Emma Turnbull | BYK Digital Marketing

How to Effectively Use Your Digital Marketing Data

In marketing today, data is everywhere. Even small companies need to use big data to inform their digital marketing decisions. There is so much to be gained from analyzing digital marketing data, but it can be overwhelming to know where to begin. We’re here to walk you through a few of the major ways you can make use of your data to help your marketing efforts.

1. Analyze Demographics of Your Social Media Followers

Besides website analytics, some of the most useful sources of data are your social media channels. In particular, every social media platform collects demographic information about its users. You can use this information to determine what age groups, genders, and more are following your channels. Knowing basic demographic information about your customers and potential customers can be essential in shaping your marketing efforts towards them. You always want to speak to your audience in a way they can connect with and understand. If you find out that most of those interested in your brands are in the 25-34 age group, you will probably want to use new popular lingo, memes, and the like in your advertisements. If your followers are primarily in the 50+ age range, you will need to take a different approach.

2. Compare Analytics Across Social Channels

“Social media” as a whole is a broad area in which to focus your efforts. To parse things out more, you can also use data to determine which platforms in particular to focus on. Business accounts on pretty much all platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, will provide feedback on your account performance. You can use these data, such as the number of clicks on your ads, sales, and comments on your posts, to determine which channels are performing best. This can help you determine where to dedicate the most time and resources going forward, based on which social media channels are getting the highest returns.

3. Note Geographic Location of Website Users and Social Media Followers

In addition to other social media data, where your customers and followers are located can also be very useful to track. This is a measure that is usually very easy to gather. You can quickly see where your website visitors are from based on their IP addresses, and social media sites gather location information for their users that you can access for your followers as well.

Knowing where your fans are located is relatively simple to find out, and can be very useful in informing decisions. First, you can target your digital ads to the areas in which most of your potential customers are located. You can also use geographic data to make decisions about print, radio, and television ads. These, even more than digital marketing, tend to reach an audience within a specific area. You can determine which channels to run ads on, which highways to place billboards on, and more based on where the most potential customers will likely see your ads.

4. Track How Your Audience Finds You

Another useful piece of digital marketing data, especially for your website, is knowing how people found you in the first place. Did most of your site visitors come across your company through your social media pages, through paid ads, through review sites, or through organic searches? Knowing the paths your customers took to find your website can help you determine how to allocate your digital marketing budget. Every company wants to split their budget between multiple sources, but that split certainly does not need to be equal. Make note of the ways most of your customers are being attracted to you, and focus on those channels more than others.

5. Place People Within your Marketing Funnel

The marketing funnel is a relatively well-known way of conceptualizing customers and potential future customers for a business. It is a pyramid, or funnel, shape through which people work their way up from merely being aware your brand exists to becoming a full-fledged loyal customer. So how is this relevant? Well, depending where someone is in the funnel, the most effective marketing methods to use will differ, and your digital marketing data can help you determine where someone is within the funnel. For instance, if someone is following your social media accounts, liking photos, and has visited your website a handful of times but not yet made a purchase, they are probably in the Interest or Consideration stage. They likely just need a final push to spur them to finally purchase. If someone has viewed your paid advertisements but taken no other actions, they are probably in the Awareness stage but have not developed particular interest in your offerings.

You can use information about where people are in the funnel to appropriately target them with personalized advertising. This can help you determine which people to target most often and which people are most likely to ultimately make a purchase. For all of these purposes and so many more, digital marketing data is extremely valuable. Analyzing data gathered from your ads, social media pages, and websites can help shape your overall marketing efforts and effectively reach your target audiences. Big data is big right now for a reason. It works, no matter the size of your business. Make the most of your data now.

2021-01-19

Instagram Ideas for Restaurants

When it comes to your brand’s Instagram, you always want to be switching up your content and posting new things. This can present a bit of a challenge for places like restaurants, who tend to offer a small number of products within one product category. Even if you feel like your restaurant has limited material to work with, there are some ways you can still make your Instagram presence strong! Here are a few suggestions to step up your restaurant’s Instagram game.

Use Your Family and Friends as Models

Close-up shots of your food are mouth-watering and fantastic to share, but you also want some variety in your grid. Incorporating some lifestyle photos of people enjoying your food is a great way to switch things up while still keeping the focus on your offerings.

