Let’s say you just invented something that puts sliced bread to shame. Something that will improve lives by the million.
You have a website and a logo. You even have a few ideas for commercials.
There’s just one problem: Nobody knows you exist… and your industry is stacked with competitors.
In short, you need a media buying strategy — pronto.
Let’s dig into the whats, whys and benefits, shall we?
Spending Your Media Budget Smartly.
A couple hundred years ago, there was really just one medium: The newspaper. So, anyone could buy space in the local rag for a few pennies.
Not much strategy involved there, right?
But then came magazines. Then billboards. And radio followed by TV and trade magazines. Then the internet and wearable internet. Each of those mediums has hundreds — or hundreds of millions — of advertising placement options.
# TV stations:
1,775+
# Radio stations:
15,000+
# Newspapers:
6,000+
# of US websites:
133 million+
# of magazines:
7,400+
And since the general rule of thumb is that you should spend around 7% of your budget on marketing, you need to be mindful of how — and where — you deploy your resources.
That’s a major reason to have a media buying strategy. But not the only one.
Media Buying Strategy Benefit #1: Achieving Communication Goals
What’s one thing that every company has, but is different for every company?
Goals.
Your company might be a shiny new startup that’s scrounging pennies to get your brand out to the masses (or niche).
Your business could be a century old, searching for more leads (not sales) with millions of dollars to spend.
Yes, everyone has a different goal by which they measure success — but success rarely happens without a solid strategy in place.
Media strategy agencies like Stealth Creative move businesses forward by zooming in on your priorities first, then zoom out to generate a plan for desired results. This is an important distinction.
Why?
Because some media is more conducive to certain goals than others.
Digital is Best Suited For:
Specific targeting Generating real-time data Fine-tuning performance
TV Works For:
Creating effective consumer connections Broad reach Telling stories
Radio is Perfect For:
Efficiency Large audiences Driving online brand searches
Out of Home Enhances:
Broad-reach appeal (billboards on highways)
Niche messaging (individual screens at gyms)
Use Social Media For:
Highly-visual elements
Product demonstrations
Engaging with customers
Print is Ideal For:
Making lasting impressions through physical interaction (holding, turning pages) A more “hands-on” interaction
Your media team will help figure out the right mix based on your goals.
Benefit 2: Data-Driven Delivery
Media planners and strategists are nerds — and they aren’t ashamed to embrace it. Excel is to them what water is to fish. They view data in all its forms as the missing element that makes any strategy really sing.
In fact, media teams make every decision by running the numbers ragged. And a
mathematically-based plan of attack is one of the main reasons why you need a media strategy:
Since media planners put data and analytics under a microscope, they shine at:
Segmenting your audience
Optimizing campaign or spend for constantly improving results
Determining return on ad spend (ROAS) effectiveness
Plotting share of voice, brand recall and other key metrics
Stealth Creative’s media team understands the strengths and weaknesses of each medium and knows which best aligns with the results clients want within their budget.
And our media buyers also understand the nuances between different platforms. For example, different OTT vendors can serve “similar” ad experiences, but they vary on who can be targeted, when and how impressions are delivered and other variables that must be weighed.
Everything is factored to create a plan that has the highest likelihood to achieve — or exceed — the stated goals.
Benefit #3: Right Place, Right Time, Right Message
Pretend for a moment that you sell mattresses and your media team has a strategy to run two different spots: One late at night and one early in the morning.
Why would they do that?
Because the messaging can be different. If a commercial is running at 1 am and an insomniac sees your ad (commercial or banner), the takeaway should be about how your mattress is an instant lights out miracle.
But if someone doesn’t get a deep sleep, the messaging they see or hear on their way to work could be about how they’d feel wide awake if they gave your product a try.
Working with a media planning team not only helps ensure your ideal audience receives your message, they help guide the strategy to help make sure the message makes sense in the context it appears. This 360° thinking is more likely to happen with a full-service marketing agency like Stealth Creative.
Benefit 4: More Bang For Your Bucks
In business, just about everything is negotiable — and that includes media pricing.
As we noted in our marketing myths blog, media buyers can leverage their expertise and connections to negotiate buys at lower rates. Why? Because certain mediums can be like the Costco of marketing; when you buy in bulk, you get better rates. And when you plan media for multiple companies, you are more likely buying multiple time slots, issues, etc.
