June 2020 - Stevens & Tate Marketing

How the Covid-19 Relief Google Ads Credit Program Works

June 23, 2020/in Articles, Blog, Digital Media, Directors, Media, Mobile Advertising, News & Insights /by Nicole Wagner

Google has responded to Covid-19 globally by giving qualified small and medium sized businesses $340 million in free Google ads credit. This includes small and medium sized businesses who advertised with Google Ads directly through Google and/or a digital marketing agency (like Stevens and Tate).

Eligibility and Amount Given:

In order to qualify for the Google Ads Credit Program, a small or medium sized business must have spent money with a Google Ads account in 10 of 12 months in the year 2019, and in January and/or February of the year 2020.

Each eligible customer will receive one ad credit, even if that customer advertises with more than one account. The maximum U.S. Dollars the free ad would be worth is $1,000, and the amount varies by factors including: amount spent on Google Ads in the past, country billing address, and currency.

How to View your Google Ad Credit:

Google Ad credits have launched in Australia, China, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. There is no application process; the Google ad credits are automatically applied. Additionally, qualified customers cannot transfer, split, or refund their Google ad credits. Qualified accounts will receive a notification email. The applied credit appears on the Google Ads account by clicking “Tools” > “Billing” > “Promotion”. The Google ad amount appears on the “Transactions” page. The free ad credit expires on December 31, 2020.

Helpful Resources for your Business During This Time of Uncertainty:

Things To Consider When Partnering With A Marketing Agency

June 19, 2020/in Advertising Agency, Articles, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

Does your company need help from a marketing agency? If you’ve never worked with a marketing agency before, it can be overwhelming to decide which one to partner with. Before settling with one, it is important to scope out your options to figure out which one will be the best fit for you and your company.

It is crucial that you choose a marketing agency that shares the same goals as you and wants to do everything they can to help you reach them. You should choose a marketing agency that will have a clear understanding of your company’s goals and objectives. It is key that the marketing agency you partner with shares the same beliefs and values as your company. In order to get a clear understanding of how helpful a marketing agency can be for your company, you need to ask the right questions. Having important conversations early on will help you decide if a marketing agency is right for your business.

Enjoy the article: 6 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

These are a few things to consider about a marketing agency before settling with one:

Interview Your Account Manager

Account managers are important because they are the go-to person the client can count on in the agency. They know everything about their account and make sure the work is being completed. Account managers keep the client’s goals and knowledge in mind. If there is no point person then the client has to educate multiple people on what they are looking for and double check work to make sure it meets their expectations and standards. It is important that you learn who will be managing your account and executing the work. You should feel confident with the experience and expertise of your account manager.

Ask What The First Steps of Work Together Will Look Like

This is a great question to ask a potential marketing agency when deciding if they are right for your company. Asking the agency what the first couple months of working together will entail will tell you what will be done to drive early results. This can give you a deeper insight as to what working with that agency will be like. It can help you better decide if you like what their plan for your company is and if you can see it working in the future. This tactic is beneficial because it can tell you what type of partner they will be. It can show you if the marketing agency has an organized plan for your company’s goals or not.

Question How The Agency Has Helped Past Clients

It is important that you figure out if the agency you’re leaning towards can help your company get the results you want. Try not to focus so much on other companies they have worked with in your industry. This will not help you figure out if the agency has helped their clients reach their goals. You need to voice your company’s struggles and ask how they have helped their clients in the past with similar issues. This will help you get an idea for how they will help your company achieve its major goals. Asking this question helps you learn the marketing agencies track record. Asking them how they responded to other clients with similar issues will give you an idea for how they will assist your company. This can also help you decide if you like their approach.

Partner With an Agency That Shares The Same Values and Beliefs

It is important that you get along on a personal level with the people you are aligning with. Your business and the marketing agency you partner with should have shared values and beliefs. Hiring a marketing agency is like hiring another employee. Companies and employees have shared values and this should carry on into the marketing agency your company hires as well.

It is important that you educate yourself on these tactics before partnering with a marketing agency. Doing your research on your account manager’s years of experience will help you get an idea for how reliable they will be. Discussing company plans for the near future and considering the agencies track record are good to know to get a feel for how the agency will help your business and if you like their approach. Finally, having shared values and beliefs is very important because we all want to get along with our business partners. Using these tactics can give you insight as to if an agency will be beneficial for you to partner with.

