The True Value of Young Eyeballs
It’s good to be young. The youth are cool, they create trends, they find innovative uses of technology, and most importantly they influence decisions of their parents expendable income. Marketers are constantly chasing the next big thing and often rely on teenagers/young adults to point them in the right direction. Watch most television ads and you are bound to view a product influenced by a younger generation. As you probably know, the disappearing photo-sharing app SnapchatSnapchat lets people send photos and videos that self-delete between one and 10 seconds after being viewed. is BOOMING. The company currently reports that 18.6% of all iPhone owners in the US used the app in June 2013. This is up 10.5% month-to-month and therefore the ninth most popular iPhone app in terms of usage. If 1-in-5 people in the U.S. with iPhones used the app 6 months ago, how does the app perform now? Snapchat officials say that users are now sending more snapsSnapchat's term for photos and videos shared over the network. than Facebook users are uploading photos. Business insider intelligence reports that Instagram users upload 55 million photos daily, Facebook users upload 350 million, and snapchat users send 400 million snaps daily. This number is not exactly a direct comparison because it includes photo and video messages. Snapchat does have a much smaller user base so it would be expected that photo volume will be way ahead of Facebook within the next few months. This is incredible growth for a small company and is much the reason why they have received large funding from venture capitalists. Facebook attempted to emulate the already successful app with their own app Poke, but have had little traction. It was reported they offered Snapchat $4 billion but the buyout was rejected. History Repeats Itself. We saw this same level of speculation during the original internet bubble and we all know how that burst. Facebook went down a similar road and were valued incredibly high based on the huge user base. This led to a need for revenue generation and therefore user dissatisfaction with product innovations. It was such great speculation that the Facebook stock dropped many percentage points immediately after they went public. Facebook is no longer cool and the teenagers have gone somewhere else. According to a survey of over 5,000 teenagers conducted by investment bank and asset management firm, Piper Jaffray, only 33% of teenagers consider Facebook to be the most important social network — 10% fewer than last year. (Source) Nirandfar.com believes the app is succeeding because it encourages frequent use by: Making it easy and quick to create photos or videos Reducing inhibitions with temporary communications Creating a social obligation for users to reply to explicit, one-to-one communications Increasing response rates and timeliness of replies using read-receipts Motivating consumption through novel, highly variable interactions Snapchat is preparing to overtake Twitter for usage with teens and Instagram is in it’s sights. But how will it make money? How will it manage to pay back the hundreds of millions of already invested dollars? Where are the profits? For inbound marketers it is important to create long-tail busines practices, for example this blog post will live on until I take it down. But a snapchat, that is gone forever and there is little ability to “click-through” a snap. It...
read more4 Steps to Business Success with Inbound Marketing
Inbound Strategies Level the Playing Field for Small Businesses. Let’s say you decide to place an ad in the local newspaper or local cable provider. Besides outputting a hefty sum to place the ad, you receive only a rough estimate of how many viewers may have glanced at your advertisement. And in no way can you tell if any of them visited your website or are a potential lead? How can you tell if they are getting ready to make a purchase? With the old marketing model, to assess the success of your campaign it would take months to analyze your sales numbers and that may be too late. In the modern digital world, traditional marketing doesn’t cut it. Using a well-executed and cohesive inbound marketing strategy you will achieve a more targeted reach with a far lower initial investment! Follow these 4 steps to get your inbound marketing strategy underway: Attract people interested in your products and industry to your website. Use targeted keywords throughout a regular stream of blog articles and content updates, promoted through social media channels. Convert visitors to your website into sales leads. An email sign-up form placed strategically around your website will engage visitors, while membership to a club or newsletter increases the incentive. Close the deal with your growing list of leads. Through email outreach or a newsletter, offer exclusive pricing and promotions to these engaged, interested targets. Delight new customers with a continuous steam of content relevant to their purchase. These satisfied customers will become evangelists for your business, bringing new leads to your website through word-of-mouth and social media sharing. Billboards and magazine ads get information in front of people, but more often than not, it’s the wrong people. Media is increasingly consumed online, therefore advertisements should be where your audience is spending time; on the internet. With so much data available to be collected about consumers and their interests marketing can now be tailored to your target demographic much more easily. This makes the marketing process more effective, efficient, and affordable for small businesses. Inbound marketing is not about advertising, it is about providing valuable information to your target audience which therefore establishes you as a thought leader and an industry leader. A television ad just can not portray this kind of information. Through the use of website and social media analytics, you can evaluate the strategies and promotions that work best to move people through each phase of this process. The best part of inbound marketing? It is based on a more strategic use of the existing aspects of your business. Inbound marketing is particularly effective targeting niche markets; to learn more read about our success creating and engaging an audience for Independence Science. Portfolio Showcase: Independence Science For over two years Tower Agency has provided Independence Science with a stream of relevant, engaging content for their audience through their blog, newsletter, and social media channels. This effort has established Independence Science as a thought leader in classroom accessibility and raised their following to over 1100 Facebook fans and another 1100 newsletter readers. Learn More Contact us to launch inbound marketing strategies for your...
