1. Keep a Consistent Post Schedule 

Viewers like to hang around a certain platform at a certain time. Ideally it would be great to post the exact moment your audience in on the Instagram app. Research the most likely times your target audience is on the platform. These are more likely to be ranges, rather than exact times. Publish posts 2-3 times daily based on those time ranges. For example, you are a selling backpack for students at the age of 10-12. You target audience is their parent. Good times to post would be 10 am – 12 pm for stay-at-home parents and 5 pm – 7 pm for parents off work. Post somewhere during these two post ranges to capture the attention of these potential customers. You can either use automatic posting software or you can hire a digital marketing agency to help keep up with schedules if you are struggling to post consistently. 

2. Create a Variety of Graphicly Appealing Posts 

Images, carousals, and short-form videos are all different types of post you can create for Instagram to keep your feed interesting. Create posts that entertain, educate, motivates, and sells your product or service. Make sure the design of your post follows these design principles:

• Contrast 
• Balance 
• Emphasis 
• Proportion 
• Hierarchy 
• Repetition 
• Rhythm 
• Pattern 
• Space 
• Movement 
• Variety & Unity 

Canva is a great resource for templated designs but beware by using templates you risk not standing out from competitors. You may need professional designers from a digital marketing agency or a social media marketing agency to help create uniquely branded content. 

3. Foster a Community-Based Relationship

To build a community around your business you need to be tagging influencers or complementary business, commenting on other Instagram accounts, replying to your followers, keeping track of your analytics, and incorporating the correct hashtags in your posts. This means setting aside time for research on various Instagram feeds for what are the most popular hashtags, post types with the most engagement, and more. If you are an entrepreneur or a small business, you may be able to set a side 1 full day dedicated to this. However, if you are a growing company or a large enterprise you need a full team managing your social media accounts. You can either build an internal team or look for a digital marketing agency that offers social media management services. 

Need help managing you Instagram account? Call 248.528.3600

The post Quick Growth Strategy for Instagram appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

 Avoid keyword stuffing for SEO

 Avoid plagiarizing body copy 

Avoid pulling images straight off Google & stealing artwork 

Avoid spamming email marketing

Avoid posting only selling content on social media 

Avoid AI generated content if unfamiliar with the tools & copyright laws 

 Avoid prioritizing traditional marketing over digital 

Avoid not proof-reading social copy 

Avoid hiding cost for ecommerce 

Avoid making hard to cancel subscriptions 

Avoid inconsistent branding 

Avoid vague creative goals 

Avoid ignoring data tracking 

Avoid these tactics by working with us! Call 248.528.3600

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1. Use referral emails

2. Highlight good reviews 

3. Allow customers to send a text message inquiry

4. Have multiple ways to contact you (chat bots, website, phone number, & social media) 

5. Run a paid search ad or Google Ad

6. Update Google My Business Profile 

7.  Attend a tradeshow or local fair

8. Sponsor a team, organization, or charity 

9. Run a new paid social campaign 

10. Build an email list through company blog, newsletter, & coupon codes

11. Use QR codes on business cards & social posts 

12. Refer customers to complementary businesses 

13. Join a networking group

14. Participate in local community events & gatherings

Start a user-researched web project today? Call 248.528.3600

The post Quick Marketing Options for Customer Acquisition   appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

1. Create a New Year post for social media 

2. Launch a new product or service 

3. Use Google Ads to help with specific marketing goals

4. Update your branding & website

5. Sponsor a charity event 

6. Offer a New Year’s sales discount 

7. Promote referral programs

8. Create a gift guide based on new year’s resolutions

9. Participate in festivals & events

10. Create a snappy email marketing campaign 

11. Launch a giveaway

12. Share popular purchases from the previous year

13. Host a New Year Event 

14. Highlight loyal customers 

15. Run a contest 

16. Share company New Year’s resolutions 

17. Blend digital marketing with traditional marketing campaigns 

18. Partner with complementary businesses

Need help create New Year content? Call 248.528.3600 

The post 18 Ways to Celebrate New Year’s with Your Marketing  appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

A Mission Statement 

What is the goal that you want your company to achieve? What value does your products or services have for the public? This should be a statement the drives your company to continue to function. Think about what problem your company solves and how would you make lives or society easier with your product or service. This statement can be broad.

