Cindy Haynes

How to Market to Millennials: The Ultimate Guide

As of 2019, there are around 73 million millennials in America. That’s well over one-fifth of the entire population of the country. Indeed, millennials have officially overtaken the baby-boomers as the largest adult population in the US. And the number’s only going up. Generational change has a significant impact on society all-round. The implications stretch into all facets of life. One of them is marketing. The rise of the millennial has a direct impact on the life of a marketer. The question of the day is no longer ‘how to market to baby boomers?’ It’s ‘how to market to millennials?’

Here for answers? Keep reading.

What’s a Millennial?

Successful millennial marketing begins with understanding your audience. Marketers have to get into the millennial mind. It’s the best way to learn how to tap into the $200 billion of annual buying power millennials represent.

Let’s consider what, and who, millennials are.

The What

At its simplest, ‘millennial’ is the generational term given to anyone born after Generation X (these guys came after the so-called ‘baby boomers’), and before Generation Z. As you can probably surmise, millennials are also known as Generation Y. Go figure. Anyway, the millennial ‘window’ of years changes depending on who you ask. That said, it’s roughly between 1981 (or 1982) and 1996. If you’re born in these years, well, congratulations, you’re officially a millennial.

The Who

Now let’s turn to the ‘who’. This is of utmost marketing importance. Remember, we’re all a product of the life and times we grew up in. The world a generation grows up in is largely responsible for how it turns out. For millennials, in general, that’s created a sect of society who are highly-educated, hard-working, ambitious, tech-savvy, family-oriented, and achievement-oriented. All good qualities. However, they can also be attention-seeking, entitled, job-hopping, pampered, and wary of authority. That makes for an eclectic and diverse range of people! Marketing to millennials can be tough going. Read on to learn how to do it.

How to Market to Millennials: 7 Crucial Methods

Okay, we know who they are. Now, let’s go through what they want to see in your marketing endeavors.

1. Make it Authentic

Authenticity is the key to your marketing success. It’s the number one thing millennials want to see. They’re tired of being sold to. Tired of advertisements. Tired of being manipulated by corporate interests. Tired of having products and services shoved down their throats at every turn.

Instead, they want something real!

They want to know who you are. They want a face to the name. They want a front row seat and a backstage pass to your company. They need to see reality and get genuine value provided from you. Want their trust? You have to earn it first.

2. Traditional Ads Don’t Work

Old-fashioned advertising is dead. Millennials just don’t trust it. They will not buy from a banner-ad, pop-up, or anything else. These ads are deemed untrustworthy and are unlikely to stimulate clicks. You’re more likely to succeed from reviews and recommendations. That can come with social proof (testimonials work well) and solid brand identity. Focus on developing both to be successful in your marketing.

3. Leverage Influencers

We’ve just seen how social proof and recommendations make a difference. That’s the power of an influencer. Trusted people with large followings will help sway the audience you’re trying to tap into. Remember, millennials are tech-savvy. They’re online, on their devices, for hours every day. Social media is awash with millennial activity. The internet is alight with millennial traffic. Influencers have a captive audience. Work with the influencer, access their audience.

4. Make it Personal

Millennials are unimpressed by outbound marketing. Bad news 1980s marketing man. Your magazine ads, direct mail, and radio spots aren’t gonna work anymore. Millennials want more. They want genuine substance in the form of customer-focused, personalized marketing. Here’s the basic idea: this is about them, not you. Make a millennial feel important and they’ll love you for it. Invest in personalized marketing capabilities. Your ads, emails, and content should all be specific to the person you’re targeting.

5. Content is Still King

Content marketing isn’t dead. In fact, more content is being produced and consumed than ever before. People still rely on it in their lives and use it to inform their decision-making. However, the type of content is changing with the times. There’s still room for a good old-fashioned blog post. But video content is becoming increasingly important to marketing success. Likewise, all content should be optimized for mobile consumption. Then you have the development of virtual and augmented reality to think about too.

