Category: Content Marketing

Benefits of Email Marketing

Small businesses have lots of options when it comes to marketing strategies. However, those options are not all created equal. Some may be more expensive or time-consuming than others, and some may have higher ROI. The type of business you own will largely determine the different marketing strategies you employ, but there is one that is effective across industries:

Email marketing.

There are many benefits of email marketing as a marketing strategy. And did you know that email marketing is one of the most well-received forms of marketing with consistent ROI?

Many people spend a considerable amount of their day looking at emails, especially on smartphones. A recent survey from Statista found that almost 50% of smartphone users prefer to receive communications from businesses via email. And those communications are usually successful in converting to sales. Another survey found that 50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once a month. This leads to an impressive average ROI for email marketing, earning approximately $36 for every $1 spent.

Numbers, however, aren’t the only incentive to work email marketing into your marketing strategy. Read on for the top 7 benefits of email marketing that you can take advantage of for your business.

Personalized Marketing

Email marketing is easy to personalize, which can make it more effective at converting leads and earning sales. Personalization options for email marketing are endless, but there are two common strategies.

The first involves simply including the recipient’s name in the subject line or body copy of the email. It seems simple, but this strategy is incredibly effective in increasing email open rates. Emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% higher open rate than generic subject lines. Most email marketing platforms include easy-to-use codes to include the recipient’s name, so it’s easier than ever to personalize your email marketing strategy.

Segmentation is the second personalization strategy for email marketing. Segmentation is when you divide your email list into categories and send different communications to each category. For example, you could have one email go out to first-time customers, and a different one sent to repeat customers. If your business markets multiple products or services, you can also utilize CRM software to tag your email list based on the services your contacts are interested in. Then you can opt to only send emails about certain services to those contacts. This ensures that your messages are relevant and interesting, instead of being viewed as spam.

Measurable Results

Another one of the benefits of email marketing is how easy it is to see measurable results. Email platforms often have built-in statistics that detail bounce rates, open rates, click-through rates, and more. You can see how quickly a contact opened an email after it was sent, or how many recipients clicked on a link in the email. This data is invaluable for future email marketing initiatives. Use the data to determine what works and what doesn’t, and you can refine future emails using those strategies.

Increased Site Traffic

Improved SEO is another benefit of email marketing. Including links to your website in your email communications encourages recipients to go to your website to check out your products and services. Backlinks to your website via email will improve your website’s SEO ranking overall. Emails with links to your website also can generate more traffic by word-of-mouth. Recipients can forward an interesting email to their other contacts, which could lead to more customers checking out your site who may not have otherwise.

Increased Sales

60% of consumers in a survey reported that they have made a purchase because of a marketing email they received. This statistic is particularly noteworthy for small businesses with an e-commerce site. Emails detailing promotions, sales, or product highlights can generate interest and encourage customers to purchase to take advantage of a deal. You can even develop email-only promotions or deliver your contacts a special coupon code to further entice them.

Cost-Effective

With a high ROI, email marketing is more cost-effective than other forms of marketing. Sending printed mailers, producing radio or television ads, or hiring more marketing personnel are all costly marketing strategies that may be difficult for small businesses. Email is an easy way to reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in minutes, at little cost to you. Many CRMs make it easy to send emails directly from their software to your contacts, so you can manage your customers and your emails all in one place for one price.

Timesaving

As a small business owner, you know that time is invaluable. In addition to being cost-effective, another benefit of email marketing is how much time it will save you compared to other forms of marketing. Traditional marketing campaigns, like television, radio, or print, can take weeks or months to produce and implement. Email marketing is easier and faster to put together, which means that your emails can be more timely or topical depending on what is going on in your business and the world at large. Emails don’t have to be fancy, either! A simple text-based email can be composed quickly and sent out even within a single day.

Improves Recognition

Finally, another benefit of email marketing is it can help improve your brand recognition. Email communications, like other written brand communications, will often be composed in your brand voice, or showcase your brand colors, style, or logos. Showing off your brand’s personality in your emails and providing your email list with something of value may even generate excitement for your weekly or monthly newsletters. You can research your audience and even do surveys to determine what kind of content they’d like to see in their inboxes. Then, when you deliver, it will improve your brand recognition and brand image overall.

Develop Killer Email Marketing with Killerspots

When done right, the benefits of email marketing are vast and rewarding. The first step to drafting a killer email campaign, however, is with killer written content. If you need help crafting emails for your small business, Killerspots’ team of talented writers can help create emails that engage and convert. Get in touch with us today to speak with our writing and marketing teams.