But there are other ways media buyers can sweeten the deal for you:
Bonus spots
Better placements
Digital elements like banner ads or site takeovers
These are just some examples of what can be negotiated or included in a well-rounded media buy. And your strategist won’t be afraid to play a little hardball to get the best possible deal to achieve your goals.
Benefit 5: Monitoring Your Marketing
Just like any stock market investor will check their 401(K) balance from time to time, it’s natural for companies to want to know how their media investments are doing. Good media planners hold scheduled meetings with clients to discuss performance, tweaks, reconciliations and recommendations pertaining to the strategy.
During these calls, certain data will also likely be discussed:
- Ratings
- Impressions
- Bonus deliveries
- Impact on leads/sales
In certain circumstances — especially digital — you might be able to log in to your own dashboard to see the number of views, clicks and other metrics for a more-or-less real time idea of your campaign’s performance.
Here’s the bottom line: You should expect and trust your media team to make the entirety of your relationship turnkey so you can focus on other things. And they should always be available to communicate the status of your strategy.
Benefit 6: Fresh Ideas, New Opportunities
Media evolves. New competitors and technology come to market. Most importantly, though, opportunities arise.
Just because an annual plan is made at the onset, that doesn’t mean your media team will be sitting on their hands.
Not at all.
Instead, they will (or should) be paying close attention to the national and local landscape in search of the latest and greatest developments, eager to bring these to your attention. Similarly, they should be eyeing consumer sentiment shifts and other measures to proactively modify your strategy and set you up for however you define success.
For example, although the NFL broadcast schedule was set during the summer, ABC and Disney made a deal in mid-September to air an additional eight Monday Night Football games on ABC. Your media team is paid to be on top of these breaking opportunities.
Media Buying Strategies Have Even More Benefits
Indeed, there are literal books on this topic. And while we could make this page infinitely long, you’ve got things to do… like maybe finetuning the strategy for your media buy.
Why not get in touch with the Stealth Creative media specialists? You’ll save time, money and give your business the best shot at achieving its marketing goals.
Brian Reinhardt
Brian Reinhardt is a Senior Copywriter at Stealth Creative whose first unpublished story was penned at the age of eight. Yes, it involved hoverboards, lasers and robots. His days are filled with researching, content creation and SEO strategy. His nights are spent with family, reading and managing too many fantasy sports teams. Nine is his favorite number.
There are all sorts of crazy marketing myths swirling around that might make you question advertising’s effectiveness.
And we have to admit: You can’t believe everything you see on TV or hear on the radio (or read online for that matter).
Pretty ironic coming from a full-service advertising agency, right?
But that shouldn’t keep you from advertising on TV, radio, or anywhere else. So, let’s shine a light on those lies that are hurting your company’s bottom line.
Video Production Is Just Too Darn Expensive
There was a time where we would’ve agreed. Today… well, not so much — and no, it’s not because of AI!
It really comes down to working with a full-service advertising agency (like Stealth Creative).
Here’s why.
We edit, film, and produce commercials in-house whenever possible because this cuts out the middleperson 95% of the time — and that can cut costs in a big way without sacrificing quality at all.
Plus, it turns out your business really can’t afford not to have some sort of video presence for lots of reasons.
“Some of our most memorable spots were also some of our most creative not only in terms on concepting, but working within our clients’ budget.”
-Jeff Schaeffer, Senior Video Producer
Media Buys Cost An Arm and Two Legs
Not so fast.
The truth is, some media buys cost more than others.
For example, in traditional media like television, there exists a finite number of commercial breaks. A limited number of spots to fit a specific amount of time. So yes: it tends to be a bit pricier. There’s no escaping that harsh reality — it’s the (not so) free market in action.
Conversely, digital media buys can cost just pennies per thousands of views! And radio buys can actually be more affordable than you think.
However, budget-sensitive marketing heads realize they need a media strategy if they want a real shot at success. So, what do they do to make the cost more bearable? They try doing it themselves.
We appreciate that “can do” attitude… we just want to caution you.
35% in savings is an absolutely huge number! It could mean literally thousands of dollars — or more! That’s the same as being able to broadcast your commercial or message more often.
