Bringing Digital Media To Retail Outlets : Beacon Marketing

The Future of Paid Media Advertising: AI, Automation, and Means for You

April 18, 2025/in Advertising, Articles, Blog, Digital Media, Inbound Marketing, Media /by Nicole Wagner

In today’s fast-changing digital world, paid media advertising is transforming. Tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are helping businesses show ads to the right people at the right time, saving money and improving results. But even as technology advances, human creativity and oversight remain essential. Let’s break down how these tools work and why teamwork between humans and machines is key.

How AI Is Changing Paid Media Advertising

Predicting What Customers Want

AI can analyze past customer behavior to guess what people might buy next. Think of it like a weather forecast for shopping trends—it helps businesses prepare by focusing their ad budgets on what’s likely to work.

Personalized Advertising for Millions at Once

Imagine showing a dog food ad to dog owners and a travel ad to adventurers—all automatically. AI tools adjust ad text, images, and calls-to-action (like “Buy Now”) for different audiences in real time. This means a single paid media advertising campaign can feel personal to millions of people.

Keeping Paid Media Advertising Safe and Honest

AI helps spot fake clicks and unsafe websites where ads might appear. This ensures ads are shown to real people in appropriate places, protecting both budgets and brand reputations.

Automation: Letting Machines Handle Repetitive Work

Buying Ads Without the Hassle

Automation handles the buying and placing of ads across websites, apps, and streaming services. Instead of negotiating manually, machines instantly find the best places to show ads based on your goals.

Managing Paid Media Advertising Across All Platforms

Tools now let businesses run ads on Google, social media, and other channels from one place. Automation adjusts budgets automatically—spending more on what’s working and less on what’s not.

Simplifying Reports

AI tools gather data from all your ad campaigns and summarize results in easy-to-read dashboards. This saves hours of manual work and helps teams focus on improving campaigns.

Working Together: AI and Human Creativity

While AI handles repetitive tasks and data crunching, humans bring irreplaceable skills:

Strategy: Setting goals (like brand awareness or sales) and ensuring ads align with a company’s values.
Creativity: Writing relatable ad copy, designing eye-catching visuals, and telling stories that connect emotionally.
Ethics: Checking that AI tools don’t accidentally reinforce stereotypes or ignore privacy rules.

For example, AI might generate 100 ad headlines in seconds, but humans choose the ones that sound authentic and match the brand’s voice. Similarly, AI can suggest where to place ads, but humans decide if those places align with the brand’s image.

What’s Next in Paid Ads?

Voice Search Ads

As more people use voice assistants like Alexa, ads will need to answer conversational questions (“Where’s the nearest coffee shop?”). AI helps optimize ads for these spoken queries.

Immersive Experiences

Augmented reality (AR) lets users “try” products digitally—like seeing how a sofa looks in their living room. These interactive ads blend the digital and physical worlds.

Eco-Friendly Paid Media Advertising

Businesses are increasingly using tools to track and reduce the environmental impact of their ads, such as energy used in online campaigns.

Challenges to Keep in Mind

Privacy: Laws now require businesses to be transparent about how they use customer data. Tools exist to help manage consent and stay compliant.
Training Teams: As AI becomes essential, companies need to train employees to use these tools effectively.
Fairness: Regularly checking that AI tools don’t favor or exclude certain groups unfairly.

Getting Ready for the Future of Paid Media Advertising

Review your current tools to see if they support AI and automation.
Train your team on basic AI advertising tools.
Experiment with new ad formats, like interactive video or AR.

Conclusion

The future of paid media advertising isn’t about replacing humans with machines—it’s about combining their strengths. AI handles speed, scale, and data analysis, while humans provide creativity, ethics, and strategic direction. By working together, businesses can create ads that are not only efficient but also meaningful and trustworthy.

Ways You Can Improve Your Email Personalization

March 21, 2025/in Articles, Blog, Digital Media, Emails /by Nicole Wagner

Email marketing is one of the time-tested marketing strategies used by many businesses. And while it’s popular, many business owners and marketers struggle to get their email marketing campaigns to deliver the desired results. For many, their emails often go unnoticed or ignored by their audience. If this is the case, you’re not alone. The vast amount of emails people send and receive daily means that it’s easy for your message to get lost in the shuffle. And that is where email personalization comes in.

By tailoring your emails to each recipient, you can ensure your message stands out and grabs their attention. In a recent McKinsey report, 71% of consumers expected businesses to offer personalized communication, and 76% said they would likely feel frustrated if this didn’t happen. So, let’s discuss email personalization and explore effective ways to implement it in your marketing strategy.

What is Email Personalization?

Email personalization is a powerful marketing technique that allows businesses to connect personally with their customers. It involves using subscriber data to create tailored email content that speaks directly to each recipient. This can include anything from addressing the recipient by name to sending personalized recommendations based on their shopping preferences.

The goal is to make the email more relevant and engaging for the recipient, increasing the likelihood that they will open it, read it, and take action. Personalizing emails also means sending out relevant, timely, and irresistible content to the recipient. This helps businesses improve their relationship marketing strategies, deliver value and drive more sales.

Why Personalize Your Emails?

Email marketing is an essential tool for businesses of all sizes, but it doesn’t always yield the expected results. This is especially true if you fail to personalize the emails to connect with the audience more deeply. Here are some reasons you should consider personalizing your emails.

It increases email’s open rates. Personalizing your emails, especially the subject line, can significantly increase the open rates. Making your emails more personal will make a better first impression and encourage more people to open up and engage with your content.
It drives engagement. When you personalize your emails, you’re showing your subscribers that you value them as individuals. This can build trust and encourage engagement with your brand. By providing a personalized experience, you’re more likely to foster long-term customer relationships.
It boosts your revenue. One of the most compelling reasons to personalize your emails is that it can increase revenue. People are likely to spend money with businesses that appreciate them and provide a personalized experience.

Email Personalization Strategies

Now that you know the benefits of personalizing your email marketing, let’s explore some common strategies you can implement. It’s worth noting that personalization is the future of digital marketing, and now is the time to rethink how you communicate and interact with prospects. Here’s how you can make email personalization work for you.

