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Advertising Agency Trends

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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?

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

real estate advertising agency

When Should You Hire A Real Estate Advertising Agency?

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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?

When Should You Hire an 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.

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

facebook advertising strategy

Top Trends in Social Media

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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.

Rise of Social-Chat Bots

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.

social media marketing

marketing qualified lead

Why ‘Star Wars’ Is Really About Sales & Marketing Qualified Leads

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After recently re-watching the original Star Wars trilogy, I made a startling discovery. The first movie (for clarification, I mean episode IV) is all about marketing qualified leads and sales qualified leads. I know that sounds crazy but it’s (kind of) true! Just stick with me and by the end you will be convinced that I’m right. So let’s get to it.

The (Sales) Force

Think of making a sale for your business in the same was as someone accepting the existence of The Force. In the movies, The Force is an all-powerful entity that binds the universe together. It works as a power that influences people’s actions and decisions. Just like with sales, some things are in your control, but ultimately it comes down to the buyer/believer. If they are not susceptible to what they are hearing, eventually they will turn away. It is a salesperson’s job to minimize the number of people who turn away. That’s why it’s important to treat every lead different depending on where they are in their buyer’s journey. In Star Wars, getting people to believe in The Force is no different. This brings me to my first example.

What Are Marketing Qualified Leads And Why Do They Matter?

Luke: The Sales Qualified Lead

In the movies, people talk about the Jedi like they would monks following a religion. How many people do you know adopted a religion within the same day they heard of it? I’m assuming not many. Enter Luke Skywalker! In the movie, he has never even heard of The Force but after only a brief conversation with Obi-Wan Kenobi (and getting the coolest weapon in the galaxy!) we know that Luke is pretty open to the whole idea. He even seems perplexed that Han isn’t open to the idea of The Force while on their ill-fated trip to Aldaran. For this reason, Luke Skywalker is the quintessential example of a sales qualified lead.

After only a short conversation, we know that he is willing to believe in The Force, even though he has seen no evidence of its existence. Later, Obi-Wan does show off the powers of The Force by using a Jedi mind-trick on a nosey Stormtrooper, but the use of it was both necessary and beneficial. Obi-Wan allows Luke to see the power of The Force but never refers back to that as a way to convince him that The Force is real. By allowing Luke to make up his own mind about whether to follow the ways of The Force was essential to his full adoption of the Jedi ways that would eventually lead him to destroying The Empire’s grip on the galaxy.

Han: The Marketing Qualified Lead

Han is a different story. He isn’t openly hostile to the idea of The Force, but he comes pretty close to it. He chides Luke, telling him that he’s seen no evidence of an all-powerful force that binds the universe together. Even more surprising is that this is after he watches Luke deflect multiple laser blasts from a practice droid while blinded! Anyways, fast forward to the scene where the Rebels are preparing their attack against the Death Star. Notice that Luke doesn’t give Han a speech about why he should fight for the Rebels or that he’s morally wrong for not helping them stop a tyrant who has a weapon of mass destruction.

This is the way your sales team should treat its marketing qualified leads. By not feeling pressure from Luke, Han feels unashamed about turning to his friend and saying, “may The Force be with you.” This is surprising because at this point in the film we are pretty sure Han still doesn’t believe in The Force. Though he may not believe in it, Han has progressed from questioning hostility to respectful recognition of The Force. And, as we all know, Han comes back and saves the day! Not because of incessant nagging, but because he was able to make the decision on his own. Without that level of freedom, Han may have taken his loot and ran away from the battle out of spite. Glad that didn’t happen!

Conclusion

When thinking about sales and marketing qualified leads, it’s important to remember the human aspect of these concepts. I think that by linking these ideas to well-known and popular characters we are better able to understand how and why leads need to be treated differently. Remember, Luke Skywalker may have been The Chosen One, but he couldn’t have saved the universe without Han’s help. A successful business needs to learn how to effectively cater to both sales and marketing qualified leads.

Inbound marketing will help you grow your business by attracting website visitors, converting them into leads and closing leads into customers
what's new with google

What’s New with Google: Search Results Based on Location

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So, what’s new with Google? At times, it can be tough to decipher the Google algorithm. The effort may often seem like a futile exercise. The search engine has undergone a number of changes in the recent past. This has kept a majority of digital and online marketers on their toes. These updates often hit small and local businesses very hard. Each modification or tweak to the algorithm can have an adverse impact on their search rankings. Here’s an overview of what’s new with Google:

Search Results Based on Location of Device

Google recently launched a new update. It will deliver Google search results on the basis of the location of your device. As nearly 20 percent of the total search queries on the search engine are location-specific, the company has made a number of tweaks to the relevant search algorithm in order to provide more relevant and useful results.

