Landing Page SEO Checklist: 9 Things You Can’t Forget

landing page seo

So, you’re looking to make some improvements to your business website’s SEO strategy. More specifically, you want to make sure your landing page is SEO optimized.

The basic concepts behind SEO don’t change much, regardless of what page on your site you’re working on. With that being said, there are a few things to keep in mind when dealing with landing page SEO that differs from other pages on your site. 

But how do you make SEO improvements to your website’s landing page? And what are some things you can do today to make your landing page more SEO-friendly? If you’re asking yourself these kinds of questions, wonder no longer, because we’re here to help!

In this article, we’ll give you 9 SEO tips and tricks that you can use to help you make your landing page rank higher on search engines. Now then, let’s get started!

1. Simplify Your Navigation

One of the best ways to make sure your landing page is SEO-friendly is to keep your site’s navigation simple and easy to use. The last thing you want to do is to make it hard for users to find whatever it is they’re looking for on your site.

A good rule of thumb is if it takes more than three clicks to find something on your website, it’s too complex.

2. Check Your Page Speed

One of the biggest things that search engines are looking for is websites with short loading times.

Remember, the last thing a site like Google wants to do is recommend a user to a site that takes forever to load. It makes them look bad and can lead to them losing users, which isn’t what they want. So make sure your site loads fast without any delays.

Not sure if your site is fast enough?

Google offers a neat speed checker tool that is easy to use and will tell you if your site is up to par. And if you get a bad grade, don’t worry. Google will even give you a few tips on how you can speed up your site!

3. Go with a Single Column Layout

Remember, poor user experience is going to lead to users closing your site and going to another fast. And if that happens too often, Google will flag your site, which means you can’t rank as high for your desired keywords.

Next to website speed, layout issues are the next most common reason as to why folks close out of a site after a few seconds. So keep it simple, and go with a single-column layout so users can find what they’re looking for in seconds.

4. Make Sure You’re Mobile-Friendly

Did you know that over 50% of all web traffic in 2018 came from mobile devices? That’s a stat that is expected to rise over the next five years as people continue to use mobile devices more. Because of this, search engines will no longer rank sites that aren’t mobile-friendly.

Not sure if you’re site’s mobile-friendly? Use Google’s mobile-friendliness checker to see if you check that important box!

5. Don’t Go Overboard with Media

One of the quickest ways to slow your site down is to overload it with media like pictures and videos. And again, if your site doesn’t load fast, search engines aren’t going to rank it near the top search results.

So keep it simple and use media when necessary, like to break up large walls of text. Make sure that all images and videos you use are cropped and compressed for optimal loading speeds.

6. Use Whitespace Design

Legibility is a huge part of having an SEO-friendly website. One of the best ways to keep all of the content on your website easy to read is to use whitespace design.

Whitespace design is less about color choice and more about making sure there’s plenty of negative space between page elements. This helps the content flow well and is easy on your user’s eyes, which is what you want. 

7. Format Your Text Properly

Another way to make your site more legible and easy to read is to format bodies of text properly.

A few tips on how to do this? Use paragraphs, break up your text with media and don’t write too much, especially on your landing page. It may also help to emphasize important information with a large, bold print.

8. Use Legible Fonts

When it comes to legibility, the last tip worth remembering revolves around fonts. While it may be tempting to try and be different from everybody else with your fonts, it’s important to pick fonts that are easy to read.

This will help keep users around for longer, which is again, something search engines care about. So whether it’s various headings or your base content, pick fonts that are easy to read.

9. Use Your Keywords the Right Way

When it comes to SEO on your site’s landing page, keywords play a huge part in helping you reach your goals. By placing your keywords in the right spots, you can boost your rankings for those keywords.

So where do you need to put your keywords? In the content on your landing page, in alt tags for your images, and in your website’s description. That way search engines can identify your site and that landing page with those right keywords.

Keyword stuffing is bad, however, and should be avoided. Only use the same keyword a few times, and try to make things sound natural. Search engines are smart and will flag you for keyword stuffing.

Landing Page SEO Strategies and Techniques

There you have it—a few landing page SEO strategies and techniques that you should keep in mind for your business website!

As you can see, user experience is a huge emphasis. So try to put yourself in your user’s shoes and make decisions that you think will improve their experience on your site.

A good place to start is to make sure your site’s navigation is simple and easy to use and confirm that your site is both fast and mobile-friendly.

Use a single-column layout, white space design, and legible fonts. Also, format your text well and break things up with media, but don’t go overboard with the media, either.

Looking for more website design tips and tricks? Check out our blog!

Voice Over Tips: How to Hire the Right Voice Over Artist for Your Campaign

voice over tips

Got a good script and a clear idea of your radio ads? That’s good and all but you won’t get anywhere without a voice artist.

However, hiring the right voice over talent isn’t a quick and easy process. They play an essential role in a successful radio campaign.

But don’t fret. We’ve got a few voice over tips you should follow when looking for the right talent. Read on below and fine-tune your hiring process:

1. Know Your Target Audience

Before and during the hiring process, make sure you keep your target audience in mind. Voice over work for a political campaign, for example, is vastly different compared to the work intended for an explainer video or an Instagram ad. 

Identifying your audience can narrow down the type of voice, accent, and style you need. You can immediately cut out the applicants that don’t fit the bill. 

For example, a good radio campaign needs a strong, clear voice. You might also want to stick with a flat tone instead of something emotional, riddled with too many high and low pitches. 

2. Check Voice Samples

Even when you have a good idea of what you want, don’t hesitate to listen to a few samples.  You might hear voice quality you weren’t necessarily looking for but it might click with your campaign needs. 

Once you got a list of potential candidates, listen to as many samples as possible. Get their full portfolio and take time to listen.

You might like a voice actor during the interview only to discover they struggle pronouncing certain words or names. One of the voice actors you weren’t too keen on may have a sample showcasing their full potential, turning them into top candidates for the job. 

Remember that the bigger the portfolio, the more experience and training a voice actor has. Let’s dive deeper into the importance of experience.

3. Experience Matters

Did you know Tara Strong is 46 years old, as of the time of writing? Despite her age, she plays a myriad of young characters. She voiced characters like Bubbles in Powerpuff Girls, Timmy in Rugrats, Batgirl in the Batman Animated Series, and Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony. 

This doesn’t mean you have to hunt down older voice actors. Age isn’t a measurement of work experience. It’s often the case but you shouldn’t disregard young voice actors immediately.

You might find voice actors below the age of 25 already brimming with experience. Not all of their work might be official. There are many fan-dubbing projects for anime shows and foreign television shows that have no official English versions.

4. Try Different Emotions

Launching a radio campaign doesn’t always require a flat, monotone voice. Think about it this way: you’ll need to convey different emotions if you’re running a radio ad for products compared to a political ad. 

For the prior, you need an energetic voice. The latter demands more authority and certainty. Don’t hesitate to run tests with your applicants and see how they perform with different campaigns or scripts.

Keep in mind that with voice over work, the audience can’t see the speaker. They have to elicit emotions solely through their voice work and the eloquence of the script.

Have the voice actors read the same line in different ways.  Let them try to elicit excitement in one take and a tone of dread or authority in another.

5. Different Mediums, Different Talents

Gone are the days when the term “radio” simply meant broadcasting on a radio station. Nowadays, the term can also refer to podcasts or streaming projects. Make sure you know the kind of medium you’re hiring voice talent for.

Don’t always assume that you can use one kind of voice talent for different mediums. Different mediums demand different kinds of talents.

Going for a traditional radio broadcast ad? You might do better with someone who can speak quickly but clearly. Traditional radio ads cost a lot and they charge you per second, after all.

Looking to make an ad for a podcast commercial? These give you more leeway so you might want someone with more energy and better annunciation. You can also get playful with different accents and intonation variations too. 

6. Long-Term Considerations

One of the most crucial voice over tips when hunting for talent is to have long-term considerations. Look at the long game instead of hiring solely for a one-and-done project.

If you were around in the 1980s to the early 2000s, movie trailers always had a voice-over narration. More often than not, the voice work was by the same talent, providing consistency. When people heard that voice, they knew it was for a movie trailer.

Emulate this practice and consider the long-term reliability of your voice talents.

This builds trust and comfort. You need both if you want your radio ad campaign to become a success. Set expectations early by planning and hiring voice talent you know you can rely on for multiple projects.

7. Get a Few Recommendations

Sure, you’re bound to get a few cold applications. That said, you’ll need to conduct a few auditions to sort out the talents and narrow down the ones you like. You can simplify this process by getting a few recommendations.

Why are recommendations often good hires? 

They come from people who already worked with them. There’s already a sense of trust and reliability. You also get the guarantee that they have some training and experience, otherwise, no one would recommend them to you. 

It’s always a good idea to take the recommended talents and give them a try. Audition them like everybody else. They might end up easier to work with, even as early as the hiring phase.

Follow These Voice Over Tips When Hiring!

Hiring the right talent isn’t too monumental a task with these voice over tips. Don’t rush the process and go over things like their portfolio, different samples, and style to find the talent you need.

But getting the most out of your campaign doesn’t end here. Why not read our other guides to get one step ahead of the competition? You can start with our post about the reach of radio right here.

Social Media Calendar Planning: 7 Tips to Stay Organized

calendar planning

According to recent findings, over 3.5 million people use the internet, and roughly two-thirds of those people spend some of their online time logged in to social media. It’s crucial that your business takes advantage of these established online communities by making their presence known across platforms. Why? So that social media users take the time to navigate away from Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and over to your business’s website – which is why calendar planning is important.

As a business owner, you may feel that you don’t have any time to spare to run multiple accounts. However, with a little bit of calendar planning, it doesn’t have to cost you much in time!

We’re here to give you some pointers on how to utilize social media calendar planning to keep your online presence streamlined, organized, and geared for success. Read on for 7 tips that will change the way you think about social media!

1. Post Consistently 

For your social media presence to be effective, you need to have followers and continue to grow that fanbase. But when social media users come across accounts that rarely post, they have a tendency to move on. 

