Archive for STRATEGY – Page 2

May 19, 2016

How to Apply Your Social Media Budget

Does deciding what platforms to use for your social media budget make your palms sweat?

Today’s digital marketers can choose between dozens of established and emerging social networking sites. Many of these sites also offer a variety of different types of advertising.

So Many Options

For example, social sites today offer everything from “sponsored” posts, pay-per-click ads, boosts, video ads, and more.

Naturally, each business will benefit the most from their own unique blend of social platforms and advertising options. But determining the best method to allocate a social marketing budget can put your team in knots.

The Best Ways to Advertise on Social Media

It’s fair to say that most companies can only find the best places and tactics to attract new customers by testing different options.

Analytics are always going to be essential.

Since there are so many social media choices, businesses often don’t know where to start. If you aren’t sure which platforms to try first, you can learn from the experiences of other businesses that are targeting markets similar to yours.

B2B (Business-to-Business) or B2C (Business-to-Consumer)?

To get started, look at the type of audience you are trying to reach.

Are you a Business-to-Consumer brand (where you sell directly to the public) or are you a Business-to-Business brand that sells to other businesses?

Effectiveness Rankings

Recently, Social Media Examiner published an in-depth article about the Content Marketing Institute‘s survey about both types of marketers and their experiences on the effectiveness of advertising on various social networking platforms. While many marketers agreed that some platforms are than others, there was a distinct difference in the rankings based on whether the marketer was B2B or B2C.

Here are the “effectiveness” rankings of social sites and percentages from B2C marketers:

Facebook: 66 percent
YouTube: 53 percent
Twitter: 50 percent

(5. LinkedIn)

No surprise here. Facebook dominates the B2C brand preferences for marketing effectiveness.

In contrast, look at the rankings and percentages from B2B marketers:

LinkedIn: 66 percent
Twitter: 55 percent
YouTube: 51 percent

(5. Facebook)

It might not surprise you that LinkedIn tops the list with B2B marketers and does less well with B2C brands. But it is more interesting to see that Facebook, the largest social networking site on the planet, actually only comes in fifth on the B2B list.

In fact, what’s interesting here is that LinkedIn ranked in Facebook’s fifth position on the B2C list. Marketers are telling us that LinkedIn actually helped them engage with both consumers and businesses, not just other businesses. Of course, if you think about it, business owners and professionals who visit LinkedIn are also consumers.

The Takeaway

The main takeaway is that it’s important to start with a little market research to find where brands similar to yours are spending their budget.

Before becoming overwhelmed with too many choices, start with a marketing strategy using just one platform likely to produce good results for your type of business. Once you’ve optimized your campaigns on the initial site, you can branch out and experiment with others.

Let Us Help You Make Better Choices About Spending Your Social Media Budget

Over the last decade, we’ve helped many different kinds of companies profit from their social media spend. We’ll use our varied experiences with other companies and your own unique business to suggest a marketing strategy that’s crafted with your own objectives and growth goals in mind.

Get in touch with us today for a free consultation with one of our marketing experts to get more value out of your social media expenditures.

Categories : Marketing, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, STRATEGY

Tags : social media budget, social media for business, social media spending

Posted by Greg Sherwood on

November 10, 2015

Marketing Tips for Dentists and Orthodontists

Marketing Tips for our Favorite Teeth Techs

Competition among dentists and orthodontists in Denver is becoming fiercer in many communities. New offices are popping up all the time and every dentist needs a steady flow of new patients in order to replace patients moving out of the area and to be able to grow their practice.

As is the case with most other professionals with stiff competition, it’s often the operation with the best marketing programs that draws the most attention, gets the most leads, and generates the most business.

You worked hard to be able to provide great services. Now put some thought and effort into telling people about yourself and your practice so you can do the most good for the most people.

To help you in your efforts, here are our top marketing tips for our favorite tooth technicians.

Who in the world are you?

The internet knows something about everyone. Take a minute to Google yourself. What did you find? Do you see a link to your dental or orthodontic website? Are you being called the “Butcher of Bicuspids?” Research and look for patient reviews that already exist. And yes, they probably do already exist. What you find out there will greatly affect your strategy going forward.

Develop a plan

Don’t just throw money at the problem. Marketing without a plan will lead you nowhere. Develop a budget and a realistic set of offers and objectives that will set your dental or orthodontic practice apart from your competitors. Then put together a calendar of activities to support these initiatives. You’re good at being a dentist or orthodontist. Consider hiring a marketing agency whose job it is to help you market your business.

Be creative

You’re in the first impression business. You work on people’s smiles. Now it’s time to work on yours. Get yourself some graphic design and copywriting services to produce effective and compelling print, direct mail and digital materials that make you not only look good, but make you stand out in the crowded field. The more you stand out, the more you will be noticed.

