Collaborate With Your Community

Time to Collaborate

Are you looking to grow your business’ network and increase your revenue? Of course, who isn’t? Even if you’re just looking for a way to switch up your advertising technique, we have the solution for you; collaborate with your community. Collaborating with other local businesses is a great way to combine and strengthen your skills while involving the community.

4 Reasons To Collaborate with Your Community

Collaborating with your community will . . .

1. Grow Your Network

By collaborating, you are opening up new connections to another small business within your shared community. You create new contacts for you and your employers to form successful and useful alliances. By hosting an event or seminar with them, you also gain access to their consumers and customers.

2. Save Money

Depending on what kind of partnership you’re partaking in, both companies can be splitting time and effort into production, including expenses. These expenses can vary from marketing and advertising expenses to a physical table at a local farmers market or other locations. Collaboration is a great marketing tool for your business because you can get a bigger bang for your buck by expanding your advertising to a wider audience for a lesser expense and use of resources.

3. Spark Creativity

It can be easy to get stuck in a rut. We get used to our day-to-day routine and forget to research new ways to boost our businesses online. What’s a better way to switch it up than working with a set of fresh, new eyes? Collaborating on any sort of project invites both parties to invite the skills they already have and combine them with new ones to create an entirely different marketing plan.

4. Create Connections within Your Community

Putting financial and marketing benefits aside, having the chance to talk to the people in your community is a win-win for both businesses! There are so many ways you can get involved with your community like hosting a seminar, sponsoring something fun like a bar crawl, or just a simple networking event at a local coffee shop. If hosting something in person isn’t quite your speed, you can also hold an online webinar or workshop! Any way you can work with customers in a social and exciting way, is sure to be a success.

The sky’s the limit with what you can do to collaborate with local businesses. Summer is the perfect time to host an event to get your brand out there! If you aren’t sure how to plan an event or advertise for it, the people at Paragon Marketing Group are here to help. Call or message us today (262)443-9092

4 Ways Event Hosting Can Benefit Your Business

Event marketing.

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and doors are opening! If the last year and a half has taught us anything, it’s to appreciate quality time with those who matter. That’s why now is a great time for event hosting. It will not only benefit your business, but also bring enjoyment to your customers. The best part is, you don’t need to have a huge marketing budget to plan the occasion.

How Will Your Business Benefit from Event Hosting?

Here are 4 reasons event hosting can benefit your business today:

1. Provides Opportunity for Customer Interaction

According to a Salesforce Research study, 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after having a positive customer service experience. Think about it, are you more likely to purchase from a company with whom you have a personal relationship? Or from a company that didn’t make an effort to connect with you at all? When you establish that connection with consumers, you have the opportunity to create future marketing campaigns they’ll want to attend.

By hosting in-person events, you have a wonderful opportunity to get to know your customers on a personal level with face-to-face interactions. The event doesn’t always have to be extreme and out of the box. It could be a coffee and donuts, a table at your farmer’s market, or an event with pizza and beer.

2. Builds Brand Awareness

Face-to-face interactions help boost your customer retention rate which can help with your brand awareness. Regardless of the event type, ensure your business’s logo, brand colors, and apparel are visible and accessible. By plastering your logo on a banner for the occasion, your customers become comfortable and familiar with your brand. Don’t be afraid to bring pens, tote bags, stickers, or whatever else has your company logo to give to consumers.

3. Generates Publicity And Leads

Hosting in-person events can help attract people outside of your customer base which can help you gain sales leads. Regardless of how big or small your business is, it’s important to always promote your products and services. Local newspapers, coffee shops, and radio stations are typically willing and happy to work with you to promote your event, especially if it brings traffic to these resources and places. Don’t be afraid to write a press release and send it to your selected contacts prior to the event.

4. Increases Your Revenue

Of course, ticket purchases for attending the event provides immediate cash flow, but there are other ways hosting an event can increase your revenue. By creating a space to connect with new and current customers, you have a great opportunity for people to purchase your products and services. If they do not purchase anything at the event itself, you at least created a connection to allow them to return to your business when your services are needed.

