How to Use Surveys for Market Research

by Jack Smith | Sep 20, 2021 | Blog Post, Market Research, Marketing Content

Every business owner wants to grow. However, it can be difficult to determine the best way to do that (especially if you have a limited budget).

One option is to conduct surveys about your product or service. Surveys can help you identify how you can improve your products or services and how customers feel about your brand.

Curious about how it’s done?

Why should you create a survey?

Conducting market surveys can help you avoid wasting valuable advertising funds and effectively target your campaigns.

Depending on the type of business, surveys can generate leads and collect contact information for building relationships with potential customers.

More importantly, they provide insight as to what your market wants and needs, allowing you to develop and provide these products or services in the future.

Benefits of Surveys

For the most part, surveys fall into one of two categories: questionnaires and interviews.

A questionnaire is a handout, mailer, or online form with a few questions the respondent can answer (usually anonymously).

Interviews might include individual meetings and calls with an existing or potential customer, as well as focus groups who volunteer or are paid to provide honest feedback.

How to Conduct Market Surveys

First, determine your goal. Are you trying to assess customer satisfaction, the effectiveness of your branding, or the right price point for your product?

Regardless of which survey approach fits your needs, be sure to collect demographic information about the respondent like location, age group, and income level. These factors are crucial because they’ll provide perspective about why the respondent is or is not receptive to your offerings.

Understanding Effective Content Distribution

by Jack Smith | Sep 14, 2021 | Content Creation, Content Management, Content Marketing Services, Marketing Content

Brands that are creating valuable, interesting content can still struggle to reach their target audience. But why?

It usually comes down to content distribution.

In other words: What happens after you’ve created amazing content? You need a strategic plan for publishing and sharing your content with the right people, in the right places, at the right time, and in the right way.

Why is a content distribution strategy so important?

Having a content distribution plan helps minimize randomness, so you can promote your content efficiently and effectively.

A comprehensive content distribution playbook helps:

Grow brand awareness
Increase customer engagement
Drive more web traffic
Boost sales

How is content distributed?

When it comes to content distribution, many companies just hit “share” and call it a day, but this is where you want to be strategic.

Thoughtfully approach how and where you share content. These are just a few tactics to consider:

Optimize your website, especially your blog, for SEO.
Identify what social platforms work for your brand and how often you should be posting.
Partner with popular influencers.
Write guest blogs or be a podcast guest.
Create (worthwhile) email newsletters.

Paid, owned, and earned content distribution: What’s the difference?

You own and control certain channels for distribution, such as your brand’s website and social media accounts or newsletter.

Other channels are paid for, like ads on social media or pay-per-click advertising on search engines and other websites.

You can earn content distribution, too: As your brand awareness grows, you build trust and reputation through mentions, customer reviews, shares, and links to your website in other articles or blogs.

Action plan checklist

Ready to put a content distribution strategy in place? Here’s a basic starting point:

Set measurable goals and a timeline
Identify and research your target audience
Decide which distribution channels are right for your brand
Choose the right types of relevant content and create (or locate) it
Schedule and distribute content
Build a relationship with your target audience
Track and measure the impact of your efforts
Adjust your strategy according to results

Want professional insight?

Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions you have about content distribution. There’s always more to learn.

Personalization in Marketing: Why and How

by Jack Smith | Aug 16, 2021 | Blog Post, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Personalized Marketing

Personalized marketing provides visitors with an individualized experience. In turn, this creates more opportunities for brand growth and customer loyalty — and increases the chance that people will make a purchase.

Want to learn more about personalization in marketing? Here’s what you’ll want to know.

What are the benefits of personalization?

Creating an individualized experience can help your brand stand out in an oversaturated market. When customers feel that you care about them and not just their money, they’re more likely to take notice and engage.

How important is data for personalization efforts?

Data is critical for personalized marketing. Luckily, there are many ways to help you find out who your customers are and what they want.

You’ll need to get familiar with data analytics tools, use surveys and quizzes, put an A/B testing plan in place, and do thorough market research.

How are brands customizing their marketing campaigns?

Segmenting and personalizing email marketing is a common way that brands to start with customization.

Many companies also use more advanced techniques such as personalized abandon cart messages and promotional offers, custom product or service recommendations, and location-based recommendations.

Other Considerations

Putting data to work is always a wise idea, but personalization can also involve:

Quick and helpful customer support
A thoughtfully automated chatbot
Responsive social media management

Get Started With Personalization

Contact us today if you have any questions about personalization in marketing and how to make it work for you.

What Should You Know About PR?

by Jack Smith | Aug 3, 2021 | Blog Post, Digital Marketing, PR, Public Relations

Public relations (PR) is a term most people know. But what is it, exactly?

