive, probably much more expensive than using one of the previously mentioned services. Though it is more expensive, there are some definite upsides to it as well. Firstly, you get the ability to personalize your website to a greater degree than any of the template-driven services. This allows you to have a more unique website, a more unique user experience for your visitors. A professional developer can create a user experience tailored to your target clientele. That alone can help drive sales or other business-related conversions.

While many of these website builder services have some SEO, going through a firm or a professional will open up a wider array of options to optimize your traffic. It’s a design firm’s job to understand these processes and how to apply them. A professional will tailor a website perfectly to what your business needs.

While cost is always going to be a major downside of hiring professionals, another downside is the time to launch. With any of the aforementioned services all you need to do is point and you have yourself a website. Hiring a professional is going to take time to prepare everything. Your time from hire to launch might be a couple weeks in this situation. The tradeoff for this, though, is that your website is entirely unique to your business and a lot more complete than using a builder yourself.

Conclusion

Ultimately, every website is a commercial decision. Whether you’re a hobbyist trying to display what you’ve made, or a Fortune 500 trying to expand their brand, having a website is important. So is how you make it. This should be a business decision. You’re the only one who knows what your business needs and what it can afford to do. Make sure you consider all the facts and do your own research to find what option fits you best.

Have any questions about the website building process? Contact us today!

The Basics of Color Theory in Design

Blue and teal color splash

The Basics of Color Theory in Design

Color is the first thing we perceive. If something moves past you in a blur, it’s not the shape that leaves an impact, it’s the color of the object. As such, color is a cornerstone from which you should build any logo, branding, or design. Colors can leave lasting impacts and memories for consumers, and can even be associated with products or companies on color alone. When you think of McDonald’s, you think of the golden arches. When you see a red can of soda, you think Coke, just as you think Pepsi when you see blue. Color is an important part of perception and making sure the colors you choose are aesthetically pleasing to the eye is just as important. This post will show you some of the fundamentals of color theory, how to use these theories, and practical applications.

The Color Wheel

Like any concept, the best place to start is at the very beginning. For the color theory that would be the color wheel.

The color wheel is an illustrative guide of color hues around a circle. There are twelve hues, or pure colors, that make up this wheel, separated into three different categories: Primary colors, secondary colors, and tertiary colors. The primary colors are Red, Yellow and Blue. These three colors form the basis of all other colors. Secondary colors are green, orange, and purple, and are made when you add one primary color to another primary color, creating a new color. For example, red + yellow is orange, Red + Blue is purple, and blue + yellow is green. Tertiary colors are the six colors you get when a secondary color is added to a primary color. There are six of these colors, creatively named red-orange, red-purple, etc.

The color wheel can be broken down further into two different categories, warm colors and cool colors. Warm colors are your reds, yellows, and oranges. These colors evoke feelings of happiness, comfort, and energy. Cool colors are your greens, blues, and purples. These colors promote such feelings of calm and tranquility, harmony and nature. They can also invoke feelings of sadness and depression, so a balance between cool and warm colors should be carefully considered when making any design.

Color Theory Schemes

Since we’ve mastered the color wheel, it’s time to look at the basics of color theory and design; color schemes. An important item to consider when designing should be that it is aesthetically pleasing. This can be done by using color schemes. Color schemes are choices in a color that create a uniform style and appeal.

Here is a rundown on a few of the most prevalent schemes you’ll see:

Complimentary Colors:

Here the colors are sitting directly across from each other on the color wheel: such as Red-green, Blue-orange, yellow-purple.

This scheme really makes images pop because of the contrast between the colors emphasizing each other. Be wary of overuse, though, as this scheme can be harsh and exhausting after extended use. Think of all the red and green you’re sick of by the end of the Christmas season.

Split-Complimentary Colors:

color theory

This is similar to complementary colors, this takes colors directly opposite of each other on the color wheel. This is different, however since they use the two colors directly adjacent to the complimentary color. Think yellow with red-purple and blue-purple. Since the colors are not directly complimentary the contrast is not as harsh, meaning it is softer on the eye, but still does a good job of accenting the colors.

Analogous and Accented Analogous Colors:

color theory

Analogous colors are three colors that are all directly next to each other on the color wheel. This scheme is best used with one color being the primary focus with a second that supports it and the third to accent the other two. This scheme gives a pleasing aesthetic that is uniform and can be used to direct attention and action on a website for example.

color theory

Accented is the same as analogous colors, using three directly next to each other, but here you add the complementary color of the primary hue of the three to accent and add contrast to the theme.

Triadic and Tetradic Colors:

Triadic are three colors that are evenly spread around the color wheel from each other. These colors do a good job of creating contrast and tend to be very dynamic and bright. But these three colors also do a good job generating harmony together.

color theory

Tetradic is four colors, two sets of complementary colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel forming a rectangle. Here you want to be careful of the balance between warm and cool colors to avoid clashing.

Emotion

Color theory can also be used to evoke certain emotions. Much like how cool and warm colors have certain feelings associated with them. Check out this handy guide on what emotions certain colors can evoke.

Application

After designing your logo, you now have to get that logo out there and make sure that the colors you painstakingly picked are replicated on all the platforms you use. This is important since printing on the surface, producing on TV or the internet and mixing paint on a canvas can all change the perception of the colors of your logos.

