Does Your Ad Strategy Fit Modern Times?

Advertising is an integral part of any business, countless dollars are spent every year by local and national brands to help spread their story to potential customers.  However as technology changes many companies have not changed their advertising strategies to compensate.  Thanks to a rapid expansion of social media platforms on mobile devices, faster internet connectivity, and more sophisticated technology a huge shift has occurred in the way people get their news, and the amount of money spent advertising on social media is set to match newspaper ad revenues by 2020 according to leading forecasters.

Advertising Agency Zenith Optimedia predicts that ad spending on social media will account for 20% of all internet advertising in 2019, crossing the $50 billion mark and coming in just one percent behind newspaper ads around the world, poising social media advertising to overtake newspapers by 2020.

As such, it is crucial that marketing efforts be directed to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  However, don't run to spend money on social media advertising just yet.  Use these trends to your advantage to develop a customized, organic, content-driven approach to social media in lieu of spending lots of money on short-lived ads.  And with the increasing popularity of free browser add-ons that block advertisements, your business stands to gain more with an organic approach to social media.

While advertising on social media can be beneficial, it is best used to complement an effective content-driven network, saving you money while still reaching people and creating potential customers.  Building an expansive network of inbound links is the foundation of good Search Engine Optimization (SEO), increasing your business's visibility online.  An effective network is comprised of multiple social media sites with a mixture of content such as blog articles, photos of your business and customers, instructional videos, videos highlighting inventory and special events, reviews and comments from real customers, and other unique content designed to showcase the many aspects of your business.

"The Big 3" social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube and it is crucial your business has a strong presence on these sites.  However, there is a large variety of social media channels that it is important to engage with.  Sites such as Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumblr, Flickr, and others serve to increase your reach to more customers.   Building a complete network and utilizing them to their fullest extent will set you apart from your competition.

Sound daunting?  Fortunately, creating an extensive network and populating it with consistent unique content is extremely simple with DeliveryMaxx.  DeliveryMaxx works with you to determine a marketing strategy, creates a custom social media and online review network, and provides you with a mobile application that allows you and your team to easily send content to populate your very own expansive network.  

Content marketing is simple and easy with DeliveryMaxx, all it takes is less than ten minutes each day to create content such as customer photos, special event showcases, blogs, daily posts, videos, reviews, and more!  All of which is posted and optimized by DeliveryMaxx allowing you to focus more on your business rather than social media and advertising.  Let us reach people for you and keep your business in the online spotlight!

For more information about how DeliveryMaxx works and to schedule a demonstration visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com or call 888.936.6299 today!

Why Digital Media is Necessary for your Business & How to Use It

Every article or blog that has been written over the last ten years has stated that businesses must utilize social media and online reputation to improve their business!  However, as much opining which has been published, explanations as to “How to use Social Media to your advantage” have been lacking detailed substance.

By taking a simplistic approach, businesses can effectively use digital media to accomplish their goals which will allow them to increase branding, online reputation, customer engagement thus improving customer service indexes and sales.

First, a business must ask themselves what they need published on the internet about their service, products and how they conduct business on a day-to-day basis.

Every entity needs the following:

·         Videos branded with their company.  These short videos should be natural and a true reflection of the business (today’s consumer isn’t wanting to watch another commercial).  Videos should be published daily and be readily available to send to inquiring customers.  By producing short 30-45 second videos whether they are customer testimonies or “how to” videos; businesses will be adding content to the web easily available to the search engines.  Videos should not only reside on YouTube or Vine.  They should be shared throughout the companies’ digital network and the business should have multiple active digital channels to reach potential customers.  Yes!  This means publishing videos to Twitter, Google+, Facebook and others.

·         Online Reputation is anything and everything said about your business on the internet.  Yes, stars are valid and make a brief statement about the feelings of individuals’ experiences with your business.  However, the consumer also understands that there are “Fake” and unwarranted reviews which do not tell the whole story about your business.  It is important to stay vigilant on all of the Online Review Sites keeping your star rating high.  However, it is much more important to allow all of your customers or clients to be provided a forum to share in detail their experience.  There is no better way or opportunity to provide an opportunity for your customers to share their experience immediately to sure accuracy of the experience and completion of the online review.  Unfortunately, many businesses don’t have a plan or a tool that will allow them to capture a review at the time of the transaction which limits the number of positive experiences to be posted on the web.  In addition, by allowing all customers to give immediate feedback at the time of service; unhappy customers who share their thoughts will allow the company provide an expedient remedy to the issue with the ability to satisfy and win the customer for life.

·         Customer Social Media Engagement creates customer satisfaction.  Business is pretty simple.  If you provide a good product or service to your patrons; they will be happy to share with friends and family what you have done for them.  User-generated content is much more effective and important than content you share yourself.  Praise from your customers is sure to catch the eye of prospects!  The only catch is that it must be easy for them to do and there has to be a program creating the virility of the post. 

·         Search Engine Optimization is important, but should be done organically.  This means creating content on the web which sticks or resonates with the Search Engines.  The more content provided the stronger your business becomes the authority in your subject matter.  Paid Advertisement only last as long as you are the highest bidder!  Organic content last forever.

