Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Make a Movie to Enhance Your Content Marketing Success

Mind over matter—it’s a mantra for a reason. Although it can be scary trying new things to market your business, innovation and nuances keep your marketing fresh. Content marketing involves the creation and sharing of content that’s engages and informs your target audience. The more captivating the content, the more likely it is to be circulated. Movies present your message in a way that text and plain images can’t. It gives you a unique opportunity to show some personality, and it can even be done on a reasonable budget. We’ve got a few simple tips for creating top-notch movies to enhance your marketing efforts. Keep them Short and Sharable If this is your first video endeavor, don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’ll lead to chewing with your mouth full—unattractive on multiple levels. Pick a simple topic with a clear message you feel you can share some unique insight on for your audience. Next, make sure your video is in a readily sharable format. So make a Facebook post, tweet it, pin it and any other means you have to circulate it. Consider attaching this video in your next email newsletter—including videos in emails is said to boost conversion rates by as much as 50 percent. The more you can share the video and get it shared, the more brand awareness it brings. Make it Useful This may seem like an obvious suggestion, but you’d be surprised. Avoid giving into the temptation of making your first video post something cutesy or comical. While these can be elements within your video, there needs to be a benefit or call to action for the viewer. What do they get out watching? A helpful tip or easy solution? A product demonstration? An answer to a question? Additionally, ensure that your video integrates your company’s culture and personality, as videos are an awesome opportunity to do so. Need Ideas? Got you on board for this video thing, but fresh out of ideas? We’ve assembled a short list to get you going. Take one of these ideas and roll with it. Put your own spin on it. Your company is as unique as a fingerprint, use this opportunity to show that. • Show a product or service • Use a customer testimonial • Introduce staff members • Give users a tour of your office space • Show off your company culture (holiday parties, company outings, etc.) No matter the topic you select, ensure your video is high quality. A low quality video reflects poorly on your professionalism and authority of the subject matter. That doesn’t mean you need fancy equipment. Many low cost cameras—including your iPhone—can do the trick, depending on the subject matter. You just want to be sure your video is a caliber of video you yourself would watch.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

3 Things to Know Before Using Social Media for Your Business

Social media marketing is all the rage these days. The barrier to entry is extremely low (no money required–just create a free account!), so it seems like a straightforward win for your company. Because it’s so easy to get started, few people think through their social media strategy and whether it’s really helping them. Here are three things to know before you start using social media for your business. 1. It’s Hard to Measure While some highly focused social media campaigns have measureable ROI, the vast majority are investments in relationship building. And when those investments pay off, it will be difficult to draw a line back to social media. 2. It Isn't Free While Facebook doesn't demand any money to create an account, don’t fall into the trap of thinking it doesn’t cost you anything. The time spent maintaining your social media accounts is time that isn’t spent on your other, measurable marketing efforts. 3. It’s About Your Brand When your competitors’ products are available online with the click of a button, your brand is what differentiates you. If you have a vibrant social media presence where you take the time to interact with your customers, your company will stand out. At the end of the day, social media is meant to build trust. And while it’s hard to measure, being trusted is the biggest prerequisite to customers buying what you’re selling. So, while social media may not be for all businesses, many companies have found success in putting these tools in their marketing mix.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

BC Print and Web is Moving!

As our company grows we remain cognizant of our carbon footprint and we want to make every effort as a socially and environmentally conscious company to secure an environmentally sound presence. Digital and web based solutions continue to be the driving force for our clientele, and we feel inspired to decrease our environmental impact, while increasing our services and capabilities. In an effort to better serve you within a centralized location and with a reduced carbon footprint, BC Print and Web is relocating. As of June 17th, 2013 our new address will be 1791 58th Ave Unit D Denver, Co 80216.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