So far, we have talked about the RYB color wheel, which is how we perceive color in the world. But how does a computer replicate that color through ones and zeroes, or a printer match that color without having 600 cartages of ink on hand? They do this through two different color models, the RGB (Red Green Blue) and the CYMK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key [black]) models respectively.

RBG Model

The RGB model is an additive color mixing model. It uses three colors to create more colors by mixing light waves together, these lights being red, green and blue. If you have ever seen a pixel of a TV or a computer monitor then you’ve seen the three lights. Computers can make new colors by changing the intensity of the different colored lights, mixing them together and making new colors. This works on the that the way we perceive color in nature is the reflection of light waves off of objects. This model instead projects those light waves onto our eyes, making similar colors.

CMYK Model

color theory

The CMYK model is essentially the opposite of the RGB model and is the most widely used model in color printing. Instead of projecting the light onto our eyes, this model relies on the reflection off of the paint or ink. This model is a subtractive one, instead of an additive one, much like the RYB model. The colors absorb certain wavelengths of light, meaning the color reflected from the surface is without that wavelength and thus without that color. Cyan, for example, does a good job of subtracting red light, so thus the reflected color is blue and green mixed together. CMYK is a similar model to RYB, but the cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black) of this model offers a wider array of printing color.

These models do a good job of replicating colors, but they are both different, so alterations are possible. Colors will not appear exactly the same even within the same model. Sometimes changing based on the manufacturer or even the age of some screens or ink. To have a consistent design across all platforms, you must be cognizant of all of these differences and prepare accordingly.

Conclusion on Color Theory

Understanding the basics of color theory can go a long way when designing anything. Knowing how colors work, how they interact with each other, and how to apply those designs can leave an impact on all who see it. Color theory is a fundamental part of life and thus should be a fundamental part of any design, logo or brand.

Have any questions about color theory or design? Contact us here. 

SEO Optimization Tips for Spring

seo optimization

SEO Optimization for Spring

Since website performance and SEO optimization is affected by things such as bad links, sloppy code, and poor content, it is a great time to do a semi-annual tidying to eliminate any problems. What does something like this do for search engine optimization efforts? Here are a few ways to be sure any essential SEO areas that tend to collect internet ‘dirt’ is cleaned.

Analyze with Analytics

Using analytic software such as Google Analytics and run a full array of reports normally monitored, especially important ones like site and page errors. Error reports are the most significant and probably the lengthiest. As much it may seem like doing such work could be put off – don’t do it! Every error detected by analytics tools is one more that is affecting website efficiency.

Inspect your site.

Start the process with a crawl of your site to collect the data you’ll need. Use a crawler such as Deep Crawler (which is especially helpful for sites on Angular, the front-end platform) or Screaming Frog. Crawlers help you identify all manner of metadata and site errors, as well as the server header status for each page. Each of these data points will identify an area that needs attention.

Review Your SEO Optimization

Since it can be somewhat difficult to systematically review websites for SEO, content, and other aspects, adding this job to the twice-yearly cleaning can help make sure it actually happens. Be sure content is correct and complete; review upcoming content ideas to be sure of current relevancy. Discover the latest trends in SEO and coding; update any techniques or HTML to benefit the overall website.

Site Errors

The annoying truth of the matter is that site errors need to be fixed. Many will be simple such as dead links or URLs with typos; others may be quite important. SEO reports can point out errors such as pages missing header tags, nonworking links, and other such information. Troubleshooting site speed may show other types of problems that unknowingly exist. It may be tedious; however, it is necessary to fix page issues regularly. This will improve site speed and result in fewer problem pages on the website.

Social Profiles

Check those important social media pages to be sure that they work, especially for any unknown issues. Be sure links from main websites to different social pages are not broken, out of place, or have been forgotten. Such problems should be corrected quickly, as this can potentially affect website traffic both to social sites and back to the corresponding website.

Claim Your Local Listings

Just like with social media, the more local listing sites you’re on, the better. Find out where your company should be online and start claiming your businesses profiles. Most, if not all of these sites are free and require very little effort to claim. Once you’ve done so, start filling out the profiles with relevant and useful information including products/services, location(s) and contact information. Be sure to save all the credentials for these listings as you may need to update them over time as new products/services come out, you change locations or need to change contact information.

It probably seems like a lot to go through twice a year; however, doing so can keep any website and its search engine optimization efforts functioning smoothly and reaching planned goals with very few concerns.

Have any question about SEO Optimization? Contact us here! 

4 Facebook Marketing Tips for Your Small Business

facebook marketing

Facebook Marketing

Facebook marketing has become essential for any business to have a strong social media presence in the digital world. With over 2 billion monthly active users, there’s no reason to leave this section of your audience potential untapped.

To get started, here are 4 of our favorite tips for your small business to succeed on Facebook.

Post to Facebook at non-peak times

Every time someone visits Facebook, they could have on average 1,500 potential stories to see from friends, people they follow, and Pages. A majority of these posts published during the day with peak times between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET.

Engage your fans by asking questions

One of the most popular post types on Facebook? Questions.

It’s one of the recommended strategies by Post Planner, and anecdotally it makes a lot of sense for getting more comments, likes, and interactions from the community. The thinking goes that as Facebook notices people engaging with your content, future content stands a better chance of reaching more people.

