integrated marketing©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

What Is Integrated Marketing and Why Do I Need It?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

As technology and the use of the Internet changes and evolves, it’s critical to stay on top of trends to remain competitive. It should come as no surprise that the conversations surrounding marketing and the internet have expanded in response to these developments. No longer is it enough just to do search engine optimization or link building. An integrated marketing strategy is needed.

The broad adoption of mobile devices for internet access in combination with the use of social media and mobile apps require businesses to expand upon marketing efforts on these platforms.

From this, the term “Integrated Marketing” was coined. Integrated marketing is the use of multiple channels to reach target demographics using email, search engine optimization, social media platforms, content marketing, paid advertisements, mobile app support, direct mail, and listing services.

Companies who implement an integrated marketing strategy are more likely to see results than a company that only focuses only on SEO tactics or PPC advertising to drive traffic to their website.

Here we’ll explore some of the different options available for expanding your integrated marketing efforts.

Email Marketing – Email marketing remains a classic method for business owners to keep in touch with prospects and customers. Techniques to build your email list include offering newsletter signup on your website, collecting email addresses at your physical business, adding a content locker to premium or exclusive content. Your email list, especially when it is well-managed, is a valuable tool in your integrated marketing toolbox.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Search engine optimization has always been viewed as a pillar of all marketing efforts. Proper SEO is somewhat of a technical and detail-oriented aspect of marketing. SEO includes tracking pixel installations, keyword selection, making sure that all meta data, descriptions, keyword density, calls to action, and other technical ‘best practices’ are followed when publishing a web page or new blog post. Other related tasks associated with formal SEO include assuring the site has TLS/SSL protection and is mobile-friendly, notably since Google announced they are switching to a ‘Mobile First’ search index. This switch gives preference to websites that cater to mobile site traffic and devalues the importance of websites that do not meet their new standards.

Social Media – Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others offer business owners the chance to connect with their target audience. Not only can you connect with fans and friends who are using their desktop computer, but you also bridge to a broader segment of people using mobile apps to use these platforms. By sharing funny, helpful, or just content of general interest, you can increase the number of meaningful relationships you build with existing or potential clients. Anytime your friends, fans, and family share your posts, this helps raise awareness about your company with the potential to expand your social network even further.

Content Marketing – One of the longstanding principles in the digital marketing industry is that ‘Content is King.’ By creating compelling, value-added content on a consistent basis, you amass digital assets that can be shared on Social Media Channels or be used as marketing materials. Adding helpful blog posts can assist in building organic (free) search traffic to your website. Ideally, you want your website visitors to share your content in their networks, so you’ll want to be sure that you offer Social Sharing tools on all pages of your blog or site to make the process easier. Fresh content that engages with your visitors helps build your reputation, trust, and loyalty.

Paid Advertisements – No integrated marketing campaign is complete without a paid advertising component. After all, how will people know you have an offer if you don’t make one? Depending on the nature of your business, you might consider using ad programs available on Facebook, Bing, or Google. With multiple types of ad modules available, you or your marketing team can design a campaign that helps you meet your business objectives, whatever they are. Other creative forms of paid advertising include print advertisements, local sponsorships, and even vehicle wraps! The goal is to get your brand in front of as many people as possible. Don’t be afraid to get creative.

Mobile Apps – Mobile Apps offer business owners the opportunity to connect with their clients directly on their mobile phone, without the need to read email, visit a website, or search for them on social media. An investment in a mobile app is helpful for sending push notifications, managing loyalty rewards programs, making special offers, or offering a text club. For food service businesses, additional functionality such as the ability to place orders online offset development and management expenses.

Direct Mail – Direct mail remains a trusted and legitimate method to connect with potential customers and clients in your desired target demographics. Printed mail pieces including postcards, inserts, and flyers are cost-effective and offer a longer shelf-life than it’s electronic contemporary, email. Further, they can be customized with unique URLs, Coupon Codes, and Phone Numbers to track the return on investment accurately.

Listing Services – When you want to make sure that your company or brand is seen by the right audience, listing services are helpful. References and links from authority sites such as Google, Bing, Yelp, Manta, Yellow Pages, Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau, your local Chamber of Commerce, align you with your preferred audience. These links back are valuable citations to your company! (Pro Tip: If you haven’t given much thought to the importance of listing citations, you should start checking for inclusion and accuracy as soon as possible.) Depending on the organization, the addition to their directory may be free, upgraded, or paid. Free listing services typically offer business owners a basic listing that contains minimal information. Upgraded or paid inclusion listing services often offer business owners more features or value-added functionality from their listing, so be sure to have marketing funds set aside to cover the costs of these listings.

