The Search To Find The Perfect Marketing Agency

Published October 17, 2023

So you’re interested in working with a marketing agency! That is great to hear. First off, simply because you are reading our blog post and we happen to be a marketing agency, but also because we want to make sure that you find an agency that is the perfect fit for your business. It may not be us and that is OK! But what we want to do is make sure you have the tools and resources to find that perfect agency. Here’s how.

What is a Marketing Agency?

A marketing agency is a company that provides various marketing services to businesses and organizations. These services can include:

  • Market research
  • Advertising
  • Branding
  • Video production
  • Photography
  • Social media management 
  • And so much more! 

Marketing agencies work with their clients to develop strategies and campaigns that will help them reach their target audiences and achieve their marketing goals. They should also provide analytics and reporting to help their clients measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. 

Some marketing agencies specialize in specific industries or types of marketing, while others offer a wide range of services to clients in various fields. Overall, the goal of a marketing agency is to help its clients promote their products or services and increase their brand awareness and sales and become one with their client’s brand.

How Working With An Agency Can Benefit Your Business

Working with a marketing agency can provide many benefits for your business. Since a marketing agency is a team of professionals who specialize in promoting and growing businesses through various marketing channels, you not only get one person but a whole team to work on your account. Here are some reasons why you should consider working with a marketing agency:

  1. Expertise: Marketing agencies have a team of experts who specialize in different areas of marketing, such as social media marketing, search engine optimization, content marketing, and more. By working with a marketing agency, you can tap into their expertise and get access to the latest marketing strategies and techniques.
  2. Cost-effective: Hiring an in-house marketing team can be expensive, especially for small businesses. By working with a marketing agency, you can get access to a team of marketing professionals at a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house team.
  3. Save time: Marketing can be time-consuming, especially if you don’t have the expertise or resources to do it effectively. By working with a marketing agency, you can free up your time and focus on other important aspects of your business.
  4. Results-driven: Marketing agencies are focused on delivering results for their clients. They will work with you to set goals and create a customized marketing plan to help you achieve those goals.
  5. Stay ahead of the competition: A marketing agency can help you stay ahead of the competition by keeping up with the latest marketing trends and tactics. They will ensure that your business is using the most effective marketing strategies to reach your target audience and grow your business.

Where Do I Look to Find A Marketing Agency?

Finding the right marketing agency can be a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be much easier. The first step is to determine your needs and goals for this agency. Then, you can begin your search by asking for referrals from colleagues or friends who have used marketing agencies before. You can also search online for marketing agencies in your area and read reviews from their past clients. Here are some top websites to start your hunt on:

Once you have a list of potential agencies, start by checking their website and social media networks to see if their style and expertise match your needs. It’s important to schedule a meeting or phone call with the agency to discuss your goals and evaluate their experience and approach. Be sure to ask about their pricing structure, timeline, and success rates with similar projects.

The Bottom Line

Overall, working with a marketing agency can be a great investment for your business. It can help you save time and money, while also delivering results and helping you stay ahead of the competition. Ultimately, the right marketing agency for you will be one that understands your business and can help you achieve your goals in a creative and effective way. Take your time and do your research to find the perfect fit for your needs.

Use Customer Reviews to Your Advantage as Content

Published September 25, 2023

In today’s digital age, customer reviews have become an essential component of creating content. With the vast number of products and services available in the market, consumers rely heavily on customer reviews to make informed decisions about their purchases. Positive reviews can significantly impact a business’s reputation and drive sales. On the other hand, negative reviews can deter potential customers, ultimately leading to a decline in revenue.

Businesses that prioritize customer feedback and utilize it in their marketing strategy have a competitive advantage. By actively engaging with customers and encouraging them to provide feedback, businesses can gain valuable insights into their customers’ needs and preferences. This information can then be used to improve the quality of their products or services, ultimately leading to increased customer satisfaction.

Customer reviews can be a great source of content for any business. Not only can they help improve products and services, but they can also be used to create valuable content that can attract new customers. Here are a few tips on how to use customer reviews for content.

Use Reviews as Testimonials

Positive reviews can be a game-changer for businesses as they can increase the credibility and trustworthiness of a brand. Highlighting positive reviews on a website or social media channels can help potential customers to gain more confidence in the brand and feel more inclined to make a purchase or take action.

