Marketing Strategy - Mason Interactive

Mason Interactive recently hosted a webinar in partnership with Google. The goal of the webinar was to give attendees some pointers about how to boost their marketing with YouTube. The virtual event was hosted by Stephanie Chan, Agency Development Manager at Google, and Adrian Padron, Director of Media at Mason Interactive. Stephanie and Adrian covered a lot of useful material and we don’t want you to miss out. Continue reading for webinar highlights.

Who Should Advertise on YouTube?

YouTube is an ideal landing place for performance and branding marketers alike. After all, they have the same goals: to elevate their brand and stand out. Whatever your goals, whether your budget is big or small, YouTube is the advertising platform for you.

Stages of Engagement and the Marketing Funnel

Your audience members are all at different stages of the decision-making process. Their “journey” begins even before they think they will need your product or service. To get results, you need to connect intelligently with your audience at every stage of the funnel. There are 4 ways to do it:

Show up at every stage of the buying cycle
Find your best audience
Target them to reach your goal
Measure growth at every step

As Stephanie points out, “The consumer journey is a lot more fluid than it used to be.” That’s why it’s called a funnel, and it consists of awareness, consideration, and action. Engaging your audience in the funnel can be complicated, but doable.

Selecting the Right Ad Format For Your Goals

To effectively meet your goals, you need the right ad format. The best way to tell a story and get your brand out there is with CPM formats. Of these, mastheads are the most effective. With the ability to get your brand on the homepage of YouTube, these generate the “largest awareness, largest reach, with the biggest impact,” reports Adrian. Stephanie adds that you can target specific demographics this way, too.

YouTube gives you three ways to engage your audience through mobile-friendly video ads: TrueView In-Stream, TrueView Discovery, and TrueView for Action. Stephanie adds, “they’re really great formats because they live in a lot of places across the internet.”

Using Key Performance Indicators to Manage Your Ad Campaign

To see how your YouTube ad campaign is faring, it’s essential to measure your performance at each stage of the decision-making process. Keeping track of clicks, conversions, store visits, and the like will help you gauge your performance. You can customize your metrics for more specific measurements. It’s also important to look at the bigger picture. As Stephanie reminds us, “If you focus too much on short-term growth, you will end up peaking early and petering out.”

YouTube marketing raises brand awareness, lifts purchase intent, and can drive hard conversions. Adrian tells viewers that they can use all the tools available to develop a “fully fleshed-out marketing strategy within the YouTube ecosystem.”

To learn more about harnessing the power of YouTube to get the results you want, contact us for a one-on-one consultation.

Worldwide eCommerce is estimated to approach $5 trillion in 2021. What does this mean for emerging brands? Invest in digital marketing now because the market is going to become more saturated than ever. It’s great to look ahead, but what you’re doing today has the real impact on future growth.

Misaligned goals, prioritizing creatives over data, and not staying on top of the advertising trends may prevent emerging brands from reaching their goals. If your brand is in its early stages, you might be working with a limited budget, less historical or first-party data, and an incomplete marketing strategy. We listed a few life-saving digital marketing strategies that can help emerging brands scale their business without breaking the bank.

Emerging Brands Should Focus on Short-Term Goals

If you’re a start-up or an emerging brand, embrace the fact that most of your initial marketing efforts will be about learning. You might have a budget and a return in mind, but it’s more likely that you’ll go through some testing before finding a baseline. There is no magic formula, cure, or button in digital marketing that guarantees you will hit your goals from day one.

The best thing you can do is build brand awareness by focusing on top-of-the-funnel tactics. Begin generating leads, building awareness, and attracting your target audience by using excellent storytelling and a social-heavy media mix. Set achievable, short-term goals such as “Increase brand awareness by 15% in 90-days” or “Reach a ROA of 1.0 in 90-days”, and remain flexible.

Balance Creatives and Data for Optimal Performance

Yes, appealing creative assets will have that thumb-stopping effect. But, beautiful visuals mean nothing if they don’t entice clicks, website visits, or convert viewers into customers. When choosing an agency or prioritizing marketing tactics, strike a balance between excellent creatives and metrics. The best way to do this is to make data-driven creative decisions. Use A/B testing to make decisions about enhancing your creatives, investing in videography, photography, modeling, and animations based on performance.