Regardless of how big or small your event is, bringing your customers and employees together in a social setting is a great way to build relationships and boost your business’ SEO. If you have an event in mind but aren’t sure how to promote it, call or message Paragon Marketing Group today! (262)443-9092

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 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.

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.

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!

Does Your Wifi Bring Customers In The Door?

restaurant marketing.

Zenreach is the relationship engine that helps you know what your customers do in the real world, so you can keep them rushing back for more.

  • Boosted Contact List
    Zenreach turns your WiFi network into an automated contact collection tool—effortlessly growing your customer list 5x faster than before.
  • Automated Marketing
    It’s time to truly understand your customers—send messages that are automatically triggered by your guests’ unique visit behavior.
  • Transparent ROI
    Don’t rely on open rates and social media to guess the effectiveness of your online marketing—Zenreach shows you which messages bring customers through your door.

What other tech out there shows you exactly how many customers return after receiving an email? It’s inarguable ROI.
—DogHaus, Las Vegas

  1. It all starts with WiFi
    5 minute setup–Just plug in your access point and customers will get instant access to free, fast, and secure WiFi. Customers can use their own routers or purchase a plug-and-play Zenreach AP.
  2. Custom-branded portal
    No more fishbowls on your counter and manually logging outdated guest contact info. Zenreach automatically builds your contact list over WiFi through a customized portal complete with demographic and visit behavior.
  3. Collect contacts 5x faster
    Send the right message at the right time with our automated campaign tools – personalize messages to each individual customer based on behavior, demographics, and more.
  4. See your Walk-Through-Rate™
    Success your clients can see—We show you and your clients exactly how well their marketing is working by calculating the Walk-Through-Rate™. This is how many customers respond to messages by physically walking through the business doors.
  5. Build Your Reputation
    Get direct feedback and take control of your reputation. You can tell satisfied customers which popular review sites matter most (so they can leave their reviews there) while interacting personally with any unhappy customers before they post bad reviews.

“65% of customers are happy to share their information in exchange for more targeted marketing.”
—Big Commerce, 2015

 

Article Courtesy Of Zenreach

6 steps to retail marketing

This is a view of a mall from the top floor.

Marketing in the retail world can be a lot of fun. It also can be very time consuming and monotonous. However, without marketing in the retail world, you will not maintain or grow. Retail has an attrition rate and it doesn’t matter how long you have been in business or how great of a reputation you have, there still has to be marketing. You have to replace the people you lose yearly or you might as well shut your doors right now. How do you do this, is the question and how do you do it well?

1. It all starts with building a brand. You have to have a brand recognition or you will not grow. When people think of the typical products you sell, you want your name to come to mind first. In marketing, there is a rule called the rule of seven. Now, some marketers will say it is the rule of 10 or a rule of 5, regardless, it is still important that you follow it. A person must see your brand 7 times before they start thinking about you for a certain product. How those 7 times is achieved can be hard, however, the rest of this blog explains a few tricks.

2. How you are found is important and that is where listings come into the equation. There are literally hundreds of sites that your business should be listed on depending on exactly what your product is. Personally, I believe that if you are listed properly on the top sites then the rest will follow over time. What people do not realize is that everything HAS to be exactly the same across all of your online listings, right down to the dot in the same place.

3. Social media marketing is going to give you the most bang for your buck. Depending on your demographic you will utilize Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Anyone of these 4 are going to be important, however, the two most important are going to be Facebook and Twitter. The most important thing with these platforms is to not post just 1 time per week about your store and expect people to flock in. You have to post regularly and you have to not only educate the consumer about you but also about your products.

4. You have to create a personalized experience. Just as we talked about social being important well, so is mobile marketing. It is said that 58% of people will look on cell phones before they look for your store on a desktop or laptop. With the world of artificial intelligence growing it is very important to learn new ways to use personalized mobile marketing in order to attract new clients.

5. Reward programs are becoming very popular. Create an awards program through email marketing and offer a free product for being a member of your newsletter program. Once you start getting emails from consumers, do not miss a single month of sending newsletters out. I would suggest that you send out an email at a minimum of bi-weekly. One can be a newsletter talking about anything new that you have done and the other can be an offer of the month for members of the group.

