Archives for January 2015

Google Partners Connect Event

January 28, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

On February 11, 2015, DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC, a full service digital marketing agency located in Reading, PA, will host an exclusive digital marketing event sponsored by Google.

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC is an official Google Partner. This status allows the agency to access research, advertising promotions, and exclusive events from Google. The Google Partners Connect event on February 11 will give local marketing professionals and business owners the opportunity to see how digital marketing can drive success for their businesses.

Where:

Gallery Above Penn Square (GAPS)
128 North 5th Street Highway, Reading, PA 19601

When:

February 11, 2015 at 12 PM

What:

Livestream Google AdWords presentation
Q&A session to cover your questions about Pay per Click advertising

Why:

Free Parking downtown at Abraham Lincoln Hotel
Free catered lunch
Learn about growing your business through PPC (bring your questions for the Q&A)

The online registration form can be found at bit.ly/dabrianmarketing.

Design Solutions for the Mobile Web

January 28, 2015 by Mark Mapp Leave a Comment

The introduction of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, has given people the ability to browse the web and complete additional task on the go. In January, 2014, mobile devices accounted for 55% of the internet usage in the United States with mobile apps making up 47% of the internet traffic while 8% came from mobile browsers. This was the first time in history mobile app usage eclipsed desktop usage (45%). This continual growth in mobile device usage also created several issues in the web design and web development workspace. Designers and developers now have to compensate for how web pages are being viewed on these devices as well as choose the best solution to implement.

This week, we’re going to walk you through the three most common design solutions for the mobile web.

Mobile Websites

The initial way of handling the mobile web experience was by creating an entirely separate website just for mobile. A good example of this is ESPN’s website. If you type http://espn.go.com/ into your browser window in a desktop setting you will be taken directly to their “desktop” version of their site. However, if you type that same URL into your smart phone or tablet’s browser you will notice that it will redirect you to their mobile version of the site and the URL will reflect m.espn.go.com/wireless/index instead.

This direction was effective, but it still created several issues. Mobile websites often have completely separate content and a bit less functionality in comparison to their desktop counterparts.

See other advantages and disadvantages of mobile websites here.

Mobile Apps

Another solution for catering to the mobile web is developing a mobile app. This is not to be confused with a mobile website. Unlike mobile websites, mobile apps work independently of a browser and they don’t depend on an internet connection for general usage. Mobile apps are popular for linear processes, or processes that have a starting and an ending point. They also have the ability to utilize mobile device hardware such as credit card readers, cameras, and GPS locators.

A good example of this would be bank apps like Wells Fargo, or Bank of America that would allow you to scan your check with the use of your mobile phone or tablet which would then allow you to make a deposit into your bank account. You can browse and download other mobile apps from the Google Play Store from your mobile devices as well. The main disadvantage of developing a mobile app is that you have to create code for three platforms (namely Apple, Android, and Blackberry). The code is not universal and cannot be implemented across platforms.

See other advantages and disadvantages of mobile apps here.

Responsive Design

Responsive design is currently the best solution for mobile web development (See Google’s Mobile Guide). It is considered the best solution because it is one website, one URL, and one set of HTML code which allows the website’s content to be displayed on wide variety of mobile devices at multiple resolutions. Some good examples of responsive design are the Microsoft, Adobe, and BlueSky Interactive websites.

Responsive design can be a bit more costly to develop than your standard desktop website, but the low maintenance advantage of creating content for only one URL vs. multiple URLs saves time and money in the long run. In addition, having one URL is better suited for SEO related purposes.

Conclusion

Although all three solutions are proven ways of designing for the mobile web, in 2014 responsive design is the solution of choice. From our experience, responsive design is the simplest solution to the mobile design problem and has been the most effective for our web design projects.

Now that you are familiar with three design solutions, you are now able to make a better decision on which one is best for you and your company.

Which mobile design solution would you choose? Let us know in the comments below!

Why Paid Content Marketing Should Be on Your Radar

January 21, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Content marketing is at the top of every marketer’s mind. How to plan it, how to execute it, and—most importantly—how to dive in and pull with the most value from it. The problem is, since content marketing is becoming such a blanket term that encompasses social media, email, video, and everything else, it can be difficult to dial in to the combination of tactics that generates maximum ROI.

A big issue we’re seeing in the space isn’t around content development processes, best practices, or even how to go about measuring content marketing’s effectiveness. For a lot of businesses, the problem lies in getting the right message in front of the right people. We know that operating different areas of the content marketing machine in isolation is a recipe for disaster, so we’ll have to tackle this hurdle at the source—building awareness around the content being produced.

