The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

branding

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Put Your Marketing Where Your Website Is

There are so few things in life that we truly have control over, we really should be taking advantage of them when we get a chance! With social media going off the rails – or at the very least being and unreliable platform – it’s time to focus inward. Your website is one of those rare things you can fully control, use it!

It’s Like Returning to Our Roots

There was a time when having an impressive website was important to companies. Over the past several years though it seems like so many people have forgotten to keep upgrading and refreshing. Now is the time to do that. You have complete control over the content on your own site and how it is presented.

Focus on the ways you can improve your site. Does it fully represent your brand? The color palette in your logo should match your site. The overall aesthetic should complement your logo. Add some bells and whistles. If your blogs aren’t categorized, they should be. You should also make sure they are searchable so if someone only wants to see the blogs you wrote about cookies (or whatever) they can just keyword search it!

 Speaking of Blogging… More!

Make sure that you’re blogging regularly. Very regularly. Four times a month should be the minimum since you’ll be spending less time on social media pursuits. If you really want to make a dent bump that up to eight times a month. The best way to achieve this is by aggressively planning. If you don’t already have a content calendar we should really talk. Take the time to make sure that your calendar is detailed and complete.

I like to fill in blog topics and notes at least six months in advance. This way I know I only have to set aside time for that task twice a year. If you fee like you need more flexibility start with three months in advance but make yourself an appointment to do the next three months. The quickest way to let your blogging goals slip away from you is to not have topics ready to go when it’s time to create! Having a space for notes about your topics is necessary. You think you’ll remember what you wanted to say. Trust me, you will not.

If this is sounding daunting, or like you just don’t have the time to devote to website building and content creation – that’s okay! That’s literally what we’re here for! It’s the only thing we do so that you can do whatever you do. Call us, let’s chat about outsourcing your marketing!

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Let’s Stop Confusing Sales and Marketing. Here’s Why This is Important.

Have you ever had a friend who you spent so much time with that people would get confused and call you by each other’s name? That’s what it’s like with marketing and sales. They’re together so much that people see marketing, but they think of sales. It’s important because if you don’t understand what marketing is, you’re probably doing it wrong. Let’s fix that.

Same Book, Different Page

The thing is that marketing and sales do go hand in hand. Sales couldn’t do its job without marketing, and for marketing to stay relevant sales has to succeed. Marketing’s job is to introduce your brand to a lot of people – to create brand awareness. It’s not designed to appeal to everyone, only to the people who are most likely to be interested in the product. The trick, the part that seems like magic, is a lot of research, some data analysis, and understanding your ideal customer.

As marketers we introduce you to those customers like we’re all old friends. The content we create for you is useful to them, and it’s interesting. Now that they’ve been introduced, and they feel comfortable they find more and more interesting and informative content on your site.

When Does Sales Come In?

When we pass the customers off to sales because they’ve realized they need your company – your product, your services. We didn’t talk them into something they didn’t want or need. We just found the people who were looking for you but didn’t know it yet. Now sales just has to make the product easily available and make sure the customer leaves happy.

This partnership doesn’t work if marketing tries to sell. Which is the reason the difference is so important.

We do this because we love it, so if you’d like to talk to us about outsourcing we’re here to help. Give us a call.

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Marketing Should Be for Humans. Not Algorithms.

One of the biggest mistakes we see in marketing today is changing a strategy solely to appease algorithms on social media.

While social media is a key component in any successful marketing strategy, the best strategies focus on the WHY behind social’s power and prominence.

What is that? It’s the humans behind the algorithms.

Real people, not algorithms, are what purchase your products and solicit your services. Those real people happen to be on social media – and that’s a great reason to leverage it into your existing marketing strategy.

Be Warned: Social Media Is Subject to Change

Here’s the thing, social media algorithms are dictated by one thing: how they can drive more revenue. The best way for them to do that is to sell more ads (purchased by businesses seeking to connect with their target audience).

As their ad revenue dips, the algorithms change. Suddenly, your reach is lessened, your engagement dwindles and sooner or later, you are forced to decide if you want to pay a monthly subscription fee (read: ads) to the social platform so your audience can see your content.

Who’s winning here?

Control Your Content, Control Your Narrative

When we play the Game of Algorithms (written by M.E. Zuckerberg), we all lose. Instead, it’s best to focus your content and marketing on your audience rather than hitting certain KPIs on social metrics.

We always tell our clients to focus their content on the two things they can completely control online: their website and email list. Everything after that is simply leveraging tools where you can share your content with your audience where they are at the beginning, middle or end of their day.

The best marketing campaigns stay devoted wholly to their audience day-in and day-out – they don’t bother with the whims of a platform – good marketing campaigns tell the company’s story of how they provide value to their customers. Want to see what that should look like for your company? Drop us a line.  

