Navigating Last Minute Changes in Advertising: A Daily Guide

Let’s face it, it’s the ad industry. This happens often and it’s somewhat of a norm in our field. It was interesting to me, as I come from a production background in T.V., how similar the two industries are in this way. It’s extremely important to be able to shift and be flexible when working on creative projects. Projects are naturally dynamic. Although the chances are low, things may go wrong somewhere.  It is the nature of the beast. So, how does one cope with this style of creative project management in advertising? Here are some things we’ve learned over the years.

1.     Streamline your processes: We pride ourselves on having a seamless system in what we do. Unnecessary steps can take time away from what is important in a project. Efficiency is everything. This way, when something comes up we’re not scrambling, and you’re not scrambling. This is a top priority that we recommend for helping agencies navigate creative changes.

2.     Manage expectations: We are always upfront about whether or not we think a project will be deliverable. Sometimes, it’s not. Honesty helps build good relationships with partners. This also goes for while we’re working on a creative project. Everyone is dealing with a fire and change requests coming from all angles, so being transparent about what is realistic and what is not when dealing with alterations, in our opinion, is the best policy.

3.     Always remain adaptable: Creativity is our world. Creativity isn’t ridged. It is something that flows naturally and processes and ideas just come to fruition. Think about your creative projects as being the same. Don’t get frustrated when someone up top wants a change directive. Try to think of it as a creative opportunity.

4.     Have a backup plan: In our case, we always discover, curate, and clear some backup content for projects just in case a few pieces don’t work in the edit flow. Having a few more tricks up your sleeve can help save the day especially once you’re nearing the end of a project and trying to combat potential scope creep.

5.     Communicate: This is huge for anything in business. Communication is key and as cheesy as that sounds it could not be more true. We are in constant contact with our team and also our B2B teams that we are partnered with. This way, everyone is in the know as changes are happening in “real-time.”

6.     High-level budgeting: We always say it’s important for creators, not to “out-price” themselves. We feel the same way about our business. Keeping costs lower ensures that if there is a change in the creative, we can work with our partners to overcome any obstacles that happen during projects.

There are obviously more ways to deal with abrupt creative changes, but we think these are the top recommendations. Feel free to comment with anything you think we should add!

User-Generated Content: The Infinite Landscape

“To infinity, and beyond!” This is where UGC takes your brand. To the land of infinite possibilities. “Why?” you may ask yourself. Well, let’s break it down. UGC is created constantly. Every minute of every day. According to Statista, about 500 hours of content was uploaded every day during the month in February of 2022. That’s not just a lot of content… that is a staggering, I can’t even wrap my head around it, amount of content. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. We could work on the same project twice and find completely new content for the same specific brief within months of each other. This unlimited pool allows for brands and advertisers to keep their campaigns fresh. Let’s talk about point two now. Content is never going to go away. With the rise of the smart device era, it dawned a new technological time where everyone in the world has content producing software at their fingertips. After that the spawn of social media. Now, there’s not a chance in Hades that it’s going anywhere. People now rely on social media for so many things other than just posting about their lives. Catching up with old friends, news, shopping, business networking. You name it and social media has a place for it. Some people actually use social media as their main source of income, such as creators and influencers. We’ve worked with many and this is their livelihood. Our last point; obtaining UGC is very cost effective comparatively to its production counterparts. Licensing can be tricky, but that is why we specialize in this but overall, it is fairly priced in most cases, and we’ll get you the best deals that are also fair to the creators themselves. We’ve worked with over thousands of creators and influencers. This is not our first rodeo and we work hard for our partners. That said, content is QUEEN and she’s staying put. If you want to reach for the stars, then partnering with us will allow you to fly into infinite possibilities.

Content Strategy Tips in UGC Campaigns

Using a successful UGC advertising campaign for your brand can elevate you from your competitors. Not only will it resonate with your audience, it will increase their trust in you if done correctly. UGC campaigns require careful planning. Each piece of content must be curated before it is licensed. Let’s say you’re getting ready to plan your first UGC campaign. You’ve finally gotten the C-levels on board and are ready to start. Now what?

1.     First, research is key. You must find out who your customers are and what makes them tick if you don’t already know this. this way you can tailor your content to what will strike a chord with them. Will they enjoy seeing something that will tug on their heartstrings? What about something funny?