Users Can’t Change Location

Regardless of whether you visit a top-level or country-specific domain, Google will now reveal its search results depending on the current location of your device. For instance, in case you are in Singapore and you visit google.co.uk, bear in mind that you will only be able to see search results localized for Singapore and not for the UK.

You will find your current location listed near the bottom on the left corner of your window. If you travel to a different country, the search engine will dynamically alter the location. The location alters in order to show the search results specific to that region. According to many users, this is an incredible and welcome addition. However, it has the tendency of making the procedure for seeking localized search results from another country a bit longer.

In case you would like to look for localized results from a different country, you will first need to make appropriate changes in your settings menu. To change your location, follow these steps:

  • Press the Settings button; you will find it on the bottom of your search page
  • Then go to Search settings
  • Now choose the relevant country from the available Region for Search Results.

Applicability

This location update is currently available for Google apps for iOS, Google search results on mobile platforms, as well as Maps and Search for desktop platforms. It is important to keep in mind that while the update is going to change some aspects of how both Google Search and Google Maps services are displayed and labeled, it will not have any impact on the way the company products function. In addition, it will not change the way legal and regulatory obligations are handled under national law.

This update can improve location-based and niche marketing efforts that target customers belonging to particular geographic regions and increase organic traffic. A lot of location-based services tend to rank better when it comes to search engine findings on the net. Moreover, use of location-based marketing can make your business a success in the local areas and suburbs you operate in.

The purpose of the update is to help ensure the users can get the most appropriate or relevant search results depending on their location. It is also consistent with the way Google already deals with a number of services across various other platforms such as YouTube, Google Earth, Gmail, and Blogger, among others.

So, now that you are familiar with what’s new with Google, you can make the relevant changes to your website and come up effective marketing strategies.

A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING TECHNIQUES

PPC landing pages

Advertising Trends To Watch in 2018

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We are well into the last quarter of 2017 and you should already have an idea of how well you have met your goals for this year. While you are wrapping things up these last few months of the year, it is a good time to start thinking about what is happening next year. Let’s take a look at some of the advertising trends for 2018.

7 Advertising Trends that Will Be Hot in 2018

Integrated Advertising

Stand back and take a look at your current advertising. Are you leveraging multiple media sources to provide your target audience with a memorable experience? If not, now is the time to rethink your advertising approach.

Integrated advertising takes all media forms and creates a singular approach. Think TV and radio spots, print media, search engine and social media ads, and any other type of advertising. Every piece of advertising is in sync with every other including In-Bound advertising.

Niche Marketing

Niches are created by finding the needs, wants and requirements of a well-defined segment of people, who others are not addressing, then fulfilling the demand with goods and services.

The demand for niche marketing is growing because the number of businesses entering the digital marketplace is accelerating while the number of consumers remains fairly steady. This trend is going to become increasingly important going forward. What’s your niche and how best can you accommodate your consumer or business?

Mobile Marketing Geofencing

Advertisers can use GPS and RFID technology to set a physical boundary. If a mobile device enters or exists this boundary, the advertiser can send out a notification, email or text message. This hyper-local marketing allows businesses of all sorts to send out advertisements to consumers walking down the sidewalk near their store or office. Imagine walking the streets of Vegas when you get an alert on your phone that says, “look up and save 30% off your meal at Diablo’s Cantina”. That is what I was served in 2015.

5 Mobile Marketing Techniques To Build Your Ecommerce Brand

Social Advertising

The first part of 2017 saw a rapid increase in social media advertising spend. Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are providing new opportunities for user interaction, which is making advertising more attractive for companies of all sorts. Business is recognizing that social media offers ways to reach consumers that more conventional digital marketing cannot. Today, you can buy Facebook around zipcodes. What are you waiting for?

Ephemeral Content

Let’s turn the convention thoughts on digital marketing content on its head. Ephemeral content is doing just that. This type of content comes and goes very quickly, usually within 24 hours. It is perceived as more authentic, creates the FOMO (fear of missing out), and it grabs the consumer’s attention for a short time. Consumers believe that this content should be checked more often because it will be gone by the next day.