Use Segmentation

Customer segmentation is the foundation of most personalized email marketing strategies. It involves grouping subscribers or prospects into segments based on shared characteristics, such as gender, location, or organizational role. Using the data collected to segment subscribers, you can make each email seem like it was written specifically for them.

To collect segmentation data, you must create an email sign-up form that is quick and easy to fill out. You must also collect useful information such as demographics, email frequency preferences, psychographics, etc. Additionally, you can use interactive elements and surveys to collect more data and refine your messaging to contacts. Integrating your email marketing tools with your CRM can also offer timely insights. This can help you send targeted messages based on what your subscribers do online.

Use Triggered Emails

Triggered emails fall into the category of behavioral marketing and are a great way to make subscribers feel like you know them. You can send these emails based on subscribers’ actions, such as abandoning a cart, registering for an event, or changing profile information.

To make the most out of triggered emails, you want to send them at important moments, such as when a customer engages with your product or reaches a personal goal. You can also add subscriber tags to segment and target subscribers based on their actions. This will help you send relevant messaging to your contacts as their interests and needs change.

Use Personalized Content

When your emails feel like they’re coming from a friend, subscribers will be more likely to engage with your brand or content. To achieve this, you should make your email copy friendlier. You should also avoid jargon and use language that your customers will understand and relate to.

Another way to add personality to your emails is to use humor. Humor is an excellent icebreaker and can help to establish a rapport with your prospects. By injecting a little humor into your emails, you can create a relaxed and enjoyable experience for your customers.

But personalization goes beyond just being friendly and personable. It also means being relevant. You need to use the data you gather about your customers to craft content tailored to their interests and needs. By sending them relevant information, you show that you care about their needs and are committed to providing value.

Use Dynamic Content

Another way to take your email marketing to the next level is to use dynamic content. With dynamic content, you can personalize certain parts of your email to resonate with specific recipients. That means different people will see different content based on their interests or preferences.

The beauty of dynamic content is that it allows you to deliver the right message to the right subscriber at the right time. Remember, displaying the content your subscribers are interested in can improve engagement and drive more conversions.

Send Emails from a Person

If you want to make a real impact with your email marketing, it’s time to start sending emails from a person, not just a business. Research shows that people trust and engage more with emails from a real person than a faceless corporation.

Using a real person’s name and photo in the “From” field can add a personal touch to your emails that will help your business stand out from the competition. Several companies have tested this strategy, and it’s proven to work. It’s also a simple yet effective way to build trust and engagement with subscribers.

Get Started Today

In today’s digital marketing age, email communication is prevalent, and personalization is often the key to effectively connecting with consumers. Personalizing your emails increases open rates, drives engagement, and boosts revenue. The strategies we highlighted above can help you deliver value more effectively while establishing long-term customer relationships.

Ready to take your email personalization to the next level? Contact our marketing strategy consultancy today to learn how we can help you craft targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience and drive results. Let us help you unlock the full potential of your email marketing efforts!

Contact us or call us at 630-627-5200

Learning from the Best: 10 Examples of Great Website Design

March 14, 2025/in Articles, Digital, Digital Media, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Website Design, Website Growth Driven Design /by Mark Beebe

Building a website is simple. But designing a website that meets all the modern web design requirements and works for your unique customers and business is challenging. Most companies create compelling websites but end up sacrificing performance or the user experience. Others prioritize simplicity and convenience but end up with poorly optimized sites. In the sections below, you’ll explore 10 examples of great website designs to inspire your creativity the next time you design a website.

10 Examples of Great Website Design

1. Dropbox

If there’s one website that has done a great job designing a super rsponsive website, it’s got to be Dropbox. This cloud storage and file hosting company has made sure that every site visitor, regardless of the device they use to access the site, enjoys the best navigation, graphics, and content.

Every aspect of the site design, from the font color to the navigation buttons, has been carefully customized for every device, ensuring compatibility and interactive experiences for the varying screen sizes.

For instance, on the desktop, a small arrow directs users to scroll down for more content, helping to minimize the bounce rate. However, this is absent on the mobile version, as users are more likely to scroll down easily.

2. Freshbooks

Freshbooks is an accounting website with one of the best homepage designs, thanks to the simple and minimalist copy, inspiring visuals, and the strategic use of white space in web design. The site also uses a perfect blend of colors with easy-to-spot CTA buttons. There’s also a well-organized navigation system that makes it easier for first-time site visitors to find solutions to their complex accounting problems.

3. Walmart

Walmart is one of the leading online marketplaces offering a one-stop shopping experience. The retail giant has prioritized convenience by streamlining the checkout process. Once you’ve selected the items you want to buy, you won’t be taken to a new checkout page. Instead, an on-page checkout sidebar allows you to complete your shopping without even signing up. A cart storage option saves your cart for up to three days if you forget to complete the checkout process or are distracted while on the site.

4. Nike

Nike is one of the leading sportswear companies whose success is rooted in simplicity and convenience. The same is reflected on its website, which prioritizes a minimalist design and easy navigation. Nike’s checkout process, for instance, is one of the simplest yet super interactive. If you enter the correct information during checkout, a green checkmark appears, allowing you to continue shopping.

There’s also an auto-fill address feature that saves you time during checkout. By simplifying the time-consuming steps and focusing on web design principles that boost conversions, Nike has successfully attracted and even retained more converting prospects.

5. Uber

Uber falls into the category of companies that prioritize their homepage design, and it’s obvious why. Imagine landing on the Uber website and reading through needless copy, images, or videos before requesting your ride. Now think of a ride-sharing or service company that has made its home page simple, straightforward, and effective. You need to choose what you want, and you’re directed to the service almost instantly without going through the tedious sign-up process.

25 Website Must Haves For Driving Traffic, Leads & Sales

6. Wired

WIRED, a leading technology magazine and online publication, is among the many sites that have done a lot to improve the user experience. When you browse through the site using a PC or desktop, you’ll find multiple columns and a handy sidebar, but switching to your mobile transforms into a single column for smooth navigation.