Facebook Advertising

Social networks aren’t always the first thing companies think while building local marketing strategies, but Facebook advertising is an exception.

It’s an inexpensive way to advertise your business to the target audience. Like Google, Facebook also knows to buy and click patterns of all their one billion-plus users. They are experts in putting the ads in front of a relevant local audience.

Visual Content is King

Facebook marketing has turned into a very visual realm. Pictures and especially video are gaining more reach on average than text-based posts.

As humans, we are much better at remembering pictures than words. When you post a text-heavy post, your customers will only remember 10% after a couple days. But if you add in a picture, they’ll remember 65%. Your posts will have much more impact if you included a relevant image or graphic with it.

Have any questions about Facebook marketing or your strategies on other social platforms? Contact us here!

How To Reuse Content For Your Business

reuse content

How To Reuse Content For Your Business

Content is a great way to convert visitors, but it’s hard to consistently come up with new and engaging content. But there’s still hope. You can bring in more traffic, and convert more leads by simply repurposing your existing content. Here are some of our tips on how to reuse content for your business.

Turn Written Content Into Infographics

Transforming a long blog post, short articles, or text post into a visually appealing infographic is a great way for you to get your audience to better engage with your content. Actually, it’s been found that an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than a text article!

It’s less time for a reader to process your information visually with pictures and graphics than just text. Breaking down your current content into more visual posts will help you get more bang for your content buck. Plus, it will get you more engagement from your audience. Parts of the graphic can also be repurposed as multiple image posts for Instagram or Facebook.

Turn Videos into Blog posts and Vice Versa

After you’ve created a video, you don’t need to just upload it and move on. Take the script you created for the video, or write a transcript, and use it as a basis for a blog post!

Or on the flip side, taking key points from a blog post and turning it into an informational video is a creative way to reuse written copy.

Blog Posts into Newsletter

To really get the most bang for your blog post, consider promoting your blog posts in a weekly tips newsletter. You hopefully have a solid list of email subscribers, but even the most dedicated of fans won’t catch every post you write. That’s where your newsletter comes in!

A friendly tips-oriented newsletter can showcase your best blog posts of the week, providing an extra nudge to get users on your site and reading your cream of the crop content.

Webinar into Video Content

Turning one of your webinars into reportable social media videos is a great way to extend the life of your content.

Webinars are a great way to engage with members of your audience, but not everyone can make it to your webinar when you host it. Instead of letting the footage gather dust, you can save, edit, or upload the footage to Youtube to give it life. You can either post the whole webinar, or you can edit it down to multiple short videos on specific topics.

This way no one misses out on your information. Plus, it can be used as an assist to drive visitors to your website.

Turn Longer Posts Into a Series

Why create one long post that no one will read when you can create a series of shorter posts?

If you have a longer blog post, consider dividing it up into a themed series of posts. The posts can help drive engagement, while the shorter lengths allow your audience to fully engage with the posts.

Having any questions on how your business can reuse content? Contact us here. 

Tips for Killer Emails

emails

In today’s market, emails are one of the most effective ways to pique the interest of consumers.

But how do you make sure that your emails are effective? Here are some of our favorite tips for increasing the effectiveness of your email marketing.

1. Think About The Format

All your emails should be optimized for mobile. No matter the device someone reads your email on it should automatically adjust itself to fit their screen.

Luckily, optimizing for mobile is easier than ever before. The majority of emailing list providers automatically provide you with optimized mailing campaigns.

2. A Great Subject Line Equals A Great Open Rate

That fancy template you chose and great copy you wrote won’t matter one bit if people don’t open the message. Increase your open rates by writing intriguing yet concise and direct subject lines. You want to let your audience know what to expect in the email plus entice them to actually open it.

3. Clear CTA

The aim of most email marketing campaigns is to increase traffic to a site, sometimes a specific landing page. No clicks mean no customers, it’s that simple. Always try to include visually striking buttons with text that give readers more than one opportunity to interact with your content.

4. Watch Your Language

If your email is caught in a spam filter, your messages will never reach potential customers. You should avoid any sales-oriented language, using all caps, too many exclamation marks, and hyperbolic phrases like “BUY NOW!”. Poorly formatted HTML in your emails can also hurt how they’re handled. Every spam filter is different, so an email might pass through one filter but get flagged by another. The best way to keep your email out of the spam folder is to test it by sending it to yourself on different email accounts.

5. Add a Personal Touch

Personalization goes a long way. What a lot of marketers fail to grasp is that customers don’t want to be seen as a nameless face. They want to be acknowledged as unique human beings. This is relatively easy to do because all you have to do is indulge in some personalization.

Rather than sending out the same emails to everyone, use the feedback you’re getting to segment your email list. That way you can make sure customers feel like you’re reading their minds. Some people choose to invest in systems that will allow you to add people’s names to the subject line and body of the messages, but this approach is not for everybody. You can segment your mailing list, for example, by geography, age or purchase history and then send messages written specifically for each group.

6. Send Clean Emails

When sending your emails, you need to make your content is visually clean. To increase their readability and deliverability they need to be free from spelling errors, broken links, images, and aesthetically pleasing to your audience.