On Hold Messaging: Is It Worth It?

On hold messaging is important because 60% of consumers will call your company after they see it on Google. There’s no way for you to answer them all and you don’t want a potential client to get frustrated after trying multiple times. You may be able to ease their frustration by upgrading your on-hold messages.

When you think about on-hold messaging, your first thought is probably of elevator music playing and the message informing your caller that their wait time will be “approximately ten minutes.” But today’s on-hold messaging offers much more than that.

A good on-hold messaging program can help you make an impression on your callers and drive more sales with each call you receive. Read on to learn how it works.

What Is On-Hold Messaging?

On-hold messaging is the process of playing music and notices to callers while they’re waiting for a representative. For example, if your organization doesn’t have a live receptionist and you want to let callers know that they’ll be waiting for a while, you can use an on-hold message to offer them an estimated wait time so they can plan accordingly.

Custom On-Hold Messaging

Today, on-hold messaging offers much more than just music and a simple message. Instead, you can use it to create a mood or convey information while the caller waits. This can help keep callers engaged in your brand and ultimately drive sales.

On-hold messages are an opportunity for you to make an impression on potential customers before they even speak with someone from your company.

Benefits of On-Hold Messaging

When you upgrade your on-hold messaging to include marketing messages, you can create a memorable impression on your callers. You can help them feel valued and informed. This, in turn, can help to reduce caller frustration.

They’re not just on hold, they’re learning about your brand!

Besides informing your customers, on-hold messaging offers other advantages:

Getting Feedback

While you may not be able to get into your callers’ heads, you can certainly help them feel heard by listening closely. We’re not just talking about what they want to buy; we mean hearing the reasons behind their needs.

The best way to do this? By asking questions!

Use your on-hold message to ask about the customer experience, and gather data to improve that experience.

For example, you might ask them to rate their most recent transaction with your company, or you can seek feedback on specific products or services. Asking for product reviews is a great way to get actionable feedback that helps you improve your offerings.

Product Promotion

You could include a call to action in your on-hold script that directly promotes a product or service. Mention a sale you’re currently having or a new service you’ve recently launched. This is a great way to get customers interested in what you have to offer while they’re waiting in the queue.

If you have multiple products or services, point out how they work together and offer discounts for bundling them.

Loyalty Program

If you have a loyalty program, make sure your on-hold message mentions it! You can use this time to remind customers of the benefits they receive by being loyal to your brand. This is a great way to keep your business top of mind and encourage customers to come back again and again.

Thank Your Customers

Be sure to thank your customers for their patience and patronage. A simple “thank you for holding” can go a long way in keeping customers feeling valued by your business. Remind them how much you appreciate their business and that you’re looking forward to serving them.

Promote Your Social Accounts

A strong social media presence is essential to all business strategies. Let your customers know how they can interact with you on social media and how to find you online. You could even promote an exclusive offer, deal, or contest that they can only get by following your business on social media!

Building Relationships

On-hold messaging isn’t just for keeping callers occupied while they wait. It’s also a way to communicate with callers in new ways that you might not have considered before. By getting creative with your on-hold messaging, you can use it to build relationships with your customers that will last long after they hang up the phone.

Announce Partnerships

No matter what industry you work in, chances are that you have partners or affiliates that help make your business run smoothly. Your customers might not know that, though. By announcing your partnerships while they’re waiting, you can give callers a better idea of who your company works with and establish a reputation.

Get Personal

With the right program, you can even create custom messages for particular times of day or days of the week to ensure that your current campaigns are always well-represented. Your customers will feel connected to your brand and the people who represent it, which can help them see your business as more than just a faceless entity.

Market Your Business More Effectively

On-hold messaging is an excellent choice for marketing your business in a new way. It’s cost-effective and easy to implement, but the benefits go beyond just giving callers a place to listen while they wait. It allows businesses to cultivate customer relationships.

These are just a few of the ways that you can use on-hold messaging to boost customer satisfaction. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use this tool to make your clients happier, call us. We’ll help you upgrade your on-hold system, or start a new one!

Radio Ad Production: How to Improve Ad Quality

People listen to the radio everyday, which means it’s the perfect chance to place an ad for them to hear. The problem is what goes into quality radio production, and how can you pull it off?

Creating high-quality audio ads is a critical part of the advertising process. After all, the last thing you want is to annoy your listeners and drive them away. To ensure that doesn’t happen, we’ve outlined some essential tips on improving radio ad quality.

