December 2017 - Stevens & Tate Marketing

An Advertising Approach On 4 Social Media Platforms

December 28, 2017/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

There is no right way to have an advertising approach. What is great about advertising is that you can advertise on multiple platforms. Online advertising is just one platform. Online advertisements have become very useful for companies. With advertisements, there are some tips so that advertisements are being used effectively. Tips include: make sure the ad aligns with the social media strategy, consistent coloring (matches website), rotate images, variation, and ad testing (determining what is and is not effective). Advertisements can be used on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Each platform uses ads slightly different.

Ads on Facebook

To create an ad on Facebook, you must first have admin permission. When creating an ad on Facebook, it will have you choose the campaign, followed by the budget, scheduling, targeting, biding, ad placement and variations. Facebook allows you to track the progress of the ad. With Facebook, you choose an objective for the ad and there are many to choose from.

Ads on Twitter

On Twitter you choose ads based on the objective of the campaign. There are twitter cards, which allow for rich media, a link, a button, and room for text on the ad. Twitter has four parts to the ad campaign. These are the timeframe, creative, targeting and budget. Twitter also allows you to do keyword targeting.

Ads on LinkedIn

A LinkedIn ad targets the audience based on professional attributes. You can create an ad or sponsor content. LinkedIn allows for up to 15 ad variations.

Ads on Instagram

Ads on Instagram can be created through Facebook. If you have a business manager account, the ads can be created through the Instagram app. You can include a call-to-action button.

What is great about having ads on social media is that the ads will be shown to the right people. With having ads online, you can make the smallest changes and get the ads to the right people. The social media platforms allow you to choose your audience and age range. Each social media platform has their own way of creating ads, but each platform is a great choice. The right advertising approach for your company might by online advertising. It is up to you to determine which social media platform is best.

Advertising Agency Trends

December 26, 2017/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Content Marketing, Directors, SEO /by Nicole Wagner

The world of the traditional advertising agency is gone. Today, clients want agencies that truly embrace all forms of advertising, both traditional and digital. Smart agencies know this and stay on top of the trends in marketing and sales that will have the most impact for their clients. Let’s look at a few trends that are hot and here to stay.

Native Marketing

If there is one trend in advertising that is going strong and will remain strong for years to come, it’s native marketing. Blending advertisements smoothly with surrounding content has been around for decades. Doing it in new and innovative ways in the digital marketplace is what is driving the current growth.

Business Insider predicts that native advertising will hit $21 billion next year (2018). In 2013, spending for native advertising was $4.7 billion. That translates to a 445% growth in just 5 years.

The beauty of native advertising is that it’s very unobtrusive. It organically blends into the user experience.

Marketing Automation

Let’s face it. The world of marketing is a bit cutthroat with so many companies vying for consumer attention. Trying to bring a brand to the forefront and keep it there requires a solid set of tools that collect data, provide analytic tools and does a lot of the work for you. That set of tools is marketing automation.

A marketing automation platform gathers pertinent information on what visitors are most interested in, which pages they visit most, and what changes as they go further down the sales funnel. This information offers critical insights to what the target audience needs at each stage of the journey. All of that information can help an advertising agency develop highly focused ad campaigns

5 Benefits of Marketing Automation

Content Marketing

Content marketing is becoming more sophisticated and more personalized. It starts with web pages providing basic information. Adding elements like video and infographics enriches the experience.

Gathering information with marketing automation allows for personalization. Certain areas of the web page can provide content drawn from the visitor’s profile. Marketing apps take that to a whole new level with interactive content experiences, completely based what is known about the visitor.

This increasing sophistication of content marketing is going to demand more sophisticated options from advertising agencies.

Personalized Marketing

Consumers expect personalization and they value it. It goes back to the days when a shopkeeper knew the names of all his customers. “Hi, Mrs. Jones, how is your oldest son doing in school?” “Hello, Mr. Gonzalez. That car part you wanted just came into stock.” The personal connection builds trust that cannot be replicated.

That personal touch is becoming the norm when it comes to marketing. People respond better to email offers that include their name and refers to what interests them. When they log 0nto a site like Amazon or E-Bay, they like the fact that they get recommendations based on their browsing and purchase history.

Closed Loop Marketing Analytics

Smart marketing means know who visits your website via SEO or marketing efforts. Analytics tracks which web pages a visitor visits. It tracks how often the visitor comes back and what most interests him/her. Analytics may track when a visitor becomes a lead. It can even track some parts of the lead’s journey to becoming a buyer. But, does it track what converted that lead into a buyer?

That is what closed loop marketing analytics track. This type of analysis helps marketers understand which effort ends up in sale and which effort did not. It highlights the most effective marketing efforts and which ones need attention.

From an advertising agency perspective, it can show you which ad campaigns had the most impact and which ones did not.

Continuous Website Improvements Based on Data

Most companies do a major website redesign every few years. The problem with just a major redesign is that once it’s done, it’s done. Nothing major will change until the next redesign 2-3 years in the future.