6. Have a Worthy Cause

Millennials are interested in ethics. They want to know you’re a worthy company. They want to feel good about purchasing from you. They will pay attention to your company morals and judge you according to what they see. Indeed, millennials are more likely to use your product or service when they know they’re contributing to a good cause, or actively tackling a world issue, etc by giving you their hard-earned money. Does your company work with a charity? Does it donate to good causes? Does it lend its hand to a world issue? If it doesn’t, then consider doing so now. It’s in your direct financial interest to make millennials feel good about buying from you.

You get to feel better about yourself in the process!

7. Get Social

Social media marketing is a major asset to anyone marketing to millennials. For instance, 87% of millennials use Facebook. That’s more than any other generation. And the same goes for other platforms too. Millennials love their smartphones. They love scrolling, liking, sharing, and watching. Any marketer worth their salt must be utilizing social media in their efforts.

Time to Get Marketing

There you have it: how to market to millennials in 7 essential ways. Millennials now make up a major part of the adult population in the US. And that comes with serious purchasing power. Marketers need to tap into this audience. However, this is an enormously diverse bunch of people, who won’t fall for old-fashioned practices. Marketers need to adapt to the times and learn what these millennials want to see. Hopefully, the information above has been enlightening!

Looking for help with your millennial marketing campaign? Contact us today to learn more about our creative advertising approaches.

---

by Cindy Haynes

Top 10 Content Marketing Tips for Your Tampa Business

Did you know that 97 percent of marketers are implementing a content marketing strategy that follows a formula for success?

It is no secret that a strong content marketing strategy is beneficial to your company. But the question now lies in what makes for effective content?

Without the proper digital content marketing knowledge, it may be difficult to produce creative content, discover your targeted audience or even stand out against the sea of content on the internet.

Whether you are new to the world of digital marketing or you are looking to take your digital content marketing to the next level, this post will provide you with the best content marketing tips designed to set your business up for success.

Quality Over Quantity

Many business owners perceive digital content marketing as the more they produce, the better results they will see. While you want to produce as much content as possible, it is important to make sure that each piece of content that you publish is insightful, targeted and effective.

Basically, you want to perceive each piece of content as serving a purpose or sending a message. Then focus on relaying that purpose or message at the best of your capabilities. It is more effective to publish four excellent pieces of content a month as opposed to 20 mediocre pieces of content a month.

However, this doesn't mean that you have to be the next F. Scott Fitzgerald. Don't stress yourself out about crafting the perfect blog post, tweet or video. Make sure that you are focusing on quality over quantity but in a healthy and reasonable aspect. If your audience finds your content helpful, then you have done a great job at executing your content marketing strategy.

Know What Works For Your Audience

What works for someone else's target audience might not work for your target audience. Your content marketing strategy should be geared toward your specific audience. This includes demographic, gender, location and consumer goals. It is important to sort through your content to analyze your content marketing strategy as a whole and how to refine it for your audience.

You might be wondering how to decipher this information. Luckily, the answer is much simpler than you think: Google Analytics. Google Analytics's job is to track and report website traffic numbers. These numbers show who your audience is, where they are from, what their interests are and much more. Once you have a solid idea of this information, you can take your analytics and guide your content marketing strategy along with it.

You can use this information to decipher what tools and platforms are working better than others and focus more on them. You can gain an understanding of what content your audience responds to the most. Then simply recreate that content in various storytelling forms.

Repurpose Your Content

There is nothing wrong with reusing content that you have already published. In fact, doing so is even encouraged because it is much easier to repurpose content as opposed to creating brand-new content.

For example, if you find that 15 of your blog posts from 2018 did well and received a lot of engagement, you can repurpose them into a downloadable e-book. E-books are great for driving traffic toward your website and email subscription incentives.

If you already have an e-book that receives a lot of attention, you can turn it into 15 publishable blog posts. This is why evergreen content is so beneficial. Because you can repurpose it to use for later use when you are strapped for time or in a creative rut.

Create A Multimedia Strategy

The more content you plan ahead and the better organized you are, the more effective your digital marketing strategy will be. It is essential to create a content marketing calendar at the beginning of each month. This will allow you to appropriately plan content for holidays, events, sales and any other important dates you want to focus on. It also allows you to fill in the other days with evergreen content, which is content that can be published throughout the entire year.