Dumping a ton of content periodically won’t work, either. In fact, this will likely come across as spam for the followers you do have. 

Use your calendar planning time to decide how frequently you want to post and on what days you want your new content to go live. This doesn’t have to be every day, but it should be a few times a week if you want to draw attention!

2. Have Fun with Hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to tap into the social media hivemind and find out what’s trending. Plus, having fun with trending content is a great way to humanize your business and show that you have a silly side!

One way to take advantage of hashtags is to tap into the always-growing National Days phenomenon. We’ve seen everything from National Dogs Day to National Broadcast Traffic Professional’s Day. Take a glance at the official National Days website and map out a few that you can create some fun and relevant content for—and don’t forget the hashtag!

3. Think Beyond the Business

Of course, you want to drive up your sales with your social media, but not every post needs to link to a product or service directly. Find topics that generally relate to your business and create content surrounding those topics. The goal is to attract attention, show off your expertise, and avoid boring people with a constant stream of strictly promotional content.

Optimize your results with these kinds of posts by hiring SEO professionals to help you generate ideas. They can uncover the most sought after information within your niche so that you answer the internet’s most burning questions!

4. Know Your Creatives

As you’re planning your social media content calendar and taking notes from social media professionals, you’ll notice that social media content tends to be very diverse. We mentioned SEO-fueled articles, which will be best handled by a content writer. There are also high-quality pictures, videos, infographics, and more. 

Don’t expect that one person in your office will be able to perfect all of these content styles. Take stock of your employees’ strengths and delegate types of content accordingly. 

5. Know Your Platforms

Don’t expect that you can upload the same content across all of your social media platforms. Social media experts will tell you that different types of content perform better on some platforms than others, and you should cater your content to each platform.

For example, longer videos tend to do well on Facebook, in part because they won’t get cut off in the middle and require viewers to navigate elsewhere to watch the rest (which they probably won’t). Stylized photos and short clips do well on Instagram. Twitter is designed for short-form blurbs, especially of the humorous variety.

Don’t start your calendar planning before you know what works best and where!

6. Hold on to Old Calendars

One of the best things about social media content calendars is that they can prevent you from repeating old content. However, with consistent and frequent posting over a number of months or even years, you’re bound to forget that you already made a certain joke or posted about a certain topic awhile back.

When it’s time to draft up a new content calendar, break out the old ones to cross-reference. It’s okay for posts to bear some similarities, but you don’t want to post content that appears stale to your longtime followers.

7. Adjust When Necessary

Calendar planning isn’t meant to be rigid. It saves you the headache of coming up with new ideas on the fly every few days, but be prepared to adjust your plans when it seems necessary.

Let’s say you roll out a hashtag that you’ve planned to incorporate into the rest of your posts for the foreseeable future. After the first few months, it isn’t gaining steam. Or perhaps you’ve decided on a series of online contests, but people don’t seem to engage with them and it’s not worth the money you’re investing in the prizes.

Allow yourself the flexibility to change directions, even if you’ve planned heavily around a certain style of content. Social media can be a very trial-and-error-based process, especially when you’re in the early stages!

Boost Your Business with Calendar Planning

Social media calendar planning is a great way to set your business up for success. It gives you the opportunity to do a bit of research and find new ways to reach new customers in the digital age. It also saves you the time and stress of coming up with things on the fly, which can lead to inconsistency and incoherency. 

If you’ve read through these tips on calendar planning and still don’t feel up to the task, don’t hesitate to invest in a professional social media team. At Killer Spots Agency, our social media team is ready to come up with a strategy for you and even manage your social media interactions!

Contact us for help with your marketing and outreach strategies, whether you want to take them the internet, the television, or even the radio!

9 Reasons Why You Need a Catchy Jingle for Your Business

catchy jingle

When you hear the word “jingle,” a number of promotions, radiospots, and Superbowl commercials probably come to mind. That’s because our memories can’t help but cling onto those catchy tunes. Studies show that in order to process music, we use the same parts of the brain associated with memory and emotion. 

On the fence about creating a catchy jingle for your business?

Here are nine reasons you need to change that tune with a good jingle! With these nine benefits of a business jingle, you can stay in everyone’s minds for a long time with killer brand recognition. 

1. Attention-Grabbing

When we hear a catchy tune, we can’t help but listen. Whether we’re in the car or watching tv, songs attract our attention. A well-written, catchy jingle will grab a consumer’s attention and keep it for the length of the ad. 

Without a jingle, however, people might tune out your advertisement. 

Once your jingle catches everyone’s attention, it will keep them interested. That way, you can convey the benefits of your product or service within the rest of the ad. By sparking interest, jingles can help you make the most of your company’s advertising budget.

Otherwise, you’re missing an opportunity. Adverts or commercials without jingles don’t always manage to stand out from the crowd. In some cases, you’ll fall to grab everyone’s attention.

As a result, people will miss hearing the main message of your ad!

2. Lasting Impressions

Once you grab your audience’s attention with a catchy ad, you want to stick in their minds. That way, they’ll think about your business even after the ad ends. 

Music is a very powerful advertising tool. Without us realizing it, music embeds itself within our subconscious. Even months after hearing a catchy jingle once, we’ll still remember the song. 

Print ads and pay-per-click ads come and go. Sometimes, we forget them in a manner of seconds. By advertising using jingles, however, you can ensure consumers remember your ad much longer. 

An ad that leaves a lasting impression is far more valuable than an ad that gets a single glance. 

If you create a unique, catchy tune, you can stay in people’s minds for a really long time. 

3. Brand Representation

How do you want people to view your business? For example, a dog-walking service would want to represent themselves as fun-loving and trustworthy.

The music you use within your marketing videos and advertising campaigns will represent your brand. That means the music is also representing your business, which can develop into a long-lasting reputation.

By creating a quality, catchy jingle, you can make sure you’re properly representing your brand.

Your jingle will tell customers about your personality. As a result, consumers will begin to get a better idea about your business. A strong, unique brand personality can also help you stand out from competitors.

When developing your jingle, keep your brand in mind.

4. Music & Mood

Putting people in the right mood can spur them to make a change or start shopping. It can also help spark interest in your business. 

If you want customers to feel excited about your product or service, you need the right music. 

Music impacts us in different ways. Hearing the same commercial jingle a second time can cause us to fall into the same mood. 

By adding a jingle to your next ad, you can get customers hyped up about your business. 

5. Brand Association

A catchy jingle can also help people retain information. What people hear from your ad will stick in their memory. The mood and emotions people feel after hearing your ad will become a part of your brand, too. 

Creating a well-thought-out jingle will give consumers an easy, fun way to remember who you are and what you do. 

Using music will help you create an emotional connection with your customers. 

They’ll associate those emotions with your company every time they see your brand. Then, you can depend on the emotions they associate with your company to get repeat business. 

6. A One-Time Cost

While a catchy jingle can help you attract loyal customers, you only have to pay for the jingle once. Many companies refrain from developing jingles because they’re expensive. However, they don’t come with royalties or recurring fees.

That means you can use them as many times as you want for a higher return on your investment!

7. Audio is Effective

Why waste money on marketing and advertising strategies that haven’t worked for you before? Instead, you can learn how to write a jingle that represents your brand and helps you stand out. Adding a jingle to a video that seems plain can give your content the boost it needs.

Instead of wasting money on strategies that aren’t working, you can use audio to make sure your brand is memorable. 

Discover the importance of jingles in your advertising. 

8. Cut Through Noise

Our world is highly saturated. Everywhere we turn, online and in-person, we’re bombarded by visual ads. By now, we know when companies are advertising at us.

A catchy jingle can cut through the noise.

Instead of struggling to stand apart from the competition, a well-written jingle can do it for you. Now that it’s more difficult to grab someone’s attention among the numerous ads we see each day, you need a strategy that will help you compete. 

9. Nostalgic Emotions

According to this study, different types of music can also produce different emotional reactions. 66% of survey participants also said music is more memorable when it’s used within marketing. 

A well-written jingle can manipulate our emotions.

By drawing on familiar experiences and memories, nostalgia helps us look back on better moments. Nostalgia is a powerful marketing tool that can entice people based on previous emotions. 

By transporting your audience to a better time, you can use a catchy jingle to boost sales!

Jingle All the Way: Why Your Business Needs a Catchy Jingle

One catchy jingle could help you attract a stream of new and recurring customers. With these nine benefits in mind, you can start singing a new tune when it comes to adding jingles to your ads. 

Explore our Jingle Production services today to start giving your ads extra power that rivals your competition!

9 Benefits of Video Marketing to Grow Your Online Presence

benefits of video marketing

If you haven’t been using video marketing, then you seriously need to reconsider your marketing strategies because you’re missing out big time. Interesting videos make interesting stories, and stories are excellent for marketing because they elicit emotion.

Some of the most significant reasons why video marketing is essential for your business is the fact that it’s memorable and measurable. This makes video marketing one of the most powerful ways of reaching customers, whether prospective or existing. 

So what are the benefits of video marketing, and why should you implement it in your marketing strategies? Once you are done with the marketing basics, you need to delve deeper and capture more attention. Let’s look at the benefits of video marketing for your business. 

1. Videos Result In Great ROI

To get you started off with some excitement, video marketing provides fantastic ROI, and this is one of the things you’re in business for. Even though video production may not be the easiest or cheapest of tasks, with a plethora of online video editing tools on the internet, it will pay big time.

Additionally, most customers are not worried so much about the video quality, like the content quality. Provide clear and relevant messages that explain what your products or services are all about. Of course, this is not to say that they should be low quality, even smartphones nowadays produce incredible videos, so you’ll have no excuse. 

2. Videos Build Trust

Essentially, trust is the foundation of conversions and sales. In a highly competitive business world, persuading clients to do business with you and not your competitors is not an easy feat. Building trust and strong relationships with customers gets easier with videos.

Videos ignite emotional responses, regardless of how short they are. In fact, you don’t need to keep selling because once you provide useful and interesting information, customers will come to you. Effective and interesting videos present your business in a conversational form and give customers the confidence to purchase products online. 

