admin In Advertising, Art, Branding, Business, Design, Digital Solutions, Email Marketing, Facebook, Fayetteville, General Info, Graphic Design, Lead Generation, Media Services, Raleigh, Search Engine Optimization, SEO,

What Makes an Ad Stand Out – Good Text, Display, or Video?

As a business owner, it is important to understand the basics of what goes into a good advertisement.

All brands need promotion and the correct kind of promotion is key. In order to expand your business, it’s essential to have an effective advertising campaign. When done incorrectly, money is wasted on ineffective or poor ads. Our goal is to save money with ads and, in turn, make them more money with new clients or customers.

At 219 Group, when clients ask us “What makes a good ad?” – there is no easy answer, as it is largely based on each client. However, we will do our best to answer this in general terms.

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ADS

It is important to understand what makes a good ad and what does not.

Good ads:

Call to action / tell the prospective customer to do something.
Engage customers based on where they are in the customer journey.
Regardless of channel, it seamlessly translates brand identity.

Bad ads:

Do not follow the rules and get disapproved.
No call to action / do not ask the customer to do anything.

TEXT ADS

In 2021, Google confirmed Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) are the default in new ad accounts. What this means is that strategies need to fit both formats to include the expanded text ads.

RSAs are made up of:

Minimum of three headlines (30 character limit each), maximum of 15.
Two descriptions (90 character limit each), maximum of four.
One path set (two 15-character addendums to your root domain)
Optional tracking templates.

As only the first two headlines are guaranteed to show in a text ad, it is imperative that you pin the calls-to-action in either headline one or two.

In text ads it is important to make sure each headline can stand on its own while being related to the others.

DISPLAY ADS

Display advertising is defined as a mode of online advertising where marketers use visual ads to advertise their products on websites, apps, or social media. It has been mistaken that display is only useful for remarketing; but display ads are good for various parts of the consumer’s journey. Display ads can create and build brand awareness.

The steps for display ads include creative for all the potential spots, or sacrificing some creative polish to use responsive display ads.
If you choose to opt for a responsive display ad (RDA), you are sacrificing some level of brand control in exchange for reach. These ads will open all possible placements to you.

Display and Responsive display ads require:

At least three images or videos, including a logo (can have up to 15 assets)
One long headline
At least one regular headline
At least one description
Business name
Final URL

Display ads have their own downfalls but tend to outperform traditional ads simply because they stand out. They allow more creative either from your website or social or stock images if you prefer.

Display ad tips:

If using video, make sure it is no longer than 15 seconds.
While RDAs will have a CTA button, regular display does not therefore, make sure to build a call to action button into your ad.

VIDEO ADS

Video advertising is the process of displaying ads either inside online video content. This is typically before, during or after a video stream, known as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll or as standalone ads.

How video ads work on Youtube:

Bumper: 6-second spots serving before or after the main video.
In-stream non-skippable: 15-second spots that serve before/during/after the main video.
In-stream skippable: 30+ second spots serving before/during/after the main video that can be skipped after five seconds.
Outstream: Video spots serving in spots other than main YouTube.

Video ad composition:

Video: If you selected a time-specific format, you’ll receive a warning if your video is incompatible
CTA: 10 characters (“Learn more” is always a good option)
Headline: 15 characters to position your CTA
Final URL: Where your clickable element will lead
Display URL: What the user sees (root domain is the best choice)

The most important thing to remember about YouTube is understanding what you want your audience to do. If your goal is to drive them to a landing page or website, you need to make sure they watch long enough to see the website. If the goal is sales, then do not waste time on the bumper ad for awareness and put your call to action for a sale.

WHICH AD TYPE IS BEST

To decide which ad type is best is to look at the client and goals. A great ad is the result of many things – the right target audience, the right creative and using the channel correctly.

DIGITAL MARKETING YOU CAN TRUST

At 219 Group, we do a lot of things well. Websites, landing pages, banners, newsletters, social media, mobile marketing, search engine optimization, email and paid search campaigns are the best ways to engage with customers in an increasingly digital, mobile and personalized world. We have assembled a team of professionals to create complete digital strategies and tactics that leverage all available forms of digital media at different levels of the marketing funnel.

admin In Digital Solutions, Fayetteville, General Info, Raleigh,

Digital Audience Building – How To Target Effectively And Efficiently

targeting customer audience target market marketing

With the ever-changing ways of the internet, we have to know how to effectively reach our customers. Especially since the existence of COVID-19, we are not interacting with people on a regular face-to-face basis; however, we can influence them through social media and other digital media.

WHAT IS AUDIENCE TARGETING

Audience targeting is a way to make sure that your digital ads are being displayed only to the people that are most like your ideal customer. With roughly 9 out of 10 people on the internet, if you were serving your ads to everyone they would get lost and run the risk of not being shown to your ideal customer. Rather, crafting messaging or ads that feel personalized toward the audience most likely to buy from you is a much better strategy. Audience targeting is performed by taking the available data on your ideal customer or client such as — individual characteristics, interests, and behaviors.

