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LinkedIn Strategy

Boosting your Brand with LinkedIn: Debunking Common Myths

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media

LinkedIn is an incredible tool for individuals to connect with other professionals, to hunt for a new job, or to stay tuned to the latest news in the industry. However, often people forget that LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for advertising and building your business’s brand. 

If LinkedIn isn’t at least a part of your marketing and social media strategy, you are likely missing a bid opportunity to reach potential clients in a brand safe social media channel.

You may have avoided focusing your social media strategy on LinkedIn for a number of valid reasons. It may make sense for your business to spend your resources and time on something else. You may flat out think LinkedIn isn’t important. 

On the other hand though, there are a number of times where businesses ignore LinkedIn for reasons that are wrong. As a result, we are taking a deeper look at some of the common myths we hear from clients about LinkedIn.

Myth 1: My customers aren’t on the platform.

For business-to-business sales, the benefits may seem obvious. LinkedIn is known as the number one social network for lead generation. According to Forbes, an “estimated 40 million business decision makers (i.e. the people who seal the deals and sign the contracts) spend their time on LinkedIn.” 

Additionally, Omnicore reports that … 

  • It is the #1 channel B2B marketers use to distribute content at 94%.
  • It makes up more than 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites & blogs.
  • 91% of marketing executives list LinkedIn as the top place to find quality content.
  • 92% of B2B marketers include the platform in their digital marketing mix.

However, if you aren’t a business-to-business focused company, you may be rolling your eyes at the idea of LinkedIn helping you reach your target audience. However, professionals are people too, and LinkedIn has a massive general consumer audience with money to spend.

In fact, more than half of LinkedIn’s audience has a college degree and forty-nine percent make more than $75,000 per year. To learn more about this platforms unique demographics, check out Omnicore’s full report or see the list below:

Myth 2: LinkedIn is just for career milestones and announcements.

LinkedIn has become a thriving community for professionals and businesses to share content including industry perspectives, blogs and more. This content is not just about celebrating a year at company ABC or announcing a new hire. 

In fact, “more than 100,000 organic articles are published weekly on LinkedIn, many of which are written by top-level executives at brands around the world,” according to Buffer. AdWeek even wrote a feature on how LinkedIn has become a hot social network.

If your business writes blogs posts, it is worth the extra effort to post these to your profile. Even that small thing is better than nothing and can bring users back to your website.

Myth 3: LinkedIn may build my brand, but it won’t lead to actual sales or profit.

Did you know that LinkedIn has three times better conversion rates than Facebook or Twitter? From that perspective, it is important to balance your social media strategy and not just stick to one platform.

One of the key benefits of the platform is that there is arguably less bombarding a user or potential customer or client when using the platform. The platform has been established as a brand safe and professional environment. This means that content viewed here will more likely be consumed by an attentive and engaged audience.

Start building your brand!

LinkedIn is a free, powerful tool you can start using right now to advertising and build your brand. You can explore the paid advertising options. However, simply building an active online presence for your business will have a big impact. There is a large audience of engaged consumers and business decision makers ready to spend money on your products and services. You just have to take the time to show them who you are.

If you’d like to learn more about Adventure Ad Agency social media strategies, contact us here or call us at 1-864-400-9920. To learn more about the latest advertising trends and strategies, check out more of our blog.

Advertising Agency

Small Agency Versus Large Agency: Is AAA is right for you?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

You may have heard the phrase bigger is better, but in fact, bigger is NOT always better. Depending on your business, a personalized experience with a smaller advertising agency may better fit your businesses needs than a large agency.

As a business owner or as a decision-maker for your company, it can be challenging to determine whether a small agency or a big agency is right for you. You are faced with making so many complex decisions in the day-to-day of your business that worrying about your advertising may be the last thing on your mind. It can be particularly challenging is marketing and advertising is very different from your core business. 

To help you make the decision about whether or not to choose a small agency like Adventure Ad Agency to manage your advertising or to take the leap to a bigger agency, we have compiled a list of a few of the biggest differences between small and large agencies.

Small Agency Versus Large Agency

Personalization. Flexibility. Innovation.