When customers leave positive reviews, it’s important to acknowledge and thank them for their feedback. This not only shows appreciation for their time and effort in leaving a review, but it also demonstrates that the brand values customer satisfaction. Here are some tips on how to make the most of positive reviews:

  1. Feature the best reviews prominently on a website: This could be a dedicated page or a widget that displays reviews on the homepage.
  2. Share reviews on social media: Sharing positive reviews on social media channels can help increase reach and engagement. Specific social media graphics that highlight the best reviews can be created to make them stand out from other posts.
  3. Respond to positive reviews: Take the time to respond to positive reviews and thank customers for their feedback. This shows that there is value for their opinion and the business cares about their experience.
  4. Use positive reviews in marketing materials: Consider using quotes from positive reviews in marketing materials, such as in email newsletters or on business cards.

Create a Q&A Blog Post

Compile a list of common questions customers have and use customer reviews to answer them. This will provide valuable information for potential customers and help address concerns they may have. Using common questions as a blog post is an excellent way to create high-quality content that is both engaging and informative for readers. To begin, identify a list of relevant common questions related to the topic of the blog post. This can be done through research or by drawing from personal experience and knowledge.

Once questions have been identified, structure the blog post to address each question in detail. Start with an introduction that sets the stage for the blog post, and then move on to each question. For each question, provide a clear and concise answer that is supported by evidence, research, or personal experience.

To make a blog post more engaging, consider including examples, anecdotes, or case studies to illustrate points. Additionally, use images, videos, or infographics to break up the text and make the content more visually appealing.

Finally, be sure to conclude every blog post with a summary of the key points covered in the post and a call-to-action that encourages readers to engage with your content further.

Create a Product Comparison Guide

Use customer reviews to create a comparison guide that highlights the differences between products and competitor products. This can be a useful tool for customers who are trying to make a purchasing decision. This can also become a pros versus cons piece, as well all know that product reviews include good and bad results. If there is an issue with a competitor product, maybe write how your product fixes the issue. If a competitor product has something similar, speak about your product’s advantages. Use all of the customer feedback to improve content and products in the end. Take note of any common themes or concerns that customers mention in their reviews and then use this feedback to improve content and address any issues that may be preventing customers from making a purchase.

The Bottom Line

Leveraging customer reviews is an effective way for businesses to create compelling content. Positive reviews can be showcased on a company’s website or social media pages, which can help to build trust with potential customers. Additionally, customer feedback can be used to create blog posts or videos that provide valuable insight into a company’s products or services. By doing this, businesses can demonstrate transparency and show that they value their customers’ opinions.

If you need help with creating content for your business, there are many resources available from our team. We have a professional copywriter and content marketer on staff that can help you to create high-quality content quickly and easily. Remember that creating compelling content is an important part of building a successful business. Contact our team and we can assist.

Starting A Website in 3 Steps!

Published September 11, 2023

A website is an essential tool for any business in today’s digital age. It allows a business to establish an online presence and reach a wider audience. A website can serve as an online storefront, showcasing the products or services a business offers. It can also provide important information about the business, such as contact information, hours of operation, and pricing.

Having a website also helps to establish credibility and trust with potential customers. A well-designed and informative website can give customers confidence in a business and its offerings. Additionally, a website can be used to collect valuable data about customers and their behavior, which can help a business to make informed decisions about marketing and advertising strategies.

Sounds like a website does a lot for a business, right? That is why we make it really easy for you to start a website in 3 easy steps: 1) Choose a host 2) Choose a Web Address 3) Choose a Theme

1. What is a Hosting Plan?

When creating a website, there are several key decisions to make in order to ensure a successful outcome. One of the most important decisions is choosing the right hosting plan. 

A website host is a service that allows individuals or organizations to make their website accessible on the internet. Essentially, a website host provides the necessary technologies and infrastructure to store and serve up website content to visitors who access the website through a web browser.It is a place to store the files that make up your site, such as images, videos, and HTML documents.

There are many different types of website hosts available, each with different features and pricing plans. Some website hosts offer shared hosting, which means multiple websites are stored on the same server. Others offer dedicated hosting, which provides a server exclusively for your website.

Our team has several host options available and preferences as to why we use certain ones. Ask us whatever questions you may have about this at anytime!