Chatbots

One of the advertising trends businesses are adopting quickly is the chatbot. A chatbot is program which engages a consumer in a text conversation, using natural language and business rules to provide requested information. It’s the reason TIVO can have one on one conversations about their products and help guide you through the purchasing cycle.

In-Store Retail Advertising

A consumer is walking through a retail store and gets an alert on his or her phone. It is a promotional offer or discount from the store. This type of in-store retail advertising is another form of hyper-local advertising. Walgreens has embraced this technology for the last two years. It drives store visits and can up-sale items for impulse buys. This form of advertising is a force that captures eyeballs and delivers content that could increase your sales if used properly.

2018 looks to be an exciting year in the world of marketing and advertising. Each year, technology pushes its way more and more into the world of marketing. If you haven’t embraced where marketing is heading, your company may not be around in the next three years. Think about how Amazon is delivering FOOD within ½ hour to your door, or Walmart not only delivering but putting away in your kitchen…did you think this would happen? Do you see the value of Tesla and having a driver-less car? Were taxis ready for UBER or LYFT? Was Blockbuster ready for NETFLIX or REDBOX? How about the postal service that didn’t work on Sundays, to be delivering Amazon products on a day where all the vehicles are available. The Echo could just change your life moving forward and why isn’t your product already being said by Alexia? Technology is a force.

The trends in 2018 are powerful. Isn’t it time to start using them?

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

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Digital Marketing Trends To Watch For in 2018

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Leads, conversions, connections and engagement. Those are some of the things you want to accomplish with your 2018 digital marketing. The challenge is using the marketing techniques that have the most impact on your target audience. Here are five trends you can integrate into your 2018 marketing.

Think Micro Moments

How many times a day do you reach for your mobile phone to buy, do, research, watch or discover something? On average, consumers are making these momentary decisions well over 100 times a day. Those decisions are known as micro moments. They represent an opportunity to make your brand standout.

This means providing the right information to the right consumer at the right time. A brand does it by offering one-button access to needed information.

Visual Media

Video remains one of the strongest forms of content in digital marketing today. In fact, YouTube attracts more adult viewers during prime TV viewing hours than any cable channel. And in 2016, Facebook reported over 1.5 billion users view over 8 billion videos every day.

The visual elements of a video have more impact on viewers. The viewers attach deeper meaning to video messages and they are more likely to take action based on the video’s call to action.

Three Videos Every B2B Website Should Have

Native Advertising

Native advertising has been around for a long time. But, it has emerged as a growing trend in the digital marketplace. It offers a seamless way to market a product or service in an almost non-disruptive manner.

The goal of native ads is to present the right information in front of the viewer when its needed. And to do it seamlessly. Viewers often don’t spot the native ad, assuming its a part of the web page’s content. And that is powerful.

Personalized Client-Centric Content

The content you present to a returning visitor needs to be different from that presented to a brand new viewer. You can do that with personalized client-centric content, also known as smart content.

It all starts with tracking what interests a particular visitor. You track this information using a marketing automation system, which tracks the web pages that a visitor looks at. That information lets you present content and ads personalized to what the visitors has an interest in.

Create Your Own Band of Influencers

An influencer is simply someone who recommends your product or service to other people. The more influencers you have talking your brand, the more people will start to pay attention. Creating a band of influencers can take your brand, product and service to the next level.

It starts with understanding what your customers need and solving their problems. This builds brand loyalty. These customers will start telling their friends. Add in a few known influencer names and your brand is on its way.

These digital marketing trends can take your business in new directions next year. If you haven’t already started your plan, now is the time. You want it in place and ready to go with the New Year.

MAXIMIZING YOUR MARKETING BUDGET

media mix

How To Use Media Mix When Marketing To Your Audience’s Buyer’s Journeys

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Some marketers make the mistake of trying to reach as many people as possible with their content. The problem with this is that your pushing information to people who are either not ready to receive it or not interested all together. Without tailoring your content to your specific audience at their buying stage and delivering it to the platforms where they actually consume messages you’re missing out on a huge conversion opportunity.

Why Use Mix Media Marketing

Mix media marketing is the process of utilizing niche marketing to get granular with your messaging. Depending on your audience and their buying stage different platforms and messages will reach better than others. Email typically converts those at the middle or bottom of the funnel while social media is great to reach those at the top of the funnel. Let’s take a closer look at the different stages in the buyer’s journey and which mix media marketing strategies work best.