The company also pays keen attention to details, such as adjusting image ratios to fit perfectly on each device. And for even more simplicity on mobile, they’ve combined search and newsfeed filter icons into one button.

7. Slack

Slack is a business messaging app that’s been in the market for nearly a decade. The brand is known for its focus on simplicity, and they have successfully made it one of their competitive advantages. Slack has ensured that its site is easy to access and navigate, no matter the screen size of your device.

You’ll see customer logos in a neat three-column layout on a computer. But they have switched it to a single-column design on mobile phones for better viewing. And their call-to-action buttons? They span the whole column on tablets and mobiles, so you won’t accidentally click something else.

8. Shopify

Shopify has built a reputation as one of the leading e-commerce website builders thanks to its robust features, comprehensive support, and intuitive user interface. The Shopify website is one of the few that has managed to strike a delicate balance between site consistency across devices and enhanced user experience.

If you access the official Shopify website from a desktop or phone, you’ll find that most things remain unchanged except for the CTA buttons and a few menus. Additionally, Shopify is among the few sites that enjoy impressive web page speeds despite using graphics-intensive image carousels.

Also Read: 3 Helpful Tips To Improve Your CTAs To Generate More Leads

9. IBM

As one of the leading technology companies, IBM has set an excellent example for companies looking to create a fully-immersive site experience. The company has gone the extra mile to make its site not only responsive but also interactive, unique, and modern.

When you land on IBM’s homepage, you’ll be greeted with a responsive background, interactive videos, and a bold CTA. And while the IBM website is far from simple, it has incorporated complex design tools, from AI features to game-like functions, to create an immersive site experience.

10. Airbnb

Airbnb uses some of the best design strategies, such as easy navigation, a consistent color scheme, and text minimization, to ensure user-centricity and enhance the customer experience. The homepage, for instance, displays lightweight graphics consisting of images and short, engaging videos.

All the media elements on the homepage have been carefully chosen to engage and convert without compromising site performance. The images of stunning rentals, from all across the globe, for example, create a sense of urgency and encourage site visitors to book their dream Airbnb.

Bottom Line

In today’s interconnected world, online presence significantly influences marketing, customer engagement, brand identity, and business growth. However, the discussed 10 examples of great website design emphasize that merely having an online presence for the sake of it is insufficient.

To truly make an impact, you must rethink every aspect of your online presence, considering not only how your website looks but also how customers can access, browse, and interact with it. Moreover, it is essential to incorporate these considerations into your digital strategy and plan regular updates to your website and its features.

The Power of an Influencer Marketing Strategy: How and Why It Works

October 25, 2024/in Articles, Digital Media, Directors, Marketing Strategy, Social Media /by Terry Becker

We’ve all been through it—you’re scrolling through your social media feed when suddenly you come across an individual passionately endorsing a product or service. What’s more? They have a massive following. You notice this is different from the typical celebrity endorsements. That is because the individual you are seeing is a social media influencer, which makes the premise of an influencer marketing strategy so much more unique.

As a true millennial who’s seen its effects, I can attest to how important it is to be leveraging social media to enhance your marketing efforts. The following is an outline of everything you need to know about Influencer Marketing. This includes how much it costs to hire an influencer, the top social media platforms to run an influencer campaign, how to measure the success of this marketing strategy, and examples of how it’s been done successfully.

What is an Influencer?

An influencer is somebody who has the ability to “influence” potential buyers by endorsing the offerings on social media. There are several factors that indicate whether or not someone is an influencer. However, the most telling one could be that the individual’s followers fit into a particular niche, and there is active engagement between them and the actual influencer.

Rather than just being “marketing tools”, influencers are assets to a company’s social relationships with whom they can collaborate to accomplish their Marketing goals. This is what makes a social media influencer entirely different from a celebrity endorsement, and perhaps, more successful.

In celebrity product endorsements, there is less of an emphasis on engagement and more on capitalizing on the person’s fame and name recognition to benefit a brand. In short, the objective is to capture the attention of a broader audience, unlike the niche audience of the influencer.

The Cost of Influence

As you may assume, influencers can be costly and there is no set rate for incorporating them into your campaign. It’s a common practice for digital marketers to follow the “one cent per follower rule”. Some marketers know this as the $100 per 10,000 followers rule. Factors to consider include engagement rate, client budget, and campaign lengths. However, according to Instagram Influencer, Matt Crump (who has composed his own rates), creative mandates, production costs, timeline, and rights affect the cost of hiring him for your campaign. Crump explained that the price range per sponsored post varies based on the number of followers he has during that time period. The price can be as low as $100-$500 for 5-10k followers, and as high as $10,000 for over 1,000,000 followers.

It’s important for marketers to identify which platform will bring the greatest Return on Investment for their influencer marketing campaign. According to Linqia, over 68% of marketers recognize Instagram as the most effective social network for an influencer strategy in 2019. Coming in second was Facebook with 51% with YouTube, Blogs, Pinterest, Twitter, and Snapchat following behind. The takeaway is simple: If you’re considering an Influencer Marketing strategy, Instagram is the place to start!

Similar Article: 5 Ways To Optimize Your Social Media

How to Measure Success

Although over 60% of marketers are primarily focused on driving brand awareness, engagement, and impressions (Linqia), it’s still important to track sales generation from such campaigns as well as conversions, audience sentiment, and clicks. Since influencer marketing is an ever-evolving industry. Marketers need to consistently evaluate their measurement practices to ensure they’re held to the same standards as other media investments.

Similar Article: Effective Inbound Marketing Strategies

3 Examples of Successful Influencer Marketing

Now that you have an understanding of what an influencer is, how much they cost, the top social media platforms to use for your influencer marketing campaign, and how to measure its success, it’s time to take a look at influencer marketing strategies in action. The following are four examples of successful influencer marketing:

Naked Juice –

When seeking to raise their brand awareness, even more, Naked Juice decided to collaborate with Instagram influencers, Beth Norton and Kate La Vie, through sponsored Instagram posts. Kate La Vie features images of her outfits and beauty essentials. This made it easy for the brand to strategically collaborate with her snapshots. The campaign saw much success. According to Social Bond, within 24 hours the Instagram post generated more than 2,000 likes and comments combined. Additionally, this campaign enabled Naked Juice to position itself as more of a “premium juice” brand. Following the success of the campaign, the company made $57.4 million in revenue by the end of 2017.

