4 Reasons Your Small Business Needs a Website

Getting a small business website

If you own a small business, at some point you’ve probably been told you need a website. But with social media networks and so many cheap or free website options out there today, you might question how you should go about creating a website or whether you should even have one in the first place. Is it even necessary for your small business to have one . . . ?

4 Reasons Having a Website Is Critical to Your Business

At Paragon Marketing Group, we’ve fielded every type of question about websites, from why social media isn’t a replacement for a website, to the benefits of getting a website for your business, to why getting a cheap or free website might not be the best idea.

So today, we’re going to answer our clients’ frequently asked questions about websites.

Why do you need a website for your small business?

1. Client Question: Why Is Social Media Not a Replacement for a Website?

We’ve all heard someone say, “I have a Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok page. I don’t need a website.” So then why are social media platforms not a replacement for a website for small businesses?

Paragon’s Answer:
  • You don’t own social media pages. Facebook, Instagram, or any other social network can and will go down from time to time. You don’t have control over social media platforms’ appearance or features.
  • You’re limited with SEO options when you don’t have a website. When people use search engines, your website can be optimized for local searches to attract an audience.
  • Websites offer credibility. And people buy from businesses they know, like, and trust.
  • You can have a consumer’s full attention with your website. Rather, you have to compete for it on social media.
  • Websites are far more multi-functional than social media posts. Websites can include resources, a blog, have ecommerce capabilities, be promotional, and informative.
  • You don’t have a landing place without a website. You can’t direct your social media traffic anywhere that will cause your customers to convert when there’s no destination to direct traffic.

2. Client Question: What Are the Benefits of Having a Website?

So now that we understand why social media can’t replace a website, what are the biggest benefits of a small business having a website?

Paragon’s Answer:

3. Client Question: Why Is Getting a Free or Cheap Website a Bad Idea?

We’re all trying to save money and cut corners today, but why do we recommend someone get a professional website designed rather than go the free or cheap route?

Paragon’s Answer:
  • A free web address (domain) can appear unprofessional. Do you think consumers will take a site like [email protected] seriously?
  • Free websites often come with irrelevant or inappropriate ads. These ads often look tacky and unprofessional, and they’re usually unrelated to your business entirely.
  • Your website could get shut down at any time since you don’t own it. Being free means you don’t own your site, which means you can’t control what happens with your site.
  • Your information can be sold to third parties with no repercussions. Today, these companies trade information, and you may start receiving email and phone spam, even though you didn’t give your information to third-parties directly.
  • Many free website services have little security and can often distribute malware. Unfortunately, free or cheap websites lack the security you need to protect not only business information, but also any other information you store on your computer.
  • You don’t want to have to redo it a year from now when it no longer meets your needs. What can seem great upfront often fails to meet your needs as you grow and may become more work in the long term for you.

4. Client Question: What Is Web Hosting/Maintenance, and Why Do I Need Them?

In marketing, we hear a lot of terms get thrown around, like “web hosting” or “web maintenance.” But many people have no idea what these things are, much less understand why they’re really important.

Paragon’s Answer:
  • Web Hosting
    • A web hosting service gives your site a place to live and allows your website to be live. If you want your site to be visible, then you must get web hosting.
    • Essentially, web hosting provides a secure place to store online content; it’s like a digital repository.
  • Web Maintenance
    • Web maintenance keeps your site up-to-date and running smoothly.
    • It’s every business owner’s worst nightmare for the company website to go down. That’s why we’ll test for any issues before it goes live, keep it up-to-date, and scan for any hackers or malware.
Here’s a Few Takeaways:
  1. Social media profiles like Facebook or Instagram are not replacements for a business website.
  2. 70% of consumers will visit a store because of information found online is one of the biggest benefits of having a professional website.
  3. Web hosting and maintenance are necessary to keep your website secure and running smoothly.

If you’ve been considering getting a professional website for your business, we hope we were able to answer a few of your questions.

At Paragon, we understand how critical having a website can be in your small business’s success. As always, we want to be a resource for you. So as you have questions, we’ll be here to answer them.

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our podcast, the Main Street Marketing Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your audio platform of choice.

3 Ways to Gain Marketing Independence for Your Small Business

Close-up of American flag to celebrate independence

This fourth of July, maybe you’re planning to watch fireworks or attend a parade. Whatever you end up doing, it’s a great time to celebrate that we live in a free country where we’re free to run our own businesses. But have you ever considered what your life could be like with marketing independence?