If you’re not happy with the quality of your radio ads, there are things you can do to make them better. You need to know where to start.

Creating a great advertising campaign isn’t easy, but it does involve a lot of testing and tweaking until you get it right. Follow these tips for ways to improve radio ad production quality and increase the effectiveness of your ads going forward.

Define Your Target Audience

Before you start recording your ad, you’ll first need to create a clear target audience in your mind.

This means you’ll need to define who your audience is and what they’re like. This will help give you a better foundation for creating your ad.

By creating an all-encompassing, yet detailed description of your audience, you’ll have a better idea of how to craft your ad to appeal to them. This will make your ad more effective, as it’ll be tailored to a specific group of people.

You can also use this information to help decide on the type of language you use in the ad. If your target audience is young people, you’ll want to use language that appeals to them, like slang or emojis.

Defining your target audience is a critical part of improving radio ad quality.

Scripting and Copywriting

Once you’ve defined your target audience and have an idea of whom you’re trying to reach, it’s time to start writing and scripting your ad. The more refined your ad’s script is, the better.

Ideally, you’ll have a finished, polished script before you start recording your audio ad. If you’re not a professional copywriter, don’t worry.

Plenty of online guides can help you craft the perfect script. You can use these as a source of inspiration for your own ad. Once you have a finished script, read through it multiple times to ensure you understand every word.

You don’t want to make silly mistakes that will ruin the quality of your ad. You want your ad to sound as professional as possible. Having a polished script will help you achieve that.

Choose the Right Music

Once you’ve written and polished your script, you’ll need to decide on the right music to go with it. You don’t want to overlook this, as it can make or break your ad.

In radio ads, the music is a huge part of the overall appeal of the ad. You want the melody and rhythm of your music to be catchy and memorable. You also want it to have a flow that matches your script perfectly.

If you make mistakes here, it can seriously hurt the quality of your ad. When choosing music, make sure you’re not ripping it off from somewhere else. There are tons of royalty-free music sources that you can use to avoid copyright issues.

This will also prevent you from getting in trouble with the law. You can also use music that you already own. Some radio stations allow you to use your own music, as long as it meets specific criteria.

Select Appropriate Ad Length

Another thing to consider when improving radio ad quality is ad length. While making your ad memorable is essential, you also don’t want it to be too long. Ideally, your ad will be between 15 and 30 seconds long. Any less than 15 seconds, and you risk being too short.

This means people might not get the full message or remember your ad at all. Any more than 30 seconds, you might lose your listeners’ attention. This means they might tune out before hearing your entire ad.

This could mean that your ad ends up falling flat, which is something you want to avoid. The best way to determine the correct length for your ad is to test different lengths.

This will help you find an ad length that works best for your audience.

Record High-Quality Audio

Once you’ve finished writing your script and selecting the right music, it’s time to record the ad. This is where you’ll put all your hard work to use.

You want to ensure that you’re recording the ad in a quality way. This means recording in a quiet environment and with high-quality equipment. Ideally, you want to record your ad in a soundproof room with minimal noise.

This will help you produce high-quality audio that will sound great on the radio. You can even hire a studio to record your ad if you have a budget.

This will ensure that your ad has the highest quality possible and doesn’t have any distracting background noises. Recording your ad in a high-quality way will help improve radio ad quality and make it more effective.

Decide on a Catchy Jingle

Once you’ve written and recorded your ad, you’ll need to decide if you want to use a jingle. A jingle is a catchy tune often played over the end of an ad or during a break in the middle of an ad.

It’s essentially an audio logo representing your radio station and your brand as a whole. Jingles are a great way to improve radio ad quality and increase the effectiveness of your ad.

They’re catchy and memorable, so people will remember them. They’re also a great way to inform your audience about the name of your station. Jingles can also be helpful when it comes to branding your station.

Jingles are great for helping your station stand out. They can also be used to promote upcoming shows or special events. They’re a valuable tool to have in your toolbelt.

Radio Ad Production: Tips & Tricks

When done right, radio ad production can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website or store. However, creating high-quality radio ads isn’t easy, and it can take time to get it right.

Fortunately, there are ways to improve radio ad quality and make your ads more effective. You can make your ads shine by defining your target audience, scripting and copywriting, choosing the right music, selecting an appropriate ad length, and recording high-quality audio.

And don’t forget your jingle, but speaking of jingles, are you stumped about how to create one? Contact Killerspots for more help with your radio ads today.

On Hold Greetings: Making a Positive First Impression

Did you know that 60% of callers will hang up after they’ve been on hold for 1 minute? While you can’t always avoid putting callers on hold, there are ways to make their hold experience more pleasant.

