Dabrian Marketing Group

The Right Way to Get Your Videos Shared More

November 12, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 1 Comment

This week, DMG is proud to feature a guest blog post from Michelle Downs, Director of Content & Community at 12 Stars Media. 12 Stars is an Indianapolis-based video production company focusing on producing video that allows companies to build closer connections with their target audience.

Looking to get your videos shared more? Of course you are. But in order to get your videos shared, you’ll need to have a purpose for them as well as know what your audience wants from your videos. How many times have you just shared your video once and then expected it to go viral? Or created a video without your audience in mind? In order to get your videos shared you need to first have a purpose for them.

Have a purpose for sharing

Before you even tweet out your video, make sure you have a purpose for it. What do you want your video to accomplish? Do you want someone to sign up for your next event? Plan your purpose out and make it clear when you share your video. By having a purpose for your video before you share it, you’ll know exactly what you want and how you want to present it, which is much better than just throwing it out there.

Know your audience

If you know what your audience wants, then it will be much easier to get them to share your videos. For example: on Facebook we share a lot of behind the scenes videos, because our audience on Facebook already knows us and loves to see things with our team members in it, unlike Twitter where most of our audience loves to hear the latest tips for shooting and editing their videos. It’s important to monitor your channels and find out what your audience wants on each of them because odds are, your audience won’t be the same on each social site.

Share it often

Don’t be afraid to share your video a lot. If you want your video to get out there then you can’t just post it on YouTube and expect it to take off. Share it on your social sites where the video is relevant to that particular audience. And don’t be afraid to share it multiple times in one day on Twitter or a couple of times a month on Facebook. This is especially helpful if you happen to have clients who live in different time zones because you’re more likely to reach them by sharing your video at different times throughout the day.

Change up the way you share

It’s also a good idea to change up the way you present your video when you share it. Don’t just share it with the title of the video. Add some more info to it or your take on the video or how this video will help your audience with something. Ask a question. Present a challenge. You’re more likely to reach a wider audience by mixing up the way you share the video and by sharing it multiple times, and when you reach a wider audience, you’re more likely to get more shares.

By knowing your audience, having a purpose for your video, and understanding each social channel, you’ll be able to expand your reach with each video you share and provide content that your clients and potential clients are looking for.

DMG Appoints New Web Developer

October 29, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Reading, PA – DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC, a full service digital marketing agency located in Reading, PA, has hired a new web developer to support its growing scope of digital marketing service offerings. Brett Shenk, a recent graduate of Berks Technical Institute with a degree in Web Design, has joined the DaBrian Marketing team to execute a wide range of technical and programming responsibilities.

Daniel Laws, Jr., principal owner of DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC, expressed great optimism with the latest addition to the agency, “As DaBrian Marketing Group looks forward to providing bigger and better digital marketing solutions, we need to anticipate shifts in software and technological standards. I’m confident that Brett will be able to provide insight into a wide variety of technical service areas and be a great asset to our company as a whole.”

Brett expressed his enthusiasm after accepting the Web Developer position with DMG, “After starting as an extern, I was really excited to be offered a full-time position with DaBrian Marketing,” said Brett. “I gained a lot of experience during my externship, and I can’t wait to begin putting all I’ve learned into practice on client projects.”

Want to learn more about Brett, or give him a digital pat on the back? Leave a comment below!

An Introduction to WordPress Frameworks

October 15, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 1 Comment

What is a WordPress Framework?

A WordPress framework is similar to any normal theme in WordPress. The major difference between the two is that a framework requires a child theme to add custom styles. A custom style adds new code with the intent of changing the look and feel of the theme you choose. Basically, a WordPress framework takes care of the functionality and holds onto the basic code, and it requires a child theme for additional styling.

Wondering how to use a framework and a child theme? It’s as simple as uploading the files of your chosen framework into your themes via FTP. Then you just have to upload your desired theme and set it as active. That’s all there is to it. The order of these steps is important. If your framework isn’t uploaded prior to your theme, the components may not work correctly.

Advantages of WordPress Frameworks

WordPress frameworks speed up the web development process because you will already have the basic structure of the site. As a developer you just need to pick a theme on that framework and modify the look and feel based on your needs.
Frameworks experience faster load times when compared to normal WordPress themes. This is because it is free both of junk code and heavy graphics. Most framework themes must meet certain standards in order to be released for use.
Frameworks are frequently updated, and you will always receive the latest features. This is the advantage that initially sold me on frameworks. Theme frameworks rely on child themes, which means when you upgrade you will keep all of your custom changes. You will never have to change what you did a month ago because of an update!
If you choose to use a popular theme framework, it will have a huge community behind it which you can use as you develop your business online. Having a community behind you is always a huge plus.
There are many different kinds of frameworks available to fit your needs and degree of programming knowledge. You can use a free framework, or you can go with a paid option. There are frameworks with drag-and-drop interfaces as well as those that are strictly programmer-based (see below).