Creating a monthly content marketing plan prevents you from missing any important days. It will also allow you to stay consistent with producing content. It is important to post content often to keep your audience engaged and to constantly lead traffic toward your website. Planning your content will prevent you from slacking off or running out of ideas.

You can also use your content marketing calendar to determine what content will be posted on what platform. The more details that you incorporate into your content calendar, the more effective it will be. Thus, the easier your life will be throughout the month.

Encourage Your Whole Team To Create Content

Many businesses run into the problem of not having enough time to create content consistently. Or they don't have enough funds to hire a creative team dedicated to producing content. Luckily, businesses don't need either of those resources to regularly produce content.

All you need is a team that is dedicated to their job with an ability to transform their ideas into creative content. Your team members, most likely, already have a lot of ideas in their head just waiting to be published and put on your website for the world to see. That way, the role of content creating falls on the team as a whole as opposed to a single person.

You can also offer rewards for the team members who produce the best content. Incentives encourage employees to produce great content that is both effective and publishable.

Content Marketing Tips Proven Effective

When creating a digital content marketing strategy, it is imperative to consider your audience over everything else. No matter what content marketing tips you use in your strategy, if you are not doing so with your target audience in mind, you won't get very far.

Implementing a proper digital content marketing strategy can increase the overall success of your business. Make sure to visit our blog for more expert advice on content marketing.

---

by Cindy Haynes

A Business Owner's Guide to Understanding Brand Positioning in Marketing

Curious about brand positioning in marketing?

Did you know that 59% of people prefer to buy new products from brands they already know? Did you also know that a simple thing like color consistency can increase brand recognition by up to 80%?

How you present your brand can affect everything from brand recognition to conversion rate. The key is to establish a link between the essential features or benefits your audience is looking for and your company. That's the core of it.

How you get there, unfortunately, isn't always so clear-cut. In the sections below, we'll delineate exactly what brand positioning is and how it affects your bottom line. Read on to discover more.

What is Brand Positioning in Marketing?

The concept of brand positioning first began back in the '60s. Two successful advertising executives, by the name of Jack Trout and Al Reis, wrote their iconic book, "The Battle for Your Mind." With it, they built a case for the benefits of establishing a connection between what consumers want and what your company offers.

That's called your brand.

The idea begins with understanding your customers. What problems do they need to be solved? What are their wants and needs?

After you truly understand your customers, you can begin building a brand which specifically speaks to them. For instance, FedEx built an empire by targeting a single, specific need: When your package "absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."

They redesigned their entire company using that slogan as a foundation. Here are a few more you may have heard:

• Subway: "Eat Fresh"
• Zurich: "Because Change Happens"
• Superdream: "Normal Sleeps. Super Dreams."
• MasterCard: "For Everything Else, There's MasterCard"
• New York Times: "All the News That's Fit to Print"

None of these brand slogans would have had the same effect if they didn't target their audience's specific need. They may not have worked at all. Remember, branding always begins with deep customer research.

Slogan vs Tagline

We're focusing on these two elements because they're the essence of your brand positioning. They're your marketing mission statement and your promise to your consumers. It's worth noting that although both tagline and slogan are often used interchangeably, they serve different purposes.

A slogan encompasses what a company stands for, its mission, and how it's helping its customers. Slogans may be different from one campaign to another. They can also be longer than taglines.

A tagline is a catchy quip designed to evoke images of your brand. They tend to be more lighthearted. They also build associations between two things, one being your company.

Also, taglines are shown more often next to a company logo. They're the cornerstone of brand awareness in your advertising campaigns. Slogans tend to project a long-term, overarching sense of your company's values and promises.

So what makes a great slogan?

Slogans are at the heart of any branding strategy. Research has shown five elements that set great slogans apart:

• They're memorable
• They include a key benefit
• They differentiate the brand
• They impart positive feelings about the brand

Great taglines carry the same key elements, but they're often shorter. They also place more importance on memorable qualities.

We've also put together a list of other brand positioning tips. Read them over before you rebrand your business.

Ways Positioning May Benefit You

If you're wondering what solid brand positioning may do for your company, we've listed a few below:

Sets You Apart

It's your ticket to stake out a unique territory. One which your competitors can't reach because your offer is unique. Determine which elements differentiate your company from similar companies and focus on those.