2.     Define your objectives for this ad campaign. Do you and the team understand the brand values, voice, and overall mission? The UGC campaign must stay true to the brand. Ask questions like, “Why does our brand do what they do?” “What problems are we trying to solve for our customers?”  “Why are we better than our competitors?” “How will this campaign help us overall?” Aside from this define whether this campaign will:

a.     Increase brand awareness

b.     Promote a new product

3.      Identify where your ad will run. This one is important as the length of the campaign will affect how many pieces of UGC content you will need. Multichannel campaigns tend to perform the best since they reach a wider audience. Safe practice is to create a longer campaign that can be cut into shorter ones.

4.     Create a good brief for your UGC sourcing agency. It’s important to define your creative, allow for expansion and pivots, and keep it brief. No pun intended here. This is where you want to define your content requirements. Think about things that did well in past campaigns.

5.     Lastly, measure the performance. Once your UGC campaign goes live, track how it’s doing. This can help you to create an even better ad next time around. UGC is beautiful because it never runs out, it never gets old, and it always resonates with the audience. However, the type of UGC videos you want to curate, source, and license can always be improved based on performance.

It’s no secret that having a good content strategy is important. But, having a good UGC strategy is also very important when moving forward with it as part of your overall advertising strategy. It’s one of the most powerful advertising tools a brand can utilize and for half the cost of traditional. Making it seamless from start to finish will ensure the efficiency of your efforts.

Time to Get Fresh: Tips on Giving Your Brand a Refresh

Coming up with your brand image takes a lot of thought effort and time as we’re sure you know since you did that when you started your company. However, a brand refresh can be just the thing you need to spice up your business if you’ve fallen stagnant instead of a full overhaul. A good refresh is sometimes necessary if your brand has become a little outdated and we all know that keeping up with pop culture in this day in age is crucial to success. This can be anything from a new logo to new a color scheme but no matter what you do there are a couple of elements that a successful brand refresh.

1.     Refined brand story: This gives your brand a humanized feel. It must be a clear and concise narrative that is compelling. When people feel they can connect to your brand on a human level, they’re more likely to buy into it.

2.     Stay connected with pop culture: This gives your brand credibility with the masses and can show why your brand was great to begin with.

3.     Know your audience: This one should be a no-brainer but we can’t emphasize enough the importance of this one. Customer insight will help elevate your refresh by addressing their serious issues with your brand. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as interviews, reviews, blogs, articles, etc.

These things have to be kept in mind when conducting a brand refresh, but you’re probably asking yourself what actions you can take to conduct a refresh in general. Here are some of our top tips on things you can do for a simple, fresh look.

1.     Update your color palette: A new color palette can bring up new emotions for people. Make sure that if you do this, it is across all platforms. Consistency is key.

2.     Update your logo: A new logo can strike up new buzz for your brand. This goes hand in hand with a new color palette. They can both be easily done in synchronicity.

3.     Launch a new product: A new product can also generate new press for your brand. Something new, something different that catches people’s attention.

4.     Update your customer promise: What is your promise to your audience? Can it be better? How? Challenge what you have already and modernize it.

5.     Website redesign: This can also go well with a new logo and color scheme. If you’ve changed those, chances are you’ll need to update your website anyhow.

Spring is a good time for some brand spring cleaning. It’s a perfect time to assess whether or not you need a fresh look. Are things slowing down at the company or do you feel like you’re losing touch with your audience? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, it might be time for a fresh look. A successful refresh will help your brand better relate to your audience, retain the attention of an ever-shifting market, and best reflect your current mission and offers.

Content Syndication 101

Go big or go home as they say. Content syndication helps your brand increase its reach to a larger audience and isn’t this the goal of every brand to expand and grow? So, what is content syndication exactly? It’s republishing the same piece of content to one or more different sites. Here’s how it works. Your brand creates original content, such as a UGC commercial on your website. Then, you target other websites and/or platforms that are a good fit for this content as well. You approach them with the opportunity to republish your content on their site. If they agree, then they repost with a source that links back to your website. Now, anyone who visits their site will see your content as well. Distribution networks work with large brands with each content syndication vendor. This means that the pricing structures will vary slightly between them. You can go this route or you can search yourself for particular partners that match your brand. According to HubSpot, you can Google Search for articles that mention: “originally published in,” “republished with permission,” or “originally appeared on.” This way is a bit more time-consuming but good if you’re marketing on a tight budget. 

Let’s talk about the benefits of content syndication a little bit more now that you have a basic understanding of how it works.

1.     Wider audience reach: When searching for partners to syndicate your content, you want them to be larger than your brand. This way your reach grows.