But, how can emerging brands use digital marketing data to inspire creative direction? You can start by analyzing customer data to discover new segments and opportunities within existing segments. Determine the appeal you’re going for, emotional or informative, and make sure your creatives send messages that align with your target audience’s psychographic and demographic data.

Not convinced about data-driven creative yet? Read how Wander Beauty tested video ads against photo ads and achieved a 4.4X increase in sales.

Be Where Your Competitors Are and Aren’t

It’s worth exploring platforms your competitors are advertising on. Let’s imagine you perform a competitive marketing audit and discover your top 5 competitors are advertising on Facebook, Google, and Pinterest. In that case, you should be there too (Note: you can find out where your competitors advertise by clicking here). Even if your budget is limited, stay in the game by using some ad spend to access the unique audience insights available on each platform, so you’re prepared to scale when it makes sense.

But, don’t make decisions based on your competitors alone. The digital market changes frequently, so it’s smart to jump on trending platforms that your audience is spending time on. For example, ad spends on Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart are increasing as consumers look for simple and convenient shopping experiences. Team up with a digital marketing agency who will keep you informed about industry trends, and has the know-how you need to scale your emerging brand.

For many brands, their 2020 digital strategy was all about survival mode. By building on short-term wins, syncing data and creatives, and placing ads strategically, you go from mere survival to full-throttle thrive. If you need help with your 2021 digital marketing strategy, contact us today to book a free consultation with our digital experts.

Want to build your marketing stack without breaking the bank? Be sure to check out our recommendations for the best free digital marketing tools 2021.

1. Google PageSpeed Insights

Google’s PageSpeed Insights lets you know how your website’s load time measures up. This helpful tool also provides tips on how to boost your site’s performance.

2. UTM Tracking Code Builder

This resource is invaluable if you want to fine-tune your ad campaign by expanding its parameters. This marketing gem uses Google Analytics to tell you what’s working and what’s not in your campaign.

3. MailChimp

One of the best free digital marketing tools of 2021 is MailChimp. It helps small businesses establish an online presence and customize their marketing to take it to the next level.

4. HootSuite

HootSuite takes the hassle out of trying to leverage all your social media channels at once. You can schedule and post content to multiple platforms from one and coordinate marketing tasks with your team.

5. SpyFu

If you want to connect to domains similar to yours and find out if your keywords are helping your ranking, SpyFu can be your go-to resource. The free trial doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles of a paid plan, but it can help you get on the road to increasing your website traffic.

6. Grammarly

Imagine having a free proofreader on-demand. Grammarly alerts you to spelling and grammatical errors, misplaced punctuation, and other common writing mistakes. It’s a must-have to keep your content polished and professional.

7. Unsplash

Embellishing your content with photos and graphics can get pricey. But not with Unsplash. This digital marketing tool gives you access to a huge collection of photos you can download for free.

8. Answer the Public

Anticipating your customers’ needs and meeting them where they are is a win-win. Answer the Public gives you insight into what new and prospective customers want so you can align your content accordingly.

If you’d like to reach new audiences and better engage existing customers, leveraging these free digital marketing tools in 2021 will help immensely. Discover how you can do more than you thought was possible with these indispensable resources. Contact us for more information or schedule a free marketing analysis with one of our digital marketing experts.

If you want to evaluate your strategy for the new year, or you’re launching a new product or a service, you need to do a competitive marketing audit.

A simple guide to competitive auditing

A competitive marketing audit is a great way to learn more about your competitors, who they are and how they are positioning themselves. Researching competition can also help you discover new marketing tactics and channels that you haven’t thought about yet.

Competitive auditing is an essential part of our toolbox at Mason Interactive. Every new client relationship begins with an in-depth analysis of the competitive landscape, and it always helps us and the client tremendously. In this article we’ll explain how you can perform a high-level audit for your business or organization.

Use data and insights to gain a competitive edge

An audit provides a wealth of information about your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, industry trends, and where you stand among the competition. It allows you to:

Learn what is working for your competitors
Learn what is not working for your competitors (so you can avoid repeating the mistakes)
Identify gaps in your strategy
Uncover your competitors preferred channels
Get a feel of your competitors’ positioning and tone of voice
Better understand what gets customers’ attention

How to perform an audit

1. Understand competition

The first step of competitive auditing is to identify who your top competitors are. You can use Google to search for your keywords and see who else ranks for those key terms. Instagram is another helpful platform to explore competition; just type in relevant keywords into the search bar and look at the results under accounts.