On-hold greetings are often the introduction to your company, so you need to make sure that you introduce yourself to customers the right way.

How can you put together an on-hold greeting that will make a good impression? And how will your on-hold music, or an on-hold message, help to keep your customer on the line? Here’s our guide on how to make sure your on-hold greetings make the right impression every time.

What On-Hold Greetings Will You Need?

When you’re starting out with on-hold greetings, you’ll need to decide which greetings to record. Depending on the size of your business, you may need just one of each greeting or several greetings for different departments. Whatever your business size, you’ll likely need the following greeting types:

Opening Greeting

This is the message that plays as soon as your phone system picks up a call. The opening greeting will include some sort of welcome message, along with your business name and a next step. For example:

Thank you for calling Dog Groomers R Us. To best answer your call, please choose from one of the following options.

Your caller will feel welcomed and will also know what to do to have their query addressed.

On-Hold Messaging

An on-hold message will let callers know that there is a queue and that they’ll need to hold to speak to an advisor. For example:

All of our agents are dealing with other calls. Please hold, and we will answer your call as soon as possible.

Voicemail Greeting

A voicemail greeting is used for out-of-hours calls. If a customer calls outside of business hours, a voicemail greeting will let them know of alternative ways to answer their query.

It will also let them know when they can call back and can welcome them to leave a message if you have that service enabled. For example:

Thank you for calling Popsicle Vacations. We are now closed. Please visit our website, www.popsiclevacations.com, and use our live chat feature. Alternatively, you can call us back between 9 AM and 5 PM Monday through Friday.

How to Ensure a Successful Greeting

Now you know which greetings you need, how do you record a greeting that’ll keep callers on the line? One way is by recording custom on-hold messages with the following:

Use a Pleasant Tone

First off, you don’t want callers to feel like an inconvenience. Don’t ever record a message that sounds frustrated, stern, or tired.

Instead, you want to use a pleasant, upbeat tone that sounds warm and welcoming, as well as eager to help with their inquiry.

Do Apologize

Your customers are paying you good money, so they should be able to speak to you whenever they need to. Of course, sometimes calls can stack up, so there’s a delay in responding to everyone. Callers understand that, but they appreciate an apology.

Saying sorry for making them wait is good manners, and it’ll help customers to feel that you’re aware of their inconvenience.

Don’t Overwhelm Them With Information

One alternative to on-hold music is to give your customers information on other products or services you offer. Or, you may want to let them know other ways to get in touch. Whatever the information you offer, don’t overwhelm your callers by giving them too much information all at once.

Doing so will probably give them a headache and either make them want to hang up or will get them more worked up before speaking to an agent. Instead, break any information down into manageable chunks, and disperse it throughout the message. This will give them a chance to digest the first lot of info before moving on to the next.

Make Your Hold Music Count

While on-hold music can be frustrating as it means a caller isn’t speaking to an operator, it’s still a vital part of your call answering system. And you can’t just put any old music on and expect to keep customers happy. Here are a couple of things to think about when choosing your on-hold music.

Silence Is Deadly

What’s worse than annoying on-hold music? No hold music at all. When callers hear silence at the end of the line, they’ll think that they’ve been cut off and are more likely to hang up.

So, be sure to choose some hold music to include on the line while your callers wait to be attended to. It will boost your call retention and may even help them feel better in the process.

Choose Music To Suit Your Audience

If you have a very specific target market, then you may want to choose hold music that will appeal to them. For example, if most of your customers are millennials, then songs they knew all the lyrics to a few years ago might get their feet tapping.

If you have a wide audience, though, opt for music that is soothing and inoffensive. Classical music is often a popular choice because it’s loved by many and doesn’t get on your nerves.

On-Hold Greetings: The Takeaway

A custom on-hold for business greeting is a way to introduce your company to your customers and is the first step in solving their query. Decide which messages you need to record, and then record your on-hold greetings in a style that will keep callers on the line.

Apologize for any inconvenience, and use a pleasant, upbeat tone to help them feel listened to. If you record your greeting the right way, you’ll boost customer retention and provide great customer service along the way.

Are you ready to customize your on-hold greetings but don’t know what to say? Then contact us and order a custom on-hold message today.

Radio Commercial Production: 5 Tips to Create a Successful Ad

In this age of technology, things are constantly changing and updating. All except for one thing: radio.

To this day, radio is still widely used as one of the most effective ways to reach people. About 92% of Americans still listen to the regular AM/FM radio, with other mediums falling short.