Laser Focuses Your Target

As we've mentioned multiple times, it all begins with research. Design your company around needs that already exist. In doing so, you guarantee people will want what you offer. That research will give you deep insight into how to approach consumers to tell them what you have to offer.

By using specific phrasing and aiming at particular problems, you can narrow your audience. That translates to higher conversion rates and lower advertising budgets.

Drives Services and Pricing

Positioning your business against competition will do two things. It'll help you understand what services to offer. It'll determine how you should price them. Are you a high-priced boutique? Or maybe a one-stop-shopping establishment?

Focus on what sets you apart. Use that to establish new services and create your prices.

It Guides Decision Making

When you establish your slogan, use it as a filter when making a decision. Will your choice lead your company closer to your brand positioning? Or lead further away?

Provides More Sales and Marketing Tools

Your sales and marketing teams can use that same filter. It'll improve their communication with consumers. By explaining how you can satisfy their needs, you dramatically increase sales. It gives your teams a connect-the-dots strategy for approaching customers.

Putting Your Strategy to Work

Once you've done your research and developed a positioning strategy, it's time to implement it. Start with your employees.

They must not only understand your position, but they must also express it in everything they do. Every decision they make. It's easy to understand when you speak about client relationships.

Take note of all the ways your employees interact with clients. Ensure each touch point mirrors your brand position. Does it closely reflect your brand, or doesn't it? That should be the basis for every communication.

Your message should be consistent throughout your channels:

• Company name
• Logo
• Product name
• All ads
• Public relations
• Customer relations
• Email communication
• Sales programs
• Recruiting
• Conferences
• Sponsorships

It's easy to see how sales and marketing teams can use your positioning. But what about upper-level management? Their focus on a ten-thousand-foot view of things. They don't regularly connect with customers, so when do they use it?

The answer? Everywhere.

They're no different than other staff. Your brand positioning should guide every decision they make for the company. Is it going to lead the company closer to that ephemeral, ideal positioning? Or further away?

What's Next?

Now it's time to make a decision. Is your brand positioning in marketing up to snuff? Or is it time to rebrand?

If you can't decide, look first at the research you performed on your target audience. If it's skimpy (most are), then it's time to rebrand. If not, check whether your tagline and slogan meet the requirements above.

If you found this information helpful, take five minutes to browse our library full of other advertising articles.

So long and good luck!

---

by Cindy Haynes

Why You Need to Start Using Account-Based Marketing Tactics

Have you noticed that your current marketing strategies seem to be losing steam?

Are you looking for more ways to learn how to cross-sell and upsell to your current clients?

Concerned that you're not making as personal of a connection as you could be with your target audience?

If so, then account-based marketing will likely be able to help you do all that and more.

In this post, we'll fill you in on why account-based marketing tactics should be used as a part of any strong marketing strategy.

We'll help you to define account marketing, understand the benefits that it offers, and connect you with the professionals who can help you to take advantage of it.

What Is Account Based Marketing?

Before we begin to talk about the advantages of using account-based marketing tactics, let's come to a clear understanding of what it is.

In a nutshell, it's the idea of advertising to your current customers by showing them products and services that relate to their specific needs. ABM is influenced by things like their past orders, their overall buying intent, and how they most like to be engaged.

Think of it almost as a kind of personalized marketing strategy for each individual account.

It's somewhat similar to the idea of market segmentation, as well. That is the process of breaking down and classifying your customers into smaller subgroups based on their needs and demographics.

It also works to directly target the decision-makers and buyers behind each account.

Essentially, the goal of account-based marketing isn't just to collect as many random leads as you can.

Instead, it's to show the right kinds of content to the most specific audience possible -- that you already know has a need for what you're showing them.

Often, you'll need to create customer avatars and personas to help you to connect the right buyer profiles with the best products for them. So, you can expect to do a lot of research, as well as to do with some serious trial and error at the start.

However, the payoff is huge and well worth the effort.

In fact, nearly 85% of marketing professionals state that ABM is more effective than their other marketing tactics.

Why Account-Based Marketing Works

Now that you have a better understanding of what account marketing is, let's talk more about why using these tactics is such an important part of your overall marketing strategy.