If you are constantly updating your website, then you likely understand the value of SEO. Most frameworks come with built-in options for SEO and/or are optimized for search engines.

As you might expect, nothing is perfect in the world of web technology. Below are a few of the disadvantages of using WordPress frameworks.

Disadvantages of WordPress Frameworks

As mentioned above, some of these frameworks do cost money. Two examples of the most popular paid frameworks are Genesis and Thesis. Unfortunately, most of the feature-packed frameworks are not free. Some of them cost a one-time or recurring fee. In some cases you’ll have to pay for additional upgrades as well. This reinforces the need to conduct research based on the functionality you’re looking for and deciding which option is best for your business.
As also mentioned above, working with frameworks has a bit of a learning curve. All frameworks are coded differently, and if it has a unique interface, it will take time to learn. After you allocate some time to learn the framework you picked, however, it will actually save a lot of time going forward.
Nothing is perfect, and frameworks are no exception. They might force you to overwrite core files in WordPress, and you need to be aware of this when you’re looking for a framework to use. Most of the time, you’ll receive a warning from the framework if it’s replacing WordPress files. We highly recommend making regular WordPress backups just in case.

Overall, the pros definitely outweigh the cons for WordPress frameworks. While we were hesitant at first to use frameworks, we now love using them. After getting used to using the framework, it nearly cut our development process in half. As you get started in WordPress, hopefully you’ll give frameworks a try. In our experience, they can definitely make things more efficient (and save a few headaches as well). We’ll be covering more on frameworks in the future, so stay tuned!

Have a question about WordPress frameworks? Ask away in the comments below!

How Home Improvement Brands Can Adopt Storytelling

October 8, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

The research is in folks, and home improvement customers are heading back to their roots.

The well-known “big box” retailers still surpass equivalent brick and mortar businesses in sales, but that trend is beginning to shift. According to research conducted by The NPD Group, customers want to invest more in their local communities, and they’re becoming more receptive to home improvement locations closer to their homes. These shifts mean that the industry is now heading toward increased competition and a need for greater brand differentiation.

How can these local brands hope to highlight their favorable differentiating factors? Let me tell you a little story…

Your Customer Is Always Right (and very Influential)

We’re all aware that customer or client testimonials are a great way for home improvement providers to highlight the best aspects of their brands. But to really tell the story, reviews shouldn’t be limited to impersonal star ratings or detached mouse-clicks.

Taking a more proactive approach, such as via emailed follow-ups or online satisfaction surveys, will help you in two distinct ways. First, you’ll have the ultimate litmus test for your customer service processes. Second (and most importantly), you’ll have ammo for future marketing materials, including brochures, sales materials, and even online videos.

Bad Local Reviews Can Be Good

As you begin to embrace the collective voice of your customers, you’re likely going to catch your fair share of negative reviews. Whether on a social media platform that displays the inflammatory comment to the masses or an internal survey for your team’s eyes only, bad reviews shouldn’t be feared, and they definitely shouldn’t be ignored.

Instead, your team should recognize the feedback and work to remedy the situation as quickly and thoroughly as possible. In this case, a community engagement strategy can really come in handy. For smaller, local home improvement brands, customer service and conflict resolution is often one of the biggest draws for new customers. Personalize all communication and focus on the customer’s concerns, and your brand reputation will thank you.

The Greatest Story Ever Shown

If you’re part of a locally-run business in a specialty market, then there’s a lot that sets you apart from the country’s larger retailers. You know it and it’s your existing customers do too. But how do you get the word out? The answer lies in what’s known as your content marketing mix.

This mix represents the content you use to convey your brand’s unique story. This can take many forms, but the most effective by far is rich, visual content. Your content can highlight your excellent staff, show off new products, educate your audience, or entertain them. All it takes is a little creativity and focusing on the best parts of your already-awesome brand.

As customers’ attitudes and behaviors change, it’s important for the “mom and pop” businesses to stand out among the corporate juggernaut that makes up their top competition. To do this may mean evaluating your brand’s favorable characteristics, polling your existing customers, or heading back to the drawing board and reinventing the brand altogether. No matter the journey, every brand has a captivating story to tell. It’s just a matter of making it memorable and telling it right.

How has your local business fared in the battle of the brands? Let us know in the comments!

Save Time and Money with Bing Ads Updates

September 24, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 29 Comments

Over the past few months, Microsoft has been rolling out several changes to its Bing Ads Platform. The goal is to help advertisers manage their PPC Campaigns more efficiently and effectively. Here is a quick recap of some of the changes that you may or may not have seen and experienced.

