Interacting With Your Audience Using Live Video

Live video.

There are so many different kinds of video that your business can pursue to engage with customers, boost sales, and enhance your company’s brand. So, which video is widely preferred and gets the most interaction with prospective customers? Live video is capturing the attention of many, and your consumers could be a part of that audience!

Cheap and Easy Production

While large video production absolutely has its place in advertising for your company and products, it can be time-consuming and costly. With live video, it can be as simple as turning on the webcam on Facebook or Instagram live with a brief script for you to go off of. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with putting in some extra time and resources to really get people engaged with your live video, but if you’re in a time crunch, it’s for sure the way to go.

Consumers Use Their Time to be on Your Time

With live videos, you’re setting up the time for your customers to engage with you. Not only is this convenient for you, but it is for them too! This is because you’re only engaging with the people who care about you, your company, and your brand. It’s an easy way to see what kind of people are engaging with your content, which will help you decide who to target when making your next advertisement post, picture, or video.

100% Ad Free

There’s nothing more annoying than getting really into a video, and it’s suddenly cut to a 30-second advertisement in the middle of the video. If you don’t like it, chances are your consumers don’t either. Most streaming platforms offer ad-free content for you to create. The only advertisements your customers view is that of your business.

Real-Time Engagement Tool

Not only is it a great platform to get information across to customers, but you can talk to them in real-time with live chat. Live streaming gives people the capability to ask questions, leave testimonials, or just have a conversation with you. There are even certain platforms that allow you to have a person to hop on the livestream with you to have a verbal conversation in real-time. It’s a great tool to answer questions, thank customers, or sell your products and services.

Showcase for all Content

If you want to enhance your live streams and make it all the more exciting for audience members, it’s easy to add in graphics, images, text, and even video clips into your livestream. Sometimes it’s better to show customers than to tell them about something (ie. a new product, statistics, etc.) and live streaming is a great place to showcase all content your business has that also invites in a personal engagement tool.

 

So, let’s see… live streaming is ad-free, cheap and easy to do, and it’s super easy to engage with current and potential customers? What’s not to love? It’s a powerful tool to engage with the most involved customers, invite in new customers, and easy communication for everyone! Of course, it’s important to debate what’s best for your business, which is where we come in! We have the tools to bring all of your business dreams to life. For all of your questions about live streaming, email marketing, and everything in between, we’re your neighborhood marketing company.

Interacting With Your Audience Using Live Video

Live video.

There are many types of video your business can pursue to engage with customers, boost sales, and enhance your brand. So, which video is widely preferred and gets the most interaction with prospective customers? Live video is capturing the attention of many, and your consumers could be a part of that audience!

Why Is Live Video Great for Audience Interaction?

Cheap and Easy Production

While large video production has its place for advertising your company and products, it can be time-consuming and costly. Live video can be as simple as using Facebook or Instagram Live with a brief script ready to use. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with putting in some extra time and resources to really get people engaged with your live video, but if you’re in a time crunch, it’s for sure the way to go.

Customer Engagement

With live videos, you’re setting up the time for your customers to engage with you. Not only is this convenient for you, but it also is for them too! This is because you’re only engaging with the people who care about you, your company, and your brand. It’s an easy way to see what kind of people are engaging with your content, which will help you decide who to target when making your next advertisement post, picture, or video.

100% Ad-Free

There’s nothing more annoying than getting really into a video, and it’s suddenly cut to a 30-second advertisement in the middle of the video. If you don’t like it, chances are your consumers don’t either. Most streaming platforms offer ad-free content for you to create. The only advertisements your customers view is that of your business.

Real-Time Engagement Tool

Not only is it a great platform to get information across to customers, but you can talk to them in real-time with live chat. Live streaming gives people the capability to ask questions, leave testimonials, or just have a conversation with you. There are even certain platforms that allow you to have a person to hop on the livestream with you to have a verbal conversation in real-time. It’s a great tool to answer questions, thank customers, or sell your products and services.

Showcase for All Content

If you want to enhance your live streams and make it all the more exciting for audience members, it’s easy to add in graphics, images, text, and even video clips into your livestream. Sometimes it’s better to show customers than to tell them about something (i.e. a new product, statistics, etc.) and live streaming is a great place to showcase all content your business has that also invites in a personal engagement tool.

So, let’s see… live streaming is ad-free, cheap and easy to do, and convenient to engage with current and potential customers. What’s not to love? It’s a powerful tool to engage with the most involved customers, invite in new customers, and easy communication for everyone! Of course, it’s important to debate what’s best for your business, which is where we come in! We have the tools to bring all of your business dreams to life. For all of your questions about live streaming, email marketing, and everything in between, we’re your neighborhood marketing company.