Read on to learn why there's no time like the present to start using account-based marketing tactics.

Leverage the Power of Personalization

Did you know that personalizing an email can increase your open rates by up to 20%?

After all, how likely are you to take the time to open, let alone read through fully, a generic message that you know was sent to hundreds of other people?

When you take the time to get personal, as well as to address in the body of an ad's text the specific needs and concerns of a client? You greatly increase your chances of doing business with them.

Your customers will feel much more like a priority, and you can prove to them that you've taken the time to get to know their pain points -- and the possible solutions you can offer.

Shorten Your Overall Sales Cycle

You're already well aware that the overall length of your sales cycle has a huge impact on not only your sales and revenue but also on your marketing strategy as a whole.

Account-based marketing tactics help to shorten the sales cycle.

First and foremost, they work because you're talking to the primary decision maker of a lead or current client. This means your message isn't just less likely to get lost in translation. It also means that the "yes or no" can happen much more quickly.

You'll also be able to reach those primary decision makers on the channels that, based on past research, you know they prefer to use.

In addition to helping you to keep your sales cycle as short as possible?

The chances are good that the impact of account-based marketing can help you to increase your overall order size, as well.

Your Strategies Are Informed by Hard Data

Yes, it's certainly important to get to know your individual clients on a personal, more abstract level.

After all, this kind of knowledge is what often helps you to develop and deliver effective and creative and brand-focused ad campaigns and content for your blog.

But if you really want to increase your sales revenue and outpace your competitors?

You also need tactics that are driven by data and analytics.

With account-based marketing, that's exactly what you'll get.

Plus, not only will your numbers improve.

This will also help to strengthen the relationship between your sales team and your marketing professionals. This means you'll be more likely to upsell, and that each team will help to hold the other accountable.

Start Using Account Based Marketing Tactics Today

In addition to helping you to answer the question, "What is account based marketing?"

We also hope that this post has helped you to see why taking advantage of the many account-based marketing tactics is the right idea for businesses of any size and within multiple industries.

When you're ready to start putting these ideas into practice, we invite you to reach out to us to get started.

We can't wait to help you leverage your current clients, connect with higher quality leads, and grow your revenue in the process.

---

by Cindy Haynes

6 Digital Advertising Trends That Will Continue Into 2019

Chatbots, AI, omnichannel, banner ads - what's going to be the next trend in digital marketing?
Trying to keep up with the latest digital advertising trends is enough to make your virtual head spin. But if you pay close attention you'll quickly spot them and be a step ahead of  your competitors. Dare I say a whole bunch of steps ahead.

This is the number one reason you should stay abreast of the frequent shifts in SEO, content marketing, PPC, and any other methods you use to reach your prospects.

With that said, if you want to see how you can elevate your digital marketing strategy into 2019 and beyond, then, please, keep on reading.

Let's take a look at the advertising trends we'll see carrying over into the next year.

1. Multimedia Ads Take Over

It all began in 2017 - video ads became the norm as more consumers engulfed themselves in online video. And when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

On YouTube alone, there are more than 300 hours of video uploaded daily. And 5 billion videos are watched daily. That's a whole lot of multimedia being consumed - shouldn't you have advertisements on these mediums?

What makes multimedia ads profitable is their level of engagement. Consumers simply react better to visual and audio digital advertisements compared to text-only or with a static image. But your best bet is to say your most important bits of information within the first 5 seconds before they can click skip!

2. Influencer Marketing Evolve

This is an age-old tactic advertisers use to get consumers to trust their products. We saw Wheaties do this with Michael Jordan and Nike do it with countless basketball players. Using influencers in your industry to push your brand message and products is clever.

But consumers quickly caught on and the effect has decreased conversion rates. Consumers today are savvier and want brands that are real - not trying to advertise. This is why 83% of people trust their peers and 70% of adults trust non-celeb vloggers/bloggers over celebrities.

So if you're going to use influencer marketing, make sure they're relatable and connected to your target audience.

3. Omnichannel Marketing Takes Front and Center

Consumers are using a variety of tools to access the content they want. They're on smartphones, tablets, TVs, desktops, laptops, and even AI assistants.

