Category: Marketing

Automotive Marketing: How to Drive More Foot Traffic to Your Business

As a local car dealership, the success of your business relies heavily on how well you’re known throughout the community and what type of reputation you have. Running a legitimate, customer-friendly business isn’t enough by itself anymore. You must get the word out to compete in today’s capitalistic society.

But things have changed. There are new ways to get people’s attention and increase foot traffic to your dealership. Automotive marketing, in some ways, isn’t what it used to be.

Keep reading for our top automotive marketing strategies, from the tried and true ways of the past to the innovative techniques of the future.

Local TV and Radio Ads

Brand awareness and recognition are some of the most important factors when it comes to making it big in your community. Simply put, people have to feel familiar with your name before they’ll have enough faith to buy a car from you. One of the best ways to plant the seed and get your name out there is with local TV and radio ads.

While many people have converted to satellite radio or streaming services for music, there is a large number who still listen to the radio in their car, at work, or even at home. Buying ad space on popular radio channels is a great way to start planting a seed.

Similarly, despite services like Netflix and Hulu, there is still a wide range of people who watch local TV programming, such as the evening news. This would be a prime spot to place commercials for your dealership.

Host an Event With a Local Charity

There’s a negative stigma out there about car dealerships. People always seem wary about them, even when it’s completely unfounded. Hosting a charity event is an automotive marketing strategy that will raise awareness to an important cause, familiarize the community with your dealership, and shed any negative stigmas.

Work with a local charity of your choice and come up with a community event. Art galas, silent auctions, concerts, and 5K races are all popular. Bring in other local businesses to raise your budget for the event, find new affiliates, and bring in more interest.

Make sure you start advertising for the event well in advance and through multiple platforms (social media, newspapers, radio ads, and more). The goal is to get as many guests as possible to attend.

Buyer Incentive Programs

Next, when it comes to buying cars, people are always looking to get the best deal possible. If there’s a way for them to save, they’ll take it.

We recommend offering new buyer incentive programs once a month or once a quarter to keep things interesting. For example, you could offer cash or mail-in rebates on any new car sales, exclusive low financing APRs, major discounts, etc.

Get Popular on Social Media

Your business needs to have at least one social media account. Did you know that nearly 70 percent of American adults have a Facebook account? That means the majority of your target audience is in one convenient location.

Gain more followers by posting engaging and valuable content and encourage your current followers to like, comment, and share. You can also host fun competitions, raffles, and more that offer an exciting prize. This will get more people engaged, helping you extend your reach.

You can also use social media paid advertising, which comes with the ability to select your target audience based on age, gender, hobbies, location, and more. Additionally, this advertising comes with analytics that will track how each ad performs (likes, comments, shares, views, link clicks). It will also show you any trends or patterns of those who engaged with your ads, such as gender, age, time of day, etc.

Use Landing Page Ads

Landing page ads are a great way to grab a user’s attention with a compelling incentive and a powerful call to action. A lot of business owners offer large discounts, exclusive content, free eBooks, and more to get people to click through.

Where they click through to depends on your strategy. You can use it to drive traffic to your website, guide users to your inventory page to check out your newest vehicles in stock, or persuade them to subscribe to your email list.

You can set up landing pages through your website, affiliate websites, and through paid ads.

Make Sure Your Website SEO Is on Point

One of the most important organic automotive marketing strategies is learning how to use SEO. Search engine optimization is an algorithm used by search engines like Google to find the most relevant websites and information based on keyword searches.

For example, if someone searches for “car dealerships near me,” your website’s local SEO will determine whether or not your site comes up in the search results. You can boost your SEO by adding a blog to your website full of keywords and media embedded with metadata. If you’re not familiar with SEO, it may be beneficial to hire a company that can help.

Affiliate With Other Local Businesses

Running a small business of any kind isn’t easy, and you shouldn’t do it alone. However, we’re not talking about bringing on business partners. We’re talking about building affiliate relationships with other local businesses for your automotive marketing.

Networking with other businesses extends your reach to other client bases. Make sure the companies you approach aren’t competitors but are relevant to your dealership. Figure out a referral strategy that will benefit both businesses.

For example, if your dealership doesn’t offer its own financing, you could approach banks and other lenders. You could also contact local insurance agencies.

Looking for More Tips on Automotive Marketing?

If you’re looking to improve your automotive marketing, we can help. Take a look at some of our professional advertising services. We offer SEO help, email automation, audio production and more.

And for a little insight into what we can do for you, contact us today for a free SEO analysis.

Why You Need an Integrated Marketing Strategy for Your Car Dealership

74% of marketers say it’s important to have a cohesive omnichannel experience for customers. In fact, 73% of shoppers use more than one channel during their shopping journey. Let’s say a prospective client finds your car dealership on a search engine like Google. While they’re searching, they find other car dealerships on Google, in an email, on social media, and in YouTube video. Chances are, they’re more likely to remember the brands they see over and over again. A successful digital marketing strategy requires more than one tactic. With an integrated marketing strategy, you can attract more leads and boost your business.

Keep reading to discover the top benefits of developing an integrated marketing approach.

1. Build Brand Visibility and Trust

If people don’t know who you are, what reason do they have to choose your dealership over someone else’s? It can take five to seven impressions before you can develop even a little brand awareness. However, your brand has to appear consistent each time.

Otherwise, potential buyers might think you’re someone else.

An integrated marketing strategy will unite all of your efforts under the same umbrella. The more often customers see your brand, the more brand awareness you’ll develop. As you appear in front of more people, more often, they’ll begin recognizing your brand.