You should also use shorter paragraphs and ensuring that keywords and phrases relevant to your readers stand out. Including bullet points to help people skim the content and take in the vital points is a great idea to present your content in a clean and concise way. When using images within your email, be sure that they are relevant to your content and they have the correct keywords in their alt-text.

Have any questions about email marketing? Contact us here! 

Radio Marketing: The Pros and Cons

radio marketing

Radio is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you are thinking of ways to advertise your business. Especially in these days of social media and Facebook pages, radio might seem old-school. But radio marketing can be an important part of your media strategy. To do it right, you need to know the pros and cons.

Pros of Radio Marketing

The primary advantage of radio marketing is that it allows a brand and business to target a specific core demographic. Because radio stations have different formats, you can reach a specific group of consumers to raise brand awareness.

It’s affordable

If a brand and business is willing to advertise during low listener times, then getting their advertisement on the radio can be highly affordable. This is why it is so important to explore when a core demographic listens to the radio. The cost per customer, if core demographics can be targeted during off-times, can be incredibly low.

Reach

Radio doesn’t just reach a large number of consumers specifically, it reaches 93% of Americans, and radio is actually the number one in mass reach for adults 18 to 34. It also reaches people throughout the day, even when they’re at work, reaching 41% of listeners between 3 and 7 pm.

Repetition

In the world of radio, an advertisement can be repeated every few minutes and still feel fresh to the listener. If you imagine radio listeners are always spinning the dial and skipping commercials, you’re simply wrong. Nearly two-thirds of all radio listening occasions involve staying on the same station, and that jumps to a hearty 90% when looking at listeners who are loyal to the station. Coupled with the amount of time regularly spent with radio, that means listeners are sure to hear your ad sets. That also means it’s easy to build frequency and help lift brand and ad recall.

Target to a radio audience

There’s a lot of geographic, demographic and psychographic data out there to help brands reach the right audience, especially thanks to their loyalty. This means you can not only select the right station, but you can also select the right daypart based on the genres and shows they love most.

Cons

The primary disadvantage of radio marketing is that the information contained within the ad can be difficult to remember. There is no way for a potential customer to store a phone number, address, or brand name for later like they can with emails, print ads, and other forms of direct marketing. You have to rely on the consumer’s memory to write down key information.

No visual appeal

Humans are incredibly visual creatures, and that can help strengthen the impact advertising has on consumer recall. It can be easier to express certain complex ideas, like how to use a new kind of product, by showing the audience. That being said, the theater of the mind is still incredibly powerful. The right creative can paint a vivid picture in a listener’s mind.

Poor attentiveness and Fragmentation

A primary drawback to radio marketing is that people listening to it are often engaged in other activities, such as driving. Therefore, you don’t get the same level of attention with your ad as you might through other media. It can take many impressions before a listener actually hears your message.

Key times can get expensive

Many brands and businesses like to target key commuting times in their communities for their advertising. This creates a high demand for those times, which allows them to charge more for every spot. The best times often go to those who are willing to pay the most.

Have any questions about radio marketing? Contact us here. 

How To Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

search engine ranking

How To Improve Your Search Engine Ranking

Here are important factors when trying to improve your search engine ranking.

Keywords are key

The first step to choose the search term or phrase you want your page, blog post, or website to show up for. If you’re writing a blog post on the best ways to grill a burger, you’ll need to find out what people are actually searching for to find that answer.

What makes a good keyword?

The answer is both broad and targeted keywords. Search engines will associate specific keywords with their more general phrases. When you use both on your site, it will help the site become an authority on the subjects you discuss.

A general term may yield a higher search rate than more specific terms, but search engine ranking for a target keyword phrase will give you a higher conversion rate.

Where to include the word?

It’s important to include your keyword in all of the necessary locations to ensure your page ranks for the word. First, your page title should contain your keyword. You should include it and make the title interesting enough that people will want to click on the title to read your blog post or webpage. An engaging title can help you pull in your audience and turn them into customers with your engaging content.

Including your keyword in a header will not only help you organize your page but will help it rank. This organization is helpful not only for people in skimming blog-post articles but it’s also helpful in showing Google exactly what your blog post is about. Therefore, be sure to use your exact keyword phrase at least once in your sub-headers.

Next, if your blog post contains images, you can use them to cement how Google will crawl your page about your post’s topic. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can change the image name and the alt tag.

To change the image name, simply change the name of the image on your computer before uploading. Instead of a file called “2831274.jpg,” you can rename it something like “juicyburger1.jpg.”

The “alt tag” is something you designate after you upload the photo to your website. Without getting too technical, the alt tag is simply the text that the web browser will show if the photo can’t load for some reason.

Research your competition

Good content is better than none, but bad content is worse

Now that you know what your competition looks like, it’s time to create the content that is going to blow those folks out of the water. This is perhaps the most difficult part, but it’s the most important. Your content needs to be engaging for the reader, and written so that your audience and Google can understand it.

Links for Search Engine Ranking

-Internal

If you aren’t talking about your best content, why should anyone else care? For this reason, it’s important that your best SEO content is linked to internally by other pages on your website.

Yes, this means you may need to go back and edit some older posts to include links to the new, incredible content.

-External

Okay, finally we’re finally at the big one: external links.

External links are links from websites other than your own. Google relies heavily on external links to determine how good a post is. And this makes sense, doesn’t it? You can talk about yourself and your own skills all day long, but no one will believe you. But as soon as other people begin bragging about you, others take notice.

