Category: Marketing

Segmentation: How to Identify Your Target Audience

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing

The only thing more important in marketing than what you are selling is who you are selling your product to and why they should want to buy it. As a result, the very first step in marketing or advertising any product is segmentation, which can be broadly understood as identifying your target audience or the group of people that will want to buy your product.

Philip Kotler of Northwestern University defined segmentation as “the subdividing of a market into distinct subsets of customers, where any subset may conceivably be selected as a target market to be reached with a distinct marketing mix.” As implied by this definition, the entire process of segmentation can be broken into three steps. These are segmentation, targeting, and positioning.

During segmentation, you need to identify your market and divide that market into smaller subsets of customers. In order to do this, you need to find measurable and distinct ways to differentiate your customers. The four common variables that can be used in segmentation are:

  • Demographic variables
  • Psychographic variables
  • Geographic variables
  • Behavioristic variables
Demographic variables are things such as age, race, and gender that we typically think of when looking for ways to divide large groups of people. You may also think of geographic variables, which measure climate, city size, and other locational factors. However, while these are easiest to measure, they are the least predictive of actual customers’ behavior. Conversely though, the variables that are hard to measure are more indicative and predictive. Behavioristic variables that measure brand loyalty, end use, and price sensitivity, and psychographic variables that measure lifestyles and motives are both examples.

After segmenting your market, you need to implement targeting. This is evaluating the various different subsets of customers to decide which group to target or focus on.

Finally, positioning begins to take place as you create a strategic marketing plan based on the selected target group. In this step, you make decisions and choose marketing strategies based on the needs and wants of that target market.

While this sounds simple, designing a marketing plan to specifically meet the needs of your targeted customer is not as easy as it sounds. However, if you are successful, you can drastically impact sales and competitiveness of the brand in the market.

4 Ways To Get More Leads Now

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing

The goal of marketing is ultimately to generate more leads and conversions. Leads refer to people who inquire about your products or services, and conversions refer to those leads that actually buy your products or services.

Why do I need lead data?

Many businesses want lead data in order to create lists, such as a recipient list for e-newsletters, or to nurse sales. Your lead data can tell you a lot about your customers. By analyzing your lead data, you can better understand your customers and know how to reach them in the future.

So how can I get more leads?

There are several strategies for fostering lead generation.

1. Brand Awareness

One helpful aspect to lead generation is brand awareness, which comes from exposure. You can raise brand awareness by posting daily on various channels. These daily posts could occur on a blog, Facebook, YouTube channel, or any other medium that your customers are on. One thing to keep in mind is that, although your posts are daily, each one should add value to the customer – don’t post for no reason.

2. Use Your Existing Real Estate

You may be wondering where to find new leads. We recommend using your existing channels and mediums – there is no need to expand your channels just to generate new leads. You can always incorporate new targeting options on the same channels to reach new prospects – it is highly unlikely that you will exhaust all of your potential customers on a certain channel. Just be sure to post the right content on the right channels – always tailor your message.

4. Do What You Know

With new marketing technologies constantly expanding, it might be tempting to go after the ‘new and shiny’ thing on the market. However, you may be more effective on the channels you already know. Note that we are not advising you to completely ignore every new technology. Of course you want to be ahead of your competition on new methods, but be sure to properly do your research before offering these services to clients. You shouldn’t jump on every new opportunity that arises – choose which new technologies you explore carefully.

4. Analyze

Our last tip is to analyze your data. You must see what strategies are working so you know where to go in the future. Proper analysis will give you direction and guidance on how to generate more leads in the future.

If you have any further questions regarding lead generation, feel free to contact us today!

LinkedIn: What It Can Do For You

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing, Social Media

Creating a LinkedIn account is an exciting and necessary step in entering the professional world. When you join LinkedIn, you are joining a professional community for social networking that will allow you to interact and connect with colleagues, friends, and even future employers. You will be opened up to a world of new possibilities and opportunities to see how other professionals represent themselves, but at the same time, you will be faced with deciding how you want to present yourself.