It’s only reasonable then to make use of this medium to advertise your business. With its repetitive nature and quick, pointed messages, radio ad production is one of the best ways for people to know and remember you.

Although, there is one issue. How can you captivate listeners and encourage them to look at your business?

Here are 5 ways you can make a successful radio commercial production.

1. Know Your Audience

Do your research.

Figure out which demographic your business appeals to, and make a list of what they would be interested in. See who or what is popular among that group and use that information to draw them in.

By doing a deep dive into the potential customers of your business, you will end up with a list of dos and don’ts that will help you out in the long run.

For example, if your business appeals to a younger generation, talking to them in a serious tone might not be the way to go.

2. Brand Voice and Tone

How people see you and your brand is of vital importance. You want them to connect to your business and the message that you want to share.

Develop the personality of your business and how you intend to speak to your audience. Getting your brand voice right will help people become familiarized with you and your business.

Just make sure to keep your brand voice consistent so that each radio commercial production is connected to your business.

Once you have your brand voice, you can look into the right tone for your radio ads. Is your business light-hearted and fun-oriented? Or are you a little more subdued and serious?

Brand tone can change over time, so make sure to keep up to date with what your audience needs.

When you have mastered both the brand voice and tone, you’ll have a guide to how you will present your custom radio ads for business to the public.

3. Simplicity in Your Radio Commercial Production

The average radio ad is about 30-60 seconds long. That’s hardly enough time to get into detail about your business.

So, how do you manage to keep your authenticity, brand voice, and tone as well as remain charming enough to get people to keep listening in such a short period of time?

Focus on the important aspects of your business and leave the audience wanting more. Be direct and to the point.

Simplicity could also apply to the way that the message is delivered. While emotional, dramatic lines in your radio ad can be an effective way to appeal to someone’s emotions, sometimes a commercial radio production set as a casual conversation is better.

It will make the listener feel as if they’re part of the conversation.

4. Be Creative and Appeal to Emotion

An effective strategy when making a successful radio ad is to appeal to your audience’s emotions.

Why?

A lot of our everyday decisions are affected by emotion.

Creativity comes into the picture when we make use of the art of storytelling. While a fictional story can move others to act, a relatable story, on the other hand, could draw in your audience as well as let them know that your business understands them.

By being creative, you can ensure that your content is always fresh and unique. Look into the trends that can help you relate to your audience.

Knowing what your audience needs and is interested in does require some research, but it will ultimately set you apart from the others and keep your listeners interested.

5. Strong Conclusion and Call to Action

Within the 30-60 second time limit, the conclusion of your radio ad is just as important as your introduction.

In these last seconds, use a call to action and remind the audience what your message is.

What’s next?

Describe what steps to take. Lead your audience to you by giving them various ways to get into contact, be it a phone number or a website.

Repetition is Key

Timing is everything in commercial radio production.

Once you’ve applied all the steps mentioned above, all that’s left is to repeat your radio ad during certain times of the day or week. It’s important to find the right balance of repetition without making your audience feel as if they’re being “nagged.”

Additionally, keep in mind that certain times during the day, week, month, and year are going to apply differently to your audience.

For example, a Christmas-oriented business may find it more effective to broadcast its radio ads towards the end of the year.

This is a process that takes time, but it’s a guarantee that the result is well worth it.

After all, the listener would be moved to act upon the radio ad they hear only after listening to it a few more times.

Explore Your Options

Aside from radio commercial production, we offer additional services that will elevate the quality of your radio ads.

Need something catchy and fun? We have talented producers who work hard to produce custom jingles for your business.

For other aspects of your business, we offer special on-hold greetings that are designed to keep the caller online and engaged.

Let Us Help

Of course, these are just a few of the ways you can draw your audience into the product or service that you provide.

It’s only natural that you want the best radio commercial production company with the experience and professionalism to help you out.

We have been in the commercial radio production business for over 20 years. We know our stuff, and we’re more than happy to share our expertise with you and your business.

Ready for a high-quality radio commercial production? Contact us now!

Top Reasons Your Business Needs a Catchy Jingle

Wheaties aired the first-ever commercial jingle on Christmas Eve 1926.

Since then, many iconic companies have come up with catchy commercial jingles. McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” and Kit Kat’s “Give Me a Break” are just two of the effective taglines most people are guaranteed to recognize.

Nothing drives an advertising message home like a catchy jingle. Listeners may either love it or hate it, but if it’s a good jingle, they will remember it. A good jingle connects a brand name with ideas, services, or promotions.