As you can see, there are a lot of working parts when forming an Integrated Marketing campaign. Need help putting all of the pieces together? Get in touch with Colleen Eakins Design today!

brand experience©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

The Brand Experience?

/0 Comments/in , , /by

One of the newer buzzword phrases introduced to the advertising and marketing vernacular is “Brand Experience.” What is the Brand Experience, you ask? In plain language, the Brand Experience is the sensory response to stimuli when consumers see a brand. These reactions include emotions, sensations, and behavioral activity. It is not uncommon for stimuli to be embedded in the brand logo, brand story and messaging, design, packaging, and supporting digital assets.

Color Psychology and the Brand Experience

When choosing color palettes for your brand, don’t overlook the importance of color psychology when establishing your brand elements. Not surprisingly, and somewhat controversially, colors give rise to specific emotions when used in marketing.

Yellow – The use of the color yellow is good for optimism. Yellow evokes feelings of warmth and clarity. Brands that use yellow in their branding include Subway, McDonald’s, Pennzoil, Sprint, Hertz, and Denny’s.

Orange – Orange is a welcoming and friendly color. It conjures up feelings of warmth, sunshine, and safety. Name brands that utilize the color orange in their branding elements include Payless Shoesource, Hooters, Amazon, Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, and Boost Mobile.

Red – Red is a color that imbues excitement! It’s bold, bright, and bursting with passion. You can find red as a leading color in branding from Target, Ace Hardware, Kentucky Fried Chicken, YouTube, Virgin, Coca-Cola, and Frito-Lay.

Purple – Purple is a color resonates creativity, imagination, wisdom, and luxury. Examples of companies that have implemented purple into their logos and branding elements include Purple Carrot, Cadbury, Yahoo, Hallmark, Astrazeneca, Taco Bell, and Curves.

Blue – Blue is an ideal color to select when you want your brand to get trusted. It represents strength and dependability. A sampling of companies with blue logos and branding include Facebook, Blue Nile, Ford, Blue Bunny, United States Postal Service, Walmart, IBM, and Intel.

Green – Green is a perfect hue when you want to instill feelings of growth, good health, vitality, and positivity. Companies that use green in their branding include John Deere, Tropicana, BP, Starbucks, Holiday Inn, Whole Foods Market, and TD Ameritrade.

Black and White – There is nothing more clear and concise than the use of black, white, and shades of gray for simplicity sake. Companies that use Grayscale (or Black and White) imagery include Apple, Honda, Puma, Adidas, and Nike.

The ultimate goal of the brand experience is to build lasting and meaningful relationships with your target audience. When people see your logo, you want them to recognize it. When they choose to do business with you, your customer service is an extension of your brand. Every interaction that you have with a customer helps define your level of excellence as an organization and contributes to your customer’s brand experience with your company.

Optimize Your Brand Online

The internet remains one of the biggest arenas for businesses of all sizes to connect with their ideal customer. Digital marketing that includes precision website development, social media marketing, email, SMS messaging, and search engine optimization all work together to build visibility and awareness.

Depending on your business and industry, your website may serve as a hub for your audience’s overall brand experience, so precision website development is essential to support marketing and sales initiatives. Investing in website development assures that no technical-oriented detail – of which there are tons – inadvertently gets forgotten or neglected. Fine points to consider include tracking pixel installation, sitemap submission, search engine webmaster tools, analytics, email opt-ins, and a mobile first responsive design.

Email is highly effective at connecting with your customers directly in their inboxes. Depending on the nature of your business, you might also find SMS messaging to be quite useful in communicating with your clients. According to statistics, it takes an average of 90 seconds for people to respond to text messages, as compared to hours or even days waiting for an email response.

An on-point social media strategy is helpful for connecting and engaging with your audience of followers, thought leaders, and peers, raise awareness and interest in your products, services, and events. Regular updates to your status lines combined with an advertising budget for display ads is a cost-effective way to extend your business network.

While most ad networks are relatively easy to use, always be sure to refresh yourself on best practices first. For instance, you’ll want to be sure you have installed a Facebook Pixel on your site before running paid ad campaigns to measure conversions and sales results accurately. Failure to do so could result in inaccurate or incomplete statistics, as well as make it more difficult for retargeting ads to work.

By employing white-hat search engine optimization tactics, you can take steps to align your company with success in Organic search engine results by carefully selecting relevant keywords and keyword combinations. The more visibility and coverage your brand capture in top search results, in conjunction with the right offer, the better your overall conversions and results are likely to be.

Think of your brand’s identity and experience as a big puzzle. It’s made up of many individual pieces. Each piece is essential to complete the whole. When all the parts snap together, you have a perfect picture. One missing piece throws everything off!