3. Videos Appeal to Mobile Users

An overwhelming 78% of consumers watch videos on mobile devices because people nowadays want to do things on the go. The number of mobile users increases by the year, and this only means that your video audience will keep expanding. Mobile users are more likely to feel a personal connection with a brand than desktop or TV viewers, so it’s imperative that you take advantage of the market. 

4. Videos Boost Conversions and Sales

Adding the most important video to your landing page alone could increase your conversion rates by 80%. One of the many benefits of video marketing is that videos have the ability to lead directly to sales. Vision is the most dominant sense that human beings possess, so it’s only natural that videos have such a huge impact on them. 

5. It’s Easy to Explain Everything Through Video

It’s so much easier to show people how your products work compared to writing about it. Explainer videos trend every day, and so do tutorial videos. Most consumers are watching explainer videos to learn what products are all about and how to use them. 

An explainer video on your homepage would be super effective in driving conversions and sales. If you have a difficult concept, then video is the best way to explain it in a way your target audience understands. Besides, interesting videos, such as animated videos, are fun to watch, and people like to share such videos. 

6. Videos Engage Everyone

One of the most significant benefits of video marketing is the ease of video consumption. Consumers get bored very easily, and reading long product descriptions is not pleasant at all. The modern customer is too busy for that anyway, and videos are easier to work with because all they have to do is watch, regardless of where they are.

Even if they’re lazy, as long as your videos have clear audio, they will certainly watch them. 

7. Videos Encourage Shares

Most people tend to share videos than they do content, and shares lead to a larger audience. If you want to expand your target audience and get the message out there, delve into video marketing and watch your customer share! This is simply one of the best ways to go viral. 

8. Videos Are Excellent for All Search Engines

All search engines, especially Google, value high valuable content, and interesting videos will have a tremendous impact on your SEO. With prolonged exposure, you will build trust, which will signal to search engines that you have valuable content.

You are more likely to rank high on search engines if you have a video on your website, and given the fact that Google owns YouTube, videos certainly affect search engine ranks. 

9. Social Networks Thrive Through Videos

It’s already clear that people love videos, and you should give provide just that, but where? Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the best places to post your important videos. Most consumers would share company videos as long as they were entertaining, regardless of whether they are actually interested in the products. 

Bonus Tip: Ads Do Wonders in Videos

Video ads have the highest click-through rate among all digital formats. This says a lot about marketing videos and all the benefits they come with. If you do everything right and create awesome videos, you can be sure that people will remember, regardless of whether they watch the whole ad or not. That’s how awesome videos are for business. 

The Benefits of Video Marketing: Summing it Up

From financial motives to practical reasons, you can well see the benefits of video marketing. All these points make quite a strong case for videos and showing you that they work. If you want to jump into the modern marketing wagon, video marketing is the way to go. 

If you’d like more awesome marketing tips, check out our website or give us a call and we’ll be glad to help. 

9 Video Advertising Trends of 2019

Photo sign with human hands

Television commercials and traditional advertisements are becoming a thing of the past.

As the next generation of tech-focused consumers saturates the marketplace, keeping up with these advertising trends is important. You either adjust your strategies or you risk having to close your doors for good.

So, where are consumers getting their information these days?

90% have said that they discover new brands through YouTube ads. 80% of shoppers say that they tend to switch between online search and video when deciding what to buy.

Set yourself and your brand up for success by plugging into the “show don’t tell” mindset. Keep up with current trends in advertising and generate quality video for the greatest potential of return on ad spend.

Here are 9 advertising trends for 2019 to get you started!

1. Web-Based Video Content

Focusing on optimizing your advertisements for web users gives you great potential for organic traffic.

More than ever, people are leaving behind paid television programming to switch to web-based streaming entertainment.

Reach them here by providing high-level, professional videos that give the best view of your products or services.

2. Full-Funnel YouTube Advertising

One of the best features of video advertising is that it offers you the chance to cater to the full advertising funnel.

  • Reach your target customers at the brand awareness level with lighthearted, catchy videos.
  • Generate interest by showing them how much better or easier their lives will be with your product or service.
  • Compare your product with similar products to help answer questions they may have in the evaluation phase.
  • Get them committed to your product by offering incentives, guarantees, or support.
  • Finally, reel them in by offering special sales and deals at the purchase level.

By offering specialized content at each level, you will be optimizing this marketing strategy in full force.

Bonus: Take advantage of this structure by shooting all of your material at once. Tell your whole story and then chop it up and distribute it where it fits in the buyer’s journey.

3. Over-The-Top and In-Stream Advertising

OTT advertisements refer to those short, 5-15 second ads that play on streaming platforms that a viewer can’t skip.

This style of advertising allows you to lump viewers together into different groups so that you can target them based on their user profiles.

More and more people are switching to streaming alternatives for entertainment. Every platform requires the viewer to create an account or profile. This gives you access to their personalized data information like their region, age range, and viewing trends.

With over 70% of in-stream ad impressions on Facebook viewed to completion with the sound on, this is a valuable way to get your information out.

Additionally, you can control what sort of content shouldn’t be appearing alongside your ads. For example, if you’re running an ad to help people quit smoking, you won’t want a cigarette brand’s ad running alongside it.

4. Mobile-First Advertising Trends

Customers are more likely to shop online with their phones over any other means. It is vital that video advertising (and online shopping platforms) be compatible with this format.

Keep social media formatting in mind when producing video content. Many shoppers rely on clickable and shop-able social media ads. If you are showing them content, make sure they can click through to make their purchase, otherwise, you run the risk of losing them.

5. Customer-Made Content

Customers are more likely to trust the information or opinions of their peers on the Internet over those of a mega-corporation.

Take advantage of this by encouraging opinionated customers to share their experiences. This can be an actual video testimonial or a rave review they left on your site.

6. Influencer Content

Are you a new company or perhaps an established one looking to generate some positive feedback? Buy into social media influencers!

Depending on your product, this can be a powerful way to get your brand in front of a lot of people in a short amount of time.

For a current customer, you can offer them a gift card or free merchandise to introduce new products. Encourage them to focus on their continued business with you!

For new customers, focus on your brand and key products or services. Offer the influencer free product or services that they can review and explain.

Generally, it’s best to establish an agreement for how long your product review needs to stay on their platform. It’s also important to make sure they know you may use their images and video in your advertising campaigns.

7. Graphic or Animated Videos

Blend graphics, text, or animated characters in your video ads. This can be an easy way to tell a story for anew or online exclusive brand people may not have heard of yet.

Bring your blueprints or digital layouts to life in anticipation of a grand opening, use text or customer reviews to tell a story, or animate with generic characters to give viewers a chance to imagine themselves in their place. This creates a much more inclusive branding statement.

8. Cinemagraph Advertisements

Cinemagraphs are cool photo and video hybrid advertisements. Set the tone in your static advertisements by catching the viewer’s eye with some motion.

Some examples are a few strands of hair blowing in the wind, a single blinking streetlight, waves crashing on the sand, or sparks from a campfire.

Generally, a viewer will spend more time looking at a Cinemagraph ad than a photo because they want to see what else is moving. This means greater absorption of your messaging and higher potential for ROAS.

This advertising trend brings life and variety into your messaging, without distracting away from it.

9. Television Commercials

That’s right, television should still be on your radar folks! Don’t alienate or ignore your more traditional customers by forgetting to occasionally advertise on TV.

Think about the types of ads you are working on for the digital market and play to those trends for TV as well. Delight your viewer with ads that they won’t want to leave the room for or fast-forward through. Hit them right away with exciting content so they stick around for your messaging.

Where to Start

For newer, smaller, or more traditional companies, video advertising trends like these may be daunting.

But depending on your customers’ age, lifestyle, region, and shopping habits, video production could be a game-changer for your business! Learn more about your customers and decide what would be the most beneficial avenue to get them your information.

If you’re ready to get started on your video marketing strategy, contact us today.

7 Simple Tips to Create the Perfect On Hold Message

on hold message

Everyone hates being placed on-hold. Especially when time is short and your customers are busy. If you run a popular company but you care about your employees, you know the importance of an excellent on-hold message. 

Your on-hold message can be the difference between a hang-up and a customer that stays in it for the long haul. What’s more, on-hold customers present you a unique opportunity in today’s world– a highly engaged audience. 

Marketing experts fork out millions every year to target engaged audiences. But you’ve got an entire queue-full for free. That’s why we’re here to make sure you don’t mess up this incredible opportunity by presenting out top tips for engaging on-hold messages.

Want to know how to keep customers on the line, satisfied, and excited to engage with your business? Keep reading for the 7 things you need to create the perfect on-hold message every time. 

1. Start With a Greeting

To set the stage for your customer’s on-hold experience, you need the perfect greeting. Any good business greeting should include the business name. And if you have the right call-in software, you may also prefer personalizing the greeting to include the customer’s name. 

But many companies also enjoy creating short slogans to highlight their business expertise. 

For example, companies that are a local staple might mention how long they’ve been in business. Similarly, if your company has won awards for your products or services, you can mention it in your greeting. 

2. Set Your Customers’ Expectations

Once you’ve greeted your incoming caller, it’s time to let them know what to expect from the call-in experience. Are queues full and will there be wait time? If so, make sure to tell the customer how long they can expect to wait or even what number they are in line.

Does the customer have other options aside from speaking with a representative? Then it’s time to list those other options now. And one of those options should always be the next tip on our list: an FAQ on-hold message.

3. Offer FAQs to Save Time

One of the most useful options in your on-hold message is a list of frequently asked questions. Your customer’s question may be on this list, saving them from having to wait in a long queue just to discover the answer is more simple than they might’ve thought. 

Common FAQs include:

  • Company business hours
  • Business location or address
  • Your website

Including directions to your website is an excellent idea for companies that offer services that can also be done online. Is your customer calling to schedule an appointment? Direct them toward your website where they can set up a time online.

4. Make Wait Times Worthwhile

Once a customer is well-informed about their options, you may want to offer something useful to them. After all, the number 1 reason people hang up while on-hold is because they have better things to do than wait. Make their wait time worth it to avoid premature hang-ups.