Sperry Boat Shoes –At the end of 2016, the popular boat shoe brand, “Sperry” collaborated with more than 100 Instagram “micro-influencers”. The key influencers here were “Sperry Enthusiasts”. To create engaging content with its audience, Sperry identified fans on Instagram who were already sharing pictures of their shoes. Subsequently, the brand invited these users to develop content for its Instagram account. The strategy worked. According to Curalate, Sperry’s most engaged photo of 2016 got 8,278 likes. How did they do this? The photo was taken by influencer Slava Daniliuk who had 4,500 Instagram followers at the time. Additionally, Daniliuk posted with the brand’s trademark hashtag, #OdysseysAwait which increased engagement even more.

Walmart –

As proven by a successful retail company, influencer marketing can also be highly effective when promoting philanthropic incentives as well. Walmart took a “Cause Marketing” approach when embarking on its “Feeding America” mission with several influencers on Instagram. The strategy was simple: For each like, #FightHunger comment, or post share, 0.90 cents would be donated to the organization. Logan Paul’s most-liked post from the campaign generated over one million likes. Due to the success of these influencers in the #FightHunger campaign, Walmart raised close to $1.65 million in addition to boosting positive sentiment for their brand.

Similar Article: Social Media Campaigns for Attracting Prospects and Generating Leads

With the numerous advantages that influencer marketing provides, it’s no secret why so many brands are going with this strategy. As soon as you scroll through your social media feed once again, you’ll come across one of these campaigns. However, you’ll now have a better understanding of what an influencer marketer is and all of the marketing elements involved.

5 Ways to Improve Your Display Ads

August 23, 2024/in Articles, Digital Media, Directors /by Nicole Wagner

Display advertising is a kind of online advertising that uses copy, images, and other visual elements. The terms “display ads” and “banner ads” are often used interchangeably because display ads usually were banner ads back in the day. Currently, however, display ads can come in many different formats in addition to banner ads, like video ads, interactive ads, and more. The benefits of display ads include brand awareness, visual appeal, performance tracking, and targeting capabilities.

Brand awareness: display ads expose customers to brand messages and visual elements across many touchpoints, building brand awareness.

Visual appeal: display ads can capture attention more effectively than text-based ads alone because they feature graphics and images.

Performance tracking: display ad’s performance metrics allow advertisers to monitor clicks, impressions, and conversions.

Targeting capabilities: display ad’s targeting options allow advertisers to reach different audience segments with messaging tailored to them.

Now that you know their benefits, here are 5 ways your company can improve their display ads:

1. Make sure that the copy is readable:

In order for your display ad to be effective, your audience must be able to understand what it is trying to communicate. Therefore, all copy used in your display ad must be easy to read. Readability can be affected by font, size, and color. Some easy to read fonts are Arial, Georgia, and Helvetica. Your text should be large enough that it can easily be read on various screen sizes. Vary your font size to create a hierarchy of information. The headline should be the largest, the body text should be the smallest, and the subheadline should be in between those two sizes. The color of your copy should contrast with its background color so the copy stands out and is easy to read. Use color combinations that are visually appealing, and avoid using bright colors that are hard to read.

2. Keep things simple:

The average human attention span is 8.25 seconds. That’s not a lot of time, so your display ads need to be simple in order to quickly catch your viewer’s attention. Make sure you’re not cramming too much information into your display ad. You should also avoid adding an excess of design elements. Finally, only use one image in your display ad to keep it clean and simple.

3. Use your logo when possible:

Including your logo in display ads will improve brand recall and recognition. It will also help maintain overall brand consistency. Remember to not place your logo over an image, and make sure that your logo is cropped correctly. A logo that is too big can overwhelm the display ad, but a logo that is too small can be difficult to see. Therefore, it is important to size your logo so that it is visible without diminishing the display ad’s overall design. Position your logo so that it does not cover any important elements of the display ad, and make sure that the logo integrates smoothly with the display ad’s layout and design.

4. Create urgency for your offer:

Your display ad’s call-to-action (CTA) is what will make people click on your ad. Ensure that your audience will act fast by creating a sense of urgency for your offer. Whether your offer is only available for a limited time or if there is only a limited amount of product in stock, try to include that in your display ad. Doing so will increase the likelihood of your display ad getting clicked on. To incorporate a limited-time offer into your display ad, you can include a countdown timer or use deadline phrases like “only for a limited time” or “offer ends soon.” To incorporate a product/service’s limited availability into your ad, you can include a count of how many products/services are left or use a statement like “almost gone.”

5. Use keywords:

Choosing the correct keywords will make sure that the Display Network shows your ad to the proper audience(s). You should select between 5 and 20 keywords that are related to what you are advertising in your display ad. These keywords should be related to the websites that your customers frequently visit or use.

By making sure that the copy is readable, keeping things simple, using your logo when possible, creating urgency for your offer, and using keywords, you can significantly improve your display ads.

What’s Trending in Marketing of April 2024

May 1, 2024/in Advertising, Articles, Attraction Marketing, Brand Development, Consumer Marketing, Digital Media, Directors, Social Media, Trending, Video Marketing /by Nicole Wagner

Step right into our April 2024 edition of “What’s Trending in Marketing,” your portal to the freshest marketing trends and insights. Stay ahead of the curve with our collection of marketing trends and reports for the 2024 year.

Noteworthy Marketing Trends and News

Additions in AI Advertisements

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is making it easier for brands to reach consumers with AI-powered tools. They’re introducing new features to personalize advertising campaigns, like creating multiple versions of ads tailored to individual users. Additionally, they’re offering personalized product recommendations based on what users have browsed and liked. These tools are available on both Facebook and Instagram, aiming to make shopping experiences more seamless and impactful. Read more here.