A Vision Statement 

How do you see your company maneuvering with the business word? What type of business do you appear as? Your vision statement should be purposeful. This is what keep stakeholders and employees interested staying with your company. Think about where your business will be long term. This statement often relies on internal goals for your company and helps drive decision making. Keep this statement specific and short. 

A Target Audience Description

Who is your product or service for? A useful way to narrow down who you want to sell to is to use one or more Buyer Persona profiles. The most common way to use buyer personas is to break it up into Primary Buyer (person who will love your product and recommend it frequently), Secondary Buyer (person who likes your product, but is less like to recommend your product and may return on rare occasions) and Negative Buyer (someone who does want, like or need your product). The profile usually consists of:

• Sex or gender identity (optional) 
• Income (helps in pricing)
• Lifestyle
• Daily tasks
• Likes & dislikes
• Other brands they are interested in 

Your Brand Personality 

How do you want the feel of company to come off to potential clients? Are you chilled and laid-back or are you serious and urgent? Look up adjectives that others would use to describe your company. The goal is to stand out in the market. Your brand personality will help inform your packaging, photos or illustrations, color pallet and other graphic elements to help market your product or service. 

Your Core Values 

Break down the beliefs your company has into simple words. These words are guide for behavior you want your employees to follow and brand to extrude. For example, you are gym and your company’s goals are to make exercise fun. Some core values you might come with are:

• Friendliness
• Humility 
• Humor 
• Optimism 
• Encouraging 

Let us help you come up with a brand style guide. Call 248.528.3600.

The post Your Business Needs a Brand Style Guide appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

Brand Awareness Objectives

Facebook will show your ad to the largest possible number of users who are most likely to be interested in the ad content. You will want to keep on the post impression data. Facebook’s Ads Manager will display “estimated ad recall lift” data. This is an estimated figure of the number of users who would most probably recall your ad 2 days after seeing it. This ad campaign objective category is primarily used by larger brands who invest in social media with bigger budgets and who also can measure these results with a brand-lift study. 

Conversion Objectives 

Catalog Sales, Conversions, and Store Traffic full under conversion objectives. They have the goal of encouraging users who are interested in your brand to buy your products or use your services. These objectives are optimized for high-intent actions, like purchase. Conversion objectives tend to be a bit more costly regarding impressions and link clicks than other ad types. However, in some cases, the cost per conversion may end up being lower in the long haul when you use these objective types strategically. Your ads will be shown to potential clients who are already primed to buy from you. This objective requires your business page to have the following: 

·       Facebook pixel

·       Conversions API

·       Domain verification

·       Events Manager event configuration

Catalog Sales Objectives

These types of objectives are used mostly by ecommerce businesses. The Catalog Sales objective enables you to create a catalog on Facebook and showcase the products to those most likely to buy your products. These ads are also called dynamic product ads. They show a variety of products to target audiences in the ads. They also retarget people with specific products based on their activity on your website. For example, when your client is looking at a pair of shoes on your website and even added it to your cart but forgot to check out. After that, they probably see the ad with that exact pair or shoes. The goal is to get them to return and ultimately complete the purchase. 

Store Traffic Objectives

If you are a brick-and-mortar store or own several and you are looking for ways to increase your foot or in-store traffic, using the Store Traffic objective can help you achieve your goals. You will need to add your store locations to the platform and their working hours. After that, Facebook ‘s algorithm will start showing ads to the closest location to your users based on a particular radius. You can set it up for your ad to do this automatically or manually. This is a great way to boost local SEO with search engines like Google. 

Traffic Objectives

If your primary objective is to drive more people to your website, then the Traffic campaign objective is the best. This type of ad optimizes for landing page views, and link clicks. Facebook shows your ads to users who are in the target audience you choose and are most likely interact with links. When your select the Landing Page Views option, the platform will show the ad to those who will click and wait for the website to load to view it (make sure your load speed is fast!). To set up the Traffic objective, select the destination URL at the ad level, and target your business’s website. Users will be able to become more familiar with your brand, blog, products, services, and more. This ad helps build brand loyalty as well, which is important for returning customers. 