Narrow down the list to top 5 core competitors that you want to include in your audit. It’s a good idea to add 1 or 2 aspirational brands that aren’t necessarily your direct competitors but who you think are doing a great job in positioning themselves in the marketplace.

2. Start your research

Below is a list of useful next steps and tools you can use to gather more information for a high-level analysis. You can focus on different data points such as search rankings, SERP (search engine results page) presence, or social media activity. Some tools can even tell you where your competitors advertise online.

Google and other search engines

Search engines like Google are a good starting point for your research to understand the depth of your competitors’ online presence. Search for your own name as well as your competitors’ names to see what shows up on SERP. Good questions to ask are:

Are they running paid search campaigns? What about Google Shopping ads?
What type of language do they have in title tags and descriptions?
What rich elements (videos, images, knowledge panel) can you see?
What press appearances can you see? (Write down the names of publications)

Website and search rankings

Learn more about your competitors’ content strategy, brand story, and tone of voice by exploring their website. Pay extra attention to about us and blog pages. If you want to dive deeper into their SEO presence, try online tools like BuzzSumo, SEMRush, or Backlink Monitor to gain in-depth information on:

What your competitors’ search rankings are
What keywords they rank for (write down the ones you don’t)
How many backlinks they have and who are the referring sites
What their domain authority score is

Social media platforms

Looking at your competitors’ social media accounts gives you tons of valuable information. Browse through their profiles, posts, comments, and other engagement on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter, to look at the following areas:

What is in the bio
What keywords and hashtags are used in the posts
How often they post content and at what times
How much engagement the posts get
What kind of CTAs they use
What style of content and language they use

3. Compile your findings and analyze

Once your research is complete, compile all your findings into a single document. By now, you have a full view of the competitive set you need for the analysis. Look at areas you can improve; what are your competitors doing that you are not? What tactics are working for them? Can you implement some of those tactics into your strategy?

Yet essential for every business and organization, a competitive marketing audit requires time and effort. The good news is, you don’t have to do it on your own. Sign up for a free marketing audit and let our digital experts do the work for you.

2020 has been an unpredictable year, full of challenges, pivots, and unfathomable shifts toward digital firsts.

Insights from a Performance Marketing Agency

As a trusted marketing partner for clients within various industries, it’s our responsibility to follow the data – and luckily, we’ve spent the last 10 months gathering plenty of it. When news surrounding COVID-19 shook the world in March, it was no surprise that brands pulled out of the marketplace. While we understand the impulse, we also saw the cost of advertising drop while conversion rates remained steady.

The reality? More eyeballs were on devices and platforms than ever before. The data and trends showed “Black Friday” level traffic and transactions in April, despite an 8.7% drop in retail sales. The result? Brands that decided to stay in the market not only maintained their presence, but were able to stay in front of consumers for nearly half the price [of advertising].

But it didn’t stop there. The months that followed gave rise to a shift. Brands had the opportunity to not only stay in front of their target audience, but share their own stories along the way. We went back to our roots – our inherent nature to help one another – and showcase the realities of how businesses, both big and small, were navigating these unprecedented times. While some went into discount mode, others saw this as an opportunity to give back to those in need.

A Shift in Brand Preferences

While we can mention countless examples of brands that shifted for the greater good, we were fortunate to support a coalition of brands who joined together to form Brands x Better. This community of over 140 brands, including Dagne Dover, helped raise over $3.8M (to date) “to support and foster stability to our communities as they navigate critical social issues.”

As the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19 continued, a civil rights movement emerged and we began to see an uproar of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. When millions decided to stand in solidarity by posting [black squares] to their Instagram feed, we had to ask ourselves what role sponsored content played as we scrolled through in conversation?

Black Out July soon followed on Facebook, and many brands had to decide whether or not they would pull their presence (ad spend) from the social giant. In our view, it wasn’t a battle of right and wrong, but rather highlighted the reality that we live in the duopoly of Facebook and Google – and it’s our job to help our clients diversify.