While producing incredible content may get you some links, the truth is, you are going to have to do some “link building.” This means reaching out to other website owners in the space to ask for links.

Have any questions on how to improve your search engine ranking? Contact us here.

 

The Pros and Cons of TV Advertising

TV Advertising

TV advertising reaches a larger audience than the newspaper or radio. They allow you to display your message with sight, sound, and motion. TV, in all its forms, is the world’s favorite video. On average, TV accounts for 90% of the average viewer’s video time. But with growing costs and production time, is creating advertisements for TV profitable for business’ in today’s climate?

Today we’re discussing the pros and cons of TV advertising.

Pros of TV Advertising

TV advertising has a large reach

TV reaches a much larger audience than local newspapers and radio stations, and it does so during a short period of time. As long as the advertisement is able to gain the attention of the targeted viewers, you will be able to make an immediate and lasting impression. It tells the viewer that you are serious about what you are offering. It also gives a viewer some video evidence that you can offer a superior product or service compared to the competition

TV advertising has a big impact

TV advertising often reaches consumers when they’re at their most attentive and alert. When you air a television advertisement, you often have a captive audience. The average American spends four or more hours a day watching television, according to the Nielsen Company. The chance of a viewer channel spinning during their program of choice is low because they don’t want to miss anything, and even some On Demand viewing options disable the ability to fast forward through limited commercial breaks.

TV advertising is multisensory

By putting your brand, service, or product there, you’re able to convey a message with sight, sound, and motion that can leave a lasting impact. TV ads allow you to show and tell a wide audience about your business, product, or service. You can show how your product or service works, demonstrate the benefits of ownership, and show how it’s packaged so prospective customers will know what to look for at the point of sale.

TV advertising helps you establish a brand identity

How your message is presented to the public is a way to add some personality to your brand. They give you a chance to be creative and attach a personality to your company or product. TV ads give you an opportunity to be creative and to give your business a real sense of personality. That’s a great way to connect with customers and to build a loyal clientele that keeps coming back for more

Cons

TV advertising can’t be changed easily

Unlike display ads, social media posts, or even print ads, you can’t hop in and change a TV ad without shooting a new ad or at least contacting the network. If you do choose to change anything, it’ll cost you more money. Also, changing a TV ad isn’t just expensive; it’s also a slow and time-consuming process. Re-shooting and producing an updated video can take days or weeks, making it impractical to adjust your TV ad strategy on the fly. And even if you do manage to make changes to a TV ad campaign, the people who view your ads might notice the changes and find them confusing.

TV advertising can get expensive

No other advertising medium will eat up your budget as quickly as television. Even if you’re buying late-night cable TV spots, air time can run into thousands of dollars. You’ll also have to deal with production costs, including hiring scriptwriters, actors, editors, and other professionals. An ad agency can coordinate this process and even help you design an entire ad campaign, but they’ll charge you by the hour to do so. And since TV ads are far more effective when they’re viewed repeatedly, you’re going to have to buy multiple ads.

TV advertising makes it hard to target

One challenge, of course, is the fact that even niche cable TV channels still appeal to relatively broad audiences: stay-at-home moms, for example, or retirees. Also keep in mind, however, that TV advertisers have a hard time knowing exactly who sees their ads at any given time. This lack of feedback gave rise to the old adage that half of all advertising works but nobody knows which half! This doesn’t mean TV advertising is completely ineffective; it has its time and place. But if your business wants to reach very specific audience groups or access detailed analytical feedback, consider using online advertising instead.

Pros Vs Cons

People decide if they are interested within 10 seconds of seeing a video. So it’s up to you to decide if the pros of Tv advertising outweigh the cons. In advertising, that leaves no time for anything else. Ads on TV need to be compelling from the start. Fortunately, there is a solution for catching your audience’s attention: professional video production. Professional video is a great way to create rich content for your business. We have all the skills necessary to turn your video dreams into a reality. Contact us here.

How To Improve Your Content Marketing

Typewriter

Content Marketing

Content is everywhere. From viewing street signs to reading articles on the internet, content is a major part of our day-to-day lives. Anyone can start a blog and create content, but great content marketing is about creating stellar content with a purpose and strategy.

One of the most important ways to lure in potential clients or customers is to make sure your content is catchy, consistent, and entertaining. Here’s how:

Catch Their Eye

8 out of 10 people won’t read an article/blog if the title isn’t appealing to them. So, focus on creating a catchy, relatable title. Some ideas include: stating an unknown fact that will entice the reader or create a list-style subject line. List-style articles make it easier for people to skim.

Less Content is More

When writing, make sure to keep sentences and paragraphs short. Most people skim over what they read in order to save time. It’s important to be consistent, so keep paragraphs to a 3-4 sentence maximum. Another option is to use bullet points. This way, readers can jump right to what they want to read.

Don’t be boring!

If you want your readers to stay interested, you need to write conversationally. Nothing is worse than reading something boring and awkwardly formal. If you write as though you’re addressing a good friend, people are more likely to be absorbed in your writing.

Educate your prospects.

A blog is essentially a publishing platform for your business. It allows you to speak directly to your prospective customers and educate them about what your business does. Educating is far more powerful, more trustworthy and more relevant to website visitors than pure selling or even traditional marketing content. Education means that you have thought about their situation and can anticipate the questions they may have. It also means that you understand who they are.

