The importance of digital marketing

The importance of digital marketing

The Importance of Digital Marketing

hands holding phone

When you think of traditional marketing tactics, you might imagine billboards, TV and radio commercials, and paper handouts — which are great for some businesses, but can be expensive and not reach a very wide audience.

Chances are if your brand or business has any kind of marketing strategy, you’re already incorporating digital marketing of some kind. Digital marketing is everywhere, but knowing how to strategically incorporate it into your marketing strategy will be the key to reaching your marketing goals this year.

Here are some of the key digital marketing tools that your business should be using in 2022:

Web-based advertising

Businesses can run advertisements on platforms like Google and Facebook, which can be more attention-grabbing and reach a much wider audience than traditional advertisements on a billboard or in a newspaper. The ads can be specifically targeted to your desired audience and will link directly back to your social media or website, offering an efficient pipeline for interested potential customers to find out more about your business.

Email newsletters

Email newsletter marketing is a great tool to reach your customers at regular intervals with business or product updates, critical information, or engaging content. Most email marketing platforms can offer you an insight into new customer leads and outline what content is being clicked on by readers.

Social media

Social media is key to a successful digital marketing strategy and can be used to accomplish many different marketing goals. You can use social media platforms to get new information to your customers, reach new audiences, network, and promote your business’ style.

Using social media from a business marketing standpoint also offers helpful analytics and insights that you don’t see on your personal social media accounts. You can see how many people viewed your post, how they’re interacting, and what time you should post in order to best reach your target audience.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is all about ensuring your website is found by users looking for information through search engines. Search engines use keywords and phrases from web pages to offer users relevant information and results.

Optimizing your content for search engines shouldn’t be a guessing game. With tools like Google keywords, SEMRush, and others, you can uncover how to angle your website’s pages towards potential future customers.

If it sounds like your business would thrive with some new digital marketing tools and tactics, it’s time to revamp your marketing strategy with professional help. Our marketing team puts strategy at the forefront of all we do, and we can help your business find even greater success in 2022.

In Strategy We Trust

Marketing resolutions you should adopt

Marketing resolutions you should adopt

Marketing Resolutions You Should Adopt

On the eve of every new year, we make resolutions that will drive us towards our goals in the months to come. While many of us may give up on our promises to only eat salad early on in the year, keeping your promises to your business can make the difference between growth and decline this year.

 Many businesses throw marketing to the wayside and don’t understand how strategic marketing resolutions can truly propel your brand’s success. Whether it’s January first or the middle of August, it’s never too late to adopt a marketing resolution so we’ve rounded up some common goals and the resolutions you can adopt to make 2022 your brand’s best year yet.

Goal: Gain a social media following
Resolution: Stay consistent with social media

The secret to a top-tier social media strategy is no secret: it’s all about consistency. This means interacting consistently, posting regularly, and taking the time to create unique and memorable content for your audience. It can be time consuming, but the increase in engagement and conversions is worth it.

Goal: Get your brand recognize
Resolution: Maintain brand consistency

Brand recognition takes time, effort, and- you guessed it- consistency. It’s important to know your brand’s identity inside and out so you can build upon a solid foundation. Keeping your logo, brand colors, and style the same while you build your brand will help your audience build recognition.

Goal: Spend marketing dollars more wisely
Resolution: Set a marketing budget

While you can do all your marketing yourself, it can be a time-consuming endeavor if you already have a full schedule running your business. Your marketing dollars can be spent on social media management tools like Hootsuite or Sprout, improving your ad visibility on Google and Facebook, and/or hiring an outside marketing team to help you meet all your marketing goals.

Goal: Increase conversion rate
Resolution: Regularly analyze marketing data

To increase your conversion rate, start by collecting as much marketing data as you can so you can analyze your strengths and weaknesses. If you understand where your website visitors are clicking on your website, you can learn where they are when they decide to leave your website and focus on creating new content, landing pages, and calls to action that keep them interested. Make sure that you’re collecting enough data to make informed decisions — 10 page views or a week of social media engagement is not enough.

Goal: Generate new content
Resolution: Start a blog

Starting a blog for your business’s website can have numerous benefits for your brand. A blog offers your audience a glimpse into who you are, your expertise, and can act as a conversation between you and your audience. You gain credibility with your audience by writing about your products and services. Plus, blogs are a wealth of content that you can share over time on your social media accounts.

Whatever marketing resolutions you choose, sticking to them all year round is the key to helping your brand grow and reaching your goals. With consultation services, marketing campaign assistance, outsourced marketing, and so much more, the marketing professionals at Hoyden are always here to support your marketing goals and help your brand have its best year ever.