It’s important to make sure your brand appears the same across every marketing channel. Make sure your colors, fonts, imagery, tone, and voice are consistent. You should also use the same logo to boost brand recognition.

As brand visibility and recognition develop, you can also begin developing a relationship with customers. They’ll recognize your brand based on the message and values you communicate. Building this rapport will make it easier for customers to trust your business.

Without that trust, potential car buyers will turn toward another dealership instead.

2. Eliminate Confusion

Seeing a completely redesigned brand on each marketing channel could confuse your audience. For example, potential car buyers might see your brand on social media but fail to connect it with your website.

A well-thought-out digital marketing strategy can help you avoid causing confusion.

Creating a uniform message and brand image will help people connect your brand on every platform. However, you’ll need to make sure your overall message is uniform as well. Your newspaper ad, Facebook page, and email marketing might all convey different messages that fail to connect.

As a result, customers might fail to connect your brand across every marketing platform. Instead of engaging with your message, you’ll scare them off.

An integrated marketing strategy will unite your tactics within one cohesive campaign. By deciding on a clear message, you can focus customers on a single goal (buying a car). Then, your customers won’t feel confused about who you are or what you offer.

Focus your brand on a single vision. For example, your dealership might want to “provide customers with their absolute dream car.” You might make offering customers with energy-efficient options your goal instead.

Choose a message. Make sure it’s clear and concise. Then, communicate that message across your campaigns.

3. Remain Top-of-Mind

A cohesive message will also help you remain top-of-mind with potential buyers.

When you create a united brand, you’ll begin building brand awareness and recognition. The next time a prospective car buyer thinks about purchasing a new vehicle, they’ll remember your brand instead of someone else’s.

Posting your digital marketing content across different channels will give them the reminder they need.

For example, let’s say someone visited your website to read a blog post. After subscribing to receive your emails, they received a reminder about an upcoming sale weeks later. These strategic digital marketing strategies will help you remain top-of-mind when prospects are in the market for a new car.

4. Become a Thought Leader

Becoming a thought leader can help you gain a competitive edge. People want to buy from the best in the business. By creating high-quality, informative content, you can show prospective buyers you’re a knowledgeable resource in the industry.

Becoming a thought leader by posting regular blogs and digital marketing content is another way to boost your brand. At the same time, you’re creating content you need to remain top-of-mind with customers.

A search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is an effective way to become a thought leader. SEO involves researching what your customers are searching for. Then, you use your keyword research to make compelling, informative content.

Make sure your content is informative and well-researched.

As you rank higher on search engines like Google, you’ll position yourself ahead of competitors. This top-of-page position will make you appear credible and authoritative.

People are more likely to trust a brand with that top ranking. With an integrated marketing strategy, you can unite your SEO efforts, email marketing, website, and social media to boost your brand, ranking, and credibility.

5. Increase Media Coverage

One of the most effective ways to step out of the crowd is to use data-driven PR. People want stories they can connect with. Connecting with PR resources, including publications and reporters, can help you stand out from competitors.

Then, your brand will appear in more publications.

In order to improve your public relations, you need a strong, cohesive brand first. Your integrated marketing strategy will ensure your branding and SEO help you catch the attention of these publications.

6. Keep Your Message Consistent

In order to develop a multi-faceted marketing plan, you need to keep your message consistent. After all, you can’t plan where customers will see your first. You can develop a plan for each of your marketing channels, then unite them to achieve the same goals.

An integrated marketing plan will keep your message consistent. A cohesive message will make it easier for people to become familiar with your brand.

7. Improve Your ROI

All of your digital marketing content takes time and money to develop. That includes images, graphics, blog posts, videos, and more. In order to make the most of these assets, you can create a digital marketing strategy to ensure they achieve the same goals.

By making the most of your content under an integrated strategy, you can save money and boost your ROI.

Speed Up Sales: 7 Reasons You Need an Integrated Marketing Strategy

Attract more people to your dealership and speed up sales. Now that you’re equipped with these reasons to develop an integrated marketing strategy, get to it! By developing a strong digital marketing strategy, you can boost your brand and sell more cars!

Ready to get started? Get a quote from our team today!

How to Create an Editorial Content Calendar for Your Dealership

According to a 2018 report by StatusLabs, 90% of searchers haven’t made up their mind when they search on Google. That means you have an opportunity to turn those searches into viable leads. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can gain a higher ranking. Before you boost your ranking, however, you’re going to need a lot of content. Get started by creating an organized, well-thought-out editorial content calendar!

With an editorial content calendar guiding you, you can remain on schedule and on track for success.

Here’s everything you need to know about creating an editorial calendar. With these tips, you can stay on track with your marketing initiatives throughout the year. Get started with these tips.

Why You Need a Content Calendar

In order to rank above the competition, you need unique, high-quality content. Google’s SEO algorithm prioritizes content that’s relevant to user intent. By learning what your customers need, you can create content that appeals to their interests.

Then, you can create an editorial content calendar to remain organized.

A content calendar can also help you recognize opportunities to connect with your audience. For example, let’s say you’ve created a blog post that’s full of interesting data. You can turn that blog post into:

A video
An infographic
A still image or gif

One piece of content can become four different opportunities for you to connect with prospects. Then, you need to determine where you’re sharing that content.

For example, let’s say you post an article on your blog Monday. Then, you can send a weekly email that features your new blog post on Wednesday. Finally, you can post a gif to social media on Friday to attract more people to your blog.

