Marketing Advice That Matters
Every single industry on the planet has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it spread across the globe earlier in the year, upheaval has been felt in everything from small businesses to sports stadiums. While the response to the pandemic has been different for different professional sports agencies, one thing is clear to sports advertising agencies: this season will be unlike any other in history.
The pandemic has halted seasons, caused major delays and dropped TV advertising spends by 30%, but it has also created new opportunities for businesses and sports advertising agencies to rethink their approaches. Here are a few things that these agencies are doing differently in a new and different world of sports advertising.
Influencer Marketing is Growing
Sponsorships have always been a major part of sports advertising. That will never change. What has changed is how people can personally connect with their favorite sports stars through social media platforms. Even as the pandemic devastated industries, influencers and influencer marketing have only grown in that same time. That includes sports stars, and sports advertising agencies are looking to broker deals with them directly on the platforms.
Partnering with the right sports advertising agencies can turn an advertising campaign into a powerhouse combination of traditional buys and brokered deals that can include leveraging sports stars with strong social media followings.
It’s Time to Look Elsewhere
If Fantasy Football has proven anything, it is that the money made in sports is often further outside of sports organizations than we can even imagine. This has only become more apparent in a world without seasons. After all, the networked industries that rely on sports, from podcasts and commentary shows to local businesses who set up shop near stadiums, all need to keep going. And with this new realization, sports advertising agencies are now broadening their approach.
Social media and TV buys are no longer the only ways to reach sports fans. Now, the best sports advertising agencies are looking to the myriad other industries related. Many of these can offer incredible reach for a fraction of the price of traditional media, even when you consider the number of people per spend. It is these types of opportunities that can offer a strong top-of-mind presence even as sports seasons are in disarray.
“480p” Advertising
4k televisions have been advertised extensively as improving the sports-watching experience. Outside of seats right next to the action, there is arguably no better way to watch sports. But the pandemic has also made sports advertising agencies realize that this isn’t true for advertising. In fact, the world has seen an explosion in ads and campaigns that rely less on flashy, high definition, cinematic campaigns, and instead on something that is a little more authentic.
Probably there is no better example of this than the explosion of Cameo and TikTok during the first half of 2020. Cameo and TikTok are authentic, content made for phones and by phones. More and more video content is succeeding because it looks real rather than manufactured, and many sports advertising agencies are realizing the power of choosing to look a little worse than 4k.
At the core, strong advertising campaigns are a great idea that connects with people. By creating content that feels authentic, and maybe even literally filmed with a phone, can sometimes give people that feeling of authenticity. Campaigns today don’t need to look incredible to connect, and sports advertising agencies are understanding the power of great ideas that don’t need to look like an IMAX film.
The world has been turned upside-down by the pandemic of 2020. Sports are not alone in having to completely rethink how they operate, and, in turn, sports advertising has had to change and adapt as well. The passion fans have for their favorite teams has not diminished this year. If anything, people are eager to support their teams now more than ever. It also means that businesses and sports advertising agencies have had to completely rethink their approach to advertising. With big changes come the chance for major innovation. With expanded concepts of advertising and how to advertise, the world of sports advertising has undergone major change. Even when seasons return to something more normal, many of these innovations will stay.
Advertising is the main means for your company to expand and continue to grow, no matter how small or big you are. Traditional marketing as well can only go so far in the world these days. With a large number of people using the internet daily, and fewer people listening to the radio and watching television, you’ll need to expand into the digital scene in order to have cost-effective marketing strategies. To get the best chance at creating a successful digital marketing campaign, you should consider hiring a digital agency in Austin.
With their expertise, a digital agency in Austin can provide you with something eye-catching and captivating that brings many people to your website. However, a lot of digital agencies talk a big game, but often fail in the follow-through.
So, how do you weed out the chafe when it comes to hiring a digital agency in Austin? During your first meetings, or even first emails with a digital agency, you should ask them these top three questions.
Can You Show Me Examples of Your Previous Digital Marketing Campaigns, and How They Were Successful?
The first thing you should be inquiring about when you are considering hiring a digital agency in Austin is their success record, and a sample of their previous digital marketing campaigns. Often, a digital agency will, on their website, have a section that is labeled as portfolio, or case studies. While many companies will have a digital agency sign a non-disclosure agreement, or specifically ask for their campaigns not to be included in a portfolio, every digital agency should have a portfolio of some sort.