read moreHow to Spread the Holiday Cheer and Increase Sales this Season
Spreading Good Cheer Goes a Long Way in the Cluttered Holiday Shopping Market With thanksgiving falling later in the year, there will be a shorter holiday shopping season and businesses need to react to a quickly changing market. Mobile technology and greater product research is making the customer smarter, better able to find the deal, and more willing to return merchandise. People are expecting holiday deals and but are unsure when they will come in the season, most will wait for the infamous black friday to trample others at the local Walmart. One technique Toys R Us is using to combat early shopping sprees is to move it up even earlier, with a Holiday Preview occurring in September. Their messaging is directed towards shopping early for members to earn rewards they can redeem later in the season around December. “Kmart aired its first holiday ad in early September, more than 100 days before Christmas. Walmart started promoting holiday layaway even earlier, in mid-August.” Forbes.com According to the Accenture Annual Shopping Survey “even those planning to spend more this year than last, will be hunting for deals. In fact, 62% of respondents said it will take a discount of 30% or more to persuade them to make a purchase, up 10% from 2012. The survey shows that bargain-conscious U.S. shoppers are tracking prices very carefully and 39% said that if they discover that an item they have already purchased is subsequently offered at a lower price, they would likely return it and repurchase it. Additionally, 45% said they plan to use competitor price-matching tools to track prices, and 24% said they will take advantage of extended return policies.” Deals, deals, and more deals. How is it possible to make any profit while slashing prices? We’ve pulled some information from Rick Segel to help you maximize sales during the holiday season: Focus on customer’s ‘pain points’ during the holiday season Organize holiday shopping season clearance sale Build customer relationships through email marketing Keep your best customers happy this holiday season Blast your email opt-in list during the holidays Every year, as dependably as diets follow the overindulgence of holiday merrymaking, inventory season arrives for retailers still hung over from the seasonal selling binge. But why wait until after the holidays to clear merchandise? Hold a holiday sale to blow out the inventory before the buying spree ends. Clearance sales and discounts are heavily expected by shoppers and they will be barraged with advertising over this period. Maintaining strong relationships with your best customers will help to cut through the clutter of holiday discounts. As usual they will act as champions for your brand and spread word of mouth advertising throughout their network. Providing them a small gift to get them into your store will help them to shop more and possibly providing them the opportunity to share that gift with a friend spreads the holiday cheer. Remember, this may be a crazy and hectic time for everybody but there is a positive message to be shared and you will find your customers react best to holiday cheer combined with holiday discounts. Contact the Agency for an evaluation of your marketing initiatives and learn strategies to expand your...