There are thousands of analyst that have stated these things that must be done to create relevancy for your business on the internet.  There are almost as many digital media companies that try to provide a quick fix for one or all of these things that businesses need to utilize when reaching their potential clients.  The facts are that these companies have not been able to create a true engaging program for their clients’ customers falling short of social media marketing and online reputation.

With its Patent-Pending Digital Marketing Solutions; DeliveryMaxx is the only digital media company that provides a simple to use app which will allow to immediately collect online reviews, post engaging videos and online content with branding and advertising.  The program is embedded with digital code helping increase SEO which provides first page results on the Search Engines.  It is a tool that is implanted with a complete digital strategy giving their clients a competitive advantage over the competition.  For more information about DeliveryMaxx contact (888) 938-6299 or watch the DeliveryMaxx Introduction Video!

Content Content Content

For decades real estate professionals have been pounding home the phrase that opening a new business is all about… Location Location Location.  This phrase or concept dates back to as early as 1926 or even earlier.  The internet has made it commonplace for businesses to reach customers from around the world and with the advent of social media digital marketing is all the rage.  When designing a digital marketing plan or simply starting a new business, yes it’s that fundamental, every business owner or manager should consider several factors when deciding what and when to launch a campaign.  There are several types of marketing campaigns to consider, but here we are talking about digital marketing and more specifically content marketing.

Every post every picture for that matter every word that is said about a business or product is now an opportunity to introduce oneself or said product to the marketplace.  Customers are not only right around the corner, but now sit just a click away.  I’m not going to bore with details and statistics of why ecommerce is so important and explain the complexities of what makes for a good website, if you’ve made it this far you already understand these things.  What we are going to discuss is that in the digital age location matters, just not that much.  Online marketing programs are all about CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT, and did I mention CONTENT.

So where are you getting your digital content from?

Blogs are and excellent source to increase the number of mentions and backlinks to your respective address and in many cases this is the primary driver for original content most businesses use.  Blogs must be original and always include a message that speaks directly to the audience you wish to show up in your show room.  Blogs are also a great opportunity to share accomplishments as well as community spirit/service activities.  This is the best place to show case your business to the ever so discriminating public.  In short Blogs are your way of describing you.

Press Releases are much like blogs in that they provide the reader or prospective customer with a summary about you and/or your business.  The biggest difference here is that you don’t have control over the message.

Reviews/Online Reputation is all about what others are saying about you.  It’s pretty simple to maintain a positive online reputation, simply treat customers correctly and deliver on promises as stated when stated.  There are countless numbers of online reputation companies promising to “fix” businesses reputation.  Be wary of anyone that says they can get you reviews or have negative words that are being said about you removed from one site or another.  Simple fact is you are who your customers say you are and in most cases perhaps even better.  In general 95% plus of the people businesses serve would return to that business or even refer a friend, but statistics show that less than 3% share that information in a public forum.  What about the other 5% that for one reason or another were not satisfied??  You guessed and overwhelming number of those tell everyone.  You need to find a program that will capture more of the 95%ers.

Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) could take up an entire article, and there are plenty already out there, on how to utilize it for ecommerce but here it’s all about content.  Every post is an opportunity to add content about your business.  Unfortunately businesses fall into the trap of posting useless information just to fill a page every day.  Posting services sell or shall I say prey on managers and owners selling them on their “need” to have daily posts.  Here’s the secret… If it doesn’t point directly back to your businesses internet space then it is just filler.  There is content everywhere within the everyday activities of each organization that utilize third parties to create their social footprint.  What if each employee had the ability to create effective content that was a direct reflection of that organization and could show honest and current interactions with customers.  That company would now have an edge that no third party provider could provide.  

Recently, DeliveryMaxx was chosen for the 2015 Best of Rockwall for Management Consulting Services due to the program meeting all of their client’s marketing and advertising needs.

DeliveryMaxx is a privately held company providing social media marketing, web-based solutions, customer retention, and other advertising services and is based in Rockwall, Texas.  DeliveryMaxx is the preferred provider for companies needing to improve web presence, online reputation, customer satisfaction, sales, and innovative strategies that enables them to confidently deploy their mission-critical products and services in today’s competitive environment for market share.

For additional information about the company or its products and services, visit www.deliverymaxx.com or contact (888) 936-6299.

Content Marketing Doesn't Work

This may seem like an odd article coming from someone who makes their living in the content marketing world. But when I say that content marketing doesn’t work, it’s true. It doesn’t work for many companies because they either have the wrong expectations or the wrong creation and promotion strategies. And when content marketing isn’t deployed correctly, it doesn’t work.

Content marketing is a bit of a buzz word. The idea has been around for a long time, but it’s recently garnered attention as social media and SEO have started valuing content more and more. Add to this the fact that customers are doing more research before they make a purchase, and you can see why content marketing is getting more attention than ever before.

In the chart you can see that content marketing has actually surpassed search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) in search popularity. In fact, of the big four digital mediums, it trails only social media marketing in current interest.