2.     Increase brand awareness: This one is a no-brainer since you are using a larger brand to increase your audience. It will inherently increase your brand awareness. This can help establish more credibility as a brand in your industry as well.

3.     Building relationships: When you create partnerships, you’re creating business relationships in your industry that may extend further than just content syndication if all goes well.

4.     Drive website traffic & improve SEO: When you syndicate content on a third-party site, they link the source back to your website and that will increase your traffic. This will also improve your SEO.

5.     Generate new leads: Reaching out to a larger audience means reaching new customers. These leads can generate new business for your brand.

You can track all these metrics with hard data once you begin syndication through website traffic, engagement, and lead generation data. This strategy is a valuable one for brands looking to increase growth and build lasting partnerships with other industry leaders.

Why Asking Open-Ended Questions is Important for Creative Businesses

How? Why? What? Open-ended questions are questions that start this way. They are designed to be thought-provoking and allow for longer and more detailed responses. Differing from closed-ended questions that typically are answered with yes or no or have some short response, they have no predetermined answers and will require some explanation. A good open-ended question always seeks genuine interest in the person’s answers. Since these types of questions require deeper thinking they can often end with breakthrough answers. The point is not about having a right or wrong answer with these so that they can elicit collaboration within a team. You can already see why this type of thought provocation within your business can be beneficial, especially when you’re trying to solve some problem. They can build rapport between employees and foster positive relationships within the company. If you’re not sure where to start with asking open-ended questions here are some tips and examples.

1.     Be mindful: Keep an eye on yourself and the types of questions that you tend to ask naturally. Are they closed or open-ended in nature? If they are mostly closed, try turning them into open. For example, you ask, “Did you like the presentation?” Now, let’s turn this into an open-ended question instead by saying, “What did you think of the presentation? Do you see improvements that need to be made? What things do you particularly enjoy? Now, instead of a yes or no and possibly even a meh it was ok answer, you have opened up the door for discussion.

2.     Follow up with an open-ended question: First, look at the above example again by asking, “Did you like the presentation?” Followed up with, “What did you like or not like about it?

3.     Don’t go through the motions: Try to remember that sometimes running off on a tangent will happen. These questions are designed to provoke thought and collaboration. Sometimes you may have to reel it back in a little but don’t be too rigid on how the conversation should go. “Be like water my friend” - Bruce Lee.

If you need some ideas of examples for open-ended questions to get you started here are a couple to get you going.

1.     What do you believe is the root of the problem?

2.     What objectives can help solve this problem?

3.     Could you provide an example of what you’re talking about?

4.     If this isn’t working for you, can you help me understand why?

5.     Would you mind elaborating?

We hope this helps you on your way to opening up discussions within your teams for your business. Having a team that thinks deeply in the creative spaces of advertising is crucial to coming up with good ideas. Sometimes all you need is a conversation to take your minds where they hadn’t thought to go yet.

Myths About User-Generated Content

There are some myths surrounding UGC that have been circulating since it spawned. We want to take some time to debunk these for you. Let’s take a look at some of the most common myths about UGC.

1.     It’s easy to curate and license: Finding specific content to fit a creative brief can be more difficult than it seems. If your agency or brand has ever tried it then you know how time-consuming it can be to find the right content AND  track down the owner of a particular piece of content. There are also specific legal requirements for clearance that are necessary to have the rights to use the content.

2.     It’s free: Sometimes social media campaigns can get free content yes. However, creators will not want to license their photos and videos for free when curating and licensing content. A lot of times these people make money through their content and social media channels. This is their livelihood that’s at stake so be prepared to pay a little something if not a lot depending on their following, etc. If they are willing to license their content for free it must be stipulated beforehand. Everything must also be in writing in legal documents.

3.     It’s only for social media campaigns: UGC has become mainstream now. It’s used in all things from social media marketing campaigns, hashtags, and photo books, to video advertisements.

4.     It doesn’t generate revenue: The ROI of UGC advertisements can be up to 4.5% higher in terms of conversion rates. One of the reasons for the high return on investment of UGC advertising is that it costs so much less than traditional forms of ads. Yes, you will have to pay for licensing and labor costs but it will still cut your ad spend by about 60%.

5.     It’s only for certain brands: UGC is for ALL brands and agencies. In any category, people will connect with real people that UGC offers. It fuels connections with authenticity. It humanizes brands.

6.     UGC is low quality: This one is an age-old myth. We hope that most of you realize that it’s no longer true in the age of smart phones. While UGC was once a low-quality “VHS and Beta Rape” type of vibe, it has morphed into something special. Everyone is now a creator who can develop striking videos and images.