The good news is, you don’t need to hire expensive professional models to get these shots. If you have friends or family members who are comfortable enough in front of the camera, ask them to “model” for you. You’ll get authentic-looking pictures and save lots of money on photography, while your friends will get their moment of fame and some free food to go along with it.

Repost Customer Photos

Another great source of lifestyle content is from your customers. People love taking pictures of their food and with their food, especially when they’re at a restaurant they particularly like. If you can find a way to encourage your fans to take and share photos while they’re dining with you, you could find yourself with a gold mine of content for social media.

Try promoting a hashtag customers can use to share their photos. Post your social media handles around your restaurant, telling people to tag you in their content. You could even run a monthly contest, offering a free meal or gift card to the best fan photo submitted each month.

Go Beyond the Food

Yes, you’re a restaurant, so your food and drinks are your bread and butter. But that doesn’t mean that literally every single post has to feature your menu items. Try branching out from time to time, even if it is only once or twice a month, and post something outside the realm of food.

There are plenty of relevant topics you can post about that aren’t directly related to your food and drinks. First, you can post about the town or neighborhood where you are located-anything that makes it unique, why you are proud to be located there, and things like that. You can also post about the people behind the business. Share stories about the owners and founders, traditions that have been passed down through generations, or highlight an employee of the month who is doing exemplary work. Sprinkling in posts like these to your Instagram can help you connect with your audience in new and different ways.

Don’t Overdo It on Popular Dishes

Every restaurant has them. The popular dishes, the big moneymakers, the one thing that they’re most known for. Of course, you want to capitalize on this on your social media channels. If you serve a lasagna that is out of this world, don’t let your followers forget it!

However, no matter what your most popular offerings are, be sure to post about all your other menu items too. No matter how much your fans love your lasagna, they don’t just want to see the same pictures of it day after day. Introduce variety into your feed by occasionally posting about your other dishes, even the ones that are not ordered as often. Not only will it make your Instagram page as a whole look more appealing, but will also show your followers that you are not one-faceted, and hopefully even bring in some curious customers to try the other dishes you’re posting about.

Suggest Pairings

Much of what you share on social media is an attempt to increase the number of sales you are making. But you can also use your Instagram to encourage not only more sales, but larger sales as well. Try making a few posts that suggest pairings for your followers to try. Show them an appetizer that perfectly complements one of your entrees, or a bottle of wine that really brings out the flavor of one of your dishes. Not only is this an opportunity to switch up the visuals on your page, by combining multiple offerings in one photo, but it also encourages customers to try multiple menu items together, instead of just ordering one thing.

Stories

Finally, go beyond the grid and stay active in your stories as well. You don’t need carefully curated content and perfect-looking pictures to post on your stories. Stories are a perfect place to try to engage more casually with your fans.

Share a boomerang video of a full dining room during dinner service. Take your audience step-by-step through the process of making your most popular dish. Ask questions and post polls about your offerings, asking people which dishes they prefer, how they like to customize their orders, or what type of dish they’d like to see you add to the menu. Basically, just pique your audience’s interest and try to find a way to get them talking to you! None of the items above need to be too expensive or time-consuming for your restaurant to execute. Dedicating just the small bit of extra time and dedication to your Instagram can really make a big difference.

2021-01-15

Maintaining a Small Business Feel as Your Company Grows

Growing a small start-up into a full-fledged business is an exciting endeavor. With growth comes so many new opportunities for production, marketing, distribution, and more. However, there are also positive aspects of a small business that you do not necessarily want to lose as you grow. Especially for employees that have been with you since the beginning, there can be challenges and frustrations that come with company growth. Here are a few ways you can try to maintain the perks of a small business while leveraging the advantages of growth and expansion.

Limit Red Tape

One huge advantage of small companies for employees is the lack of red tape there tends to be. When there are only 10, 20, or 30 people in a company, there is inherently not a need for much of a bureaucratic hierarchy. Structures can be informal and relaxed, while still maintaining the necessary authority for those at the top. But with growth comes the need for a more formal organizational structure to keep everything running smoothly. It is inevitable that with hundreds or even thousands of employees, each person will no longer be reporting directly to the owner or CEO like they were when the company first started out.