First, one of the biggest and most obvious benefits of a small agency is the personal touch and customization that naturally emerges. At AAA, we are able to give a high quality, hands-on experience for our clients. 

Because the people meeting and working with the clients are the same people working on the advertising materials and campaigns, the results of our work tend to both be more inline with client expectations and to perform more successfully than they otherwise may have. 

Additionally, this close relationship with our clients allows us to better understand their business. This enables us to better market their specific brand identity and value proposition, as well as allows us to better anticipate their needs. 

Small agencies, like Adventure Ad Agency, are constantly thinking of new ways to help their clients. Since small agencies are not as constrained as big agencies, they have more flexibility to innovate and think outside the box for their clients.

Resources. Connections. Diversity.

At the same time, large agencies have many benefits as well. Most notably, large agencies have more resources than small agencies. However, that is not to say that small agencies do not have a fair amount of resources. The main difference is small agencies will rely more on partnerships with freelancers whereas large agencies have most everything they need in-house from photographers to graphic designers.

In general, large agencies simply have more people, more money, and more connections. For example, if you are looking for endorsements from professional athletes or partnerships with the hottest celebrity, large agencies are the best fit for your business. Expensive and high profile strategies like this do not tend to be the focus of small to medium sized agencies.

Finally, with more people and more resources can come more creativity and diversity. Small agencies can provide consistent, dynamic and both diverse and creative advertising for your business. However, it is not as easy to find a small agency that can provide that year after year. We are constantly working to stay on top of the latest trends and to innovate for clients. Bigger agencies though, with their greater resources, larger talent pool, and bigger staff, often can easily bring more diversity and more options to the table.

Is AAA right for your business?

We would love to help every client who walks through our door, but we also understand that a small agency may not be the best fit for every business. It’s not about size. Adventure Ad Agency works with small businesses to large corporate organizations.

It’s about your business needs, your culture, and your style of doing business. 

Adventure Ad Agency is right for your business if you …

  1. Want a hands-on relationship with your agency
  2. Are a small business or a large organization
  3. Require flexibility and value customization of your advertising strategy
  4. Are looking for out-of-the-box ideas that deliver high ROI
  5. Want no worry, full service management for all advertising OR want help with a particular project or campaign

If you’d like to learn more about if Adventure Ad Agency is right for your business, contact us here or call us at 1-864-400-9920. To learn more about the latest advertising trends and strategies, check out more of our blog.

Still unsure about whether a big or small agency is right for you? Keep investigating and don’t settle for a “lukewarm” advertising strategy. Don’t just take our advice. Ask your peers and business partners how they feel about their agency situation. Check out this great Forbes article on choosing an agency! And if you choose an agency and discover it’s not the best fit, do not be afraid to make a change.

Waze Advertising

Everything You Need To Know About Waze Ads

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog

One of the golden rules of advertising is to go where the “eyeballs” are, and the eyeballs are on Waze. For 110 million drivers worldwide, the Waze app has become an integral part of daily life. An average user spends 10.5 hours per month on Waze, which is more than Snapchat, Pinterest, and even Twitter. Not only are users spending a lot of time on Waze, but also the “eyeballs” on the app are highly engaged, loyal consumers.

Because of this, Waze ads are the perfect opportunity to capture the attention of your target customer and convert them into visiting your location and purchasing your products or services.

What is Waze?

Branded as a human movement company, Waze allows people to navigate their daily commute in and out of the office with ease, to avoid road closures and delays on vacations or trips to visit family, or to catch a ride with a friendly face in order to reduce their carbon footprint. 

Waze

 

This GPS navigation software app is more than just a way to get from point A to point B. It provides turn-by-turn navigation information and user-submitted route details to keep users informed and safe while on the road. Users can flag construction, abandoned cars, and even locations where police are radaring.

What types of ads does Waze offer?

Waze is now offering opportunities for businesses and advertisers to participate in this dynamic marketplace. The select ad formats all offer unique and effective ways to advertise to your target customers.

Branded Pins  

Think of these as digital store signs in the Waze app. Pins mark business’ locations on the map. Then, when users click on the pin, information such as the business’ hours, phone number, address, and special offers are shown. Users can select to drive there, save the location for later, or to save the offer. Advertisers pay on a CPM basis.