Download Our White Paper Guide To Learn How To Perfect Buyer Personas For Your Business

Marketing Strategies In Times of Fear and Uncertainty

June 17, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Nicole Wagner

In order to have reassured customers, they must first be reassured by your marketing strategies. Unfortunately, there is much uncertainty in the world, and that’s truer now than ever before. It’s no secret that the coronavirus has left many people in a state of fear, anxiety and grief. We know this is a great time to be marketing- but perhaps unsure what is best for every customer during these times. While these concerns are well-founded, it’s important to keep a positive attitude. Your marketing strategies should therefore be about helping your customers keep that positive attitude. Here are a few ways to help them do just that.

Love Your Customers

A great idea is to reach out to every one of your customers. Either that or have your sales and client service teams send personal notes to check in on your customers. Now is the best time to thank them for their support and their business. Do more than just a company email. Ask how they are holding up. It’ll will go a long way in cementing your relationship with your customers.

Reconsider Your Marketing Mix

Another idea to consider pulling any outbound advertising. Shift those funds into content creation. Amplify your best thought leadership and share your articles.

More than likely your annual event schedule is either not happening or is cancelled. Consider how to make it an amazing virtual experience. Bring in experts in your industry to speak to the latest trends. Get your customers to share their success. And create a plan to use all that content and re-purpose it into articles you can share on your website.

Webinars are certainly another great place to start. Setup monthly sessions to stay connected with your prospects. One thing that may be a concern: so many companies are making this shift. Think about how you can be different? Use professional speakers. Conduct an ask-me-anything. Maybe even offer a prospect some free advice or assessments. Long term thinking is exactly what we all need to do right now. Any video content at this point is doing extremely well; as people are home and watching more and more.

Similar Article: What’s Trending In Marketing For May 2019

Be Thoughtful and Intentional

Over the last few months, we have seen business leaders and marketers acting thoughtfully and with intention. Changing business operations to include “social distancing,” mandating that all workers able to work remotely do so, moving as much work online as possible, and limiting the amount of in-person interaction possible. These decisions are all thoughtful and intentional choices that demonstrate concern for individuals.

Marketers should be continuing to be thoughtful and intentional in their marketing strategy efforts. It’s ok to still post blog posts as long as the topics are worthwhile to the audience. It’s ok to send an email newsletter if the content is sensitive to the audience and offering value. Remember that many folks are taking their additional time right now to improve their skill set or expand their knowledge. They are focusing on the future and your content or materials will help to educate them while also letting them take their mind off the uncertainty surrounding them.

Connect with Your Team

Get together with your marketing colleagues and brainstorm new ideas. Reach out to your colleagues in the sales organization and find out what needs to be updated. Get time with executives and stakeholders across the company to reset expectations.

Everyone is feeling the same way: worried, anxious, afraid. So reach out and connect with them personally. If you don’t already have one, check into the opportunity for mental health services for your company; make sure everyone is aware of tele-health options for doctors. This may sound like HR stuff, but we’re great communicators in marketing. Let’s help everyone out!

Stay Positive and Optimistic

The most important marketing strategy to keep in mind is this: things will get better. People are still shopping and researching, but maybe just not this paycheck. We need to continue marketing and stay top of mind. Try and find the stories of hope that keep you positive. Think about all the healthcare workers putting their lives at risk to help others. As well as the volunteers who have signed up to offer free mental health support.

In conclusion having these marketing strategies is very important in long- term and short- term for several reasons. That is because, we still have an important job to do. Like those on the front lines of every crisis, we try and help out a little more, in any way we can.

A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING TECHNIQUES

Free Digital Marketing Tools To Cope With COVID-19

June 11, 2020/in Articles, Digital Media, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

During these trying times, we are seeing free and discounted digital marketing tools, being used to support sales and service professionals. This generosity has helped keep marketing teams engaged, support demand generation initiatives, and enable sales and service professionals to better meet the needs of their customers. While this list may not be comprehensive, here are some recommendations for the most valuable digital marketing tools available to sales, marketing, and customer success professionals today.

Slack Software

As you work remotely, communication with team members and work colleagues is a challenge during this time. Fortunately, the slack software application provides what you need to keep tabs with others. This digital tool brings all of your team and interactions together and helps you maintain work efficiency and productivity.

It is one of the best instant messaging apps in the market, and several companies are using it to connect with their team as they work remotely from home.

The software is a virtual office for many because it provides seamless communication between team members, departments, and the entire organization. For instance, when working on a project, you can get instant feedback for individual collaborators or from your team.