When conversing directly with a digital agency in Austin, you can ask for details about specific successful campaigns to see if they can explain to you how they were successful, and why the business grew because of their campaign. You can even ask if they have had failed campaigns (most will have at least one failed campaign), and ask what they have learned from it.
Do You Have Specific Proficiencies, and Are You a 360 Degree Marketing Service?
There are a lot of different aspects to digital marketing, from social media marketing and SEO to web design, email marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. When you first look up a digital agency in Austin and talk with them, if they claim to be experts at all aspects and will do everything in-house, unless they are a huge agency, you may not get the best work out of them, or they are fibbing.
It is not uncommon for a digital agency to work with other agencies for specific parts of a digital marketing campaign. If the digital agency in Austin you choose really excels at social media marketing and SEO, then it is perfectly acceptable for them to outsource e-commerce or web design. Using external teams to give you the best possible high-quality campaign works to your advantage, especially if you don’t want to manage working with multiple agencies yourself. If it looks like the digital agency isn’t large enough to go it alone, but they try to talk up being able to do it all in-house, then you may want to consider checking out another agency.
How Often Will You Report Progress, and What Will Be In Your Reports?
Good communication is the key to a good business relationship, every time. From the onset, you should work out a reporting schedule with the digital agency in Austin that you choose. You and the digital agency should have expectations set so that you aren’t calling the agency too often for updates, bothering them, and so they aren’t sending out too few progress reports, giving you little information on the progress of the digital marketing campaign they crafted for you.
The digital agency in Austin should give you a clear indication of what their reports will include, and how often they will send you reports. It could be weekly reports, monthly reports or yearly reports, or most likely a mix of the three, but they should let you know the information you should expect in them.
Reasonable expectations on the length of time a marketing campaign will take should also be set by the digital agency in Austin you choose; this will allow you to know what to expect on the reports you get, and how long it’ll actually take to see results. Week one results are not likely to be blowing you out of the water, but a year one report should show clear progress.
If a digital marketing agency isn’t willing to show you proper progress reports and proof of campaign success, doesn’t give you a clear indication on their proficiencies and where they will outsource, and doesn’t give you samples of previous campaigns, then you need to move on to another digital agency in Austin that will.
A considerably well-build and persuasive online presence has been essential for businesses irrespective of its kind to sustain, grow, and thrive in the 21century’s cut-throat digital age. Merely with an eye-catchy website is not going to help unless you get a higher ranking on search pages of the world’s largest search engine Google? What truly concerns millions of business entrepreneurs from high-profile groups to SMEs is whether or not your website attains an optimized placement in Google’s organic ranking. And, instead of worrying about this issue, you should take time and make sure to hire a professional Houston SEO agency on followed by needed research and guidelines as stated below.
The reputation of the SEO agency
No denying, whichever service you look for, be it related to healthcare, plumbing, attorney or digital marketing support, assessment of the reputation of the service provider, here, your SEO agency in Houston should be given special emphasis in the process of your searching and ensure that you work with a real expert team. Get ideas via referrals, reviews, and through interaction with people found in the network.
Work portfolio
A considerable background with long experience in the field or record of sustained performance in the industry is one of the major determining factors when undergoing a selection process of the SEO group for your online marketing success. A reputable SEO agency in Houston never fumbles while sharing a clientele consisting of previous and presents valued clients who have opted for services from the community till today. Keep it in mind as a basic mantra that, this is the area where many SEO companies feel uncomfortable and try to bypass the primary factor which concerns potential customers when it comes to ascertaining the kind of satisfaction received by their past and present clients.
Professional skill
Typically, when it comes to SEO services, most of us look for the professional skill they have to guide their clients about their uncertainties in mind, queries, as well as understand the business of their clients or professional area they specialize in and accordingly work in conjunction with necessary digital marketing services that helps boost their business ranking and find more and more potential traffic in the website, social platforms or paid advertisements. Your desired SEO agency needs to be open and transparent to explain what strategies they commonly use and should be capable to formulate an exclusive SEO strategy for boosting your search engine ranking. Contextually, if you’re frustrated due to the collapse of your current website, rather than throwing them in the trash, they suggest you choose their SEO audit service which basically involves a thorough technical review process executed by an SEO agency in Houston based on which, they can make the necessary modifications and changes in SEO techniques and search engine algorithms that eventually brings back your unproductive website in Google’s page ranking and drive an increasing amount of potential traffic that your business needs.