Include details on upcoming promotions, sales, or exclusive offers. This may also be a good time to plug new services or products your customer may not be aware of. That way, your call-in customer will feel less like they’re wasting time and more like they’re getting something in return for waiting patiently. 

5. Educate While They Wait

While on-hold messages can be an excellent time to up-sell, don’t make your customers think it’s all about your business. Take the time to remind your customer you care with short educational content in your on-hold message. 

Gone are the days of playing boring and monotonous elevator music while they wait. Instead, customers want to be educated through your on-hold message. 

One of the best ways to do this is by offering little tips and tricks that pertain to your business or industry. For example, a credit card company might offer advice on how to improve credit scores or find the best deals on interest rates.

6. Remind Customers to Leave a Review, Like, or Comment

In today’s totally online world, a review can be one of the most valuable customer interactions for a business. Not to mention getting customers to engage with you online. These things build your social proof with prospective customers and go a long way to help improve your business’ visibility in the community you operate in.

But don’t just plug your social media pages and ask for a review full stop. Make sure to let customers know that you value their opinion. Use this time to also let them know if they’ve had a negative experience in the past, you’re more than happy to speak with them about it and resolve your negative feelings.

And when possible, offer customers something in return for leaving a review or following your social media accounts. For example, many companies offer future discounts or free items in exchange for a review on Google or another popular review platform. This will not only incentivize the process but it will also show your customers you really do value their opinion.

7. Be Gracious– Say Thank You

Just as you should never begin an on-hold message without a warm greeting, you should never end a customer’s experience with anything but profuse gratitude. No one likes wasting time on hold. But when you let your customers know you recognize their time sacrifice, they’re more likely to feel like waiting is worth it. 

Get a Custom On-Hold Message For Your Business

Searching for an affordable, custom on-hold message to start engaging customers at your business? Killerspots is here to help. Check out our On-hold Message Services and find out you can start improving customer satisfaction while on-hold today!

The Best Documentaries of 2019 Revealed

2019 was another great year for documentaries.

Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have really taken the art of the documentary seriously when other platforms are still catching on. We need to cherish our documentarians because they’re telling the true story of our society and the reasons for our actions. 

As we look back on the events and characters of our recent past with some of the films that came out this year, so too will future generations about things that are happening now. They might not be blockbusters, but they serve a crucial purpose.

Today, we’re going to talk about the best documentaries of 2019 and why they were so impactful. Some are tragic and confusing character studies, while others take an in-depth look into the funny, terrifying, and absurd bits of the way we live.

If you’re an aspiring documentarian, these films are must-watches because they exhibit unmatched research, dedication, and overall quality. Use these to find inspiration for your next film project.

Meeting Gorbachev

Werner Herzog is a master of documentaries and narrative film, consistently delving into the depths of human experience no matter the medium. Meeting Gorbachev ditches Herzog’s dour and self-serious personality for a more jovial back and forth conversation with the former Soviet leader, nearing the end of his life.

It’s strange and exciting to see Herzog take on the role of a superfan interviewer, but the conversation does flow both ways. If you’re a fan of remarkable people talking about their remarkable accomplishments, this is the doc for you.

Fyre & Fyre Fraud

The rival Fyre Festival documentaries, Fyre (Netflix) and Fyre Fraud (Hulu), examined the eponymous music festival, which was doomed before it began. The cringe factor is at a 10, but you’ll end up feeling sympathy for some of the support characters that just wanted to be a part of something meaningful.

The villains are Billy MacFarland and former pop-rap superstar Ja Rule. Fyre is more of an examination of what went wrong and why, while Fyre Fraud actually gets MacFarland in for an interview to explain how it all went down…and down, and down. Both are highly entertaining.

Rolling Thunder Revue

Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour in the mid-70s when Dylan had become a mega-star in the recording world. The tour was an effort to reach fans in smaller towns to get back to his folk singer roots.

Scorsese’s film is a pseudo-documentary, blending in real interviews with the people that were there. That including Dylan himself, as well as fictionalized representations of characters that may or may not have been around. 

Whether you’re a fan of Dylan’s or not, the film is an entertaining trip through a time and place in American popular music and the mythical figure at the center of it. How things have changed. 

Conversations With A Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

Our fascination with the grotesque is on display in Conversations With A Killer. The 4-part Netflix docuseries takes a look at one of the most heinous criminals of the last century, Ted Bundy. Bundy was convicted of 30 sex crimes and executed 30 years ago.

The series focuses in on several conversations with Bundy while he was on death row. That’s mixed in with some background on the killer and interviews with people that came across him.

It’s a fascinating look into the mind of one of America’s most famous serial killers, but you don’t leave feeling any sympathy for him. You will feel some frustration with a legal system that saw Bundy walk twice before being caught on what was pretty weak evidence.

Apollo 11

Todd Douglas Miller’s Apollo 11 might be the space film of the year. It features never before seen NASA-released footage of the moon-landing expedition. No effects, no interviews or voice-overs, just the incredible restored footage.

What you come away with is a sense of wonder of how this feat was accomplished 50 years ago and an appreciation of all those involved. In troubling times, it feels good to look back on something so unifying in American history books.

The names of the three men involved are almost religious in nature now, but the film does a great job of depicting them as mere men that are in a position to do something incredible. Buzz Aldrin even cracks a great joke about locking himself and Neil Armstrong out of the capsule.

While this film will put a lot of conspiracy theorists’ notions to bed, others will make note of the knack for filmmaking that the original documentarians had. When restored, it does look eerily similar to a certain Kubrick film.

American Factory

From the title, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichart’s American Factory would appear to be a grandiose take on the American recession. What it’s really about is how the loss of American factories has become such a simple and politicized talking point.

The film delves deep into an Ohio automotive plant. As a result of the 2008 recession, it shuts down only to be revived a few years later by a Chinese company. We then see the complications of a re-hired American workforce alongside a Chinese-American workforce.

It’s less about the socio-economic and cultural divisions between the two groups or the rise of China and the fall of America. But instead, it’s motive is to give a sense of how much of the world is run by power, big business, and profit.

The Best Documentaries of 2019 Revealed

These were some of the best documentaries of 2019, but there were so many more that it would be impossible to talk about them all. Finding inspiration in other people’s work is how all great documentarians get started. Don’t shy away from it.

Watch these films and figure out how you can take bits and pieces from each one to create your own unique style. To get help audio, video, and greenscreen production for your documentary, check out what we offer at Killer Spots Agency.

The 9 Most Recognizable Commercial Jingles

Do you feel like your market is having trouble remembering your company’s name? 

Have sales numbers been lagging as of late? 

Are you concerned that your current marketing strategy just isn’t as effective as you’d hoped? 

Maybe the solution isn’t to invest in social media influencers or spend hours writing blog posts that might not even get read. Instead, why not consider writing a catchy jingle for your company?

Jingles appeal to everyone, help people to remember your information, and they don’t have to get updated to get with the times. 

Just think about some of the catchy commercial songs you remember from decades ago!

Read on for a list of the most popular commercial jingles ever, and get some serious inspiration for how to come up with an awesome jingle of your own. 

1. Kars 4 Kids

Interested in donating your car? 

If so, then you already know to call Kars 4 Kids, a nonprofit who helps to fund childhood education using cash from selling used vehicles — even those in rough shape. 

The jingle is incredibly catchy, and it also includes the organization’s phone number and a brief description of the services they offer.

Effective jingles do exactly that — and it helps that the commercial also features children playing the instruments for the jingle themselves. 

2. The Oscar Meyer Song

No list of catchy jingles would be complete without a mention of what is arguably the most famous jingle of all time: 

The Oscar Meyer song.  

The celebrated jingle was written in just an hour in 1962, and spurred many contests, imitations, and of course, sales for the company. 

One of the biggest reasons for its success? 

It was written by experienced jingle composer Richard Trentlage, who also created jingles for V8 and McDonald’s. 

3. Empire Today Carpet

If you need your carpet cleaned, chances are you already know exactly who you’re going to call: 

Empire Today. 

The familiar “800-588” scale jingle gets stuck in your head almost immediately, and the bouncing animations of grey-haired men cleaning the carpet help it to stick around.

Jingles that include contact information are especially beneficial to smaller, niche businesses.

4. Huggies Diapers

With children everywhere desperate to prove to their parents that they’re “big kids now,” it’s no wonder that the Huggies pull-ups diaper’s jingle took off the way it did. 

Plus, combine a catchy tune with adorable videos of babies waddling around, and you’ve got a recipe for instant success. The jingle is still used today, and has helped make Huggies one of the most popular diaper and baby brands of all time. 

5. The Kit Kat Jingle

If you’re in need of a “break,” the Kit Kat’s commercial jingles urge you to find someone who will break you off a piece of their candy. 

The jingle has been a popular hit since 1986, and usually features images of someone snapping off a delicious chunk of a Kit Kat bar. Chances are good that you won’t be able to resist getting a piece of candy after hearing the song.

6. Meow Mix

It’s tough to imagine how a company could make the sounds of cats meowing not only into a jingle, but also into a good jingle. 

The creativity of the “Meow Mix” jingle is what sets it apart from the competition and makes consumers remember it so well. We’re sure that the cute images of cats and kittens certainly don’t hurt, either. 

Interestingly, the company decided to retire the beloved jingle in 1996, but once they realized how much customers missed it, they decided to bring it back to the airwaves in 2012 — much to the satisfaction of cats who “want chicken” everywhere. 

7. Doublemint Gum

Are you ready to double your pleasure and double your fun? 

If so, then you already know that it’s time to reach for a piece of Doublemint gum. This iconic and lively jingle helped to make Wrigley’s an incredible success, and people certainly still sing the jingle today. 

8. Folger’s Coffee

What’s the best part of waking up? 

For coffee lovers everywhere, the famous Folger’s jingle reminded us that it’s “Folgers in your cup.” 

Coupled with a close-up shot of the Folger’s coffee tin and a nice cup of morning joe, this is certainly one of the most well-recognized commercial jingles ever. It’s still used today and has had no problem standing the test of time. 