6. People will come in and spend more if they know you are supporting the community. Your local chamber of commerce or business group will have a list of events that are community-based in order to help you find a great charity or event to support. Once you find one, offer your support or sponsorship then market about your contribution. Millennials today want to know that you support a charity or local event. They will remember that and come back to you because of it.

Having a retail establishment is a very exciting and fun thing. In today’s world, you have a great opportunity to provide a great location for people to get what you need. The more people that know who you are, the better. With the digital world, you have a great opportunity to tell the world about you! Have fun with it but remember to be respectful and responsible. You will be successful with these suggestions.

Why do I need an SSL for my Website?

Before I explain why you need one I should probably explain what it is. A SSL is a Secured Socket Layer. It is a level of security that is put on your website to keep all information encrypted between the clients computer and the main server that it is talking to.

Imagine going to a store and you paying by credit card. They write down your credit card number, your address, phone number and all other important information and they put it in a drawer. How many people will see that throughout the day? How many people will have as much information as they need to steal from you? I would say that is pretty unsafe, correct? So why would it be okay to give information on a website that does the same thing and makes it easy for hackers to take your information? It wouldn’t!

By installing a SSL certificate it takes your information and encrypts the information prior to sending it to the main server, you are sending it to the site you are purchasing from.

  1. There are a few reasons why you need to have a SSL.
    It affects your rankings. Google and other sites give priority to sites that have https:// instead of http:// in the url. As a matter of fact it is expected that in the future it will be required to have a SSL on all sites.
  2. Your clients want to know that they are safe, whether you accept credit cards or not. We are in a world of knowledge and people are educated more than ever because of the internet so they look for the little lock icon or the https:// on a site.
  3. Hackers are getting smarter everyday and it is now quite possible for them to get information through back channels within the URL to your clients desktop, laptop or mobile device.

So why doesn’t everybody have them? It is an expense is the simple answer. We have seen SSL’s range from about $65 to $85 per year. Small businesses do not like the additional expense and have not found a reason to spend it. For 23 cents a day I feel it is worth keeping your clients information safe, don’t you?

Why Do I Need Video?

In today’s day and age people are very visual in nature. I know that at my house my kids are watching videos all the time. What amazes me even more is that I talk to people who say they are too busy to talk or to decide or even to go to the bathroom. However, those same people message me and say “Did you see the video on youtube? Wow, it was amazing”. Then I look at the video and it was the latest fails of the week. This is the world we live in now! People do not have the time to do as much as the world moves quickly but they can always watch the latest video.

Here is where reality crosses with marketing. We get calls everyday about video because that is what we do. Everybody wants to make a video that goes viral to promote their company. Did you know that less than 1% of videos go viral? To say that anybody has the secret sauce to make a video viral would be a lie. Not to mention, is the best representation of your company really a viral video? Viral videos are silly or show what not to do a lot of times. However, if you can get a 6 second video ad during the pre-roll of a viral video, it makes a lot of sense. The key to it is making the most out of 6 seconds. That we can do!

Having a video on the homepage of you website increases conversions by 80%. This statistic varies based on who you look up the statistic with; however, there is one common theme. Video gives you more conversions than words. Think about how many conversions you currently have from your site. Now think of how much your website costs you per lead. Who wouldn’t want the cost per lead to go down and the amount of leads to go up?

What do we record? You are not looking to be the next viral video so stop thinking it. You are wanting to show why someone HAS to have you as their vendor of choice for the project they have or why they have to buy the product they want from you. You do not have to reinvent the wheel but you do have to tell them why you! I have said it many times. Know the why of what you do. Why do people come to you? Why do people need you? Why do you exist as a company? If you answer those questions in a 15–30 second video then you can watch your leads roll. Do not try to shove 50 years into 30 seconds. It will not show well at all. Show the why now! I believe that there’s a place for history videos, bio videos and product videos, however, that place is not on your homepage. Furthermore, you should absolutely have those videos as well. Those videos should be throughout your website and they should all link to your Youtube page therefore fulfilling one requirement of content marketing.

So in short, should you have video as part of your overall strategy? YES, for sure and definitely!