You will not be able to completely avoid a formal hierarchy in your growing company, nor should you. But be mindful not to make the structure too convoluted and complicated as you grow. Keep the lines of communication between employees at all levels streamlined. Avoid adding in too many “middle men” that can lead to red tape, slow communication, and frustration.

Maintain Traditions

With growth comes A LOT of new things: new production and shipping practices, new coworkers, new facilities, new job functions. With so much change, it is important for you to keep some things the same. This is especially true when it comes to any team bonding or company traditions that have been a part of your business since the beginning. Do not abandon these traditions just because everything else is changing. Find a way to continue them, adapting if needed to the new situation. Whether it is weekly team happy hours, a holiday gift exchange, or anything else, make it a priority to continue traditions. Your long-time employees will be grateful, and new team members are sure to have fun with them as well.

Offer Access to the Top

As we mentioned above, employees who have been with your company since the start are probably used to a high level of communication directly with upper management. Understandably, this will be possible less often as the scale of the business grows. However, be sure not to cut off this access completely. Set aside time in your schedule to meet with employees, make yourself available via phone call or text, or find some other way to feel accessible to every person working within your company. This will go a long way for team morale, and will also help you hear ideas and perspectives from a variety of people that could help the business succeed.

Give Employees A Voice

Taking that even a step further, don’t just find time to listen to your employees, but really give them a voice in your company. Maybe your whole team can no longer fit into one conference room together to discuss ideas for the future and where the company is headed, but that doesn’t mean employees need to be left out of the decision making process entirely. Small businesses tend to be successful at least in part because of the sharing of ideas and collaboration that occurs. For the sake of your employees’ satisfaction and for the success of your business, be sure to find a way to continue collaborating and sharing ideas. Whether this is through small group meetings, a suggestion box, or any other form of communication, encourage ideas and suggestions. You never know who in your company will have the next big breakthrough! As your business grows, it is inevitably going to change. You cannot and should not fight that change and try to keep everything exactly the same, because that just is not sustainable in the long run. You can, however, work to maintain some of the aspects of your business that served you and your employees best. Don’t completely abandon your roots. Using the above suggestions to guide you, you can navigate growing and expanding your company, without losing who our brand is at its core.

2021-01-12

Breaking Into the Influencer Game

So you want to be an influencer. Honestly, who doesn’t? Getting paid to post pictures on social media, getting free products, trips to exotic destinations. Sign me up! Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. If you are genuinely interested in breaking into the influencer field though, here are a few tips to help you get started.

Start in a Specific Niche

If you don’t know exactly where you want to take your social media, or don’t have a passionate interest in one specific area, you may be tempted to try to make it as a general lifestyle influencer. This can work out in certain cases, but usually it does not. The majority of internet celebrities who consider themselves lifestyle influencers now actually started out in a different area. They either had pre-existing fame that they leveraged, or began in a specific niche, and once they had gained enough notoriety, branched out into lifestyle influencing.

To put it bluntly, the market of lifestyle influencers is pretty saturated at this point, so you generally need some sort of fame or distinction to make people interested enough in your life to watch you. Thus, when you are first starting out, try a different avenue to gain that fame. Focus on something specific that you are good at or interested in: trying out new makeup products, cooking recipes for a certain diet, or pulling hilarious pranks on friends and family. You are much more likely to become successful if your content is more tailored and specific to one field.

Build a Base Amongst Family and Friends

It will be challenging to build an internet presence and a fanbase from the ground up. If you’re trying to become an influencer, start by letting your family and friends know. Use their support to grow your channel, share your content, and start getting the word out. Strangers you have never met are less likely to want to be your first follower, first commenter, etc. If they see that you already have a following, even if it is small, and they like your content, they are much more likely to follow you and start engaging. Gathering a small and loyal base for yourself when you get started can help get you off the ground much quicker.

Build Relationships with Brands

Finally, to really become a legitimate influencer, you need to start completing successful brand deals. Working with brands to promote their products and services is one of the hallmarks of being an influencer. Eventually, this could become a huge money-maker for you, and a way you acquire tons of free products.

At the beginning, however, you will need to start small and you will need to be flexible. Do not turn down offers just because the budget is low, or the item is small. Try finding a few small, local companies that you love that could use some free promotion in exchange for their products or services and start there. Working well on these seemingly small deals will lead to a positive reputation for you amongst brands, and can pave the way to bigger and more lucrative deals.