read moreDeclassified: Portfolio of Projects Launched
Client Portfolio: Launched Updates to our website include a new portfolio section showcasing some of our recent clients and the services we provided to help them grow. These classified files have been released to the public and are now being used to represent the work of our marketing agents. Tower Agency has worked with over 15 clients and these are some of our favorite and most successful experiences. Please explore the services below, we will be adding more as Tower Agency continues to grow. A few of the services you will find in our client portfolio: E-commerce Website Design WordPress Website Design Custom Website Design Market Research Keyword Research Trade show Marketing Pay Per Click Digital Advertising “Tower Marketing Agency is a Full Service Agency, meaning that we work on all sides of the marketing 8 ball. Acting as an in-house marketing team we get to know the key members of your organization and work together to find cost-effective solutions. No client is the same, nor has the same needs and thus we adapt each new project based on the objectives of the client. Just producing a website is not enough for most clients to succeed, they need traffic, they need an image, and we go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure they get the full spectrum.” Roger Tower The site also includes agent profiles for Roger Tower and Ian Miller. New agents will be added in the future to represent the full and growing organization. Cheers...
read moreThey’re everywhere! Tablets transition for business deployment
The age of the tablet computer has begun, as I’m sure you iPad and Google Nexus readers can attest. As these devices find their way into the hands of excited people around the globe, their intuitive controls, ease of use, and breath of capabilities are being exalted. While your thin slate has become a dear personal friend, you may not have considered the huge impact that same device can have on customers visiting your business. With more apps, systems and options arriving to the market every day, here are four steps to get your new interactive digital signage up and running: 1. Determine Goals Your personal tablet might be your all-in-one device with myriad applications, but your tablet kiosk should be deployed with a specific use and result in mind. Think about what areas of your business are most important to improve. 2. Explore Solutions and Content Whether you want to increase efficiency, distribute information, connect with customers, or achieve something completely original, examining current solutions will guide you on the path to success. You will need to consider hardware, the tablet of your choice and a secure enclosure, as well as functionality such as system controls, applications, and your business content. 3. Deploy and Draw Attention Put careful thought into the placement of your tablet based on its functionality. A point-of-sale system for employee usage should be discreet, while a restaurant’s interactive menu should be place prominently but not in the way. If your kiosk is designed for public interaction, make sure employees and physical signage direct attention toward it. Consumers are still becoming acquainted with these kiosks and a team effort to draw attention will lead to growth in interactions over time. 4. Monitor Results and Make Improvements Advanced system analysis and remote device management are great tools for evaluating the results of your deployment, but listening to the personal feedback of customers and employees is just as important. Once you’ve had a taste of the benefits your kiosk can have on business marketing and operations, develop a plan for regular updates to content and system improvement. This will keep customers captivated, employees satisfied, and your return-on-investment growing into the future. If you’re interested in learning more about deploying a tablet kiosk, just comment on this post with your thoughts or click the button below. We’d love to help you find the ideal solution. [maxbutton id=”1″] You can also check out this great infographic on tablet kiosks assembled by our friends at...
read moreIs your SEO Strategy Strong or Weak? And would you know the difference?
