DaBrian Marketing Blog: News, Insights, and Digital Marketing

Why Stock Photography Shouldn’t Represent Your Brand

July 19, 2016 by Mark Mapp Leave a Comment

5 Reasons Not To Use Stock Photography

Throughout my experience as a Web Designer, I have noticed that many businesses struggle when they have to make a decision on whether or not to use stock photography to promote their brand. Although there are several good reasons to utilize stock photography on branded materials (such as limited budget, accessibility, variety, and quality), the negative impact of using them can prove to be much greater. This blog covers the 5 disadvantages or risks of using stock photography when promoting your brand and what alternative solutions are out there to avoid these potential risks.

1. Limited Restrictions

When purchasing non-custom photography, there are always license restrictions to abide by. Always make sure to read and understand all license restrictions associated with your purchase. Some restrictions may include crediting the author while some images may only be licensed for editorial use versus advertising/commercial use. You can view iStock’s License Help or iStock’s Content License Agreement to get an idea of the type of licenses or restrictions associated to stock photography purchases.

2. Non-Exclusive

You must remember that the same website you purchase your photos from may be the same website your competitors are purchasing from. This factor alone makes stock photography usage non-exclusive to your brand. There is always that risk of competitors finding and using the same imagery you purchased.

3. Lack of Creativity

It is almost impossible for a designer to come up with a unique and custom design concept when limited to using stock photography. Remember that these images weren’t taken with your brand or products in mind. Therefore, you may find yourself paging through hundreds of images to find that one that you feel will best represents your brand. Although image options are limitless with stock photography, unique or original concepts are not.

4. Predictability

Images submitted to stock photography websites cover a variety concepts. Since these concepts are limited, image options can seem to be very predictable or clichéd. It’s one thing to have a limitless amount of images to choose from. But, if you have 100 images depicting the same idea or concept, where is the variety in that?

5. Unnatural Compositions

When browsing through stock photography websites, it’s hard not to notice all the unnatural positions or “forced” compositions in most of the images containing people; especially people in business attire. Everything looks staged. This is the best way to make your website look like spam.

What Are The Alternatives?

1. Custom Photography

It is always best to utilize custom photography to represent your brand or to tell your brand story. Purchasing in-house photography equipment or hiring a professional to do the job will prove to be a better branding method than using stock photography.

2. Vectors/Illustration

Instead of using photos, more and more companies are using vectors or illustrations to promote their brand. Take Google for example.

3. Customize Your Stock

If you are going to use stock photography, find different ways to utilize the photo. Whether it is cropping out a certain portion of the image or combining two different images or concepts. These are just a couple of ways to make stock images as unique and original as possible while diminishing the chance of someone using the same image, idea, or concept.

To learn more about different visual branding methods and which one best suits your company, contact us! We’d be more than happy to chat with you.

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC Re-develops PA Industrial Equipment, Inc.’s Website

July 19, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC redesigns and creates a new website for PA Industrial Equipment, Inc.

PA Industrial’s new website emphasizes an improved level of accessibility and internal security as a result of consolidated web hosting services from DaBrian Marketing Group. With the new website, PA Industrial’s team develops online marketing strategies with a degree of transparency that facilitates secure management for the maintenance and growth of the company.

Office Manager, Shelly Arthur gave the following statement: “The team at DaBrian Marketing Group completed our new website weeks earlier than we anticipated. We are pleased to be entering our 40th year of business with one dedicated team managing our website design, hosting and SEO programs.”

PA Industrial Equipment, Inc. specializes in the sale, rental, and repair of forklifts and aerial lifts. PA Industrial serves numerous counties within Southeastern Pennsylvania – including Berks, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Lehigh, and Northampton. PA Industrial stresses its dedication to high-quality service in the selling and repairing of machinery that is vitally important to manufacturers within the region.

Visit PA Industrial Equipment, Inc.’s new website to learn more about their high-quality repair and sales services as well as the most recent work by DaBrian Marketing Group’s team.

DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC Hires David McDowell as SEO Consultant

July 12, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group Leave a Comment

Reading, PA – DaBrian Marketing Group, LLC hires David McDowell for the full-time position of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Consultant.

