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Creative Alternatives to the Corporate Holiday Card

by waynegbrown42

By Wayne Brown

December is a tough month for me, not just because of the holidays, but for the additional 8 people in my immediate family who celebrate their birthdays. A couple of years ago, I came to the realization that greeting cards aren’t cheap, and while they have great graphics, the clever greetings just didn’t come from my heart.  So, being in the marketing/advertising industry, and fully capable of illustrating, designing, and copywriting, I felt I could do a better job of creating cards that would emotionally connect with the people I care about. It does take a lot of effort to customize a creative card, but now my family won’t accept anything less.

I think businesses can do better, too. The generic, snail-mailed, corporate holiday card gets thrown out after a week, and depending on your industry, the average opening rate for an eblast is only 22%. With just a few days before the big holidays arrive, here are a few ideas to add new twists into your holiday greetings.

  • First, whatever you do, make sure you tie in your product or service.
  • Next, get personal. Humor works, as does thanking your customers.
  • Give a gift or informative tip. This doesn’t have to break the bank. Let’s say you own a bakery; include a discount or a recipe. Or, if you own a fitness center, include a tip to work off those holiday pounds!
  • Make a card like I do. This does take some time, and make sure you include some or all of the above.
  • Make a video. This is my personal favorite for businesses. You can create a custom video with help from a template using online services, such as animoto.com. Videos are great because you can share by mailing (DVD or flash drive), emailing, and posting on social media. The good thing about creating a video is that you don’t need any special equipment. A simple smartphone will do. Keep it short. 60% of viewers will stop watching after 2 minutes. Here’s an opportunity to get creative or act silly. For example, your take on The Harlem Shake can get your fans in a festive mood. However, the big internet craze right now is the Mannequin Challenge (#MannequinChallenge). If you’re planning a holiday party soon, this would be a great time to test your “freeze” skills. Another of my favorites is having members of the staff each sing a line of a famous holiday song. Insert the raw footage into a program like Windows Movie Maker, and “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

Happy Holidays to all!

To Retarget or Remarket – that is the question

by waynegbrown42

RemarketRetarget

 

By Wayne Brown

In today’s technical world of open-source platforms and plug-ins, it’s easier than ever to track and market to people who’ve come into contact with your brand through ad click-thrus and website visits. There are great opportunities to market your products and services to users who’ve expressed interest no matter where they go on the internet. The two terms you hear most about when it comes to this approach are Remarketing and Retargeting.

Remarketing is an email strategy that marketers use to continue engaging customers who’ve already purchased a product or service or came close to buying, but bailed just before checkout. The reasons for sending a user an email can include thanking them for a purchase, asking why they abandoned a purchase, up-selling and cross-selling, and letting them know about warranties and product updates. These users have expressed an interest in your brand, sometimes buying, sometimes not. For those on-the-fence shoppers, an email can be a great way to convert them to a sale by helping them overcome any obstacles in their decision-making process.

Retargeting takes a little more effort, but is relatively inexpensive with a potentially high ROI. This is your opportunity to keep your brand fresh in the minds of potential customers. Retargeting involves placing online ads and display ads, based on a user’s activity on your site. After a cookie is set, you can target ads to these users on other similar sites they visit. This can be done by using 3rd party networks like Ad Roll and the Google Display Network. This approach allows marketers to reach potential customers wherever they go on millions of sites.

So which is better? Actually, it makes more sense to use both. You want to use email remarketing when you have a customer or potential customer who has shown a significant interest in buying, while ad retargeting works to keep your brand fresh on the minds of consumers wherever they take their online searches for products and services similar to yours.

TELLING YOUR STORY WITH VIDEO

by waynegbrown42

By Wayne Brown

When it comes to connecting with consumers, the old marketing adage that less is more still holds true. People don’t want to read ads, they want to scan them and still be able to get the message. People don’t even use maps anymore, thanks to GPS, and who wants to read the latest bestseller when it’s been made into a movie? A year from now, I don’t even know if I will still be writing for this blog. I may go straight to video. Video has become such a powerful medium these days; it makes sense to incorporate its use into any marketing campaign.

