Updating Your Brand? Don’t Forget Video Too

We recently had the pleasure of assisting one of our long-time clients in refreshing their brand. Included in that process was updating their staff photos and obtaining new video footage to be used for their website and various marketing materials.As marketers, we can’t stress it enough how important it is to keep your photos and video footage current. When someone views your website and marketing materials, they should get a true look into your company and know exactly what to expect.

The Dynamic Marketing Consultants team flew on site to Texas to meet with the team at Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock. We were there to advise and assist with their photoshoot and take the lead on capturing their new video footage.

We began working on the video strategy long before we flew to Texas. In order to properly strategize, we first had to understand how the videos would be used, who the audience is and in what formats the videos would be used. All of this helps our film team properly plan the perfect way to film; how long the videos should be, what angle to shoot, etc. With all of those particulars in mind, we were then able to create the storyboard sand write the scripts. With the help of everyone at Cowen | Rodriguez | Peacock, we filled in the missing pieces of industry specific lingo and decided what call-to-action would be used. In this case, we also received full translations for the videos as we would be filming in Spanish as well.

The most exciting part of the process was filming. We arrived on set with our DSLR cameras, wireless microphones,and lighting equipment. Our team helped break down the script to make it as easy as possible for the person being filmed. The most beneficial part about being in person and on set during the film process is that we are able to provide immediate feedback to make sure we capture the best, highest quality footage. Once we capture that footage, our video experts finalize the video,making any edits, adding music, b-roll,and other finishing touches.

From start to finish, the film process is very detailed and catered exactly to what our client’s needed. Video is a great asset to have in your marketing toolbox and can be used on your website and social media. DMC takes it one step further and can even help you add video to your printed marketing materials with products like video books and video brochures. Ready to learn more? Contact us today.

 

 

It’s Time to Start Spying on Your Competition

No matter what industry you may be in, keeping an eye on what your competition is doing should always be a part of your business strategy. Without doing a little digging, how else would you know what your business is up against? These days, the internet and social media make “spying” on your competitors extremely easy.

Here are 3 simple ways to monitor your competition:

Read Their Reviews

Reading a business’s online reviews can be very telling. You can quickly learn what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong by what customers and clients are saying. If reviews are boasting a specific product or service, it might be worth adding to your offerings if you aren’t already. If you’re reading about what the business is doing poorly, use it as a means to differentiate your business and get a leg up on your competition.

Sign Up for Their Email Lists

Subscribing to your competitor’s public email lists is a no brainer. Quick and easy; you literally get their latest news delivered right to your inbox. You can learn about upcoming promotions or new releases and plan your promotions accordingly. You can also get a sense of how often they email their clients and prospects while also getting a feel for their branding and language. Again, all helpful insights to help your business stand out.

Monitor Their Social Media

Similar to email lists, social media is another easy way to read the latest news about your competition but allows you to see how followers are reacting. If your competition posts a promotion or new offering,you can see firsthand if followers are excited about it. You can also see if followers are posting positive or negative comments/reviews/posts on their social pages. Use these findings to help you alter your strategy and shine amongst your competition.

If you’re lost as to what your competition is doing and need help analyzing your market, we’re here to help! We offer an array of services to help your business thrive. Contact our team today for a free consultation.

How Your Business Can Survive Facebook’s New Algorithm

If you haven’t already heard the news that’s been buzzing in the marketing industry, Facebook has updated its algorithm, again. This time, the update will affect what content is shown in users’ newsfeeds from businesses, brands, and media outlets. The updated news feed is designed to surface content that is best performing amongst a user’s family and friends.

So, to put it in layman’s terms –when a business or brand posts content to their Facebook page, the chances of the post being shown in its fan’s news feed is slim.

[[Queue meltdowns from businesses everywhere]]

Your friends at DMC are here to help. We’ve found a few ways to help your business thrive during these hard times in Facebook land:

1 – Join Facebook Groups

There are thousands of Facebook groups out there. Within these groups, posts are prioritized based on how much of a discussion they spark. Do a little research and find which groups are most relevant to your target audience. You may find some groups with just a few hundred people, while other groups can have tens of thousands of members. Join them, get involved with the discussions, and push your brand! Free visibility.