With all that in mind, you should still pick and choose the brand deals that you choose to undertake. Do not be picky about the payment you are receiving, but do be selective in the types of offerings you choose to promote. Be sure they are on brand for your platforms, that you actually enjoy the offerings, and that they are something your followers would be interested in seeing. You do not want to promote something completely out of line with your usual content that could throw your followers off, especially as a less-established influencer. All in all, these 3 tips should help you get off the ground and kickstart your journey as an influencer. It’s a tough field to break into, so do not be discouraged if you are not seeing immediate success. Stick with the tips above, and you should start making some headway into becoming a bona fide influencer.

2021-01-08

Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021

New year, new trends! Here are some digital marketing phenomena to keep your eye on in 2021. These trends are all set to take off or continue their upward trajectory in the new year.

Video Marketing: Especially Live Videos

Video content will continue to be a huge money-maker for businesses online in 2021. On average, videos capture and keep the attention of audiences more than photos or text alone. Expect to see the continued emphasis on video content across social media channels throughout the year.

You can also expect growth of live videos and live streams. Especially with the year we’ve had, where so many events have had to be hosted online, live videos have been gaining popularity. They are a creative and low-cost way to produce content that feels very personal and intimate to your viewers. Capitalizing on this growing popularity will likely prove to be helpful for businesses across many industries in 2021.

AI Content Creation

The development and utilization of artificial intelligence has been growing for some time now. Many larger companies have been using bots to chat with customers and respond to emails with quite a bit of success. Expect this trend to be taken even further in 2021. AI has begun to be used to create content for social media as well. This technology will likely roll out and become more popular throughout the year, as companies begin to see how effective and time-saving it can be.

Personalization

Unlike artificial intelligence, personalized content is nothing new, but its utilization will likely expand quite a bit this year. So far, most companies only go so far as to personalize emails with touches like individualized subject lines and addressing customers by their first names. However, with technological developments and changing online trends, look for more personalized content and ads on social media as well. Not only will the ads you see likely be targeted based on your online behavior, but they may be even more specific to you as well. Look for personalized discount codes, varied content between customers, and the like as we continue into 2021.

New and Changing Social Media Platforms

It’s pretty common knowledge that the world of social media platforms is ever-changing. There are updates to current platforms, new emerging platforms, and old platforms that lose favor. This will continue to evolve in 2021. Keep an eye on what current powerhouses like Instagram and Facebook do to stay relevant. We’ll also be watching the development of TikTok and Instagram Reels, and whether their popularity continues among younger generations. Finally, there are sure to be at least a couple of new platforms that enter the game this year and start competing for popularity. Platforms like Houseparty and Caffeine could really take off in 2021. Video-based platforms have been gaining popularity, and these are a couple of the front-runners to explode in the new year.

Growth of Influencer Marketing

Despite how overwhelmingly widespread it may seem as you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed and seeing ads and sponsored posts, many companies still have not taken up influencer marketing as a focal point of their marketing strategy.

There is room for exponential growth in the influencer marketing industry, and we expect much of that growth to occur in 2021. Influencer marketing tends to come with a lower price tag and less risk attached than most other marketing techniques. With the uncertainty, pandemic fear, and hard financial times across the country likely to continue, at least for the first few months of 2021, influencer marketing will be especially appealing to brands in the new year. Only time will tell, but the trends above all look poised to take off and dominate the digital marketing scene in 2021. Any other trends you see really exploding this coming year? Let us know in the comments!

2021-01-05

New Year’s Resolutions for Your Business

Happy 2021! We all probably have personal resolutions picked out by now, but what about resolutions for your small business? Here are a few suggestions to help strengthen your business in the new year.

Resolve to release new products.

If you’ve been working on new releases and waiting to pull the trigger, now’s the time. New products or services are one of the most exciting things you can do for your customers, and can be a hugely successful way to reinvigorate your business. Start the new year with some new offerings to help drive sales and move your company forward.

Resolve to take more calculated risks.

When it comes to marketing, you don’t want to be impulsive and make major decisions without data, but you also do not want to play it too safe. Sometimes, you need to take risks and try new things to reap the biggest rewards. Whether it’s delving into a new social media platform, creating a controversial advertisement, or expanding your target demographic, try to resolve not to be stagnant this year. Always use research and analysis when making these big changes and don’t rush it, but do not be afraid to move forward and try new tactics in 2021.