These all play a role in how consumers shop and purchase products online and in the store. The only way to capture and keep the attention of your target customers is to be everywhere they are. And to implement digital advertising that's consistent everywhere they go - online and offline.

For example, you can make the coupons you send customers in emails usable inside your stores. And once a customer buys a product from your store, they can receive texts or emails with offers on related items.

There are many ways you can make omnichannel work for your digital advertising efforts.

4. Landing Pages Take Flight

Where will your customers land after clicking on your digital advertisements? If you're sending them to your homepage or anywhere else that isn't featuring a specific product or deal, then your conversions will suffer.

This is what makes landing pages a must-have. Many brands jumped aboard this digital advertising trend over the past few years. And it's the reason why we see so many landing pages surfacing throughout the web.

Landing pages or squeeze pages are beneficial when it's tied to an advert that's specific. For example, if the ad is for an e-book or seminar for building backlinks, then the landing page should give more details about that specific product.

By crafting your landing pages with lists of benefits, testimonials, product videos, and multiple calls to action, you can really boost your conversation rates.

5. Amazon PPC Goes Head to Head with Google

And it's not just Google that Amazon is going after - it's Facebook too. If you're not already advertising on the next leading search engine (Amazon), then now's a great time to start.

Roughly 56% of US, UK, French and German shoppers are searching on Amazon for products. These individuals are bypassing Google to look for the deals they want.

This says a lot about how you should tailor your marketing campaigns. The idea is to display your ads where your target audience will be. And if you have products on Amazon or only on your own site, you can buy ads there to direct the traffic to your landing page (hopefully, you set one up!).

6. The New & Improved Outstream Video

Never heard of outstream video? Well, you're not completely alone. Only 77% of agencies are already having success using it (sarcasm implied). Needless to say, if you're not already using this tool, then you're already behind.

This is a new way you can display video ads outside of a video player. For example, you can have your video ad playing in text line breaks or the corner of a web page.

No longer do you have to stick with running ads before or during a video. If you want your ads to stick out (no pun intended) and eliminate the need to compete with limited placements, this is the way to go.

You can already find this used on sites like Forbes and Washington Post. It gives you expanded reach and targets those who enter a site, not just those who click play on a video.

Implement the Latest Digital Advertising Trends

Wow, that's a lot to digest, I know. The great news is we can help you utilize this information to develop an emotionally driven advertising campaign that connects with your audience on a relatable human level and drives results. And by results, I mean better branding, traffic, and conversions.. Because at EraserFarm have consumer emotion down to a science.

If you're currently looking for a way to enhance your marketing efforts, give us a shout and contact us!

---

by Cindy Haynes

Understanding Psychology in Advertising

Did you know that you are often secretly coerced into your buying decisions? We're about to expose the techniques advertisers use on you each day.

Understanding psychology, as used in advertising, will take the control away from advertisers and put it back in your hands. Keep reading to find out how.

Psychological Persuasion in Advertising

There are two varieties of persuasion methods used in advertising. One type appeals to logic and the other to our emotions.

Research and reading reviews evoke logical persuasion. Colors, sex appeal, music, and stories persuade through our emotions. Emotional persuasion bypasses logic, and we make decisions based on emotion.

Here are some of the significant ways that advertisers use persuasion on you.

Reciprocity

People feel obligated to give back to those that give them something. Advertisers use this method by giving away freebies. They're banking on you buying something from them in return.

Imagine this, you're shopping at your local grocery store, and a nice person is handing out samples. Have you ever felt like you should buy one of the products that are being sampled out?

Another example of this in action is a waitress bringing you a mint with your bill. Subconsciously, you will feel obligated in return to tip her. This simple act can increase tips by 3% to 14%.

Scarcity

If a person believes that they will lose out on something they value, they are more likely to buy it. The scarcity tactic used in limited-time offers, short-term sales, and one-of-a-kind items.

Authority

Perceived experts are more likely to influence.

Displaying a diploma on the wall, posting certifications, or wearing a uniform are some examples of this method at work. Stating expertise in introductions is a practical use of authority influence in marketing.

Consistency

People like to stay consistent in life, doing things that they have previously done. Many sales techniques exploit this principle. By asking potential customers to do one small thing, they are more likely to say yes to a larger request next time.