Witnessing the Biggest eCommerce Event in History

Here at Mason, holiday planning starts in July. You’ll hear us reference the “leaky bucket” concept dozens of times leading up to the Q4 shopping season. Brands who began filling up their bucket with quality water [traffic] through top of the funnel, awareness strategies in Q3, were able to focus on bottom of the funnel strategies come holiday. They say that timing is everything, and although we couldn’t predict what the reality would look like in November, we knew that our strategy remained the same.

It’s December 2020 and the dust is beginning to settle. A vaccine is expected, and people around the world are feeling hopeful for the future. The numbers don’t lie – While the U.S. had its biggest e-commerce day ever, we also saw record numbers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday goals across our portfolio. And that is something to be proud of.

We’re not just helping businesses hit their goals this month, we’re helping them strategize for the future, and beyond. With 2020 almost behind us, we have to ask; who will walk through our door next year and how can we work in partnership to help drive success for the years to come?

Schedule a consultation with our digital experts and start the new year right with the help from a trusted digital marketing partner.

While festive cheer is spreading all around us, eCommerce retailers have their eyes set on holiday sales figures. And the expectations are high; 2020 Cyber Monday has already set the record as the biggest U.S. eCommerce day in history.

But what happens when the holidays are over?

Often underestimated, post-holiday marketing campaigns are a great way to stand out in the less-crowded market. When your competitors go quiet and slow down their marketing efforts, continue your sales success long after the new year with these simple marketing tips.

Drive conversions with remarketing

Remarketing is not just for the holidays, it is an effective marketing tactic all year round. Thanks to seasonal shopping behavior, eCommerce retailers typically see an increase in website traffic during the holiday season. That traffic is made out of returning customers, new customers, and “window shoppers” who visit the website but leave without completing a purchase. Through cost-effective post-holiday remarketing campaigns you can increase conversions as much as 147% and turn window shoppers into first-time customers.

Take advantage of low CPMs

It’s no surprise that CPMs skyrocket over the holiday shopping period. When the season ends, however, a so-called post-holiday slump occurs and CPMs show a noticeable drop. This happens when businesses decide to significantly lower, or even freeze, their advertising spend. Not a good idea. Why, you may ask? The reason is simple; shoppers still continue shopping after the New Year. A smart marketer continues running paid campaigns post-holiday and takes advantage of low advertising costs.

Engage new subscribers with email

The festive season is a perfect opportunity to collect email sign-ups through pop-up forms and discount initiatives. If you have followed email marketing best practices, you have already built an automated welcome email series that triggers immediately when a person signs up. That’s a step one in nurturing potential customers through email marketing. The next step is to enhance your relationship and start marketing to new addresses you harvested over the holidays. Good attention-grabbers are personalized coupons, exclusive discounts, or free shipping.

Build brand loyalty

Holiday shoppers are more willing to buy from new brands, and as a result online stores see a spike in first-time customers during the festive season. Post-holiday campaigns are a great way to deepen your relationship with new customers, and turn them into loyal, returning customers.

Don’t forget to shift your messaging. When the holiday season ends, even your most loyal fans may feel a little overwhelmed by sales focused emails and advertising. Post-holiday marketing communication should provide respect and appreciation towards your customers, no matter if they are looking to purchase products or not. It’s a good time to draw attention to your rewards program and the benefits of joining it.

Entice gift card holders to your store

Year after year, gift cards remain as one of the most popular items on people’s holiday wish lists. According to a survey by Inmarket, 68% of shoppers plan on purchasing gift cards more than any other items this holiday season. Talk directly to gift card holders post-holiday and give a reason to visit your store. A good starting point is to remind gift card holders that now is the time to treat themselves after shopping for others pre-holiday.

Gather feedback and reviews

Gain insights from holiday shoppers with post-purchase email campaigns. Consider sending a quick survey about their shopping experience, or request product reviews. These insights are valuable assets that help you improve and drive sales in the new year.

Start planning your post-holiday approach now so you are ready to hit the launch button when the festive season ends. If you need help with your 2021 marketing strategy, schedule a free consultation with our digital experts, or wrap up your year with an in-depth marketing analysis.