James Rosene

What is a Creative Agency? Creative Agencies Explained

Developing long-term relationships with your clients and maintaining their interest in your brand is not easy; it requires patience and work. Marketing plays a significant role in this case: it elevates your brand’s reach and increases the potential value of your goods and services. Creative agencies are crucial in this regard, as they can enable you to implement strategies that ultimately increase profits.

Navigating the world of varying creative agencies to get this support can be tricky. Below, we will comprehensively break down how creative agencies work for you in this article, as well as introduce the major types of creative agencies.

What Is a Creative Agency?

Creative agencies typically offer a range of services that help strengthen a brand’s marketing, ad presence, and overall brand personality. If you require any innovative strategy, work, or publicity, enlisting the services of a creative agency should be your plan of action. While you know your brand and target audience best, a team of creative and marketing professionals is the key to communicating these things most effectively.

These agencies provide strategy-building, content creation, measurement and analysis, and communication services. They comprise a team of experts that can uphold your brand’s needs. This team can include an art director, a creative director, producers, videographers, writers and editors, web designers and developers, and account managers—among other specialists that may make their agency unique.

Types of Creative Agencies

There are a variety of creative agencies you can choose from to cater to your unique requirements:

1. Digital Agency

Businesses can obtain an advantage over their competitors and engage with customers much more effectively by using online methods. A digital creative agency focuses on developing the design and marketing of your products and services available online. They enhance your online presence by creating mobile and web applications that incorporate social media marketing, online ads, and campaigns.

The agency may also focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure your content ranks well in search results. Search engine optimization is a practice where search engines are studied for their algorithms to determine what causes search results to rank higher than others. When these fundamentals are applied to a marketing campaign, the visibility of your brand in searchable online spaces is front and center.

Since they also collect information regarding how well your implemented online campaign is performing, they can guide you on audience engagement, the do’s and don’ts of social media advertisement, and click-through rates.

2. Advertising Agency

This type of agency aims to promote your products and campaigns in a way that stimulates the interest of audiences. A creative advertising agency strategizes to increase your customer pool by attracting new consumers while ensuring that the existing ones remain loyal.

These experts conduct market research, obtaining data regarding the latest trends and brand perception. This allows them to effectively pinpoint placements for created ads and improve brand popularity. They also have connections with media outlets, which makes the advertisement process much smoother for their clients.

3. Design Agency

A design agency’s job is to make products and services look attractive so that they appear much more enticing than their competition in the targeted market. This entails the designs of both digital services and products.

Designers will create style layouts for mobile or web page marketing tools; for example, websites and e-newsletters. Similarly, packaging design is just as vital as your product—the packaging is the first thing that a consumer will see and collect information about the product from. Design firms provide product and packaging designs that make your product look attractive while retaining its functionality and convenience.

Endnote

Running a successful business with the proper marketing strategies requires that you put effort into crafting your content. Working with a creative agency that is friendly, responsive, and aligns with your brand image and values can get you the content you need, while most effectively spreading the word of what your business has to offer.

Investing in this type of partnership ensures your content is created carefully and makes a great impact. Start the discussion today and contact EraserFarm for a consultation with a multifaceted advertising agency dedicated to communicating your brand’s unique personality.

by James Rosene

How to Create a Winning Brand Strategy for Your Business

I am a huge proponent of brand strategy. Shocking I know. It's a no-brainer yet many clients bypass it. Well, according to research, it takes about 5 to 7 impressions to start creating brand awareness. Every business needs a strong brand that people can easily recognize and relate to. When consumers recognize your brand immediately, they pay attention to ads, recommend your company to others, and become repeat customers if they like your products or services.

Now, with only seven seconds to make the first impression, you need to bring your A-game if you're going to create a winning brand strategy. Here are ways to create a winning brand strategy.

Define Your Brand's Purpose

Your brand's purpose is what it stands for and what it hopes to achieve. It should be something more than making money. Nike, for example, doesn't just make shoes and clothes — they inspire people to be their best selves. Harley Davidson isn't just about motorcycles, they stand for freedom and the open road. Knowing your brand's purpose makes it much easier to create marketing messages that resonate with your target audience. You can also use it as a guideline for your business decisions.

Create a Strong Brand Identity

Your brand identity is what makes your brand unique. It's what people remember about you, even when they can't remember your name or product. Apple is an excellent example of a brand with a strong identity. Their logo, colors, and marketing messages are instantly recognizable to consumers worldwide.And their work, well, it's spectacular, to say the least.