Zoom

Another one of the best digital marketing tools out there, would be Zoom. The Zoom app is perhaps the best choice for video conferencing. The reason behind this claim is that anybody can use it anywhere, no matter your location; provided of course that you have internet. The software helps you to start meetings and work together through videos quickly.

It is indeed, one of the most well-received work from home collaboration tool. Why? Because it replicates the face-to-face meetings you frequently had by showing you the facial expressions of others at the conference.

You get to see how everyone reacts to a suggestion or opinion. So, if you’re a digital product seller, with Zoom, you have an easy-to-use digital tool for webinars. It is no wonder that Zoom is one of the top market winners during this coronavirus effects.

Similar Article: 10 Best Digital Marketing Podcasts In 2020

Toggl

Whether you’re a blogger, freelancer, or employee, you need to make the most of the time you have. That is the only way you can be more efficient and productive. So, ask yourself, how are you managing your time to build trust and credibility if you can’t keep up with deadlines? Well don’t worry, the answer to your problems is here: and its name is Toggl

Toggl is a business tool and an easy-to-use time tracking reporting tool that allows you to identify your ideal working hours and stick to it.

Toggl also contains an incredible timesheet calculator that lets you figure out the amount of time you can work daily and keep your sanity. The application software helps you balance your time and monitor your progress. As a result, you can accomplish your endeavors by using one the best time management tools, available. However, this is not the only one. Some alternatives to those who don’t want to use Toggl are, FreshBooks, Hubstaff, DeskTime, Paymo, RescueTime, and Everhour.

Trello

Incredibly flexible, and incredibly easy to use Trello is another great digital marketing tool, to consider using. Trello is a web-based Kanban-style list making application which is a subsidiary of Atlassian, a well-respected software company. It allows you to work with coworkers more collaboratively and get more done as a result.

Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. Some of Trello’s primary benefits include:

Work With Any Team
Information At A Glance
Built-In Workflow Automation With Butler

With so many benefits available, it’s easy to see why Trello, has gotten the amount of acclaim that it has.

Google Drive

Every marketer or employer needs a sustainable space to organize and store valuable files. They’ll need a software application that lets you create, store and share documents and data from around the world in one place. For this purpose, Google Drive is among one of the highest recommended options to choose from.

With a single Google account, you can access all Google products, including Drive, Sheets, Docs, Slide, and more. Moreover, it comes with a free 15g storage space, which provides more than enough space to save all of your most important files. For those not comfortable with Google Drive, there are many alternatives to choose from. These include, Dropbox, OneDrive, Sync, Cloud, and Canto DAM.

You can quickly access your documents and files from these digital tools on any device anywhere. Also, by transporting your valuables to a cloud storage system, you are ensuring that you, your team, and all parties get uninterrupted access to all documents in any format. These cloud storage tools also have file-sharing capabilities. It means that you can quickly share files with colleagues and team members from your storage and keep everyone updated.

In conclusion, COVID-19 has forced a lot of people to become remote workers at home. While this new lifestyle has become challenging to navigate, these digital marketing tools, will help ease the burden to everyone involved.

How to Implement a Successful Digital Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy

June 9, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Dan Gartlan

A good word of mouth marketing strategy has always been incredibly effective. It occurs when customers spread positive information about their experience with the company on their behalf. For example, if a customer recommends a product to a friend, that’s a form of word of mouth communication. The reason it’s so effective as a marketing strategy is that people tend to trust the word of other customers over that of a company. As a result, customers can help to build your reputation, increase brand awareness, and even generate leads for you by way of word of mouth.

While some word of mouth marketing is organic, you should encourage it as much as possible. This is especially true in this day and age when word of mouth can spread like wildfire online. With that in mind, the following are six tips to help you implement a successful digital word of mouth marketing strategy:

1. Encourage Customer Reviews

Due to how easy it is to find information online, the majority of customers will research a company before making a purchase. Part of this research entails reading through customer reviews left online. Customers can leave reviews on social media channels, on Google, and on a variety of third party websites that are review focused (such as Yelp or Angie’s List, to name a couple). The more positive reviews you have across platforms, the better your word of mouth will be. As such, encourage customers to leave reviews, not just of their customer experience with your company, but also for the individual products or services that they purchased.

2. Create Customer Testimonials

Testimonials are similar to reviews but tend to go more in-depth. Customers who are particularly happy with the customer experience are more willing to provide a testimonial. This can be done in the written form or in the form of a video. Video testimonials are particularly effective because people will have an easier time connecting to the customer giving the testimonial on an emotional level. Not to mention that it’s much easier to trust a video testimonial than a written one.