DEFINING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

As discussed, a social media target audience is the specific group of people you want to reach with your social channels. Begin by asking yourself the 5 W’s – start with Who is your current customer database, your competition, and what is your product.

Age (use a range)
Gender
Education
Location
Some of their interests (list 3-5)
Occupation

WHERE TO USE AUDIENCE TARGETING

Audience targeting can be used on paid social and paid search. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, and YouTube have interfaces that make it easy to build your audience with the characteristics you want to target.

OTHER WAYS TO HIT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Audience targeting helps to avoid wasting money on ad impressions. If you want to branch farther than paid search and social you can try some additional targeting techniques such as geofencing and retargeting. You can run either the same ad or a new ad to that same person in hopes of securing a conversion by repetition, a special offer, or improved messaging.

Display Advertising – Display advertising is defined as graphic advertising on websites, apps, or social media through the use of banners or other ad formats made of text, images, video, and audio. The main purpose is to deliver general advertisements and brand messages to site visitors.

Geofencing – Geofencing uses GPS to show ads to people near a chosen location. How it works is a virtual geofence is drawn around a location, ads are then served to anyone browsing the web via desktop or mobile in that area.

Behavioral Targeting – Behavioral targeting is a method that uses historical behavior to personalize the types of ads consumers see. Using this strategy, relevant ads and messages are displayed to users based on web-browsing behavior. It is a powerful method because the data helps match the ads to each consumer’s actual behavior.

Categorical Targeting – Categorical targeting is the method of placing display advertisements on social media, apps, and websites that are categorically relevant to both your company and your customers’ interests.

Mobile – Mobile targeting is where certain target groups are shown ads on mobile devices. User-oriented data is what drives who/when gets advertising and the ads are formatted to the technical requirements of smartphones and tablets.

Retargeting – Retargeting uses data on people who have already engaged with your ads or have visited your website. You can either then show the same ad or a new ad to that same person in hopes of securing a conversion by repetition, a special offer, or improved messaging.

A targeted ad campaign will always perform better than an untargeted campaign; hands-down. Understanding your audience, how to build it, and how to target is crucial to all businesses.

admin In Fayetteville, , Uncategorized

How to Create Effective Content for Social Media

FACTS

97% of adults between the ages of 16-64 say they logged onto at least one social network in the past month.
Compared to other social media platforms (Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook) Instagram drives the most engagement per post.

Source: Socialstout.com

Know Your Audience

Now if you’ve been binge reading our blogs (for some strange reason), then you’re probably asking yourself, “how many times are these guys going to say this?”. And honestly until we’re blue in the face, and even then, we’ll probably take the risk. The key to a running a successful social media account is truly knowing your target audience. Whether it be women, aged 18-30, living in California, or men, 30-45, in Central Georgia, every business should have a target audience that they’re trying to market to. When it comes to finding your target audience, it may seem like you’re playing the guessing game. In the early stages of finding your target audience, it takes a lot of trial and error posting. For example, posting about a new product that’s available could be a test to see how many likes and followers it generates. After the posting, do your research and use the data, that you collect, to run another test post. You should continue to use this strategy until you find the right target audience.

Use your voice

So, what happens after you find your target audience? You keep them engaged! Now that you’ve figured out your audience, it’s time to entertain them. Posting relevant content that will engage your audience is key. Keeping your followers engaged builds a sense of trust with the company. For example, running contests and adding questions to posts can be a way to create buzz on your page. It creates a way for the followers to learn about your company.

Are you using the right platform for the story?

Social media is very broad, and each platform is different. You could post the same picture on each of your sites and your followers will depict each story differently. Twitter is generally used to let your friends know what’s on your mind while only using 140-280 characters. It is also a place to follow friends, post pics, and retweet/favorite other’s tweets. Instagram is a media sharing app where you can post pictures/videos. When posting on Instagram, add hashtags to add more engagement to the posts. Facebook is a mixture of the both, but it’s more personal. Facebook users range from Millennials to Baby boomers, so the spectrum is wide when it comes to promoting a business. Just remember to have fun and remain professional.

admin In Branding, Business, Fayetteville, Media Services, Public Relations,

What Not to Do When It Comes to Social Media

Often times, businesses focus more on what to do when it comes their social media platforms, neglecting what they shouldn’t do. Luckily, we at 219 Group haven’t forgot and have composed a list of a few don’ts when it comes your social media.

Don’t Like Your Own Status

There’s a meme out there that states “Liking your own post, is like giving yourself a high five”. Although you may think your status, that you created, is interesting, let’s give your followers the chance to make the decision on their own. One thing that you could do is encourage your employees to like the status and possibly share it on their personal pages. This is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness.

