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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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?
The more platforms you’re on, the more:
• Content you need to create
• Posts you need to schedule
• Comments you’ll need to monitor
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.
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
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
And Stealth’s advertising case studies prove that we can make a difference for clients.
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.
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 95 minutes per day on average searching their socials.
Can you imagine the possibilities for reaching your ideal audience? We can.
Let’s get started with three ways you can sharpen up the rest of your 2023 on social media.
We get it. Change can be hard. Especially when that change means doing things like getting in front of a camera.
But keep this in mind: Your customers want to see you. And if getting in front of a camera makes you break into a sweat, remember you’ll be talking about what you know best: Your business. Unless you’re doing a live stream, you can hit “Record” as many times as you need before publishing.
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
Recently we shared how social media is quite different than traditional marketing. This marketing effort is intended to build awareness, drive engagement, develop loyal brand ambassadors and serve as a key facet to your integrated marketing plan. And it’s table stakes in today’s socially savvy world.
Millennials and Gen Z account for more than one-third of the workforce, with that figure expected to increase to more than half in the next decade, making the younger generations the most dominant in the workplace. And keep in mind 48 percent of younger generation managers are your decision makers at a director level or higher.* As consumers and business decision-makers continue to get younger and younger, having a solid digital marketing and social media marketing game are the crucial first steps in your marketing foundation. They are what everything else should be built upon.
Think about it like a house. You wouldn’t build a house by simply adding rooms on top of stilts without a solid foundation in place because they would all tumble to the ground in a heap. The same thing is true for marketing: Focusing on marketing tactics without building your website and social media foundation first ends in the same result. And by the way, we can help with both! Just give us a holler.
So, how do you ensure you’re following social media best practices for your business to stay on point with your brand’s personality and the expectations of each social platform? You can start by checking out this social media best practices infographic we put together, or even reach out to us to help with your entire social media strategy, campaign and editorial calendars, execution, community management and analytics reporting.
We often get asked to share social media best practices with our clients as part of our marketing engagement or social media marketing strategy work. So, we thought, why not make those same best practices available to you?!
It all starts with the right approach, which looks like this:
Develop a social strategy that not only supports your overarching marketing strategy, but also your business goals and objectives. Everything should align from top to bottom.
Determine overarching key messages that reflect your brand’s personality and attributes, while ensuring any content you develop reinforces your primary messaging, keeping everything consistent in your marketing efforts.
Craft your editorial calendar by month, showing all platforms, date/day, subject, copy, call-to-action, hashtags and any associated links. This ensures you have the full snapshot of the month across all platforms – again, to ensure marketing consistency.
Post unique content on each platform. Let me say that again: Post unique content on each platform. This is important. Why? Because each platform has its own language and expectations, which we dive into in the infographic. It’s also important to ensure your content varies by channel because chances are the same people will follow you on all your platforms, and they’ll quickly lose interest or unfollow you if your content is the same across the board. It’s okay to post similar topics, but vary your copy.There is one time when it’s acceptable to cross-post the same content: If you have a social media channel and do not have the resources to devote to it, but want it to stay active, you can cross-post to ensure there’s activity on the channel.
Be consistent in your posting schedule. Due to the way the platform algorithms work, consistency is king. After 30 days or so of consistent posting, the algorithms will realize you’re being active, and recognize your content as ‘valid.’ This helps with organic visibility, as well as helps your audience know when to expect new info from you.
Engage with your audience. This is not a post-it-and-forget-it kinda gig. If you want a loyal audience and attract the right kind of followers (those who will engage with your brand), then you must engage with them. It’s called ‘social’ for a reason.Think about your social channels as a cocktail party or networking event. You wouldn’t walk up to someone, and say: “Hi, my name is Bob, and I sell widgets. Wanna buy one?” You’d ease into that. Get to know more about them and their interests. “Hi, my name is Bob. What’s yours?” You engage them back, ask questions, get to know them, understand them, and that will help you eventually present your products/solutions.And keep in mind, the rule of thumb on social is: Post nine non-product- or solution-oriented posts to one that ‘sells.’ And please don’t brand your posts. Organic social is about connecting – not selling/advertising. Save that for your paid social or digital ads. The more authentic and real you can be, the better.Additionally, your audience may have questions or comment on your posts. Answer them, comment back, engage with them, and you’ll start to develop a much more loyal following.
Monitor quarterly analytics/trends. Quarterly is the key in that sentence. Social media is fickle. One month engagement and impressions may be up, the next down. Typically, you’re going to see a fluctuation of 5% either way, which is considered ‘static.’ The objective is to grow the KPIs positively, and keeping an eye on the analytics quarterly allows you to see trends and adjust content accordingly.
So, check out the rest of the best practices to keep in mind by channel in the infographic, and then feel free to reach out with questions, to request a social media audit or even engage us to take social off your plate!
As always stay tuned until the next time we go Off the Radar.
*How millennials and Gen Z are reshaping the future of the workforce, CNBC.
We’ve heard the legend too many times to count. The lone social media marketer, clicking away at their phone keyboard deep into the night. They are essential, but your company – and that lone wolf – deserves more.
You may have noticed how obsessed with real-time video content everyone is these days. The ability to simultaneously record content and broadcast it to viewers is literally changing the world.
A few years ago, my marketing director and I had the opportunity to pitch the idea of social media to my then boss, who was the head of sales. I’ll never forget his response: Twitter? That’s that thing where people say they just had a tuna sandwich for lunch? No thanks.
Millennials. Those mystifying individuals born between 1980 and 1999. Once dismissed as a non-entity in the business world, Baby Boomers and Gen Xers have little choice these days but to sit up and take notice to this generation who now holds 20% of the management roles in companies – and, who recently surpassed Gen Xers as the largest generation in the U.S. workforce.
(more…)While press releases have been around since the Model A, there’s a quicker, smarter way to get your message to the masses while increasing your web traffic and social engagement through a little something people in the know call “the interwebs.”
The traditional way involved a sizable company submitting a perfectly crafted release into the hands of editors who may or may not decide to run it in whatever newspaper space was available. Even when it was accepted, the results (which often couldn’t be tracked) usually didn’t outweigh the cost.
Mercifully, the times have changed and small-and-medium sized businesses can reap the reward of the shifting digital landscape.
I find it increasingly important to have a basic understanding of digital marketing language. I’m not saying you have to know how to code using HTML, but at least understand what it does and how the technology is used.
This same idea applies to terms such as CSS, JavaScript, SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), CMS (content management system), social seeding and Google Analytics. As the call for digital marketing services becomes more prevalent, the ability to have a knowledgeable conversation with a client about digital marketing tactics is in higher demand.