3 Ways to Gain Your Marketing Independence

As a small business owner, responsibilities often outweigh the freedom that comes with owning a business. And along the way, we’ve learned it’s impossible to be an expert in every aspect of business.

Maybe you’ve also been craving that freedom to focus on the aspects of your business where you most excel in, but you’re unsure how to get there.

So we’re going to share three ways you can gain your marketing independence:

A small business owner celebrating his marketing independence
Let’s celebrate your marketing independence!

1. Take Ownership of Your Digital Assets

There is a freedom that comes from ownership. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with leasing a car or renting a home, there is freedom in owning your vehicle or home. When you own your home, you can decide if you want to replace the carpet, paint the walls, or even renovate your kitchen. But when you rent, there are rules in place that don’t allow you to make any significant changes when your home is owned by someone else.

So what are digital assets, and why should you own them?

Digital assets can be anything that can be stored as a file.

  • Does your business have a website? That’s a digital asset.
  • Do you have a company logo, specially designed graphics that live on your website, project files, videos, or audio clips? All of these can be classified as digital assets.
The second part of the question – why should you own them?

Owning your digital assets will give you freedom to do whatever you want with them.

  • Do you want to share a testimonial video on your social media pages? You can do that when you own them.
  • Do you want to change the color of your logo? You can do that when you own it.
  • Do you want to make small updates to your website? You can also do that when you own it.
But how do you know if you own your digital assets?

If you’ve hired an agency, a contractor, or a freelancer, you have to check with them. Many business owners don’t realize that agencies, designers, and freelancers all have the right to own digital assets – yes, we’re talking about your business’s assets. 

At Paragon Marketing Group, we do not take our clients’ assets. After you pay for your assets, they become yours forever – and not just while we work together. If you decide to leave or hire someone else, all your assets will still belong to you. We do not keep them or hold them as leverage against you if you decide to move on from working with us.

Our advice is to check with whoever does your marketing to find out whether or not you own your digital assets. And if it turns out that you are not the owner, find a marketing agency like Paragon Marketing Group that will give you the freedom to own your business’s digital assets.

2. Gain Independence from Your Competitors

No business wants to look identical to its competitors.

For example, if you had to choose between two different fried chicken restaurants that used the same color scheme, had the exact same menu, were open the same hours, and even hired the same wait staff . . . which would you choose?

You would probably ask what makes each restaurant unique:

  • What are their differentiators?
  • What makes one stand out from the other?
  • Which restaurant has the better chicken?

Obviously, this is a ridiculous question. Of course no two restaurants are identical. 

But let’s say these places are real. Imagine what would happen if one of the restaurants decided it wanted to be different from their competitor:

  • What if they updated their logo and colors to fit a theme that supported their mission to be sustainable?
  • What if this same restaurant updated the format of their menu to make it more readable and clear to customers?
  • What if they updated their hours and then advertised them across all their listings – social media pages, Google profile, website, so that customers could easily determine when they could patronize it?
  • What if they shone a light on their uniquely talented wait staff and advertised them on their website?

We could go on with the “what ifs.”

So when it comes to gaining independence from your competitors, it’s important you don’t implement the same exact marketing strategies that they are.

Consider asking yourself questions like these:
  • Are your competitors using a cookie cutter free website template? Then look into finding a clean, professional look that will accurately reflect your business.
  • Do all their graphics look the same because they use the free version of a popular design software? Then consider learning (or hiring a professional) to create unique, beautiful graphics that will set your designs apart from your competitors.

If you ever notice your competitors jumping on a bandwagon or following a trend, stop and think about it before you jump on with them. Ask yourself if taking part in something that’s trendy is actually going to help market your business . . . or maybe look like you’re just trying to fit in with everyone else. And if you’re thinking about hiring a marketing agency (or if you already have), ask the hard questions, like how they’ll help your business stand apart from the competition.

3. Find Freedom in Running Your Business

After all this talk, you might be thinking “these are great ideas, but who has the time?”

We know the struggles that come with running your own business. But no one Paragon employee knows every detail of every aspect of running a business. And if one of us did, that person certainly doesn’t have the time to implement every great strategy that exists.

At Paragon Marketing Group, our owner Skip doesn’t manage every invoice, design every graphic and website, curate every social media post, pen every video script, or shoot every video. He has a capable team who each uses his or her own expertise to accomplish these tasks.

And having a team of experts to help support Paragon Marketing Group has given Skip great freedom to run his business.

We would love for you to find freedom in running your business, too. And one great way you can do that is to gain some independence in your marketing.

Maybe that looks like hiring a single person in-house to do your marketing.