Just like with your resume, cover letter, or interview, how you present yourself on LinkedIn is key. Almost all employers research their interview candidates through LinkedIn before hiring them. Here are a few key tips to make sure your LinkedIn profile will impress.

  1. A picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure you include a picture of yourself on your profile. Also, make sure it is a good picture that is suited towards your career ambitions and has no distractions in the background.
  2. Do NOT just copy and paste your resume. When future employers look at your LinkedIn account, they will likely have your resume in front of them. If you literally copy and pasted word for word your resume, not only will your potential employer feel as though you did not customize your resume for them, but they will also think you are lazy. This is not to say they cannot have overlap and be similar, as your experience is your experience, but there should be a conscious effort to be distinct.
  3. Clutter is the enemy. This is not your college application. You do not need to fill out everything LinkedIn prompts you to fill out. Instead, you should only fill out what is important and relevant to the industry you are in or the job you are working towards. Utilize your space.
  4. Order matters. You can control the order in which the sections of your profile on LinkedIn appear, so be sure to put the most important material at the top and the least important on the bottom.
  5. Recommendations and endorsements are powerful. Do not be afraid to go out and ask friends, previous or current employers, or professional mentors for recommendations or to endorse your skills. This is what will set you apart from your competitors, and it is what makes LinkedIn even better than your resume. Work samples are also great additions that can be provided through LinkedIn and cannot be provided always with a resume.
  6. Create a custom URL and optimise search engine searches. You can make yourself easier to find on LinkedIn by going to settings and creating a custom URL for your profile. This will make it cleaner and easier to share. You can also input key terms to help personalize your profile to be found when the terms are inputted in a search engine with your name.
  7. Take advantage of the professional network. Join groups related to your industry. Stay posted on the news, and follow potential employers’ companies to show interest.
  8. Finally, keep it updated. You should not just create your profile and walk away. It is important to update it regularly as you grow and gain more experience and more connections. Also, it is helpful to share, post, and comment on articles related to your field regularly to show engagement.

These quick eight tips are just the beginning of ways you can get the most out of you LinkedIn account, but if you follow them, you are surely on the road to success. There are many additional ways you can personalize your profile, and the more personal and distinct your profile is the better. Just be careful – there is such a thing as too much. Contact us today if you need further assistance!

How To Design A Killer Business Card

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing

Having a small business means you must learn how to function in many roles. You are the owner, the manager, the accountant, and the marketer all in one. When people meet you for the first time, how will they remember you? Making a great first impression is important, but having a killer business card is key. You might think a business card is meaningless in today’s technology-savvy society. However, business cards are a timeless piece of marketing material that actually work. Your business card is not the end-all be-all, but if done effectively it will create a lasting impression on customers that will make them remember you when they need your services. Take a look at our tips for designing a killer business card.

1. There’s two sides for a reason

Nothing looks more unprofessional than a one-sided business card. Sure a two-sided full-color card may cost a bit extra, but it’s worth it to make customers know you didn’t forget to finish the other side of your design. Plus, when you are only working with a 3.5” x 2” space, wouldn’t you want to double that by using both sides of the card? We think YES!

2. Design

Of course the design is important, but did you know your aesthetic choices have actually been proven to make a difference based on human psychology? Spacing, font choice, white space, and colors are all perceived differently in the mind. For example, red displays power, while blue represents peacefulness. Be cautious what customers will interpret about your business based on the design.

3. Content

Just as important as the design of your card is the information on it. Your business card must contain a tagline that quickly explains who you are and what you do. Regardless of your profession or how complicated your job may be, your tagline needs to be a quick, simple explanation of what you do. Your card needs to explain what you do when you first hand it to someone, remind someone who has had the card awhile what you do, or show people who are passed along what you do. All of these functions require a tagline explaining what you do! In addition, you should add basic information about your business. Feel free to include social media icons or links, but be sure to have a nice balance between imagery and text. If you are unsure of what information to put, just stick with the basics: name, website, email address, physical address, and phone number.