Brands Values and Their Customers

To keep your customers happy, it’s important for your brand to reflect their values. Most shoppers want brands to share their beliefs. Many have stopped buying from companies whose values clash with their own. To stay connected with customers, brands will focus on showing what they stand for. A survey found that nearly half of marketers plan to invest more in creating content that highlights their brand’s values. Only a small minority will decrease their investment. This shows the increasing importance of authenticity and alignment in fostering lasting relationships with customers. Read more here.

The Rise of Podcasts

Given the surging popularity of podcasts and online audio, marketers are increasingly recognizing the value and potential of these platforms for reaching and engaging with audiences. In a survey conducted on marketing trends for 2024, 82% of marketers expressed their intentions to either increase or maintain their investment in podcasts and audio content. This signifies a strategic shift in marketing strategies. More emphasis is placed on leveraging the power of audio to connect with consumers in meaningful ways. Overall, the continued growth of podcasts and audio content presents an opportunity for marketers to expand their reach and build brand awareness. It also allows them to foster deeper connections with their target audience in the evolving digital landscape. Read more here.

Learning Marketing Trends and Ideas

Interactive Email Marketing Trends

In today’s competitive online marketing scene, you have to stand out. To do this, businesses are turning to interactive email strategies. These interactive emails go beyond traditional text and attachments. They offer engaging features like animated GIFs, navigational menus, integrated forms, rotational banners, and sliders. Not only do these elements add visual appeal, but they also improve the overall user experience. This encourages active engagement and interaction with the brand’s message. Google’s enhanced compatibility ensures seamless viewing across devices, while emerging trends like key frame animation and cinema-graphs add even more excitement. Interactive emails not only catch customers’ attention but also streamline user experience, making them a vital tool in modern marketing strategies. Read more here.

Innovative Video Strategies to Transform Your Senior Living Marketing

Digital technology has revolutionized marketing for senior living communities, offering unprecedented opportunities to engage potential residents and their families. Video content, in particular, is a powerful tool for showcasing the amenities, values, and lifestyle senior living communities offer. As seniors increasingly embrace digital platforms, mastering video marketing is crucial. Videos can tell authentic stories, educate viewers, and provide virtual tours, all of which are essential for attracting and informing prospective residents. Leveraging digital strategies like SEO optimization and YouTube presence enhances the reach and impact of video marketing efforts, allowing communities to connect meaningfully with their audience and foster trust in the decision-making process. Read more here.

How Brands Market To the Different Generations

Generational marketing targets different age groups in order to better meet their unique needs and preferences. Each generation has distinct characteristics that influence their consumer behavior and how they interact with marketing efforts. Baby boomers, for instance, value quality and respond well to email and TV ads, while Generation X prioritizes convenience and brand loyalty, engaging with social media and video content. Millennials seek authenticity and personal connection, favoring social media and influencer marketing, while Generation Z, the youngest segment of consumers, prefers an omnichannel approach and values brand ethics and authenticity. Understanding each generation’s characteristics is crucial for creating marketing strategies tailored to their behaviors and preferences, which allows you to effectively reach and engage with them. Read more here.

Recent Marketing Trends, Reports, and Updates

Nano- or Micro-Influencer Marketing

More brands are leaning towards collaborating with nano- and micro-influencers instead of celebrities or big social media stars because they charge lower rates and still generate high engagement. Reports show that marketers prefer working with small-scale influencers, with nano-influencers charging between $5 to $25 for a TikTok post and micro-influencers asking for $25 to $125. These smaller influencers also boast higher engagement rates, meaning their followers are more likely to take action based on their recommendations. To ensure a positive return on investment, it’s crucial to collaborate with influencers whose followers match your target audience. Read more here.

Companies in Partnership Marketing

More brands are teaming up with others in their industry because it helps both parties achieve their goals. This collaboration can involve co-producing webinars, appearing on each other’s podcasts, or sharing each other’s social media content. For instance, Videowise partnered with other brands to promote their ebook. Partnership marketing allows brands to reach more potential customers by tapping into each other’s audience, connect with industry leaders for insights and assistance, and gain access to valuable resources like customer insights and industry data to enhance marketing campaigns. Read more here.

User-Generated Video Content

We’re likely to see more user-generated video content because potential customers trust it more than highly-produced brand videos. These videos, created by real customers who have used the product or service, carry authenticity that resonates with audiences and increases the likelihood of conversion. To encourage customers to share their experiences, brands can ask for honest reviews, host giveaway contests for video testimonials, or collaborate with creators who can provide genuine opinions in exchange for a fee. This approach saves time, money, and effort compared to creating highly-produced videos from scratch. By leveraging user-generated content, brands capitalize on the credibility and relatability that real customer experiences offer. This fosters stronger connections with their audience and drives engagement across digital platforms. Read more here.

Digital Communication Tools to Help Build a Human Brand

April 18, 2024/in Blog, Brand Development, Digital, Directors, Marketing Strategy /by Mark Beebe

The success of your brand depends on much more than just convincing a potential customer to try your product. In the past, the customer experience has been based solely around the product being offered. These days, you need to look at the big picture. It’s not just about the customer experience in regards to your product. Instead, it’s about the emotional connection that customers are able to form with your brand.

Customers don’t just want a product, they want a relationship with the brand that is selling them that product. You need to focus on fostering an emotional connection with them instead of just trying to build awareness for a certain product. Fortunately, building an emotional connection with your audience is easier than ever before with the number of digital communication tools that are at your disposal.

The Importance Of An Emotional Connection

Customers are more than just transactions or data points. They are human beings with hopes, dreams, and feelings. In a world where their product choices are practically limitless, they will want much more out of a brand. They do not want to engage with a corporation. Customers want to engage with a brand that relates to them on a personal level. Their desire to have a connection with a brand in a world with product options that are virtually limitless is not surprising. A brand that is able to touch their customers emotionally is going to make their customers more engaged.