Resolve to step up your customer service game.

Along with social media, customer service is one of those aspects of your business that is relatively inexpensive, but can make a HUGE difference in your sales and perceptions of your brand. Something as simple as a satisfactory reply to an email or social media message can win or lose you future sales. This year, focus on using the resources you have to make your customer service game as strong as it can be.

Resolve to optimize your website.

With each passing day in this age of digitalization, virtual connections, and online shopping, your brand’s website becomes more and more important to your overall success. In the new year, resolve to make your website the best it can be. While this can feel like a massive undertaking, there are actually plenty of small changes you can make that can help a lot.

Start by cleaning up links, tabs, and navigation to make sure everything is clear and working as it should be. Nothing is more frustrating than a mislabeled tab, or a link that leads to nowhere. Then you can work on updating the look of your site, to feel modern and current, along with streamlining the connections between pages and making your site as easy to use as possible.

Resolve to post on Instagram more often.

You basically can never post too much on social media. As a brand, you want to be posting frequently, engaging with your audience as much as possible, and working consistently to grow your following. However, when you have a million other things going on, it can be all too easy to let social media slip through the cracks.

This year, resolve to prioritize Instagram more. It’s a great platform to use to grow your following and gain new customers. Plus, social media marketing is one of the cheapest and most cost-effective ways to sell your business. Post quick stories giving viewers an inside look into what you’re working on. Spend the time curating content to post on your grid. Do all you can to connect with potential customers on Instagram.

And if you just really don’t have the time to put into your social media, we can help! Learn more about our social media management services here. These 5 resolutions are a great jumping off point to kick off 2021 on the right note for your business.

2021-01-01

2020 Digital Marketing Recap

2020 has been an interesting year to say the least. With all of the change and craziness that has come along this year, there has also been new opportunity. Here is a look at the year in digital marketing: trends that emerged, ideas that came to fruition, and where most companies focused their digital efforts.

Forced pivot

This was easily the defining trend of the year. Of course everyone, in practically every field, had to stop on a dime and completely change course in March of 2020. This forced adaptation to a quickly changing world continued to varying extents throughout the rest of the year as well. Digital marketing is always pretty quick-paced, but this year the need to adapt reached a whole new level.

It was clear that some companies handled this need to pivot better than others. There were 2 divergent trends that emerged. Some brands adapted quickly and used this opportunity to come up with new revenue streams and digital marketing strategies. They produced virtual events and experiences, new opportunities to shop online, and more. For others, the pandemic and ever-changing regulations were overwhelming, and digital marketing efforts tended to get left by the wayside. Thus, this year saw both some of the most engaging and least engaging social media channels and digital marketing campaigns in recent history.

Online ordering uptake accelerated

Online shopping is not new. The share of shopping and ordering done online has been steadily increasing for a few years. The convenience of placing orders from home has become more and more appealing to consumers. What makes this trend notable for 2020 is that the state of the world has rapidly accelerated the growth of online shopping. While it was already on an upward trend, nobody would have predicted just how quickly it grew this year.

New platforms

Another notable development in digital marketing this year was the emergence of new social media platforms, namely TikTok and Instagram Reels. The popularity of both grew exponentially over the course of the year. While the two platforms are not identical by any means, they do have many similarities. Both feature short-form videos and are especially popular with members of Gen Z and younger millennials. The emergence of these new ways of sharing has been important for brands that target these younger demographics. Finding ways to use TikTok and Reels to market has been a big focus for some companies in 2020.

Mobile functionality

As online shopping in general is increasing, so is shopping on mobile devices in particular. With this in mind, many businesses invested in upgrading the mobile functionality of their websites this year. There was a time not so many years ago that the vast majority of websites were a complete headache to use on mobile browsers. Now, we are seeing more and more companies putting in the time and resources to make their sites mobile friendly. Companies that do have apps or mobile-friendly sites have a huge advantage in this time of online buying.