Maybe that means setting aside a few hours each day to work on marketing, yourself.

Or maybe you could hire a marketing agency like Paragon Marketing Group to run your marketing so you can enjoy the freedom to run your business.

Gaining marketing independence will look different for everyone.

Here’s a Few Takeaways:
  1. Make sure you own your digital assets (and if you don’t, hire someone who will let you).
  2. Differentiate yourself from your competitors (don’t become dependent on your competitors for marketing ideas).
  3. Enjoy the freedom of running your business by not taking on all of your marketing alone (find someone who can help).

If you have any questions, we’re here, and we’re ready to help.

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our podcast, the Main Street Marketing Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your audio platform of choice.

Your Marketing Can’t Take a Vacation

marketing can't take a vacation

It’s summer time! The sun is shining, the temperature is up, students are out on summer break, and many people are getting ready to go on vacation. You might also be preparing to go on a much needed (and well-deserved) vacation. But just because you can go on vacation doesn’t mean your marketing should.

Today, we’re going to give you three reasons why your marketing can’t take a vacation  . . .

3 Reasons Your Marketing Can’t Take a Vacation

It might only seem fair that your marketing should get a break (or better, you), but we stand firm behind these three reasons your marketing shouldn’t stop over the summer months.

Don’t let your marketing take a vacation this summer . . .

1. Your Business Will Take a Hit

If you’ve read any of our former posts, you’ve probably heard us say this many times before, but we’ll say it again: you should view marketing as an investment, not an expense.

Marketing has so many positive functions in your business. It . . . 

  • Informs and educates people about your business and your products/services.
  • Keeps your customers engaged and builds credibility not just for your current customers but also for your new customers.
  • Enhances your business’s reputation from having a professional website to represent your business, to five-star reviews on your Google profile, to great customer service on your social media profiles.
  • Gives you leads and generates interest in your business which leads to sales.
  • Grows your business as you implement marketing strategies.

So if you understand even just a little bit about how much value marketing offers your business, imagine what would happen if you stopped marketing altogether.

Let’s say you stopped updating your website. You stopped Google ads, didn’t bother updating videos on your site from 10 years ago, and stopped posting to your social media profiles. Your digital graphics are at least 7 years old. Your Google profile doesn’t have your business’s updated address, hours, or phone number. You stopped implementing SEO keywords into your blog, website, and social media strategy.

Alone, these issues might not seem like a big deal. But when you start to look at the big picture, you’ll notice that when you stop marketing your business, you have a LOT to lose, like . . .

  • Leads, because they’ve never heard of your business.
  • Credibility, because your listings aren’t up-to-date.
  • Engagement, because you stopped engaging with them.
  • Reputation, because your site and graphics aren’t professional.
  • Visibility, because you aren’t implementing SEO.
  • An edge over competitors, because they didn’t stop marketing . . . YOU did.

2. Your Competitors Won’t Take a Vacation

Let’s backtrack here for a second.

If you’re a business owner, you’re really busy. You’re juggling a lot. You’re working through the challenge of owning a business and trying to market it at the same time.

Running a business isn’t easy, so of course, trying to do all your business marketing is a major undertaking.

If you’re taking a break from your marketing, you might just feel burnt out. You might be struggling financially and feel like you can’t dedicate any of your budget to marketing. Or you might not even be purposefully taking a marketing vacation . . . maybe you’ve been so busy, you’re just doing as much as you can and marketing is on the back burner.

Whether you’re actively marketing or taking a break, remember this: your competitors aren’t taking a vacation. Your competitors are actively marketing their businesses. They’re going after the same clients as you are. They’re probably viewing your website and trying to find out how they can differentiate themselves from you. Maybe they’re watching your social media strategy and replicating whatever you’re doing because it’s working. Perhaps they’re targeting the same locations as you. They might even have similar brand colors as your business. They’re working to educate their clients – and future clients – on the same things.

So if your competitors aren’t taking a marketing vacation, then guess what . . . you shouldn’t be either!

But what are you supposed to do if you don’t have time for your marketing . . . ?

Well . . .

3. You Have Other Marketing Options

We’ve already established why you shouldn’t take a vacation from your marketing.

And perhaps there’s a good chance that if you are taking a marketing break, it’s not that you want to . . . you just need help.

Think of it like this: when you go on vacation and leave your kids at home, you don’t just tell them, “Hey, have a great week – figure things out!” (Can you imagine what your 5-year-old or 10-year-old would do?)