A new approach, rapidly gaining popularity, is a web design based on continuous improvement. Instead of rolling out a completely outfitted website that takes months to build, it starts with a streamlined, well-designed core based on tightly focused goals and objectives for content, design and development.

When that new website goes live, it starts gathering user data, linking it to marketing/sales effort. The data shows what is working and what is not. That data is what drives the next wave of improvements, often done on a monthly basis. This cycle of analyzing data, making improvements and gathering data can go on forever, continuously improving the website and its effects on marketing/sales.

Staying on top of major marketing trends is critical for any advertising agency. These trends impact client advertising directly. Which trend do you think will have the most impact in the coming year?

When Should You Hire A Real Estate Advertising Agency?

December 12, 2017/in Articles, Directors, Homebuilder Marketing /by Dan Gartlan

If you are a home builder, you are busy with the details of running your company: bookkeeping, employee management, client projects and paying the bills. Marketing is part of that effort, but, at some point, you may start to wonder if hiring someone to help might be a good idea. When is the right time to hire a real estate advertising agency?

There is no set answer as to when you should hire an advertising agency for your business. Your situation is unique and only you can determine if you need help. However, there are some guidelines you can use when making that decision.

Do you want to grow your business faster?

Remember, time is money in the construction game. If you want to bring in more projects, build more houses, or move into the big leagues, you need to step up your marketing. If you don’t have the time or resources to devote to that additional marketing effort, you need to bring in an outside agency. They have the knowledge and expertise to market your construction business to the right audience.

Click here to read about Real Estate Video Marketing Ideas For Homebuilders

Are you running out of ideas on how to improve your marketing?

Unless you are a marketing professional, you probably have limited knowledge on the subject. You may start to run out of ideas on how to step up your marketing efforts. That is when a real estate advertising agency can help.

Their focus and expertise is marketing. They know how to reach your potential audience using a variety of marketing tactics, many of which you have never even thought of. They can definitely give your marketing a positive boost.

Are you running low on time and/or resources to handle the marketing in-house?

You are a home builder. While marketing is part of your job, it is definitely not its main focus. Hiring someone from outside is an efficient use of time and resources. It will give your company more time and money to focus on attracting clients and building new homes. That way, you can keep costs down while improving your profits.

You Still Need to Be Involved

When you make the decision to outsource your marketing to a real estate advertising agency, you still need to be involved. Building homes is a very personal business. The advertising must reflect your approach to working with clients and building homes. Otherwise, potential clients are going to get confused, which erodes that critical trust required in the home construction business.

As stated before, only you can decide when to bring in an agency to handle your marketing needs. When you do make that decision, take the time to find an agency that can understand what you want to accomplish. That way, your advertising will reflect you and your business.

Top Trends in Social Media

December 6, 2017/in Articles, Digital Media, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

Today, a number of brands and advertising agencies rely on social media to connect with their audience. However, with so many companies competing with each other, it is important you look for ways to stand out. Also, creating content that is tailored to go viral or attract your customers. Monitoring and keeping an eye on social media trends can save you plenty of time and effort. This is allowing you to make the most of your audience’s short attention span. Here are some of the most important social media trends that you shouldn’t miss out on:

Going ‘Live’

Facebook Live has been a tremendous success as numerous brands are using the feature to broadcast events, launch new products or simply interact with their audience. However, simply going ‘live’ isn’t good enough as you’ll need to look for ways to engage with viewers by asking questions or suggestions. Live streaming also tests the commitment of your audience, which means that people who are uninterested in the subject will naturally stay clear.

Senior Living Tips for Facebook Advertising

Say Hello to ‘Snaps’ and Expired Content

SnapChat is living proof that you can exploit the audience’s sense of urgency by featuring content that will only last a short period of time. This type of content usually contains short video stories that only last for 24 hours from the initial posting time. Because users are always fearful of missing out on videos, this type of content creates an urgency, causing you to check your phone after every few hours. A number of brands and celebrities have been using snaps to announce exciting news or promote product launches. This helps marketing companies generate immediate results of their campaigns. Recently, Instagram stepped up a notch by introducing a polling feature that allows followers to cast votes on Instagram stories. Users can also customize their poll options to receive a more customized feedback.

Social media has revolutionized customer service by introducing chat bots. This is a kind of software application that is built to mimic human-conversation. The obvious benefit of a chat bot its immediate response. Customers don’t have to wait for brand-representatives to get back to their queries. Some chat-bots are used to build lasting relationships with potential customers and audiences. Another notable advantage of using chat bots is that you can always expect the program to be polite to people no matter how rude the customer replies may be.

Influencer Marketing

Influencers are people who have authority of a certain niche and possess the ability to influence a certain audience. In the past few months, you must have seen an incredible rise in influencer marketing, especially on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This provides marketing companies the chance to benefit from the influencer’s large social media following list. Brands typically use influencers to host competitions or collaborations that encourages the audience to follow the company’s social media profile.