Let’s face it, all print ads are static. However, video allows you to tell a story with moving frames, human voices, and emotions, which explains why YouTube receives more than a billion unique visitors every month and streams about 3 months’ worth of video every minute. In fact, YouTube accounts for over 28% of all Google searches (Comscore).

Consider these statistics:

  • Video search results have a 41% better click through rate than its text counterpart
  • Globally, online video traffic will be 55 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2016. (Cisco)
  • Video promotion is over 6 times more effective than print and online (Atlas)
  • Video content can increase the chances of front page Google ranking by 53 times (Cisco)
  • Videos are shared 1,200% more times than links and text combined (Simply Measured)
  • “Video” in the subject line of emails increase click through rate by 7-13% (Experian)

Nowadays, a video campaign doesn’t have to be an expensive proposition thanks to advances in technology, which have made videography more affordable than ever. Whether you use a high-end camera with professional lighting or your cell phone, make sure your presentation is creative first, cost second. Depending on your budget, a professionally-produced video can cost in the neighborhood of $1,000-$2,000 a minute, while uploading your iPhone video to YouTube, Vimeo or your company’s Facebook page is free. While the truism “you get what you pay for” still applies, you can still get a high quality video for your money, especially with programs as simple as Windows Movie Maker and Adobe Premiere Elements 13.

Now, all this information doesn’t mean you should give up print advertising. In fact, you can incorporate your print campaigns into your online videos by adding a QR code. One quick scan and a consumer goes straight to your video, where 90% of online shoppers find video helpful in making purchase decisions (Video Brewery). Bottom line – video ads increase traffic and conversions, while video content marketing makes your brand stronger and your audience smarter.

#WHYUSEHASHTAGS

by waynegbrown42

By Wayne Brown

It used to be that only websites relied on keywords to help with SEO, but nowadays it’s common practice for users to tag their social media posts with keywords in order to make topics searchable by others. In fact, it’s become so common that people use them in everything from text messages to advertisements. The question is can putting a simple pound symbol in front of words really help your business?

Hashtags work when a user clicks on the word or phrase that is preceded by a hash mark (#) and indexed by a social network, then taken to another page that collects all the posts with the same hashtagged keyword or phrase. If promoted by enough people, a topic can “trend” and attract more users to a discussion. Keep in mind that every users’ trending topics are different based on their location and social connections. Sometimes people use hashtags with words that are used to convey emotion rather than for categorizing. For example, “This article is boring. #boring #fallingasleep”

For companies, creating a hashtag can make your brand stronger by allowing you to trend within your own circle of fans and followers. It’s important to use words that are relevant to your company and brand so that your campaigns do well. Using words that you think are clever, might actually be ambiguous and lead users to conversations that have nothing to do with you. The best solution is to find and use positive keywords that are already associated with your brand, keeping it simple and direct. Some companies, like Nike, experimented with using hashtags on their print ads with much success. The key is to make sure you’re driving your followers to your social platforms so they can find your hashtag.

Considering that pretty much most social media platforms use hashtags to organize data in their own unique ways, it’s safe to say that this is not a “trend,” but is here to stay, since social media is already integrated into our lives. Using hashtags is a great way to share news and updates about your business to people who might be interested, but not necessarily searching for that particular topic, while ultimately making it easy to find these conversations in the first place.

SHOULD YOU USE A QR CODE IN YOUR MARKETING

by waynegbrown42

By Wayne Brown

It was only a few years ago that QR (quick response) codes – those little black squares within a square that resemble the textured cubes from Minecraft, seemed to be everywhere from advertisements to store windows.  So now the question is – are they still important or was it a fad that never caught on?