On the team at DaBrian, the SEO Consultant is responsible for the optimization of all digital content on web pages, blogs, emails, and social media via search engines. The SEO Consultant ensures that clients’ websites and other digital branded content is readily accessible to the public through a series of practices and measures based upon popular trends and established styles of search. Common tasks of the SEO Consultant at DaBrian include matching clients’ digital content with industry-specific keywords, integrating geographical tags, maintaining persuasive titles, appropriate URLs, and unique search result descriptions, as well as earning links to clients’ branded content throughout other relevant websites and web pages.

David McDowell is a 2016 Alvernia University graduate with a B.A. in Communication with a minor in Business. McDowell began his work at DaBrian as an intern in January 2015. He continues to contribute to the team’s mission of delivering valuable marketing content through his skills and abilities to make clients’ online presence more visible and accessible to the public.

President and CEO, Daniel Laws gave the following statement: “David is a testament to our ongoing relationships and talent acquisition through local universities and colleges. He started with us as an intern, moved to part-time employment, and – through hard work and dedication – moved to full-time employment at DaBrian Marketing Group.”

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

Web Design Without SEO: If You Build It, Will They Come?

July 11, 2016 by Dabrian Marketing Group 1 Comment

In the film Field of Dreams released in 1989, Kevin Costner is famously told, “If you build it, he will come.” While this may hold true when it comes to attracting Shoeless Joe and the rest of the 1919 Black Sox team to your Baseball field, it does not apply to attracting visitors to your website.
Eh, not so fast there, Ray. Without proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO), not many people are going to come. Designing a website that is aesthetically pleasing is not the be-all and end-all for an effective digital marketing campaign. It’s merely the first step. Without SEO, you have a better chance of Joe Jackson actually wearing shoes than your customers finding your site. Below are five reasons why SEO and Web Design are needed together for your site to perform well.

1. SEO Basics: Tags, Titles, and Descriptions

Sticking with the Field of Dreams theme, let’s say your potential fans that attend your ballpark are equivalent to those using search engines. How are they supposed to find your new park if no one has heard about it or can find it? Tags, Titles, and Descriptions (TTD’s) along with content tell search engines what the pages on your site are about. Below is an example of proper implementation of TTD’s for this blog specifically (blog inception).

The keywords you intend a specific page to rank and draw traffic for should be represented within the TTD’s. For example, this blog’s main points of interest are SEO and Web Design, so those keywords are placed within all aspects of TTD’s and the content naturally (non-spammy). Don’t forget to include any other related sub points (digital marketing, link building, local SEO, and content optimization) wherever you see fit.

2. Content is the Experience

Just as sports venues are judged off of the overall experience they offer, so is your website. The content on your site not only helps people find your site, but it ultimately dictates the user’s experience. Great content means a better chance the user will perform an action beneficial to your business. Whether that means fill out a contact form, share your site via social media, or purchase a product, none of those are likely to happen without the right content for your audience. With that being said, content is not a once-and-done event. In fact, search engines actually prefer sites with fresher and more up-to-date content. That’s why it’s a great idea to start a blog and to write about topics relevant to your audience. Not only with this further establish your business as “in the know” within your industry, but it also allows you to place more of the keywords you wish to rank for on your site.

3. Technical Issues: Take Care of Your Ball Park

When sports teams build new stadiums, they don’t just leave it alone, do they? No, of course not! Constant maintenance is required to ensure everything looks perfect and that it functions properly. This is the same when designing a website. Technical issues are bound to happen. If these aren’t taken care of, it could potentially have a negative impact on your user’s experience. That ultimately translates to a decrease in rankings, leads, and worst of all, sales.

4. Local SEO: Where are you?

What’s the point of having a ball park, or any business for that matter, if no one can find you? This same logic should remain true when dealing with your digital presence. After several algorithm changes, Google’s search results are now heavily personalized. This means they take into account the searcher’s history, social signals, and most of all, locality. If that’s not enough to prove the importance of local, Google’s research on local consumer behavior found that, “50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same.” So what can your business do to ensure you capitalize on this opportunity?