5 Easy Ways to Spring Clean Your Social Media Strategy

spring clean your social media strategy.

It’s that time of year again! Sunshine, flowers, and yep, spring cleaning. There’s nothing greater than cleaning out a closet you’ve been putting off all year, cleaning up your garden, or even cleaning up your social media strategy! There are so many things, both small and large-scale to improve your social media presence and marketing.

5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Social Media Strategy

There’s no better time to get rid of clutter than now. Here are five ways to get started with that spring cleaning . . .

1. Update Your Profile and Pages

Make sure you’re keeping your information up to date – this could even be done as often as every couple of weeks depending on your business! Here are some ways to update your pages:

  • Update your profile picture
  • Spice up your biography
  • Include a link to your newest product, a recent 5-star review from a customer, or a friendly message to welcome new customers
  • Create a new call-to-action
  • Incorporate keywords and buzzwords to get people interested
  • If you updated your brand with a different logo or colors, incorporate those into your profile and header photos

2. Create a Content Calendar

Making a content calendar can be extremely helpful to keep you and your business organized! Content calendars are great to keep your thoughts organized, especially if your company uses several different social media platforms. You can use a calendar to keep you on track for…

  • Social media posts
  • Email marketing, articles, and blogs
  • Video production
  • Networking or marketing events

3. Bring Those Goals Out of Storage

Goals grow and change, and some are even forgotten as the year goes on. There’s no better time than now to dust those goals off and pursue them! This is where our previous idea of using a content calendar can come in handy – keep yourself accountable for reaching your goals by visualizing deadlines and content for them by creating smaller goals to lead up to the big one. If you’re not sure why you didn’t meet your goals, take time to figure out where they can be changed to match your business better!

4. Check Out Your Competition

A little competitor analysis never hurt anybody. Check out their social media pages and see what kind of things they’re posting and what their audiences are engaging with, or better yet, look for what they might be missing. That way you can incorporate both into your social media strategy. Some things to look out for with your competitions are…

  • What kind of content are they posting?
  • How often are they posting?
  • What platforms are they using?
  • What content gets the most interaction, likes, comments, etc.?

5. Clean Up Your Social Media Strategy

After analyzing your competition’s social media strategy, take some time to study your own! You don’t need to start from ground up and completely revamp your marketing techniques, but take a look at small things. What’s working? What’s not working? What kind of content got the most interaction and engagement? Taking time to identify your business’ own strengths and weaknesses is a great way to determine what it needs and more importantly, what your customers need.

Taking some time out of your schedule to dust off some goals, clean up your video production strategy, and change up your business’ brand is the best way to clean up this spring! Not only will you feel a weight lifted, but your customers and business will thank you.

Instagram Quick Tips

Instagram tips.

Instagram has over 25 million business accounts, many of which are small businesses. It’s important to know if Instagram is a right fit for you. Whether you are B2B or B2C, this platform can fit your needs. Instagram is the perfect platform to make visual posts to appeal to your target audience. We know it can be confusing to determine which social platforms to use, how to set it up and even how to use it so we’ve put together a quick guide to make Instagram easy. Don’t forget, we’re a local business that is always here to help!

Who Uses Instagram?

It’s critical to know who uses Instagram to target your marketing to that specific audience.

Instagram Demographics That Matter to Social Media Marketers in 2020

Setting Up A Business Instagram Account

Click the links below and use these resources to set up an Instagram account for your business. Be sure to connect it with your business page. Paragon’s quick tips for you are to be sure to create the account with the same email used for your Facebook page and make sure you convert it to a business page instead of using a personal account.

Getting Started With Instagram
Connecting Facebook and Instagram
Set Up & Analyze Your Instagram Profile

Using Instagram

Once your business has an Instagram account, it’s critical to use it! Don’t just let it sit out there with no new activity. Paragon’s quick tip is to create content that attracts to your specific audience on Instagram (know who they are!) and don’t be afraid to interact with them.

Instagram Marketing: A Small Business Guide
8 Instagram Tips For Small Businesses

Talk To The Professionals



What to Know About Marketing

What to know about marketing.

“Marketing” is a big, broad umbrella term that we’ve all heard, but what is marketing really all about and how can it benefit your business? Chances are you’re using a bunch of marketing techniques without realizing it!
Marketing, as a general meaning, is “the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.” (Dictionary.com) This means that, yes, marketing is just the simple act of selling your product or services, but there is a lot more that can be done to promote and advertise your business.