Marketing roundup

Marketing roundup

The Most Memorable Marketing Moments of 2021

Every brand has different marketing goals and strategies. All year long, we watch our favorite brands try out new marketing strategies and now we’ve rounded up some of the biggest, best, and most notable marketing moments from 2021:

Duolingo’s Mascot Keeps Going Viral

Duolingo saw a 1,900% increase in Tik Tok followers in just one month when a knowledgeable new hire took charge of their Tik Tok social media strategy.

WeTransfer Gets Rude

WeTransfer is a file-sharing company that created a campaign called “Please Leave”. With this message, it encourages users to go out into the real world- away from screens- and discover new images, experiences, and content that they can later come back and share through their products and services.

Ryan Reynolds Makes A Unique Cocktail

2021 saw the 40th anniversary of the McRib and to celebrate, Ryan Reynolds created a McRib companion cocktail using his own Aviation Gin.

Ikea Makes A Meatball Candle

This summer, IKEA released a limited-edition “IKEA Store in a Box” in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their loyalty program. Though the box is no longer available, we can still pine after the best item: a HUVUDROLL meatball scented candle.

Facebook’s Huge Rebranding
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the Facebook company’s rebranding to “Meta”, or at least seen the Grade A memes that have come out of Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement video (looking at you, random bottle of Sweet Baby Rays).
Nike Shifts Focus to Mental Health
In November, Nike launched the Mind Sets platform, which focuses its new, curated content on mental health. From guided workouts to tips for better recovery and sleep, Nike is hoping to help normalize the conversation about mental health as more professional athletes begin to speak up about their own personal challenges.

Dunkin’s Influencer-Marketing Strategy

As the fight for commercial advertising gets more and more competitive, Dunkin Donuts switched their strategy to focus on influencer marketing. From nano-influencers to the TikTok queen Charlie D’Amelio herself, Dunkin’ has earned a viral reputation that has significantly boosted their sales.

Popeyes Trolls Taco Bell’s Marketing
After Taco Bell entered the chicken sandwich race with their sandwich-like chicken taco, Popeyes responded with a TikTok video, offering a step-by-step guide for turning their coveted chicken sandwich into two tacos.
Back to basics: The 4 P’s of marketing

Back to basics: The 4 P’s of marketing

The 4 P’s of Marketing

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

At Hoyden, we like to say that marketing doesn’t have to be complicated… But it should be strategic, smart, and intentional.

Complex marketing tactics implemented by an inexperienced team can lead to jumbled messaging, confused customers, and low brand awareness. If your team is bogged down with overly complicated marketing, it might be time to get back to the basics.

Simple marketing begins with the 4 P’s, which come from the “Marketing Mix”— a model businesses use to capture their unique selling points in order to create a strategic marketing plan.

Product

What do you sell?

 

“Product” doesn’t always mean a physical object that you sell. For many businesses, your products are your services, your information, or yourself.

A product is a solution to a problem. It meets the needs of a potential customer, whether that need is software development or information about local real estate properties for sale.

You know your product like the back of your hand but you also need to know what makes your product unique so you can tell potential customers not only why they should buy it, but why they should invest their time to learn about it. You need to be able to explain why your product should be chosen over every other product like it.

Price

How much do
you charge?

While “price” may seem like the simplest marketing “P”, determining the right price for your product or service can be tricky and may fluctuate as your business grows and evolves. You want to attract buyers who may already be using your product from a different business but you still want to make a reasonable profit and give your business the opportunity to grow in the future.

When deciding the price of your product, you should assess supply costs, competitor pricing, and how much profit you need to make to sustain your business and potentially grow in the future. You should also consider how much you would be able to offer for a discount during future seasonal or promotional periods. If your initial price is too low, you won’t be able to generate excitement with discounts.

Place

Where can your customers go to find
your product?

 

Unfortunately, your customers aren’t going to come to you, begging to give you money. Understanding the unique facets and niches of your target market is the first step to reaching them.

Here is what you should know about your audience:

      • Age range
      • Gender
      • Geographical location
      • Education level
      • Interests/hobbies
      • Unique qualities that make your product of interest to them

“Place” will be where and how this target audience can get your product. Many products and services are completely advertised and purchased online, and thus require a strong digital presence with social media, an impressive website, and eye-catching advertisements. Others have storefronts and must consider display design and in-person sales teams.

Promotion

How do your customers find out about you?