2. What Is Your Web Address?

Another important decision is whether to choose your web address, also known as domain name, now or later. While it may be tempting to wait until later stages of development, choosing a domain early on can help you establish your brand and provide a clear direction for your website.

Here are some tips to help you choose a web address that will be effective and memorable:

  1. Keep it short and simple – Shorter domain names are easier to remember and type accurately. Avoid using hyphens or numbers, as they can make the domain name harder to remember and pronounce.
  2. Make it easy to spell – Avoid using unusual spellings or words that are commonly misspelled. This will help ensure that your audience can easily find your website.
  3. Use keywords – Incorporating relevant keywords into your domain name can help improve your search engine ranking and make it easier for potential customers to find you online.
  4. Consider your brand – If you already have an established brand name, consider using that as your domain name. This can help build brand recognition and make it easier for customers to find you online.
  5. Check availability – Before settling on a domain name, make sure it is available for registration. You can use a domain name registrar to search for available domain names and register your chosen domain.

3. Make Your Website Look Good with a Theme

Once you have your hosting plan and domain in place, the next step is to choose a theme. This will determine the overall look and feel of your website, and can help you establish a visual identity that will be memorable to your visitors.

Designing a theme for a website can seem like a daunting task, but with a little planning and creativity help from our team, it can be a fun and rewarding experience. Here are a few steps to help you get started:

  1. Determine the purpose and audience of your website: Before you start designing your theme, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the purpose of your website and the audience you’re targeting. This will help you choose appropriate colors, fonts, and imagery that will appeal to your intended audience.
  2. Choose a color scheme: Once you have a clear understanding of your website’s purpose and audience, you can choose a color scheme that reflects the mood and tone you want to convey. Keep in mind that different colors can evoke different emotions, so choose colors that align with your website’s purpose and message.
  3. Select fonts: Choose fonts that are easy to read and complement your website’s design. Stick to a maximum of 2-3 fonts to avoid cluttering your website.
  4. Create a layout: Sketch out a rough layout of your website, including where you want to place your content, images, and navigation menus. This will help you visualize how your website will look and make it easier to start designing your theme.
  5. Add images and graphics: Images and graphics can make your website more visually appealing and help convey your message. Choose images that are relevant to your content and align with your website’s color scheme and overall design.
  6. Test your design: Once you’ve created your theme, test it on different devices and browsers to ensure it looks good and functions properly.

The Bottom Line

Your website is an essential part of your business, and it should reflect your brand’s personality while providing an enjoyable user experience. To achieve this balance, your website should be user-friendly, functional, and accessible to search engines. We understand that you are focused on running your business, which is why we offer website maintenance and security services to handle your website efficiently.

Our team of professionals will create a unique design for your website that accurately represents your brand’s values and goals. Once the design is complete, we will convert it into a responsive, functional website that works seamlessly on all devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

After the launch, we will check periodically to ensure that everything is up to date, functioning correctly, and that security measures are in place to prevent any breaches.

With our website design and maintenance services, you can rest easy knowing that you have a reliable partner to take care of your website while you focus on growing your business. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you create a website that perfectly represents your brand and attracts your target audience.

In Store Shopping Versus Online Shopping: How Shopping Has Changed in This Lifetime

Published July 25, 2023

This blog was influenced by a mall close to True Fit Marketing called Century 3 Mall. This mall was quite a gem in its heyday. And then, like a lot of similar malls, it started to die. Now it is abandoned and has been for years. The local government associations are now trying to figure out what to do with the crumbling and dilapidated structure. There have been fires, break-ins, flooding, ceiling collapsing and many more issues. It is time to tear it down, but that costs money. It also costs money to keep the building up to code even though it is empty. Quite the predicament in this era of online shopping. Is there a mall like this near you?

 

Who scored some great deals a couple weeks ago during Amazon’s Prime Days? Walmart, Target, Kohl’s and a whole bunch of other retailers rode the coattails of one of Amazon’s biggest online sales days every year (besides Black Friday). It’s amazing how convenient technology has made shopping these days. With the option to shop online, people can now order everything they need from the comfort of their own homes. Some stores even offer delivery services, making it even easier for shoppers to get what they need without ever leaving the house.