And like them, your brand identity should be consistent across all channels, from your website to your social media profiles to your print materials. Use the same fonts, colors, and logos throughout so that people know they're dealing with your brand.

Create a Strong Brand Personality

Your brand personality is what your brand sounds and feels like. It should be unique, just like your brand identity, and should be reflected in your marketing campaign. For example, Apple's brand personality is sleek, modern, and minimalistic, while Harley Davidson's brand personality is rebellious and edgy. Think about the words you would use to describe your brand and use them to create a voice for your brand.

Develop a Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy is how you plan to reach and engage your target audience. It should include tactics like online advertising, PR, and content marketing. You also need a brand strategy that fits within your larger marketing strategy. It's essential to understand how you're going to reach your target audience every time, not just when it comes time for big campaigns. You can use tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to determine which ad networks are the best match for your brand.

Use Social Media Strategically

Social media is an integral part of any good brand strategy for many businesses. Customers want brands they can engage with in meaningful ways. With the right brand management in place, social media becomes a powerful tool to engage your customers and build brand awareness at the same time. There are plenty of brand management tools out there, so it's just a matter of finding one that fits your brand.

Be Consistent With Brand Messaging Across All Channels

Your brand identity is how you present your brand to the world. Whether you do it through your products, a marketing campaign, or social media. It should be consistently presented across platforms so people can identify it immediately and relate to it easily. If people see different messages on Twitter than they do on Facebook or Instagram, they might not know which brand they represent. Now, most processes are not that easy, and you may need professional help, so hire a brand strategy agency.

Build Brand Loyalty Through Brand Experience

The brand experience is what your customers feel when interacting with your brand. That's whether trying out a product or interacting with customer service online. Brands like Disney and Starbucks have built their success on providing great brand experiences that create loyal customers and raving fans. Your brand experience should be consistent across all channels, from your website to social media profiles to customer service interactions. Every touchpoint matters. Make sure everything aligns with who you are as a brand and what you stand for at every point in the journey.

Create Brand Associations

Brand associations are the images and feelings your brand evokes in consumers' minds. Associations can be positive or negative, but they have to strike a chord with your target audience if you want brand recognition. For example, Old Spice is associated with virility. Dove is associated with nurturing women's self-esteem. Both brands are successful because their brand associations are clear and resonate with their audiences.

Get Brand Reviews From Experts and Existing Customers

Getting brand reviews from experts in your industry plays a significant role in brand recognition. You see, people respect third-party endorsements. They'll be more likely to trust the authenticity of your brand if it's been recommended by an expert they respect. If you don't have any brand reviews yet, ask some of your satisfied customers for recommendations. Use these reviews in future marketing and sales materials and on your promotional channels, website, social media platforms, print materials, etc.

Analyze Your Brand Competition

It's important to know your direct brand competitors because these are the people you're competing with for brand recognition and sales. However, don't stop there. You should also study how other brands in your industry get their message across to determine what works well and what doesn't work at all. If possible, try to get a copy of an annual brand report produced by an industry association or research company. You'll see which brand strategies are working best in your business niche. Compare this data to your brand strategy to see if there are any gaps between where your brand is now and where it needs to be for success.

Measure Brand Success Using Key Performance Indicators

To know if your brand strategy is working, you must track progress and measure it against your goals. You can achieve this by setting up key performance indicators (KPIs) and tracking them over time. KPIs can vary depending on your brand and business. However, common ones might include brand awareness, website traffic, leads generated, or social media engagement. By tracking these metrics regularly, you can see how well your brand strategy is working and make necessary adjustments along the way.

Creating the Best Brand Strategy: Everything You Need

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. A strong brand strategy can help you to connect with your target audience. It'll help you stand out from the competition, and achieve success in today's crowded marketplace. With the tips provided in this guide, you should be able to create a winning strategy. That said, if you need help getting a good brand strategy together, please give us a call, and we'll work together.

by James Rosene

What Are the Common Types of Digital Marketing?

If you're like us and you run a small business, you know the importance of expanding your customer base and reaching new eyes. Marketing is everything when it comes to business growth, but not enough business owners understand how to make it work for them. While traditional marketing is still useful and you should never toss away your business cards, various types of digital marketing are the way forward.