Strategize

Creating an editorial content calendar allows you to develop a strategy for your content. Learning how to create an editorial calendar will help you remain organized with:

The content you’re creating
The topics you’re covering
Where you’re sharing your content
What form your content will appear in

Organizing your content using an editorial calendar will help you increase productivity and efficiency. In addition to saving time, you can also use your calendar to create content based on your marketing objectives.

Is your goal to generate more leads from your content this year? Your content calendar can help you test different types of content throughout the week. Then, you can use data to determine which topics and forms of content helped achieve your goal.

Researching blog posts and keywords will also benefit your SEO strategy. By focusing on SEO, you can attract more people to your site. Then, you can use compelling call-to-action language to convert them into customers.

You can create content to support other active campaigns, too. For example, you might have new products you’re releasing. Maybe you’re making a big change to your brand.

Planning your content ahead of time will help you make sure everything is aligned. That way, one tactic can support the other to benefit your entire strategy.

How to Create an Editorial Calendar

As many as 63% of businesses don’t have an actual content strategy. Making the effort to create an editorial content calendar will help you focus on content creation. By posting content regularly, you can increase your chances of reaching new customers.

Here are five tips to help you learn how to create an editorial calendar for your business.

1. Know Your Goals

First, determine your goals and objectives. For example, you might want to focus your marketing efforts on:

Driving more traffic to your website
Boosting brand awareness, recognition, and reach
Strengthening your SEO strategy
Building brand loyalty with customers to increase retention
Gaining more leads and conversions
Attracting new customers to increase sales

Once you determine your goals, you can determine what type of content will help you achieve those goals.

For example, let’s say you want to boost brand awareness. You can create company culture videos or vlogs to keep people informed about your business. Video content is a great way to help people connect with your brand.

If you want to generate more leads and conversions, try posting a product demo or tutorial instead!

2. Research Topics

Next, start making a rough list of ideas for content. Make sure your ideas align with your business goals.

For example, if you want to generate leads, create ebooks for site visitors to download. You can have them complete a form on your website that requires their email. The informative ebook can become an incentive for them to provide their contact information.

If you want to improve your SEO, create content that targets specific keywords.

For more sales, create content that focuses on the benefits of your products or services, such as case studies or webinars.

3. Know Your Audience

In order to create content that attracts customers, you need to understand your target audience. What type of content are they interested in? Which headlines catch their attention?

Feel free to see what your competitors are doing. Which pieces of content generate the most shares?

You can use Google Keyword Planner or Google Trends as a place to start.

Once you know what your target audience likes, you can start creating your own content.

4. Start Writing

Start brainstorming ideas and writing content. Make sure to optimize your content using specific keywords. Then, start writing.

Once you have a few pieces of content, start organizing your editorial content calendar. Try to post at least one piece of content a week to start. Then, determine how you can split that first piece of content into new forms.

Recycling your content will help you discover new ways to connect with your audience.

For example, you can convert a few blog posts into a larger ebook. Then, you can make that ebook a downloadable piece of content to generate leads.

5. Monitor and Optimize

Once you start using your editorial calendar, take a look at the progress. Use Google Analytics to determine which pieces of content are attracting the most visitors and leads.

Monitoring your content will help you recognize new opportunities.

Which topics do people enjoy reading? Which forms of content do they share? Make a note of where you succeed.

Then, use that data to improve your overall content marketing strategy.

Stay On Track: How to Create an Editorial Content Calendar for Your Dealership

Ready to get organized and on track? By learning how to create an editorial content calendar, you can attract more people to your dealership with ease!

Need help getting started? Contact us today to discuss your business goals!

How to Develop an Audio Marketing Strategy in 2020

With so many different mediums out there, it is hard to identify and plan the right marketing strategy for your business. What you have to remember about marketing strategies is that the ultimate goal is to connect with your target audience.

While audio marketing was briefly eclipsed by visual media, the number of individuals engaging with audio media like podcasts and the radio is actually on the rise!

Many businesses have been out of the audio marketing game for a while now, which is why we are going to show you how to develop a successful audio marketing strategy in 2020!

Why You Should Choose Audio Marketing

Audio Marketing is a great tool to connect to your target audience! In recent years, it is shown that audio content has the highest retention rate.

The nature of audio allows listeners to engage at any time, unlike visual or written content. Millions of people are now listening to the radio on their way to work, streaming music or books in the background at work, or listening to a podcast while they work out at the gym.

Due to the fact that most audio content can be enjoyed while a person is doing another specific activity, many listeners tune in to their favorite audio media for a dedicated amount of time.

Think about it, you can’t read a book on your drive to work, but you can listen to one. You can’t dedicate time to watch an hour-long TV episode if you are on a run outdoors, but you can definitely tune into a podcast!

People in all age ranges, genders, socioeconomic status and backgrounds are listening to audio media! This is a market that still is under-saturated and any business can weave their audio marketing content seamlessly into it. Now is your chance to try it out!

Identify Your Target Audience

The most important aspect of any marketing strategy is to identify your target audience. Many businesses make the mistake of not being specific enough in regards to this!

A business that sells active wear might say, “We want to target women that go to the gym.” This leaves out a ton of factors like location, age, and socioeconomic status. All of these factors play a huge role in how you can effectively advertise to your specific audience!

Your target audience is going to affect the type of audio content you put out, and where you are hosting your audio content!

If you are advertising a product towards the elderly, it may not make sense to host your audio content on Spotify or YouTube, because the likelihood of it reaching your audience is slim. In contrast, if you want to market a product to teenagers, you might not want to use the radio to market to them because individuals that don’t drive usually do not listen to the radio.