Or perhaps when you go on vacation, you have a couple dogs. You don’t just leave out the bag of food and wish them good luck. You bring them to a doggy daycare or invite over a trusted friend or relative to watch them.

And for those of us who like plants, we don’t go on vacation for two weeks and never ask anyone to water them . . . 

So just like our kids, our pets, and even our plants need looking after when we’re on vacation, so does your marketing.

As a business owner, you might not even remember what it feels like to go on vacation. Most business owners can share stories of working grueling hours, rarely getting enough sleep, and just barely managing their lives outside of work. But sometimes, you deserve to go on vacation.

And the even better news? You can go on that vacation. Just make sure you leave your marketing in trusted hands.

At Paragon Marketing Group, we’re here so you can take the vacation, that well-deserved time off from work. Our tagline says it well:

“You run your business, we’ll run your marketing.

Paragon Marketing Group

You don’t want your business to suffer because you haven’t been marketing. And you don’t want to lose business to your competitors because you don’t have the time to market.

Whether you need to lighten your workload and hand off some of your marketing tasks, or you’re looking to completely get marketing off your plate, Paragon Marketing Group is here to help.

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our podcast, the Main Street Marketing Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your audio platform of choice.

Why Marketing Consistency Matters

Discussing marketing consistency and strategy

In business, there isn’t any advice we could offer that would discourage being consistent. But what about marketing consistency?

See, when most people hear the word “consistency,” they think of repeating the same things over and over again. And while repetition plays a role, there’s a whole lot more to it.

How to Build Marketing Consistency into Your Business

You’ve probably read a lot about the importance of brand consistency, and why it’s so important for your business to maintain it. And that’s true — brand consistency is important! But how do you build marketing consistency into your business?

Building consistency into your business marketing is key to your marketing success.
Building consistency into your business marketing is key to your marketing success.

1. Implement General Consistency in Your Business First

Before you can bring marketing consistency into your business, it’s important to understand how being consistent in general business tasks will set you up for success in your marketing.

There are several definitions for the word “consistency,” but our favorite is probably an “agreement or harmony of parts or features to one another or a whole.”

Consistency brings harmony of parts. Ultimately, consistency brings a wholeness to whatever you’re doing.

Think of consistency in the same way you’d maintain your vehicle. When you buy a car, it’s an investment. You don’t just buy it but never take care of it. You get oil changes, you wash your car, you change its tires. And these aren’t just one-time tasks. You do it multiple times throughout the year on a consistent basis, once every 2,000 miles, or quarterly.

The same goes for your business. You don’t just start a business and perform each task one time. Employees will receive regular paychecks. You’ll ensure your business information is secure every day. You’ll even lock your door every time you leave — not just the first time.

So if you’ve established general consistency practices in your business, you understand how important those processes are. Because without them, your employees won’t get paid, your confidential information won’t be secure, and your office will be open for anyone to stop in and take whatever they want.

It stands to reason that your marketing should also be consistent.

2. Understand How Consistency Will Benefit Your Marketing

You know it’s important to be consistent in a general sense. But how can consistency specifically benefit your marketing?

  • Consistency builds predictable results (You know what’s coming when you’re consistent.)
  • Consistency leads to greater financial returns (The easier you make it for clients, the more likely they’ll spend money.)
  • Consistency helps in the long-term (Better to focus on the big picture by staying consistent rather than just put out short-term fires.)
  • Consistency clears up confusion (Your message will be clear to your customers when you’re consistent with how you put it out there.)
  • Consistency builds trust with your customers (Your business information and your message should be the same across platforms.)

And those benefits just scratch the surface. The power of consistency in your marketing can enable you to accomplish far more with it than without it. But understanding that consistency is beneficial isn’t enough. You also have to put in the work.

3. Build Consistency into Your Marketing

Consistency is all about developing processes and following through with them. You can’t just hope that you’ll always be consistent.

Consider including these ideas when incorporating consistency into your marketing:

Make a long-term plan.

Planning for the next hour or day isn’t enough. If you want to repeat the benefits of long-term success, then you need to figure out how consistency will play a long-term role in your marketing. Ask yourself:

  • In what ways have I already built consistency into my business? Can I apply those methods to other aspects of my marketing/business?
  • What areas can I start adding consistency with little effort, and which areas are going to require a longer planning period to build consistency into them?
  • How can I keep myself (and coworkers/employees) accountable in staying consistent with new procedures?

Cross-post consistently.

Keep your calls-to-action (CTAs) clear across all marketing channels. Don’t give 8 or 10 CTAs on your website or your direct mailer. Your customers won’t know what to do, and they’ll probably end up doing nothing.