But what is digital marketing anyway and why the heck is it so important?

Well, digital marketing is any type of marketing that uses digital means to reach customers. Most of the time this marketing comes in the form of internet-based communication and content. We're here to talk about what types of digital marketing are used for marketing a business. So pour yourself a cup of Joe and pull up a chair.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

SEM is the first thing that most people think of when they think about digital marketing. SEM is search engine marketing and it's somewhat of an umbrella term, but in this context, we're using it to mean paid marketing, which is also often referred to as "PPC" or "pay per click" marketing.  Lots of small businesses start out with SEM while they grow the rest of their digital marketing strategy. This means that you should have room in your marketing budget to accommodate routine SEM payments.

Why is it so important? Well when you use SEM, your business's website will appear at the top of search engines by default, but potential customers will know that you've paid for this spot due to the "ad" label. That said, this is still a great way to gain more traffic.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO is the king of digital marketing and all business owners should include it in their digital marketing strategy. When you use search engine optimization, you're setting your website up to move up the search rankings. Because many people never venture beyond the first page of Google searches, this is crucial. SEO has many benefits that SEM just can't match. While both are useful, SEO is popular for a reason. When you invest in good SEO, you're setting your website up for a future of success instead of just success at the moment. That SEM will be the stepping stone for your business, but SEO will keep your strategy afloat.

SEO has to do with several things. You need to have an updated and accurate Google My Business page, great keyword use on your site, and valuable information. Many people make the mistake of using bad tactics like "keyword stuffing" (or overusing keywords for SEO purposes instead of useful purposes). This practice can hurt your SEO. This is one of the reasons that it pays off to have a professional. SEO ends up paying for itself over time and you don't have to pay every time you want an ad at the top of the search engine.

Local SEO

Speaking of SEO, local SEO is also important if you're a brick-and-mortar business that's trying to drum up local customers and support. You want to make sure that you're targeting the right people, right? A lot of people, 76% in fact, will visit a business within a day after searching for it on their smartphones. For you to turn up on that smartphone search, you need to utilize local SEO. Local SEO is broken down into several categories and there are several ways to make it work for you. It requires you to use local keywords and have an accurate position on Google Maps. This allows customers to recognize that your business operates out of their town or city. You can also build your local SEO by acquiring backlinks from other local businesses both in and out of your niche. This tends to be a tradeoff between businesses, so this is a great time to talk to local business owners about negotiating an arrangement.

Content Marketing

Content marketing and SEO (local and otherwise) go hand in hand. But what is content marketing? Content marketing is when you utilize blog posts and other valuable content to attract customers and build your SEO. While blog posts were once for people writing personal accounts on Livejournal or filling on food blogs, many businesses now use them as part of their digital marketing strategies. When you use content marketing, you fill your website with valuable keywords. This means that people browsing the web who are looking for a specific service, or even an answer to a question, will come across your page.

When you use content marketing, you'll come off as an expert in your niche, which will help you build customer trust.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has little to do with your website and everything to do with keeping up with social media trends. Everyone knows about social media marketing and how it can contribute to growing a business, but are you taking advantage of it? When you hire a professional for your digital marketing strategy, you'll be able to find and target your ideal audience with social media marketing. For example, if your target audience is made up of millennial women, you may end up focusing on utilizing Instagram because that's where that demographic "lives" on the internet.

While social media marketing contains traditional ads and hashtagged content to attract new people, you can also utilize influencer marketing. Younger audiences tend to prefer this marketing style as they don't respond as well to standard digital ads.

Try These Types of Digital Marketing to Grow Your Business

These are just some of the various types of digital marketing that you can use to help your business grow and thrive. Whether you're using SEM, SEO, or social media marketing (or a combination of the three), you'll discover that your business grows in record time.

So if you need of someone to help out with your digital marketing efforts, EraserFarm has a small, crackerjack team of experts ready, willing and able to help. Contact us and let's get started working together today.

by James Rosene

Instagram Marketing for Beginners

About 3.5 billion people are active on social media. That's a crazy number, if you think about it. And because of that, over 90% of marketers use social media to boost exposure for their brands online. A few eye-catching images and witty captions aren't enough for a strong Instagram marketing strategy, though. So with that, here are 10 tips that can help you learn how to market on Instagram. With these Instagram marketing strategies, you can reach more customers online. You can build a following, engage your audience, and potentially generate fresh leads.