Promoted Search

When users search for your services, you will be given priority in the search results. With all the same information and actions as branded pins, the best part is that this offering is free alongside branded pin campaigns.

Promoted Search

Zero-Speed Take Over

If you are a large business or brand who plans to spend $169 daily or more, Waze offers this additional ad format. Think of these as digital billboards. When a user comes to a complete stop for over four seconds, the ad will pop up on the users screen with business information and relevant offers. This powerful tool is an effective ad format to reach more users and drive more navigations to your location. 

Do these ads work?

While Waze ads have only recently been introduced as a new platform for advertisers and brands to reach target customers, it has already shown to be extremely effective. 

Business using the Waze app in the United States have seen a 20.4% increase in navigation to their locations and am 82% lift in brand recall on average, according to data reported by Waze.

A big reason for this success is that it passes “The Toothbrush Test.” This is a “term to describe an app that provides such consistent utility that users feel as if they’ve missed some vital part of their daily routine if they haven’t used it twice a day.” This high utility typical leads to not only a deeper trust and loyalty among the audience, but also a deeper user understanding and better targeting for advertisers.

For more information on the success of these ads, check out their informative case studies.

Key Stats on the Audience

In the United States, …

  • 48% of Waze users are women and 52% are men. 
  • 48% of Waze users, the largest group, are between 35-54 years old. 35% of Waze users are between 25-34 years old. 
  • 46% of Waze users have household incomes of $100k+ USD/year.
  • 65% of Waze users have between 2-4 people in their household.

As you can see from the abundant data, Waze Ads are a powerful and exciting new platform for advertising. The large, highly engaged audience is on the move and ready to become your new customer. While these ads will not fit every type of business, it can be a powerful strategy for the right fit. Gas stations, restaurants, retail stores, and entertainment locations are all great fits for this strategy.

Adventure Ad Agency is proud to be a Waze Certified partner. If you’d like to learn more about whether or not Waze Ads are a good fit to boost your business’s brand recognition and sales, contact us here or call us at 1-864-400-9920. To learn more about the latest advertising trends and strategies, check out more of our blog.

CTV

Incorporating OTT/CTV Advertising into your Digital Strategy

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog

Taking first place by a landslide, OTT easily wins advertising trend of the year. However, actually defining OTT and incorporating this powerful new tool into your strategy is much harder to decide.

What is it?

The acronym OTT stands for “over-the-top” and refers to streaming media services that reach viewers directly over the internet instead of through traditional cable. Connected TV devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, or even your XBOX game console provide OTT streaming through well-known services such Netflix, Hulu, and Prime Video. 

For example, watching Netflix on a smartphone app or even in an app on your smart TV counts as OTT. Connected TV devices then are often the medium through which viewers reach OTT services.

Among Netflix and Hulu, there are numerous other streaming services, such as fuboTV and Sling TV, that already exist. However, companies like Disney, Comcast, and more are all introducing their own streaming platforms. With many of these existing and new OTT services, advertisers are presented yet another medium for reaching viewers. 

If you are wondering if advertisers have already begun advertising on OTT platforms, the answer is a resounding yes, and the number of advertisers is only growing. 

In the first quarter of 2019, Roku’s platform alone double the number of ad impressions served on their platform as compared to the prior year, and Roku announced that it predicts revenue for the year to be over $1 billion with about two-thirds of this revenue coming from ads, according to AdAge.

The Growth of Cutting the Cord

Every day, more and more advertisers are adding OTT to their marketing mix. This shift is occurring not only because OTT is a powerful advertising tool. It is also fueled by advertisers’ premium target audiences moving off cable.

This trend has effectively been labeled cord cutting as many viewers are “cutting the cord” with their cable provider in favor of the ease and experience of OTT services. According to eMarketer, the number of cord-cutters in the US, defined as “adults who have ever cancelled a pay TV service to continue without it,” will grow by 32.8% in 2019 to 33 million. At the same time, the number of subscriptions to OTT video services will rise to 170 million. This is qual to 51.7% of the US total population. 