Having your business name, address, and phone number consistent on all pages of your website (NAP).
Be listed on major local listing platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook and Bing Places
Use local Business Schema markup.
Use local keywords in your URLs, TTD’s, and content, where appropriate.

Without proper local SEO, your business could be lost within the metaphorical cornfield that is the search engine results.

5. Link Building: Generating Buzz

Link building or link earning is a huge part of SEO. When search engines evaluate your site to determine where you rank for a specific subject, they don’t only look at your TTD’s or content, but also the other sites linking to you. The more reputable industry related pages linking to you, the better your site will perform. To put it in sports terms, links represent fans and leading figures within the sports realm. Here is how to rank them:

Fans: Fans telling other fans about your ballpark represent low level links from either directories or sites with low domain authority.
Local Sports reporters: These represent the middle level links. These are trusted sites in your area, such as the Chamber of Commerce or a local business directory.
Major league coverage: These represent the top level links from industry leaders. For example, a link from MOZ would be huge for a digital marketing agency such as ourselves

So what’s the best approach to earning these links? Well in the past, many people obtained links via “black hat SEO” methods, all of which now result in a penalty according to Google’s link scheme guidelines. Your best (and safest) bet is by creating great, original content and developing authentic relationships with those within your industry. The goal is to naturally earn high quality links.

Conclusion

An effective digital marketing campaign needs both a well designed website, along with proper SEO. So when it comes to digital marketing, If you build it (and continually optimize it), they will come.

For more information about SEO, Web Design, and the other Digital Marketing Services we have to offer, contact us or leave us a comment below!

By: David McDowell

4 Things You Need to Know About Google Tag Manager

July 5, 2016 by Daniel Laws Leave a Comment

Google Tag Manager is a free tool that makes it easy for marketers and IT professionals to add and update website tracking codes – including conversion tracking, site analytics, remarketing, and social media – with just a few clicks and without the need to edit your website tracking code. Google Tag Manager provides businesses with control of the tracking codes, usability for marketers and IT, the ability to share information with specific users’ permission, and integrations to measurement marketing code like Facebook. Tag Manager captures the data that can lead to better ROI, a reduction in marketing costs, and a lot of time saved for your team!

Below are 4 things you need to know about Google Tag Manager:

1. You Need a Measurement Plan

A measurement plan is a document that translates your organization’s goals and objectives into metrics so that you can keep track of your website and marketing. A measurement plan provides a framework for the configuration and implementation of digital marketing strategies on your website. Without a measurement plan, there is no structure for a tagging implementation strategy. There is no way to verify that you have the necessary information to measure your goals and objectives!

2. One Tracking Code to Measure Marketing Initiatives

With Tag Manager, you get one tracking code to measure your website and marketing initiatives. This consolidates all of your data into one location to foster better decision-making based on that data. There are tagging templates and integrations to combine tracking codes from Facebook, LinkedIn, AdWords, Google Trust Stores, and more. Just one Google Tag Manager code will increase your website speed and improve your customer’s online experience on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.

3. Google Tag Manager works for Web & Mobile Apps

Your Google Tag Manager tracking code should be added to your existing website code. As mentioned in the previous section, this Google Tag Manager code will work on responsive websites (for desktops, tablets, and mobile phones). Specifically for mobile phones, the implementation of Google Tag Manager for Mobile Apps is done with Firebase SDK. Firebase is a Google tool and infrastructure that is used to build better mobile apps and grows businesses by developers. Firebase SDK works for both Android and iOS to track behavior and actions that are specific to mobile apps and indicate success for businesses.

4. Better Measurement of ROI with Google Tag Manager

Too often, marketing and IT professionals work to get a website and mobile app live while neglecting to identify how they plan to measure success. With Google Tag Manager, both marketing and IT professionals have the ability to create and capture metrics that are needed to determine success as well as improve upon that success. The accessibility of integrations and templates make it easier to collect metrics within a single console. Overall, you get better data, better metrics, and better decision-making with Google Tag Manager. This means more money in your bucket and less time and money wasted!

Check out Google Tag Manager resources or contact DaBrian Marketing Group today!

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.