Don’t Get Muted

Sometimes, businesses get so caught up in reaching their audience on social media, that they constantly post every hour, without pacing themselves. Flooding your followers’ timelines with a post can become very nerve racking to some and can force them to mute your page, or even worse, unfollow you, which isn’t good. Try pacing yourself, create a schedule stating the number of times you will post a week (preferably 2-4 times a week). This will show your followers that you are consistent on your page but that you are not over posting as well.

Don’t Forget That It’s Business… Not Personal

One of the main problems for businesses is that they forget that their social media pages are not meant to be personal. Posting birthdays, pictures from crew lunches, or work parties are great but anything such as political views or opinions on current events is a big no-no. It is best that you keep those things on your personal page. This can give your business a bad look regarding your brand can lead to followers blocking your page and you possibly losing business.

As a business owner, managing your social media and your company can be tough task, at 219 Group, we can help. Give us a call or fill out a quote form to discuss social media services with one of our account executives.

admin In Digital Solutions, Graphic Design,

How to Survive your First Year as a Small Business Owner Using Marketing

Fact: 80% of small business owners, in the U.S., will survive their first year in business.

Although this is a remarkable number, let’s look at the statistic as half empty for a second. What about the 20%? What did they do wrong for them to not survive their first year? And the answer is marketing. The website hosting company, GoDaddy, states that 60% of start ups do not build a website for their company in their first year and only 13% of them use social media to promote their business or communicate with customers.

As a person with a potential start up, looking at the stats this way can be disappointing and discouraging, to say the least. This post will help you avoid being in that 20%.

Developing Online Presence

Whether you are a start up or veteran business in your community, having online presence is still essential to having success. Not only is having a website important but you should also have presence on several social media platforms. A website is there to inform potential customers while social media is there to engage with them. When it comes to both, you must make sure that content and images are current, this is key to ensuring that your presence is effective.

Getting Testimonials

After you have developed your online presence, the next step is to receive testimonials. Testimonials is the best type of “word of mouth” marketing. Before people buy anything, they look at the reviews, whether it be from Google, social media, Yelp, etc. Try to get your customers to leave reviews online. We suggest including an incentive when they leave one, such as a discount on their next purchase once you see their review on a credible site. This will also be a great way to increase engagement with your current customers.

As a small business owner, it can be very difficult your first year. Along with operations and possibly hiring employees, marketing can be the last thing on your mind. Luckily there’s 219 Group, and we are here to help every step of the way. Let us help you avoid being a part of that 20% your first year.

admin In Branding, Fayetteville, Raleigh,

How to use Instagram to tell your story and connect with your customers.

Instagram has become a widely popular social media platform over over the last year or so. With 400 million active users every month, it may be something you want to consider using in your social media marketing efforts. It’s important to do this the right way for it to be effective. The most important thing to remember with Instagram is that it’s a visual platform where photos and being able to tell a story through them, matters.

Instagram offers a variety of features that will allow you to connect with your ideal customers. The first of these is the use of hashtags. Using hashtags in your photo posts will help users find you through their mobile instagram searches. You should be using general hashtags when you’re posting product or lifestyle images. If you’re running a particular campaign, use tags that are specific to that, including your business name. Like most other social media platforms, it’s important to monitor your hashtags (specifically for your business name), so that you can respond to customer’s comments and questions.

Some other useful features are Instagram Stories and the Geo Tracking feature. Instagram Stories is very similar to Snapchat in the way that the stories disappear after 24 hours. The story feature allows you to tell a better story to your followers. The geo tracking feature allows you to add your location to your photos when you post. If your building/office is open to customers, you can add your location so they know where to find you.

This platform can be a lot of fun when used correctly. You can use it to show off products and services, show behind the scenes looks into your business and offer exclusive deals. It’s an amazing way to really bring your business to life and put a human face on it. This will help to establish a certain amount of trust between you and your customer and will keep your business fresh in their mind.

For help using Instagram marketing and social media marketing in general to further your business goals and attract more customers, give us a call today! 219 Group is experienced in handling many social media accounts for our customers and would love to discuss how we could help you with yours!

admin In Email Marketing, Media Services, Press Releases, , Uncategorized

Internet Marketing and Public Relations in Fayetteville

Internet Marketing and Public Relations in Fayetteville

Why should you care about internet marketing and public relations in Fayetteville? The answer is simple. You want your business to grow!

Internet marketing is the machine behind any successful marketing strategy for your Fayetteville business. While traditional marketing is a valid part of any successful marketing strategy, building a marketing plan that incorporates successful internet marketing techniques like search engine optimization, email marketing, social media management, blogging, Google or web ads, and text messaging is key.