Additionally, the audiences on streaming platforms and CTV devices reach Millenials and Gen Zers. These two groups tend to be harder-to-reach and more sought after demographics for advertisers.

According to Nielsen, “out of total day viewers watching content aired across five networks on live TV, 7% are between the ages of 25 and 34, while 19% of connected device viewers are in the same age bracket.” 

Both the audience quality and the popularity of these services are major factors drawing advertisers and brands to OTT advertising.

Traditional TV Advertising Versus OTT Advertising

Naturally then, advertisers have adopted OTT advertising as an integral part of their digital advertising strategy. The advanced analytics and captive audiences in OTT presents a fantastic opportunity for advertisers, and while OTT ads tend to be shorter than traditional TV ads, the ability to provide targeted dynamic ad insertion and advanced analytics such as geolocation, demographic data, and device information are attractive for businesses looking to advertise to specific viewers.

Often the biggest question advertising agencies get from business and brands is, “Should OTT replace my traditional TV budget?”

The simple answer is no. It is more about finding the right channel at the right time. Traditional TV advertising is still a powerful tool to reach your target consumer. However, OTT is a powerful addition to your digital advertising mix. When done well, it is a perfect compliment to a strong traditional TV strategy. In fact, 2 in 3 viewers consume content across both linear and digital platforms, according to Xander’s latest white paper.

To learn how “over-the-top” advertising can be incorporated into your advertising strategy, reach out to Adventure Ad Agency. If you want to learn more about the latest trends in Advertising and more useful information, check out more of our blog or contact us!

Is your Advertising Campaign Holiday Ready?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media

‘The Holiday Season’ is the most wonderful time of the year! Halloween is just around the corner. Subsequently, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays are following close behind. In fact, before you realize it, the busiest time of year will be here. Are you ready?

How is your holiday advertising campaign? Is your business prepared and ready for the holidays? As a matter of fact, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been marked on the calendars as the official beginning of the holiday rush.

Do you want your business to ring with jingle bells and whistles? Keep reading this blog to see a list of tips on things to consider when jump starting your advertising campaign into this year’s holiday season. The following tips will give you an idea on how to promote your sales, and how to prepare for the best time of the year, for your business!

Tips on how to plan your Holiday Advertising Campaign

1. Start planning early
2. Research what your competition is doing
3. Offer specials and discounts
4. Stay focused on what works
5. Offer customer loyalty programs and specials
6. Keep your website and social media updated
7. Use a Geo Fencing strategy
8. Compete and drive customers to your business using TV, radio, and other media

Here is another article on some holiday tips to consider. If you would like more information on how to drive customers to your business, contact Adventure Ad Agency by clicking on this link.

Do you Know the Different Types of Local Advertising?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media

Most of us have reviewed an advertisement on TV, billboard, social media, or a local magazine and never thought about all of the different types of advertisers or the different types of local advertising. For one thing, most of us didn’t really know that there were various forms of local advertisers and local advertising. We just saw, read, or heard the message that was in front of us at the time.

What are the different forms of advertisements, types of local advertisers, and types of local advertising? In this blog we will go over all of the types of advertisements, local advertisers, and the different types of local advertising.
First, let’s go over the different forms of advertisements and latest trends….

What are the different forms of advertisements?

  • Television and Radio Advertisements are both traditional forms of media advertising
  • Brochures, magazines, and newspaper advertisement media are also a traditional form of advertising
  • Direct marketing, Geo fencing, guerrilla advertising, social media, and product placement are all modern forms of advertisements.

What are the different forms of local advertisers?

  • Dealers of local franchisees
  • Retailers who sell brand merchandise, such as grocery stores and department stores
  • Specialty business that sells services such as banks, insurance, florist, bakers, repair stores, music stores, and more
  • Government and nonprofit organizations

What are the different types of local advertising?

  • Product advertising that promotes a certain product or service
  • Classified advertising that is used in newspapers and buyer and seller publications
  • Institutional Advertising promotes an idea of the company that markets a product and service
  • Regular Price-line Advertising keeps the consumer informed about its service or merchandise
  • Sale advertising that places two or more items on sale
  • Clearance advertising a form of advertising used to clear out old inventory so that new inventory can be moved in its place

If you are considering advertising for your business read this article for more information about advertising, and contact our office today about how we can help you with your advertising needs.