There are many ways that you can achieve this, like reinforcing the beliefs or perspective of your audience, supporting the goals or perspective of your audience, or challenging your audience to do greater things.

5 Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using in 2019

How Digital Communication Tools Can Help Foster An Emotional Connection

Engaging on an emotional level with your audience is easier than it’s ever been, as long as you make the effort to do so. The following are just a few ways that digital communication tools can help you to connect with your audience emotionally and to build meaningful relationships with them:

Video content

When it comes to content, few other forms are able to engage audiences on an emotional level like video content. There are numerous reasons for this. Firstly, people consume visual content much more easily than written content. They also consume visual content much more quickly than written content. Secondly, you can use actors or even real figures that audiences can relate to on a personal level. This will create a sense of empathy and connection. Thirdly, you can emphasize certain emotions much more effectively through video. The color grading, visual style, and cinematography of the video all help set the emotional tone. The sound effects and music used in the video further enhance its emotional impact. They can also be used to create atmospheres that evoke certain feelings. YouTube is the most popular platform for sharing video content.
Segmentation

Segmenting your leads and customers based on the data you’ve collected (via opt-in forms, surveys, and more) will provide you with valuable insight into who your audience is. This will tell you how you can connect with them. Once you have segmented your leads, you can create content that speaks to each group’s needs and interests. Effectively personalizing your content will allow you to catch your audience’s attention. It will also make it easier to drive engagement.
Social interaction

The use of social channels makes it easy to engage with your audience in a personal and direct manner. You can promptly answer their questions, respond to their comments, and address their concerns. Customers appreciate brands that listen and respond to their needs. You’ll have a bigger emotional impact on those who witness the interactions on social media as well. Remember, personal and direct interactions make it easier to build meaningful relationships with your audience.

Building a human brand will help you build long-term relationships with your audience based on real emotional connections. Use digital communication tools available to you, like video content, segmentation, and social interaction, to emphasize emotion in your marketing efforts. Doing so will help your audience relate to you on a more personal level, thereby driving engagement with your brand.

Inbox Influence: Mastering Email Marketing for Brand Success

April 18, 2024/in Advertising, Articles, Digital, Email Marketing /by Dan Gartlan

Getting your email marketing strategy right can be a game-changer for your business and your brand. Email stands as the cornerstone of direct marketing tactics, offering a personal touch that many other platforms struggle to emulate. The key to success lies in understanding the intricacies of email marketing and leveraging them to your advantage.

The Foundation of a Strong Email Marketing Strategy

Before diving into the nuances, it’s crucial to establish a strong foundation for your email marketing strategy. This involves several pivotal steps:

Understanding Your Audience: Knowing who your emails are targeting is the first step. This involves segmenting your audience based on their preferences, behaviors, and past interactions with your brand.
Crafting a Compelling Subject Line: It’s their first impression. So make your subject line count by being clear, engaging, and intriguing without resorting to clickbait.
Personalization is Key: Tailoring the content of your emails to fit the interests and needs of your recipients can significantly increase engagement rates.

Content That Captivates

Once the foundation is set, the content of your emails is where you can truly shine and make an impact. Here’s how to ensure your content is captivating:

Value-Driven Content: Ensure every email you send packs a punch of value for your audience. This could be in the form of expert insights, exclusive discounts, or compelling narratives that resonate with their interests and needs. Aim to enrich their day or offer solutions to their problems with every interaction.
A Clear and Concise Message: Clarity is king in the realm of email communication. Your email should serve a distinct purpose, whether to enlighten, convince, or amuse your recipients. Craft your content to be straightforward and accessible, eliminating any potential confusion and making the key takeaway immediately apparent.
Interactive Elements: Elevate your emails from static messages to dynamic conversations by embedding interactive features. Polls, surveys, and clickable links not only make your emails more engaging but also serve as tools to gather insightful feedback and preferences directly from your audience, enhancing the personalization of future communications.

Design That Delivers

The design of your email is just as important as the content. A well-designed email can enhance your message and encourage readers to engage with your content.

Responsive Design: In today’s mobile-centric world, it’s crucial that your emails look flawless across all devices, especially smartphones. A significant number of your audience will be reading your messages on the go, so optimizing for mobile ensures a seamless and engaging experience. Responsive design adapts your email’s layout and content to fit various screen sizes, preventing formatting issues that could detract from your message’s impact.
Use of Images and Videos: Integrating images and videos can transform your emails from plain text to captivating narratives, but balance is key. High-quality visuals should complement and enhance your message, not distract or detract from it. Be mindful of file sizes to ensure your emails load quickly, maintaining a smooth user experience and keeping engagement high.
Whitespace and Layout: The strategic use of whitespace and a thoughtful layout can significantly improve the readability and overall appeal of your emails. Whitespace helps to break up text, making your content more digestible and less intimidating, while a well-organized layout guides the reader’s eye through your message, ensuring they focus on the most important elements. This thoughtful design approach can turn a potentially overwhelming email into an enjoyable read.

Testing and Optimization

An effective email marketing strategy is not static; it evolves. Regular testing and optimization are crucial for continued success.

A/B Testing: A/B testing, or split testing, is a critical tool in refining your email marketing strategy. By creating two versions of your email, each differing in one key aspect like the subject line, call-to-action (CTA), or layout, you can send these variants to a small segment of your audience and measure which performs better. This data-driven approach removes guesswork. It allows you to understand your audience’s preferences and optimize future communications for better engagement and results.
Analyze and Adapt: The power of email marketing lies in its measurability. Utilizing analytics tools to monitor the performance of your emails gives you insight into what captures your audience’s attention and prompts action. By examining metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can identify strengths and areas for improvement in your content and CTAs. This continuous cycle of analysis and adaptation ensures your email marketing strategy remains dynamic, responsive to audience needs, and aligned with your overall business goals.

Leveraging Automation

Automation can take your email marketing strategy to the next level. It allows for timely and relevant engagement with your audience without requiring constant manual effort.