Debunked! We hope this helps you understand the ins and outs of UGC a bit better from the inside someone who understands and knows the industry. These are some typical myths that come along with the job but we want to set the record straight.

Developing a Growth Mindset

What is it that sets extremely successful people apart from others? Take a second. We’ll wait…. OK, so what do you think? Is it that they can work harder than others? Well, in short, that’s part of the equation but no. That’s not it. Successful people have only become successful after more failures than most could even imagine or endure. It’s their grit to keep working toward that goal no matter what until it’s achieved. This comes not only from their “grit” but also their growth mindset. So, what exactly is a growth mindset? It’s the belief that talents, skills, and intelligence are malleable and can be improved with practice, hard work, and time. Why do you ask if is it important in business? Well, without this type of mindset success will not come. One has to implement this to keep the brand afloat. Trust us, we know from experience since we started Locomotive Content from the ground up. Here are our top 3 ways to help your growth mindset flourish or develop one if you haven’t already.

1.     Seek feedback: whenever, wherever, and from a multitude of people. Look to mentors. Look to those already in your industry. Seeking feedback will help make the brand better and being able to take constructive criticism well to use it as a tool can be the thing that makes you stand out as a leader. Don’t be afraid to ask your team if you have one already their thoughts. Not only will they feel respected, they will be happy to help. Because when you succeed the business succeeds and so do they. It’s a win-win for everyone.

2.     Embrace your failures: failures are a learning lesson. As much as failing at something is no fun, embracing your mistakes is the only way to begin to get curious as to why something didn’t work out in the first place. Then you can begin the process of improving and/or changing things to achieve that same goal. Remember those successful people we talked about in the intro? That’s what they all did over and over until they got it right. Failing upward.

3.     Look for the hard stuff: find challenges and run at them head first. Being uncomfortable is a great way to increase your skill set. What have you got to lose? The answer is nothing. You fail. You learn. You succeed and you have learned something new about yourself and your business. So, look for projects that might be slightly out of your skillset wheelhouse. It might be uncomfortable at first but you’ll thank yourself later.

Well, that’s it. Sounds easy but it can be challenging and there are many more ways to help you develop a growth mindset as a leader for your business. Remember to focus on taking pride in the journey and celebrate the small wins. Lessons learned along the way are priceless. As Rainer Maria Rilke said, “The only journey is the journey within.”

Theory of Reasoned Action

We recently listened to a great episode of the Mark Groves podcast with costar guest, Robert Greene on the art of seduction. By seduction, we don’t mean what you all think. Seduction is persuasion and is an element of gaining power. This is something all brands strive to attain to gain new customers. All advertising is based on some sort of persuasion to influence attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. This is where the Theory of Reasoned Action comes into play. This theory is an attempt to understand the relationship between attitudes, and beliefs and determine behavioral intention of human actions. There are three things to consider here. 1. Attitudes as a function of beliefs and evaluations of the outcomes. 2. Subjective norms of society as a function of normative beliefs. 3. Motivation to comply and self-control is a function of these beliefs with consideration to how much sway they hold over the person. These three things lead to behavioral intentions. So, now it’s important to understand what controls these beliefs that we all have and where they stem from. Some background factors are personal, demographic, and environmental.

1. Personal

   1. Self-esteem

   2. Personality traits

   3. Emotions

   4. Health

2. Demographics

   1. Age

   2. Gender

   3. Race, ethnicity

   4. Education level

   5. Income

   6. Religious beliefs

3. Environment

   1. Stress levels

   2. Media exposure level

An interesting study done on one Nike advertisement can explain how understanding this theory can help brands promote a paradigm shift to sell a product. The ad was “I Have Thunder Thighs.” In this case, they’re promoting body positivity for women. They tell women to embrace their thunder thighs and it’s a compliment to be told that you have them. Let’s take a deeper look here. The study shows that the first component is the attitude of beliefs and evaluations. They try to sway their audience to love their body as it encourages positive attitudes toward self-esteem and confidence. Next, they tackle subjective norms of social pressures to engage or disengage from behaviors based on what is considered “socially normal.” Nike encourages a community of women who support each other as they are and that they want you to be healthy and fit. Behavioral intention is next inferred to adopt a healthy lifestyle or continue one. Lastly, and most importantly, behavior is what Nike wants their audience to do. They want them to exercise, be confident, and embrace themselves despite what size and shape society tells them to be. This ad shows how advertising uses persuasion techniques to sell a product. Understanding this theory can help advertising agencies the best ways to go about persuading the audience in favor of their product.