Take time to identify your target audience and then do background research on where your target audience is consuming their audio content!

Different Types of Audio Content

Once you select your target audience, you will be able to choose the type of audio marketing you want to create and where you want to host your content!

There are a few different types of audio marketing you can try out:

Podcasts
Audio Commercials
Audio books
Voice Search

Most people are familiar with audio commercials already, however, this type of marketing strategy can cost a lot of money if you want your commercial to air on a big radio station during the prime listening time!

However, you can try creating a podcast about the product or service you are trying to market by creating your own material and hosting your content for free!

Whatever type of medium you choose, there are several things to keep in mind to make sure your target audience is hooked to the content your producing and driven to check out more information about your business.

1) Build the Sound of Your Brand

We can still recall radio jingles or funny commercials years later! Companies that are successful at marketing take time to build the sound of their brand so that when their content is consumed, the listener knows exactly who that content belongs to!

Take time to choose the voice behind your audio marketing plan and create a hook that draws your listener in every time.

2) Provide a Service or Offer Help

The second thing to keep in mind when creating your audio marketing strategy is that your audio content needs to address a need! If your commercial is just explaining a product without explaining how it can help improve the lives of your listeners, you can guarantee that no one is actually listening.

The purpose of the product or service you are trying to promote needs to be crystal clear. Following up on this, the listener needs to know where they can go to learn more about the product or service if they want!

3) Captivate Your Audience

The last thing you need to remember is to dazzle your audience through your audio marketing strategy! There are millions upon millions of pieces of content that an individual can choose to listen to.

What makes your content different? Is it hilarious to listen to? Is it the most informative? Is it shocking? Does it build upon itself?

Choose an angle and stick to it! The growing number of podcast and podcast listeners show us that people are truly interested in all sorts of things! Make what you have to say engaging and you will surely be able to connect to your target audience.

Don’t Wait, Start Your Audio Marketing Strategy Today!

Now you can see that audio marketing is more relevant than ever before in our society. While some strategies like radio commercials do still cost a pretty penny, there are lots of other affordable avenues to try to make sure your company’s voice is heard!

Narrowing down your target audience and choosing a platform to market your business are the first steps to success. To really drive this strategy home, remember to create a sound brand, share your purpose, and enthrall your audience!

Have more questions on the best audio marketing strategy for 2020 and how to get started? Feel free to contact us! We’re here to help you succeed.

9 Benefits of Video Marketing to Grow Your Online Presence

If you haven’t been using video marketing, then you seriously need to reconsider your marketing strategies because you’re missing out big time. Interesting videos make interesting stories, and stories are excellent for marketing because they elicit emotion.

Some of the most significant reasons why video marketing is essential for your business is the fact that it’s memorable and measurable. This makes video marketing one of the most powerful ways of reaching customers, whether prospective or existing.

So what are the benefits of video marketing, and why should you implement it in your marketing strategies? Once you are done with the marketing basics, you need to delve deeper and capture more attention. Let’s look at the benefits of video marketing for your business.

1. Videos Result In Great ROI

To get you started off with some excitement, video marketing provides fantastic ROI, and this is one of the things you’re in business for. Even though video production may not be the easiest or cheapest of tasks, with a plethora of online video editing tools on the internet, it will pay big time.

Additionally, most customers are not worried so much about the video quality, like the content quality. Provide clear and relevant messages that explain what your products or services are all about. Of course, this is not to say that they should be low quality, even smartphones nowadays produce incredible videos, so you’ll have no excuse.

2. Videos Build Trust

Essentially, trust is the foundation of conversions and sales. In a highly competitive business world, persuading clients to do business with you and not your competitors is not an easy feat. Building trust and strong relationships with customers gets easier with videos.

Videos ignite emotional responses, regardless of how short they are. In fact, you don’t need to keep selling because once you provide useful and interesting information, customers will come to you. Effective and interesting videos present your business in a conversational form and give customers the confidence to purchase products online.

3. Videos Appeal to Mobile Users

An overwhelming 78% of consumers watch videos on mobile devices because people nowadays want to do things on the go. The number of mobile users increases by the year, and this only means that your video audience will keep expanding. Mobile users are more likely to feel a personal connection with a brand than desktop or TV viewers, so it’s imperative that you take advantage of the market.

4. Videos Boost Conversions and Sales

Adding the most important video to your landing page alone could increase your conversion rates by 80%. One of the many benefits of video marketing is that videos have the ability to lead directly to sales. Vision is the most dominant sense that human beings possess, so it’s only natural that videos have such a huge impact on them.

5. It’s Easy to Explain Everything Through Video

It’s so much easier to show people how your products work compared to writing about it. Explainer videos trend every day, and so do tutorial videos. Most consumers are watching explainer videos to learn what products are all about and how to use them.

An explainer video on your homepage would be super effective in driving conversions and sales. If you have a difficult concept, then video is the best way to explain it in a way your target audience understands. Besides, interesting videos, such as animated videos, are fun to watch, and people like to share such videos.

6. Videos Engage Everyone

One of the most significant benefits of video marketing is the ease of video consumption. Consumers get bored very easily, and reading long product descriptions is not pleasant at all. The modern customer is too busy for that anyway, and videos are easier to work with because all they have to do is watch, regardless of where they are.

Even if they’re lazy, as long as your videos have clear audio, they will certainly watch them.

7. Videos Encourage Shares

Most people tend to share videos than they do content, and shares lead to a larger audience. If you want to expand your target audience and get the message out there, delve into video marketing and watch your customer share! This is simply one of the best ways to go viral.