In the growing digital advertising age, it’s important to remember that this classic advertising tactic can still bring great value to a business.

Here are the ways investing in a catchy advertising jingle can benefit a business:

Jingles Establish a Brand

Catchy jingles help build a brand’s identity. Jingles are catchy, simple, and repetitive. They are the key to long-term advertising success.

Quality jingles will help give customers positive brand associations. They highlight a company’s personality.

Lyrics and music together help create the specific identity a company is trying to achieve. The lyrics help paint the desired picture of the company, while the melody helps set the tone.

If a brand’s mission is inspiring and upbeat, the tune of the jingle should match that. A high-quality business will use high-quality music in its jingle.

Catchy radio jingles will build familiarity and establish an emotional connection. Customers transfer their emotions and feelings toward the jingle to the company.

Balance is key. A bad jingle can do more harm than good. If a jingle comes off as annoying, your customers will hate it and may roll their eyes every time they hear it.

Well-crafted jingles hold a lot of potential and can improve a company’s public image.

Jingles Help Customers Remember a Brand

While it’s true that good logos make customers recognize a brand on a phone, television, or billboard, jingles appeal to the sense of hearing. Music has strong ties to memory. Thus, jingles have the power to get stuck in customers’ heads.

When jingles are written well, they will rhyme, have simple verses, and be repetitive. These qualities help the jingle stick in listeners’ heads. If a catchy jingle is easy to remember, consumers will have the brand in the back of their mind and recall it when they require the brand’s products.

Jingle Music Influences Mood

Music connects to listeners’ memory and mood. Studies show that the areas of the brain involved in planning, movement, attention, and memory are all activated when listening to music.

Music that makes listeners want to move around or sing can greatly improve their mood.

If music can affect a person’s mood, that means a jingle can as well. This is an important factor to remember when crafting the right jingle for a business.

The tune of a jingle can elicit either positive or negative emotions in the listener. It is important to craft a jingle to elicit the right emotional response the company is going for.

While a jingle helps establish brand identity, it should also help listeners decide how to feel about a certain product.

The music should always match the product. If the product is very serious, but the music of the jingle is happy and upbeat, consumers will feel confused by the dissonance.

Businesses should try to elicit positive emotions with their jingle so that consumers feel happy when thinking about their products or services.

Jingles Create Nostalgia

Great jingles can manipulate customer emotions. If a brand has been using the same jingle for decades, customers can feel a rush of nostalgia when they hear the tune and think back to when they heard it as a kid.

Nostalgia draws on familiar memories and experiences. It can be a powerful marketing tool because it persuades consumers based on previous emotions. Advertisements that evoke emotions do better than those that don’t.

When customers feel more, they will be more open to the brand’s message and more open to trying its products. When they are transported to a better time upon hearing a jingle, a business will enjoy increased sales.

Jingles Stand Out From the Crowd

In this day and age, there is a lot of clutter and noise in the advertising world. The rise of digital marketing and advertising has saturated the market.

Consumers are exposed to an excessive number of advertisements daily. Internet users are becoming increasingly desensitized to advertising messages. It is hard for a company’s ad to stand out to consumers when they are constantly scrolling and overwhelmed by various ads.

Jingles are a great way for businesses to stand out and grab the attention of customers.

Consumers typically hear jingles on the radio or a streaming platform. The ads come on during breaks. Most people don’t switch channels to avoid a thirty-second ad, making jingles unavoidable.

Today, music platforms like Spotify are very popular. A catchy jingle aired on one of its commercial breaks is bound to increase a company’s brand awareness and ROI.

There is no visual component to a jingle, which gives consumers a break. If a jingle is catchy and fun, consumers will hear and remember it in a way they don’t remember digital ads. Music embeds itself into consumers’ subconscious, allowing them to remember it long after they first heard the tune.

Jingles Are Engaging

Catchy jingle music is meant to be fun and engaging for listeners. They should be snappy and addictive. If a jingle has the perfect tune and a fun line, people will naturally want to repeat it back.

Kids can even pick up on jingles and start singing them without understanding the brand or its services.

When people start humming or repeating a jingle in public or any social setting, it is a form of free word-of-mouth advertising. Others around will be reminded of the jingle and may even start singing along.

Once customers are initially drawn into a catchy jingle, they stick around to hear the rest of the company’s message and what it has to offer.

Jingles Persuade Customers

Music tends to embed messages in the consumer psyche.