If you would like some help in putting the visual pieces of the puzzle together, contact the team at Colleen Eakins Design today! Our team of branding experts are here to help with all aspects of your brand’s identity and experience.

digital branding©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

Why Digital Branding Matters

/0 Comments/in , /by

In 2018, businesses of all sizes recognized how a brand offers empowerment when competing in consumer markets. Digital branding is key to reaching your target market through both online and offline methods.

With the record expansion in use of mobile phones, tablets, and other personal devices, this offers businesses the opportunity to connect and engage with users or customers in a variety of ways. Mobile apps, SMS messaging, email, social media platforms, and websites all provide a robust mainframe for your digital branding and marketing campaigns. All of these methods are credible ways to communicate your brand message with fans, friends, followers, and subscribers.

Starting Digital Branding from the Ground Up

Pinpointing your target market, as well as establishing cohesiveness in branding and marketing are cornerstones of a successful business plan. When working on your business plan, many factors must be considered to build your digital branding from the ground up.

The Size of Your Target Market – A “Target Market” is defined by a set of demographic information on your ideal customer. Understanding the size of this market, as well as the predicted growth rate of this market can help determine your overreaching marketing plan. Knowing your product and service line and who these goods and services are most likely to be used by is the first step in identifying your target market. For instance, if you sell customized baby products, expectant/new mothers and grandparents are likely to be a sound choice as a broad demographic category. Regardless of whether you decide to cater to a very niche market or you offer goods and services with a more general appeal, the more you know about the person you are selling to, the better.

What’s Your Story – Unless you are planning on launching a product or service in a brand new category, the chances are good that consumers can buy similar products and services from other vendors. Telling the story behind your brand helps differentiate you from others who are selling in the same demographic space. By sharing the inspiration or reason for your business, you are building an emotional connection with your intended audience. This leads to higher sales and conversions with this concentrated audience. It is also helpful to constitute an internal code that applies to incoming and outgoing communications with contacts.

Getting the Competitive Edge – When tackling any market segment, it is always advantageous to have and use as many tools as possible in your entrepreneurial toolbox. A long-term digital branding and marketing strategy is likely to include ongoing content creation (blog content, video, images, white papers, email copy, and other digital assets) to establish authority and build trust with potential clients. These digital assets are valuable materials for sharing your brand messaging creatively and openly.

Logos, Taglines and Copy – Your logo, taglines, and copy serve as a foundation for all marketing and branding efforts that follow. After all, these are the symbols that represent the creative force behind your business. Your logo may be used on social media platforms, print collateral, advertising, merchandise, and more.

Putting Everything Together

It’s worth noting that a successful digital branding and marketing campaign is more of a marathon than a sprint, so entrepreneurs and business owners should be comfortable in assuming the risk, responsibility, and committing to see the project through. Taking the time to develop and integrate all various marketing pieces from the beginning helps leverage your launch, as well as support your ongoing operations.

Newly launched businesses should allow time to build up their digital marketing assets including their SMS messaging contact list, mobile app user base, opt-in email list, as well as adding fans and followers on social media platforms. In many cases, establishing a timeline for your project, as well as assigning milestones for development, are helpful for tracking the progress and results of the project. It can always be adjusted, if needed, to account for unexpected changes.

If you are not meeting the digital branding goals within the stated deadline of this timeframe, you can assess what is causing these delays and make moves to rectify these issues and fix the problems. By using a multifaceted approach, you will connect with your audience using their preferred method of communication.

By taking steps to cater to the preferences of your audience, it is easier to stay in front of them and make offers that appeal to their wants, needs, and desires.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Depending on the nature of your business, you might find that one form of digital branding and marketing works better for you. Don’t be afraid to experiment with a few different options to see if you get a better return on your investment.

Don’t Overlook the Technical Details

As the saying goes, ‘the devil is in the details.’ Not surprisingly, getting all the technical details done right is also an essential part of your digital branding and marketing efforts. If you are following a general timeline for your project, this should prove helpful for keeping all aspects on track and schedule.

While every marketing asset works independently, they all work together to assist in selling your goods and services. Since your website is most likely to serve as a ‘hub’ for all your marketing materials, you’ll want to be sure that it is search engine friendly and features a responsive mobile first design, so it formats optimally on the screens of all website visitors.

Are you thinking about offering a mobile app as part of your digital branding and marketing efforts? If so, be sure to check that your app meets all of the requirements for acceptance in popular app stores to increase the likelihood of acceptance.

We hope this article is helpful in explaining why digital branding matters in today’s day and age. If you would like to learn more or you’d like help with launching your branding campaign, be sure to contact the professionals at Colleen Eakins Design today!

©2018, Colleen Eakins Design

Have Fun with this Social Media Marketing Challenge

/0 Comments/in , , /by

So, you are excited about the benefits that social media marketing offers your business. Now you’re looking to launch a winning campaign that will help people find your brand. Great. The only thing left to do is to create compelling content that will attract shares and likes. Luckily for you, fantastic content doesn’t take long to construct.