By working with Stealth Creative’s media buying team, you can:
Identify your real target audience
Pinpoint where they’re most likely to watch, listen or read
Benefit from the hard-nosed negotiating skills of your buyers
Experience a more collaborative approach between media placement and the spots produced
“The effectiveness of the message can be more important than the out-of-pocket cost alone. Ineffective impressions reaching your audience (even if they cost next to nothing) are not valuable. Agencies have the strategic experience and tools to develop these solutions to recommend the optimal Media Mix and tactical solutions to deliver against your goals.”
-Lisa Smith, Media Director
Proofreading is Overrated
What do an erroneous letter and missing zeros have in common?
They’ve all led to losses in the millions of dollars.
That’s right. Millions.
Take for instance a Yellow Pages ad (remember those?) from 1988. Banner Travel Agency wanted to promote their exotic travel packages. Someone at Pacific Bell swapped the “x” for an “r” and changed the message completely.
Proofing Cost: $10 million
Then there’s the fiasco involving Alitalia Airlines in 2006. They wanted to promote flights to Cyprus for $3,900. What they actually promoted was flights for $39. Who could pass that deal up? Answer: no one, which led to a nosedive in profitability.
Proofing Cost: $7 million
So, yes. Details matter quite a bit. And when you hire an agency, every piece of work gets read by multiple people before you lay eyes on it — proof that proofreading is worth it.
“Few things can sour your audience’s perception faster than an obvious typo. It makes them question your company’s professionalism.”
-Jeff Ryals, Creative Director
Your Business Should Be On Every Social Media Platform Ever
We won’t dispute the effectiveness of social media. That’s why Stealth Creative has a team of social media specialists!
Sure, your business could create a {insert newest social media platform here} profile. But do you really need to?
Let’s think about it, shall we?
Time:
The more platforms you’re on, the more:
• Content you need to create
• Posts you need to schedule
• Comments you’ll need to monitor
Commitment:
Creating a profile implies you’re going to be active and engaged. If you’re not up to the challenge, your image will potentially look unprofessional.
Relevancy:
A lawn service company should focus their efforts on Nextdoor instead of LinkedIn.
“Now more than ever, it’s important to be where your audience is. Social media is a very saturated place, so you want to make sure you stand out against the competition with content that your target market will resonate with. The more focused you are on the profiles you’re utilizing, the higher the likely quality of the content. Don’t spread yourself too thin – especially if your effort is being used on a platform your audience doesn’t frequent!”
-Kirsten Hackett, Social Media Director
My Company is Too Small to Hire an Agency
This is the myth we want to banish more than any other.
Why? Because in business, as in life, it’s not where you start but where you finish.
Let’s face it: Most companies aren’t an overnight success. They spend months, maybe years, building an audience and carving out a niche, slow but steady.
Then, whether through a website redesign that emphasizes user experience, a breakthrough idea for a commercial or one savvy media strategy, they captured the market’s attention — and odds are an advertising agency helped somehow.
“Smart, strategic marketing can be the great equalizer — and it’s not reserved for household brands. If you’re hungry for growth, it can only help to get input from people whose career is helping businesses become more successful.”
-Dan O’Saben, Owner
It’s a Fact: We’re Ready to Market YOUR Company
And Stealth’s advertising case studies prove that we can make a difference for clients.
Brian Reinhardt
Brian Reinhardt is a Senior Copywriter at Stealth Creative whose first unpublished story was penned at the age of eight. Yes, it involved hoverboards, lasers and robots. His days are filled with researching, content creation and SEO strategy. His nights are spent with family, reading and managing too many fantasy sports teams. Nine is his favorite number.
In case you missed the news—you’ve got to adapt or die in this Digital Age. And for brand managers and business owners alike, building a strong online presence is crucial for success.
As we often say at Stealth Creative: Your website IS your brand; it acts as a virtual gateway for customers to discover and engage with your products or services.
So, as long as your website leaves a good first impression, you’re all set. Right?
Turns out, it’s not that simple. Because not all websites are created equal. To ensure your online platform effectively represents your business and reaches your target audience, it’s vital to invest in a website that’s built to best-practice specifications.
Let’s explore the key steps involved in creating a website that not only looks great but serves you exactly how it should.
Step 1: Wireframes and Site Map
The first step for developing your website is building a solid foundation. Wireframes and a site map serve as the blueprint for your website, outlining its structure, navigation and key functionalities. At Stealth, we understand how crucial it is to work closely with clients at this stage to ensure we have clear understanding of YOUR business goals, target audience and desired user experience.