Account Based Marketing: B2B Growth

ABM is a marketing approach that focuses highly on the most valuable accounts for a business. This style of marketing is very effective for B2B brands. Different from inbound or lead-based marketing that covers a wide variety of people or businesses, it can offer brands some unique benefits such as:

1. Maximize business within high-value accounts

2. Providing consistency

3. Measurable ROI

4. Expand business relationships

5. Align marketing and sales

How it works:

1. Lots of collaboration between sales and marketing departments

2. Customer journey mapping from start to finish

3. Lead qualification

4. Choosing the correct ABM platform for your business

   1. Strategic: relationship building focused and personalization of marketing that shows a deep understanding of target accounts

   2. ABM Lite: groups similar accounts to personalize as a group

   3. Programmatic ABM: combines both of the above strategies

Tech has made it easier to use this marketing style with improved precision. This can target the right accounts to get the engagement that matters most. Here are some tips for creating an AMB strategy.

1. Identify target accounts by:

   1. Choosing accounts that are similar to past partners

      Choose targets based on size, location, or revenue

   2. Research who your competitors are working with and look for similar businesses

   3. Network at industry events/conferences

2. Rank the prospects you have come up with

3. Get your marketing and sales teams on the same page and collaborating. Use this time to create your ABM team

4. Create personalized content

5. Measure ROI to see what is working

ABM is a great way for B2B brands to grow. Marketing to high-value accounts and creating relationships with those in those businesses is a great way to expand. There is ABM software out there that can help you find valuable accounts with less friction. Time to grow. Good luck marketers.

7 Steps: A Guide for Logical Decision Making

Critical decisions can be tough to make in the business world. Rational decisions are important when we as humans tend to be highly emotional. However, there is a model to help those who have to make these difficult choices daily in the workplace. This guide can make the process less stressful and help you come up with clear solutions that are the best. Here’s how it goes:

1.     Identify the decision that must be made: Clearly define your decision or problem.

2.     Gather relevant information: Find all data pertaining to the problem or decision that must be made. This can be internal (inside the workplace) or external (outside the workplace). This is where the brainstorming begins once the data has all been gathered.

3.     Find alternative answers: How many different ways can you spin this? How many solutions are there? Write down a pros and cons list of each one. Do the pros outweigh the cons? SWOT analysis and decision matrixes are helpful here too.

4.     Weigh your findings: Place each alternative in order of ranking from highest to lowest based on the pros and cons lists you created. Which ones make the most sense?  

5.     Choose: Now it’s time to choose the best solution for your problem. Sometimes a blend of a few of the alternatives may be the answer and not just one single solution. Being an effective decision-maker involves creativity and confidence.

6.     Act: Now that you have chosen it is time to act. Implement your decision but take the time to create a plan so that the team is on the same page.

7.     Monitor and Review: Did the decision solve the problem? Here is where you can look at the results of the solution. Look at the solution and evaluate whether or not it has resolved the problem properly. Are you satisfied with the outcome? If the answer is no, this is when you can try another option.

Human nature causes us to be emotional but decisions should be made rationally. We shouldn’t make decisions based on reasoning that is backed by feeling. Logical decision-making can be tough to do sometimes. Following this guideline can help you and your team make the right decisions for the brand/business. Good luck and we hope this helps!

Good Team Management Skills

Leading a team can be tough. Managing personalities is not an easy task but leading a team with effective management skills that focus on the needs of the team will motivate, support, and engage them. Essentially, if you’re an effective team leader your team will be successful. Some benefits of running a team that’s a well-oiled machine are:

1.     Employee satisfaction and reduced burnout

2.     Team building

3.     Increased productivity

4.     Promoting learning

5.     Better performance

So, how does one become a better team leader? There’s a fine line between micromanaging and being an absent leader. Here are some traits of an effective leader that we think are crucial to the success of the brand.

1.     Kindness & Empathy: “You get more with honey.” People are likely to respond more positively with positivity. It’s also crucial that you empathize with your team members. Each one has a different life and different needs. Put yourself in their shoes and try to understand how they operate.

2.     Transparency: Being upfront and honest with your team is key. Give them all the context and information they need to get the job done right. People can see right through B.S.

3.     Good communication & collaboration: Teamwork makes the dream work as they say. It’s cliché but there is truth in that saying. Clarity and collaboration will drive success for your team. Two minds are better than one. Three are better than two. You get the idea. Some may have ideas and ways of thought that others may not. Collaboration compliments innovation.