Why blogging?

By publishing blog articles, you create relevant content for your site. For some businesses, it’s very difficult to actually update website content and a blog platform provides you with a solution to that problem.

Publishing content on your blog enables you to attract organic traffic to your site. These are new visitors who are finding you because of your content and not because they are searching directly for your business and your company name. In so doing, you are expanding the circle of awareness and opportunity for your business.

Remember that generating blog momentum takes time and commitment. The sooner you start, the sooner you see results. Plan on a minimum of 24 to 50 articles before you can expect to see the traffic build-up.

Why are Videos Important?

In the marketing and advertising world, content is key. Video has recently become one of the most prevalent ways to pique an audience’s interest. Therefore, it’s only fitting to create a type of video that immediately appeals to consumers.

Since the average attention span is decreasing rapidly, it’s crucial to keep all forms of content short, sweet, and to the point. The shorter the content, the easier it is for people to remember it.

Short-form videos have the power to get right down to the point, which first catches viewers’ attention, and ultimately leaves them wanting more.

Another perk of the short-form video is that smaller file sizes are easier to upload. In the end, that saves you time!

How to Create Them

Reevio, a web-based video-making platform, allows you to create and edit professional-quality videos or animations. It has the largest library of templates of any online video software. Additionally, Promo by Slidely lets you create customized marketing videos that include music and logos.

All in all, short videos are the best way to grab attention online. The best part? Shorter equal less work for you!

Have any questions about improving your marketing ventures? Contact us here. 

4 Things You Should Know About Advertising on the Radio

radio advertising

Advertising on any medium will take a lot of prep, strategizing, and effort from your business. Radio advertising is no different. Today we’re discussing everything you should know before looking into advertising your business on the radio.

Radio is very cost-effective

Digital and TV advertising are not as cost-efficient as radio advertising.  The costs associated with advertising on the radio have grown less than other common forms of advertising. Newspaper advertising rates continue to climb as circulation for printed newspapers has fallen. More viewers record shows so they can skip the commercials, which means costly Television commercial rates run the risk of being unseen.

It’s easier to have consistent messaging through Radio because it’s cheaper than other mediums.

If you’re looking into saving even MORE money with radio advertising, you should look into purchasing your ads further in advance. This will help reduce the costs of your time slots and could maybe convince your buyer to include a bundled service package or discount.

Radio advertising has the largest reach

According to a recent report from Nielsen, radio has the highest weekly reach across all American age groups, as more than 90% of all adults listen each week.

Reach is required if your objective is promoting your business. If you want to talk to a lot of people about your brand you should look into advertising over a longer period of time, advertising during multiple times of day, using a few different stations, and taking advantage of short-duration commercials. An advertising strategy using six-second ads at the beginning of every commercial break all day long. Or you could opt for: 15-second ads with a short and sweet message.

Radio is great for branding

With radio advertising, you are front and center in the listener’s attention span when your ad is on the air. You’re never buried on page 42 and you’re never surrounded by your competitor’s ads on the radio. You’re always on the front page with radio.

Radio advertising can be very effective for branding and awareness campaigns, or for specific calls to action. It’s important to remember the modern shopper and their journey. As such, only making use of one channel for any given campaign is lessening the success rate of the venture.

Brand recognition is fortified with radio advertising in ways other mediums just can’t compete with. More than 243 million American adults listen to the radio each month. Frequency is a specific component and kind of “secret sauce” when it comes to the principles of media advertising and is unparalleled anywhere else.

Great ROI

Additionally, radio is a great way to get the most bang for your bucks. The medium offers huge returns on your advertising investment. Radio can even deliver an average 8$ incremental sales for every $1 spent on advertising. 

As a small business owner, measuring the ROI of your advertising efforts is critical for success. You shouldn’t continue spending money on campaigns that aren’t delivering results. Even if the radio works for most businesses, you should analyze the ROI, and track how much business it brings you.

Have any questions about advertising on the radio? Contact us here. 

Why Radio Advertising Is Still Relevant

radio advertising

Advertise. Rinse. Repeat.

The great thing about radio advertising is that it generates substantial bang for your marketing buck. In fact, when done properly, businesses can experience exponential growth within the first year or two. Businesses that use radio experience tangible results in terms of metrics like brand visibility, website traffic, and overall revenue.

Radio matters to businesses. It reaches more people than any other medium, is relevant in today’s culture, and is highly trusted by loyal listeners. Most importantly, it helps businesses grow their bottom line.

Psychologists tell us that consumers need to be exposed to an advertising message at least three times before it begins to resonate. When businesses review their advertising budget and take this factor into account, radio is one of few mediums to choose from that offers an affordable, repeat-ad plan.

Brand recognition is fortified with radio advertising in ways other mediums just can’t compete with. More than 243 million American adults listen to the radio each month. Frequency is a specific component and kind of “secret sauce” when it comes to the principles of media advertising and is unparalleled anywhere else.

Targetting Your Radio Advertising.

You hear a lot about millennials, the so-called lucrative consumer segment that most brands spend all their money on. However, the over 50s are one of the fastest-growing and richest demographics in the United States, according to research. And with a great radio commercial, you can target this group effectively and generate more leads to your business. It’s not just the over the 50s, however. All age groups listen to the radio at some point, providing you with ample marketing opportunities.