9. McDonald’s 

Are you “lovin’ it?” 

Thanks to one of the most popular jingles from fast-food giant McDonald’s, the answer is probably “yes.”

Sure, other fast-food chains (think Subway’s “Five Dollar Footlong” jingle) have created some pretty catchy tunes over the years. However, nothing quite comes close to the familiar five-note intro to McDonald’s, “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle. 

The best part of the jingle? 

For many, it’s the little-known fact that Pusha T wrote it.

Ready for Commercial Jingles of Your Own?

While this list of popular commercial jingles has no doubt been a fun trip down memory lane (and has gotten at least one jingle stuck in your head) we hope it’s done more than just that. 

You should stop to consider just how much of a long-term impact jingles can have on a brand, and how they can set you apart from your competitors. 

Are you interested in developing a jingle for your company to run on the radio or online? 

If so, then we want to help you make it happen. 

Reach out to us to learn more about our jingle-writing process, and get ready to have everyone signing your company’s tune. 

Your Guide to a User Friendly Website

user friendly website

People are busy, always on-the-go while looking for the next big thing. Consumers expect companies to keep up with their needs. Otherwise, their digital experience won’t fit in with their life in the real world. 

So how do you give customers what they want?

With a user-friendly website, you can make your customers’ lives a lot easier. UX design could also boost your business.

According to research, a well-designed user interface could increase conversions by 200%. Meanwhile, a better user experience design could increase conversions up to 400%.

By now, you’re probably wondering what user-friendly web design entails. Keep reading to discover what makes a good website through user-friendly design. 

1. Start Responsive

Most people keep up with the world from their smartphones. 

According to research, 61% of site users will choose a competitor’s mobile-friendly site over one that’s not. Meanwhile, 45% are less likely to visit a site a second time if they had a poor user experience. 

To develop a user-friendly website, you first need to keep your mobile users in mind. 

Make it easier for people to use your website from their smaller screens. This can include creating a mobile-friendly or responsive site. 

To optimize for mobile users, keep navigation, font sizes, and buttons in mind. Photos and videos should all scale for smaller screen widths.

Otherwise, your mobile users will end up pinching and zooming out, trying to see your content. 

2. Simplify the Nav

People can’t explore your website if the navigation is difficult to use. 

For a user-friendly website, simplicity is key. Make sure the navigation is easy to use and understand. Try not to complicate the nav with multiple tiers, either. 

Instead, minimize the number of sub navigations you use. Make sure each page is named appropriately and clearly. That way, your site visitors can get around without struggling.

3. Show Your Logo

How will site visitors recognize your website is yours?

Branding is also an important component of user-friendly web design. People expect to see your logo in the top left corner. They should also have the ability to click on the logo to return to the homepage.

For additional branding, keep your color scheme and imagery in mind. 

Keeping branding consistent throughout the design will help avoid confusion. If people switch from one page to the next and encounter a completely different design, they might think they’re on a different website.

Branding helps improve user experience by creating a seamless path from one page to the next. 

4. Speed It Up

30% of consumers expect a website to load in one second or less. 

If it takes forever for your pages to load, people might leave. After all, they’re busy. When one website takes too long to load, they’re likely to leave and take their business elsewhere.

Use this tool to test your website speed. The site will also give you recommendations so you improve your site speed. For example, you might consider using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

AMPs follow a set of standards meant to improve the mobile web experience. 

AMP helps speed up your pages by optimizing your content. This feature is best for websites that don’t require additional javascript or sophisticated functionality.

If your website is a little more complicated, you can create a Progressive Web App. These pages create an app-like experience for mobile users. The web page will look and feel like a mobile app without directing users to the app store. 

Both of these page types are designed to improve user experience by speeding up that experience.  

5. Set Up Search

Make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re looking for. 

Set up search functionality on your site. Most user-friendly websites display the search bar in the top right, above the navigation. 

Adding search functionality will streamline the user experience. Instead of wasting time searching through pages one by one, your visitors can immediately find what they need.

Great websites that simplify the user experience also show site visitors your company is ready to help.

6. Clarify CTAs

Your CTA, or call-to-action, clarifies what you want people to do on that page. For example, you might want visitors to fill out a form or call your company.

Placing visible CTAs on the page will help you direct your visitors to take action. When you make the CTA clear (and easy to find), visitors won’t have to wonder about what you want them to do.

Use an eye-catching color for your CTA button. 

Meanwhile, make sure the button also resizes for mobile devices.

7. Clear Up the Content

Seeing a lengthy paragraph will make your visitors tired before they start reading. 

Instead of giant blocks of text, break it up. Try to condense each paragraph to a few sentences, or shorten your sentences. You can also use headings, subheadings, and bullets to break up the text. 

Reorganizing your text will improve readability.

Since people are always in a rush, making the text easier to skim and digest will keep your site visitors from leaving. 

8. Balance It Out

Once you improve the text for your user-friendly website, consider your imagery.

It’s important to create the right balance of high-quality images and text. Otherwise, you could risk overstimulating your visitors.

Stay careful not to overcrowd the page. Many companies are moving toward minimalistic design. This design uses more white space, allowing the content to breathe.

9. Make It Easy to Share

Use social media to your advantage. Make it easy for visitors to share your site content. 

To do this, add social sharing buttons to your content. Making it easier for visitors to share your content will invite new customers to your site. 

10. Add Accessibility

Accessibility for disabled, blind, or elderly users is important as well.

Consider following these guidelines to improve your web design for these visitors. That way, your site is easy to use for anyone who visits your site.

Website Goals: 10 Tips for a User-Friendly Website

Give the people what they want! With these tips for a user-friendly website, you can improve the user experience for anyone who visits your site. The better the user experience, the more likely visitors will become paying customers.

Contact us today for your user-friendly website!

Why Your Business Needs an Inbound Marketing Strategy

Seo

Let’s bring it in! Inbound marketing (also known as content marketing) allows you to increase traffic to your company’s website. Once you attract visitors, you can engage and delight them with your content.

When done right, an inbound marketing strategy allows you to turn website visitors into paying customers.

Better yet, you can encourage those customers to come back for more through brand loyalty. 

In fact, inbound marketing through content costs 62% less than outbound marketing and produces three times as many leads.

Still on the fence? Keep reading to learn the six benefits of developing your inbound marketing strategy.

1. Inbound is More Effective Than Outbound

Outbound marketing strategies such as flyers and billboards aren’t going anywhere. While they can help you increase brand awareness, these tactics aren’t always effective.

Think about it. Flyers go out to anyone within a certain location. That means you’re not targeting your ideal customer. 

Then, you have to hope the message sinks in. Even with a strong call-to-action (CTA), there’s no guarantee people take action. If they do, how do you know that lead came from that flyer?

Sometimes, outbound marketing strategies come off as interruptive and annoying.

Think about the last time you watched Hulu or a show on TV. The commercials distract from the show you’re watching, just to make a sale. 

Since you can’t always match an outbound campaign to the right audience, some of the ads end up irrelevant to the people who see them. 

An inbound marketing strategy, on the other hand, allows you to choose a more effective route.

Instead of interrupting someone’s experience, inbound marketing strives to help make the consumer’s life easier. By creating content your audience wants and needs, you’re showing customers you’re an informative resource. This also creates a more authentic experience for your customers. 

The precise targeting also ensures companies avoid wasting their marketing budget. 

Instead, you can find your ideal customer and show them your expertise through your inbound marketing strategy.  

2. Target Throughout the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey moves from awareness to consideration to decision. Before your website visitors becoming paying customers, they go through all three steps of this journey. 

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can guide people along their buyer’s journey. 

With a billboard, you only have one chance (and a few seconds) to make an impact. With inbound marketing, you can target potential customers along every stage of their journey. 

For example, let’s say someone visits your website. Maybe they put an item in their cart, then leave. With remarketing, you can show them digital ads of that same product.

Then, you can remind them to return to your website to complete their purchase.

In this example, the prospect starts with awareness—they know about your product. They consider buying your product, but instead abandon their cart. With remarketing, you can spark awareness again, then help the consumer to the decision-making step.

If you don’t have an e-commerce site, the useful content on your website can also guide site visitors along the buyer’s journey. Blog posts and case studies can answer questions, inform consumers, and direct them toward the decision to call your company.

Either way, you’re directing a site visitor straight towards a sale. 

3. Continuously Build Your Audience

With inbound marketing, the goal is to attract prospects and convert them into leads. Once they’re interested, you want to close the sale and turn a lead into a customer. Finally, you want to delight customers so they help promote your product. 

Inbound marketing uses a number of tactics to help you build this audience. 

During the “Attract” stage, you can use blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and advertising. 

Then, you can use a form or chatbot on your landing page to convert visitors.

Email marketing and CRM integration can Close the deal. Then, surveys and referral programs can Delight customers into becoming promoters. 

4. Personalization Pays Off

34% of consumers are more likely to make an unplanned purchase if a brand personalizes content.

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can split your audience into buyer personas. These personas make it easier for you to personalize content per their interests.

Traditional marketing uses a “one message fits all” approach. With inbound marketing, you can focus on customers at a more personal level. This makes it easier for you to build trust with your prospects and turn them into customers.

5. Save Time and Money

Don’t waste time with leads that don’t have any interest in your business.

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can focus on the people already searching for your product or service online. These are people who want to buy already.

Inbound marketing allows you to attract these prospects to your website.

Instead of wasting time pushing a product or service they don’t need, you can attract people who already want what you offer. This makes it easier for you to attract qualified leads using content that aligns with your audience’s needs.

Inbound marketing also uses automation. You can automate tasks to save yourself time and money. These tasks include email marketing, social media posts, monitoring, and reporting. 

When you save time and money marketing, you can spend more time and money on what matters: your business. As a result, you’re able to increase your ROI and compete with bigger companies in the industry. 

6. Measure the Success

You can’t accurately measure a flyer or billboard’s success to boost brand awareness.

With inbound marketing tactics, however, all the data you need is a click away. You can generate reports and measure the success of your campaigns. Then, you can make informed decisions for improving campaigns in the future.