In the beginning, QR codes were so popular with marketers because they can hold an enormous amount of information, similar to bar codes. I think the problem was that they were overused and slapped onto every type of marketing collateral. The idea was that consumers would simply scan away to a new web location. However, many of these digital destinations didn’t always end up at relevant places. As a result, consumers felt it was either a waste of time or just ignored it altogether.

Personally, I love QR codes, but two variables need to be present in order for them to be effective. The first one is space.  Some collaterals and campaigns can benefit from QR codes, while others can’t.  Packaging, flyers & sell sheets, brochures, business cards, menus, wall & floor banners, even store windows can be effective, as long a there is enough design space to insert them.  Collaterals that involve movement like highway billboards, TV spots, the web, and someone’s shirt will not be very effective. The next important thing to consider is where the QR code will take the user and what will the value be.  QR codes that link to coupons, special offers, contest forms, social media sites, and directions & maps are examples of campaigns that provide value and benefits to the consumer. It helps to have a call to action next to your QR code that prompts the users to scan.

Hopefully, marketers will continue to make better use of QR codes, so that they catch on with more people. Despite what people think, they are not cumbersome. For the marketer, sites like www.the-qrcode-generator.com and www.kaywa.com offer quick, easy, and free QR code generators. For users, the QR code reader app comes with both Android and iPhone. All it takes is to open the app and place it over a QR code. You don’t even have to snap anything. The app will automatically scan and take you to the url destination.  The best part about QR codes is that they are fun – kinda like looking for buried treasure, and easier than having to type “www.blahblahblah” on your smartphone.

WHY HIRING A MARKETING CONSULTANT IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS

by waynegbrown42

By Wayne Brown

Several years ago, I had a chance meeting with the leaders a 30 year old non-profit organization in New Jersey, who shared their financial and staffing struggles with me.  Being the optimist that I am, I suggested a few viable resources and marketing strategies that I felt could help them.  Their jaded responses and reluctance to seek outside help caught me by surprise. This company, I thought to myself, will not be around in the future. Sadly, I was right.

Many times in a situation like this one, a good marketing strategy can do more than make a business look pretty. Unfortunately, for small businesses, marketing is typically viewed as an extra “expense,” pushed aside by other “more important” expenses, such as payroll, inventory, and rent. However, hiring a small business marketing consultant can help get a number of things accomplished that will ultimately lead to achieving a company’s objectives.

About a year ago, WOW Creative Group started working with a $5 million company that was primarily interested in our graphic design services.  What they didn’t realize at the time was that all of our collaterals are created based on a company’s brand standards. With that in mind, we set to work in creating a brand for them. From there we developed a marketing plan to take the brand to the consumer, which involved a new website, growing awareness on social media, email, pay-per-click platforms, using video to sell products, tracking analytics, as well as the traditional forms of print. At the end of the company’s fiscal year, there was a significant increase in their return on investment, and the CEO commented that hiring a marketing consultant was perfect for their size company and money well spent. Prior to hiring us, the company’s department managers were responsible for marketing and advertising their individual products and services, which created inconsistency and confusion in their marketplace.

Hiring a marketing consultant in the absence of a full-time marketing director or team offers huge benefits. For one, there’s no acclimation period to reach 100% productivity, as would be expected from a new salaried employee. A seasoned marketing consultant comes with experience and can create a plan of action right away without having to wait months to learn the business. Another benefit is that marketing your business might only require a certain number of hours a week, which might be much less than if you had to pay a full-time employee. In addition, you won’t have to deal with the usual HR headaches, training, payroll, sick and vacation time, and other costs typically incurred by employees. In fact, hiring a consultant is a tax-deductible expense.

Company owners and executive leaders usually have the skills needed to run their respective businesses, but not necessarily in all areas of customer acquisition or the technology that powers it. In addition, wearing too many hats is not always a good thing for any business owner or director, as the ability to manage effectively becomes stretched too thin.

If you’re a business owner or director and find that you don’t have time to pursue opportunities in your market because of time constraints or staff limitations, and are constantly pushing other aspects of business aside just to get through the day, please contact me at wayne@wowcreativegroup.com.