Go digital

Direct mail is still a key marketing element for dental offices. It works really well. But it’s not the only thing that works. We live in a connected world. A clean and responsive website is critical, and email marketing, online appointments, and social media marketing are needed to round out a modern dental or orthodontic marketing plan. Hire a website design specialist and build social media channels. Connect them all and make sure the look is consistent with your other marketing materials.

Be social and engage

Simply broadcasting your message and asking for customers doesn’t work. You need to get your audience involved. Master a 360 Degree social media marketing program by engaging, asking questions, listening, and commenting. Learn what patients and others say about you, share, and reply to reviews! Produce content that makes your audience think about their needs and allows them to engage and share their thoughts. Spread the word and build an audience.

Calls-to-Action

Marketing is nothing if it doesn’t inspire people to contact your office. One of the biggest mistakes dental offices make with their marketing is there is simply no “call to action,” nothing telling the audience to pick up the phone or click on a website to make an appointment. Whatever you do, and whatever marketing materials you produce, make sure you include “calls to action.” Believe it or not, a simple “What are you waiting for, call us today for a free consultation,” with a phone number goes a long way. It might seem obvious, but your audience is waiting for you to tell them what to do.

Thinking of improving your marketing? Click here to learn more. Set up a free, 15 minute conversation with one of our marketing experts to talk about ideas that will help you remain competitive in today’s market.

Categories : BRANDING, INTERNET MARKETING, Marketing, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, STRATEGY

Tags : dentists, marketing tips, marketing tips for dentists, orthodontists

Posted by Greg Sherwood on

August 11, 2015

PR or Advertising? Which is Best for Your Company?

How do you know if your company needs advertising or public relations? Most businesses need a combination of both as part of a well-defined and executed communications program, but they struggle to understand the differences.

Advertising and public relations are similar as they both build awareness of your company in a targeted section of the public. Beyond that, they are actually quite different. So, when pulling your hair out wondering if you should call an advertising agency, marketing agency or public relations firm, keep these basics in mind.

Advertising is paid space. You get to be in control of the message, be creative and build a campaign that shows your product or service. You talk to account executives, who then get graphic designers and copywriters to do some magic. You then, for a fixed price, buy air, or time, or pages, or impressions, all in an attempt to push your ad out there to your carefully targeted public and sell your product or service. Your target audience knows they are seeing an advertisement, and they know you are actively trying to sell them something.

Public relations is all about your relationship with the media, and by extension, their public. Public relations seeks free media attention for your goods and services. You send press releases, talk to editors, and hold events. The goal is to talk to people who talk to people, and to get those people to talk to their people about you. The downside is media types have no obligation to talk about you, and you have little to no control over how your message gets presented, if it gets presented at all. The good side is that when your audience sees you on TV, reads a blog post or article about you, they’re seeing something different than advertising, and they treat it differently than advertising. They trust it more. You didn’t pay for it, and it’s being delivered to them via an unbiased source. Your company, product or service has just been validated without having to be advertised.

So, which is better? Confusing answer actually- it’s both. Study after study shows that, although less quantifiable, public relations is better at building trust and spreading information in a brand or service that has been validated by unbiased sources. But, if done right, nothing is more powerful than owning your consistent message and creating good creative, targeting your specific public, and analyzing the results based on solid proof of performance.

The clear answer is to engage a marketing agency that can build a communications strategy that employs elements of both. You want to own your brand and your message, but you also want to be talked about and trusted. Only when both methods are working can you maximize your marketing.

One last bit to consider when discussing advertising and PR with your marketing agency, and that’s the power of digital marketing and social media. Adding social media to your marketing is not only important for branding, but it can be a powerful tool to bridge the gap between traditional advertising and public relations. A business can advertise on social media channels, then get endorsed and validated by the seemingly unbiased social media community. It’s the brave new world.

Categories : BRANDING, Marketing, PUBLIC RELATIONS, STRATEGY

Tags : advertising, PR, public relations

Posted by DBC Digital on

March 26, 2015

Putting the Content in Content Marketing

What We’ve Learned from Creating Content Marketing Plans

By now, everyone knows that an effective content marketing plan is critical to generating leads for your business.

The challenge is that everyone does know this and that means it’s harder to stand apart and get noticed by your prospects.

Still, content marketing done well can mean more leads, more traffic and more business.

As a review, content marketing is:

Providing essential information to your readers
Establishing your company and yourself as someone who understands and can assist your audience with their questions and challenges.

Of course, like many simple concepts, content marketing is not necessarily easy.

Of those companies using content marketing to improve their marketing success, over half report that they fail at it.