With inbound marketing, you can also set goals and milestones. If you’re falling short, you have the data in hand to show you want needs improving. 

Bring It In: 6 Reasons You Need an Inbound Marketing Strategy

It’s time to bring in new business. With an inbound marketing strategy, you can attract, convert, and delight your customers. Then, you can optimize your campaigns for continuous success. 

Stand out from the competition. Contact us today to grow your company using an inbound marketing strategy!

Marketing Basics for Business

marketing

Marketing for a business in today’s world is, without a doubt, more demanding than ever before. The days of merely listing a company name and number in the phone book are over. Nowadays, it is almost expected of companies to market themselves everywhere. Whether that be by word of mouth, on television, social media, advertising out in public, or all over the Internet. To create a thriving business and client-base, it’s important to make sure your business is well marketed. Below are a handful of tips to start promoting and marketing your business.

Establishing Identity

A crucial element to stand out in a marketplace among your competition is finding a unique identity. A common way for people to recognize a company is by the company’s logo and color scheme. 

Deciding exactly what your company stands for is the first step. Making your company’s core beliefs and mission as clear as possible is necessary. You need to show why consumers should choose you over competitors. Allowing your brand to develop a personality can help consumers easily relate to you and remember your company.

Knowing Your Audience

You should be creating different content for your audience. This should be based on whether they are old or new customers, or if they’re not sure. Taking the time to get to know and understand the demographics, interests, and niche of the market that you are trying to appeal to is crucial for success. You want to make sure that the content that is being created is targeted toward the appropriate audience. Remaining relevant and valuable to your audience is important to remember.

Website Creation and Maintenance

In today’s world, it is very important for a successful company to have a website. Think about it. People nowadays go straight to Google to learn about things that they want to know more about. Whether it’s to find new restaurants in the area, a place that sells a specific type of light bulb, or even to find a place for your child to go to daycare, the Internet is the fastest way to find the answers that people need. With a website, people can look up information anytime, anywhere, and not have to wait until regular business hours. Having a presence online makes it much more likely for customers to trust you. Making sure that the website has a modern, easy-to-navigate, and mobile-friendly layout will promote more frequent visits. This allows the opportunity for new customers to jump on board.

The website should be navigable enough to allow anyone that visits the website to be able to find any information that they might be looking for. This may include details about the business, products and/or services being sold, and even contact information. Providing this information in a clean and organized manner allows users to obtain a sense of how professional and credible your business might be. This allows customers to decide whether or not they’d like to learn more.

Social Media

Getting into the swing of social media and how to use it appropriately as a business or professional can be tricky. One mistake that businesses often make when starting on this journey is diving in too quickly, all at once. Starting with one simple Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram profile to let consumers know that you exist is a great start. Getting your name out there on your social media platform of choice is a great way to introduce your business to so many potential new client opportunities. Hiring a social media manager may end up being a great option. This would ensure that posts are scheduled to be shared regularly (perhaps weekly, if possible). 

Social Media Content

What kind of content is necessary to share on social media? Every business takes a bit of a different route. One of the more popular options is using social media as a platform for customer service. Through the use of Twitter, customers can directly reach out to you. They can ask any questions or concerns that they might have, and feel like they’re speaking to an actual person. Not just some automated machine or bot. Social media may also be used for promotional purposes. Even so, it is very important to not overdo this side of things. The last thing you want is for people to feel overwhelmed with ads and promos that seem like spam. Having a nice balance of the content shared on a business social media page is very important for this marketing strategy to be successful.

These marketing tips are an easy way to build a client base (or grow your current one), engage customers, make your business more readily accessible, and to stay relevant. Although these are not the only options that are available to market your business, they are a great place to start!

Have any questions? Contact us today!

Desktop vs Mobile Advertising

People checking mobile and desktop devices

Smartphones are here to stay. 257 million Americans had a smartphone in 2018, and that number is only going to rise as the years go by. People do everything on their phones; text and call each other, browse social media, read books, and surf the internet. Finding a way to advertise to those users can go a long way to spreading brand awareness. But there are some key differences between internet advertising on a computer and advertising on a mobile device. Let’s go through desktop vs mobile advertising.

Real Estate

The biggest difference between mobile devices and a personal computer is the available space. With a computer, space is hardly ever an issue. Even with the smallest laptops, full-screen browsers offer plenty of space to display menus, banners, navigation tools, and columns for text. Mobile devices are another story. Even with a tablet, the available space for different compositions is limited. Keeping in mind how your website or ad will be displayed on a phone or tablet will help improve reactions to your brand.

Try to keep your call to actions simple on a mobile page. One link to a cart or a contact page is more than enough for a mobile page. Keep the text to one column and make sure it scales for mobile. There’s nothing quite as annoying as having to zoom in and out of a text, scrolling across the page, just to read it.

Optimization

While utilizing the available real estate and space you have for mobile, it is also vital you optimize your page for mobile users; or use a mobile-specific page. Many websites’ navigation relies on mouse hovering, holding your cursor over a link to show more menus. This doesn’t exist on mobile. There are no cursors, only fingers. Having a system that relies on something not there is only going to annoy and frustrate users.

Videos

Videos are another sticking point with mobile users. Many websites will load a video when users access the site. Maybe it’s a news story, maybe it’s an ad. Whatever it is, it must load. This isn’t a problem with a computer over Wi-Fi. Wireless internet is pretty fast nowadays, so bandwidth isn’t a big deal for some at home. Using mobile data, however, is not as quick. You have limited bandwidth on mobile and having a video load right out the gate may slow down site load times.

Adobe Flash is installed on close to 90% of computers, so designing an ad running on flash isn’t a terrible idea for desktop. But for mobile, flash isn’t nearly as popular. It runs only on a few versions of Android operating systems and is completely banned by iOS. That means if you have an ad based on flash, anyone using Apple products won’t see it.

Know Which Ads to Use

Knowing what types of ads to run when interacting with mobile users is crucial. Most people, while using a computer, are sitting down, focusing on the screen in front of them. Often, they’re working or doing something that needs a computer specifically. Longer ads work well here because they’re captive audiences. Mobile usage is different. Users are more likely to use their mobile devices in between activities that require their attention. Browsing social media on the train during their commute, texting a friend while in the waiting room of an appointment, shopping online while on their couch during a commercial break. Mobile devices have used a distraction for most, something to fill downtime with. Keeping your ads short for mobile is ideal. If it’s too long, people might get bored and move on.

Conclusion

There are some key differences between desktop and mobile marketing. Being aware of these differences and knowing how to utilize the advantages and avoid the disadvantages is important. Having a mobile-optimized site is ideal. This way you can take advantage of the benefits of both formats without having to tip-toe around the detractions of the other format. You can tailor ads for the focus you get from a computer user and use the higher interaction rates of mobile users. If you have any questions, contact us here!

The Importance of Jingles

importance of jingles

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head all day? You whistle it out every time you stop at a street light? Well, that’s the power of an effective jingle. We all know some iconic jingles; McDonald’s, State Farm, Subway, Kit Kat, songs that have become ubiquitous with the brands that have used them. I’m sure everyone reading this can whistle “I’m Lovin’ It” off the top of their head. And maybe now you have a craving for a Big Mac. Good jingles can do that for a company. So having a good jingle is a crucial step. Let’s look at the importance of jingles in advertising.

Why you should be utilizing Jingles in your advertising

It leaves a lasting impact

Jingles have the benefit of being memorable and entertaining. They aren’t someones disembodied voice talking to the audience. Music, and by extension jingles, is personal. It invokes emotion and can grab people’s attention. Good jingles are catchy and memorable. They can stay with you for the rest of the day after just one listen. If you fail to capture the audience’s attention, then your advert can fall flat and be unremarkable for the consumer.

Choosing the right song

It’s no secret that music can affect one’s emotions. Picking the right song that conveys the right emotional notes for your brand is crucial. If you find the jingle annoying, you can almost guarantee the mass audience is going to find it annoying as well. The jingle will be associated with your brand. If it makes people feel angry or sad, then those emotions are going to reflect on your brand or product. Picking a happy, easy-going song can help improve your audience’s reaction to your song.

You can also go the route of picking a snippet of a song by a band you like and using that for your campaign. Honda did this a few years ago when they released their latest model of the Civic. Set to Empire of the Sun’s “Walking on a Dream” the commercial was a hit. I would suggest, if you go this route then you should avoid overly popular songs. These songs are played over and over again on the radio and can grate on some listeners. You don’t want to be associated with that fatigue.

Helps with Brand recognition

We all know some iconic jingles: The Old Spice whistle, McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ it”, Rice Krispy’s “Snap, Crackle, Pop,” and we can probably all break off into song on the first note. We associate those jingles with the brands, and even if you don’t eat McDonald’s or use Old Spice, you’ll think of them as soon as you hear the jingle.

If you pick a song, then hopefully every time someone hears that song they’ll think of your brand or your campaign. The song can even come to represent your brand, giving you an iconic sound. Which will be associated with your brand or company for years to come. Every time someone hears that song or the first notes of your jingle, they’ll think of you.

Conclusion:

The importance of jingles can not be understated. Jingles are still very relevant in today’s radio advertising world. Having an effective jingle can help increase brand awareness and recognition. Finding the right jungle for you is important, so don’t take the matter lightly. If you get it wrong, then your brand could end up being associated with negative feelings. If you get it right, you could end up with an iconic sound just for you. Using music to express emotion is a powerful tool in a company’s arsenal. If you have any questions about the importance of jingles or want help writing your very own, contact us here!

Reach of Radio

reach of radio

Radio is a timeless source of entertainment for all ages in the United States. As such, radio is also an important vehicle for advertising. Earlier I’ve written about some tips to get your message to the largest amount of people. Now I’m going to write about the commercial reach of radio.

Who’s Listening?:

Radio reaches more than 243 million American adults each month. That’s about 96% of US adults listening to the radio at some point each month. Every week, 94% of adults listen to the radio. This has been true for a number of the past few years and is comparable to the 94.9% that listen to the radio in 2001. These numbers haven’t changed much over the years, even with the introduction of iPods and music streaming. So it’s reasonable to assume they won’t change anytime soon.