Jewelry salespeople use this by asking a shopper to try on a ring. A door to door salesperson might ask the homeowner to hold something for them as the first step to a more significant request. Asking for what seems like a simple favor is psychologically the door opener to bigger requests.

Liking

We're more likely to buy from people we like. We like people who compliment us, are similar to us, and those who are cooperative.

Asking personal questions to get to know a customer, or finding a common interest, is a great way to get people to like you. Giving a genuine compliment is another way. In marketing, this should take place before making negotiations or requests to buy.

Blogging is one way that potential customers can discover if they have common interests or can relate to you.

Consensus or Social Proof

Understanding psychology in advertising includes learning the consensus principle. On the internet, we call it social proof. It suggests that most people will follow what the majority of others do.

Consider this scenario. You go to the store to buy something that you're vaguely familiar with. Once you get there, you have to choose between several versions of the product.

One version is almost gone, and the rest fully stocked. Would you pick the version that most people have chosen, thinking that it must be better than the others?

Online, this tactic can be applied by including relevant studies that your target market can relate to. These suggest that they should do the same. Reviews and testimonials are two more forms of social proof in advertising.

Repeated Exposure

For the public to immediately recognize a brands logo or image they must be exposed to it over and over. Thus, the need for advertising. Repeated exposure is often referred to as branding.

Studies show that we prefer recognizable brands. In fact, this was proven with MRI scans and logos. Strong recognition activates the areas of our brains associated with positive emotions.

Once you feel that you "know" a brand, you're more likely to buy from them, even if their products are more expensive. You put more trust in brands you know as well.

Classic Conditioning

Our article on understanding psychology as it relates to advertising wouldn't be complete without talking about conditioning. This marketing principle is widely used on and offline.

When you relate one thing to another automatically, you're experiencing the conditioning effect. Car companies often use this technique in their advertising.

For example, they present an ad that shows a car driven by a young, successful man. Viewers come to associate that model of car with youth and success.

The same thing happens when a celebrity endorses a product. The public associates that product with celebrity status.

Understanding Psychology in Color

Color is another persuasion method. Businesses use color to influence appetite, change moods, and alter public perception.

Up to 90% of impulsive buying decisions are based on color. Who knew that color could have such a significant influence on purchases?

Men and women are persuaded by colors differently, although both prefer blue. Products that are gender specific aim for gender preferred colors.

Understanding psychology of color is easy. Here are some examples. We'll show their subconscious meanings and the companies that use them in their logos.

Red

Red increases blood pressure, heart rate, and appetite. It grabs attention and leads to quick buying decisions. Red makes you think of stopping and discount sales.

Some companies that take advantage of red in their logos are Coke, Netflix, and YouTube.

Pink

Pink stands for sweetness, fun, and youth. It is calming and inspires feelings of comfort. Lighter shades of pink represent romance and delicacy. It's often associated with candy and pastries.

Mattel and T-Mobile use shades of pink in their logos.

Orange

This color is energetic and fun, although long periods of exposure to it can cause aggression.

Nickelodeon and Home Depot's logos are orange.

Yellow

Yellow is the first color processed by the human eye and draws attention. It's no wonder that McDonalds and Denny's use it in their logos.

Green

The color green is relaxing. It represents health, nature, freshness, and money. Whole Foods and Starbucks use it in their branding.

Blue

Blue is a favorite among adults. It's also liked by both men and women the same. It evokes a sense of trust and security.

Two companies successfully incorporating blue into their branding are Facebook and Wal-Mart.

Purple

Purple has always been a sign of royalty. Wisdom, luxury, creativity, and imagination are other characteristics associated with it.

Taco Bell and the Syfy Network use purple in their logos.

Black

Black is bold and official. It signifies luxury, sophistication, and high status. It goes well with any other color.

Uber and Nike are well-known companies that have black logos.

Now What?

For consumers, knowing the secret ways that advertisers use psychology on you will help you make better buying decisions.

Understanding psychology principles for marketing could help you sell your products or services better too. If you need help with that, contact us for a consultation.