4.     Feedback that goes both ways: Constructive feedback is critical not only for your members of the team but from the members about you as a leader. No one is perfect and everyone can always grow. Listening to and implementing feedback from your team about your management style can also help you become a better leader. Members also need feedback from you regularly to know if they’re completing tasks properly and promptly.

5.     Leading by example: This one is big for us! “Do as I do not as I say,” goes a long way in management. Model the behavior that you want your members to embody.

6.     Promoting work-life balance: Work hard but play hard too. Burnout has lasting effects on the business as a whole. Performance will suffer. Use a resource management plan to see how much workload every team member has. Promote time off when work is slower and push employees to pursue hobbies outside of the workplace.

It can take a lifetime to develop as a team leader. Some have a more natural ability to lead, while others have to work very hard at it. However, every leader can benefit from learning and growing to invest to support their employees better. A happy work environment will make people want to be there and enjoy the jobs they do for you.

Don’t Be a Car Salesman: Best Sales Practices for Your Brand to Follow

Ahh, sales. Nobody loves it. Well, maybe some people do. Those people are born with a certain knack for it and are probably in roles that are specific to that. However, if you’re an entrepreneur, sales are part of your job to grow your business and it may not be where your strengths lie. It is a necessary evil, and a very important one at that to drum up new business and succeed. If you’re one of these people, do not fret, there are some tactics that you can take to keep up with best practices in sales. Here are some of our tips.

1.     Know your audience: In B2B sales, you need to know what other businesses are looking for. What do they want from you? What can you offer them that others can’t?

2.     Sell in a buyer-responsive way: Provide the buyer with what they want, when they want it.

3.     Establish trust: Be transparent with your prospective clients. Honestly goes a long way and showing them that you are human will strengthen this.

4.     Demonstrate your expertise: How is your brand the best out there? Why? What makes you stand out? Let prospective clients know your worth and show them you’re an expert. This will increase the likelihood that they will go with your brand instead of someone else’s.

5.     Be a good storyteller: We’ve said this in the past and we’ll say it again. Telling good stories is important for so many aspects of business and this is one of them. When selling, it’s important to sell your story too. Let businesses know who you are and why you do what you do. This will show your humanity as well. Everyone has a story to tell. What’s yours?

6.     Personalize: Do research on prospective clients before reaching out. Let them know you’ve done your homework and it will show your desire to want to work with them.

7.     Try multiple marketing tactics: Send emails, try cold calls, social media DM’s, etc. You never know what the best way to reach someone will be and everyone’s preferred method will be different. That’s why it is important to try multiple forms of contact.

This list is just somewhere to get you started on your sales journey but it can help you begin to understand the strategies necessary to meet sales goals. Not everyone is born good at selling but the good news is that it can be improved on. “Become the persona who would attract the results you seek.” -Jim Cathcart

Graymail vs. Spam Mail

We all know what spam mail is and have been subjected to the annoyance of it since the creation of the internet. But, what is graymail and how is it different from spam mail? Graymail is different from spam mail because it comes from a legitimate source and has varying value to different people. It also is solicited and otherwise known as bacn. With graymail, the recipients opt-in to receive but don’t click through. For example, when you opt-in with your email address on a website to get emails and never interact with them. We know we’ve done this on multiple occasions and have eventually unsubscribed when they become annoying. Graymail can be newsletters, sales, ads, and just plain old announcements from a brand. The largest difference between graymail and spam is that users opt-in for graymail whereas spam is unsolicited. So, as a brand how can you use graymail to your advantage? First, you have to verify the IP addresses before delivering to avoid spam complaints. To keep your brand emails from becoming graymail, your content has to remain relevant to keep email service providers from sending them to the spam folder for continued lack of engagement. You can do this with re-engagement campaigns. For example, incentivize your audience with discounts, prize surveys, and even freebies. You can also use Graymail to test your sending frequency. This can help your brand see how much you should send your audience emails. Try different things. Once a week. Maybe once a month. Every other day. Do a run of each for a while and see each CTR. When user’s opt-in for your brand emails it’s important to follow some guidelines to hopefully keep your emails out of the graymail category altogether.

1.     Let them know exactly what they’re signing up for

2.     Immediately follow up after signing up

3.     Segment your audience

4.     Send relevant and engaging email content

We’ve all gone on those unsubscribe rampages at one point or another. Keep your brand emails from becoming victims of graymail by following these practices. Protect your brand’s email reputation with interesting content and appropriate mailing frequency. You can also exclude low-engagement users from your mailing lists. Keep your open rates on the up and up.

