What Should Agencies Pay Attention To In 2018?

Brands continue to look for the best agencies to work with but what will that mean for the next year?

It feels like as much as marketing and PR changes it also stays the same. Every year predictions about channels and platforms dying or taking over continue to be proven untrue. So what can you do differently in 2018? What changes might actually matter?
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Are You Tricking Or Treating Your Audience On Social?

What would it take to be a brand your audience wants to listen to on social?

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When is the last time you thought about what your audience would want rather than what your boss expects, the numbers you have to hit, or what your competition is or is not doing?

With personalization being so important right now, marketers need to continue to ask themselves, 

What does my audience want and what do they expect? 

and apply this question to every part of their marketing strategy including social. Afterall social is just that, social, it’s not called selling for a reason. Continue reading “Are You Tricking Or Treating Your Audience On Social?”

What Is Your Agency’s Differentiating Factor?

Why did you last client choose you over the competition?

Why would your next client?

These are questions you constantly need to be thinking about in order to position yourself above the other marketing agencies out there. Identifying your unique factors allows you to build a brand that is easily distinguishable from the other agencies out there. Continue reading “What Is Your Agency’s Differentiating Factor?”

Build Data-Driven Content

More and more content is being produced but that doesn’t mean even more people are engaging with it. The people consuming content has plateaued while content creation keeps rising.

So what does these mean for your content strategy?

It’s time for you to evolve and check in on your content’s performance. It has become more important than ever to create content marketing with intent. Therefore content marketing can’t be successful without data. It’s time build data-driven content.

Where To Start

You first have to think of why you have content. Is it too…

  • Add value
  • Make your audience better at their job
  • Provide proof
  • Explain how to use your product
  • Announce product updates and upgrades

Hopefully, it’s a little bit of everything listed above with the main objective of making your audience the hero- giving them the tools they need to do their job better.

Then you have to think about how you measure that.

  • Google Analytics: Learn how traffic behaves on your website
  • Social Listening: Are there conversations happening that you can become a part of by creating a blog post
  • Automation Platforms: Use these to send emails and newsletters to see what people are clicking on (or not) and when.
  • Social Analytics: What content is getting shared? And commented on? You would want something more than a Like.

When you have the right tools in place, and all these tools work together you can pull in leads from your automation platforms that are tied to a CRM and link back to your blog post performance. Identifying data is just half the work, using it to pull data and share metrics to showcase strength and opportunity in your content performance is where it matters. When all your systems are working together you can start identifying what content is relating to your audience. 

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Your Audience Has Changed

First and foremost you have to understand your audience.

When you first created your content you might have done so in hopes of growing an audience by creating credibility and value through your blog, emails, and newsletter. But when is the last time you took the time to understand who these people are now? Just like you, they have changed and you want to gain an understanding of how, why, and when they are consuming your content.

Data can provide useful answers to questions like these:

  • Who is currently reading your content?
  • How are the reading it?
  • Are they sharing the content after they read it?
  • When are they unsubscribing and why (if sending in an email)
  • When are they reading it? Opening the email?
  • How are they finding the content? Via direct link? Facebook Post? Retweet?
  • How long are they staying on the page? Are they reading everything?

Things like their demographics, job title and employer may not have changed but when and how they are consuming your content might have and this the data you need to pay attention to. When you look into these questions it will help guide where you need to take your content which is how you turn insight into action.

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It’s Not Always What You Say

Sometimes more important than what you are talking about in your content is when, where and why you are saying it. Technology not only allows marketers to create messages that resonate with their audience but ensures they get it when they need it the most.

For example, more and more retailers are adopting technology that allows them to send notifications when their customers are entering the store and even when they are in a certain aisle. Let’s say you’re walking down the skincare aisle and you get a message from their app about a 20% off coupon for a specific product or $5 gift card if you spend $20 or more in that department. That could alter just what and how much you buy, not to mention keep your consumer from forgetting their coupons and therefore not making a purchase altogether. 