Videos make sales

Last but not least, one final trend that dominated the field in 2020 was video marketing. YouTube and other similar sites have long been a great potential source of income for businesses. This year, more brands than ever took advantage of this. Videos tend to make more of an impact than just photos or text when it comes to online marketing, and can have a very meaningful impact on sales. A whopping 76% of adults in a Brightcove study actually said they have made a purchase after watching a marketing video. The use of videos to capture attention online looks to be a trend that will be continuing for quite some time beyond the end of 2020 as well. So there you have it. A look back on this crazy, unprecedented year through the lens of digital marketing. As we enter 2021, we are looking forward to seeing what trends and innovations will capture the attention of the marketing world next.

2020-12-29

New Year, New You: Refreshing Your Brand in 2021

New year, new you! Whether you’re planning some business changes in response to the global pandemic, or just in need of a refresh that you’ve been putting off for a while, there’s no time like the new year to make some changes. The start of the new year is an ideal time to introduce new ideas for your brand. Here are some updates and changes you may want to consider to keep your brand moving forward as we enter 2021.

Modernize your logo

Every brand needs to update and refresh every once in a while. Even if you feel like the basic framework for your logo is working, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t use a little updating. Although you do not want to change your look too often and confuse people, you do need to make sure to make small changes and adjustments as needed to remain modern. Even something as small as a tweak in the exact shades of color you use, or reworking the shape of your logo slightly, can really brighten it up and keep it feeling current. Use this new year as an opportunity to critically analyze your branding and any ways you can improve it slightly.

Product Line Expansion

If you have new products or expansions of your current product lines in the works, aim for a January release date. People tend to look for fun and exciting new products in the new year. Capitalize on this feeling and take advantage of people’s tendency to try new things when the year changes. This can also be a great marketing opportunity, to tie in the “New Year, New You” idea to your new product marketing.

COVID-specific changes

Nobody really knows how long COVID-19 will be impacting our daily lives. For now, the end to the pandemic does not seem to be near. With the 2 coldest months of the year, along with flu season, on the horizon, things could get tough. If you have not yet shifted your business plan to cater to the current state of the world, now is the time.

Think about ways that your business can better cater to an at-home experience. Whether that is new avenues of selling, like delivery and online ordering, or new products to entertain stir-crazy families, think outside the box in terms of how you will move forward. Virtual events have become quite popular, along with take-and-bake meals and at-home classes. Not only could this help your company brave the next few months, but these could all prove themselves to have lasting popularity even once the height of the pandemic has passed.

Website redesign

Even without making ANY other changes to your business, redesigning your website can make your whole company feel brand new. A new layout, use of branding elements, or additional pages can provide a completely new experience to your customers. Like the logo, this is not something you want to change too frequently, as it can be frustrating to users to continually get used to new websites. However, if it has been a while, now is a great time for a refresh.

This is also an opportunity to improve the functionality of your site. Think of any changes you can make to make your web page more intuitive and user-friendly. Remove old or broken links from your site, update your reviews and any press you have gotten lately, and make sure everything is functioning the best it possibly can.

Social media

One final place you can update for the new year is on your social media channels. This is a prime opportunity to shift your look or your strategy. On Instagram, you may want to choose a specific aesthetic or color scheme, and post more photos with your branding elements. Now is also a great time to refine your social strategy. It can be easy to stray away from your specific voice or strategy over time. Bring your social channels back to where you want them to be for 2021. Ensure you are speaking in a voice that appeals to your primary customer base, re-focus on your specific field and niche within it, and just ensure that your overall approach is perfectly in line with your other marketing efforts. A new year is always an opportunity for change. Especially this year, after how turbulent 2020 has been, use this as a chance to reset your business and chart a course that you are excited about going forward. Changes, both big and small, are what the new year is all about. By making even a few changes and adjustments, you could be setting yourself and your brand up for growth and opportunity in 2021.

2020-12-22

Taking Advantage of Your Strengths

As a business, it is important to know what your strengths and competitive advantages are. If you have any sort of advantage over your competitors, you really need to make the most of it! An advantage could be anything from a lower price, to a specific product feature you offer that your competitors don’t, to the variety of products you offer, to the creativity of your advertisements. No matter what it is you do best, we’ve laid out a little roadmap below for how to recognize and take advantage of your strengths as a company.

Before you can make the most of your strengths, you of course have to be aware of what they are. Know your business well, run analyses of your industry, and ensure you know exactly where you stand and what you are best at. Compare yourself to your competitors in various aspects, and make note of the areas in which you stand out. These are the aspects you will want to capitalize on and highlight most in your marketing and sales efforts, because these are likely the aspects that attract the most customers for you.