Step 2: Design Phase
Once the wireframes and site map are approved, the design phase begins. Aesthetics play a key role in engaging your website visitors. This is where you get to meet our design team! They love to collaborate with clients, helping to spin their visions into a appealing and cohesive experiences. Logos, color schemes, brand guidelines and any specific design elements that reflect your brand’s personality are developed (or incorporated if already existing). This collaborative process will help create a website design that not only looks stunning but also reinforces your brand’s message and values.
Step 3: Development and Launch Phase
After finalizing the design, the development phase takes center stage. Stealth’s skilled developers will transform the approved design into a functional website, employing best practices for coding, responsiveness and usability. And since more than half of overall web traffic comes from mobile devices, we take a mobile-first approach to design and development. This phase may involve content creation, integration of e-commerce functionalities and customization based on your needs.
Throughout this process, we prioritize regular communication with you, so you can provide timely feedback and we can agilely address you concerns or modifications. Once the website is thoroughly tested and refined, it’s time for the highly anticipated launch.
Step 4: Initial Search Marketing Promotion of New Site
Your newly built website is ready to be unveiled to the world, but its success relies on driving traffic and attracting visitors. Incorporating search marketing strategies is the key to improving your website’s visibility in search engine results.
This is where Stealth’s digital marketing experts work to ensure SEO elements, such as keyword optimization, meta tags and proper site structure, are in place. Depending on your business’s needs, our content team can also help to create engaging and shareable content to attract organic traffic and explore paid advertising options to amplify your website’s reach.
You Get Back What You Put In.
Investing in a well-built website is an investment in your business’s success!
By partnering with an experienced agency like Stealth Creative, you can be confident that best-practice specifications are followed, and you can ensure your website is optimized for performance, user experience and search engine visibility.
Check out our Web Services page to get a sense of what we can do. Then, drop us a line when you’re ready to start your website build. We can’t wait to be your guide!
Jack Eschmann
Jack Eschmann is a Senior Copywriter who has worked on both the account service and creative sides of the advertising business. He enjoys crafting messages that are strategically sound, action driving and true-to-brand for each client he serves. He is also a leading member of Stealth’s content team, is an avid musician and production nerd—and can often be found laying down voiceovers in the agency’s production studio.
There are two phrases we hear around this time: “April showers bring May flowers” and “Spring Cleaning.”
No surprise, because according to Statista, 78% of us do some kind of spring cleaning every year. But that doesn’t just have to mean purging your closet or scrubbing baseboards. Today, we’re giving you some tips on how you can spring clean your marketing strategy.
#1 Declutter Your Assets
While there are assets that you should keep handy – logo files, for example – there are plenty that could likely move to an archive. For instance, creative or copy files that have already been produced can be moved to a server or hard drive. This way, you can still access them, but they won’t be taking up precious desktop space. Decluttering gives you a chance to take inventory of what you have in your library – while also allowing for inspiration when it’s time to freshen up those assets!
#2. Ensure You’re on Target
If it’s been a while since you’ve examined your target audience and messaging, now is the perfect time to look “under the hood” of your marketing strategy!
Ask yourself these questions:
- Who is my ideal audience? Why?
- Where can they be found?
- How has my audience grown, changed or shifted in behavior?
- Most importantly, where can they be found?
Because if you aren’t where your target audience is, you need to think about how to get there.
#3 Inventory Your Strengths
While you might keep some marketing in-house, consider if letting a trusted partner help expand your team’s capacity makes sense. Picture this: You no longer expend energy improving your social strategy or media placement. Instead, you get to do what you do best: run your business!
While we can’t help you organize your life, we can help you organize your marketing strategy. If you’re looking for a partner who wants you to succeed as much as you do, we’re here to help.
Kirsten Hackett
Can you believe how many changes the social media world has seen lately?
Neither can we. That makes now as good a time as any to fine-tune your social strategy!
Why?
Because social media means more to the brand-consumer relationship than ever before – and there’s always opportunity to strengthen those customer connections.
Social media users are switching between seven social networking platforms, and they’re spending almost 2.5 hours per day on average glued to their profiles. In a shock that comes to no one, younger generations use this medium more than any other.