Customers in Fayetteville respond to internet marketing that doesn’t feel like spam. That’s not to say you should forego techniques like email marketing campaigns to improve public relations with your audience. Instead, try to also repurpose this content as part of your internet marketing campaign in a more individual way. Be specific to your Fayetteville audience.

Try creating a company blog as part of your internet marketing. Your target audience in Fayetteville will respond to the personalization and interact by sharing the blog on social media and leaving comments. Truly personable public relations strategies may not be directly scalable, but they are an effective way to garner attention and grow your Fayetteville audience.

Customers crave immediate communication and by using current internet strategies like social media management, your company can ensure a back and forth of constant communication between consumers and your Fayetteville company.

By incorporating these techniques of internet marketing with a successful public relations strategy for your Fayetteville business, your company can count on continued success and extended reach in Fayetteville and surrounding areas.

At 219, what sets us apart from our competition is that we incorporate successful internet marketing techniques into your full marketing plan. We understand the value of internet marketing to target and reach your Fayetteville customers, and we know the best way to implement successful public relations with your customers.

Contact us if you’re interested in looking at your internet marketing and public relations strategies for your Fayetteville business! 910-483-4749.

admin In Media Services, Mobile, , Uncategorized

Several Ways You Can be a Real Person on Social Media and Not Just a Business

“I do so want to be a real boy and do what real boys do.”

-Pinocchio

This quote may sound ridiculous but as a business on social media, you can often get lost in becoming just a ‘business’ and not a real person. Often times, we at 219 Group see many businesses just posting about the deals that they are having that week and not giving their company a human voice. Neglecting the fact that staying active on social media and being personal with customers and its employees are two different things. Filling your followers’ timelines with just repetitive information that is just about the business everyday could result in them unfollowing you and you losing their business in the future. Here are a several ways that you and your business can become more personal on social media while attracting your target audience even more.

Create a Discussion

Starting a discussion on your page will be a great way for you and your followers to start dialogue and even a better way to get a first-hand look at what your customers like and dislike. The number one rule when creating a discussion is to make sure that the topic is relatable to your business. You wouldn’t want to discuss politics under a pizza shop page. But instead you want to ask your followers about weird toppings that they think will go great on a pizza. Also make sure that it’s not just your followers that are responding to the question but you as well.

Respond To Followers

Whether it is good or bad, responding to comments regarding your business on social media is always a good way to show your customers that you can be easily reached and that you care about customer service. Even if it’s a comment that doesn’t mention your business, if the comment is relatable to a service or product that you can provide, you can still reply. What better way to attract a new customer than to let them know that you are always looking to satisfy.

Post More than Words

We all know the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. So posting an image would do just as much or even more as posting a lengthy post online. Whether it’s an emoji, a photograph, or you going live on Facebook/Periscope, studies show that these types of post generate 150% more retweets and replies.

Allow Your Followers to Celebrate With You

Posting your company’s accomplishments on social media would allow your followers to feel as if they are a part of the business as well. Also posting employees’ birthdays, anniversaries, and etc. will show your followers that you care for those that work for you and that you have a good company’s culture.

admin In Business, , Uncategorized

Digital Chaos and How to Prevent It with 219

Organizations and businesses are always under pressure to keep up with clients on social media. In order to stay relevant to your client base, the easiest way to market to them is digitally. 219 Group works with clients from Fayetteville, NC to Raleigh, NC and every where between, from various verticals. We understand just how difficult it can be to come up with creative and innovative ways to keep viewers engaged. We know that Social Media can be tricky and can either end up being brilliant or a huge disaster and the last thing any company wants to do is accidentally post something that is going to cause an uproar from your clients.

Don’t allow someone else’s screenshot of your company’s post ruin everything you’ve built – just follow these few easy tips from 219!

Tip 1: Think before you post, and then think some more! We see this way too many times, a company posts a witty slogan and all of the sudden their news feed is blowing up with angry followers. When posting to social media you have to be straightforward with exactly what you mean, and leave no room for assumption or error. Your words are powerful use them wisely.

Tip 2: The dreaded hashtag… Make sure that you completely understand the meaning of the trending hashtag you are about to jump on and use. Nothing can make an organization look more inconsiderate then using a hashtag incorrectly and offending your clients. Just like with any word, if you don’t know the meaning of it, don’t use it!

Tip 3: Keep up with your followers, “No Comment” is a comment! Nothing looks worse than a company that is absent from a meltdown that is happening within their fan base because of something they have done or said. Stay up to date with what people are saying about your business. Do not wait until someone’s comment spreads into a flame that starts a fire. Let your followers know that you are listening and put an end to any untrue rumor before it damages your public face for good!

Social Media Marketing

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Nothing Less Than Intentional Graphic Design

Why An Effective Public Relations Strategy Matters

The Essentials of Web Design

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