When words are put to music, they become more powerful. Consumers will often create their own repetition by humming the tune or singing the words in their heads.

Jingles will always have contemporary marketing power because of the effect they have on consumers’ minds. They can greatly influence a consumer’s decision-making process.

Jingles Are a Cheap Form of Flexible Marketing

When it comes to cost-effective marketing strategies for a business, jingles are hard to beat. They don’t have to involve celebrities or break the bank. An expert can create an effective jingle that is also budget-sensitive.

The upfront cost of a jingle is well worth the long-term benefits because they are versatile. The one-time investment of hiring a jingle company translates into a piece of marketing that can be used in any campaign. It is important to have experts come up with a jingle as opposed to a business creating one on its own.

Because jingles do not come with recurring payments of fees, a business can re-use them. Jingles can even be used in print campaigns. Once customers become familiar with a jingle, they will associate the printed words of the jingle with the brand.

Catchy advertising jingles can also be edited and re-used. If a business wants to shift directions or advertise a new product, it can change up the tune or add a new line. A refresh from time to time can draw more customer attention.

Because a jingle can stick in customer’s minds, a brand name can pop into their heads even when the company is not running a current ad campaign. That’s the power of a good jingle!

Buying a jingle is a one-time cost, but it can help a business gain loyal customers.

Catchy Jingle: An Essential Marketing Tactic

Jingles are one of the most powerful elements of advertising for a business or brand. They can reach thousands of people and boost company sales due to their persuasive nature.

Killerspots Agency creates killer jingles for every business and budget. Their production team has been creating catchy jingles for over 30 years and knows how to create powerful jingles that will provide businesses with amazing ROI.

Killerspots Agency offers different package options. Jingles are completely customized for each client.

Click here to get a quote on a catchy jingle from Killerspots Agency today!

How to Create an Editorial Content Calendar for Your Dealership

According to a 2018 report by StatusLabs, 90% of searchers haven’t made up their mind when they search on Google. That means you have an opportunity to turn those searches into viable leads. With search engine optimization (SEO), you can gain a higher ranking. Before you boost your ranking, however, you’re going to need a lot of content. Get started by creating an organized, well-thought-out editorial content calendar!

With an editorial content calendar guiding you, you can remain on schedule and on track for success.

Here’s everything you need to know about creating an editorial calendar. With these tips, you can stay on track with your marketing initiatives throughout the year. Get started with these tips.

Why You Need a Content Calendar

In order to rank above the competition, you need unique, high-quality content. Google’s SEO algorithm prioritizes content that’s relevant to user intent. By learning what your customers need, you can create content that appeals to their interests.

Then, you can create an editorial content calendar to remain organized.

A content calendar can also help you recognize opportunities to connect with your audience. For example, let’s say you’ve created a blog post that’s full of interesting data. You can turn that blog post into:

A video
An infographic
A still image or gif

One piece of content can become four different opportunities for you to connect with prospects. Then, you need to determine where you’re sharing that content.

For example, let’s say you post an article on your blog Monday. Then, you can send a weekly email that features your new blog post on Wednesday. Finally, you can post a gif to social media on Friday to attract more people to your blog.

Strategize

Creating an editorial content calendar allows you to develop a strategy for your content. Learning how to create an editorial calendar will help you remain organized with:

The content you’re creating
The topics you’re covering
Where you’re sharing your content
What form your content will appear in

Organizing your content using an editorial calendar will help you increase productivity and efficiency. In addition to saving time, you can also use your calendar to create content based on your marketing objectives.

Is your goal to generate more leads from your content this year? Your content calendar can help you test different types of content throughout the week. Then, you can use data to determine which topics and forms of content helped achieve your goal.

Researching blog posts and keywords will also benefit your SEO strategy. By focusing on SEO, you can attract more people to your site. Then, you can use compelling call-to-action language to convert them into customers.

You can create content to support other active campaigns, too. For example, you might have new products you’re releasing. Maybe you’re making a big change to your brand.

Planning your content ahead of time will help you make sure everything is aligned. That way, one tactic can support the other to benefit your entire strategy.

How to Create an Editorial Calendar

As many as 63% of businesses don’t have an actual content strategy. Making the effort to create an editorial content calendar will help you focus on content creation. By posting content regularly, you can increase your chances of reaching new customers.

Here are five tips to help you learn how to create an editorial calendar for your business.