Let’s take a look at a stress-free plan to create two weeks’ worth of lovable sharing ideas to help attract your ideal clientele. This strategy combines using common sense and a small bit of digital effort to help convey your brand message to an online audience.

#1 | Show People Who You Are and How You Work

People love images, especially ones that show people engaged in work that stokes their passions. That means coming up with the perfect share could be as simple as snapping a pic at work. Plainly you see pictures like this all the time, and there’s a logical explanation for that. Consumers need to trust your organization, and one way to help them do that is by showing them who you are and what you do on a daily basis.

#2 | Put a Customer or Vendor in the Spotlight

Interview a vendor or one of your customers to gain their insight and to share online. Adding a fresh, secondary perspective makes your content even more accessible. Communication with key personalities in your brand’s value chain will open doors. A loyal customer will probably love appearing on your profiles and will know that you value their opinion. Vendors bring industry-specific expertise to bear that enhance your corporate image.

#3 | Answer a Pressing Question

Fielding questions and relating comprehensive answers is another beneficial way to spread the word about your business. Potential clients want to know they’re dealing with an expert or experienced professional. Rather than tell them how amazing you are, why not show them instead? You can write a blog post or make a video on Facebook or Instagram that covers a common question for your industry. People who are searching for new vendors will often have these sorts of queries in mind, so you get a chance to introduce yourself to them quickly.

#4 | Introduce New Workers

Do you have any new employees? If so, now would be an ideal time to share the news. A smiling face could help start a conversation on the social networks that assist you in beginning a business relationship. Never forget that it’s always about people, so projecting a warm, friendly persona goes a long way towards brand acceptance.

#5 | Add Your Take to a Trending Topic

Now and then a trending, non-controversial topic will closely relate to your industry or you personally. When it does, share the issue with your audience and add relevant commentary.  Since the subject is fresh in people’s minds, your post will get more attention, which also draws eyes towards your brand.

#6 | Tickle Their Funny Bones

Believe it or not, funny cat images are still incredibly powerful! Occasionally sharing pictures or videos that you find amusing is a quick way to gain popularity.

#7 | Fill-In-The-Blanks Are Fun and Engaging

Making a Fill-In-The-Blank is a fun way to engage your digital audience. Any topic can work, but you may as well relate it to your industry and organization for maximum impact.

#8 | Tell the World Your Story

Tell your brand’s story whenever possible, in the most natural way possible. Explain how your company operates and detail your mission. Help others to become passionate about dealing with your company because they share your values.

#9 | Inspire Your Audience

Who doesn’t benefit from reading or hearing something inspirational? Depending on the nature of your business or organization, this could include progress reports on current projects, charitable work you’re involved in, or looking back on how far you’ve come.

#10 | Broadcast Live Video

Are you hosting an event or just having an awesome day at work? Consider doing a Live Video broadcast on Facebook or other Platforms to connect with your audience with the power of video. Ideas could include product demonstrations, client interviews, or broadcasting your event.

#11 | Recognize Another Business

As they say, ‘sharing is caring!’ If you stop by a local company or business, consider sharing a picture is a great way to recognize other companies and share the love!

#12 | Share an Interesting Fact

Almost everyone will agree that it’s refreshing to learn little-known facts. Infographics are particularly compelling for sharing statistics and other structured data.

#13 | Repurpose Like A Boss

Don’t overlook the body of work you already have at your fingertips. Instead of creating something entirely new from scratch, use a photo or other digital asset differently. (Think image filters, text, etc.)

#14 | Celebrate The Season

Join the crowd and help your followers celebrate the season – whatever the season may be! Commonly celebrated Spring holidays include Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter. Summer holidays include Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. Autumn holidays include Halloween and Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas when winter arrives.

#15 | Share Your Newsletter Content in Your Social Circles

The chances are good that not everyone you interact with online gets your email newsletter. These days, most commercial email providers make it easy for you to share your email newsletter to your social media platforms. This feature empowers you to offer your friends and fans access to your newsletters from their favorite platform.

#16 | Do a Poll to Increase Engagement

One of the most fun ways to engage with your fans, and followers is by making a poll. People love to give their opinions and feedback, so this is an ideal way to energize and promote interactions with your audience.

#17 | Join New Platforms and Establish Your Online Presence

These days, there is always a new online platform to explore and establish your online presence. Embrace the opportunity to join and use these platforms to connect with people you may not know!

We hope that you find this post helpful for spicing things up on your social media marketing channels for the next two weeks!

Start Link Building Like a PR Pro [infographic]

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Denese EakinsDenese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.

Read more