Ready to set your brand up for success online? Get started with these 10 easy Instagram marketing tips today! Let's roll.

1. Research Your Audience

Before anything else, take the time to gather research. Research can help you make more informed decisions with your Instagram marketing strategy. Otherwise, the assumptions you make could waste valuable time and energy in the long run. First, take the time to learn as much as you can about your target audience.

If you're targeting a broad audience, segment your customers into distinct personas. You can distinguish each group based on demographics and psychographics. For example, you might segment customers based on:

• Age
• Education
• Language
• Gender
• Household income
• Marital status
• Interests
• Buying behaviors
• Hobbies
• Pain points

Think of each persona as a real person. What content are they searching for while online? Understanding your target audience can help you better appeal to their interests. In fact, over 70% of people get annoyed when content has nothing to do with their interests. Over 50% of consumers will switch brands if companies don't use personalized messaging. Personalizing your content with distinct customer groups in mind could boost your ROI. In fact, 80% of people are more likely to make purchases from companies that personalize communications. Personalization can boost your ROI by eight times, too.

As you use the rest of these Instagram marketing strategies, keep your customers in mind. Speak their language to draw them in.

2. Check Out the Competition

As you gather information about your target audience, don't forget to consider your competitors. You develop a strong Instagram marketing strategy based on the mistakes your competitors are making. You can learn from their successes and failures.

Look at the posts your competitors share on their Instagram accounts. Create a spreadsheet that outlines the:

• Types of posts your competitors create (still images, videos, IGTV, Reels, Stories, Shoppable posts, etc.)
• Day and time each post goes up
• Their most popular posts
• The hashtags they use
• How often they post

As you review their posts, check out the engagement. Which posts get the most likes and comments? Which posts tend to fall flat? Don't copy what your competitors are doing. Instead, look for ways to improve on their Instagram marketing strategies. For example, you can learn which post formats are most popular with your target audience.

3. Update Your Profile

Optimizing your Instagram profile can help more potential followers and customers find you online. First, make sure you're using a business account. Instagram's business accounts offer additional features and tools. For example, you can review your Instagram Insights to learn more about your followers. When updating your profile, try to add as much helpful information as you can. Make sure your business name is clear. Use a handle that's easy to remember and associate with your brand. Make sure to include your website, too. Use a hashtag that's relevant to your business within your description as well. These tips could help you use Instagram as part of your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, too.

4. Create Engaging Content

Engaging, branded content is key for a successful Instagram marketing strategy. Make sure your content is unique and helpful. Focus on providing your customers with entertaining or helpful content. Try to avoid hard sales tactics. After all, most people aren't on Instagram to shop. Instead, help them learn more about your business. For example, you can create product demos or tutorials. You post helpful tips and tricks or schedule live Q&A sessions. Experiment with different forms of content to see what engages your audience.

5. Schedule Ahead of Time

Once you start developing your content, try to schedule your posts ahead of time. Scheduling your posts can help you remain efficient and organized. Once you start posting, look at your data. What day and time help you generate the most engagement? Schedule your posts at the right time to reach your audience.

6. Partner With Influencers

Instagram influencer marketing can help expand your reach. You can boost brand awareness and build your online credibility. Look for influencers your target audience already loves. Then, ask if they're willing to promote your brand. You can leverage the influencer's existing brand trust and loyalty to draw more people to your business.

7. Gather Your Hashtags

Create a branded hashtag for your posts. Encourage people to use your branded hashtag when they discuss your business. Then, share their user-generated content to boost brand trust and loyalty. Avoid using oversaturated hashtags like "#love." Instead, focus on hashtags that appeal to your target audience. Make sure the hashtags you use are appropriate to the post, too.

8. Keep the Conversation Going

As people begin commenting on your Instagram posts, comment back! Create a two-way conversation. Respond to questions and let your followers know you're there to help. Look for ways to boost engagement, too. For example, you can create polls and quizzes in your Stories. Consider hosting a contest as well.

9. Track Trends

Keep up with the latest trends to ensure you never fall behind. Otherwise, followers might think your business is outdated. Choose trends that suit your industry and business. In the meantime, make sure to avoid these eight social media marketing mistakes.