When it comes to your digital channels, such as your website or social media sites, or even your Google profile, keep your information consistent. For example, don’t have one phone number on your Google profile, another one on your website, and a third one on your Facebook page.

Incorporate consistency behind the scenes.

The work you put in behind the scenes may take a lot of effort, but the important thing is that it be simple for the customer on the front end.

For example, let’s say you want to run a social media marketing campaign that starts with a giveaway and ends with five people winning prizes. How can you build consistency into this social media marketing campaign?

  • Creating a social media schedule and posting consistently will help your followers know when your posts will go live.
  • Curating a list of highly-followed and relevant hashtags and incorporating them into every social post on appropriate platforms consistently will reach more people
  • Developing a process to consistently test all tagged accounts, links that will be clicked, and words to be spell-checked before publishing posts will provide a much better user experience and provide professional credibility for your business.

Notice the common theme? Consistency.

Ultimately, building consistency into your marketing is no easy task. It takes a lot of work. But understanding why it’s so important for not just your marketing, but also your business as a whole can really help you become more consistent in your marketing.

At Paragon Marketing Group, we understand that many small businesses don’t have the time or the resources to apply a large-scale strategy, which is why we love sharing that marketing load, or even taking it completely off your plate. If you’re looking for advice or help regarding your marketing strategy, we’d love to help you.

You can contact us by visiting our website at paragonmarketinggroup.com or call us at 262-443-9092.

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our podcast, the Main Street Marketing Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your audio platform of choice.

Top 10 Marketing Mistakes

Circling marketing mistakes in pink highlighter

“Don’t be a fool and make these marketing mistakes.”

Um . . . what?

We promise this isn’t a prank or an April Fool’s Joke. We’re not calling anyone a fool. Rather, as a small business, one of our biggest desires is that other business owners not make some of the most common marketing mistakes we’ve seen over the last several years.

Don’t Make These Top 10 Marketing Mistakes

Now maybe you’ve made some of these. Or maybe you’re looking for some tips on how to avoid making these mistakes. Either way, here are the top 10 marketing mistakes we’ve seen:

Business owner pondering what marketing mistakes he's made
Have you ever made any of these marketing mistakes?

Mistake #1

Your business doesn’t have a website OR your website is outdated.

Having a sleek, professional, and updated website is a vital part of your web presence. Not only will a website help your customers find your business online, but it will also give your business more credibility than organizations with just social media sites.

Mistake #2

You aren’t thinking about your mobile viewers.

More customers are conducting business, making purchases, and scheduling appointments on their phones today. So every business needs an attractive, functional, responsive, and mobile-friendly website that will serve your customers where they are and encourage them to spend more time on your site. Because more time on your site means a higher likelihood of them making a purchase.

Mistake #3

You don’t know who your audience is, where to find them, or how to reach them.

This is where marketing strategy comes into play. If you’re just throwing content onto the internet, there’s no way you can track, measure, or even hope for success. Determining who your target audience is (and where to find them) is a crucial step you should take before deciding which marketing channels to use.

Mistake #4

You don’t know who your competitors are or what they’re doing.

As a small business, you have to work even harder to get your message out there when you have competitors. Learning who your competitors are and what they’re doing — as in what’s working and what’s not — is vital to help you differentiate your business from the competition.

Mistake #5

You’re under-utilizing OR over-utilizing your social media channels.

Most people are on at least one social channel, if not several. This is great news, because that means your customers are ready and waiting for your business to interact with them! But successful social media requires a plan. Are you posting once every 6 months, or 6 times a day? You don’t want your audience to forget about you, but you also don’t want to annoy them. Come up with a plan and then consistently post to your social channels.

Mistake #6

Your business is difficult for your customers to find.

Before you can build trust with potential clients, listing your business in leading directories will make your business visible and easy to find. Plus, making your business easy to find in leading applications, search engines, and other directories will provide the validity your business needs to be established online.

Mistake #7

You’re hoping rather than creating a well-thought plan and strategy to accomplish your marketing goals.

We often don’t put enough stock into our plans. It’s so much easier to come up with a few marketing goals and then hope for the best! But marketing goals shouldn’t be just unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions. Schedule time to come up with a plan (or contact us so we can help you make one!), write down all your goals and your plans to accomplish them, and then start executing.

Mistake #8

You aren’t distinguishing your products/services from your competition.

