Gearing up for 2018 Advertising. What’s best for my business?

 

It’s a brand new year and the best time to re-evaluate your marketing efforts. To set your business up for success, we’ve highlighted four key areas to think about.

Social Media

With the right planning and social media strategy in place, you’ll see your business generate larger awareness, establish more relationships (and stronger ones!), and drive qualified traffic to your site.

First things first, plan out the year with a content calendar. Once you’ve mapped out the year and have a clear picture of what’s happening (what the big milestones are – i.e. events, product releases, etc.), you can then focus on creating relevant content to support these specific dates and then fill in the gaps. This is the best way to be prepared for the year and keep your social media marketing on track.

To give you a bit of guidance, your content should be a mix, and strike a balance of the following:

• Brand posts: promote your business, website, services and/or products. This is educational but should also include strong CTA’s (call to actions).
• Thought starter posts: share content highlighting thought leaders, bloggers and like-minded individuals who are popular in your industry.
• Personality posts: show off your brand’s personality and what ultimately makes consumers fall in love with you. Shout out your clients/customers, share stories about their success, how you’ve made an impact, and more.

Your online presence on social media is vital, and many businesses often choose to ignore it or have a difficult time embracing it. Every business, at a minimum, should have a Facebook page and Instagram page.

Google Adwords

Because search engines control the ranking of keywords, it’s important that you don’t let your business get washed out. Be strategic by leveraging an Adwords campaign to rank higher amongst your competition and be seen across the web. Depending on your goals you can utilize Display, Search, Video, and/or App ads. Then, get specific on your ideal audience by using targeting parameters and setting the geographic region you wish to reach. As a trusted ad tool, you can feel confident by testing your ads and measuring your performance in real time.

Online Directories (Yellow Pages)

Many are starting to wonder how often Yellow Page directories are actually searched. With the competition of other directories (Yelp, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) and most people using search engines to see a full list of results, it’s becoming a less popular resource.

Since Yellow Pages directories have been around for years, organic searches tend to rank highest. Do a quick search to see if your business surfaces to the top, and if so, it may be worthwhile to list yourself in the directory. Many people still view Yellow Pages as a trusted brand, so this may be a beneficial avenue for your business.

Newspaper Advertising

Over the years, digital has become the dominant advertising space, but that doesn’t mean print is dead. Scientifically proven, people have a higher level of engagement and focus when viewing print content, and share a greater emotional response, than when content is viewed on a screen. Print content generally creates slower reading times, in turn creating stronger rates of comprehension and recall, which leaves a lasting impression and creates more sales.

Digital ads are an important and effective means of advertising, but diversifying your reach through print publications in 2018 may be the right move for your business. Don’t rule it out just yet.

Conclusion

The start of a new year is the best time to start planning out your marketing efforts. Think about what worked best in the past, and what you can fine tune and do differently to succeed going forward. Diversifying your advertising methods may be just the right thing for you. If you need assistance or have any questions, talk to an expert at Ancell Marketing.