 

Effectively promoting your product is often where businesses struggle. Your promotion should reach potential customers and tell them not only why they need your product, but why they should buy it from you. This is where every piece of your marketing puzzle comes together.

Your promotion should be strategic and thoughtful. It should reach your target audience, tell them the problem your product will solve, and explain exactly how to get it while working in the confines of your budget and advertising space.

Why does this matter?

 

Marketing strategies can often get complicated with intricate plans, ambitious timelines, and complex advertising schemes. At the end of the day, a great marketing plan requires a simple but strategic approach with a deep understanding of the basics.

 

If you’re looking to get back to basics with your marketing or need a hand as you launch your new brand, the brand strategists at Hoyden are here to help. We offer a unique and in-depth discovery session that will help you discover your brand’s strengths, weaknesses, target audience, competitors, and so much more.

 

In Strategy We Trust
Be proactive instead of reactive: Why PR strategy is critical

Be proactive instead of reactive: Why PR strategy is critical

Be proactive instead of reactive:
Why PR strategy is critical

Public relations is often revered as reactivity to negative news or situations. While it’s great to be able to think on your feet and handle a crisis or new event when it comes along, a well-developed marketing strategy goes a long way in keeping your brand’s awareness high throughout the year.

Having a strategic plan for your public relations means you can create content to promote your brand throughout the year and be ready if you do see an immediate crisis. 

Here are our top five tips for being proactive with your PR:

Create a calendar

Schedule out what services or products you want to promote during different weeks or months. This will help you plan your messaging and make sure you have the product availability for when you do your push.
 
This will also help you ensure that you are continuously working on something to promote your brand and keeping your content as fresh as possible. Review your public relations calendar with your team and with all public touchpoints so your messaging stays consistent.

Special days, special promotions

There are several holidays and observances throughout the year where you can promote your business in a fun and creative way. With nationally dedicated days for nearly every food, activity, or type of person, there are countless opportunities for you to engage with and energize your audience.
 
Serious topics like drowning prevention month and medical awareness months can be an opportunity to partner with your community for education purposes through sponsorships or  personal stories from your team on how your services can help solve problems.
 
Keeping on top of these events goes a long way in making sure you are part of the conversation beyond running sales or events around major holidays.

Pitch ahead of the game

A great proactive PR plan will include pitching story ideas to the local media, including “experts” from your business who can speak on relevant topics.

Here are some examples of this:

  • During back-to-school time, a chiropractor’s office might pitch an expert to talk about backpack weights and tips to prevent kids from carrying too much.
  • When it comes time for New Year’s resolutions, gyms often encourage their trainers to talk about routines or nutrition.
  • When summer is around the corner, a local daycare could promote expert activity ideas that parents can do at home with their kids.
  • When an unexpected pandemic hits, many businesses might pitch their stay-at-home solutions for the upheaval in everyone’s lives.

While not all these pitches lead to direct sales, they create brand awareness and leverage your business as an expert source so when a potential client needs what you offer, your business is at the top of their mind.

Prepare for an emergency

The time to be reactive to a crisis may arise, but proactively preparing for an emergency can make the process much smoother and less stressful.

Here are some strategies you can put in place:

  • Make sure you have a communications plan – who does the talking, who approves messaging, etc.
  • Have access to make immediate updates to the website, social media, voicemail messaging, customer e-mails, if necessary.
  • Identify what your primary means of communication to your customers will be during a crisis and make plans to funnel all other channels to that main source.
  • Double-check that all media and community leader contacts are up to date.

By creating a crisis management public relations strategy, you can ensure minimal impact on your brand’s image during a disaster.

Take time to research

Having a deep understanding of your brand’s message, audience, and values will help you stay on track during a crisis. Take the time to research your plan so you can target the right message to the right audience.

Some questions that can be answered through PR research and planning include:

  • Who is my target audience? What demographics would be most interested in my products?
  • Why is this product or service important to them? How will this make a difference in their lives?
  • Which type of communication does this audience respond best to?
  • What are my competitors doing successfully?
  • What do we offer that sets us apart from our competitors?

Finding the answers to these questions while building your PR strategy helps avoid wasteful and ineffective marketing strategies and ensures you can target a specific audience that will be the most interested in what you have to offer.

Reactive PR is usually a necessary part of business, but being proactive should be as well. Both help you plan for your business’s future, protect your image, and work in conjunction with the marketing you’re already doing. If you’re not getting proactive with your PR, it’s time to make it an essential part of your marketing plan.

In Strategy We Trust