Welcome Emails: Crafting an automated series of welcome emails for new subscribers is a pivotal first step in nurturing a lasting relationship with your audience. These initial communications should warmly introduce your brand. They should also highlight the value of your offerings and set the tone for future interactions. Tailoring this series to gradually educate and engage your new subscribers can significantly enhance their connection with your brand. It will also encourage continued engagement.
Behavior-triggered Emails: Leveraging behavior-triggered emails allows you to send highly relevant and timely messages based on specific actions your users take. For instance, if a user abandons their shopping cart, an automated email can remind them of their incomplete purchase. This email could offer them a discount or answer potential questions related to the transaction. Similarly, showing interest in a particular product could trigger an email providing more detailed information or related items, thereby personalizing the user experience and increasing the likelihood of conversion.

The Art of Engagement

In the end, the goal of your email marketing strategy is to build and maintain a relationship with your audience. Engage them with stories, involve them with interactive content, and always provide value. Your emails should feel like a conversation, not a sales pitch.

Beyond the Inbox

To wrap up, perfecting your email marketing strategy is about much more than just sending out emails. It’s about creating a comprehensive experience that starts with a compelling subject line and ends with a satisfied customer. By focusing on your audience, crafting captivating content, designing for impact, testing and optimizing, leveraging automation, and prioritizing engagement, you can turn your email marketing efforts into a significant asset for your brand. Remember, in the vast sea of digital communication, your emails are your ambassadors. Make them count!

The Impact of Digital Marketing Automation on Senior Living Communities

April 18, 2024/in Articles, Digital, Digital Media, Direct Marketing, Marketing Automation /by Dan Gartlan

In the ever-evolving landscape of senior living, employing robust marketing strategies, including the use of marketing automation, is vital for standing out in a crowded marketplace. Therefore, it is crucial for operators to understand and integrate these technologies. This article will explore how automation and specific digital marketing strategies can optimize outreach and resident acquisition efforts.

The Role of Automation in Senior Living Marketing

Modern marketing automation provides a variety of tools designed to enhance efficiency and efficacy in reaching potential clients. Below are key areas where automation is proving indispensable in marketing for senior living:

Email Marketing Campaigns: Automated email campaigns are a cornerstone of effective marketing for senior living. By using automation tools, facilities can send timely, relevant information tailored to the interests and needs of potential residents and their families. This could include updates about facility amenities, testimonials from current residents, or invitations to virtual tours and events. These campaigns help build a rapport by providing consistent, valuable content that assists families in making informed decisions about senior care options.
Lead Management: The use of automation software in lead management allows senior living communities to capture and store detailed information about each prospect, from initial inquiry through to move-in. Automated systems can trigger follow-up tasks and send personalized emails based on prospect interactions. They can also score leads based on engagement, greatly increasing the efficiency of the sales process. This ensures that the community responds promptly and appropriately to each prospect, which is crucial for converting inquiries into residencies.
Social Media Management: Social media is an invaluable tool for building community and engaging with potential residents and their families. Automation tools can schedule consistent content postings across various platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This ensures a steady stream of engaging material that highlights community events, resident stories, and useful information about living options. Additionally, these tools provide analytics that measure engagement rates. This enables communities to adjust their content strategy to better meet the needs and interests of their audience.

Integrating Advanced Digital Marketing Tactics

To further refine your marketing strategy, incorporating advanced digital marketing tactics for senior living communities can be a game-changer. These include:

Targeted Ads: Targeted advertising employs sophisticated algorithms to display ads to specific demographics by analyzing their online behaviors and preferences. This approach ensures that marketing for senior living reaches those most likely to be interested in such services. For example, ads can be shown to adults searching for comfortable retirement options or those seeking amenities such as on-site medical care, thereby increasing the likelihood of capturing relevant leads.
Content Marketing: Content marketing involves creating and disseminating articles, blogs, and videos that directly address the queries and challenges potential residents or their families may face when considering senior living options. This strategy not only informs them but also establishes the facility’s authority in the senior living sector. Effective content marketing can boost engagement by providing valuable insights and solutions, fostering trust between the community and prospective residents.
SEO Strategies: Implementing SEO strategies enhances a website’s visibility on search engines like Google. This makes it easier for potential clients to find the website when they search for senior living options. This involves optimizing site structure, improving meta descriptions, and using relevant keywords throughout web content. An effectively optimized website attracts more organic traffic, which can lead to increased inquiries and higher occupancy rates for senior living facilities.

Crafting a Comprehensive Senior Living Marketing Plan

An effective senior living marketing plan is well-rounded and adaptive. Key components should include:

Market Research: Market research is critical in grasping the dynamics of the local market and identifying the specific preferences and needs of your target audience. This research can include demographic studies to understand age distributions and economic factors. It can also include surveys to gauge service expectations. Additionally, research can include focus groups to test market reactions to potential new services or facilities.
Competitive Analysis: Competitive analysis involves examining the strengths and weaknesses of competitors within the market to discover what they excel at and what gaps they leave open. This analysis helps your community identify unique selling propositions (USPs) that can differentiate your services from others. Whether it’s superior medical care, better amenities, or more inclusive community activities, understanding these elements can strategically position your facility in the market.
Budgeting: Effective budgeting entails the strategic allocation of financial resources across various marketing channels to ensure the highest return on investment (ROI). This process involves prioritizing spending on high-impact marketing efforts, such as digital advertising and event marketing, and scaling back on less effective initiatives. Proper budget management ensures that every dollar spent contributes to achieving broader marketing objectives and financial stability.

Prioritizing Website Effectiveness

Your website serves as the central hub for your marketing efforts. Implementing essential website updates for senior living communities is critical for maintaining an edge. Updates to consider include:

User Experience: Ensuring the site is easy to navigate and accessible, particularly for older adults or their caretakers who are not as tech-savvy.
Mobile Optimization: With an increasing number of users accessing information via smartphones, a mobile-friendly design is indispensable.
Content Refresh: Regular updates to blog posts, FAQs, and other resources to keep content relevant and engaging.