Time Spent Using Social Media, per Generation
Can you imagine the possibilities for reaching your ideal audience? We can.
Here’s how to become a social media socialite.
#1 Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
We get it. Change can be hard. Especially when that change means doing things like getting in front of a camera.
But remember: Your customers want to see you. Don’t sweat being filmed. You’ll be talking about what you know best: Your business. And unless you’re doing a live stream, you can hit “Record” as many times as you need before publishing. (That’s what we do!)
#2. Know where your people are
Does your business need to be on every single social media platform? Maybe a long time ago, but not today. Whether you have an established business or are in the middle of building one, you should know who your ideal consumer is. Once you know that, it’s a matter focusing your efforts on where they spend their time.
Don’t know where that is? We do.
#3 Listen to Your Audience
If you’ve never heard of social media analytics, all you need to know is they help you listen to your audience. Most platforms offer their own analytic tools and insights, but you can also use third-party resources depending on your needs.
The best way to understand what resonates with your audience is knowing what makes them engage. For example, examine a post with a lot of comments. What kind of post is it? A conversation starter? Does it show personality?
Take the attributes of successful posts and recreate them. You don’t want to duplicate the exact same post, but consider how you can adapt the voice, message and imagery into your next social gem.
#4 Stop Their Scroll
You have three seconds to gain the interest of a social media user. That’s right: THREE. If you don’t grab attention off the bat, you’ll likely be ignored.
So how can you make sure this doesn’t happen to you? We’re so glad you asked.
Now that you know who your audience is and where they spend their social media time, put yourself in their shoes. If you were them, what would YOU want to see on your feed? Something eye-catching, right?
Right.
Whether it’s educational or entertaining, your content’s first impression can make or break its performance. A good introductory hook does exactly that – it grabs hold and doesn’t let go. And hopefully, it leads them to your profile to become your newest follower.
Let’s Get Social
Whether you’re a social media whiz looking for some inspiration or are just now starting to dabble, Stealth Creative’s team can help. Remember, it’s never too late to get your social strategy on target.
Source: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Statista and McKinsey
Kirsten Hackett
David Ogilvy concluded his book Ogilvy On Advertising with 13 predictions.
Many of them were flat out misses (billboards are just as prevalent as ever, direct response is still effective and politicians lean on negative advertising even today).
Because for as creative as he was, he wasn’t Nostradamus reincarnated.
But, seeing as how this is January, we want to give you our 2023 advertising predictions, delivered by Stealth Creative Owner and President, Dan O’Saben.
(And if you prefer reading, keep scrolling.)
Prediction #1: AI Dominates
What a time to be alive.
You can give ChatGPT a prompt to write a blog post. Use Midjourney to create images. And then use Grammarly to edit the post itself.
Impressive, yes. Ethical? While still unresolved, we’re starting to see this issue play out in legal arenas.
Effective? Kind of. After all, AI isn’t creating anything new per se. It just scrapes content and images from the web and rearranges it.
All of this can seem great for a company with a limited budget. But if you ask someone to compare work produced by a person to that made by machine, that someone will probably gravitate towards the authentic, non-AI work.
AI is still pretty nascent. It lacks that quintessential human touch. More importantly, AI hasn’t perfected groundbreaking concepts, even with the best of prompts—yet.
Prediction #2: Mending the Media Divide
Gone are the days when people tuned in at the same time to the same channel. Music playlists are generated by songs you’ve streamed and liked.
We live in a fractured environment, where we all consume media tailored to our tastes, with narrowcasting gaining hold on traditional broadcast.
So while traditional media isn’t going anywhere soon, that’s why we think there will be a bigger investment in OTT/CTV advertising in 2023.
Here’s another reason: There are no elections, which works against the amount companies typically spend on traditional media.
With an influx of budgets ready to be deployed in alternative formats, that means the need to identify and segment audiences with even greater precision becomes critical.
Prediction #3: In It For The Long Haul
There seems to be a misconception that the average person has the attention span of a gnat.
That’s not always true—at least when it comes to content we care about. Who among us hasn’t spent more hours than we’d like to admit watching or listening to a true crime docuseries?
We’ve learned that when it comes to consequential content (like videos on an assisted living facility where a loved one may reside), long form still reigns supreme.