[Read About Using the Buyer’s Journey to Create Great Content]

Awareness Stage

The awareness stage is at the very top of the funnel and is a great time to just put your brand out there. At this point the buyer has a problem that needs to be solved but they might not even be fully aware of the problem or that there is a solution. During this stage educational content and strong SEO is key. You want to be found when users are searching and use keywords that resonate with their pain points.

Best types of mix media marketing at this stage:

  • Blogs- with keywords focused on relevant topics to your audience
  • PPC and SEO to drive traffic to your site
  • Mass Media- TV, Radio, to get your brand name out there

Consideration

During this stage the buyer is aware they have a problem and is actively looking for a solution. You need to show your target audience that you can deliver the solutions they need and are a trusted source. You’ll want to get more granular at this stage and really tailor your messages to their needs. You can use segmented email messages that push buyers through the funnel.

Best types of mix media marketing at this stage:

  • Targeted emails that trigger actions such as signing up for a webinar, downloading content, or reading a case study

Decision Making Stage

If your audience has made it this far in the buyers journey than you are one of the companies they are considering. Now is the time to really drive home why you’re better than the competition and develop an emotional connection.

Best types of mix media marketing at this stage:

  • Retargeting- reconnect with those who have visited your site to keep your brand fresh in their mind using retargeting ads or email
  • One to one connections- this is the why us part. Demos, personal emails, phone calls, and other follow-ups that show your audience you’re there for them will go far to push your buyers through the last step before converting

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

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Top 3 Ways to Maximize Your Inbound Marketing Strategy

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Do you have a favorite sport? Maybe it’s something popular like football or hockey. Perhaps a more dignified pastime such as golf or horseracing better suits your style. Whatever your preference may be, do you ever wonder how your favorite athletes (hopefully!) win more than they lose? Most likely they are playing with a strategy. It may seem obvious, but strategy – even in a sport like racing – is essential to victory.

The same is true for your business website. Without a strategy, your website will fall behind the competition. Don’t let this happen! Many companies fall into the trap of creating a website for nothing more than an “online presence.” With inbound marketing, websites can do so much more than they could 20 years ago. With inbound marketing, businesses are seeing more online traffic that results in more customers and sales. But without a strategy, even inbound marketing has its limits.

Inbound marketing benefits from a well-developed strategy. There are three aspects to creating a well-developed inbound marketing strategy.

1. Create website goals

What do you want your website to do for your customer? That’s the main question that should be asked before a website is developed. Without a clear goal, a website could be published without having any significant benefit to the owner or the visitor. If a website generates most of its sales after visitors view a product information page, the goal of the website should be to create more product information pages, increase traffic to these pages, and streamline the ability to go from product information to product purchase. Inbound marketing benefits from having a website with clearly defined goals. If you are wondering about your website, try having a friend or colleague take a look at it. Ask them if they felt your website had clearly defined goals. Once you’ve determined you have the right goals in mind, it’s time you ask yourself if you have the right person in mind.

2. Create a Persona

Creating a persona is a powerful way for a business to better understand its customers. Without a persona, businesses have an incomplete idea of who to market to. So what is a persona? A Persona is the ‘ideal’ customer that a business wants to reach out to. Personas are defined by many things – ethnicity, location, motivation – but what they all have in common is that they help shape the strategy used by a company to achieve its goal.

Read more on Why Buyer Personas Are So Important

By creating a strategy with a specific end-user in mind, we are better able to understand what their problems are and how we can help make their lives easier. Don’t get too attached to your persona though! You will likely find that you may need to update them as you gain more insights on your customers. You may even considering adding an additional persona. Once you have your persona or personas created, you can move on to the next step.

 3. Get to know your persona

Now that you have a persona, ask yourself, how well do you know him or her? It may seem like knowing a pretend person’s upbringing and background is a little silly, but it can go a long way with customer satisfaction. By constructing your persona’s life story, you are better able to understand their motivation, needs, and desired outcome in life. If your persona is looking for a product that satisfies a long-term need but your business only sells products for immediate use, you’ve just gained valuable insight. You’ve recognized a need your typical customer has as well as an opportunity for your company to grow. By using information gathered from our personas, we can update and adapt our company strategy to best fit our customer needs.

Download A Free Template For Developing Personas

Just like in all sports, strategies continue to adapt as they encounter new problems and opportunities. You will likely find that a strategy created today might not work for you a year from now. That’s okay! Revisiting your goals, updating your persona’s attributes, changing their background and desired outcomes; these are all essential to a successful business. Just remember, inbound marketing benefits strongly from a well thought out strategy. How do you think your company’s online strategy is? If you’d like a free consultation, please check out the link below.