3. Connect With Influencers Online

Influencers are a little different than the traditional consumer. An influencer is someone who often has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. They are considered an authority and are highly trusted, which means that if they promote a certain company’s product, their followers pay attention. Basically, they can help spread a positive word of mouth using a digital loudspeaker. You should look to connect with both macro and micro-influencers, both of which can help improve brand awareness and help spread your message.

Similar Blog Article: The Advantages of Using Public Relations In Your Marketing Strategy

4. Encourage Customer Referrals

Although many customer referrals happen organically, you should encourage them as much as possible. Individual referrals are often incredibly effective. Leads that are referred to you by an existing customer are going to be much easier for you to close since they will already be further down the sales funnel. There are several ways that you can encourage customer referrals. The first way is by simply offering an incentive. Provide customers with a link that they can use to refer another customer (such as a link leading to a service they can sign up for). If someone signs up to your service using that link, you can provide the customer with a discount or free gift as a reward.

Another way to encourage customer referrals is to set up a referral program. This is a more official way to incentivize your existing customers to make referrals. A referral program will make it much easier for customers to make referrals. It will also make it easier for you to monitor your customer referrals and to measure their success.

5. Encourage And Leverage User-Generated Content

User-generated content is content showcasing your brand or products created by your customers. This type of content helps to build trust and showcases the positive aspects of your brand or products. Not to mention that people tend to engage more successfully with user-generated content. All of these elements make user-generated content an effective vehicle for spreading word of mouth. You can encourage user-generated content by simply requesting it on social media or by holding contests. For example, a contest on Instagram for the best picture showcasing how customers used your product.

6. Provide The Best Customer Experience Possible

In the end, none of these digital word of mouth tactics are going to be very effective if you’re not providing a good customer experience in the first place. Customers don’t want to help brands that gave them a poor experience, after all. With that in mind, focus on providing the best customer experience you can and you’ll find that a positive word of mouth will begin to spread organically.

Word of mouth marketing can be a powerful way to increase brand awareness and to generate more leads. Not to mention that a word of mouth marketing strategy is an incredibly cost-effective strategy. Consider using these six tactics to encourage the spread of a positive word of mouth online.

Inbound Marketing Strategies To Use During The Pandemic

June 5, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Inbound Marketing /by Nicole Wagner

We are well-aware that the coronavirus has economically affected many companies drastically. However, what matters more is what your company is doing to respond to these trying times. With many states following the stay-at-home order, people are at home surfing the web now more than ever. This means there is a greater chance that they will end up on your company’s website. It is vital for your company to take advantage of this pandemic and implement more effective inbound marketing strategies to show consumers that you are still there for them and ready to work.

Have a Clean, Easy-to-Navigate Website

Your company’s website is a sales tool that can be viewed by millions of people around the world at any time of the day. It is crucial that it contains relevant, useful information as well as inbound marketing solutions such as blog articles, informative content, videos, images, and other tactics. This is especially important now, while technology use has increased because of the pandemic. There is a higher chance of someone finding your website. You want your website to provide the right content that will have consumers returning to your site. Your website should be clean, easy to navigate, and tell a story. In order to accomplish this, you must provide quality content.

Post Useful & Informational Content

Content marketing is one of the most important parts of inbound marketing. It grabs the viewers’ attention and makes them want more. It is central that your company posts informative, easy-to-understand content that consumers can use as a reference and keep coming back to.

While we are in this pandemic, content is an essential part of your inbound marketing strategy since your website’s content will be the first thing consumers see. It is key to provide frequent, valuable blog posts and marketing on social media.

It is also important to take into consideration the buyer’s journey. Does your website lead a potential buyer down an easy-to-navigate path to complete a purchase? You need content to educate consumers when they are in the early, middle, and end of their buyer journey. Make sure you provide helpful content that includes information about your product and frequently asked questions to ensure that the potential buyer has all the information they need to feel confident about buying from you.

Enjoy this article: How To Develop A Solid Inbound Marketing Strategy

Market and Engage with Prospects While Social Distancing

Conferences and trade shows are canceled and travel is restricted. It is critical that you know some ways you can still market and engage with prospects:

Online Events:

It is common that marketing teams have a few in-person events they attend in a year such as conferences or trade shows. These events are important to attend because they bring in leads. However, many have been cancelled because of the pandemic. With no in-person events to attend, it is important that your company does not just sit around and wait for the next one. Instead, launch a webinar series. Your consumers and prospects still want information, so give it to them! You can schedule webinars far in advance so people have time to sign-up. You should continue to use webinars even after the pandemic is over to ensure more leads and sales opportunities.