But What Is Content Marketing?

The dangers of trends is that there is a lot of misinformation around what the trend really is. Because of this, I’ve seen definitions of content marketing ranging from native advertising to blogging to social media. Technically these are all forms of content, and yes they are also forms of marketing, but does that make them content marketing?

For this article, let’s limit the definition of content marketing to this:

Content marketing is the act of a company, business, or organization producing and promoting informative content to engage and interact with their target audience.

Why Doesn’t It Work?

Simply put, content marketing doesn’t work because it needs two attributes to be successful, a long-term commitment and high-quality content. And both of these requirements have high demands in terms of time and effort. Because of this, they are often ignored in an attempt to make content marketing more scalable and easier to deploy.

But unlike SEO and PPC, you’re not dealing with an algorithm when it comes to content marketing. You’re dealing with the reactions and emotions of your living, breathing customers. And that can’t be gamed, hacked, or exploited. Instead, you need to plan and deploy a content marketing campaign with the same care and attention that you would any other major company initiative.

Consistency

Content marketing requires time and effort. And these are two things that are usually in short supply in most growing companies. So, how do you find them? You democratize your content creation. Instead of trying to shoulder the burden of content creation with one person or one department, the responsibilities should be spread around the company. This accomplishes two things. First, it allows the workload to be shared and ensures that there is always someone fresh ready to step up and produce content. Second, it gives your message many different perspectives and voices. This is great for keeping the content from becoming stale and tired.

Another great trick to remain consistent is to have a well-established plan going into your campaign. This means that you sit down and write up your content calendar and your promotion strategies. And you need to make these as specific as possible. Ambiguity in your calendar will open the door for dropped initiatives and forgotten tasks. So assign hard due dates and make sure that everyone sticks to them.

Finally, in order to stay consistent you have to make sure your content doesn’t become a chore for you, the producer. To do this, mix in many different types of content so you’re always working on something that challenges you in a new way. Here’s a short list of a few types of content that work great:

• Blog Posts
• Infographics
• Slide Decks
• Case Studies
• eBooks
• Whitepapers
• Videos
• Quizzes
• Audits
• ROI Calculators
• Memes and Images

As you can see, content marketing isn’t dependent on having a blog. Yes, a blog is a great tool for content marketing, but it’s only one piece of the larger puzzle.

Once you have a consistent plan, you now need to focus on the quality of the content.

Quality

When it comes to the quality of your content, I like to liken it to the décor of your home. You want to produce content that you’d be proud to take home and hang on the wall. If you wouldn’t be caught dead with your content adorning your house, then you shouldn’t be using it to try and engage with your customers.

For the penny pinchers out there, it’s an unfortunate fact that you often get what you pay for when it comes to content creation. This doesn’t mean you can’t outsource your content creation, but you should expect to get what you pay for. That’s why for smaller companies it’s usually a better idea to create their content in-house.

So, whether you’re outsourcing your content creation or taking care of it internally, you need to ensure that you’re producing content on the right topics. To do this, you need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. At our firm we use in-depth buyer personas and customer journeys to give us an idea of who our target audience is and what we should produce.

Once you know who they are you want to help them. You do this by solving their problems. So, instead of producing content that’s all about you and your company, you should produce content that answers questions and helps them solve the challenges they face. As I’ve stated many times before, no one wants to download your brochure.

And don’t scrimp on the details. There have been many studies that the content that’s shared and engaged with the most is long-form, in-depth pieces that are supported by research and statistics.

This means you shouldn’t be killing yourself to produce new content every single day. But rather, you should focus on producing high-quality pieces. As long as you’re doing that consistently, then arbitrary cadences don’t matter as much.

The Proof Is In The Pudding

A friend of mine, Jake Baadsgaard, who owns a conversion optimization and PPC company called Disruptive Advertising, realized early on how much impact content marketing had on his marketing efforts. And we’re talking about a guy who works with PPC every day. Be that as it may, he knows that his PPC efforts are much more effective when they’re supported by content marketing.

“We have one of the most active and informative blogs in the PPC industry. And it produces great results for us in terms of traffic and customer engagement. But the temptation to short-cut the content production and promotion was a major challenge I needed to overcome. But a dedication to writing and planning has allowed us to stick to our guns and produce content that we’re proud of and that we know our customers want to engage with.”

Jake is not a natural content marketer. He would rather spend time on marketing activities that can be easily quantified and graphed in an Excel sheet. But his blog has been active for over a year and the posts they publish are long-form with great insights and research. This has led to syndication of the content, speaking opportunities, and interview requests. But without that commitment to quality and consistency, he wouldn’t have experienced those fringe benefits.

Put It All Together

So the next time you hear someone tell you that they don’t see the value in content marketing and that they never saw results for their efforts, they’re probably right. Because as I’ve outlined in this article, content marketing won’t work unless you focus on what’s important and have a long-term plan for success.

Original article can be found at http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/08/17/content-marketing-doesnt-work/ 

DeliveryMaxx has the answers and tools you need to successfully create the content you need to work for your business.  For more information visit http://www.deliverymaxx.com