These are the basic elements to a great business card. If you need help designing your customized business card, contact us today!

The Secret To Get To The TOP Of Google’s Results

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

In this blog, we will teach you how to get to the top of Google’s results using paid search advertising, which can help your business gain more exposure, more leads, and more conversions.

SEM stands for search engine marketing, which is where you purchase ads from search engines such as Google to gain more website traffic. The most popular paid search advertising method is Google AdWords, which allows you to bid on certain keywords so your ads will show up at the top of certain searches. Google AdWords is effective because it allows you to target your ads, control your costs, measure your success, and manage your campaigns.

Your ads can show on two of Google’s networks, the Search Network or the Display Network. The search network means your ads will show up on the search page, while the display network allows your ads to show on Google’s partner websites. You can put your ads on the Search Network only, the Display Network only, or a combination of both.

With Search Network marketing, your ads will be given a quality score and ad rank. The quality score estimates how effective your ads will be based on the expected clickthrough rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience. Ad rank determines the order in which your ad shows up on the page.

Because Google AdWords is paid search advertising, you will obviously have to pay for your ads. You have three options for payment on Google AdWords, cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), and cost-per-acquisition (CPA). Cost-per-click (CPC) focuses on clicks on your ads and drive traffic to your website. Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) focuses on impressions — the number of times your ad shows — and increases awareness of your brand. This is used on Display Network campaigns only. Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) focuses on conversions — which is when people take a specific action on your website after clicking one of your ads.

Choosing the appropriate keywords is a big part of creating your Google AdWords campaign. When choosing your keywords, it is important to think like a customer, align your keywords with your goals, and reviewing which search terms work best. Exhaustive keyword research and bid optimization designed for high click-through rates at a lower cost-per-inquiry is necessary for a successful Google AdWords campaign.

Once you have created your AdWords campaign, you can measure your success with several tools. Segments allow you to split your data into rows based on the information that matters to you most, such as periods of time, click type, or device. The list below shows you a few of your options if you want to measure your ad’s success based on segments.

    • Click type: See which clicks resulted in visits to your website
    • Device: Compare performance across devices
    • Top vs. Other: Find out where your ad appeared on Google’s search results pages and search partners’ pages
    • Time: Isolate changes in your performance using the time segment options

You can also measure the success of your campaign by utilizing the top movers report, which lets you see which campaigns have the biggest changes (increases or decreases) in clicks, costs, and conversions, and shows you some possible causes for those changes. The paid and organic report lets you can see how often pages from your website are showing in Google search results, and which queries triggered those results to show on the search results page. Another report, auction insights, compares your performance with other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions that you are.

Overall, paid search advertising can help your business get more exposure and generate more leads. If you need additional help, please let us become part of your team and we’ll use our proven approach to provide you with success.

10 Things Every Marketing Plan Should Have

by adventureadagency, posted in Advertising, Blog, Marketing

The first step in developing any marketing strategy is to start with a plan. Developing a plan for your marketing strategy may seem overwhelming. Plans can range from super simple to extremely advanced and complex. However, all marketing plans, big or small, have a few things in common. We will go over ten necessary elements that all marketing plans must contain in order to be successful.

1. The Product

Possibly the most important aspect of your marketing plan is the product. What makes your product superior to others in your industry? Why would someone choose you over someone else? Find what makes your product unique and go with it. Emphasize what you can offer that others can’t.

2. The Research

Okay, so now you know why your product is the best, but whose going to buy it? You need to conduct market research to analyze buying trends in your industry. Collect, organize, and analyze data regarding the demographics of customers, your competition, current sales in your industry, suppliers, and market patterns. This valuable knowledge can help you successfully market to the right people in the right ways.

3. Define

Once you understand the market, you need to define the target audience. Instead of trying to please everybody, zone in on a specific group of people who will be more likely to purchase your product. Describe you ideal customer in detail. Be sure to get more specific than women in their 30s-60s. Really dig deep to decide who your ideal customer will be.