2 – Facebook Ads

While these changes to Facebook will likely cause an increase in costs for Facebook ads, they are still a reliable way to connect with your audience. The great news is, there are different ad options within Facebook and they can all work within your budget. Sponsored posts are a great way to get started; you can pick the target audience, set a small budget, and see your engagement go up within a few hours or less!

3 – Utilize Other Social Networks

Although this won’t help your Facebook business page, it’s important to remember there are other ways to socially connect with your target market. If your business relates to food, travel, fitness, or consumer goods, Instagram is the perfect platform for you. Utilize eye-catching photos and watch your engagement rise. We also recommend businesses explore Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to further connect with your audience.

If you’re about ready to give up with the social media game, don’t throw in the towel just yet. Social media is an integral part of a business’s marketing strategy. Let our team of experts navigate the confusion and get your content seen front and center. Reach out to our team here and we’ll be in touch soon to discuss your business.

Dynamic Marketing 101: Digital Advertising

In part two of our blog series, we’re going to take a look at digital advertising. There’s no denying the fact that the world has been rapidly making the shift to digital. Between mobile phones, laptops, tablets, and more, people of all ages are consuming more digital content on a daily basis than ever before. From a business perspective, this means that marketing strategies need to adapt to this new way of life, and fast! Digital advertising is the marketing tool your company needs to be using no matter what service or product you offer.

Digital advertising is the new norm and if you’re not already practicing it, it’s absolutely time to start. It’s the fastest growing marketing channel and it’s not going to slow down any time soon. Before we look at the benefits of digital advertising, let’s take a moment to discuss the key forms of it at present:

  • websites and SEO content
  • blogs
  • internet banner ads
  • online video content
  • pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
  • email marketing
  • social media marketing (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
  • mobile marketing (SMS, MMS, etc.)

There are endless opportunities when it comes to advertising your brand in the digital realm.

Digital advertising has a lot to offer to advertisers. For starters, it’s infinitely more affordable than traditional marketing methods. Digital advertising is targeted, meaning each ad you create will always only be seen by qualified prospects and targeted audience members. You can target by geographic location, demographics, interests, and more. One huge benefit of digital is the ease in which results can be tracked and monitored. Instead of conducting expensive customer research, you can now quickly and easily view your response rates and measure the success of your digital ad campaign in real-time.

The bottom line is that the digital age is here to stay, and the team at DMC is fully taking advantage of all the benefits it has to offer. We have years of experience in implementing successful digital advertising methods. If your business could use assistance in developing your digital advertising strategy to bring in more revenue and customers, don’t hesitate to contact us! And stay tuned, next month we’ll be diving into the discussion of direct mail in the current business climate.

Three Way to Get More Video Views

Video content has been proven to boost conversions and even sales. To get these conversion rates and sales, you first need views. With so much video content streaming out there, the question is: how do you ensure that your videos get noticed?

1. Share Strategically

The best way to get the attention of customers or potential leads is by sharing content. However, you need to be strategic and diligent about sharing your video content. Uploading a video to the web and hoping people will find it will not bring the results you are seeking. It’s important to use all social media platforms to promote your video while also tweaking your social messaging so it’s engaging and relevant to each particular platform audience. And remember, location is key. When uploading a video to your website, embed it front and center. Give your video prime real estate so you can get as many views as possible.

2. One Size Doesn’t Fit All

There are different video types that you can use to accomplish different goals. For example, if the goal of your video is to familiarize your target audience with your brand, you should create an easy-going, fun video. If you’re trying to form a long-term relationship, create a dramatic or emotional video that will strongly convey your company’s culture, beliefs, and branding. If you’re trying to drive sales, consider making an informational video that is light hearted and engaging to keep them watching to the end. It’s a good idea to set specifics goals for your video before it is created. Having a plan in place will help align your video with your target audience, allowing you to get the most views as possible.

3. Make Your Title Count

This seems like a simple task, but coming up with a great title for your video is incredibly important. A great title will instantly grab the viewer’s attention and could ultimately be the deciding factor in whether they press play. Like we said before, the first step in boosting conversion rates and generating sales from a video is initiating views. Another reason the title is so important is because of the SEO opportunities it can create. Using the right keywords in your title will help your video show up on search engines, leading to more views. And lastly, keep in mind that Google owns YouTube, so there is a strong correlation between video and search.