Marketing Communications 101

Otherwise known as MarCom, marketing communications refers to the combination of promotional tools, channels, messages, and media that brands use to communicate with their audience. The role of marketing communications is to:

1.     Shorten sales funnel

2.     Increase customer loyalty

3.     Increase brand awareness

4.     Create a demand for products/services

5.     Reach the right people

6.     Promote brand innovation

Advertising falls under the umbrella of marketing communications as well as digital marketing, direct marketing, public relations, sales promotion, and branding. Marketing communications strategy falls under the Four P’s. We’ve talked about the Four P’s in past articles, but now it has been updated to the Seven P’s, which are:

1.     Product

2.     Price

3.     Promotion

4.     Place

5.     People

6.     Process

7.     Packaging

Marketing communication channels are important because they are the foundation of all brand marketing. The beauty of the digital age is that you can reach much larger audience pools through social media channels with your marketing communications. Traditional channels, such as print, radio, and television are no longer required to reach your target audience. This is why user-generated content advertising is just getting started. All brands, large or small can benefit from a digital marketing strategy. With UGC, your brand can leverage low-cost digital marketing ads while increasing brand reputation and consumer trust. Pew Research’s recent study showed that “26% of people are online constantly and 43% are on at least once a day.” Digital communications marketing also extends to B2B with some slight differences. B2B will be more logic-focused than emotional. They will also take slightly longer because more than one individual will be involved. The bottom line here is marketing communication strategies have changed vastly over the last decade. Traditional marketing communications aren’t a thing of the past but rather no longer a requirement and can supplement digital marketing efforts. UGC has a place within this new marketing communications world. If you would like to learn more feel free to contact us.

SWOT Analysis

Can you tell me 3 strengths of your brand? What about 3 weaknesses? If you hesitated, had to stop and think for an answer, and maybe found one minute later then you can benefit from SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This is a tool to analyze the aspects of your brand to help it improve, grow, rinse, and repeat. Some benefits of conducting a SWOT analysis are:

1.     Brand self-awareness

2.     Recognizing opportunities

3.     Identify threats and mitigating

4.     Plan and make decisions strategically

5.     Optimize Resources

6.     Improved employee collaboration & communication

7.     Tracking performance

SWOT will look at internal and external factors to understand your brand’s position in its field. That said, how can your brand go about conducting the analysis? You need to create a SWOT Matrix. Here is an example of what that will look like.

SWOT Analysis can be a very useful tool for your brand to succeed. We hope this helps you as a starting point to conduct one to improve. It should be noted that there are some common mistakes to avoid when doing this though. Try not to make your lists too long. This can overcomplicate things and make it less feasible to improve. Don’t be vague. Being specific will help provide laser focus on each topic. Do not overlook your weaknesses and be honest. You will only hurt the brand by doing so. Don’t be unrealistic with ideas that may not even be an option yet. It’s great to have future goals but if your brand isn’t there yet, it will be a waste of time and effort. Lastly, do not do the analysis alone. This should be done as team collaboration to make sure you don’t miss anything and build a stronger bond between employees. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. -Helen Keller

Global Marketing Strategy

Going global is not just for big corporations anymore in the digital world. Any market can be any brand no matter where they are based. Global marketing is a way to market your brand that will encompass many countries from many different regions of the world. This is when global standardization comes into play. This means that your campaign messaging can be used simultaneously in different countries and cultures. You can choose to do your campaigns this way or localize them that are different across markets and countries. However, it is much more cost-effective to use the former. No matter which one you choose a successful global marketing strategy will include understanding your international audiences, setting SMART goals, and knowing your competition. Implementing a global marketing strategy has many benefits aside from the obvious one of further brand reach. It will give your brand a better reputation and will also help you understand your brand identity on a deeper level. Global marketing can help you reinforce your messages and ideas across borders. It can reduce financial waste if you choose to use global standardization and create uniformity across packaging, design, and advertising. However, it can be off-target or culturally insensitive and lack uniqueness. Global marketing success will depend on finding a good balance between standardization and localization.