SEO status reports
The SEO professional should have the most essential expertise to observe the productivity of its SEO efforts and do the needful modifications with the creative utilization of the Google Analytics tool consistently. The team should be well-versed about the kind of metrics; they should use and thus, align your SEO project seamlessly with your business objectives. Being a trusted business client, they should make clear about their process activities from time to time making you amazingly find your company website has been ranked with a higher position in organic search results.
Customized services with realistic pricing
The availability of reasonably priced SEO package service has now been another vital criterion on the way of choosing an SEO partner. While it’s an essential decisive factor, however, make sure not to be carried away with low-priced pricing which often involves unethical black hat SEO practices and appears detrimental for your online marketing in due course of time. A trustworthy SEO agency should provide personalized SEO solutions and packed services based on your business needs while making them effective but budget-friendly for its clients.
Any business that wants to make its mark in China needs to take full advantage of the advertising clout of Baidu. It is the top-most search engine platform in the country, and almost three out of five Chinese internet users access it daily and often multiple times a day to get the news, search for information, look for products, and more.
Baidu has become so ubiquitous to online users that you might as well as not exist for them if your brand doesn’t show up on the search engine. And that is why you need Baidu advertising (adstochina.westwin.com/baidu-advertising) to get your products and services out there before people who are likely to buy and use them. Here are a few points to keep in mind before advertising on Baidu:
Baidu can help you increase your online visibility
The Baidu search engine processes millions of search queries daily. So, when you advertise on Baidu and take care to use high-ranking and trending keywords and keyword phrases and create eye-catching advertisements, your brand will stand a better chance of showing up in many of the search engine results. That will ensure that more people will notice and become aware of your products and services.
With repeated search engine advertising promotions, your online visibility will go up, and more and more people will be likely to click on your advertisements. Some of them could convert to customers, boost your online sales, and even help increase the public awareness of your brand by unsolicited word-of-mouth advertising.
Baidu allows you to do segmented marketing
Segmented marketing is crucial for saving valuable resources as well as reaching the specific people with the interest and income to purchase your products and services. These people are your target audience, and they may be only a small percentage of the over 60 million Chinese netizens who use Baidu every day. However, it will be the most effective advertising to them and even more so if you segment them by interests, professions, incomes, spending habits, location, genders, ages, and other such parameters. You can tailor your advertising campaigns to suit these different segments and get better ROI.
Baidu can help you save on advertising expenses
Search engine marketing can be expensive abroad, but it is less so comparatively in China. Not only will you find it more cost-effective to advertise on Baidu, but you can also expect to get more web traffic to your website. Internet users in western countries have become more or less inured to advertisements in search engine results. They may ignore or overlook them while doing online searches.
Similar advertising fatigue has not yet occurred in China. The online users here will look at and even click on advertisements if they find them to be sufficiently appealing. They will also be more open to trying out your products and services if these are useful and attractive. So, the chances are higher that you will acquire new customer, and you play your cards right, they might even turn out to be long-term ones.
Baidu offers advertising in English
Lack of language fluency is one of the main issues affecting foreign companies that want to do business in China. Many of these companies may also not have the budget to hire competent Mandarin or Cantonese speakers to assist them with their advertising campaigns on the Chinese search engines and social media platforms. And trying to make do with online translation software is not a good idea as they may not be wholly reliable, and the risks of mistranslations are high.
You might end up making an unfortunate faux pas that will reflect poorly on your brand. You could even face a public backlash and lose customers as a result. To make it easier for companies to get around such language issues, Baidu has introduced an English version of its search engine. You can now advertise in English and reach out specifically to the English-speaking segment on the Chinese internet. If you make your advertisements eye-catching and attractive enough, you could also get the non-English speakers interested in trying out your products and services.
With careful planning, Baidu advertising can be immensely beneficial to the long-term success of your brand.
Ecommerce in China is extremely competitive. Which is why you need to hire the right China eCommerce agency if you are looking to sell your products and services in China.
Hiring the right eCommerce agency in China is not easy. Tieing up with the wrong agency will not only mean that there will be a wastage of money but also a waste of precious time. Your competitors may use this time to move ahead and establish themselves firmly in China.
Here are five things to consider while hiring an eCommerce agency in China:
1. The Agency’s Portfolio
While choosing an eCommerce agency, you should look carefully at their portfolio. How do the websites work? Are the web designs attractive enough? Are they experienced in your industry?