The emergence of online shopping has transformed the retail industry and has forced brick and mortar shopping centers and stores to adjust their marketing strategies. In person shopping centers and stores now need to focus on creating unique experiences for customers that cannot be replicated online. This includes offering a variety of entertainment options, hosting events, and providing personalized services. Additionally, brick and mortar shops need to enhance their online presence by developing user-friendly websites and social media pages that engage with customers. To attract and retain customers in the digital age, shopping centers should adapt to the changing retail landscape. This can be achieved by implementing strategies that incorporate technology, such as offering online ordering and curbside pickup options. Additionally, creating unique experiences within the shopping center, such as hosting events and offering personalized services, can help to draw in customers. It is also important to focus on sustainability and social responsibility, as these values are becoming increasingly important to consumers. By embracing these changes, shopping centers can thrive in the digital age.

Here is how.

In Store Shopping at a Mall

Is there a mall near you? According to a report from Green Street, malls have experienced the sharpest decline in value among all commercial property types since 2018. From small stores to large retailers, malls were a big hit years ago. Now they seem to be dying faster than ever! Why? Likely because rent is higher than it has ever been, the trend is to shop closer to home and people are literally shopping at home on the Internet. It used to be a luxury of just mall walking and seeing what good things could be found, but now people have a mission, a true reason to go shopping. And thanks to the Internet, there isn’t a need to “waste” time walking around a mall. Stores that survived the mall era have moved out of the big complexes and into smaller strip mall areas.

Strip Malls/Strip Center/Strip Plaza

Ulta, Old Navy, Gap, Sephora, Macy’s and other well known mall stores have been moving to strip malls, also referred to as strip centers or strip plazas. Strip malls are open air retail developments that lack enclosed hallways. Instead, they consist of retail storefronts that are connected by common walkways. These storefronts are often arranged in a straight line, L-shaped, or U-shaped layout. They have large parking lots with spaces near whichever store you’d like to shop at and are typically closer to home rather than a big mall. 

There is a difference between buying and shopping which can also be seen as the difference between running errands and seeking out experiences. This can be linked to a mall and a strip mall. We know what we need to buy, so we just go buy it versus skimming the shelves. This change makes marketing for a mall very hard. There needs to be a reason to get consumers into the mall complex itself, plus ways to get them to visit multiple stores with multiple purchases. 

Online Shopping Versus In Store Shopping

The rise of mobile devices and easy access to the Internet has drastically changed consumer behavior in the past decade. Shopping habits have been revolutionized as a result.

To effectively market to consumers, it’s important to understand that the division between online and offline marketing is a myth. Consumers engage in both online and offline shopping, and it’s crucial to convey a consistent image across all channels. A multichannel marketing strategy is highly effective in making a strong impact.

Shopping in an actual store is facing increasing competition from online shopping, which requires businesses to adapt and modify their offers regularly. To remain competitive, brick and mortar stores must evolve their marketing strategies, as content marketing and social media could be essential tools in this effort. Just because you have a brick and mortar store does not mean you can’t have an online store as well. In fact, you should have an online store no matter what!

The Bottom Line

The role of malls has evolved beyond just shopping. Consumers now visit malls to socialize and feel a sense of belonging. As such, malls should prioritize their function as centers for socializing and culture rather than just shopping. This means focusing on hosting events such as musical and artistic performances to attract the general public. Marketing efforts should also be tailored towards promoting these events and creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere.

Open-air shopping centers are becoming increasingly popular among consumers due to the convenience, safety, and selection they offer. This trend is expected to continue, leading to healthy lease demand for the next few years. In addition to these benefits, open-air centers provide retailers with more opportunities to connect with customers and build brand loyalty. As a result, traditional shopping malls that fail to evolve may struggle to survive in this changing retail landscape.

No matter if it is a mall, strip mall or online shopping experience, marketing is still important and can work for both entities. Having the marketing work together simultaneously can help grow sales and customer engagement. Expanding an online presence can attract new customers, while promotions and advertising can increase sales. Collecting contact details enables personalized communication and rewarding loyal customers can foster repeat business. Highlighting brands and products through giveaways and promotions can showcase your best offerings. In times of low consumption, employing deals and online campaigns can help revive interest. Even though there is an added expense associated with brick and mortar stores, the pleasures of shopping have not died and plenty of shoppers still enjoy the experience.