Video Views Objectives

With video becoming increasingly popular, with this as Facebook will optimize ads to show videos to people who are most likely to watch them. Increasing video views is a great way to build awareness and trust with new audiences. Video campaigns are also great to establish retargeting audiences based on how long they were watching the videos. This will help take them closer to a sales conversion. Your video needs to be engaging. The goal is to capture the audience’s attention and deliver value within the first few seconds. Also, adding captions for the audience is better for accessibility which many platforms and search engine are making a priority. 

Messages Objectives

Start conversations with people via Instagram Direct or Messenger. As with other objectives already mentioned above, Facebook will prioritize those users who are most likely to interact with a given brand via messages. This can be a great way to boost overall engagement with a target audience. However, business owners will probably need a social media manager to monitor the pages’ inboxes and respond to the messages as soon as possible. Users want fast responses, and these criteria must be met if they are to continue spend their money with your business. This may mean you have to hire some internally or a digital marketing firm that offers social media marketing. Businesses should also give their potential customers a clear reason to make contact. Unfortunately, these ad types are associated with spam, so making sure that they know that after they click the ad, it will open either the Messenger app or Instagram Direct only, or your business’s website or app. 

Engagement Objectives

The goal is to boost engagement. This campaign will target those users who are most likely to engage with the ads, and there are a few engagement types to choose from before launching a campaign:

Page Likes: Will generate more likes on a Facebook page. Will be shown to those who are the most likely to click the “Like” button on a page.

Post Engagement: Includes commenting, sharing, reacting, and video views to clicks. Helps with building “social proof” on ads and posts and gives more credibility to a brand online. However, the ad needs to encourage engagement from users. There must be a reason to interact. The post must be engaging by default. If that’s not happening, chances are, people won’t really engage with it. Include a call-to-action embedded in the ad to drive interaction. 

Event Responses: Get more responses to events. The only problem is that this is a rather low-intent action, meaning that the 150 people who clicked “going,” won’t necessarily mean that they will show up at the event. When ticket sales are the main concern, it might be better to use the Conversions objective and drive traffic to the landing page where they can buy tickets. Use this more as a “would potential clients be interested in this type of event?” ad rather than a direct sales ad. 

App Installs Objectives

If your business has an app and you want people to download it, the App Installs campaign is the way to go. The ads will be shown to people with the likelihood of clicking on “download,” taking them directly to the designated app store to get it. You will need to register your app with the social platform beforehand and implement SDK, allowing them to track the app event data from the Ads Manager panel. To simplify the entire campaign process, the automated app ads feature can be used, and it will create an ad for you target audience to use for you. 

Lead Generation Objectives

This objective allows for the addition of different contact forms to an ad with customization of the questions if additional information is needed from prospects. When potential clients click on a lead generation ad, the user will be asked to provide information, like email address, name, etc. To make their lives easier, the users can simply add the necessary data from Facebook itself. When they submit the questionnaire, brands can collect the gathered data from the page or get it sent to the CRM automatically via different pieces of software, like Facebook partner integration. Make sure your questions are ethical and that you read up on privacy laws in you state or country. 

Create an effective Facebook ad with us. Call 248.528.3600

The post Choose the Best Facebook Ads to Accomplish Your Business Goals  appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

1. Product Purpose

What purpose does your product serve? Is it a luxury good or does it help solve a problem your target market has? Make a list of reasons why someone would purchase your item and how they would use it in their daily lives. This will help you or your marketing team create content around the reasons why a customer would purchase your product and how to use it. Marketing avenues that pair well with this discovery are:

• Company Blogs
• Video Ad Campaigns
• Influencer Marketing 
• Paid Advertising 
• Guest Articles/Reviews

2. Price

Keep an eye on the economic market. Research similar companies to see what they are charging. Create an in-depth customer profile how much they make and are willing to spend on similar items. Calculate how much profit you must make before discounting your products. A popular technique a lot of ecommerce businesses use is to reward first time buyers with discount codes for their website through email marketing. 