8. Videos Are Excellent for All Search Engines

All search engines, especially Google, value high valuable content, and interesting videos will have a tremendous impact on your SEO. With prolonged exposure, you will build trust, which will signal to search engines that you have valuable content.

You are more likely to rank high on search engines if you have a video on your website, and given the fact that Google owns YouTube, videos certainly affect search engine ranks.

9. Social Networks Thrive Through Videos

It’s already clear that people love videos, and you should give provide just that, but where? Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the best places to post your important videos. Most consumers would share company videos as long as they were entertaining, regardless of whether they are actually interested in the products.

Bonus Tip: Ads Do Wonders in Videos

Video ads have the highest click-through rate among all digital formats. This says a lot about marketing videos and all the benefits they come with. If you do everything right and create awesome videos, you can be sure that people will remember, regardless of whether they watch the whole ad or not. That’s how awesome videos are for business.

The Benefits of Video Marketing: Summing it Up

From financial motives to practical reasons, you can well see the benefits of video marketing. All these points make quite a strong case for videos and showing you that they work. If you want to jump into the modern marketing wagon, video marketing is the way to go.

If you’d like more awesome marketing tips, check out our website or give us a call and we’ll be glad to help.

9 Video Advertising Trends of 2019

Television commercials and traditional advertisements are becoming a thing of the past.

As the next generation of tech-focused consumers saturates the marketplace, keeping up with these advertising trends is important. You either adjust your strategies or you risk having to close your doors for good.

So, where are consumers getting their information these days?

90% have said that they discover new brands through YouTube ads. 80% of shoppers say that they tend to switch between online search and video when deciding what to buy.

Set yourself and your brand up for success by plugging into the “show don’t tell” mindset. Keep up with current trends in advertising and generate quality video for the greatest potential of return on ad spend.

Here are 9 advertising trends for 2019 to get you started!

1. Web-Based Video Content

Focusing on optimizing your advertisements for web users gives you great potential for organic traffic.

More than ever, people are leaving behind paid television programming to switch to web-based streaming entertainment.

Reach them here by providing high-level, professional videos that give the best view of your products or services.

2. Full-Funnel YouTube Advertising

One of the best features of video advertising is that it offers you the chance to cater to the full advertising funnel.

Reach your target customers at the brand awareness level with lighthearted, catchy videos.
Generate interest by showing them how much better or easier their lives will be with your product or service.
Compare your product with similar products to help answer questions they may have in the evaluation phase.
Get them committed to your product by offering incentives, guarantees, or support.
Finally, reel them in by offering special sales and deals at the purchase level.

By offering specialized content at each level, you will be optimizing this marketing strategy in full force.

Bonus: Take advantage of this structure by shooting all of your material at once. Tell your whole story and then chop it up and distribute it where it fits in the buyer’s journey.

3. Over-The-Top and In-Stream Advertising

OTT advertisements refer to those short, 5-15 second ads that play on streaming platforms that a viewer can’t skip.

This style of advertising allows you to lump viewers together into different groups so that you can target them based on their user profiles.

More and more people are switching to streaming alternatives for entertainment. Every platform requires the viewer to create an account or profile. This gives you access to their personalized data information like their region, age range, and viewing trends.

With over 70% of in-stream ad impressions on Facebook viewed to completion with the sound on, this is a valuable way to get your information out.

Additionally, you can control what sort of content shouldn’t be appearing alongside your ads. For example, if you’re running an ad to help people quit smoking, you won’t want a cigarette brand’s ad running alongside it.

4. Mobile-First Advertising Trends

Customers are more likely to shop online with their phones over any other means. It is vital that video advertising (and online shopping platforms) be compatible with this format.

Keep social media formatting in mind when producing video content. Many shoppers rely on clickable and shop-able social media ads. If you are showing them content, make sure they can click through to make their purchase, otherwise, you run the risk of losing them.

5. Customer-Made Content

Customers are more likely to trust the information or opinions of their peers on the Internet over those of a mega-corporation.

Take advantage of this by encouraging opinionated customers to share their experiences. This can be an actual video testimonial or a rave review they left on your site.

6. Influencer Content

Are you a new company or perhaps an established one looking to generate some positive feedback? Buy into social media influencers!

Depending on your product, this can be a powerful way to get your brand in front of a lot of people in a short amount of time.

For a current customer, you can offer them a gift card or free merchandise to introduce new products. Encourage them to focus on their continued business with you!

For new customers, focus on your brand and key products or services. Offer the influencer free product or services that they can review and explain.

Generally, it’s best to establish an agreement for how long your product review needs to stay on their platform. It’s also important to make sure they know you may use their images and video in your advertising campaigns.

7. Graphic or Animated Videos

Blend graphics, text, or animated characters in your video ads. This can be an easy way to tell a story for anew or online exclusive brand people may not have heard of yet.

Bring your blueprints or digital layouts to life in anticipation of a grand opening, use text or customer reviews to tell a story, or animate with generic characters to give viewers a chance to imagine themselves in their place. This creates a much more inclusive branding statement.

8. Cinemagraph Advertisements

Cinemagraphs are cool photo and video hybrid advertisements. Set the tone in your static advertisements by catching the viewer’s eye with some motion.

Some examples are a few strands of hair blowing in the wind, a single blinking streetlight, waves crashing on the sand, or sparks from a campfire.

Generally, a viewer will spend more time looking at a Cinemagraph ad than a photo because they want to see what else is moving. This means greater absorption of your messaging and higher potential for ROAS.