Are AI Writing Tools Hurtful or Helpful for Marketing?

Published March 30, 2023

It seems like in the recent month, the discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) has really blossomed. Marketing teams that are utilizing AI for positive gains are skyrocketing. AI writing tools are flying at us faster than ever before. A once very scary idea has now flourished into user-friendly programs that can help promote brands and businesses in a faster, more efficient way than ever before. The floodgates have been opened to many impressive AI options on the market, so let’s take a look at three tools that we find helpful and are interested in using more!

Canva

Our team uses Canva on a daily basis for many things, especially graphic design. Not everyone on our team is a professional design and Canva makes it easy to create nice graphics. It was exciting to hear about their newly released AI intelligence suite. A whole new slew of features are designed to make creating content like social media graphics, presentations, and advertising materials more accessible to those without professional design experience. Beyond graphic design, Canva also has AI writing technology that helps to create high-quality content. We find it useful to help with social media posts. It is a great tool to use when writer’s block happens and the words just won’t come out right. If you are nervous about AI tools, we suggest starting with Canva’s suite as they are now being touted as a competitor of Adobe! It is easy to use and still needs the human aspect to get it to write something that sounds good.

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer)

Released in November of 2022, ChatGPT is a computer generated conversational tool. If you are not familiar with ChatGPT, we are sure you have used Amazon’s chat feature and have had to have a conversation with their AI to get your issue resolved. ChatGPT is similar to that in which it will follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response. Take a look at the sample below in which the human asks ChatGPT about a coding issue. 

ChatGPT responds looking for more information to help it help the human. It collects data from the human and learns from the human feedback of responses. However, it does have its limitations. According to their website, these are the limitations:

  • ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. Fixing this issue is challenging, as: (1) during RL training, there’s currently no source of truth; (2) training the model to be more cautious causes it to decline questions that it can answer correctly; and (3) supervised training misleads the model because the ideal answer depends on what the model knows, rather than what the human demonstrator knows.
  • ChatGPT is sensitive to tweaks to the input phrasing or attempting the same prompt multiple times. For example, given one phrasing of a question, the model can claim to not know the answer, but given a slight rephrase, can answer correctly.
  • The model is often excessively verbose and overuses certain phrases, such as restating that it’s a language model trained by OpenAI. These issues arise from biases in the training data (trainers prefer longer answers that look more comprehensive) and well-known over-optimization issues.1,2
  • Ideally, the model would ask clarifying questions when the user provided an ambiguous query. Instead, our current models usually guess what the user intended.
  • While we’ve made efforts to make the model refuse inappropriate requests, it will sometimes respond to harmful instructions or exhibit biased behavior. We’re using the Moderation API to warn or block certain types of unsafe content, but we expect it to have some false negatives and positives for now. We’re eager to collect user feedback to aid our ongoing work to improve this system.

ChatGPT can really be useful to gain information, to help with issues and to bounce ideas off of. It can be a helpful tool if used in the correct way. 

Jasper

Jasper touts itself as an AI platform for business that helps your team create content tailored for your brand 10X faster, wherever you work online. Headlines, articles, blog posts, captions for social media, email marketing campaigns, and even translation are just a few examples of what Jasper can offer. A frontrunner in its capabilities, Jasper is also a leader as far as bang for your buck. However, just like many of these AI tools, it collects information from the Internet and compiles it into whatever category you choose (ex: blog post). The only fact checking is then from whoever is “writing” so some research should be done to make sure it is all true. 

The Bottom Line

Writing is a gift that a lot of people don’t have. Just like we have musicians and athletes and so on, each person is unique with their talents. However, to a writer, using AI writing tools can seem like cheating, or not actually being the author. Proofreading, researching facts and citing sources will still need to be done no matter what program you use. 

It is scary to think about whatever we are reading and if a human wrote it or some AI program. Doesn’t it make you wonder about authors now? What about employment for writers in the future? Are human writers just going to be shoved to the wayside because now AI tools can do their jobs? It is impossible to know the future, but it is definitely something to think about. Would you rather have a real human behind your written words of your business and brand or an AI robot just putting words together to make them sound nice? And just for your knowledge, we didn’t use an AI tool to write this blog, but it doesn’t mean we won’t in the future!