That is content the customer wants and it’s delivered when they need to know it. Understanding what is relevant content is just half the equation, knowing when to send it is what can make the purchase happen. Data makes this possible and is why it’s important to not only use it but stay aware of new trends and technology that enable you to take content marketing and personalization to the next level.

Wrap It Up

Now it’s time for your content team to act! What is one area you need to spend more time in? 

Put these three steps into place and set up monthly meetings to determine whats working and what needs to change. A data-driven strategy will push your content and brand in the right direction.

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How Your Agency Can Use Social Data To Win New Clients

Your agency received an RFP which is great, but you don’t have a lot of time to conduct the market research needed and learn everything about the client, products, customers, and competition.

What are you to do?

Using social media to conduct your market research is vital. You’ll be able to access data faster, in a more cost-effective and flexible way that produces an overall better pitch. So stop the surveys, step away from the focus groups and see why using social is the best use of your time and resources to produce consistent and in-depth market research. Continue reading “How Your Agency Can Use Social Data To Win New Clients”

Does Your Marketing Team Need A Data Analyst?

Many brands and agencies use the term data-driven to describe their marketing efforts but how do you know if you’re using data to its full potential?

We believe many marketers realize how important data is in connecting the dots between your marketing efforts and business goals but that can still be really hard to do. Having all the data doesn’t do much if you don’t really know what to do with it.

So what should you do? This is when we introduce you to the Data Analyst. Continue reading “Does Your Marketing Team Need A Data Analyst?”

Pursuing Clients Using Analytics

Data has changed the way agencies pitch to new clients!

Potential clients are now able to share data easily with agencies which means agencies are able to incorporate so much more information in their new business presentations. This has enabled the pitch to become all about the client rather than agencies making it all about them by rattling off the services they provide and showcasing past client work.

Depending on your agency and the client you are going after you will look at different data points and metrics to determine opportunities and solutions. There is no need to guess anymore, you can identify the problem and provide the solution before you’re even hired!

Below we’ve broken down a few ways you can use data to learn about your next client and WOW them during the pitch. Continue reading “Pursuing Clients Using Analytics”

5 Ways Marketers Need To Prepare For The 2017 Holiday Season

School supplies barely clear the holiday section before inflatable snowmen, walls of lights and gift guides fill our favorite retailers, news feeds and email inboxes.

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And if you’re a marketer, especially in the e-commerce arena then you are starting to feel the heat. As you are finalizing your brand’s marketing strategy and campaigns for the holiday season you need make sure you have covered the five tips listed below. Continue reading “5 Ways Marketers Need To Prepare For The 2017 Holiday Season”

Why Marketing Analytics Is People-Centric

Measuring, managing and analyzing- the new practice of marketing, of marketing analytics. You really can’t hear marketing without thinking ROI. As marketers, your new mission is to maximize effectiveness.

If we spend X will the returns be two times X?

But there are uses for marketing analytics beyond sales and lead generation; marketing analytics offers insight across marketing channels and into the buyer’s journey that you can’t get if you are only looking at social, web or offline data alone. 

Why, yes it might make you focus a little more on the quantitative data rather than qualitative, marketing analytics offers a comprehensive view of your marketing strategy that ultimately will put the consumer ahead of any metrics.  Continue reading “Why Marketing Analytics Is People-Centric”

Why Is Everyone Talking About Facebook Groups?

We have seen Facebook put an emphasis on Groups this past year and we have seen people navigating and preferring a more private, or 1:1 form of social media. So maybe it’s time for your brand to tap into the power of Groups?

Facebook Groups aren’t just for College Alumni or Neighborhoods; they can be used to boost engagement, interaction and create something extraordinary for your product users.

Below we dig into how a Facebook Group can be used to create community, provide insight and maybe even defeat the dreaded Facebook algorithm we are so tired of fighting. Continue reading “Why Is Everyone Talking About Facebook Groups?”