On a basic level, PR is how an organization or brand communicates with its audience and the public image it presents. The idea is to create a mutually beneficial relationship.

Ready to learn more? Here’s what you should know about PR and how it works.

How is PR different from marketing and advertising?

PR is different from marketing and advertising in one major way.

The PR pro or team is responsible for presenting and maintaining the public image of a person, organization or brand. Marketing and advertising take the role of promoting products or services (and the sales team, if applicable).

What do PR professionals do?

Unlike marketing, PR professionals don’t buy advertising or focus on increasing revenue.

Instead, people in PR generally build a public reputation by using unpaid avenues such as social media, press releases, media relations and pitches, blogging or speaking engagements to leverage the organization’s mission. (In short, they leverage earned media.)

There is wiggle room when it comes to specific responsibilities depending upon whether it’s a government agency, nonprofit, public brand, or a different kind of organization.

How can PR work with marketing to optimize potential?

While PR and marketing professionals do different things, they do need to work together in some ways.

PR works to attract positive attention from the press, but marketing grows brand awareness and builds the consumer audience. When these teams work together, companies have a better chance at building brand trust and earning a positive reputation.

Still have questions?

We’re here to help! Reach out today to learn more about implementing the right strategies for your brand.

4 Shopify Best Practices to Implement

by Jack Smith | Jul 24, 2021 | blog, Blog Post, Digital Marketing, Digital Publishing, Marketing

Are you using Shopify? It’s one of the simplest and most popular e-commerce platforms available, and it has plenty of features to help you boost awareness and sales. But to take full advantage of Shopify, make sure you understand how to optimize your use of the platform.

Here’s what to know, including helpful tips you can put to work right away:

Let’s start with the basics…

Shopify is a subscription-based e-commerce platform that allows any business to set up a virtual store and sell their products online. Some of its key features include the ability to showcase products, manage inventory and facilitate payments — all while making stronger and more impactful connections with your customers.

And optimize with best practices.

Selling your products online gives you a bigger customer base, but it’s still up to you to grab people’s attention (and meet your revenue goals). Make sure you’re implementing a few best practices:

Copy: All of your products should be accompanied by descriptive, well-written copy. Keep it short but impactful, and always include a CTA.
Navigation: Break down bigger menus into smaller, more digestible sections so that your customers can easily see what’s available. And put an organized tagging system in place so shoppers can easily search and filter products.
Collections: Create curated collections to provide targeted recommendations and increase the scope of individual sales.
Design and Imagery: High-quality design and images make your products more attractive and let customers know what they’ll get.

Need help with your marketing? Get in touch anytime.

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

by Jack Smith | Jul 13, 2021 | blog, Blog Post, Digital Marketing, Digital Publishing, Marketing

Are you familiar with omnichannel marketing?

While it’s easy to get confused with multichannel marketing, omnichannel marketing is a distinct approach with its own best practices — and its own big benefits for your brand.

Here’s what to know, including the basics of what omnichannel marketing is and some simple tips on how you can start adapting it into your strategy.

What Is Omnichannel Marketing?
Omnichannel marketing is an integrated, sales-focused marketing strategy that aims to provide customers with a cohesive shopping experience across all platforms, places and devices.

At its core, omnichannel marketing is about putting the customer experience first. The goal is to ensure that regardless of how your customers like to shop — on their phone, through social media, in-store, etc. — the messaging and interactions they have will remain consistent.

Omnichannel Marketing vs. Multichannel Marketing
Both omnichannel and multichannel marketing are diverse strategies intended to capture an audience in various places and in various ways.

Where they differ is in intent: While multichannel marketing is focused on simply building a brand presence on as many platforms as possible, omnichannel marketing is about bringing cohesion to that practice in order to boost sales.

Make the Switch to an Omnichannel Approach
Creating an integrated sales experience isn’t just better for your customers — it’s better for you, too. Here are some tips to get you started:

Know your customers. Build well-researched customer personas to understand how and where your audience prefers to shop.
Work on segmentation. Different customers have different needs at different times. Segment them into groups (for example, new customers and existing customers in need of re-engagement) so you can offer an optimized experience.
Focus on cohesion. You want to make sure your customers have the same experience regardless of where they are. Double-check your story, your message and your branding are consistent from channel to channel.

Need more advice? Get in touch and we can help.

How to Use Surveys for Market Research

Understanding Effective Content Distribution

Personalization in Marketing: Why and How

What Should You Know About PR?

4 Shopify Best Practices to Implement

What is Omnichannel Marketing?

Are you familiar with omnichannel marketing?

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