Want more resources on how to redesign your website? Click here!

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

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4 Questions to Ask Yourself When Looking for Creative Marketing Solutions

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Imagine yourself coming home after a long day of work only to find your kitchen completely flooded. You run to the sink and quickly realize that you have no idea what the problem is. Time to call the plumber! Now, imagine that plumber shows up and the only thing in his tool bag is a screwdriver. You’d probably be pretty upset, right? That’s because you know that a screwdriver isn’t the right tool for a leaky pipe. Digital marketing is no different; without the right tool for the job you will not be able to accomplish your goals.

Choosing the right tool is essential for a company’s approach to creative marketing solutions. Without the right tools, you may overlook valuable information, miss out on new customers, or fail to recognize a new opportunity in your industry or business. So how do we choose the right tool for the job? Here are four things to consider when you ask yourself that question. 

1. What are my goals?

Goal creation is often the first step in any business decision. Why should choosing your tools be any different? Lets take a look at the plumber again. If his goal was to fix a pipe then he should have known that a screwdriver is not the best tool to achieve this goal. We know that a wrench is much more useful for this kind of problem. Obviously, we are not saying that screwdrivers are a useless tool. Our point is that different tools should be used for different tasks. If instead the goal were to install a door into a doorframe then a screwdriver would be the perfect tool to use. By laying out your goals, you are better able to decide which tool fits best.

2. Will these tools accomplish those goals?

Lets say the problem with the plumber wasn’t that he had one tool, but far too many! You watch him fix the sink, but feel frustrated as he wastes time digging into his bag, leaves tools all over your floor, and goes back and forth from your kitchen to his truck outside as he tries to find what he’s looking for. You feel upset because, though job gets done, the amount of time it took was much longer than what you were anticipating. The problem of having too many tools for a task is problematic in two ways.

First, having too many tools can make even simple tasks complicated. By having multiple software applications that have overlapping features, your employees may become overwhelmed with how much they are expected to understand. Software should be easy for your employees to learn, whether they’ve been with you for 20 years or 20 days. This will minimize the number of hours it takes to learn how to use the tools and maximize the number of hours they spend actually using them.

Second, any money that is used to buy tools for your company is money that could be used in areas that have a proven ROI. If you buy tools that are unneeded or overprice, you are essentially wasting money for your business. By buying tools only when you need them, you are ensuring that your company uses its resources efficiently.

By making sure you have the right number of tools you minimize your company’s spending and maximize its growth!

[Read About 8 Great Case Study Questions To Ask Yourself When Attracting Prospects]

3. How much is too much?

Do you know someone who has to have everything brand new? They buy the newest smartphone and the fastest computer only to play Angry Birds and browse the internet. If you’re anything like me, you probably get frustrated with this person. You might think to yourself, “why are you spending so much money when you don’t need to?” Some businesses are the same way. They spend too much money on the best software when they really don’t need to. We see the same two problems here as we did in the example above – unneeded upfront costs and wasted hours of employee training. Make sure the tools you’re considering will accomplish your goals, but won’t do more than you need them to. 

4. Do my tools work together?

One of the most frustrating things in business can be working on a team project. Maybe there is someone who works remotely and everything has to be accomplished online. For others, it may be that their available hours don’t mesh well with your schedule. Every company has a vested interest in minimizing the number of obstacles their employees encounter on a daily basis. By using software that integrates between users, a company is better able to track of the progress of their employees and employees are better able to focus on their work. GoogleDocs is a great example of integrated technology.

For many years, even just changing a text document could be very frustrating. One of the main ways people would update documents was through email. A frustrating experience when working with multiple people who make multiple revisions. Who’s changes do you go with? Did they change the most recent version of the document or do you need to backtrack to an earlier copy? Who’s revisions does your team ultimately to go with?

This was one of the main problems Google aimed to address with their release of GoogleDocs. By using GoogleDocs, we are now able to collaborate and make changes to the document in real time. Coworkers can track who made revisions to the document, at what time, and leave comments to one another. And the best part? No endless chain of emails filling your inbox! Finding the best software for your company may take time, but truly integrated technologies can make a significant difference to your everyday workload.

Creative marketing solutions can be complex, but they don’t have to be difficult. By optimizing the tools you and your company uses, you will find that working together will become much easier. Remember, you can’t fix a sink with a screwdriver. Go out and find the tools you need! If you’d like some advice on where to start, please follow the link below for more information

Search Engine Optimization Techniques