Small and growing businesses share a major challenge: an unlimited amount of tasks and not enough hours/staff to complete them all. Both must prioritize and ensure that the methods they choose to market their business are efficient and providing a positive Return on Investment (ROI). It is not always easy to calculate the return from search engine optimization (SEO) since it is a long-tail strategy, but utilizing google analytics and other software to determine site traffic is a great place to start. Hiring a consultant or marketing agent allows these businesses to analyze and improve their search engine optimization without taking time away from their day-to-day tasks. Emarketer.com recently produced an article comparing B2B and B2C SEO strategies, and what these businesses found as effective and difficult tasks. These charts will help you decide what is worth doing in-house and what would be important to out-source to a professional based on difficulty. Of course these tactics will vary in effectiveness based on the industry, but this chart should act as a solid overview of how to compare your SEO strategies, difficulties, and future outlook. A Few Helpful Hints to Take Away from these Marketing Charts Updating Website Content Google loves fresh content, and so do your readers. Producing new and interesting content will skyrocket your page in the searches, stimulate reader interest, and provide new opportunities for searches and keywords. Marketing professionals did not list this as a difficult tactic and should be used by all companies interested to increase traffic. A static website just does not cut through the clutter in 2013. Keyword Management Whether using google’s keyword tool or a 3rd party product, keyword research is vital to an effective SEO strategy. There are many options to help with research, but most importantly you should be expanding into new strategies and not focus on one single search engine query. Expand your website’s content with new keywords, find what has attracted in new users and build your strategy off reader comments and website analytics. Creating Original Content Higher in difficulty, creating consistent content can be a challenge and was reported as such by the surveyed marketing professionals. Creativity can go a long way when developing news stories, articles, reports and other content to feature on a blog. Using this creativity to create a foundation for news stories and twitter feeds helps to build links back to the site and show that you are a thought leader within your category. It is generally recommended that a business outsource original content to a professional that will help pull new information from the business and develop a consistent posting strategy. The new information should still be coming from the organization, but hiring a mediator will help to reduce strain on the organization. Social Media Integration Now that your business has content flowing, it will start ranking higher in the search engines. With the rise of social networks, news feeds are vitally important to increased and targeted web traffic. After posting new content always share it within your social media strategy (twitter, facebook, pinterest, tumblr, etc.). With particularly interesting content it helps to spend a few extra dollars a day to buy ads on facebook. They are the most targeted and affordable means of online advertising, acting as a very effective platform...
read moreContent Marketing: Strategic, Educational and Effective!
Content is King While social platforms are queen, quality content is what powers these strong networks. Learning how to effectively utilize a company blog to educate your audience and move customers through the sales process is an affordable, long-tail marketing plan. The difficult part of implementing a content marketing initiative is deciding what to write about. You don’t have to chose one specific topic, like if you are a yard care company, you wouldn’t just write about the new fertilizers and lawn mowers you are using. These are topics that would be relevant to show you are using top-notch equipment and could be an effective post, but really you should be focusing on valuable tips. If you can show your company as a thought leader in the industry, not only do all of those posts you are writing help your site gain rank in search engines, but you have also shown why you are the right choice for lawn care. There are millions of topics to write about on your blog, though most importantly remember to keep a similar tone. The tone is your brand, it is your image and readers will expect that similar attitude for each new post. After deciding what to write about and how to sound, now is the tricky part, how to divide the work. Pawan Deshpande, founder and CEO of Curata has published an article on Boston.com explaining 5 tips to ease the daunting task of populating an organizations traditional marketing channels read his suggestions below: Find Your Niche: It might seem obvious that an organization will publish content that’s relevant to its own industry, but go beyond that. Is it possible to carve a niche within the industry for your organization? Is there an untapped issue or trend that your company can own and become the leading expert? Maybe there’s an opportunity to put a new spin on content that feels overdone dated. No matter the opportunity, be sure to define the space you’re working in and have a clear focus, ensuring that all of your content helps drive your organization’s goals and objectives. Share the Load: You may have a team or you may be the sole marketer in your organization, but regardless, you may feel the responsibility of content creation rests squarely on your shoulders. While you should certainly drive and manage the effort, content can seem stale and monotonous if it’s only coming from one point of view. Enlist colleagues from different departments to contribute to your content efforts. This will help keep content fresh and offer new perspectives. “Color” your Content: When most people think of the term “content,” text usually comes to mind and can feel like a time-consuming initiative. Text is certainly a critical part of content, but don’t underestimate the value of an image, such as an infographic. Images can often influence an audience even more than text, as it may be more attention-grabbing right off the bat. An image can be the lead point of a particular article, or it can complement your text. It’s a great way to keep your content exciting and different for your readers. Furthermore, infographics are often shared by the original reader, especially with encouragement, which means that a reader’s audience is now seeing your content and spreading your message. Remember, if your...