As a result, we see brands leaning into short form reels for teasers or to raise awareness and long form, in-depth content to educate when an important decision needs to be made.
What Are Your Advertising Predictions for 2023?
That’s what we see happening next year. What do you think? Will our prediction be more accurate than Ogilvy’s? Do you have a different take?
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Drop us a comment or reach out to us. We predict we can help you crush your marketing goals.
Dan O'Saben
Have you ever collected a name, address, phone number or email address from your customers? If so, you’ve already gotten the party started. But it’s what you do with this information that counts.
Talking first-party data is now trendier than a Kardashian wearing vintage NASCAR apparel—and it’s becoming more important than ever for companies to recognize its value. This is largely because consumers are getting savvier when it comes to protecting their personal information.
First of all, what is first-party data?
First-party data is personal information that customers willingly provide, such as entering an email address to qualify for 10% off a first purchase. Or submitting their birthdate to get a discount or any other personally identifiable information. And anything you can offer in return to the customer will increase their willingness to share this valuable info.
You may have already been collecting this information for years. The question is: how you deploy this information to grow your business?
Not only must a good digital marketer be strategic with targeting, timing and messaging but they must be flexible and adaptable to whatever is going on in the world. And in the background, advertisers are continuing to grapple with the eventual demise of the third-party cookie.
This initially had online advertisers in a panic, since so many depend “crumb trails” that users leave behind when going from website to website for their targeting efforts.
With Google pushing the date of full third-party cookie depreciation back again and again, this news is starting to feel stale. But marketers still need to adapt, both to technical regulations and the increasing savviness of today’s consumer.
Future-proof Your Digital Strategy by Prioritizing First Party Data!
“Be mindful of the shoes your customers are walking in, and how you can help them.”
-Stefanie Grossman, CMO, Prezi
Moving towards this identity-based approach ideally means that advertisers will have a clearer picture of their customers, and customers will have more trust and develop a stronger connection with brands they interact with.
Some benefits of focusing on personal identity in your digital strategy:
- More reliable contact lists
- More accurate customer profiles
- Direct customer feedback
- Customers appreciate transparency throughout their journey.
When you know exactly who you are talking to, there is great opportunity to maximize ad content with dynamic creative, exclusive offers and other touchpoints.
Advertisers should feel inspired by this push to capture attention and give customers what they want, sooner. More intelligent marketing and stronger relationships between companies and consumers will be the result.
But how do I start building/using my database of first-party information?
Our advice is to look for ways to connect with your existing customer base in any way you can and give them something in return for sharing their information with you. Not only will you have better a chance of converting one-timers into repeat customers, but you will be able to constantly hone your target audience profiles. For example, if a customer just bought a new living room couch from you maybe you target them with an offer of a floor lamp or coffee table.
A strong digital partner can help you get the most out of your data.
Wield the Power of First-Party Data with Stealth Creative
Sure, there are still plenty of unknowns when it comes to effectively replacing the third-party cookie. Google, along with many other online marketing platforms, are doing what they can to get ahead of the change by developing tools that use data aggregation rather than individual tracking. (That is a topic for a different day.)
But no matter what is going on in the digital landscape at large, the key to success is ensuring your digital marketing team is paying attention and serving as a true partner—not just a vendor. That way, you can work together to focus on attracting and retaining customers, no matter what the ever-changing digital landscape has in store.
So, if you are ready to:
- Better personalize and integrate your consumer-facing content
- Make your digital advertising more efficient AND more effective
- Have a better relationship with your customers
Contact our expert digital team at Stealth Creative, receive the individualized attention and dedication to understanding your needs that you deserve—and start seeing how the identity-based approach can help you get the results you’re looking for.
Drop us a line today. We cannot wait to help you achieve digital marketing success!
While there are plenty of tools necessary to build a strong brand presence, there’s one that everyone needs: A brand voice. You might not think about it, but every single brand has one. Even yours.
What is a Brand Voice?
You might be thinking: “I’ve got a solid business plan and a great product. Do people really care if I have a well-crafted brand voice?” In response to this question, we couldn’t answer loudly enough: “YES!”