For better or worse, you know you’re not the only business owner selling your product or service. You likely have local, regional, and national competitors vying for the same customers as you. That’s why it’s so important to differentiate your product or service. Ask yourself what separates you from all your competitors. Why should customers buy from you rather than from someone else?

Mistake #9

You’re trying to do all the marketing yourself OR you’re not doing any marketing at all.

Perhaps you’re trying to figure out how to market your business, or maybe you’ve even wondered how much money you should spend on marketing per month. Have you ever wondered how you’re supposed to have time to do all your marketing while trying to run your business? Whether you need to delegate marketing responsibilities to other staff or outsource your marketing altogether, we recommend not trying to do it all yourself. In fact, that’s where our company tagline comes into play: “You run your business, we run your marketing.” If you’re interested in outsourcing any of your marketing, we’d love to help you.

Mistake #10

You consider marketing an expense rather than an investment.

Like all things in life, it’s much easier to focus on the short-term than the long-term. Yes, it does cost money to outsource your marketing, but as a marketing agency, we stand by the belief that it’s so much more a long-term investment in your business rather than a short-term expense.

Let’s face it — no one is perfect at marketing. No business owner has all the answers and can do everything perfectly. In a way, we’re all fools to an extent, because it’s impossible to know everything. And even if we did know everything about running a business, our time can’t fully be dedicated to marketing our businesses.

And that’s really where we come in. At Paragon Marketing Group, we understand exactly what it’s like to feel overwhelmed. We know what it’s like to wear all the hats and juggle all the balls. We’ve been in your shoes before. And that’s why it’s so important that we not only help other small businesses like us, but also be a marketing resource that you can access whenever you need.

Want to learn more about this topic? Check out our podcast, the Main Street Marketing Podcast, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your audio platform of choice.

It’s Time To Plan Your Marketing For 2023

A marketer pointing to a graph on his computer to demonstrate why it's important to plan your marketing for 2023.

We’re still a few months from the new year, but that doesn’t mean your marketing shouldn’t be prepared. It’s time to plan your marketing for 2023. Aside from inflation and economic changes impacting businesses nationwide, technological advances and new, emerging trends in marketing mean it’s even more important to start planning your marketing for the upcoming year.

As a full-service marketing group, we believe it’s important that your marketing attract new clients while retaining your current customers. Here are three reasons why it’s time to plan your marketing for 2023:

1. Marketing Trends Are Always Changing . . . And So Should You

Between a global pandemic and constant advancements in technology, it isn’t surprising that advertising trends are changing. While we believe in celebrating your milestones, the marketing machine is constantly evolving, which means your marketing strategies should, too. Whether you need help with your website or a social channel, it’s time to map out marketing strategies for 2023.

Constantly evolving marketing trends means it's time to change and plan your marketing for 2023.
Constantly evolving marketing trends means it’s time to change and plan your marketing for 2023.

2. New Consumers’ Habits Requires A Mobile-First Mindset

While the pandemic might have slowed in-person business for many consumers, those same consumers not only continue to spend more time online, but they also use their mobile devices to shop, search for businesses, and view websites on their mobile devices. And with this move here to stay, businesses need to ensure their websites are responsive, consider increasing their mobile advertising budget, and make decisions with a mobile-first mindset to continue to attract today’s consumers.

Plan your marketing for 2023 with a mobile-first mindset as more consumers continue to search and shop on their mobile devices.
Plan your marketing for 2023 with a mobile-first mindset as more consumers continue to search and shop on their mobile devices.

Source: FinancesOnline

3. Marketing Experts Could Give You The Upper Hand

Many people are overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to design their own website, get their business in all the proper listings, and post regularly to multiple social channels in addition to all the other marketing avenues they could be utilizing. What often helps a business stand out from the crowd is bringing in a third-party expert. Why? Because marketing firms stay up-to-date on the latest trends and specialize in providing marketing services for businesses big or small. They can even manage your marketing completely if you rather focus on running your business. Whether you need an outside opinion or guidance, firms like Paragon Marketing Group can provide the necessary expertise you need.

Consider hiring a marketing firm, like Paragon Marketing Group, to help you in the year as you plan for marketing in 2023.
Consider hiring a marketing firm, like Paragon Marketing Group, to help you in the year as you plan for marketing in 2023.

Source: Paragon Marketing Group

Marketing trends will continue to change, so it’s vital that your business embrace the future. Whether you choose to hire a marketing firm for outside expertise, mobilize your website to create a better online experience for your mobile users, or map out a marketing strategy to prepare for the new year, now is the time to plan your marketing for 2023.