3. Placement 

In what areas of the internet do you plan for your product to be seen? The destination should be your website that acts as a digital storefront, but where are other places your customers socialize on? Utilize Google Ads for SEO and social media marketing to maintain communication between new and returning customers. Now, social media can get chaotic and may require a digital agency to help you control comments, post creation, and profile updates. If you’re a small business, stick to one platform to start out with. Make sure it is the platform your target spends the most time on. 

4. Promotion

Brag about all the great qualities of your product. Highlight any unique features. Also compare how a customer would prefer your brand’s product over a competitor. If an existing customer leaves a glowing review spotlight it on your company’s website, social media, and paid ads. A few underrated ways to promote your product are: 

• Online Events
• Social Media Group Pages
• Chat Groups 
• Livestreams
• Podcasts 

5. People

People trust people more than bots or faceless products. You don’t have to have a person on every piece of content but sprinkling in a person’s face will help put customers feel at ease. This can come in many forms:

• About The Founder Page on Your Company Website
• Meet Our Team Page on Your Company Website
• Photos of Clients Using the Product
• Stock Photos of Models with the Product 
• Company Photos at a Tradeshow or Event 
• Videos of an Expert or Influencer Promoting a Product

6. Process

How is your product made? Where do you get your materials? Many people love to see behind the scenes of how the product they are about to purchase is made. Have photos or videos taken of the manufacturing process. There is a rise in demand of items to be made ethically. This provides proof that your company is true to their word, especially if your company claims to be eco-friendly or ethically sourced. 

7. Physical Evidence of Improvement

It is impossible to create a product that is perfect. There will be clients that leave negative reviews. Resist the urge to delete or hide these reviews. Have a ticket system or a way to contact the company for further feedback and refunds. If it is a problem with the product itself, take a “before” photo along with the negative reviews. When you fix the problem, take an “after” photo and post them on your website and social media. This will make clients feel heard and valued. 

Create a dynamic digital marketing strategy for your Ecommerce business. Call 248.528.3600.

The post The 7 P’s of E-Commerce Marketing   appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

What are Some Best Practices to Avoid Clickbait? 

Google’s algorithms can understand the content on your site and will check if it matches its headline and page title, so it is vital that you pay attention to your word structure. Google’s Page Title Update back in 2001 enables the search engine to display a “replacement” title tag when your page’s title does not accurately match its content. Make sure to check your page title and headers that they accurately represent what your content is about.

How to Create SEO-Friendly Titles & Headings

Start by doing keyword research. This can help you discover target keywords that you can include in your web page’s title, headings, and body copy. Using your target keywords throughout your content signals to Google that your page is relevant to your target keyword. You can use Google’s Keyword Planner to discover relevant or related keywords to target with your content and ads or hire a digital marketing agency with SEO services. Once you have your keywords, it’s important to implement them into your content. Include your target keywords in your page title and headings. Make sure you proofread to find and fix keyword stuffing in your content. Your goal is to make it friendly to web crawlers and readers. Pretend that you are a 5^th grade teacher and write your article in a simple manner. For your content’s semantically related keywords make sure to also check readability, page title meta descriptions, and backlinks.  

Successfully Match the User’s Search Intent

There are 4 types of user intent you can tailor your content to. Let’s take a look:

• Navigational Intent

When a user wants to navigate to or around a specific website of a specific company, they will likely add branded keywords in their search (ex. “Starbucks website”). Target these branded keywords with ads to increase brand awareness.

• Informational Intent

When users want more information on a certain topic. They might ask questions or use keywords that indicate they’re looking for help (ex. “Where can I get a pumpkin spice latte?”). Target keywords with informative content, like videos, lists, infographics, blog, and tutorials. Focus on creating useful, actionable content that answers your readers’ questions. This also may help lessen the number of common questions your potential client needs to ask, quickening the path to purchase.

• Commercial Investigation Intent

Once a user decides they want to purchase a product or service from your company, they will likely perform a search to compare the different options available (ex. “Starbucks vs Tim Hortons.”) Target keywords with comparison articles of your competition, reviews of the use of similar products/services, and how-to guides to capture web traffic. 

