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.

To V, or not to V, that is the question.

If you’re a brick-and-mortar business, the news has been rather grim lately. Chain after chain has announced mass store closings as digital giants like Amazon have cornered the market share on low-cost-high-convenience purchases and home delivery. Business Insider recently reported that as many as 7,000 big-name stores will close this year.

For years e-commerce has taken the world by storm, re-writing everything we know about marketing. Nowadays you can’t go through two pages on the internet without stumbling across the option to buy something from a digital store. We’ve even come to depend on the presence of an omnipresent digital store to fulfill our daily needs (see Amazon’s grocery service).

It’s not so shocking, then, that the digital world of shopping has entered a new phase in its evolution: Virtual commerce.

Gone are the halcyon days of static product images next to a little shopping cart symbol. The internet wizards have cooked up another crazy idea – combine the experience of an actual store with the anywhere-accessibility of the internet.

Sometimes change can be scary. Don’t worry, though. We’re here to bring you four reasons you should become one with cyberspace and jump on the v-commerce train before it leaves the station – and two reasons you might want to sit this one out.

Go V Reason 1: Global Domination!

In all seriousness, though, v-commerce picked up where e-commerce left off when it comes to market reach. The internet is everywhere, all the time. If you’ve got products you want to sell and a large target market, v-commerce is a good idea. Not only are the storefronts more engaging (e.g., Alibaba’s Buy+) but seeing the product in a 3D space is a language that transcends all barriers. And now with the growth of mobile e-commerce, v-commerce is poised to make your reach nearly infinite.

Think you’re the next Steve Jobs? Have you created the new great invention that no one will be able to live without? V-commerce will help you get your product out there in a more interactive way.

Go V Reason 2: Your Imagination is Your Only Limit

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could have a freakin’ dragon attempt to sell you a new TV? What about if Taylor Swift appeared in your living room and told you some behind-the-scenes information as demos of her latest tracks played?

With v-commerce, all of this is possible.

The beauty of virtual reality is that you can program all sorts of cool things to show off your products. Set up live virtual demonstrations to help customers see how your product works. Give demos to show people how your product fits in the real world. As we discussed in an early blog post, IKEA has an app using augmented reality that does this perfectly.

With v-commerce, the possibilities are endless. We live in a world where you have all the tools at your fingertips to engage your consumers in a spectacular and memorable way. Whatever you can imagine, you can create.

Go V Reason 3: Personalize Marketing Like Never Before

The big thing now is data collection. From the moment you log on to the world wide web, companies are collecting information on your interests, likes and dislikes to create a marketing profile. This is used to serve you ads that better meet your needs and are more appealing to you. But until now, that’s where consumer targeting stopped.

With v-commerce, target marketing has been revolutionized once again. With the proliferation of personal assistants like Siri, Bixby, Google and Alexa, data can be collected well beyond the confines of cyberspace. In addition, initiating shopping has never been easier. People can search products, browse options, and make purchases all by issuing commands to integrated AI.

In the future, these digital helpers may even be able to pull up virtual storefronts. But if you don’t optimize your business for v-commerce, you miss your chance to become part of a growing trend – and the opportunity to snap up a share of the market.

Go V Reason 4: Automation

We mentioned how integrated AI is key to the operation of v-commerce markets. This is also a benefit to you.

V-commerce lets the algorithms and AI do the work for you. While it’s not entirely a set-it-and-forget it approach, v-commerce allows you to take it easy when it comes to selling your product.

V-commerce takes the window-shopping experience of a brick-and-mortar establishment and puts it online. However, there are very important differences between these virtual stores and actual stores. For starters, there’s no need for a store manager or sales associates or even call centers. The integrated AI handles all of those functions to deliver a sales experience that is flawless.

V-commerce is the ultimate route for cutting down on costs while maximizing profits.

No V Reason 1: Ceci n’est pas une pipe

If you’ve seen Rene Magritte’s famous “This is not a pipe” painting, you’re familiar with the idea that symbols or images are not the actual thing itself.

V-commerce is all well and good if you’re selling say, handbags or electronics. But the whole virtual store concept starts to fall apart when your business is predominantly service based.

While getting your haircut or having a suit tailored through the magic of virtual reality sounds super cool, we aren’t there yet. If you work in an industry that requires a more personal touch when dealing with customers, don’t be afraid to bow out of the v-commerce race.

While brick-and-mortar retail might be suffering, brick-and-mortar services are alive and well.