Pinpointed advertising on the station or stations that best match your customer’s interests is like serving them their favorite meal at the time they expect to eat and that targeted effort can save you dollars. Even with all of these proven reasons, the method you will choose will depend on a number of factors – who your target audience is, and what your budget will allow.

Due to the targeting potential in radio, from access to the local community to the ability to address very specific submarkets using individual stations, a well-crafted radio message can provide the insight necessary to reach the right listeners – the individuals who likely will become customers. Once you know whom you’re talking to, it becomes much easier to determine an authoritative, trustworthy way to communicate.

Spend Your Money Where The Ears Are

Facts are facts. Radio is a top medium for adults of all ages, 93% of us listen to AM/FM radio over the airwaves, which is higher than TV viewership (88%), PC use (50%), smartphone use (83%), and tablet use (37%).

With radio advertising, you are front and center in the listener’s attention span when your ad is on the air. You’re never buried on page 42 and you’re never surrounded by your competitor’s ads. With radio, you are always on the front page.

The costs associated with advertising on the radio have grown less than other common forms of advertising. Newspaper advertising rates continue to climb as circulation for printed newspapers has fallen. Television commercial rates are costly and run the risk of being unseen as more viewers record shows on DVR just so they can skip the commercials.

Radio resonates for longer than other mediums. In fact, studies show that average radio listening times have more than doubled in the past five years. While a YouTube ad or banner ad might be momentary, radio commercials continue to produce results. Consumers hear the radio on their commute to work, for example, making this a profitable marketing opportunity.

Have any questions about radio advertising? Contact us here!

A Great Process Equals A Great Design

process

Great Process. Great Design.

Having a great process when designing is important to produce great work. You will have a smoother path from the beginning to the end. Everybody’s process is different, but there are some key points that you should remember: Research, brainstorm, creating a mood board, sketch, putting your design ideas into the computer, and refine.

Research

Researching before you jump into your design is important because it will provide you with an arsenal of inspiration and information to pull from for your designs. The more inspiration you have to pull from, the better. Your research process could be gathering images or written information. Putting together a visual library will help you get started. Some good places to look are designspiration.net and Pinterest. Designspiration.net has a wealth of images and designs from professionals to students of design in almost any subject you are looking for. Pinterest is great for keeping track of what is trending. Even using Google to find images works just as well. This is for you to help you in your process. You might learn something in your research and it may help you in another project or design in the future.

Brainstorm

This is when you take all the information you’ve gathered. You can make word webs or lists of keywords to get some general ideas out. This can help you think outside the box. See where your word web will take you. Brainstorming should be done quickly. Don’t dwell on something for so long and talk yourself out of an idea. At this point, no idea is a bad idea and you’re going more for quantity than quality. If you find yourself hitting a block go for a walk or take a break and clear your mind. Don’t feel pressured at this stage. After you’ve finished your idea generation talk it over with someone and see if they have any additional ideas to add to what you already have.

Mood Boards

Mood boards are helpful in that you can create a visual feeling and make sure you are on the same page as the person you are designing for. A mood board is a collection of images and typography to establish a feeling for your design. It can be structured into a grid or expressive. These boards can be made by hand using found materials or made digitally. Whatever way works best for you. There is no wrong way to put together a mood board if it is conveying a mood. You can reference your mood board throughout your process to make sure you are keeping on track. Making more than one with different moods can help you narrow down what direction you would like to go in.

Sketching

Sketching is important in design. This is a visual way to get your ideas out. At this point, it’s helpful to get out the good, the bad, and the okay at best. I find that if I can get my cliché ideas out of the way first I can move on to more creative ones. Just like with brainstorming you are going for rapid ideation and quantity over quality. You’ll worry about quality later in the process. I also prefer to do a lot of sketching or thumbnail sketches, which are ideas sketched out roughly. They don’t have to be finished, just enough to get the idea across. Don’t be afraid to draw from your brainstorms and research. Use different materials, such as pens, pencils, markers, even crayons. These may help to generate unique ideas and styles.

Computer

Putting your ideas into the computer is where you really start to see your ideas come alive. Take your best ideas and digitize them. Here they will begin to take shape into something more substantial. Sometimes what you think looks good on paper doesn’t quite work on the screen. That’s okay. You can try one of your other ideas. Something to keep in mind is that the design process isn’t always a straight path, sometimes you have to take a step back to get the most of your designs. When working on the computer, I find that working with several different unique designs and working on them helps to create variety to choose from.

Options

If you are designing for someone they are going to like options. Also, this is where you can push your designs. Don’t be afraid to break them and try something different. As long as you are saving copies you can always go back. Take risks. If you are working in Adobe Illustrator, you can create multiple artboards to test out your variations and in Adobe InDesign you can create new pages. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback, especially if you can find people who are in your intended audience for the piece. This will help you create a better design.

Criticism

Criticism doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You also have to use your best judgment for what is a good critique and a not so good critique. If you are designing for print, print it out and mark it up. Your colors will be darker on paper and you can catch little things that just don’t look right. A computer screen is lit from the back making everything brighter and more vibrant.
Once a single design has been decided upon, you can make revisions and refine it. Really nitpick. You want your design to communicate clearly and concisely. This is when you will finalize your design and present it.