Adding video to your marketing toolbox is one of the best business decisions you could make; just make sure you’re creating content that connects with your audience, you’re sharing strategically, and posting with best practices in mind.

If you’re struggling to get video views, or want to begin incorporating video content into your overall marketing strategy, DMC is here to help! We’ll do the leg work so you can reap the benefits.

TOP 4 REASONS TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS VIA SOCIAL MARKETING

Social media marketing is here to stay and now is the time for your business to be taking advantage. Today there are over 3 billion internet users and over 2 billion of them are active on various social media accounts. The important social media sites you should be using to benefit your business are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Here are the top 4 reasons you need to be using social media to expand and improve your business:

  1. Gain customer insights: You should be using social media to collect data about your customers in real time. Every day there are over 500 million tweets sent out and 4.5 billion likes on Facebook. Behind these tweets, posts, and likes is an abundance of information about your customers- who they are, what they’re interested in, how they behave, and how they feel about your business. Use this information to adapt, grow, and appeal to your target audience.
  2. Increase brand recognition and loyalty: Your social media networks are new channels to share your brand’s voice and content. Having a strong social media presence makes you more accessible for new customers and more recognizable for existing customers. Connecting with your customers on social is the best way to increase retention and build brand loyalty.
  3. Increase inbound traffic: One of the biggest benefits of social media is increasing website traffic. Every social media profile you add is another path leading back to your website. Without social media, your inbound traffic will be limited to individuals already familiar with your business or people searching for keywords you rank for. Not only will social media help direct users to your website, but the more social shares you receive, the higher your search ranking will be.
  4. Share content faster, easier, and for less money: For as long as marketing has been around, marketers have been working to ensure their content reaches customers in the shortest time possible. Thanks to social media sites, the sharing of your brand’s content is now instant. Using social sites as a main form of marketing is a great way to decrease your marketing costs. Posting is free, and paid advertising through Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is relatively cheap.

Let’s connect; stay in touch with DMC on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

6 McLessons in Marketing

Here are 6 quick things that McDonald’s teaches us about print advertising for your education …and enjoyment, because let’s face it, sometimes it’s more fun to learn from mistakes.

1) Sex Doesn’t Always Sell

This ad fell right on its face after the double cheeseburger got hit on by the cheap creepy dude, proving that the old phrase “Sex Sells” does not apply to everything. It’s great to push the envelope on marketing efforts, but sometimes it’s better not to cross the line. At least it got some attention, good or bad.

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2) Reality Counts

McDonald’s customers took note when the burger they were promised in their marketing ads came up short in comparison, reminding us that honesty is still the best policy when it comes to what we’re telling people about our product. That obviously goes for pictures too.

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3) Placement is Important

This little bit of simple marketing is proof positive that even the best marketing campaigns can fail when they aren’t delivered in the right way. Just another reason why targeted marketing is always going to be better than the spray and pray method of mass marketing.

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4) Social Media Services Can Spark Unexpected Conversations

In today’s social media charged world, most can benefit from engaging followers on social media platforms; however, here again, McDonald’s teaches us to be careful what you wish for. This seemingly innocent campaign they launched to engage their audience in sharing their favorite McStories backfired quickly when customers began using it as a platform to air their complaints. Perhaps #McDisaster might have been more appropriate?

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5) Concept Execution is Key

How could selling bags of ice possibly go wrong? McDonald’s proved that Murphy’s Law does exist with this one – although Murphy probably got fired after not proofing this concept before it went to print and became scorchingly viral. Incorporating logos and pictures into print marketing is a fun way to play off your customers’ visual senses, just make sure that you begin with the end in mind of what that campaign or piece will look like when on display for the world to see. Good price on mice though from what I understand.

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6) Never Stop Trying

They currently spend millions of dollars on marketing every year, utilizing just about every media known to man. But even through all the marketing fails, when you consider that McDonald’s opened its doors 1955 and have been going strong ever since, there certainly must be something in that secret marketing sauce.

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Ready to Take Your Marketing to the Next Level?

DMC is helping businesses grow by leaps and bounds with marketing ideas that have been time-tested with proven results.

And Yes… we pay attention to the details.

Schedule a Risk-Free Marketing Assessment with DMC today