Benefits of Owning Your Brand’s Voice
Personality:
Your audience wants to learn about you. Consumers want to know that they are engaging with real people, not robots. By cultivating a personable brand voice, you are more likely to create an emotional connection with your consumer’s subconscious mind. How does this help you? According to Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of decisions related to purchases occur subconsciously.*
Consistency:
If your audience is hearing different voices in email messaging versus social media messaging, they’re going to notice the disconnect. This inconsistency can lead them to look in the wrong place for your product or service.
Another benefit of maintaining consistency is conditioning. Let’s go on a field trip, shall we?
Picture it now: You’re back in high school in General Psychology. Today’s lesson is on Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory. When it comes to exposing your test subjects–err, audience–to stimuli, it is most effective when it is consistent and recurring. If you don’t have consistency in each consumer touch point, you’re essentially starting the process of conditioning over… and over… and over again.
Retention:
Having a consistent brand voice doesn’t just benefit you externally. When your employees see that you’re not just talking the talk, but walking the walk, they’re more likely to believe in the company’s mission, thus improving loyalty. As we know, internal communication and trust are vital when it comes to building — and strengthening — a brand.
How to Create—AND Maintain—a Brand Voice
The best way to craft a strong brand voice is to go back to square one. What is your company’s mission? What do you hope to achieve—for yourself, your brand and your community?
Once you’ve answered these questions, consider who you want to reach. Who is your target audience? (A bonus to fine-tuning your target audience? Knowing where to find them to ensure that all the hard work that you’re putting into your brand voice is heard!)
After learning who your target audience is, you can then begin to consider their personas. What does your customer want? What are their personality types? Their dreams? Their goals? Even go as far as knowing their favorite sports teams? (Kidding. Kind of.)
When you’ve identified the mission, the audience and the personas, you can then test different voice variations. What resonates with this group? How would they characterize your brand voice? Here are some adjectives that can help get you started: Ambitious. Charismatic. Extroverted. Intuitive. Passionate. Trustworthy. Understanding. Witty.
Let’s Get Vocal
Whether you’ve got a start on some ideas for your brand voice or don’t have the first clue where to start, Stealth Creative’s savvy content strategy team is here to lend a hand.
We can help you define tone, feel and personality and start bringing out the key attributes that will help your audience connect directly to the soul of your brand.
But it all starts with a conversation! Get in touch with us today.
One huge advantage of digital marketing is that real-time data is available to show you how effectively your campaign is engaging your audience. Another advantage is that you can use that data to make informed decisions about ways to increase that engagement, even mid-campaign.
That’s why it’s important to work with a marketing partner who believes in the power of data and has the experience and discipline to read and respond to the story it tells.
At Stealth Creative, we’re devoted to data. We think being able to identify key metrics, dig into the numbers and communicate results in clear language is table stakes. What we do with those results to fine-tune tactics, placement and frequency is the real difference-maker.
To the person with only a hammer, all problems look like nails.
Because our digital clients represent a wide array of industries, we use an assortment of digital tools and platforms to drive the results they desire. Whether it be ecommerce, ticket sales, form fills or email opens, we never lose sight of our goal to deliver a strong return on investment for our clients.
We may design a programmatic digital display campaign to reach a custom audience, create and optimize an ecommerce search campaign, drive form fills, create segmented content for an email campaign and improve a customer’s Google review ratings—all to ensure our clients’ marketing dollars are being spent efficiently.
Here are some examples:
Ecommerce FTW
A recent ecommerce search campaign for one of our national health and beauty clients produced a return on ad spend of 33:1. Not only did we track spend and correlate it with product sales, through access to their ecommerce and Google Analytics, we also were able to identify the users who made purchases from the campaign, which products they purchased, the dollars spent and other identifying characteristics. With this information, the client was able to send personalized messages to folks who made purchases for similar products or routine maintenance.
Reach for the Stars
We all know how important online reviews have become for companies. Some of our clients have asked us to help them develop a strategy to engage with customers so they will leave reviews or contact the company directly if they are not satisfied with the product. By working with one of our clients in the insurance industry, we identified customers who had recent contact with the company and created a personalized email asking them to leave a 5-star review. This approach resulted in a significant increase in the ratings for our clients.
Getting Social
A well-planned and developed social media campaign helped one of our entertainment clients set a record attendance at their event. More than $56,000 in ticket sales resulted from a spend of $3,600.