Stay calm!

Is Your Presentation Ready for Your Public Speaking Event?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media

Did you know that public speaking dates as far back as the Egyptian days? The most popular forms of speaking date back to ancient Greece and Roman days, where a style of speaking called Rhetoric was formed. Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates were the three main players in those speaking days, but have developed a skill that would be taught in schools for centuries to come. None the less, public speaking is very important in today’s working world, which is why many universities require all students to take a public speaking class.

Most of us would rather pull a tooth than to stand in front of an audience and speak. Furthermore, in most business environments speaking during presentations is a normal everyday occurrence. In most cases, the average presentation requires a speaker, and a Powerpoint presentation.

When preparing for your speech and or presentation, here are some things that you will want to know…

What type of speech are you going to use for your public speaking event or presentation?

4 Types of Speeches

Ceremonial Speaking: Ceremonial speeches are common at weddings, funerals, office parties, and graduations. Ceremonial speakers typically have a personal connection with his or her audience and will often include a toast.

Informative Speaking: Informative speaking is the process of informing one’s audience on the topic and subject discussion. This type of speech is used to relay information to the audience, rather than to persuade or demonstrate to the listeners.

Demonstrative Speaking: These types of speech require the speaker to demonstrate and describe a process while speaking to the audience. While using action to explain a process, the speaker can educate his or her audience on how to cook, fish, or use a product.

Persuasive Speaking: Persuasive speaking is the most glamorous style of speaking because it is typically used by lawyers and presidents. The persuasive speech is to persuade the audience to believe or become emotionally involved about the speaker’s viewpoints. This type of speech is used in advertising as well, where the advertiser tries to persuade its audience to buy a product or service.

Now that we have learned about the four different types of public speaking, below are some tips on how to prepare for your presentation…

1. Learn about your audience
2. Choose your speech
3. Practice your speech, and know your subject
4. Create powerful Powerpoint slides using the 10/20/30 rule
5. Add visuals and audio to your slides if needed

For more information on preparing for your next presentation read this article. Contact us today on how we can help you succeed by clicking on this link.

Messages

Is your Brand Message sticking?

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media

We all have listened to a song on the radio that has played over and over in our heads all day repeating the same message over and over again. When this occurs it is often called an ‘Ear worm’, also known as a ‘Brain worm’.

If you are a business owner, wouldn’t it be nice to have an ‘Ad worm’ stick into your target consumer’s brain for the day? To be exact, communicating the main takeaway of your business’s message is important, only you don’t want to lose your audience’s attention. Furthermore, changing up your brand message while sticking to the main ideas, is better than using repetitive messages.

Every business should learn the four sources of brand messaging, in order to create brand coherence to their target audience.

Let’s take a broader look into the four sources of brand messaging below…

What is the difference between Planned and Unplanned messages?

Planned

A planned message is usually delivered through mass media, and is one of the most traditional forms of brand messaging. Ideally, this form of brand messaging uses advertising, promotional materials, publicity releases, and more. Ironically, even though this form of messaging does not always have the greatest impact, it does allow a business to control how the message is placed.

Unplanned

A celebrity’s name and personality is their brand, and often celebrities feel as if bad publicity is good publicity. Despite the status, celebrities generally believe that any type of news keep their name in to the media. Unfortunately, gossip and bad word of mouth reviews are often uncontrollable. These types of messages are what we call unplanned.

What is the difference between a Service Message and a Product Message?

Service

The service message should include all details about your business’s services, and how a consumer will benefit from them. In a competitive business world, it is imperative that your service message explain the business’s core competency over its competition. Most important, explaining the service’s quality and how a consumer will benefit by using the service, will help give you a competitive edge.

Product

Understanding your target’s thoughts and needs are essential in planning your product message. Before launching your business product, you’ll want to explore target group sessions, and product testers. This will enable your business to gain feedback about how your product message engages with your target audience.