read moreThe Power of Networking and Referrals
You are only as good as your network. They are the one’s who vouch for you, they are the one’s who represent you, and ultimately will refer business back to you. Now I keep mentioning the word YOU. But really it is never about you, it is about helping your network. Pay it forward and if you have built the right network, it should come right back. This approach is how I do business, and how I generally find new clients. I’m not saying you have to go out of your way for everyone you meet, but have a sense of pride in helping others. This will be noticed and the rewards will be reaped later in life. These words of advice can be used in and out of the office, at a family dinner or just running into an old friend at the grocery store. It is important to verbalize what you want out of a relationship, especially if it is a business relationship. Being up front about expectations and desires helps build trust between clients, friends and colleagues. Also, if you don’t mention what you want, than how will you ever get it? No, it’s not being selfish, it’s being honest. It’s not wasting someone else’s time. The power of networking is the ability to find mutually beneficial agreements and trades to satisfy the goal of each party. Start the bartering by referring a new lead or suggesting a better service offering. People are much more willing to help you out if you have already made an effort for them and if they are not, then we are back to the beginning. You are only as good as your...
read moreNew and Improved Website
It’s a new dawn, a new day, a new website for me! And i’m feeeeeeling goooood. Badum badum badadada dada dum. Now that I got that out of my system, let’s move on from Michael Buble. This new website for Tower Marketing Agency will feature different insights and tips for businesses interested to learn more about how to successfully market their business. Generally focusing on inbound and online strategies, I would expect there to be some insights on trade show marketing and offline strategies. Business development, client relationships and the need to vent after a long week of work may also find their way into this business marketing blog. Tower Agency was the original name of this business but after being mistaken for a modeling agency, it was time to add more information about the nature of this consultancy. I’m Roger Tower, and available to answer your questions, explore new ideas and recap on poor uses of QR codes, so please email me what you may want to accomplish in our relationship. Without further ado, I present what you have all been waiting for… Roger Tower is a marketing consultant, blogger, and small business advocate. Completely obsessed with advertising, you will often find him talking to commercials and offering up better marketing...
read moreThe Times they are a Changin’, Right Mark?
Capitalism. Some say it is the root of all evil, others that it is what helps a business grow and flourish. I’m not here to tell you what the system does, but I will say how facebook has changed since it’s IPO. Whether you are a consistent social media user or just using once a month, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that their are more ads across your newsfeed. The algorithm is changing, and it is not changing in favor of the users. In a free service the user is what is being sold, and the buyer are the business pages. Posts are showing up less frequently on newsfeeds and facebook is pushing it’s sponsored posts ability to increase profits. On a more positive note, these sponsored posts are a fantastic way to reach like minded users and find a targeted group to build your following. For example, one of my clients is a printing company near a large ivy league university. Every year the graduating seniors must bind their thesis and turn it in to the university. With the social ads it is possible to target only graduating seniors at that particular school and do it only during the 2 month period in which they must bind the thesis. If you really wanted to get particular than you could align each ad with the students major based on when the turn in date is scheduled. What other advertising medium can you reach out to this specific of an audience? Facebook may be headed in the direction of evil, but for a small business with minimal ad budget, it can be a gold mine. This campaign referenced gained 40+ clicks to their online order form page in the first day. That day cost them $3 in media buy. In comparison, this could have bought one single click on google adwords. Written in entrepreneur.com: May 2012: Facebook’s IPO debuts disastrously. The stock price opens at $42.05 but closes at $38.23. Despite the lackluster performance and some technical snafus, some 500 million shares are sold and the IPO raises $16 billion. Facebook becomes the second largest IPO in U.S. history. December 2012: At the final bell of the year, Facebook stock closes at $26.62, a far cry from its IPO. February 2013: The Pew Research Center releases data suggesting that users are getting tired of Facebook. Reports of “Facebook fatigue,” especially among teens, continue to surface. May 2013: Facebook credits gains in mobile advertising for the growth of its first-quarter revenue of $1.46 billion — an increase of 38 percent compared with the same quarter last year. The company’s shares slide to around $26. Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226688#ixzz2UDg2Hvav Thanks for reading, more rants about facebook to...
read moreAgent Profile: Roger Tower
Reliable, vigilant, and determined.
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