• Transactional Intent

Certain keywords or phrases signal that a user is ready to buy (ex. “Add to Order”). Users are ready to buy and are now searching for the best price value or deal. They are more likely to be susceptible to clickbait while looking for the best deals. Be extra careful when creating discounts or being transparent with your pricing. Make sure if it has an expiration date it is easily readable or if it is a subscription the yearly or month payment is accurate. Target keywords with strong, SEO-friendly content that highlights your unique selling proposition. Also target these keywords with ads, but make sure your CTA is clear, precise, and your landing page reflects what is in the ad. 

Avoid clickbait SEO practice and call us at 248.528.360. 

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1. Send a Pitch to a Journalist

Writing an email that includes your bio and a link to your website is the bare minimum. Think about what the journalist might want to write about in relation to your company or industry. For example, if Halloween is coming up, you might they be considering content themed around the getting ready for the holiday or Fall/Autumn? Say you sell furniture, you could pitch a few of your own creations as suitable additions to shopping guides the journalist might be pull together for the season.

2. Research the Publication & See What They Typically Feature

Do you have a favorite magazine or news outlet you subscribe to? Get to know the magazine or piece of media you can see content about your product or service in. Certain publications have inspiration pieces. Think about how they write them and match the tone. Journalists are busy and juggling lots of items, so make their life easier by sending them a text-rich, well-informed pitch deck along with everything they need like photos and logo files. If they have a submission page, follow their instructions to a “T”. The less correcting they have to do the more likely they will work with you now and in the future. 

3. Make Your About Page “Journalist & New User Friendly”

When trying to find out about a business to write about, one of the first things users do is click on the About page of their website. If they can’t find the information, they need they will back out of your website altogether. Here are the items that put users and potential journalist off and that you need to fix right away: 

• Not including your full business name
• Not including your location or locations you serve
• Not having a professional photograph of your business or its work 
• Not including an email address and/or contact form
• Not making it obvious that media enquiries are welcome (encourage questions)
• Not providing enough information about your background or history (how did your business come to be)

Make sure to add in details to make life easier for anyone hoping to write or interview you. If need to deliberately avoid some of the above features due to privacy concerns have a FAQ section or add a sentence that says, “For media enquiries, a professional bio, and a full portfolio please email us directly.”, then add a way for them to contact you. 

4. Become “Podcast Ready” 

Podcasts continue to grow in popularity for all kinds of industries. Buy a half-decent microphone and headphones. Let your internal marketing team up with your sales team to create media and graphic content. Also, on your About page say how you have everything needed for a quality broadcast and that you are open to podcast interviews with others in your industry or any media outlets willing to talk about your product or service. 

5. Add a Case Study Page  

Say your company launched a new product or service for a client and it was a complete success.  Create a nice case study that goes in dept about the problem and how your product or service solved it. Bonus if you can add a client testimonial. Then add it to your website. Make sure to create the visuals for all your social media accounts and link them to your new case study page. This help builds credibility and authority to your business. Potential clients have more reasons to trust you vs other companies that don’t have case studies. 

6. Spend 15 Minutes a Day Engaging with People

Social media gets a bad rep when it comes to discourse, but it doesn’t have to be a war zone. Take as few as 15 minutes liking or sharing people’s tweets, commenting on clients’ updates, and reaching out to brands you’d love to work with. This helps to build a network as well as raise your own profile. By being active on social media, you are opening doors and creating more avenues for brand awareness. 

7. Optimize When You Post 

Know when it is the right time to tweet, add an Instagram post or share a LinkedIn update. The algorithms are difficult to figure out because they are always changing. So, the best way to approach this is by analyzing your own feeds and seeing when you have had the best engagement. It is also a good idea to research when your target demographic in on the platform. For example, if you are selling to mothers. Avoid posting at early hours when they are taking their kids to school. To make life easier, schedule updates during the best times for you. Use an automation tool to schedule and publish your tweets and posts whilst you are doing something else or hire an agency that provide social media marketing services. 