Making a Stronger Impression
Our media buying, from traditional to digital, is handled in house, resulting in greater efficiency for our clients. We took the Joplin Convention and Visitors Bureau’s digital media buying in house and reduced their cpm by 40 percent, which allowed us to buy an additional 1.2 million impressions. For more details, check out this case study.
News that Just Clicks
Madison Mutual Insurance Company wanted to increase the opens and clicks on their policyholder newsletter. Our solution was to segment the newsletter by geography and policyholder type. The result was an increase of 36 percent in opens and 250 percent increase in clicks. For more details, read the full story.
Want to know more?
Spend some time with our other case studies or drop me an email at ckolsky@stealthcreative.com.
About the Author
Charlie Kolsky is a digital and analytics specialist who’s dedicated to delivering results for our clients. He’s also a pretty mean pickleball player.
Maybe your company has its external, customer-facing communication dialed in to a T.
You’re seeing results. Sales are up.
That’s great! But have you been putting the same effort into your internal messaging?
It’s okay to admit if you haven’t. The customer comes first, right? Right. But…
While maintaining relationships with customers and winning new ones may be your primary objectives, keeping your people engaged and informed should be just as much of a priority. Strong internal communication not only helps maintain the health of your company, it also helps protect the bottom line.
And it’s not as simple as repurposing your existing customer communications or firing off a few company-wide emails. You’ve got to be strategic and consistent from the ground-up.
In other words, you have to be in touch with the intrinsic values of your organization.
Invest in ‘The Employee Experience’
Work environments and employee priorities are evolving at a quicker pace than ever before, so it’s never been more important to make sure your HR and workforce teams are on the same page.
The journey your employees take during their time at your company and the various factors that affect their satisfaction, productivity and longevity—that’s the employee experience.
Benefits, compensation, work-life balance, work environment and company culture all shape this experience, but a good internal communication strategy should be the common thread that unites all of these elements. Because:
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A good employee experience fosters loyalty. You want to retain and grow the employees you have. Not only because turnover inherently costs more, but also because experienced employees can become powerful ambassadors for your brand.
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A good employee experience means you’ll be attractive to prospective employees. There is a lot of fierce competition for good candidates; you have to put your best foot forward wherever you can.
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A good employee experience is defined by and maintained through solid internal communication. People work better when they know what’s going on and believe in what they’re doing.
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If you take nothing else away from this post, at least take this: IT’S NOT A GIVEN THAT YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE FIRM BELIEVERS IN YOUR BRAND.
If the goal of internal marketing is to wind up with fulfilled employees who are nothing short of walking brand ambassadors (it is), they must have a firm grasp on your company, processes and offerings. Effective internal communication gives your team an opportunity to be more active in the company, from onboarding to further training and company education.
Turning Inward
No matter how big or small your business, it’s easy to focus so intently on external or product messaging you’re putting out into the world that you lose sight of what’s going on right under your nose.
And even though it may seem overwhelming, getting your internal game aligned doesn’t have to be a mammoth task. Just remember:
Customer-facing and internal-facing materials should go hand-in-hand. In many cases, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Your existing marketing materials are often a good starting place for employee education. This product explainer video we created for Friendship Village employees is a perfect example of creative that’s adaptable for internal and external use.
Internal marketing strategy is just as important as external strategy. Just as you would define goals for your marketing and/or sales teams, you should develop a roadmap for your internal processes at all levels, too. What does success look like? How can your leadership and HR teams help to lift up other departments?
Tactful Tactics
From digital onboarding programs, to training videos, to business accountability tools, there are plenty of ways to maintain the health of your organization on all levels.
Live-action or Animated Video
Display, Search and Geo-targeted Ads
Recruitment Collateral
Branded Digital Onboarding Portals
Professional Development Training
Business Accountability Tools & Partnership
Consider your audience. What methods are going to be the most memorable—even fun—for them to engage with? What processes need to be improved? What are some hurdles management keeps running into?
The right combination of tactics depends on the nature of your company. Whether you’re in need of recruitment help or professional development training depends on your current needs or goals.
Make Sure Your Marketing Is In Sync
The way you talk to your employees can be the difference between success and failure.
Just imagine if your company had the tools to INVIGORATE your current employees, ATTRACT future candidates and BUILD a base of enthusiastic brand ambassadors from the inside out.
That’s precisely why it’s time to consider Stealth Internal Marketing — and we have case studies to prove the benefits for your business.