No V Reason 2: The Biggest of Ponds

It sucks being a little fish in a big pond. That’s why when you finally find your niche, you’re probably pretty reluctant to leave it.

Maybe you’re happy being a local business with a low geographic profile. Or maybe that’s really all you can afford to be right now.

If this is the case, v-commerce is not for you. As we mentioned before, v-commerce opens up the floodgates of global e-markets, and if you’re not prepared to handle them, you can quickly get overwhelmed.

Not every business needs to be a global superpower. Stick to your guns, and do what your business does best.

Still feeling a little out of your depth? No worries. Stealth Creative is at the forefront of marketing and advertising. If anyone knows whether it makes sense for you to go virtual, it’s us. Drop us a line today, and we’ll navigate the digital world together.

As always stay tuned until the next time we go Off the Radar.

“My product sells itself. I don’t need video.”

So many companies fall into this trap of thinking. While it may be true that you have a killer product or service, video should still be an essential component in your marketing strategy.

Videos are effective and versatile because they can reach customers at all stages of the buying decision process:

Awareness during the discovery phase
Product reviews during the consideration
Post-purchase support in the form of how-to or repair instructions

With online video accounting for nearly 75% of mobile traffic, the importance of this marketing component can’t be ignored.

In fact, 91% of businesses use video. So, will you invest in this strategy or fall behind your competitors?

What kind of video is the best fit for your company?

The most commonly used e-commerce videos are:

Explainer
Product
Instructional
Testimonial
Promotion
Lifestyle

Explainer

An explainer video is just a quick introduction to your company. Think of it as your elevator speech. Something adaptable and memorable. Not only can you upload it for the public, you can also bring it along to meetings or your next pitch.

Sure, you could rattle off a quick description, or you can really wow your audience and give them a lasting visual impression. The key takeaway for the audience should be your company’s value — how can you help them? Reiterate your audience’s problem and show how you can solve it.

Prepare your explainer video with a concise script and remember to speak to your audience. Is this for the public to build awareness? Then simplify your language and adopt a conversational tone. Is this for a private presentation to a CEO? Speak formally and keep it informative.

Finally, don’t forget the call-to-action. What do you want the viewer to do? Call your office or download a whitepaper? Make the request relevant for your company.

You can see each of these tenets brought to life in the explainer video we produced for our client, Tolam Earth.

Product

Product videos are extremely useful for customers because it gives them the chance to interact with your product from different angles. Effective product videos follow a before and after theme. For example, we know how to use most common cleaning products, but in a product video, you can show the results of those products.

We did something similar for RepelWell on their social media channels, which you can check out here. If nothing else, it proves you don’t need a big budget to make this part of your marketing mix.

Instructional

Instructional videos should be more in-depth than the average product video. Here, you can go into detail about how to operate your product or service. These videos build trust, loyalty and enforce your credibility.

Troubleshooting videos also fall under this category. By developing a series of how-tos or tutorials, you provide visual support whenever its needed, which goes a long way in turning one-time buyers into lifetime customers.

Our client, Sparklight Business, wanted to inform business owners about the rising threat of cybersecurity attacks. Stealth Creative wrote and produced this video informing companies what they can do to protect their data.

Testimonial

Ah, yes, the power of word of mouth. Close to 95% of consumers read online reviews before purchasing, so capture those positive comments on video! A good video personality mixed with the benefits is the best formula for a testimonial video.

We produced this video capturing why our client, Sparklight Business, proves vital for their client, River Sober Living.

Promotion

Promotion videos showcase your latest specials and sales — and social media loves promotion videos. They’re quick, attention-grabbing and most importantly: addictive. In fact, people spend 50% of their time on Facebook and Instagram watching videos! So, why not promote your sale or event?

Just look at this video Stealth produced for a business internet and phone bundle. Not only did we weave a concept throughout, the payoff resonated with the intended audience.

Results? One of the best-performing campaigns our client had experienced in quite some time!

Lifestyle

Lifestyle videos focus on branding. Instead of capturing one item, this is a way to distill the true essence of your brand. Forget product features, benefits and selling. Lifestyle videos are all about narrative and emotion. They tap into our natural attraction to storytelling — translating into human connections from your product.

When you watch the story we tell for Friendship Village, you’ll practically feel what it’s like to live there.

Which Video Type Makes Most Sense for Your Business?

Contact Stealth Creative and we’ll take care of everything from ideation to production.