This advertising trend brings life and variety into your messaging, without distracting away from it.

9. Television Commercials

That’s right, television should still be on your radar folks! Don’t alienate or ignore your more traditional customers by forgetting to occasionally advertise on TV.

Think about the types of ads you are working on for the digital market and play to those trends for TV as well. Delight your viewer with ads that they won’t want to leave the room for or fast-forward through. Hit them right away with exciting content so they stick around for your messaging.

Where to Start

For newer, smaller, or more traditional companies, video advertising trends like these may be daunting.

But depending on your customers’ age, lifestyle, region, and shopping habits, video production could be a game-changer for your business! Learn more about your customers and decide what would be the most beneficial avenue to get them your information.

If you’re ready to get started on your video marketing strategy, contact us today.

Marketing Basics for Business

Marketing for a business in today’s world is, without a doubt, more demanding than ever before. The days of merely listing a company name and number in the phone book are over. Nowadays, it is almost expected of companies to market themselves everywhere. Whether that be by word of mouth, on television, social media, advertising out in public, or all over the Internet. To create a thriving business and client-base, it’s important to make sure your business is well marketed. Below are a handful of tips to start promoting and marketing your business.

Establishing Identity

A crucial element to stand out in a marketplace among your competition is finding a unique identity. A common way for people to recognize a company is by the company’s logo and color scheme.

Deciding exactly what your company stands for is the first step. Making your company’s core beliefs and mission as clear as possible is necessary. You need to show why consumers should choose you over competitors. Allowing your brand to develop a personality can help consumers easily relate to you and remember your company.

Knowing Your Audience

You should be creating different content for your audience. This should be based on whether they are old or new customers, or if they’re not sure. Taking the time to get to know and understand the demographics, interests, and niche of the market that you are trying to appeal to is crucial for success. You want to make sure that the content that is being created is targeted toward the appropriate audience. Remaining relevant and valuable to your audience is important to remember.

Website Creation and Maintenance

In today’s world, it is very important for a successful company to have a website. Think about it. People nowadays go straight to Google to learn about things that they want to know more about. Whether it’s to find new restaurants in the area, a place that sells a specific type of light bulb, or even to find a place for your child to go to daycare, the Internet is the fastest way to find the answers that people need. With a website, people can look up information anytime, anywhere, and not have to wait until regular business hours. Having a presence online makes it much more likely for customers to trust you. Making sure that the website has a modern, easy-to-navigate, and mobile-friendly layout will promote more frequent visits. This allows the opportunity for new customers to jump on board.

The website should be navigable enough to allow anyone that visits the website to be able to find any information that they might be looking for. This may include details about the business, products and/or services being sold, and even contact information. Providing this information in a clean and organized manner allows users to obtain a sense of how professional and credible your business might be. This allows customers to decide whether or not they’d like to learn more.

Social Media

Getting into the swing of social media and how to use it appropriately as a business or professional can be tricky. One mistake that businesses often make when starting on this journey is diving in too quickly, all at once. Starting with one simple Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram profile to let consumers know that you exist is a great start. Getting your name out there on your social media platform of choice is a great way to introduce your business to so many potential new client opportunities. Hiring a social media manager may end up being a great option. This would ensure that posts are scheduled to be shared regularly (perhaps weekly, if possible).

Social Media Content

What kind of content is necessary to share on social media? Every business takes a bit of a different route. One of the more popular options is using social media as a platform for customer service. Through the use of Twitter, customers can directly reach out to you. They can ask any questions or concerns that they might have, and feel like they’re speaking to an actual person. Not just some automated machine or bot. Social media may also be used for promotional purposes. Even so, it is very important to not overdo this side of things. The last thing you want is for people to feel overwhelmed with ads and promos that seem like spam. Having a nice balance of the content shared on a business social media page is very important for this marketing strategy to be successful.

These marketing tips are an easy way to build a client base (or grow your current one), engage customers, make your business more readily accessible, and to stay relevant. Although these are not the only options that are available to market your business, they are a great place to start!

Have any questions? Contact us today!

Desktop vs Mobile Advertising

People checking mobile and desktop devices

Smartphones are here to stay. 257 million Americans had a smartphone in 2018, and that number is only going to rise as the years go by. People do everything on their phones; text and call each other, browse social media, read books, and surf the internet. Finding a way to advertise to those users can go a long way to spreading brand awareness. But there are some key differences between internet advertising on a computer and advertising on a mobile device. Let’s go through desktop vs mobile advertising.

Real Estate

The biggest difference between mobile devices and a personal computer is the available space. With a computer, space is hardly ever an issue. Even with the smallest laptops, full-screen browsers offer plenty of space to display menus, banners, navigation tools, and columns for text. Mobile devices are another story. Even with a tablet, the available space for different compositions is limited. Keeping in mind how your website or ad will be displayed on a phone or tablet will help improve reactions to your brand.

Try to keep your call to actions simple on a mobile page. One link to a cart or a contact page is more than enough for a mobile page. Keep the text to one column and make sure it scales for mobile. There’s nothing quite as annoying as having to zoom in and out of a text, scrolling across the page, just to read it.

Optimization

While utilizing the available real estate and space you have for mobile, it is also vital you optimize your page for mobile users; or use a mobile-specific page. Many websites’ navigation relies on mouse hovering, holding your cursor over a link to show more menus. This doesn’t exist on mobile. There are no cursors, only fingers. Having a system that relies on something not there is only going to annoy and frustrate users.