KISS principle

“I-I-I wanna rock and roll all night…. And party every day! I-I-…” Oh, sorry wrong KISS. The KISS principle stands for, “Keep it Simple Stupid,” and was designed to keep designs and/or systems as simple as possible. It’s used in many fields from science to marketing and advertising. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it well enough.” This is the heart of the principle. It has also been called the, “Keep it Short & Simple,” and the “Keep it Simple & Straightforward” principle. It is also the same idea as Occam’s Razor that we’ve talked about in the past. All this being said, we should preface with the fact that some things are by nature complex. The point of this principle is to keep things as simple as possible when possible. Complexity should be avoided when it only exists for its own sake. Too often, people will overcomplicate things that shouldn’t be. If someone can’t explain to a kindergartener, then chances are they don’t truly understand either. The easier something is to understand; the more likely users will adopt and engage. We can all benefit from this method of thought in every aspect of our lives. There is something very genius about keeping it simple.

Dynamic Marketing

Markets are always changing and evolving, so why wouldn’t your marketing strategies do the same? Dynamic marketing is a strategy that maximizes customer data to create relevant, personalized, and flexible. There are 5 pillars of the dynamic marketing strategy. They are:

1.     Personalization: We’ve stressed the importance of this in every aspect of your business. Customers expect this now. It is the norm. Tailor-made messages guarantee that your audience will be satisfied.

2.     Automation: This involves segmented customer data that is interpreted to create personalized messages. Automation makes this process more streamlined by matching the right automation with the right people.

3.     Tool prioritization: What tools should you prioritize? Many brands have a different tool for each goal. For example, APIs connect people to key pages and information, and AI learns customers’ preferences in real time. More is not necessarily better here. Think less is more. Choose the right tools for the right jobs.

4.     Tracking: Who doesn’t want to know if their efforts are being effective? KPI’s come into play big time here. Set benchmarks and check. Here are some things you should be tracking. Website traffic, clicks, impressions, and lead generation. Once you have established your KPI you can see what is working and what the challenges are. You can use your current success as a starting point here.

5.     Streamlining: Make every interaction with customers and your brand count. Quality over quantity and be flexible to adapt the messages of campaigns.

The point of dynamic marketing is to create a flexible strategy. There are some things to keep up with to do so, such as seasonal changes, tech updates, automation upgrades, and customer journeys. The benefits of a dynamic marketing strategy can be considerable. Some of these include performance-enhanced personalization, responsiveness that leads to higher revenue/profits, data-driven personalization, and long-term customer retention relationships. For your dynamic marketing strategy to work your teams must be unified with goals. It can be a deeply involved strategy but once your team gets a good, unified workflow, you will see substantial results.

SEO & Voice Optimization

“Siri, look up the weather today… Alexa, find me the best-rated recent horror books.” The list of questions that we verbally ask our devices can get long really fast. We now live in a world that is synchronous with smart technology that ten years ago we would have said was impossible. Hell, we even ask our T.V.s to find specific shows for us now. It’s easy and convenient. That being said, we should preface this entire article by saying that typing a search and voice search are not the same. The main difference is that when people ask a question they usually speak more naturally, using long keywords. Text search is usually shorter and gives more options to choose from. With voice search being so popular and fast, your website must be optimized for SEO voice search now as well. It will help increase how many voice searches you appear in and improve user experiences so, here are some ways to help improve your website for voice search results.

1.     Use conversational language in your web content: If you feature blogs, make sure that they are written conversationally. This will help with organic search results because this style is considered more relevant concerning voice search. When writing, speak to the reader. Use terms such as I, we, you, etc.

2.     Make sure your site is fast to load: Nobody likes a slow site. Attention spans are getting shorter. Ensure your site loads in under 2 seconds to keep the user from experiencing negativity with the brand. This is considered when Google ranks your site.

3.     Optimize for mobile: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Websites MUST be optimized for mobile. Most people search on their phone. If your site is impossible to read and navigate, you will lose your audience. Not only this, Google again, considers it when ranking your site.

4.     Target long-tail keywords: Since voice search is more specific long-tail keywords can better optimize. These are 3 or more words that contain who, what, when, where, and how questions. There are keyword research tools you can use to find which long-tail keywords work for your brand.

5.     Localize your business: If your brand is local, it’s important to add a location to your pages. Use visual content that tags the specific location of the area. Use local keywords and a Google business profile.

6.     Try to land Google Snippets: A Google snippet is a short piece of content that is above search results. They come from pages that rank high for a specific query.

Following these practices will help optimize your website SEO for voice search in our world of artificially intelligent devices. Even if you don’t see results right away, they are happening trust us. Using these tips will help better your chances of reaching more customers. Modern consumers crave convenience so make sure your website offers what they need.