8. Ask Clients if They Want to Stay Informed Via a Newsletter

Build your own subscriber list. Never rely on social media platforms alone. People take breaks or leave social media all the time. If a platform disappears, you still have connection to loyal customers. If you have your own newsletter to send out to people, you are in control. Create a well-designed monthly newsletter and include things like your latest product, service, or industry news. Include links to recent blog posts that demonstrate your wealth of knowledge. People are more likely to check email daily and there is a high chance they will open it every month. Include spaces on your website where they can sign up. WordPress has widgets and tools you can use. Mailchimp is also a good option to get start with due to it being free based on 2,000 contacts. 

9. Write a Blog

Speaking of a blog, add a blog to your domain and not as a separate site. Each blog post is a new landing page, enticing potential clients to you. Write about problems or questions potential clients might have. Users like to Google questions and if create a great piece of informative long-form content Google might show your business directly to them. Use it to educate, compare to competitors, and share industry insights with viewers. You can also use it to foster b2b relationships. You can share and interview other complementary businesses. This will strength your relationship and if you need to partner up on a project, they are more likely to say yes with enthusiasm. 

Need help integrating PR into your marketing strategy? Call 248.528.360

The post 9 Overlooked PR Tips for Businesses  appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.

SPECIFIC: Your goal must focus on 1 clearly defined metric.

MEASURABLE: Have a way to measure the content you publish against the metric.

ATTAINABLE: Be able to realistically achieve your goal within a set timeframe with the resources that are (or will be) available. 

RELEVANT: Your goal must align with your desired goals and objectives that you set.

TIME-BOUND: Your goal must have a due date upon which you will achieve that metric.

Common Business Goals 

• Drive more sales
• Grow brand awareness
• Expand market share
• Develop stronger relationships with stakeholders
• Enter new markets or territories
• Reach new audiences or demographics
• Raise more revenue
• Secure funding
• Increase profits

Common Marketing Goals 

• Increase website traffic
• Gain more social media followers
• Grow an email list
• Improve conversion rates
• Get more website or social media engagement
• Drive more click-throughs on paid ads

Understand Your Business Goals

The value of marketing services is connected to the results it provides. You want the service you picked to help reach a key business objective. Tie your marketing goal to this business objective. For example, you want your business profile to gain more social media followers. What does it mean to want more social media followers? 

• Increased brand awareness
• Establish your business as an authority
• Reach new customers

These are objectives that will have significant impact on your business. When you set your goals, select certain goals that will drive business results, not just produce impressive sounding numbers or arbitrary measurements. 

Connect Marketing Goals to Business Goals

Sometimes businesses make too broad a statement as a goal without consulting their marketing team. Make sure to narrow down to a specific goal that is clear to understand. If it is unclear, have a discussion with your chief marketing officer or CEO or anyone who is the head of your marketing/sales department. Everyone working on a marketing project must know what the business’s main purpose and goal is. Another example might be that your company needs more customers. To achieve this, you have to generate 10 leads per weak. Your sales team has to get help from marketing to drive leads. The business objective would be to increase revenue by increasing customers, while a marketing objective would be any creative material that helps generate more leads.   

How to Set Marketing Goals 

Here is a word formula you can use to set objectives:

By {day, month, year}, the {your business’s name} marketing team will reach {number} {metric} every {time frame}.

Here is a marketing goal example using the formula: 

By June 30, 2023, the Miller Media marketing team will reach 3,000 marketing-qualified leads every month. 

This example goal is to influence marketing-qualified leads. The point of your marketing strategy is to choose, prioritize, plan, and execute projects that will influence profitable customer action. Therefore, marketing metrics closer to the final purchase are often the best goals to set. 

Here are several other marketing goals examples listed based on our marketing goal sample above:

• Increased page views
• More email subscribers
• New trial signups
• Increased completed purchases

Let us help your business develop a marketing strategy. Call 248.528.360

The post SMART Marketing Goals that Won’t Make You Feel Dumb  appeared first on Miller Media, Digital Marketing Agency, PPC, Industrial Web Design, WordPress.