Listed below are five questions that every business should be able to answer before launching a new product…

1. Who is your ideal target market?
2. What problems and concerns do your consumers have?
3. How will you solve your customer’s problems?
4. What are the benefits offered by your product?
5. How is your product better than the competitor’s product?

For more information on Brand Messaging read this article, and check out his link. Our blog also has helpful tips on other ways to enhance your brand.

Facbook Ad

Secrets behind Effective Facebook Ads

by advwpman, posted in Advertising, Blog, Social Media

These days it seems like the internet is oversaturated with content. From text to pictures to informational videos, information is every where, and Facebook is no exception.

Every time you go onto Facebook you are bombarded with information and advertisements. The problem for advertisers is with so much out there, how can we be sure that our Facebook ads are effective and actually reaching the attention of our viewer.

Step 1 – Use unique and engaging images for Facebook Ads

A simple Facebook text post with no images is not going to cut it in todays day-in-age. People respond best to images, especially images that show people. When people are in images, it is easier for people to relate and respond. These images will also show emotions which draw people in to your advertisement.

Next time you go to choose an image for your Facebook post consider adding people. Also, choose an image that actually demonstrates or shows your business’s or product’s value proposition. However, there are other ways to get peoples attention. People love to see bright, contrasting colors. Also, people love to laugh and be surprised, so an image that is “out of the ordinary” might just be perfect for catching your audiences attention. For more help creating and choose effective images for your Facebook advertisements, check out this article.

Step 2 – Create content you want to engage with

A simple rule of thumb is do not post content you would not want to see on your Facebook. One way to test this is to ask, “would you be willing to share this business post on your personal account?” If not, try something different. In fact, it benefits to actual ask this to yourself and other employees. From this collaboration, you can gain valuable feedback that may help improve it.

Another great ideas is that you should like your business’s Facebook ads and encourage other employees and friends to do so. In fact, when people in a business start liking their own ads, the posts engagement almost always increased.

Step 3 – Don’t be afraid to try different strategies

We have all heard the expression “stupid is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.” If you aren’t getting the results you want or need from your Facebook advertisement, change your settings! Change your budget. Change your target audience demographics. Just change.

You may actually think you have chosen the ideal settings, but unless you are a well-seasoned professional you may not know correctly what those settings are. If you check out this article by Hootsuite, you will see a number of tips for how to improve your Facebook advertisements and also how to play around with and change change change your settings to optimize your advertising campaign.

For more information on social media and advertising, check out our blog or contact Adventure Ad Agency.

The Augmented Reality in Augmented Advertising

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing, Social Media, Social Media

Have you ever shopped online, and wondered how a pair of sunglasses would look with your face’s shape? Wonder no more, because Augmented Reality (AR) has bridged the gap between online shopping and the out-of-store shopper.

Want to know more about this new age method of advertising that is spreading like wild fire? Read below to learn more about the exciting new strategy named, Augmented Advertising.

Augmented Reality (AR) is ‘All the Buzz’ in the world of advertising.

Many of us have played Pokémon Go or have engaged in other types of virtual reality games before. In fact, if you have ever uploaded your picture onto Facebook and virtually tried on lipstick, then you too have participated in Augmented Reality (AR). Although this particular technology has been around for a while, Augmented Reality (AR) is now rapidly becoming a powerful tool for brands to engage with consumers.

Advertisers are now using Augmented Reality (AR) in full force!

Augmented Advertising is often used in many social media platforms, because consumers enjoy participating, along with sharing. Actually,the augmented advertisements are goofy, humorous, and hard to ignore. Furthermore, a lot of technology and sophisticated artificial intelligence was used while creating the ads.

Social media platforms use Augmented Advertisements.

Facebook has jumped on the Augmented Advertising bandwagon, and is now working with businesses to showcase their products on Facebook. By including Augmented Reality (AR) into social media advertisements, consumers can virtually try products with a touch of a button. According to an article written by Anthony Ha, Facebook plans to offer Augmented Advertising to businesses in both Messenger and Instagram.Finally as technology progresses, the average consumer will see more social media platforms that use Augmented Reality (AR) in their advertisements.

If you would like to learn more about Augmented Advertising, click on this  link for more information!