Taking the Next Step in Marketing for Senior Living

By integrating marketing automation tools, senior living facilities can not only streamline their marketing operations. They can also create more personalized, meaningful interactions with potential residents. These strategies ensure that your community remains competitive and appealing to those seeking a new home for themselves or their loved ones.

To explore how these strategies can be tailored to benefit your community, Contact Us for a free consultation.

Mastering the Art of Integrated Digital and Social Media Marketing

March 7, 2024/in Articles, Digital, Digital Media, Search & Social /by Nicole Wagner

Mastering the art of digital and social media marketing is no longer an option. It’s a must. Digital and social media marketing form the backbone of successful brand strategies, offering unparalleled opportunities for engagement, reach, and conversion. Let’s delve into how digital and social advertising work hand-in-hand. We will also explore the myriad ways they complement each other to amplify your brand’s online presence.

Combining Tactics

Digital and social media marketing are two sides of the same coin, each enhancing the effectiveness of the other. Here’s how they create a synergistic effect:

Content Amplification: The content you create as part of your digital marketing initiatives possesses significant potential. This potential can be magnified exponentially through social media platforms. By sharing content on various social networks, you can extend its reach far beyond your immediate followers. This allows you to tap into new audiences and spark conversations, which enhances engagement with your brand. It also drives traffic back to your original content, increasing its overall impact and visibility.
Data-Driven Insights: The rich reservoir of user data available through social media platforms is a goldmine for marketers seeking to refine their digital marketing strategies. By analyzing patterns in engagement, preferences, and user behavior, you can gain invaluable insights. These insights will inform the creation of more targeted and effective content. This data-driven approach allows for the optimization of ad placements, therefore ensuring that your marketing efforts resonate with the right audience at the right time. This maximizes ROI.
Brand Consistency: Achieving a harmonious brand voice and message across all your online platforms is crucial for building a strong and recognizable brand identity. Consistency in your messaging and visuals across digital and social media channels reinforces your brand’s core values and promises. It also fosters a sense of reliability and trust among your audience. This uniformity ensures that regardless of how or where a customer interacts with your brand, they receive a coherent and memorable experience. This experience will strengthen their connection to your brand.

To harness the full potential of digital and social media marketing, consider the following inbound and outbound marketing strategies:

Targeted Advertising: The advanced targeting capabilities of social media platforms allow for the delivery of highly personalized advertisements directly to specific audience segments. By leveraging detailed user data, marketers can craft tailored messages that resonate deeply with their target audience. Detailed user data includes demographics, interests, and online behaviors. This precision ensures that your advertising budget is utilized more efficiently, reaching those most likely to engage with your brand. Consider hiring specific social media influencers that can reach your desired target market.
Engagement and Interaction: Social media stands out for its unique ability to foster immediate and direct interaction between brands and their audiences. This interactive environment is perfect for engaging with followers in real-time, soliciting their feedback, answering questions, and even addressing concerns. By actively participating in these conversations, brands can build a loyal community and enhance customer satisfaction. They can also humanize their brand, making it more relatable and trustworthy to their audience.
Content Diversity: The dynamic nature of social media platforms makes them an ideal testing ground for a wide array of content types. From engaging videos and informative live streams to interactive polls and captivating stories, the diversity of content formats available allows brands to keep their digital marketing strategies fresh and engaging. This variety helps attract a wider audience. It also helps maintain the interest of the audience over time, therefore leading to increased engagement rates and a stronger online presence.

Best Practices for Integrated Campaigns

For a seamless integration of digital and social media marketing, follow these best practices:

Unified Goals: It’s crucial that your digital marketing and social media strategies share common objectives. These objectives can be enhancing brand visibility, attracting more visitors to your website, or increasing sales figures. This alignment ensures that all your marketing efforts are pulling in the same direction, maximizing the impact of your campaigns.
Cross-Platform Analytics: Leveraging analytics tools to monitor your brand’s performance across various digital and social platforms is essential. This approach provides a holistic view of your marketing activities, helping you understand what’s working and what needs adjustment, thereby optimizing your strategies for better results.
Responsive Engagement: Promptness and authenticity in your interactions on social media can significantly boost your brand’s image. Being responsive shows that you value your audience’s input. Additionally, it fosters a positive brand perception, encouraging your followers to become vocal advocates for your brand.

Crafting a Cohesive Narrative

Your brand’s narrative should flow effortlessly across digital and social media platforms. It should tell a consistent story that resonates with your audience. Here’s how to achieve this:

Consistent Messaging: Maintaining a uniform message across all your marketing channels is vital. It’s important to tweak the tone and style to suit each platform’s unique environment though. This ensures your brand’s core message is conveyed clearly, regardless of where your audience encounters it, therefore enhancing message retention and brand loyalty.
Visual Branding: Employing a consistent set of visual elements such as logos, color schemes, and imagery across your digital and social media outputs is key to building a strong brand identity. This visual consistency makes your brand easily recognizable, fostering a sense of familiarity and trust among your audience. The obvious platform that can help you achieve these goals is Instagram.
Integrated Campaigns: Designing campaigns that effectively bridge digital and social media channels can leverage the inherent strengths of each platform, thereby ensuring a cohesive and impactful marketing effort. This integrated approach ensures that your campaign’s message is amplified. The amplified message will reach a broader audience and drive towards your unified marketing objectives.

Embracing the Future of Marketing

As we look toward the future of marketing in 2024, the integration of digital and social media marketing will only become more vital. Staying ahead of the curve requires a commitment to ongoing learning, adaptability, and a willingness to experiment with new technologies and platforms. By embracing the synergies between digital marketing and social media advertising, you can craft compelling, cohesive campaigns that captivate your audience. These campaigns will also drive meaningful results.

The interplay between digital and social media marketing is not merely a strategic advantage but a necessity in today’s digital landscape. By understanding and leveraging this integration, you can elevate your brand’s online presence. You can also engage more deeply with your audience, and achieve your marketing objectives with greater efficiency and impact. The journey towards digital marketing mastery is ongoing. At its heart lies the powerful duo of digital and social media marketing. The two work in concert to propel your brand to new heights.