1. Know Your Goals

First, determine your goals and objectives. For example, you might want to focus your marketing efforts on:

Driving more traffic to your website
Boosting brand awareness, recognition, and reach
Strengthening your SEO strategy
Building brand loyalty with customers to increase retention
Gaining more leads and conversions
Attracting new customers to increase sales

Once you determine your goals, you can determine what type of content will help you achieve those goals.

For example, let’s say you want to boost brand awareness. You can create company culture videos or vlogs to keep people informed about your business. Video content is a great way to help people connect with your brand.

If you want to generate more leads and conversions, try posting a product demo or tutorial instead!

2. Research Topics

Next, start making a rough list of ideas for content. Make sure your ideas align with your business goals.

For example, if you want to generate leads, create ebooks for site visitors to download. You can have them complete a form on your website that requires their email. The informative ebook can become an incentive for them to provide their contact information.

If you want to improve your SEO, create content that targets specific keywords.

For more sales, create content that focuses on the benefits of your products or services, such as case studies or webinars.

3. Know Your Audience

In order to create content that attracts customers, you need to understand your target audience. What type of content are they interested in? Which headlines catch their attention?

Feel free to see what your competitors are doing. Which pieces of content generate the most shares?

You can use Google Keyword Planner or Google Trends as a place to start.

Once you know what your target audience likes, you can start creating your own content.

4. Start Writing

Start brainstorming ideas and writing content. Make sure to optimize your content using specific keywords. Then, start writing.

Once you have a few pieces of content, start organizing your editorial content calendar. Try to post at least one piece of content a week to start. Then, determine how you can split that first piece of content into new forms.

Recycling your content will help you discover new ways to connect with your audience.

For example, you can convert a few blog posts into a larger ebook. Then, you can make that ebook a downloadable piece of content to generate leads.

5. Monitor and Optimize

Once you start using your editorial calendar, take a look at the progress. Use Google Analytics to determine which pieces of content are attracting the most visitors and leads.

Monitoring your content will help you recognize new opportunities.

Which topics do people enjoy reading? Which forms of content do they share? Make a note of where you succeed.

Then, use that data to improve your overall content marketing strategy.

Stay On Track: How to Create an Editorial Content Calendar for Your Dealership

Ready to get organized and on track? By learning how to create an editorial content calendar, you can attract more people to your dealership with ease!

Need help getting started? Contact us today to discuss your business goals!

Social Media Calendar Planning: 7 Tips to Stay Organized

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!

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!

Everything You Need To Know About 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!

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How To Reuse Content For Your Business

Content is a great way to convert visitors, but it’s hard to consistently come up with new and engaging content. But there’s still hope. You can bring in more traffic, and convert more leads by simply repurposing your existing content. Here are some of our tips on how to reuse content for your business.

Turn Written Content Into Infographics

Transforming a long blog post, short articles, or text post into a visually appealing infographic is a great way for you to get your audience to better engage with your content. Actually, it’s been found that an infographic is 30 times more likely to be read than a text article!

It’s less time for a reader to process your information visually with pictures and graphics than just text. Breaking down your current content into more visual posts will help you get more bang for your content buck. Plus, it will get you more engagement from your audience. Parts of the graphic can also be repurposed as multiple image posts for Instagram or Facebook.

Turn Videos into Blog posts and Vice Versa

After you’ve created a video, you don’t need to just upload it and move on. Take the script you created for the video, or write a transcript, and use it as a basis for a blog post!

Or on the flip side, taking key points from a blog post and turning it into an informational video is a creative way to reuse written copy.

Blog Posts into Newsletter

To really get the most bang for your blog post, consider promoting your blog posts in a weekly tips newsletter. You hopefully have a solid list of email subscribers, but even the most dedicated of fans won’t catch every post you write. That’s where your newsletter comes in!

A friendly tips-oriented newsletter can showcase your best blog posts of the week, providing an extra nudge to get users on your site and reading your cream of the crop content.

Webinar into Video Content

Turning one of your webinars into reportable social media videos is a great way to extend the life of your content.

Webinars are a great way to engage with members of your audience, but not everyone can make it to your webinar when you host it. Instead of letting the footage gather dust, you can save, edit, or upload the footage to Youtube to give it life. You can either post the whole webinar, or you can edit it down to multiple short videos on specific topics.

This way no one misses out on your information. Plus, it can be used as an assist to drive visitors to your website.

Turn Longer Posts Into a Series

Why create one long post that no one will read when you can create a series of shorter posts?

If you have a longer blog post, consider dividing it up into a themed series of posts. The posts can help drive engagement, while the shorter lengths allow your audience to fully engage with the posts.

Having any questions on how your business can reuse content? Contact us here.

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