How to Use Marketing to Dominate Your Industry

Marketing is a battle of minds. What we mean is that marketing happens in your customer’s heads. If you can influence how people perceive your company and your brand in order to sell more effectively, you've succeeded as a marketer. But it’s not just your company that exists in people’s minds. The whole industry your business operates in (or is breaking into) has a set of expectations, impressions and assumptions that you can’t directly control. With these barriers in mind, what’s the best way to get into your customer’s minds and dominate your industry? Be the Leader of Your Niche The easiest way to define how your company appears in the market is by being the first one in a given industry. If you’re the first person playing the game, you can easily decide what the game is, and why you’re the best person to address the customer’s needs. But most of us don’t have that luxury. Instead, we’re competing established brands and big companies who have bigger marketing budgets to spend than we do. In other words, since you can’t embrace “brute force” marketing to outspend your competitors (and they’ve already established a place in the customer’s minds), you've got to be smarter with your marketing. And that means you have to define what makes your company unique. Compare and Contrast Having established models to compare yourself to can be a blessing in disguise. Instead of using marketing to compete directly with your competitors on their terms, figure out a way to define yourself against them. In other words, if you’re selling a new brand of detergent that’s in direct competition with the market leader, don’t advertise yourself in the market leader’s terms. If the detergent market leader says, “We make clothes bright and colorful,” it’s not a good strategy to say “We make clothes even brighter and more colorful than brand X,” because brand X already has that idea captive in your market’s mind. Instead, say something completely different. Pick a unique strength: “We’re the detergent for busy parents who just need to get laundry done,” or “We’re the fastest clean in town.” Even better if you can directly contrast yourself with your competitor: “We’re like X detergent, but fast.” One-up your benefits with theirs: “Our customers understand it’s not about just being bright and colorful; it’s about that wonderful detergent smell.” The market that values smell over appearance will identify with your product and might make the switch. This strategy works for anyone in a competitive market—whether you’re trying to clean clothes, sell cars or get people to come to your movie theater. Don’t forget that at the end of the day, marketing is a battle of the minds. It’s more effective to carve out a space in your customer’s mind than to compete for a space your competitors already own.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

How To Make Your Marketing Messages Stick With Your Audience

Imagine you’re brainstorming the copy for your next direct mail piece or marketing campaign. Your team comes up with what seems like a great idea for your campaign, then you send out the mail piece and it flops completely. It doesn’t connect with customers and the response rate is abysmal. Obviously, if this happened to you, you’d be discouraged. But even more, you’d probably just be confused. Why did the message you so carefully crafted flop with your audience? It was so persuasive! You spent so much time on it! What gives? The truth is that making your messages stick with your audience doesn’t have to be some mysterious hit-or-miss art. There are techniques and ways to make sure that your message lands with your target market. We’ll share three with you. Keep it Simple The biggest problem with most marketing messages is that they’re written by the experts. And unfortunately, that means that they get written at an expert-level, instead of writing in a way that the audience can understand. Keeping your messages simple is hugely important. Since you’re the expert in your field, you understand why your product’s minute features make it excel over the competition–but your customers probably don’t care. They want to know the important basics, not the gritty details. Make sure your message doesn’t go over their heads. Stay Concrete The best way to get someone to understand your message is by making it concrete. Instead of talking in statistics and abstraction, give an example. For instance, you can sell your mirror cleaner by getting technical: “Use our foam aerosol, non-ammoniated cleaning spray for a wholesome clean surface!” Or you can tell it concretely: “Imagine seeing your face more clearly than you ever have before–and without any annoying streaks.” Getting concrete is more compelling—especially to a non-expert. Be Surprising The best marketing messages avoid clichés and puffery. Today’s customers have heard the generic marketing messages so often that they don’t even register with them anymore. If you want your campaign to make an impact, you need to do something unexpected. For instance, if you’re trying to convince your audience to avoid driving when they’re over-tired, this message might do the trick: Driving while sleep-impaired is ten times worse than driving drunk. That statistic works because it surprises us—and most importantly, is actually true, according to MythBusters. Next time you design a marketing campaign, make sure your messages are simple, concrete and surprising.