With all the current craziness and ever-changing news, people are constantly checking their social media. Now is the time to post relevant, attention-grabbing content and engage with your followers. Your social media channels should be up to date and provide useful content. Followers should be able to tell that your company frequently uses its social media sites and is keeping up with everything going on. The main goal of using social media is to lead followers back to your company’s website, so make sure to post content that includes a link back to your website.

Using Live Chat:

Since many people are home now, they may expect you to respond to their live chat faster than usual. It is important that you set up a chat to answer quick questions from consumers. Chat tools such as live chat and chat bots bring up upgraded, next-level website experience for consumers. You have to plan and organize the way your chat is set up. You must consider what page it goes on, who receives the live chat questions, etc.

Inbound marketing will help you grow your business by attracting website visitors, converting them into leads and closing leads into customers

Micro Influencer Marketing Benefits

June 3, 2020/in Articles, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Mark Beebe

Influencer marketing has been growing in popularity over the past few years. The idea is simple: connect with someone who has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of followers on social media. By connecting with an influencer, you in effect obtain access to their audience. As a result, you can significantly boost brand awareness as well as increase your own audience. While many businesses have been scrambling to develop relationships with such influencers, more crafty businesses have been adopting a different strategy: micro-influencer marketing.

What is Micro-Influencer Marketing?

Traditional influencers are individuals who have name recognition within your industry. They have enormous audiences who trust what they say and what they do. When they promote a brand, that brand will get a lot of attention as a result. Micro-influencers don’t usually have as much name recognition. In fact, many of them are not widely known at all. They have audiences that are much smaller. Typically, they will have less than 100,000 followers. In some cases, they may have less than 10,000 followers. Micro-influencers also tend to focus on more niche subject matter as opposed to traditional influencers (or “macro-influencers”).

The Benefits of Micro-Influencer Marketing

At first glance, it might be difficult to see any benefits of targeting micro-influencers instead of macro-influencers. After all, why would you want to target an influencer who seemingly has much less influence? The following are some of the reasons why micro-influencer marketing can actually be incredibly effective:

Less competition

Most businesses are familiar with influencer marketing. Any business that has decided to invest in influencer marketing is likely going to target individuals with the most influence. This makes sense, as these influencers likely have millions of followers and lots of name recognition. The problem, however, is that all the businesses within your industry are going to be targeting the same couple of influencers. Because micro-influencers are much less well known, it will be much easier to get into contact with them and to develop a relationship with them. Not to mention that most micro-influencers are more niche-oriented, meaning that they will be relevant to fewer businesses in your industry.

Enjoy The Article: The Power Of An Influencer Marketing Strategy: How and Why It Works

Less expensive

Influencers who have millions of followers are going to have tons of suitors lining up to pay them for their influence. This means that getting a macro-influencer to highlight your company in some way is going to cost you a lot of money. Since micro-influencers are less well known within your industry, they are going to be much less expensive.

More relevant audience

Even though micro-influencers have smaller audiences, they are likely going to be much more relevant to your company. This is because micro-influencers are focused on a specific niche. If that niche is related to your offerings, odds are their audience will be your audience. When it comes to macro-influencers, their scope tends to be much broader. This means that your brand may not be relevant to a significant number of their followers. As a result, not only are micro-influencers more affordable, but you’ll be using your money in a more effective way, leading to a higher ROI (return on investment). It’s one of the reasons why conversion rates using micro-influencers tend to be higher as well.

More engaged followers – Macro-influencers may have millions of followers, but many of those followers are only following because of the influencer’s name recognition. Because the influencer isn’t niche-oriented, many of their posts may not be relevant to all of their followers. Micro-influencers, on the other hand, tend to have followers who are much more engaged due to their niche focus. Micro-influencer followers often engage on a daily basis, which means that they pay much more attention to what they have to say. They are also more loyal than the followers of a macro-influencer. This means that your message will get across more successfully when relayed by a micro-influencer.

Consider Targeting Micro-Influencers

While you shouldn’t completely give up on macro-influencers (especially if you have the budget required), you may find that targeting micro-influencers will end up being much more effective. Not only do micro-influencers cost less, but you’ll also have a much better chance of reaching and engaging their audience, leading to a higher conversion rate and a higher overall ROI.