5 Video Marketing Strategies For 2021

video marketing 2021

What’s on your new year’s resolutions list? Eating healthy, staying active, and traveling of course. What about upping your video content game? 2021 is the year of fun, trying new things, and being adaptable! We’ve created a list of video marketing strategies your business should be incorporating into your marketing plan this year.

Video Marketing Strategies

What type of video content could up your marketing for 2021? Check out these 5 video marketing strategies:

1. Casual, Laidback Content

Yes, you read that right. In light of COVID-19, big video production has been put on hold. Throughout the year, we’ve seen companies create advertisements and videos from compiled home videos of their employees and customers and we don’t see this leaving us any time soon. Above anything else, people prefer authentic content. That means snippets of live streams and selfie videos from your iPhone can be used and reused on your social accounts! While they may be lower quality, they invite personality to your business and your clients can have a better understanding for your company’s message and morals.

2. Live-Streaming

You can also thank COVID for this one. Did you know that the online live streaming industry has grown 99% between April 2019 and April 2020? Live streaming has become increasingly more popular for many reasons. It’s a way for businesses to directly interact with their customers and people love it because they can watch video content with advertisements or commercials. According to Livestream, 82% of people prefer live video from a brand over standard social media posts and 80% of people prefer live streaming over reading a blog from a brand.

3. Super Short Videos

We’re talking 5-10 seconds short. We all know and love the “Skip Ad” option on Facebook and Youtube videos. Creating an advertisement that people can watch before being able to skip the ad ensures that your content is being seen.

4. Long Video

To the same degree, consumers are increasingly enjoying longer content. Perhaps it’s due to COVID and freed up time on people’s hands, people are getting more used to watching longer content. A recent study found that videos longer than 15 minutes account for 50% of all video engagement but only 8% of content. This means you can produce fewer, longer videos for better results. The key to success is to make the video exciting and engaging.

5. 360 Video and AR Content

360 video is a powerful tool to allow your audience to be more interactive with your content. This type of video is becoming more popular even for regular, every day people to use. AR content is being used by big businesses and smaller companies are slowly catching on. IKEA, for example, allows you to place their products into your living spaces to see it for their intended use.

With these video marketing strategies, your business is sure to capture the attention of new and current customers. Paragon Marketing Group is no stranger to any of these types of videography and are eager to help you launch into the new year! Call or message us today (262)443-9092

Positive Impacts Of Email Marketing

Email marketing.

When you think of marketing in 2020, you probably aren’t thinking of the positive impacts – or any impact – of email marketing. Many believe that email promotions are dead, but a recent study found that there are 3.9 billion daily email users and 73% of millennials prefer communication from businesses via email.

Positive Impacts of Email Marketing

What are some of the positive impacts of email marketing? With email marketing, you can . . .

Increase Communication with Current Customers

Email marketing is a great way to increase loyalty with your current customers. This is because customers must ask to receive emails by manually signing up for your newsletter. This allows you to communicate with your consumers on a broader level but you still control how personalized the contents of the email can be.

Educate Your Customers

As stated above, you get to personalize what goes into your emails. This type of marketing is to not only sell a product but to also educate your clients on matters related to your services as well as your company’s values.

Improve Sales

Did you know that 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI (Return On Investment)? Your email marketing campaigns should include messages to encourage your customers to purchase products. They may be more likely to make a purchase because they actively chose to receive messages like these from you. Email marketing allows the ease of purchasing a product with no more than two clicks. With a catchy tagline, your email can take a customer right to the checkout page of a product on your website.

Increase your Value

After some trial and error, you’ll be able to discover what communication strategy works best with your customers. Once you do, your customers will pay more attention to the message in each email. In return, you’ll be able to establish the brand of your business and create a closer relationship with your clients.

Reach People from Anywhere Instantly

Email marketing reaches customers faster than a social media post. This is because the email notification shows up on a smartphone as it’s sent out. Rather than having to scroll through Instagram or Facebook to see the post, it’s instant. People are constantly checking their emails: first thing in the morning at work, while at lunch, and even when lounging around.

Learn What Works

Email marketing is another way for you to monitor what’s working and what’s not based on clicks. After sending out a campaign, you can look back and see which links had the most amount of traffic. From there, try incorporating more of that topic into your emails, social media posts, and advertisements.

These are just six of several positive impacts of email marketing. The best news is, it’s cheap and easy to get started with it! Call or message Paragon Marketing Group today (262) 443-9092.

Positive Impacts Of Email Marketing

Email marketing.