Videos

Videos are another sticking point with mobile users. Many websites will load a video when users access the site. Maybe it’s a news story, maybe it’s an ad. Whatever it is, it must load. This isn’t a problem with a computer over Wi-Fi. Wireless internet is pretty fast nowadays, so bandwidth isn’t a big deal for some at home. Using mobile data, however, is not as quick. You have limited bandwidth on mobile and having a video load right out the gate may slow down site load times.

Adobe Flash is installed on close to 90% of computers, so designing an ad running on flash isn’t a terrible idea for desktop. But for mobile, flash isn’t nearly as popular. It runs only on a few versions of Android operating systems and is completely banned by iOS. That means if you have an ad based on flash, anyone using Apple products won’t see it.

Know Which Ads to Use

Knowing what types of ads to run when interacting with mobile users is crucial. Most people, while using a computer, are sitting down, focusing on the screen in front of them. Often, they’re working or doing something that needs a computer specifically. Longer ads work well here because they’re captive audiences. Mobile usage is different. Users are more likely to use their mobile devices in between activities that require their attention. Browsing social media on the train during their commute, texting a friend while in the waiting room of an appointment, shopping online while on their couch during a commercial break. Mobile devices have used a distraction for most, something to fill downtime with. Keeping your ads short for mobile is ideal. If it’s too long, people might get bored and move on.

Conclusion

There are some key differences between desktop and mobile marketing. Being aware of these differences and knowing how to utilize the advantages and avoid the disadvantages is important. Having a mobile-optimized site is ideal. This way you can take advantage of the benefits of both formats without having to tip-toe around the detractions of the other format. You can tailor ads for the focus you get from a computer user and use the higher interaction rates of mobile users. If you have any questions, contact us here!

The Importance of Jingles

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head all day? You whistle it out every time you stop at a street light? Well, that’s the power of an effective jingle. We all know some iconic jingles; McDonald’s, State Farm, Subway, Kit Kat, songs that have become ubiquitous with the brands that have used them. I’m sure everyone reading this can whistle “I’m Lovin’ It” off the top of their head. And maybe now you have a craving for a Big Mac. Good jingles can do that for a company. So having a good jingle is a crucial step. Let’s look at the importance of jingles in advertising.

Why you should be utilizing Jingles in your advertising

It leaves a lasting impact

Jingles have the benefit of being memorable and entertaining. They aren’t someones disembodied voice talking to the audience. Music, and by extension jingles, is personal. It invokes emotion and can grab people’s attention. Good jingles are catchy and memorable. They can stay with you for the rest of the day after just one listen. If you fail to capture the audience’s attention, then your advert can fall flat and be unremarkable for the consumer.

Choosing the right song

It’s no secret that music can affect one’s emotions. Picking the right song that conveys the right emotional notes for your brand is crucial. If you find the jingle annoying, you can almost guarantee the mass audience is going to find it annoying as well. The jingle will be associated with your brand. If it makes people feel angry or sad, then those emotions are going to reflect on your brand or product. Picking a happy, easy-going song can help improve your audience’s reaction to your song.

You can also go the route of picking a snippet of a song by a band you like and using that for your campaign. Honda did this a few years ago when they released their latest model of the Civic. Set to Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream” the commercial was a hit. I would suggest, if you go this route then you should avoid overly popular songs. These songs are played over and over again on the radio and can grate on some listeners. You don’t want to be associated with that fatigue.

Helps with Brand recognition

We all know some iconic jingles: The Old Spice whistle, McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ it”, Rice Krispy’s “Snap, Crackle, Pop,” and we can probably all break off into song on the first note. We associate those jingles with the brands, and even if you don’t eat McDonald’s or use Old Spice, you’ll think of them as soon as you hear the jingle.

If you pick a song, then hopefully every time someone hears that song they’ll think of your brand or your campaign. The song can even come to represent your brand, giving you an iconic sound. Which will be associated with your brand or company for years to come. Every time someone hears that song or the first notes of your jingle, they’ll think of you.

Conclusion:

The importance of jingles can not be understated. Jingles are still very relevant in today’s radio advertising world. Having an effective jingle can help increase brand awareness and recognition. Finding the right jungle for you is important, so don’t take the matter lightly. If you get it wrong, then your brand could end up being associated with negative feelings. If you get it right, you could end up with an iconic sound just for you. Using music to express emotion is a powerful tool in a company’s arsenal. If you have any questions about the importance of jingles or want help writing your very own, contact us here!

jingles Marketing radio TV

Reach of Radio

Radio is a timeless source of entertainment for all ages in the United States. As such, radio is also an important vehicle for advertising. Earlier I’ve written about some tips to get your message to the largest amount of people. Now I’m going to write about the commercial reach of radio.

Who’s Listening?:

Radio reaches more than 243 million American adults each month. That’s about 96% of US adults listening to the radio at some point each month. Every week, 94% of adults listen to the radio. This has been true for a number of the past few years and is comparable to the 94.9% that listen to the radio in 2001. These numbers haven’t changed much over the years, even with the introduction of iPods and music streaming. So it’s reasonable to assume they won’t change anytime soon.

If we break it down further by generations, we can see some of the specifics of demographics. 95% of Millennials listen every month. 97% of Gen Xers and 98% of Boomers listen to the radio weekly. 44.6 million Hispanics and 34.5 million African Americans listen to the radio each month (96% and 97% respectively). Radio reaches most Americans regularly, whether it be driving in the car, listening at work, or having it on at home.