An agency’s portfolio usually speaks for itself. It will give you a fair idea of whether you should work with that agency. While looking at their portfolio, try to determine their skill level and expertise. Make sure if they are qualified for the task at hand.
Find out what kind of success have they achieved for the businesses they have worked with. Look for concrete results-business has increased this much in this period of time. What are the various strategies that have been used?
The most important thing to look for is whether the agency has tried something out of the ordinary. eCommerce agencies often get into the grind of using the same set of strategies that had some measure of success in the past. Does their work suggest that there is at least an attempt at innovative thinking?
By choosing a China eCommerce agency with a strong portfolio, you can evaluate their strengths and how these strengths will help you succeed in the business of eCommerce in China.
2. Proof of Satisfied Clients
Look for an eCommerce agency that has satisfied clients. One way of knowing about customer satisfaction is to go through customer testimonials. They will give you a perspective about how the agency has been able to add value to their clients.
Online reviews and social media posts are another way of knowing about an eCommerce agency. Every business will get some negative reviews. Some are legitimate, some are fake and some are from competitors.
Good reviews are much harder to get for a business than bad reviews. So, keep that in mind when you do your due diligence. Look for common themes within the good reviews. Do the customers mention particular services or challenges that the agency overcame for them?
3. Culture and Personal Fit
The chemistry you share with the eCommerce agency is important. As a client, you would want to make sure that your voice is heard and your opinions are given importance. You would want to partner with an agency that is emphatic to your needs.
If you get along with people in the eCommerce agency it will help you to work together to achieve success. Speak to the experts in the agency, ideally those people who will be working on your project should you hire the agency. See if you can gel.
It is important to analyze the nature of the communication between you and those at the agency. Is it authentic? Also, do they give importance to business ethics and values? Do you think it would be possible to respect each other culturally and personally?
4. Remembering Faster isn’t Always Better
Almost all businesses are looking for fast results. This prompts many eCommerce agencies to make false promises to stay competitive. The problem with this tactic is that it hurts both the agency and the businesses that hired them.
The agency you hire should show you some value for your time but you must also give them sufficient scope to come out with an appropriate plan that would work for your eCommerce business.
5. Your Budget
You should have a minimum and maximum budget for your eCommerce agency. Most agencies accommodate a wide range of budgets. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean that if you have a low budget, you won’t get a good eCommerce agency.
However, you should know where your money is going. It is important to be able to measure the return on investment.
So do you’ve any questions about hiring a China eCommerce agency?
The quality of video production, the knowledge of the production team, and understanding of video production techniques all impact the final video. When it comes to developing video marketing content for your small business you want to make sure that the video content representing your brand is well produced. Further, if the video is creative, visually appealing and detailed, it is bound to leave a strong impact on the viewer and increase retention, recall and memory.
With social media, video marketing has become an powerful channel to reach customers and clients. With that in mind, as small business owners seek to integrate video marketing into their efforts, let’s focus on the benefits small businesses can reap by outsourcing video marketing efforts to video production companies which offer a diverse set of film production services.
Benefits of Video Production Services to Small Businesses
1. Your video production services partner will manage the production team
Your small business is focused on the job at hand – which keeps the wheels of your business turning. If your small business does not deal with film production in any manner, it makes no sense to burden your workforce with the added responsibility of becoming an in-house film production team. Instead you are better off finding a video production service Miami provider who can partner with you on your video marketing efforts. By finding a video production company that you can work closely with – they’ll have the production team, as well as the expertise to efficiently manage the video production and help you create content that tells your story.
2. You don’t need any filming equipment
Another expense to consider if you’re thinking about taking video production in-house – is the equipment that is used to produce the marketing collateral. This can start with a camera and quickly grow from there to include a litany of other other devices including tripods, lights, audio equipment, as well as any number of tools to stabilize or capture shots with movement. The fact of the matter is there’s a lot of gear to consider – and of course knowledge on how to use that gear – for a small business that’s a lot of added expense and expertise to have in-house. Whereas if you work with a video production services firm they will have all the tools of the trade to capture your corporate video production or video marketing assets.
3. Expertise and Experience
Another advantage of working with a video production services company is access to the vast experience and expertise these companies have. These organizations have video producers and the various technicians that can help to capture and craft your video assets, as well as guide the production and work with with your team to ensure the production meets your vision. When you work with a video production services firm – you’re able to efficiently achieve your vision and tap into the power of video marketing for your small business.