Digital Marketing

This is probably the most important form of marketing, especially in the modern, digital age. Digital marketing includes:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Check out our blog about it here
  • Social Media posts and outreach. Check out our blog for tips and tricks on how to use it
  • Video marketing. Here’s a master list of all the different ways to incorporate video into your online marketing
  • Email and text message marketing. This is great to use when promoting an event or new product

There’s so much that goes into digital marketing, the possibilities are endless! If you’re not sure where to start with marketing, online is the place to begin. It’s a great way to not only promote your products and services, but it’s a great way to communicate directly with your customers.

Unique, High-Quality Service

While this one may seem obvious, the quality of your product is a great way to sell to customers and it’s the best way to stand out from competitors! Marketing your product becomes a lot easier if you and your customers understand the high quality value of it. Further, this extends to the unique face of your business. Not only do you want people to benefit from your services, but they want to get to know the unique personality of you.

Targeting Customers

This is another important aspect to understand about marketing. The best way to market your business, no matter the platform or medium, is to know who you’re selling your products to. Using Facebook or Instagram business account allows you to track the demographics of your consumers. Once you have those findings, take a look back at your posts and see which ones they interact with most, or if you’re just getting started, play around with a couple of different marketing techniques (email, social media, video, etc.) and see which one attracts the most people and go from there!

Branding

The face of your business is the first thing people see! From language to video style to the colors used in your logo, they should all be coherent and work together. This is a great marketing strategy because your consumers will become familiar with your work and find a sense of comfort when they see your posts, leading them to wanting to see your content more and more. Check out our blog on branding to get a more in depth idea of what it is.

 

Marketing can be intimidating, especially when you’re starting out, but these are great places to dip your toes into. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be diving into the world of marketing in no time. Make sure to check out our linked blog posts to help you on your journey!

How do you stand out from your competition?

How do you stand out from your competition?

Do you ever notice when you’re watching TV or listening to the radio, you hear a lot of businesses claiming to be the “#1 best” in the region, or even greater, the world? If you’re claiming to be the best or are striving to be, it’s important to stand out against your competitors. No matter where you go and no matter what, there’s competition. For nearly everything nowadays. Especially when it comes to selling services or a product, it’s crucial to be different from the rest and prove that you are a prospective customer’s greatest choice. From the product itself, to deals, branding, customer service, and advertisements, reach for uniqueness! We’ve discovered the best 5 different ways to stand out.

Promote Personality and Uniqueness

While there is benefit to looking at big corporations and researching what things they have done to become a successful business, it’s equally as important to be one-of-a-kind. Maybe your prices and services are similar to that of your competitors; you can’t mimic personality. Think about it from a consumer stand-point: wouldn’t you rather work with a company that sees the importance in quality service and being their authentic selves?

Story

Your consumers are people, too! They, like you, have emotions and stories. By crafting your company’s story into your pitches or advertisements, people care, and they listen. Not only does it allow for a great connection with your customers, it lets them get to know you on a personal level.

Quality

Yes, it’s great to have top-of-the-line products and services, but quality goes further than material. When in customer service and sales, are you going a step further to please your customers? By practicing quality, you can use it to your advantage from standing out from competitors. When prospectives look at your business, they would rather see positive, 5-star reviews from past and current customers than just a quality product with limited help everywhere else.

Design

We have touched on it in our blogs, about the importance of branding and websites, but design is crucial to the success of your business! The logo, name, and slogan are the first things people see when they search your business’ services. From your facebook ads to your website, colors and fonts should be coherent. Making a logo with notable design or colors will help customers remember your business and bring a personal touch.

Speed

People want to get stuff done! We live in a world where we’re constantly on the go and we want things faster. Think about how many times you needed a last-minute gift and Amazon same-day shipping helped you out. Even if your prices are similar, providing speed and efficiency is something people care about and will remember.

There are so many ways to stand out from your competitors, even beyond this list, but these are some great starting points to incorporate into your business today. For any of your traditional, digital and unique marketing needs, we’re here to help. We understand that no two businesses are the same, and we want to celebrate and accentuate your personality and uniqueness through marketing.

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.

What are the top 5 things to do as a B2B Marketer?

This is an overlook of a city.

Whether you have a small, medium, or large business the essentials are the same. If you are in the B2B marketplace there are essential marketing trends that you must follow. Marketing for B2B is unique because you are not trying to get consumers, however, a lot of the same principles apply.

 

  1. First you have to have a story and you have to tell it properly. Your story should involve things like when you opened, who your owners are, and the history of the company.  However, most people do not think of the most important things. You have to show relevant content and education.
      1. Relevant content talks more about why you created the product, why employees like being there, and what sets you apart from your competitors in that space.
      2. Education includes what certifications you have regarding the work that you do, what classes or degrees you have, and what makes you an expert in the field that you are promoting!