Paid content distribution (sometimes called “content syndication”) is the practice of paying to distribute content to users via a third-party site. If you’ve ever read a blog post and seen a “Sponsored from around the web” section near the bottom of the page, that’s one way that content syndication works. As with anything digital, platforms vary in both price and functionality. Let’s start by covering why you may want to consider incorporating paid placements into your content strategy.

Benefits of Paid Content Syndication

Gain Exposure – Generally, the value of paid content syndication comes from the quality of the message itself; not how much you spend or how enticing your ad copy is. This value is perceived as more genuine and, thus, more likely to drive business results.

Streamlined Process – In order to get started syndicating content, you often don’t need anything more than a budget and a URL. If you already blog as part of your content mix, it’s just a matter of selecting a choice few to get started.

Customization – In order to make sure the right people see your content, solutions are available that allow you to control targeting settings, whether by location, age, or interests. This ensures you’re not wasting your budget on uninterested users.

Easy Measurement – Nearly every content syndication solution has built-in analytics that are no-nonsense and allow for simple CSV exports. For the more advanced marketer, custom URL tagging is supported as well.

Now for the Drawbacks

You’re probably thinking that you’re completely sold on paid content marketing. We’d advise taking a quick cautionary step before you head down that path, though. Some drawbacks of taking your content marketing to this level include:

It’s not a silver bullet – Paying for this kind of visibility isn’t the end-all be-all content marketing tactic. That means it may work in conjunction with more proactive outreach, or it may not work at all. In other words, your mileage may vary.

Potentially high costs – Our research shows that this type of approach warrants a more substantial monetary investment (Between $300 and $500/month at the low end). For small or medium-sized businesses, this may be problematic when it comes time to divvy up the annual marketing budget.

The time investment – Put simply, if your content doesn’t provide value in some way, it won’t be worthwhile to pay for its distribution. As your budget dwindles, it won’t take long to determine whether the content you’re pouring money into is sub-par.

So is paid content syndication right for your business? Unfortunately, it depends. As noncommittal of a response as that is, the decision to invest in this type of marketing should not be made without answering some fundamental questions:

How much do you currently invest in your content marketing program?
Has your content been well-received by your audience in the past?
Are you looking to build a wider audience or interact with existing ones?
Do you have well-defined policies and procedures around your brand’s messaging?
How have you measured the value of content marketing up until now?

Whether you’d like to get your brand name out there, showcase your expertise, or generate more buzz around your message, paid content syndication can be a great way to start building those relationships. So long as you’ve got something meaningful to say and a way to measure success, it’ll be well within your reach.

Have additional questions before pulling the trigger on paid content syndication? Ask yours in the comments!

2015 Social Media Wish List

January 14, 2015 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

In this video, Steve Groller and Jim Doherty discuss the biggest social media marketing gifts Santa forgot to leave under our trees in 2014.

Here’s to a New Year of social media success, useful integrations, customized business solutions, more efficient management, and killer reporting!

Read Transcript

1. Desktop Notifications

Social media is a really fast-paced environment from a marketing standpoint, and I think it’s important that there’s a one-to-one connection with the intended audience. It can be a big disconnect from a brand standpoint if that communication is stalled or delayed by a certain degree of time.

A lot of social media platforms in 2015, we’re looking for that more instantaneous notification system. A lot of them have those notification systems, but they’re very mobile-based; they’re not so much desktop-based. And throughout the day, a social media marketer might not be on their mobile phone, on that mobile application as much as they might be on their desktop. And most social media marketers might have ten lists open with five or six tabs, and might not have the time or even the inclination at some points of the day, to scroll through and refresh each one of those feeds. But they would rather have that notification system, whether it’s a desktop pop-up or an email or something along those lines to let them know about the important things that are going on behind the scenes.

2. Realistic Upgrades

So the beauty of social media management solutions is their ability to integrate with other third-party solutions, whether it’s a CRM or whether it’s an app, different analytics platforms. That connection is great for businesses that have existing platforms but want to bring and tie all the pieces together.

A lot of these solutions say that all of these integrations are coming forward and they’re in the pipeline and they’re in the works, but none of these transitions actually translate into meaningful data that we can use.

So one thing that we wish for in 2015 and moving forward from these platforms is a more clear distinction between the expected roll-outs for updates and integrations and for better data, for better features, and what actually makes it to the platform at the end of the day.

3. More Robust Reporting

For any business that has made the foray into social media, one big challenge that we’re seeing is the ability to justify the expense and the investment, and show a return on investment for their activities on social. And for the most part from the marketer’s standpoint, that falls to reports. Reports of progress, reports based upon activities they’re doing on the networks and that sort of thing.