---

by Cindy Haynes

Benefits of Native Advertising for Ecommerce Promotion

It's official: companies are now spending more on digital ads than traditional ads. If you're running an e-commerce company, this might seem like a no-brainer. But if you're unaware of the benefits of native advertising, you might be spending your money in the wrong places.

Native advertising allows you to get more traffic by creating ads that look similar to the content people are looking for on a given site. By designing your ads to fit the style of native content, you'll allow potential clients to happen upon your e-commerce services in a natural way.

If you're curious as to how you can improve your digital ad strategies, check out these 5 benefits of native advertising that can help your company grow.

1. Get More Attention

The way that digital advertising trends have grown in the last 10 years has left flashy ads with too many colors behind. While a flashing rainbow of colors can attract the eye, in the context of most internet applications, it's usually out of place.

Users will decide to click on something that fits their style and sits within the kind of content they're looking at.

If you go in trying to sell something desperately, you'll turn off potential clients. You need to first be offering something of value or use to your clients. Even if there's a little icon clearly marking your content as an ad, they will still take a look at your ad because you've been transparent.

Honesty is the best way to get the attention of your potential customers. It's the one emotion that explains why we love social media and user-generated content so much.

2. Fewer Failure Points

One of the benefits of native advertising is that it's not intended to break a user's engagement with the app that they're in. Rather than having ads that are out of place or interrupt a user's flow, native advertising keeps things moving.

While a user is engaged in an app, they'll have time to consider the offer you're making to them and will be able to jump back into your ad at their convenience.

Both the ad publisher and brands benefit from native advertising. By carefully studying the analytics, demographics, and user base of an app, you can promote your e-commerce business to the people who need you the most. Without taking the time to study who your potential user base could be, you could be wasting energy.

Native advertising eliminates some of the most common points fo failure to help you get your point across.

3. Impressions Will Improve

Native ads could drive up to three-quarters of all ad revenue in the coming years. As advertisers use increasingly clever tactics for engagement, they are able to pique user interest without interrupting the consumption of content.

With smarter analytics tracking and newer technology, users can be targeted more accurately. As wearables and mobile devices pick up more information about users, native advertising will be integrated into the daily lives of your potential customers. They'll start seeing the value of this data collection as they'll no longer be inundated with ads that mean nothing to them.

One of the benefits of native advertising is that they can be combined with other data strategies to give users more than they could have imagined. It could also increase the return on investment for companies, sharing that value across the board.

4. They Aim To Be Unintrusive

The efficiency of native advertising is unmatched by almost any other advertising format. Because ads blend in with the background, they will only be aimed at those who are possibly interested while still being available to all users. They will no longer take up precious screen space that has caused ad blindness.

As more companies combat ad blindness, we will see new ways for e-commerce companies to promote their products.

Poor advertising etiquette will cause users to delete apps from their phones and never trust your company again. You'll struggle to win them back because once a user decides to work with your company, it's twice as hard to get them back if they get burned.

And with the increased usage of ad-blocking technology that's available for mobile and desktop browsers, ads will have to find new ways into user space. By creating useful content that feels comfortably fit into the space of the apps they're already using will keep them out of customer's faces will still remaining available.

5. Better Customer Targeting

For larger e-commerce sites, it's important to be able to run multiple campaigns at once. You might have a regular campaign that's open to all users while you have an overstock of a certain product that's targeted at a unique market.

One of the benefits of native advertising is the ability to run both campaigns at once. For a general use social media app, you might want to be able to run ads for every user to see. But if you get that particular user who you want to target with a special promotion, you want to be able to show them the content relevant to them.

Thankfully, with the richer amount of data available from users, you'll be able to target exactly the customers you want. If you're buying ad space on a fitness app, you can sell fitness gear to anyone. If someone is clicking around for smoothie recipes, you could aim your ads for blenders right at them.

The Benefits of Native Advertising Are Endless

Native advertising will grow and change as devices and their requisite user interactions change. You'll be able to keep yourself out of the way of users while giving users who are actually looking for your products the value of being in touch. The future of native advertising has much to reveal and as our understanding of data manipulation changes, there's sure to be more to come.

If you're ready to start using native advertising for your business, contact us to get started today.

---

by Cindy Haynes