If we break it down further by generations, we can see some of the specifics of demographics. 95% of Millennials listen every month. 97% of Gen Xers and 98% of Boomers listen to the radio weekly. 44.6 million Hispanics and 34.5 million African Americans listen to the radio each month (96% and 97% respectively). Radio reaches most Americans regularly, whether it be driving in the car, listening at work, or having it on at home.

According to reports, those who are more educated and have a higher annual income, listen to radio more often. As you move from not working to working, levels of education, and average annual income, the higher percentage of people listen. For example, 71% of working people in the survey listen to the radio, compared to 61% of non-workers. 74% of degree-holding people listen to the radio, 62% of those with some college, and 56% of those with no college.  On the salary side of things, people who make less than 25k have about a 50% listening rate in that demographic. 61% of those in the 25k-$44.9k range, 68% of those in the $45k-$74.9k range, and 75% of those in the $75k+ range.

Why do people listen to the radio?

Finding why people listen to the radio is helpful information when you begin crafting your ad campaign, but the answers tend to be less than helpful. Targeting a popular DJ is always a good shout for a consistent audience but surveys show that only about 24.5% of people listen to the radio for its DJs or show hosts. Most people listen to the radio because it’s free and convenient to listen to in the car. About 57% of the 18-34 demographic listen because it is free. That number rises as you get older with 61% and 66% in the 35-54 and 55-75 age groups respectively.  There’s no single reason why people listen to the radio. 200 million people listen to the radio every month for a variety of reasons. Here’s the full list from Deloitte.

Conclusion:

TV and Newspapers have struggled in recent years, but Radio has stayed relatively consistent. The TV has seen a 50% decline in viewership from the younger demographics in the past few years, and newspapers as a medium are struggling. Radio doesn’t have these problems, and it’s just as relevant now as it was 20 years ago. That means it’s still a viable platform for advertising and marketing. Any more questions? You can contact us here!

Hashtags and Digital Marketing

Social media is an important part of our world. Utilizing the platform in your business is also an important task. But how do you use the hashtag in digital marketing? We first have to start with what a hashtag is. Hashtag is the name for the pound sign (#) in the social media world. It began being used as a “hashtag” by Chris Messina in 2007 on twitter. Its purpose is to group posts and other content into easily accessible pathways for users. It is called a “hashtag” rather than “pound sign” because “pound sign” in the UK refers to “£” rather than “#” which is called “hash,” “gate,” and sometimes “octothorpe.”

Today the hashtag is almost ubiquitous with social media, being embraced on almost every platform ranging from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook. The hashtag has entered the cultural zeitgeist, it’s been embraced, it’s been parodied, and it’s been used in everything from disaster relief to weddings to advertising. This means that the hashtag is incredibly useful for online advertising and social media engagement, but how do you use it? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out; here are some tips to utilizing hashtags in your digital marketing.

1. Find the right words for your brand

A Hashtag is a word or set of words that can easily group things. They act as a keyword that people can use to search for tweets and posts related to whatever it is they’re interested in. That means that the words you choose as your hashtag are vitally important to its response from social media. Using big words, more than a couple, or difficult to spell words could hamper engagement and response.

Picking a word related to your brand, product, or service is also important. Some companies have it easier here than others. For example, all Coca-Cola need to do is throw a #coke at the end of a tweet and they have an instant engagement platform. It’s simple, and it’s synonymous with their product to the point that any tweet containing it will immediately hearken back to Coca-Cola.

2. Engage with Trending topics

Engaging with the topics and trends that are popular at the moment is a great way to find expand your brand influence. Find a trending hashtag that relates to your brand or service and engages with it. Using these trending topics are a great way of spreading your brand to more customers. These topics are relevant to people’s lives at that moment, so if you can engage in a way that is also relevant or promote your product when they are thinking about the problem it solves, you can leave a lasting impact on them.

3. Keep it simple.

As stated above, keep your hashtag short, the more words, the harder it is to read. With multiple words, capitalizing each new word is a good way of signifying the breaks between words. This makes your hashtag easier to read and less confusing for the consumer. Keeping it simple also means limiting the number of hashtags in each post. One or two, maybe three, but the fewer number of hashtags in a post the better and more sharable it is. #Putting #a #hashtag #before #every #word #is #annoying #to #read, and will put consumers off. The simpler the hashtag and the post, the easier it is for people to share.

4. Incentivize.

Use your hashtags to promote a deal or giveaway your doing. Give people a reason to use your hashtag, and thus do your advertising for you. A solid discount on a service or a product for using the hashtag or engaging with your social media can a long way in getting a response.

5. Engage with your audience.

A hashtag gives you a way to connect with people talking about the same thing, so actually, talk with them. Listen to what they’re saying, respond and craft your next campaign to utilize the feedback you’re given here. Coming up with a hashtag and making a post is an easy part, now you get to do the leg work and respond to it. They’ll engage with you for a reason, maybe it’s just as simple as saying they like your product. Maybe they’ll tell you something you can do better. Be open and willing to adapt and you can go a long way.

Conclusion

Social media is a platform that grows by the day. It has its customs and language. Being able to utilize those things are an important part of making the most out of social media. Nothing is more ubiquitous with social media than the #hashtag. The hashtag is a part of modern culture and knowing how to use it to its fullest potential can give you a leg up in expanding your business and brand. Keep these things in mind the next time you start a social media campaign. If you have any questions, contact us here!

Radio vs Digital Marketing

Pros and cons of Radio and Digital Marketing

What is the most effective form of marketing for your company? Digital marketing vs Radio marketing? Well that’s really a question only you can answer, but here I will break down some pros and cons of each medium to make that decision easier.

Radio vs Digital Marketing

Pros:

Radio:
  • A proof advertising on radio is that you can target a specific audience with your ad. Radio stations often have a specific demographic that it caters to. If your target demographic matches the one a radio station serves to, then you can easily reach by purchasing ad spots on the station.
  • With the right timing, radio advertising can be relatively cheap. If you know the demographics your targeting and what station cater to it, advertising during off times can be cheap and effective.
  • A radio ad is more personal than an internet banner ad. With radio, you can tell stories, personally talk to the listener, which makes you more memorable and favorably received.
  • Advertisements can be easily made. Radio ads can be as simple as a 30-second copy you pay the radio station to read for you. The more produced your ad is, the better returns you’ll find, but simple is still effective.
  • Since radio ads are relatively easy to produce, the turnover time on ads can be quick. Going from idea to finished ad on air can be a short process if it’s not overly complicated of an ad.
Digital:
  • Digital marketing can reach a massive audience. The internet is a global infrastructure, and buying ad space on the web can reach a global audience.
  • When you advertise online, you have faster response rates to your service. When someone sees an ad that his helpful to them, they’ll often go immediately to that website. If you answer their problem, then you’ll have their business rather quickly.
  • Helps you expand your customer service. If you advertise or have a presence through social media then you can interact with customers at a near-instantaneous rate. Answer a customer concern, posting an update on your page, or responding to a comment builds a relationship with customers and brings you into a favorable light in their minds. Relationships mean repeat business and brand loyalty which can drive future sales.
  • Online marketing is fast. It doesn’t always have to be a banner ad or a side ad designed professionally. Sometimes just posting a promotion on your social media is enough to get people talking about your company. Just Chipotle tweeting something like “free burritos today” or something of that sort, will see interactions with their brand rise exponentially for that day

 

Cons:

Radio:
  • Radio spots during peak hours can be expensive because stations know they reach the most people. There is a reason for the price, as these spots are the most effective ones and where you’ll see the most return on your money, but they’re expensive nonetheless.
  • Not every product will thrive on the radio. Certain products and services either can’t be sold on audio alone. Services that answer problems listeners might be facing on their drive home from work do the best with radio advertising. This is especially true for places like restaurants that answer the question “What’s for dinner?” Keep in mind that when you decide to advertise on radio
  • Some radio listeners block out the radio or change the channel when ads come on. This is hardly surprising, people use the radio as background noise, or only want to listen to music, no matter the music. When the ads come on they’re either not listening or they change the channel and don’t even hear your ad. Repetition is one way to fight this, and is essential for any successful radio campaign, read this post to learn more about it!
Digital:
  • Digital marketing is going to take up a lot of your time to keep up with it. Staying on top of all the comments and questions, and making sure your social media is up to date and engaging with your customer base can be a time drain. It may not be expensive to start a digital campaign, but it can sure take up your time during the day.
  • You lose some control. When you advertise on digital platforms, and especially on social media platforms, you’re at the mercy of those platforms. Algorithms can bury your ad if it doesn’t create enough interaction (or if you didn’t pay enough) which creates a negative feedback loop, just pushing it down. If a site or platform goes down for whatever reason, then you no longer have it to advertise on, and if you lose internet service or power for a day, then you’re no longer able to engage with your customer base.
  • First impressions matter more here than in some other places. You have mere seconds to leave a favorable impression on someone online, if you fail then they’ll move on and forget about you. You have to be captivating and enjoyable in those first few instances, which can be difficult to get right.
  • There can also be some negative reactions online. Some people can be annoyed with your ads, sometimes they might feel wronged by you for whatever reason, or they can just be there to mess with you. This is a fact of working on the internet, and can sometimes have a negative impact on your perception online if not handled properly.

Conclusion: Radio vs Digital Marketing?

There are a lot of pros and cons to both sides of this argument. Ultimately, both forms of marketing have their advantages, and thus their place in any marketing campaign. Which one you do is entirely dependent on your company, your product or service, and what you can afford to do. Both can be successful, and both can fail, making sure you understand the pros and cons of both will help you avoid the later. For more information or help with either form of marketing, contact us here!

The Basics of Typography

typography

Words are an important part of our lives. We use them on a daily basis. We type them on computers, write them on paper, and speak them to each other. With all this being said, we can assume that words are also important in advertising. It’s almost important how you present these words. Here we are going to breakdown the basics of typography, and how to use it.

Typography is a term that refers to the style, arrangement, or appearance of typeset. It is the font, the bolds, the italics, the size of the text, and the layout you choose.