So from a reporting perspective, the visual interpretation that we’re able to provide to our clients and to upper management is key in our industry, especially when social media is becoming more visual in and of itself; that holds true for the reporting aspect as well.

So that’s why we hope for, on our wish list for 2015 for social media, that a solution comes around that can strike that balance between great looking visuals, customizable information, and quick exports into a presentable format.

4. Small Business Solutions

For a small to medium sized business to only be able to manage three of their accounts on a free version of a solution usually is problematic. Usually if they’re a local business, they have more than just a Facebook, a Twitter, and perhaps a Google+. There are other platforms that are very valuable to their business such as review platforms like FourSquare and Yelp. If they do videos on a regular basis, their YouTube is also probably a very important social asset.

There’s often a big disparity between the features any business needs and the features that really are catered to an individual person, so where you might want to run a campaign or a contest or something a little bit more elaborate for your small business, in most cases that costs an exorbitant amount of money in relation to how much you pay just to use the platform on a monthly basis.

In 2015, we’d like to see more middle-of-the-road options for small and medium sized businesses who don’t want to necessarily break the bank to run a contest or a promotion, to incentivize their customers to connect with them, to have a more meaningful relationship with their customer base, and eventually turn that social media traffic into foot traffic.

What items are on your social media wish list? Let us know in the comments!

2015 Guide to Kickstart Your SEO Strategy

January 7, 2015 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

The office holiday parties are over, the gifts have been opened, and the New Year’s ball has dropped! 2015 is officially underway and so it’s time to move you and your clients’ SEO strategy into this year and beyond. If one thing is certain, it’s that big changes to the organic search algorithm are on the way. With that being said, here’s your guide to the big ticket items that will impact your 2015 SEO strategy.

Improve Organic Search with Mobile Devices for a Successful 2015 SEO Strategy

According to the November 2013 Google/Nielsen Mobile Path to Purchase study, search is the most common starting point for mobile research. Mobile organic search and smartphone usage continues to increase and makes information accessible in real-time. This trend undoubtedly will continue in 2015. But it won’t just be about finding your products or services; it will be the entire mobile user experience across multiple devices (tablet and smartphones) and operating systems. Focus on having customers find you, navigate seamlessly, and discover relevant content based on their search terms.

Use Different Content Types with Intent in Mind

There are “different strokes” for your different audiences, so it’s important to use different content types for search platforms (images, videos, text) as well as considering demographics, interests and a user’s intent. For example, are customers looking for product instructions, directions to a storefront, or comparison shopping? I would recommend that your content represent the brand voice and follow brand guidelines for consistency. Regardless of the different content types, organic search does not exclude branded search terms and your brand can and will appear in different forms. By diversifying your content, you’ll have more opportunities to achieve the goals of your SEO strategy.

Invest in Video as Part of Your SEO Strategy

Based on a recent eMarketer study, watching videos is on the rise, so have you given thought to communicating with your customers with video content? More than 77% of all tablet users will watch video programming on their devices at least monthly, and that penetration rate will grow to 87% by 2018, totaling 149 million tablet video viewers. My recommendation is to start brainstorming, create relevant content, optimize your videos, and leverage video platforms that connect prospective customers to your brand. Consider transcribing your videos into text to improve visibility and additional link earning as well. And remember, YouTube isn’t the only video platform on the planet! Find the best fit for your brand’s message and pursue it.

Build Relationships to Strengthen Your Organic Search Strategy

In my opinion, brand relationships will be critical to driving SEO strategies in 2015. I use the word “relationships” because it’s about the people and the relevant content that’s associated with them (what brand advocates like vs. what your prospective audience likes). By building relationships, you will increase visibility for your brand, create linking opportunities, and engage with influencers that resonate with you as well as your brand. Think about ways to develop an effective outreach program and reconnect with bloggers, journalist, reporters, etc. to get you started.

Develop Your 2015 SEO Strategy with Metrics and Milestones

Take a look at your mobile organic search traffic, assess your existing mobile design and organic search from mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). Identify opportunities to help customers find you, navigate seamlessly via mobile and get to your most relevant content. Test new ways to diversify your content with customer intent in mind. Find opportunities to build relationships via social media, but don’t be afraid to pick up the telephone (they’re people too)! I would recommend re-evaluating metrics/KPIs, establishing benchmarks associated with your organic search strategy’s past performance, setting targets or milestones, and connecting periodically within internal contributors to gauge progress.