Redesigned Interface

The new interface gives Bing Ads a cleaner more streamlined look. By combining the title bar and the first set of tabs into one row and keeping the side panel collapsible, user can now view more rows and columns of data at on time. This make data comparison and analysis easier as you no longer have the trouble of scrolling, or at least not as much.

View up to 1,000,000 Keywords (Yep, 1 Million)

For those advertisers with monster keyword lists, this will allow you to see (hopefully) your entire list in one view. This means no more searching through pages and pages for that particular keyword. So now, instead of loading each page, instead you only need to scroll through a single view.

Top Movers

Top Movers reveals what has had the biggest impact in performance change given the selected timeframe. This helpful tool can be found under the Dimensions tab and will give 3 possible reasons for the change: Your Account (your changes), Search Traffic (users’ changes, i.e. search trends), or Competitor Data (competitive changes.) With these insights, you will know how to edit your PPC campaigns to keep your ads and keywords performing at their best. To read more about Top Movers, check out the Bing Ads blog.

Bid Landscape

This new features gives you an estimated idea of how bid changes would affect your overall performance. Sometimes it is difficult to determine how much of a bid increase is needed. This tools removes the guesswork by clearly graphing out the estimated impact.

Better Opportunities Tab

Previously, Bing Ads’ suggestions given in the Opportunities Tab have been “spend more” or something equally unhelpful. The new Opportunities Tab now gives actionable insights, new keyword suggestions, and even groups the suggestions into new ad groups. In addition to the suggestion, Bing Ads also provides the estimated effect it would have on your PPC if implemented. If you approve the suggestion and want to implement, you can click apply and the suggestion is implemented into action with a single click. It’s a huge time-saver, not needing to go back into each Campaign and Ad Group to make the changes yourself.

Online Insertion Order

Previously, advertisers using Insertion Orders as their payment method had to call Bing Ads and set this up over the phone. With this update it is now a much quicker and easier process that can be accomplished entirely online within the Bing Ads interface. If you are using an insertion order, then you realize the time you will save being able to set the next one up online.

Auto Tagging

This is by far my favorite update. If you were tracking your Bing Ads performance via Google Analytics, that means you were manually tagging each of your ads. Now with auto tagging, the utm_ parameters (medium, source, campaign and term) are all done for you at the account level. This has already saved me a lot of time in setting up campaigns and new ad groups inside Bing Ads.

And More…

This list does not cover all the new features and updates that Microsoft has made to Big Ads. It does highlight several that affect many advertisers’ daily usage of the Bing Ads platform. We would love to know which update(s) to Bing Ads has been your favorite and has helped you save time and money.

Tell us your story in the comments section below!

DaBrian Marketing Group to Volunteer with Opportunity House

September 17, 2014 by Dabrian Marketing Group 18 Comments

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC is proud to announce that it will be partnering with Opportunity House during September and October 2014 with an onsite donations collection and warehouse service.

Founded in 1984 as a support shelter for the homeless populations in the surrounding community, Opportunity House now operates a 24 hour multi-service facility. Today, its mission has remained unchanged—to improve the quality of life for children, adults and families who face various obstacles, and support their efforts to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency and well-being.

Lorri Oziri, Vice President of Development with Opportunity House, expressed her appreciation for this investment in the local community, “Essential personal items on our wish list are most important to those who receive our services and do not have the means to purchase them on their own,” said Oziri. “In addition, when the community helps by donating personal items, the agency is in a better position to provide more services to our clients.”

Daniel Laws, Jr., principal owner of DaBrian Marketing Group, showed similar enthusiasm regarding local volunteering, “From our early years, our team has had a strong connection to the local community. We look to give back wherever possible, and we’re very grateful to have this chance to help Opportunity House serve our community.”

The donations collection will be held at DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC headquarters (500 Penn Street, Suite #201, Reading PA 19602) from September 1, 2014 to September 30, 2014.

For more information, stop by or call 610.743.5602.

Learn more about Opportunity House by visiting www.opphouse.org.

Celebrating thirty years of service in Berks County, Opportunity House is a multi-service organization improving the quality of life for children, families and adults who face various obstacles to independent living. With a primary goal to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency, our major services include the Second Street Learning Center (with state-of-the-art technology and curriculum for children age six months through school-age); emergency, transitional and permanent housing for individuals and families who are homeless, and our SSVF program (shelter services for veterans and their families who are homeless). The Children’s Alliance Center (CAC) provides services to children who have been sexually abused. The newest program is the Resale & Reuse Services program, which is a ‘waste-based’ business to provide jobs in Berks County and sustainability to the organization now and in the future.

Opportunity House = Helping People in Berks County!