4. Goals

Don’t just keep your goals in your head. Writing them down can help you more clearly define them and set realistic, but ambitious goals. Write full sentences that state what you want to accomplish in your business overall and through your marketing strategy specifically. You can break up your goals into specific mission statements, and it may be helpful to make them quantifiable. For example, a mission statement could be to gain two new clients a month.

5. The Medium

Where is you marketing strategy going to take place? Will your company benefit most from social media or a more traditional approach? Think about which mediums appeal to your target audience and how your product will best be displayed.

6. The Promotion

Putting your product on social media or on television is not enough; you must also promote it. Promotion could be consistent branding on social media, events, giveaways, etc. There is no right or wrong way to promote your product. You just need to make sure you are consistent with your brand and reaching the right audience.

7. The Positioning

Where your product will be positioned in the market? You must decide if you are going to be top-of-the-line or if you want to seem more casual and appeal to the masses. Decide a position for your product and make all of your advertisements surround it.

8. The Schedule

Once you have all of your ideas mapped out, you need to place them on a schedule. Keep the schedule brief and organized, as it will likely need to be changed frequently. Having a schedule can help you keep yourself on track and better monitor how your strategies are doing.

9. The Budget

Of course, in running any business budget is important. See what strategies you can afford and which may be better saved for a later date.

10. The Analytics

How are you going to monitor your results? You need to ensure you can test and analyze to identify the strategies that are working. You can use tools such as surveys, database management tools, and number of engagements to measure your success.

Now you are ready to begin your marketing plan! Be sure to consistently compare your actual marketing strategy to your plan and make sure you are reaching your goals.

Adding Current Events To Your Marketing Tool Belt

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing, Social Media

As a business owner you should always try to stay on top of industry events, but you should be sure to keep up with current events as well. Marketing with current events can be a great way to engage customers and help them get to know your brand. Social media offers the perfect fun, informal platform to create ad campaigns for your business using current events. We’re going to use this blog post to tell you why and how you should add current events to your marketing tool belt.

So the first thing you may be asking is why current events; they have nothing to do with my business. The reason you should add current events to your marketing tool belt is because they get people talking. Remember the white and gold dress that went viral (or black and blue dress if you’re crazy!)? People couldn’t stop sharing it on Facebook and talking about it on Twitter. Why not use this viral trend to gain more exposure for your business? Dunkin’ Donuts had a great example of incorporating the dress into their social media campaign. You too can incorporate the event into your ad to show customers you are fun and want to engage them.

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Have we convinced you to use current events in your marketing campaign yet? If so, let’s look at some ways you should (and shouldn’t) incorporate them. You can use fun viral trends like the Dunkin’ Donuts example above or you can use real-world events. Take a look at what Gaf Roofing did to get their Instagram followers ready for The Kentucky Derby. This example demonstrates how to tie in unrelated events to your brand.

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Another way to use current events marketing is to incorporate “real-time” events. Remember when the lights went out during the 2013 Super Bowl? Oreo was on Twitter incorporating this right away. The difficult part of using this strategy is that you cannot plan in advance. You must think on your feet and work fast to make “real-time” marketing effective.

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If you choose to use current events in your marketing campaign, be sure to do your research. There have been too many real-time marketing examples gone wrong that caused public uproar. One of the most notable examples is a DiGiorno Pizza tweet from 2014. The brand decided to hop on a #WhyIStayed bandwagon without realizing the context of the hashtag. The hashtag was referencing women in abusive relationships so clearly DiGiorno’s tweet was not taken well.

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The main takeaway when using current events in your marketing campaign is to be current, relevant, and fresh. Make sure you do your research and only advertise tastefully. Be selective in which current events you use and how you use them, but don’t be afraid to get creative. Most of all, have fun with it!

How to Manage Your Marketing Budget

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing

It can be difficult to allocate the funds for a proper marketing program. It may seem more logical to spend that money on inventory or product development, but marketing is a very important part of your business model. What good is having an awesome product if no one knows about it?