It is important to note that research and data is ESSENTIAL to realizing what your strengths and advantages are. You need to know not just what you had intended to be a differentiating point for your company, but what your customers actually see as setting you apart. Do not rely on your own ideas alone: make sure you are actually speaking with customers and analyzing any relevant data to ensure that you and your customers are in agreement about what your company’s strengths are.

Now that you’ve established what your advantages are, let’s start with your marketing efforts. Whatever it is that you excel at, be it your pricing, your stellar customer service, or your product features, make sure the majority of your marketing time and resources is dedicated to this. A disproportionate amount of your social media posts should highlight the areas in which you outshine your competitors. Since this is what is drawing the most people in to your business, you will want to talk about it a lot.

In addition to social media spotlights, be sure your other marketing and advertising also focuses heavily on your competitive advantage(s). If your customers are more focused on the low cost your products are offered at than the specific features they have, make sure you are talking about cost more than functionality. If what sets you apart is the wide variety of customization options you offer, spend the majority of your time and effort touting these custom options, and don’t dwell too much on other specifications that are less appealing to your base.

Beyond marketing, you should also keep your competitive advantages in mind when it comes to business growth and expansion. Any time you plan to release a new offering, update a current offering, expand a product line, etc., think about your strengths and build off of them. Maintain any aspects where your business has an advantage-these are things you do not want to change as you grow and expand.

For instance, if you have established that your biggest competitive advantage is your low pricing, you probably do not want to release a new item in the luxury category. Stick to your brand’s strengths by releasing other budget or mid-level priced offerings.

Thus, in both your marketing and advertising efforts, and in your growth as a business, always keep your competitive advantages in mind. Do not stray too far from what your customers think you do best. You can miss out on a lot of potential sales and growth if you do not appropriately make use of the edge you have within your industry. Take the time to really learn what customers and potential customers see as your strengths, and use them to guide your business decisions.

2020-12-18

Memorable Holiday Ads from the Past 50 Years

Besides the Super Bowl, the holiday season produces some of the best advertisements around the globe. We’re taking a walk down memory lane this week on the blog, with a few of the most memorable holiday ads in recent history. These are incredible marketing campaigns that have withstood the test of time and captured the hearts of so many. No matter your age, you are sure to have seen at least a couple of these commercials over the years.

Coca-Cola Polar Bears

Coca-Cola and polar bears go together like peanut butter and jelly. This iconic combination has become inextricably woven together in the minds of many people around the globe, since its debut in 1922. And no time is this more evident than during the holiday season. Since first airing their polar bear TV commercials in the 1990’s, Coca-Cola has continued to capitalize on their popularity, really embracing the animals as their unofficial holiday mascot.

Hershey’s Kiss Jingle Bells

Incredibly simple yet incredibly effective. Turning the Hershey’s Kisses into bells ringing the tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” doesn’t sound like a stroke of extraordinary creative genius, but it really resonated with viewers, and has continued to do so through the years. It’s festive, it’s simple, and it’s powerful.

M&M’s Meeting Santa

This M&M’s ad plays into the holiday season in a more humorous way than the others on this list. The original campaign was so popular that it continued to air for years to come, and was reproduced with a new twist over 20 years after its original release. It is lighthearted and fun while still capturing the excitement and awe that comes along with the holidays, especially for children.

Folger’s Peter Comes Home

Talk about tugging at the heartstrings. This classic ad from Folger’s gets at the heart of the holidays for many: being together as a family. This sweet commercial was an instant classic when it was first released, and is still talked about and remembered by many to this day.

Budweiser Clydesdales

What do you get when you combine the Budweiser Clydesdales, picture-perfect winter scenery, and gently falling snow? The recipe for a perfect holiday advertisement! The dialogue is kept to a minimum as viewers enjoy the view of the Clydesdales trotting through the snow, spreading cheer. It is a simple and quintessentially Budweiser ad.

Bonus: Kohl’s 2020

The bonus advertisement on our list is the new ad from Kohl’s for the 2020 holiday season. This ad has been getting a lot of buzz all over the internet, tugging at people’s heartstrings and really getting to the core of what 2020 has meant to so many. Who knows if this ad will stand the test of time, but it sure is making an impression for now.

2020-12-15

Author: Emma Turnbull