According to reports, those who are more educated and have a higher annual income, listen to radio more often. As you move from not working to working, levels of education, and average annual income, the higher percentage of people listen. For example, 71% of working people in the survey listen to the radio, compared to 61% of non-workers. 74% of degree-holding people listen to the radio, 62% of those with some college, and 56% of those with no college. On the salary side of things, people who make less than 25k have about a 50% listening rate in that demographic. 61% of those in the 25k-$44.9k range, 68% of those in the $45k-$74.9k range, and 75% of those in the $75k+ range.

Why do people listen to the radio?

Finding why people listen to the radio is helpful information when you begin crafting your ad campaign, but the answers tend to be less than helpful. Targeting a popular DJ is always a good shout for a consistent audience but surveys show that only about 24.5% of people listen to the radio for its DJs or show hosts. Most people listen to the radio because it’s free and convenient to listen to in the car. About 57% of the 18-34 demographic listen because it is free. That number rises as you get older with 61% and 66% in the 35-54 and 55-75 age groups respectively. There’s no single reason why people listen to the radio. 200 million people listen to the radio every month for a variety of reasons. Here’s the full list from Deloitte.

Conclusion:

TV and Newspapers have struggled in recent years, but Radio has stayed relatively consistent. The TV has seen a 50% decline in viewership from the younger demographics in the past few years, and newspapers as a medium are struggling. Radio doesn’t have these problems, and it’s just as relevant now as it was 20 years ago. That means it’s still a viable platform for advertising and marketing. Any more questions? You can contact us here!

radio radio commercial production reach

Hashtags and Digital Marketing

Social media is an important part of our world. Utilizing the platform in your business is also an important task. But how do you use the hashtag in digital marketing? We first have to start with what a hashtag is. Hashtag is the name for the pound sign (#) in the social media world. It began being used as a “hashtag” by Chris Messina in 2007 on twitter. Its purpose is to group posts and other content into easily accessible pathways for users. It is called a “hashtag” rather than “pound sign” because “pound sign” in the UK refers to “£” rather than “#” which is called “hash,” “gate,” and sometimes “octothorpe.”

Today the hashtag is almost ubiquitous with social media, being embraced on almost every platform ranging from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook. The hashtag has entered the cultural zeitgeist, it’s been embraced, it’s been parodied, and it’s been used in everything from disaster relief to weddings to advertising. This means that the hashtag is incredibly useful for online advertising and social media engagement, but how do you use it? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out; here are some tips to utilizing hashtags in your digital marketing.

1. Find the right words for your brand

A Hashtag is a word or set of words that can easily group things. They act as a keyword that people can use to search for tweets and posts related to whatever it is they’re interested in. That means that the words you choose as your hashtag are vitally important to its response from social media. Using big words, more than a couple, or difficult to spell words could hamper engagement and response.

Picking a word related to your brand, product, or service is also important. Some companies have it easier here than others. For example, all Coca-Cola need to do is throw a #coke at the end of a tweet and they have an instant engagement platform. It’s simple, and it’s synonymous with their product to the point that any tweet containing it will immediately hearken back to Coca-Cola.

2. Engage with Trending topics

Engaging with the topics and trends that are popular at the moment is a great way to find expand your brand influence. Find a trending hashtag that relates to your brand or service and engages with it. Using these trending topics are a great way of spreading your brand to more customers. These topics are relevant to people’s lives at that moment, so if you can engage in a way that is also relevant or promote your product when they are thinking about the problem it solves, you can leave a lasting impact on them.

3. Keep it simple.

As stated above, keep your hashtag short, the more words, the harder it is to read. With multiple words, capitalizing each new word is a good way of signifying the breaks between words. This makes your hashtag easier to read and less confusing for the consumer. Keeping it simple also means limiting the number of hashtags in each post. One or two, maybe three, but the fewer number of hashtags in a post the better and more sharable it is. #Putting #a #hashtag #before #every #word #is #annoying #to #read, and will put consumers off. The simpler the hashtag and the post, the easier it is for people to share.

4. Incentivize.

Use your hashtags to promote a deal or giveaway your doing. Give people a reason to use your hashtag, and thus do your advertising for you. A solid discount on a service or a product for using the hashtag or engaging with your social media can a long way in getting a response.

5. Engage with your audience.

A hashtag gives you a way to connect with people talking about the same thing, so actually, talk with them. Listen to what they’re saying, respond and craft your next campaign to utilize the feedback you’re given here. Coming up with a hashtag and making a post is an easy part, now you get to do the leg work and respond to it. They’ll engage with you for a reason, maybe it’s just as simple as saying they like your product. Maybe they’ll tell you something you can do better. Be open and willing to adapt and you can go a long way.

Conclusion

Social media is a platform that grows by the day. It has its customs and language. Being able to utilize those things are an important part of making the most out of social media. Nothing is more ubiquitous with social media than the #hashtag. The hashtag is a part of modern culture and knowing how to use it to its fullest potential can give you a leg up in expanding your business and brand. Keep these things in mind the next time you start a social media campaign. If you have any questions, contact us here!

digital digital markting hashtag Marketing Social Media

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!

advertising digital Marketing radio

Everything You Need To Know About 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!

online marketing websites

6 Tips For Better 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.

audio production radio radio production

The Importance of 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.

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.

radio radio production

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.

content content marketing Marketing Social Media video

Radio Marketing: The Pros and Cons

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.

Marketing marketing tools radio radio production

The Pros and Cons of 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.

advertising TV advertising TV production video

How To Improve Your Content Marketing

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.

content content marketing Marketing video

4 Things You Should Know About Advertising on the Radio

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.

advertising radio radio production