While mistakes in content marketing are common, here are a few tips you can use to improve your chances of success:

1. BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE

Just as you do in your other marketing strategies, you need to be clear about who your audience is in order to target their interests

2. BUILD A SOLID FOUNDATION

If you’re new to content marketing, start by writing a few posts that can establish you as an expert. Focus on a segment in your field that you are confident with. Make sure your writing style is conversational, not preachy or “sales-y.”

3. WRITE QUALITY CONTENT

Quality isn’t about the fluidity of your writing style. Although clear writing is important, your readers want solid information about issues that concern them and their businesses.

How can you tell if you’re providing quality content?

The best sign your content is valuable is to watch how many readers stick with you, as well as by the growth in your readership. If your writing is informative, well-constructed and people-oriented, the number of your readers will rise, slowly but consistently.

4. MAKE SURE YOUR CONTENT IS FOUND

If no one finds your content, it doesn’t help you grow your business.

Here are four ways to help your content be found:

Include links to your posts in your emails.
Send a summary of your blog with links to the full article in a monthly newsletter.
Put your website address or blog address on everything available: your email signature, your business cards, letterhead, PR releases, traditional advertising and more.
Participate and Engage. Be active in the social and networking platforms your clients use. If your customers and clients are active on LinkedIn, participate in forums and answer questions posed by your groups. Leave helpful comments on other blogs that are being followed by your clients. Thank people who leave comments on your posts.

What’s your experience? What content lessons have you learned?

Categories : BLOGGING, Content Creation, INTERNET MARKETING, STRATEGY

Tags : blog, content creation, content marketing for business, post

Posted by Plumb Marketing on

February 4, 2015

SEO STRATEGY: SIX KEYS TO SUCCESS IN 2015

Improve your SEO in 2015

Update Your SEO Strategy

2015 is here, and there have been a number of changes in search engine ranking systems lately. Follow these tips and keep checking with us for the latest changes and SEO trends throughout 2015.

First, an important stat: According to Business-2-Community, 70 percent of the web links searchers follow are “organic,” as opposed to clicking on paid ads.

That means bringing your website to the top of the search page using effective SEO approaches is essential to your ongoing success online. As you update your SEO tactics, keep the following tips in mind:

1. Be mobile-friendly.

According to Google, people are spending 15 hours or more each week searching the web on their mobile devices. Having a website that is mobile-friendly can improve your search engine rankings and boost revenue. If your site is not mobile-friendly, make those improvements now.

2. Remember that keyword ranking isn’t everything.

Search engine rankings are important, but only when they translate into revenue for your company. Brands should look at both keyword rankings and ROI as they evaluate campaigns in 2015 and beyond. Likewise, brands should also make sure that they are targeting the right keywords. Targeting long-tail keyword phrases that are more specific and have less competition, as opposed to shorter, more generic keywords will be easier to rank for and bring you more of the visitors you want.

3. Put more focus on social media.

In the beginning, social media networks were just another outlet for your content. However, as time has progressed, these channels have become an important component of successful marketing campaigns as well. As you revise your SEO strategies, remember to allocate a portion of your resources to the social media platforms (LinkedIn, etc.) that are best in reaching your target clients and your SEO efforts.

4. Write what you would want to read.

In the past, SEO experts have spent a great deal of time decoding search engine algorithms and devising SEO tricks in order to manipulate rankings. However, with each Google algorithm update, these tricks become less and less effective. From the beginning, the goal of all of Google’s algorithms has been to find the best, most relevant content for its users, and this goal isn’t going to change. Instead of trying to outsmart the algorithms, spend your time creating valuable content that will move to the top of search engine results on its own.

5. Learn about “Pigeon” and It’s Impact on Local Search Results.

When it comes to search engines, Google is still king. During 2014, Google implemented its latest algorithm update, which was called “Pigeon.” Pigeon focuses on local search rankings. As an example, until recently, searching Google and then searching Google Maps often provided different results for the same phrases. This inconsistency changed after the roll-out of Pigeon. If you haven’t already done so, take a look to see if Pigeon had any impact on your site’s rankings.

6. Don’t build links just for links

Traditionally, link building has been an important component of any valid SEO strategy. However, there are a number of reports in the last year that have concluded that building large quantities of links to your site is no longer an effective method of increasing your visibility online. Quality and highly relevant sites linking to you are now much more valuable than sheer numbers of links and are where you should focus your time. These links come because you are posting the kind of content that other site owners want to share.

Summary

Keep your website at the top of the search pages using effective SEO approaches and your online success will improve. As you update your SEO tactics, keep the above tips in mind.

As always, if you are looking for help or advice to improve your marketing efforts, give us a call.

Categories : INTERNET MARKETING, SEO, STRATEGY

Tags : better website ranking, SEO

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