 

  1. You need to be easily found. In the digital world that we live in, you have to have your correct information showing in the digital world. There are some basics that you have to do.
    1. Listings have to be keyworded and the proper information relayed to the top site across the internet. This applies to sites like Google, Apple and Yahoo. It is essential that you show the same accuracy and same information across the web.
    2. Your SEO has to be top of mind. There are two different kinds of SEO however. There is on page SEO and off page SEO.
      1.  On page SEO includes things like:
        1. Metatags
        2. Title tags
        3. Heading tags
        4. Submitted site map
      2. Off page SEO includes things like:
        1. Facebook
        2. Twitter
        3. Instagram (If needed)
        4. LinkedIn
        5. Blogs
        6. Podcasts

 

  1. Paid advertising is a very useful tool for B2B because you can be specify who you are trying to advertise to. You can advertise to a purchaser of your product specifically. There are many forms of paid advertising but here are the top 5 to use:
    1. LinkedIn
    2. Facebook
    3. Google Adwords
    4. Bing Ads
    5. Instagram

 

  1. Reputation Management is a very important part of your world. There are literally hundreds of sites used to review a company. You must be able to see the reviews and have the ability to respond to them in a timely manner. You can do this by not only getting your listings updated and tracking them there, but you can also set up a Google Alert. This way, anytime somebody mentions the company name on the web you get an email and you can go to that site to respond. Responding quickly and correctly shows everything about you and your customer service. The last thing you want to do is argue with the person that left the review. The second worst thing is responding with a blanket response that looks like every other response you have put out there. Be sure to individualize your responses.

 

  1. Create a one on one online conversation with every person you can. They contacted you so they obviously want to know more. People do business with people they like so make sure you are pleasant, to the point, and direct. People do not have time to spend hours trying to find an answer. That is why they messaged you, so give them what they want. The important part of this step is to also educate them.

 

The world has changed in many ways for marketing in a B2B business. If you follow these things however, statistics show that your success is imminent. The olds days of networking to get your business does not work the same. Millennials do not go to networking meetings like most of us have or do today. They would rather attend a seminar or online virtual meeting than go to a one on one meeting. It is important for the future of all of us B2B businesses that we adapt to them and still hold true to what got us where we are today.

Millennials are a different type of Marketing

This is a clip art of Millennials and marketing.

I find research for millennials and what they want very fascinating. See, I love the psychology of marketing and what makes people want to do things and work with companies. First, let’s define what a millennial is, it is said that a millennial is born between 1982 and 2004 although some demographers just say early 1980’s to mid 1990’s or early 2000’s. There are approximately 76 million of them in the United States alone and according to a recent article, 81% of us want to work with a company that are community advocates and boast about it. As a matter of fact, millennials will go through pain to support a company that does. I heard a story once that a gentleman bought a new pair of shoes every 6 weeks even though they were uncomfortable just because the company donated a pair of shoes for every pair he bought. Now that is loyalty!

Multitasking is the new normal for millennials. They have this innate ability to switch between cell phones, tablets, desktop and laptops all within a minute and understand everything on all the screens. What is my friend doing today, how is the latest celebrity spending the day or whatever the latest trend is in the life of a millennial, this is the relaxation that they look forward to. The social life of a millennial is the most important thing in their life and that is all done through technology. The next generation is not getting any better either, as a matter of fact it is getting worse. I think any parent of teenagers today will agree that the worst thing in the world for their teen is having their phone taken away or taking away technology in general. Their life is over if you do that. Telling them to walk down to a friends house and see if they can hang out, is something they think is from the caveman days.

So, how do you get these generations to act? It is relatively simple yet difficult at the same time.

1. They are very click minded individuals and very social. So, you must go where they are, which is Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, podcasts and many other social sites that are out there. These generations do very little reading, unfortunately, so you must make your writing concise and to the point. The best way to get the attention of this generation is video, however they need to be powerful and very concise. Their attention span is only a minute or so.
2. Show that you are community advocates and you support organizations like homelessness, veterans, or women’s rights. As human beings, we all want to help and many of us do. It is not done because we want publicity or even recognition. It is done because it is the right thing to do and we want to help. Why not do both though? You can support organizations that you believe in and also get publicity for your company. So go for it!
3. You must get personal with this generation. They want to be acknowledged as individuals and not part of the crowd. Everything you do must individualize the experience for them. Tell a story and do not command them to do anything.

Here is the great thing about millennials, they are the most loyal group that you will ever have the pleasure to work with. The old quote, “People do business with people they like and trust” are not just words for millennials. It is required and they WILL tell all of their friends!

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?