When you think of marketing in 2020, you probably aren’t thinking of the positive impacts – or any impact – of email marketing. Many believe that email promotions are dead, but a recent study found that there are 3.9 billion daily email users and 73% of millennials prefer communication from businesses via email.

Positive Impacts of Email Marketing

What are some of the positive impacts of email marketing? With email marketing, you can . . .

Increase Communication with Current Customers

Email marketing is a great way to increase loyalty with your current customers. This is because customers must ask to receive emails by manually signing up for your newsletter. This allows you to communicate with your consumers on a broader level but you still control how personalized the contents of the email can be.

Educate your Customers

As stated above, you get to personalize what goes into your emails. This type of marketing is to not only sell a product but to also educate your clients on matters related to your services as well as your company’s values.

Improve Sales

Did you know that 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI (Return On Investment)? Your email marketing campaigns should include messages to encourage your customers to purchase products. They may be more likely to make a purchase because they actively chose to receive messages like these from you. Email marketing allows the ease of purchasing a product with no more than two clicks. With a catchy tagline, your email can take a customer right to the checkout page of a product on your website.

Increase Your Value

After some trial and error, you’ll be able to discover what communication strategy works best with your customers. Once you do, your customers will pay more attention to the message in each email. In return, you’ll be able to establish the brand of your business and create a closer relationship with your clients.

Reach People from Anywhere Instantly

Email marketing reaches customers faster than a social media post. This is because the email notification shows up on a smartphone as it’s sent out. Rather than having to scroll through Instagram or Facebook to see the post, it’s instant. People are constantly checking their emails: first thing in the morning at work, while at lunch, and even when lounging around.

Learn What Works

Email marketing is another way for you to monitor what’s working and what’s not based on clicks. After sending out a campaign, you can look back and see which links had the most amount of traffic. From there, try incorporating more of that topic into your emails, social media posts, and advertisements.

These are just six of several ways in which email marketing can benefit your business. The best news is, it’s cheap and easy to get started with it! Call or message Paragon Marketing Group today (262) 443-9092.

Adapt Your Marketing In 2021

2021 marketing.

As 2020 progressed, we learned that we have to adapt to the new environment we live in. However, this is not a contemporary concept to the world of marketing. Living in the digital age of technology and social media, things are constantly changing which means your business needs to regularly adapt your marketing. Here’s what’s to come in 2021…

5 Changes To Adapt Your Marketing in the New Year

Here are 5 changes you’ll need to adapt your marketing in 2021:

Mobile Functionality

We understand that mobile marketing is not a trend – it’s here to stay. It’s predicted that smartphone users will exceed 280 million users in 2021. This means that more people will not only research, but also shop online on mobile devices. Make sure your website is up to date and easy to use on mobile devices. Not only for your blog and contact page, but also your services and products page.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is any content (images, audio, text, video) that has been created or posted by a user of a brand. This means that those Google and Facebook reviews matter more now than ever! This version of word-of-mouth marketing is powerful and authentic. Of course, it’s not a new type of content, but one in which you should invest. Not only is it a fun way to get your customers more involved but it’s a great way to market your business.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Voice Search

SEO is a key and effective way to build your online presence. As technology develops, voice search becomes more popular. According to a report from Juniper Research, the percentage of homes predicted to own a smart speaker (Google Home, Alexa, etc.) is 55%. If you consider how many people who already use Google and Siri on their smartphones, think about how you should optimize your business for SEO. Consider what keywords you plug into your website and posts.

Brand Activism

While this prediction is very much based on an individual’s beliefs, it’s said that a business’ stand on hot-topic issues socially and politically play a huge part in their loyal customer base. For example, a big corporation like Ben & Jerry’s teamed up with the Climate Council for their ‘Unfudge our Future’ campaign. This is a new range of products pushing the Australian government to ditch fossil fuels and embrace renewable energy. Movements like this are not only a way to invite new customers with similar beliefs, but to build a more loyal and secure relationship with current customers.

Nostalgia Marketing

I’m sure you saw Geico’s classic “hump day” commercial make a comeback in the early days of quarantine. This type of marketing has become popular in recent months due to the pandemic. Even though we live in a fast-paced world, everyone likes to take a moment and look back at memories every once in a while. Instead of focusing on the new, paying attention to familiarity is comfortable and it makes people feel good – science even says so.

Living in such a fast paced environment can be a lot! Having a plan and preparing your business for current and upcoming trends is the first step to making for a smooth transition into 2021. If you’re not sure where to go from here, Paragon Marketing Group can help you adapt your marketing. Contact us today at (262)443-9092!