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Stop Relying So Heavily on Data for Marketing

Data sets are great – they make you feel invincible, right? You have all this knowledge at your fingertips – and knowledge is power, after all. Pretty sure Machiavelli said something of the sort…or Russel Crowe.

For those of you who are data-fanatics, what we’re about to say may not jive with you at first. That’s okay. Just do us a favor and let it simmer for just a bit. Alright, you ready?

Here it goes: Data is not the end-all-be-all driver to a successful marketing campaign.  

No, of course we’re not saying that data isn’t useful, or that you should forego it altogether. We’re not masochists. But, we are telling you that focusing KPIs alone does not generate a robust marketing campaign.

So Much Data, So Little Impact

The ability to access data and analytics is at an all-time high. With fresh CRMs dropping daily and cool new apps to track all sorts of KPIs coming out faster than you can read this article, it’s almost impossible to avoid the data hype. Unfortunately, this can all too often create an addiction-like response to tracking these numbers. Tailoring your marketing plan and your content to only what the data sets tell you means that you’re reacting rather than acting. The result is a content strategy based on the past, not on what your audience is likely to do in the future. It also fails to tell you the most important information – why someone chose to interact with your content.

Thinking about the reasons your customers engage with you can help you better understand their motivations. Focusing on your customers’ motivations is the best way to decide what information you should be sharing, when, and how frequently. The goal is to share insightful, informative and engaging content that engages your customers on their level – based on their wants and needs, rather than your metrics.

Creative Leap of Faith

Ultimately, marketing should be driven by the value you provide your consumers or clients. Leveraging creativity to deliver distinctive and in-demand content does require taking some risks. Tap into pop culture, sentiments, and trends to create something unique that represents your brand. And guess what? Studies have shown that companies that focus on creativity first generate roughly ten percent higher revenue. So, even the data supports focusing on the creative!

We’re not saying you should ignore the data. What we’re aiming for is balance. Sometimes, that means working with a marketing firm that enjoys a good data set but also wants to really get into the work of the behavior and mindsets both of your business as well as your consumers. It’s understanding your audience that leads to the most creative, engaging, and results-driven marketing strategies.  

Too much reliance on data can detract from your brand identity and your overall mission. We’ve seen too many businesses get bogged down in the data and lose sight their original goals as a result. You don’t want that – we don’t want that for you!

We can help you curate content that builds on your brand and bolsters your engagement metrics too. We’ll still get you the data you crave, but you’ll know more about the best ways to use it!

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Marketing Terms You Think You Know

Pop quiz hot shots.

If you think you have what it takes to take our Buzzfeed-worthy marketing quiz, we won’t hold you back. It’s not for the faint of heart and it certainly is not for anyone who has lived under a rock for the past ten years. Although, listen, we’re truly impressed if you did that – so why not, give it a go.

Alright, alright – we’ll take it easy on you this time and instead share with you a few terms that we use daily in our own offices – while also tossing in some key terms that are always buzzing around the wide world of Marketing.

Go ahead and test your knowledge. We’ll let you grade yourself… this time.

Marketing Terms You Think You Know

Branding – As defined by HubSpot, branding is “the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.” This includes everything from your logo, colors and fonts to your brand tone and messaging.

CPL: Cost per Lead. This is a number that showcases how much a company is spending on each generated lead.

CPC: Cost per Client. This number showcases how much a company is spending to convert a generated lead into a client. 

Gated Content – This is when a business offer a piece of unique or exclusive content, like an eBook or a eCourse, in exchange for an opportunity to engage with said prospect in another way including email marketing or other.

Inbound marketing – Drawing customers to you and your brand through the distribution of exclusive and engaging content. Regular blog posts about topics related to your business are a good example of inbound marketing.

Outbound marketing – Reaching out directly to your customers to try to get them interested in a product or service you’re offering. TV commercials are an example of outbound marketing.

Engagement – This is the ways your clients interact with your brand, as well as the ways you interact with them. If you focus your marketing on social media platforms your clients’ engagement will be through their likes, shares, and comments. If you have a greater focus on your own site through blogs the clients’ engagement will be measured more in clicks or replies.

ROI: Probably the most well-known acronym of the marketing world, Return on Investment. This typically highlights what return you can see after spending a certain dollar amount on your marketing.

KPI: Growing in daily lingo is KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, which is typically a quantifiable measure of performance over time for a given objective. Key word is “quantifiable.”

So, how did you do? Let us know if you belong on the marketing honor roll this month! If not now is a great time to reach out to us to talk more about it and how you want to implement these things in your marketing plan.

Oh, and for those of you who really wanted a pop quiz. We’ve got you.

Question: How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?

A. 12

B. 42

C. I bite it

D. What’s a Tootsie Pop?