These key points will help you stay on track on your designing journey and make it a smooth process from beginning to end. Remember to research, brainstorm, create a mood board, sketch, put your ideas on the computer, and refine. Don’t be afraid to take risks. The most important part of the process is to have fun with your designs.

Have any questions about designs or marketing? Contact us here. 

3 Ways To Improve Your Selfie Game!

Guy in red shirt taking a selfie.

The first “selfie” was taken in 1839 by an American photographer, Robert Cornelius. I won’t go into details, but the process of creating a photograph used to be a difficult, time-consuming task. Nowadays, taking a stunning selfie is a lot easier, but there’s still room for improvement.

Whether you’re looking to improve your Instagram feed or Facebook timeline, here are three tips on taking a great selfie!

Lighting

Poor lighting can make the most attractive person look bad. If possible, find a window to stand next to. Natural, soft light is the best to show off your features. Avoid harsh lighting, like the sun at noon, because this will create bad shadows. Also, try not to use your flash because it produces an unflattering light.

Selfie Angle

The angle is almost as important as lighting, and it’s a close second. Lower angles will almost always make the smallest person appear they have a double chin. Make sure to hold the camera at least at eye level and extend your head/chin up slightly. Holding the camera a little above your head can slim down your face.

Facial Expressions

Be yourself and be natural! The whole point of a selfie is to show who you are. Try smiling naturally. A smile isn’t solely visible on your lips but also in your eyes and face. Be confident and don’t be scared to take more than one picture.

(bonus tip!) Rules are meant to be broken. Be creative while taking your selfies!

If you’re interested in learning more about photography, marketing, or anything else we do contact us here!

killer selfie
“Killer” Selfie with some of the Killerspots Team!

 

What Instagram In-App Payments Could Mean for Business

Instagram In-App Payments

An Instagram in-app payments feature was just added early this month.

This new feature allows social media users to make purchases on Instagram. How? Users can add a credit/debit card to their account, with a pin for security. After they set-up and verify the accounts, users can make purchases through their Instagram account.

Instagram hasn’t stated when it plans to roll out this service.

Weaving commerce more deeply into social media apps offers potentially huge rewards for companies behind the apps, as well as those with products to sell.

Instagram says that more than 80 percent of its 800 million-plus users follow a business on the social network. With numbers like that, the Facebook-owned company will be keen to build out its shopping services to draw in more advertisers and boost revenue even further.

What does this mean for businesses?

You’re able to show your product and store where your customers already are.

One of the biggest challenges businesses face is getting your customer to your store and check out.

While Instagram already offers shopping opportunities via tagged items shown in an image, making a purchase currently involves navigating a pop-out page and completing various steps, including entering payment details for each new merchant.

Instagram in-app payments are now erasing that hurdle for businesses. Your customers won’t even need to leave Instagram to purchase the product you’re showing on your feed. The more steps involved in the buying process, the more likely a customer is going to fall out of the funnel.

It might not seem like Instagram is the place for businesses to communicate with their audience, but Instagram reports that over 200 million Instagrammers actively visit a business profile every day.

How will Instagram in-app payments work?

One of the first equipped is a dinner reservation app Resy. Some of its clients’ Instagram Pages now offer this native payment for the booking. And in the future, Instagram says you can expect direct payments for things like movie tickets through the app.

A tap through to the terms of service reveals that Instagram Payments are backed by Facebook’s Payments rules.

With its polished pictures and a plethora of brands, shopping through Instagram could prove popular and give businesses a big new reason to advertise on the app. If they can get higher conversion rates because people don’t quit in the middle of checkout as they fill in their payment info, brands might prefer to push people to buy via Instagram.

The whole point of Instagram not allowing links in captions is to keep you in a smooth, uninterrupted browsing flow. Getting booted out to the web to buy something broke that. Instagram Payments could make impulse buys much quicker, enticing more businesses to get on board. Even if Instagram takes no cut of the revenue, brands are likely to boost ad spend to get their shoppable posts seen by more people if the native payments mean more of them actually complete a purchase.

How can businesses utilize Instagram in-app payments?

Whenever a new trend or update comes to social accounts, your first thought should always be “How can this benefit my account?”?

Once Instagram opens up the payment option to the general public, you’ll be able to enable your audience with the ability to purchase your products and services directly on Instagram.

Until then, there are things you can do to prepare for the upcoming update.

Make sure you have an Instagram Business account

Business accounts provide businesses a lot more flexibility when it comes to managing your account and presence on Instagram.

They allow you to have an office location and hours in a separate section from a regular Instagram bio. Business accounts also have access to helpful analytics and promotional tools.

You’re also able to boost specific posts that will help you reach a wider audience.

Make sure your site is mobile-optimized.

Since you’re wanting to drive your audience to purchase from you online, the first step is to drive them to your site and store. Instagram is a mobile app, so visitors will be accessing your site from their phone or another mobile device.

Giving them a poor first impression will seriously hurt your chances of ever nurturing them into a customer.

Looking to the Future

Overall, the Instagram in-app payments update is very exciting for businesses and customers alike. Instagram is helping streamline the buyer’s journey through their app, and we’re excited to see how this will pan out.

Do you have any questions about marketing on Instagram or other social sites? Contact us here!