Readability is the most important part of any print or web media. And choosing the right background, the right font, and the right font color are all vital to this. Avoid textured or busy backgrounds. These are both distracting and make the text hard to read. Keep the contrast between the background and text high, as the more contrast there is, the easier it is to read. Also, keep good spacing on your page, don’t bunch up your text as it makes it harder and more frustrating to read. Too small of text can be frustrating for readers and may end up driving people away from your copy. Finally, use contrast throughout your page. The contrast between colors, but also contrast between sizes and images on the page. Larger text is a good way to direct attention to certain topics of the page.

Font

Choosing the right font is an important decision to make. There are two different types of fonts. Serif and sans serif. Serif fonts have little tails on the letters, and stroke lengths change through letters. An example of serif fonts is Times New Roman.

Sans Serif, or “without” serifs, fonts do not have the tails on letters, and stroke lengths are consistent throughout the letters. An example of sans serif is Arial.

Serif fonts are considered by consumers to be more traditional. They represent the structure and a sense of establishment. Sans serif fonts, however, represent more modern sensibilities. They represent a more casual setting.

Differences between Serif and Sans Serif font
Display vs Text

The next two distinctions between fonts are the differences between display and text fonts

Display fonts are meant to draw attention to themselves. They’re bold and guide the eye across the advertisement. They might be stylized, they might not be, but most are not supposed to be read for more than a few words. Think about any Coca-Cola ad you’ve ever seen. The Coca-Cola logo is iconic, whenever you see that cursive you think of coke. Whenever you think about coke you see that cursive.

Text fonts are the opposite of display fonts. This font is used for continuous reading, it’s simple and easy on the eyes. We see it so much that we take it from granted. We see text fonts in newspapers, magazines, books, webpages, even this blog. It goes unnoticed because it’s simple, easy on the eyes, and your eyes move easily across the page from word to word.

Finding the right balance between display fonts and text fonts is crucial for any ad, webpage, or piece of media. If you overuse display fonts, you run the risk of annoying the reader and pushing them away from your ad. If you underuse the display font, then you run the risk of people never reading the ad in the first place. Too much copy and people will get bored and move on. Too little copy and people might not know what you’re selling.

Differences between Display and Text Font

 

Conclusion

Typography is an important part of any design. There are a lot of fonts out there, and a lot of choices that aren’t easy to make. Hopefully, this blog has given you some more information on this vast sea of choices. Whether you go with serif text, sans serif, or plaster your company in the flashiest display font you can find. Any questions about typography? Or want to get into touch about getting the design just right? Contact us here.

Everything You Need To Know About Landing Pages

landing pages
You’ve sent out your email campaign, paid to put your ads on every webpage google could find, what’s next? Your website? Well ideally you want your customers to find you, but how will they find whatever specific product or discount or service you’ve just spent so much money on advertising. The answer is landing pages.

WHAT ARE LANDING PAGES?

Landing pages are web pages that allow you to capture a visitor’s information through a conversion form. A good landing page will target a particular audience, like that email campaign you just did. Creating landing pages allows you to target a particular audience, offer them something of value, and convert a higher percentage of your audience into leads. Landing pages can also capture information about who’s visiting your page and what brought them there.
Landing pages also give your offers places to live. Any special offers you might be running have a specific spot where visitors can trade their information for the offer. This allows you to gain some new customers, information about your demographics, and new leads to maybe sell to. The new leads give you fuel for other marketing campaigns. Maybe they didn’t bite on the original campaign, but they were engaged enough to respond, so another campaign might do the trick. Landing pages also give you information on what your consumer base is engaging with, as well as insights as to the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD LANDING PAGE?

HEADLINE:

The headline of a landing page is the first thing visitors see when they arrive at the web page. Headlines should be clear and concise, summing up what the offer is in simple, plain words.

COPY:

The copy of the landing page should be simple and short. It should clearly express what the value of the offer or product is in a plain and compelling way to attract the customer. Keeping it short is essential. Having a quick turnover from access to the conversion of the customer is ideal.

KEYWORDS:

Your page title, headline, headings, and copy should have keywords to optimize for search engines.

SOCIAL SHARING:

You should enable links to your social media and links that allow the visitor to share your offer on their own social media. This should go without saying, but you want them to share your products around for you.

HIDDEN NAVIGATION:

You should hide your site’s navigation on landing pages, or at least minimize it. This will reduce irritation for your customer, focusing the page on the specific product or offer the page is promoting. It will also decrease distractions for the visitor, and stop them from easily leaving the page.

CONVERSION FORM:

A simple form that allows your visitor to trade their information for the offered product. Keep it simple, name, email, maybe a phone number if you absolutely need it.

IMAGE:

A good quality image that gives visitors a tangible idea of what they’ll receive. Give them a reason to want to sign up, something to want.

THANK YOU PAGES AND RESPONSES:

After they sign up for your product, send them to a thank you page. If they give an email, send them a response email with either the offer or if it’s a service something of that sort. Be sure to give them a reassurance that you’ll be in contact with them soon.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

The more conversions on your page, the better. While this may seem simple, it is important that every offer you have has a landing page. This allows you to track the numbers of separate campaigns you’re doing and how successful they are. Minimize the distractions. Earlier I mentioned that you should do away with the navigation links of your website, and that’s to reduce the distractions. The entire point of a landing page is to get the visitor to sign up for your product, reducing the complexity and extra links on your page will help to achieve that. Keep the page “above the fold.” That is don’t make the visitor scroll on your page. Keep everything on a single page that sells everything at once. This makes it simpler for the visitor to sign the conversion form and the simpler the better here. Have any questions? Contact us here!

6 Tips For Better Audio Recordings

audio recordings

AUDIO RECORDINGS

If you’ve ever recorded yourself with your phone, or on your computer, then you know just how hard that is to hear. When you craft something like a radio ad or an audio message for your website, headset microphones just don’t cut it. So how do you improve the quality of your audio recordings? Here are some tips for better audio recordings.

1. Get the right kind of equipment.

This might sound like a no brainer, but it is incredibly important. Headset microphones might work on a phone call, but anything beyond that, your audio quality is going to take a hit. Buying a USB microphone to plug into your computer can seriously improve the quality of your recordings instantly. Also, getting a good pair of headphones is a must. Quality headphones allow you to hear the sounds and quality as you record. This will prevent you from realizing later while you’re editing that your recording is useless. Another key piece of equipment is a pop filter. A pop filter is a fabric screen in front of your microphone. The purpose of a pop filter is to cut down on the plosive sounds the speaker makes when they’re close to the microphone. The noise made from the p,t,k, and the b,d,g sounds can cause a pop in the recording. A pop filter works to cut down on that.

2. Get the right software

Getting the right software, like the right equipment, can really take your recording to the next level. Audio recording and editing software is an important part of getting a finished product out there. Audition, part of the Adobe package, is some of the best out there, with others such as Cubase and SADiE being good options as well. Be sure when you record, you record each audio source into separate channels. Record someone talking into one track, music into another, a second person into a third and so on. This will really help you when it comes to editing and releasing the track. For example, if you record all of it on a single channel, then if someone blunders in a speech, you’ll struggle to fix that blunder without fully removing all audio from that section. It is also important to know the difference between mono and stereo for recording. In monaural sound, one single channel (signal) is used. It can be reproduced through separate speakers, but all speakers are copies of the original signal. Stereophonic sound uses more than one channel. You can use two different channels and make one channel feed one speaker and the second channel feed a second speaker. This is used to create directionality, perspective, and space. Usually, you want to record speech in mono and music into stereo.

3. Make sure your audio recordings sound natural

This is probably the hardest part of audio recordings to get right. You want to make sure your recording sounds natural like it’s someone talking to you in their kitchen. But you don’t want background noises like dog barks, cars driving by, or refrigerators running. This can be a challenge to get right. Recording speech with the microphone close to the speaker will minimize any disruptive background noises. Whenever your recording is done, then spend a few minutes recording the ambient background noises of your location. With these sounds you can lay them in post under the talking, bring the volume down to non-disruptive levels, giving your recording a sense of warmth and welcoming. Making sure speech flows naturally is also a key part of post-production. Cutting out any hesitation words like “err” or “ahh” will help make the speech clear for the listener. Knowing when to change the flow of speech is also important, and breaths can be added to pause and edit the flow.

4. Find the right space to record

Finding the right space to record can really improve any audio recording. Walls, tables, and tile can bounce audio waves back into the microphone, severely hurting its quality. Carpet, furniture such as couches, and non-parallel walls do a good job of either absorbing sound or reflecting it away from the microphone. Small rooms are also better for recording, as there is not as much of an echo, Soundproofing is also easier in smaller rooms. Making sure your equipment, like the microphone and pop filter, are attached to objects that are not constantly being bumped or touched will cut down on audio blunders. Renting out a recording studio is also an option and it will have all the amenities and soundproofing you need.

5. Always be prepared

Make sure your equipment works before using it. If you ever do offsite recording, make sure your equipment works before leaving. Do a test recording. Getting to a site and realizing something doesn’t work is a pain and can cost you time and money. When you’re at your studio, make sure you have backups of everything, as you never know what might break or go wrong. Stay in control of whatever you’re doing. If you’re interviewing someone, make sure you keep hold of the microphone, as it allows you to dictate the pace of the conversation. Make sure you’re prepared before you begin recording. Don’t waste your time or your money by fumbling through the first takes of a recording.

6. Have fun with your audio recordings

Have fun with your work. Your audience can tell when you’re genuinely having a good time and when you’re forcing it. Having fun will let your audience have fun as well. Know the demographic you’re playing to and be sure to know what you’re going to say. But have fun with it

CONCLUSION:

Hearing is one of the most important senses humans have. Making something that is pleasurable on the ears can go a long way in helping your product, service, etc. Investing in the production quality of your recordings can also go a long way in making your audio better. Whether you’re making a radio ad, a podcast, a news interview, or a voiceover for a video, using these tips, or going to a studio, can really help you make quality products. For more info about audio recordings, contact us here.