10. Analyze and Optimize

As you develop your Instagram marketing strategy, make sure to review your data. Reviewing your data can help you learn from your mistakes. You can also recognize the strategies that are helping you engage your target audience. Continue optimizing your Instagram marketing plans to gather more followers and leads in the future.

Like a Lot: 10 Instagram Marketing Tips for Beginners

A strong Instagram marketing strategy can put your business on the map. You can reach more people online and start building a loyal following. Develop your Instagram plans with these 10 easy tips today.

And of course, if you need help developing your digital marketing strategy, we're always here to lend a hand! Contact our team today to get started.

by James Rosene

Latest Trends in Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience. So, it’s imperative that you have a strong understanding of the current industry trends. So with that, I've listed some of the most notable ways below that you need to keep in mind. Let’s get started.

User-Generated Content

As time goes on, more and more companies will begin to implement user-generated content. For those who are unaware, this term refers to any type of content that is created by users as opposed to the brand itself. One of the most common examples involves a brand holding a contest or similar event that encourages members of its target audience to post their own photos or videos while following specific guidelines. These are often in the form of “challenges” that aim to increase the engagement that the brand has with its audience while also promoting a specific product or service. As you might guess, this is a highly effective marketing method due to the fact that members of your audience can easily relate to people that are similar to them. So, keep this in mind when moving forward.

Mobile Live Streaming

Live streaming has been a pillar of video marketing for the past few years. It immediately establishes a powerful connection with your audience and provides insight into certain aspects of your brand then they normally would be unaware of. For example, a business might start a live stream and then showcase what the average day is like at its facility. You may get to see what goes on behind the scenes, members of the team in action, etc. This trend will continue, except it will almost exclusively utilize mobile devices. This is simply due to the fact that mobile applications have exploded in popularity since their inception.

This is particularly true for TikTok, a short-form video app that took the world by storm and had unprecedented business applications. Keep this in mind when moving forward so that you can formulate ways to incorporate mobile live streaming into your video marketing methods.

Interactive Content

People will want to save more and more time as the years go on. After all, the average person has the attention span of a goldfish at this point. Interactive content removes the need for the user to contact a brand, visit a website, etc. So, the user is far more likely to take the company’s intended action, such as making a purchase or signing up for an email newsletter. Some brands plan on taking this a step further and integrating augmented reality/virtual reality into their video marketing. This will provide a viable alternative to the conventional in-person shopping experience, something that many consumers have gotten used to over this past year.

Shoppable Video Content

Although shoppable video is a relatively new form of video marketing, it’s expected to be highly effective. This method allows members of your target demographic to purchase a product directly from an advertisement. As previously mentioned, this completely eliminates the need to take extra steps in order to navigate to a checkout page. Making products easier to purchase will go a long way when it comes to maximizing sales performance.

In many cases, this type of video content can even outperform display ads.

Educational Videos

From a marketing standpoint, one of the most efficient ways to connect with a customer is to teach them something. More specifically, though, e-learning has been projected to grow substantially in the coming years. Educational videos also include forms of online training that professionals and students alike can benefit from. Since this industry has recently seen unprecedented growth, brands are beginning to invest more than ever before into it. That means you can expect to see a sharp increase in production value when it comes to educational video content.

Virtual Events

As more and more brands begin to recognize the utility of virtual events, they become a more practical option in many circumstances. To elaborate, more companies than ever before are beginning to host remote sessions as opposed to in-person gatherings. This is even true for types of events that have traditionally always involved traveling to the physical location, such as music festivals. We can expect to see an increase in diversity when it comes to what type of virtual events companies begin to host. Instead of celebrations, it’s highly likely that many brands will hold conferences, public announcements, etc. from a remote location and livestream them while doing so. No matter what industry you operate within, chances are that hosting virtual events is something that you can benefit from at some point in 2021.

Animated Explainer Content

Similar to educational videos, animated explainer content is projected to be on the rise this year. However, these aren't quite aligned with education in the same way. To elaborate, explainer content involves informing viewers about noneducational topics. Ongoing social issues, for example, are a common focus of explainer content. Although simple in nature, this type of video content can hold its own among the top video marketing strategies.

It’s Essential to Keep the Above Video Marketing Trends in Mind

These will help ensure that you implement the appropriate methods when it comes to targeting your audience. Moving forward, you’ll find that video marketing is far easier than you anticipated.

Want to learn more about what we have to offer? Feel free to get in touch with us today and see how we can help.

by James Rosene