4. Quick Turnaround Time
Film production companies that offer video production services deal with video production on a daily basis and help multiple brands and companies coming from a wide array of business verticals. That said, they should be able to help you quickly execute your video production strategy, rather then having to first train and internal team on how to utilize the equipment and then execute the production. Further, video production companies know how to work on last-minute changes, tight schedules and adhering to the deadlines identified for each video production project.
5. Latest Trends and Techniques
Your business is no different than so many others. Making the investment in a video marketing strategy – which will help to reach customers and drive the business forward. To that end, you want video production that is professionally done, on-message, and produced using the latest tools. The video production companies your speaking with will be familiar with producing corporate video content in 4K, as well as using a number of tools and techniques that allow your organization to produce video marketing content with a professional feel. Further, working with a professional video producer will allow your own business to share the latest trends and techniques within your own field.
So, if you are a small or large business that is looking to adopt a video marketing strategy, finding the right video production services partner will go a long way to achieving success and allowing your organization to identify, develop and produce corporate video content that resonates with your audiences.
Marketing is a massive industry worldwide, and there are a lot of options when it comes to places and media types to market through. If you’re a brand that wants to be noticed in some of the latest trending places, and it is appropriate for the products and services that you offer, then eSport is such a huge marketplace that it’s going to be a huge benefit if you can find a way to market your brand through it. As of 2020, the Newzoo Global Esports Market Report states that global esports revenues are going to grow up to $1.1 billion, which results in a lot of opportunities for visibility of your brand globally. However, eSports isn’t just as simple as buying ads space, or sponsoring teams or competitions on a whim; there are a lot of nuances that, if not done right, could see your brand booed out quickly, putting up blockades for further marketing in that sector. With the help of the right eSports agency, you can use their professional experience to help make a splash with the millions of fans watching eSports monthly.
Insight from an Experienced eSports Agency
Similar to any marketing agency, the biggest benefit you get from hiring an eSports agency is the experience they have in the marketplace. With experience comes knowing what can work in eSports marketing, what doesn’t work, and, most importantly, what eSports your brand would be able to mesh with. Fans of eSports are very passionate—and fickle—when it comes to the advertising and the brands that they see in what they are watching; any wrong move made in a marketing campaign can see your brand bombarded with negative feedback and reviews, and you’ll find it harder to get back into eSports marketing anywhere.
There are many places that an eSports agency can make recommendations that will help you focus your advertising because blanketed advertising everywhere in eSports is not going to be very effective; each game and tournament style has a very different viewer base. An eSports agency will analyze your brand’s appeal, and your businesses atmosphere, and will be able to match you up with the eSport or game genre that will best match your brand to start your eSports marketing campaign on solid ground.
Finding Appropriate Sponsorships for Your Brand
Sponsorship is the most common way that a brand will expand their visibility in the eSports arena; they’ll either choose an event to sponsor, a team in a specific eSport, or a specific player (or set of players) that stream actively and are well respected with a large fanbase in the eSports community. Through an analysis of your brand, an eSports agency will be able to narrow down the best choices for you, and help you in crafting a well thought out and creative way to entice a sponsorship deal that is beneficial to all sides. A majority of the funding for eSports competitions comes from sponsorship deals with brands, so there is a lot of space available to get your brand noticed in competition events.
Creative Thought Processes
Creativity is at the heart of any good and effective marketing campaign; people are going to ignore boring and constantly reused advertising techniques. With the help of an eSports agency you can get the opinions of a creative team with experience, and then, together, you can craft a marketing campaign that will grab the eye and hopefully the hearts of the consumers watching eSports. Trends change quickly, and being able to “read the room” when situations change in the world is something that an eSports agency is going to be able to excel at to ensure your brand is on point.
Cost Effective Marketing in eSports
Any marketing campaign is going to be judged primarily on its success through a return on investment (ROI) metric, ensuring that the amount of business your brand gains outweighs the marketing costs. With an in-house marketing team, you can do many things, but if you are breaking into a new marketing segment, you may not want to spend the extra costs on hiring new employees that are trained and have experience in that area. With an eSports agency at your initial meeting you can give them a budget you want to stay within, and they will be able to give you accurate expectations that will work within your budget, greatly reducing the ballooning marketing costs in-house teams can sometimes have.
An eSports agency gives you the necessary advantage you need when breaking into the eSports marketplace by leveraging the experience, creativity, and cost effective marketing campaigns that ensure that your ROI stays positive, and that consumers are drawn to your brand.