So now that you understand the importance of having a marketing budget, how much should you allocate for you marketing and advertising needs? This all depends on the size of your business, the industry you’re in, and the stage of business development. You may need to look up the average percentage of sales spent on marketing for businesses in your industry. You can then cater this number based on your business’ individual needs. For example, if your business is just starting out, you will need to spend a bit more on marketing to establish your brand. A general rule for small businesses is to spend between 5-8 percent of revenue on marketing and advertising.

What should be included in your marketing budget? Your marketing budget should cover paid advertising, promotional materials, production costs, and technology costs. Your paid advertising will include any ads you have to pay to run, such as TV, radio, PPC (pay-per-click), banner ads, Facebook boosts, etc. Promotional materials are brochures, flyers, magnets, etc. you would need to have printed to give away. Production costs will be used to pay your advertising coordinator, social media manager, graphic designer, event coordinator, etc. Technology costs will cover your website and any other technologies that help promote your business.

Now that you know how much your budget should be and what you should spend it on, let’s look at how to spend it. You need to have a marketing plan. Your plan should include your goals, how you plan to reach those goals, how you will implement the plan, and how you will track your results. In your plan, you should outline the costs of fulfilling each objective and exactly how you should do it.

This seems a little complicated. We recommend hiring an experienced marketing professional to help you fulfill your marketing needs. It can be confusing to figure out how to correctly budget and implement your budget if you are new to the marketing arena. A marketing consultant can help tailor a plan and budget to your business’ individual needs. This person can also help you to track your results and tailor your actions based on what is effective for your business.

We understand that it can be difficult to know how to reach your marketing goals. Although marketing may not have direct, tangible results like business aspects such as product development, it is a very important aspect of your business strategy. We hope our tips have helped you determine how to plan your marketing budget. If you would like a marketing plan tailored specifically for your business, please feel free to contact us today.

The Worst Marketing Advice We’ve Ever Heard

by adventureadagency, posted in Blog, Marketing

In today’s digital age you can find out anything with the click of a button. Anyone can be a content creator, and anyone can find that content. This is great, but it does allow a lot of misleading advice to be published on the Internet. So how are you supposed to distinguish between credible tips and not-so-good advice? To help, we’ve come up with a list of the worst marketing advice we’ve heard and explained why it is not correct.

1. You HAVE to be on every social media platform.

Yes, it’s true that social media is the new age of marketing, but that doesn’t mean your business has to have an account on every single social media platform. In fact, we recommend NOT having an account on every social networking site you can think of. Having too many accounts to keep up with will cause them all to suffer. We recommend having 1-3 great social media platforms that people will want to look at. You can evaluate which platforms your customers are most active on and use those to market your business.

2. Add as many hashtags as you can.

Hashtags are a great way to organize tweets and get your information to show up in searches. However, having too many hashtags can make your tweets look like spam and turn customers off. We recommend keeping your hashtags to two or less per tweet. This will keep your tweets more engaging and credible.

3. Only certain people at your company can create content.

Most companies have a few people designated to the marketing team, but that doesn’t mean that others can’t help out as well! Sometimes an “outsider” can provide the best input or come up with the coolest idea. Just because the guy down the hall is an accountant, doesn’t mean he isn’t creative! Give everyone a chance to create awesome content for your business.

4. Publish content every day.

Publishing content every day will definitely get your content seen, but not in a positive light. Followers do not want to be spammed every day with meaningless posts about your business. Keep the posts to about three per week and make them insightful.

5. Use the same message on all platforms.

If a message works, you should use it consistently on all platforms, right? Wrong! Different platforms target different customers and work differently. Your followers on Twitter may not respond to the imagery as well as your Instagram followers. Your personalized email message may give off a different vibe on Facebook. You have to evaluate each marketing platform and the followers on it separately and craft your message accordingly. Of course, your message should be consistent with your brand, but it can be tailored to fit different audiences.

We hope you’ve learned a little about what marketing advice is good and what is not! Feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions!