Dabrian Marketing Group

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC Hires Logan Bucks as Inbound Marketing Manager

June 28, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Reading, PA – DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC hires Logan Bucks for the new position of Inbound Marketing Manager.

Responsibilities of the Inbound Marketing Manager at DaBrian include the application, maintenance, and growth of clients’ social media accounts, email marketing campaigns, and all other forms of digital content. The Inbound Marketing Manager’s tasks are to evaluate the use of social media, email, and content, attract a client’s targeted audience through paid and organic initiatives, and promote services or products through a voice that matches the client’s unique brand. Answering customers’ questions, promoting discounts or sales, sharing a company’s unique culture, and building a company’s brand awareness are just some of the major goals of the Inbound Marketing Manager at DaBrian.

Logan Bucks is a 2016 Kutztown University graduate with a dual-major B.S./B.A. in Marketing and Management. Bucks, a former intern at DaBrian in 2015, demonstrates her skills and abilities to understand and utilize the world of social media, email marketing, and digital consumer behavior to improve clients’ online presence. She is a valued new addition to the close-knit team at DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC.

President and CEO, Daniel Laws gave the following statement: “We’re happy to have Logan back at DaBrian Marketing Group and we look forward to her continuous growth and valuable contributions to our team.”

Visit the team page of DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC’s website to learn more about Logan and the rest of DaBrian’s personnel.

Welcome our New Summer 2016 Web Design Intern

June 27, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Well, would you look at that. DaBrian Marketing Group has a second intern for the summer! (Our first intern, Christian Kline, was announced on social media in May). He was introduced to us through Pennsylvania CareerLink – Berks County’s work experience program called “A Youth Services Employment Training Program.” Once we learned more about him, we knew he was a perfect fit for DaBrian’s team as Web Design Intern.

The first unique characteristic about our new team member, Mr. Jeremiah Ellis, is that he is going to be a senior at Reading High School in the 2016-2017 school year! As he gets started with his new role as Web Design Intern and we start to teach him about what it’s like to work at a digital marketing agency, let’s all get to know him a little bit better with a brief but fun questionnaire!

Where is he from?

New York City, NY.

What are his plans upon graduation in 2017?

Attend a local college, possibly Reading Area Community College (RACC), and major in Computer Science.

What are his interests? ...Besides creating websites, of course

Listening to music.. watching movies.. riding bikes.. playing basketball.. Writing stories & poems..

** This young man does it all! **

What’s his happiest high school memory so far?

Simply, finishing 11th grade.

How did he get interested in web design?

Jeremiah learned how to create websites by attending Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center for Information Technology – Web Design. Once he graduates, he will receive an Adobe Certification.

What’s Jeremiah’s favorite sports team?

Our Philadelphia-area football team, the Eagles!

If Mr. Ellis were to be a contestant on The Voice, which song would he sing?

He would choose to sing a classic: “What a Wonderful World.”

If he could be famous for anything, what would it be?

He’d be a famous actor in Comedy films.

Jif or Peter Pan Peanut Butter?

Peter Pan

If he were Peter Pan and given a chance to never grow up, would he take it?

He says he would, so he won’t ever get old and he could live forever!

If he could buy any car right now, what color would it be?

Dark Green

If he could be any animal, which would he be and why?

A cheetah because they are fearless and relentless.

Something else he would like to share:

Jeremiah’s family originates from South America.

Now that we all know who Jeremiah is, we need to get back to teaching him about StudioPress and WP Engine, designing our intranet, and entering more data.
Jeremiah’s story could be yours! Learn more about our multiple internships (not just for high schoolers) and we could be writing a blog on you soon!

Do B2B Companies Really Need Digital Marketing?

June 20, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Have you ever said your business-to-business (B2B) company doesn’t need digital marketing, that it’s only something business-to-consumer (B2C) needs? If you have, unfortunately you’re not alone. You’ve probably offered reasons like your customers know who you are, or your buyers already know what they want and don’t need to look online. Or perhaps even the classic “that’s why we pay sales reps”. Without debating the merits of those statements, here’s something else you might want to consider. According to an Accenture study, 94% of B2B buyers conduct online research at some point in the buying process (p4). So if that alone is not enough, here are 3 more reasons.

Buyers control the Buying Process

Image Source: Hubspot
Buyers have the means and resources available to conduct extensive research before they contact a sales representative and this is exactly what they do. You can see above, business-to-business buyers turn first to Search and then to company websites as they begin the buyer’s journey. Your company needs to be there and be ready for this.

Buyers Don’t Trust Sales Reps

We know that may come as a surprise to many of you, but it’s true. In fact, according to the Hubspot Sales Perception Survey Q1 2016, less than 7% of buyers find information from people in sales business units to be very trustworthy. So now what? According to a study by Blue Nile Research, buyers turn to customer reviews and case studies, instead. Your company needs to have an effective and comprehensive plan in place to ensure your potential buyers find a compelling story that demonstrates your expertise, experience and results.

Image Source: Louis Foong
Data Source: Blue Nile

B2B Buyers Don’t Work In A Vacuum

If you believe there is only ONE person making the buying decision, then frankly, you’re being naïve. Even the owner and sole employee of a company are subject to outside stimuli. This person has gatekeepers that will try to block access and he or she will have influencers that, well, have an influence whether they know it or not. This person has friends, customers and suppliers to talk with He or she may even have a significant other that has nothing to do with the business but who supports the same cause or charity that your company does. The point is that many people have access to the decision maker and, consciously or not, often contribute in some way. Through proper research, experience and analytics, you can identify and reach these targets using the appropriate channels.

Image courtesy of StratoServe

What it all Means? B2B Companies Need Digital Marketing

It’s fairly simple, really. It comes down to the fact that B2B buyers are people. So, it should be no surprise that their decisions follow a very similar journey as an individual consumer making any significant purchase. The touch points along the journey may vary depending on the product or service, but you can be certain the buyer is conducting research online, searching for solutions and then, a brand that might provide it. The buyer will look at your competitors’ websites. Make sure your website is found, as well. Customer reviews, data sheets, and blogs will be read. Social Media will be scrutinized. If you have a sound strategy, consistent messaging across platforms, and you provide information that saves time and money, your chances of securing a potential customer increase. If you don’t have these things….well, do you really need us to say it? Of course, these are not the only reasons, so let us know your top three. We’d love to hear from you!

Image Source: MediaFly
Data Source: Forrester

If you would like to talk about your challenges, and how we can help, please call us. We’re sure you’ll be glad you did.

How to Become a Content Marketing Psycho with Psychology

June 13, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

You may be thinking, “What in the world does psychology have to do with content marketing?” Don’t worry, you are not alone.

Our popular culture portrays psychology as therapy rather than research, as medical prescriptions rather than behavior analysis, and as a series of terrifying mental disorders rather than organizational performance improvement. This post corrects these common misconceptions and shows the ways in which social psychology is most useful for content marketing.

What Is Content? The King, That’s What

Let’s define content within digital marketing. Content refers to any text, photography, video, audio, or otherwise interactive material in your brand’s advertising campaigns and website. The content is anything that the consumers come to view, read, hear, or click.

In the digital marketplace your brand’s content must be flexible in order to adapt to different media and devices. Both your mobile site and your desktop site must display your products in an entertaining and attractive format.

Your brand’s content must also engage consumers, immediately. Consumers want to view your products, now. They want to watch your video, now. They want your web page to load, now. Don’t make them wait – capture their attention at the very second that they are available to you! Offer the information for which consumers are searching. Create content that appears when consumers search for your brand’s industry, topics, or services.

After consumers view, read, or click on your content, what do you want them to do? Whatever task you want them to complete, you must make it obvious through a Call-to-Action. Direct consumers’ behavior by actually giving them something to do: subscribe, fill in the information, click the button, or leave a comment.

To create effective content for your brand’s digital marketing, study and understand human behavior.

Social Psychology - Real People, Real Interactions with Your Brand

Most people believe that psychology is all about Freud, psychotherapy, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (an amazing film that’s currently available on Google Play). But, that assumption is wrong.

Psychology focuses on the research of human behavior and cognition. Social psychology, specifically, is the study of individuals in social interactions to better understand society.

A recent peer-reviewed article by Acar & Puntoni (2016) discusses the power of individuals in digital marketing: consumers are active agents in their digital viewing and purchasing decisions. It is important to remember that, in digital marketing, consumers are responsible for their actions rather than brands.

For this reason much of social psychological research focuses on the contexts of behavior. Applicable questions are: “What conditions need to be present for consumers to purchase your product?” and “In what kind of situation is a purchase, subscription, or click probable?”

The answers to these questions depend upon the distinct context in which consumers interact with your brand. The order of your brand’s content – the actual words, images, videos, and designs – matter to consumers’ perceptions of, and overall interactions with, your brand (Ducarroz, Yang, & Greenleaf, 2016).

Psychology & Content Marketing - Not That Crazy, After All

When you think about these aspects of social psychological research, it is clear that they apply to your brand’s digital marketing content. Use social psychology to study and direct the behavior of consumers:

Be flexible with your content to fit any kind of interaction or digital interface.
Focus on a consumer’s immediate environment and available choices to foster engagement.
Use the needs of consumers rather than the needs of your brand to encourage purchases.

Do you have any questions or comments? Leave them in the section, below! We would love to hear from you. Contact us to start a conversation about your brand’s content marketing!

Agency Transparency, is your business being taken advantage of?

June 6, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Whether you have just started down the road to hiring a marketing agency, or you have already built a trusted relationship, understand your rights and be wary of ways a great advertising agency relationship can go bad without agency transparency.

Cost Accountability

Way back in 2014, Google updated their Third-Party Policy. The Policy, speaking directly to advertising agencies in the role of management, notes Google’s strict guidelines for cost reporting and management fees. Up until this point, it was generally the client’s or customer’s duty to research and to understand exactly for what services an ad agency was charging them as well as the cost of those services . Some agencies would invoice clients for Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising without noting the difference from their actual PPC spend and the fees that are simply associated with managing the PPC account. The Third-Party Policy is a great starting point for all the questions that one might ask of their soon-to-be advertising agency before to signing any contracts.

Ownership Openness

As an agency, we create login information for many clients for many different purposes. We take on the role of password gatekeeper as well as security answer holder. Often, the login information that an agency creates is not shared with the respective client. Sometimes, this is purposeful; but, at other times it may simply be a part of the established client-relations process. Now, Google’s Third-Party Policy notes that a client’s Google Adwords Customer ID must be shared with that client. Search Engine Land, putting it best said, “and this should be obvious, give your clients their customer IDs when they ask for them.” Other login information should be openly shared, as well. Whether we have created a subscription account to industry insights, or we are managing your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform – it is your data, your right.

Separation Anxiety

Whether it be a tumultuous relationship needing to end or a pleasant bond that has run its course – breaking up with an agency is hard to do. Be prepared and search the language of your agreement for payment, ownership, and timeliness clauses. Read the blog post entitled, “5 Signs It’s Time to Fire Your Marketing Agency”, work up the courage, and write out your frustrations. Even if you are not ready to depart from your marketing agency, understand your power and use it. In many cases, a website can be “lost” if ownership is not clearly defined or access is not granted. A business owner can lose a tiresome and costly website in the blink of an eye if website hosting is ever disrupted. The Site Wizard wrote a great blog post entitled, “How to Rescue Your Website from the Clutches of a Bad Web Designer or Bad Web Host” which sends a warning to all those that host their website elsewhere.

Agency Transparency, Know your Rights

Don’t leave your data, your accounts, or your wallet vulnerable to an uncomfortable demise. Communicate your expectations with your marketing agency and expect transparency, in return.

For more information about our agency’s transparency guidelines, contact us or leave us a comment below!

DaBrian Marketing Redesigns South Mountain YMCA’s Website Pro Bono

May 30, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

30 May, 2016 (Reading, PA) – DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC has developed and redesigned South Mountain YMCA’s website, pro bono.

The South Mountain YMCA provides camping experiences as well as educational and outdoor programs that build personal leadership, character, and life skills while developing care, honesty, respect, and responsibility in young people, families, and communities.

Nathan Brant, Chief Executive Officer of South Mountain YMCA, said,

“We cannot begin to express what an incredible gift this is. As a charity serving kids, families, and schools, a good website significantly increases the positive impact we can have on our community. This beautiful online presence will drive awareness of our programs and services, assist families in learning about transformative experiences for their children, and help educators plan for environmental and outdoor education field trips. We cannot thank the team at DaBrian Marketing enough.”

South Mountain YMCA emphasizes three main goals of their new website: an improved experience for its users, a more effective attraction of their target audience, and the creation of a unique, intuitive aesthetic. South Mountain YMCA’s satisfaction with the new website speaks to the analysis-based, creative web design that DaBrian Marketing Group produces.

Visit the New South Mountain YMCA website to learn more about their youth- and family-oriented programs as well as the most recent work by DaBrian Marketing Group’s team.

About DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC

Founded in 2008, DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC is a full-service digital marketing agency, focused on providing original and strategic digital marketing solutions for businesses, that want to create digital awareness, increase return on investment (ROI), and identify insights that not only will help achieve goals but will also help to increase your business’s efficiencies. DaBrian Marketing Group’s services include email marketing, search engine optimization, website design, web analytics, social media marketing and more. Company headquarters are centrally located at 500 Penn Street, Suite 201, Reading, Pennsylvania 19602. For more information about DMG, visit dabrianmarketing.com or call 610.743.5602.