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DaBrian Marketing Visits South Mountain YMCA

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The DaBrian Marketing team recently had the privilege of visiting South Mountain YMCA for a day of team-building activities. Operating as an independent YMCA Camp and Conference Center since 1983, The South Mountain YMCA Camps have been providing youth recreational and educational programs for over 60 years.

South Mountain YMCA Reinholds PA

The YMCA serves over 8,500 individuals annually with participants predominantly from the local area and surrounding communities. Their mission is to provide a camping experience as well as educational and other programs that build personal leadership, character and life skills while developing caring, honesty, respect and responsibility in young people, families and communities.

The beautiful 600 acre landscape of the South Mountain YMCA delivered a picturesque setting for a day of team building activities. Typical team building programs include a high ropes course, climbing tower, zip-line, and a low ropes course. Traditional programs can be expanded around a team-building goal.

Most of our staff conquered the climbing tower and enjoyed the zip-line trip back to ground-zero. But for those scared of heights another adventure awaited: Paintball. Because what better way to show your coworkers you appreciate them than to shoot them with a paintball!? Thankfully, South Mountain Adventures provide modified versions of paintball guns which pack a lesser punch; making this a safe and enjoyable time for all.

After a quick training session on the equipment, we split into two teams and developed our strategies. The red team was victorious almost every match, largely because the blue team was saddled with agency owner, Danny Laws.

South Mountain YMCA Reinholds PA

There are so many valuable reasons for a business to hold team building events or activities. Not only do they give your staff a break from the usual grind, but team building events can have serious business and personal impacts. If you’re looking for something special to do with your team the South Mountain YMCA is an excellent choice. Whether your team would enjoy paintball like DaBrian Marketing, the rock climbing wall, or a leisurely hike, there is something for everyone at South Mountain.

South Mountain will work with you to plan an event that your whole team can participate in and will remember for years. For more information contact Greg McCrohan at 610-670-2267, ext. 250, or by emailing gmccrohan@smymca.org.

Need a new website? WordPress could be the answer

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What is WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular and free open source content management system (CMS) in the world. It allows WordPress developers to create websites, blogs, or apps. WordPress offers over 45,000 add-ons known as plugins. These plugins add features such as online stores, mailing lists, analytics and a lot more.

What is a WordPress Theme?

A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphic design of a website. The theme can change the way a website is displayed without changing the code. The theme files are sometimes called template files. There are thousands of WordPress themes available for purchase. You can also hire a WordPress developer to create or edit a theme to customize it for your business.

new website consider WordPress

What is a WordPress Framework?

WordPress frameworks are used as a parent theme template with all of the functionality. WordPress developers can create a child theme to add custom styling and leave the functionality to the parent theme framework or template. The framework is used to reduce web development time and usually has additional features. Canvas, Gantry, and Genesis are common WordPress Frameworks.

What are the features & benefits of a WordPress website?

WordPress is great for businesses with simple structured websites. It has basic installation, set-up, and maintenance requirements to save businesses time and money. WordPress is a useful CMS with a simple web interface for companies that want to provide their visitors with frequently changing content in attractive layouts. WordPress has a large community of users and developers that offer a huge selection of themes, plugins, and widgets with much flexibility.

Can You Create a Mobile Responsive WordPress Website?

Yes, WordPress website can be mobile responsive! Often, outdated WordPress software and themes are the cause of poor mobile sites. Choosing the right WordPress Framework can give you a mobile responsive website and better load time to help the user navigate with ease.

We recommend focusing on mobile first and working your way up to desktop computers. Use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) for faster load speed, better user experience, and to lower the website bounce rate. Remember, Google will predominantly use the mobile version of the content in the search engine results and ranking.

How to Improve Slow Loading Speeds for WordPress Websites?

According to a report by Microsoft Bing search team, a 2-second longer delay in page responsiveness reduces user satisfaction by 3.8%. It increases lost revenue per user by 4.3% and decreases clicks to the website by 4.3%.

I would recommend good hosting with Private or Dedicated hosting services to reduce the number of site on the server and daily backups. Implement the Content Delivery Network (CDN) to improve slow loading speeds whenever offered by the hosting service. Use an established WordPress theme and framework because they are updated to improve load speed as well as security. You can have a developer optimize the website for speed by optimizing images, the database, and code.

How to Avoid Stale Content & Build a Brand?

WordPress can help you create, publish, update, and archive old content or information. You can use SEO plugins like Yoast or SmartCrawl to improve the content for search engines. Adding widgets can help to populate a page with social media posts or sales promotions. The blog functionality is simple for you to both use, and to update to avoid stale content.

Use WordPress to offer different types of content to potential customers. Reuse content in other formats such as videos, infographics, podcast and PDF downloads. You can build brand awareness and manage an online reputation, too. The reviews plugins can help manage business reviews.

How to Maintain a WordPress Website?

The average lifespan of a website is 2-5 years. The maintenance of a WordPress website is essential to maintain features, functionality, and security. Outdated WordPress website software, themes, and plugins leave sites vulnerable to hackers.

A WordPress website should receive scheduled monthly maintenance to update the software, theme, and plugins. Whenever possible, remove all deactivated plugins from the site. Audit the website for broken links on the website with a broken link checker. Do not hurt your search engine ranking, create a bad user experience, or give the idea that your business does not exist. With proper maintenance, WordPress can provide the answer for your business website needs.

Still have questions? Contact our sales team for a free consultation or submit your questions in the comments section.

Introducing Responsive Search Ads

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Introducing Responsive Search Ads

How Responsive Search Ads Are Transforming Ad Writing

Google Marketing Live 2018 event was only a few weeks ago. One of the “big” announcements was a new Search Ad Format – Responsive Ads. This is still within Beta, but will be fully available soon. Whether you are able to begin testing Responsive Search Ads now, or just want to be prepared for when it is available, let’s discuss some strategic approaches to these new search ads.

How are Responsive Ads Different

First, stop thinking about Ad Copy as a whole ad unit. We need to start thinking of Search Ads as plug-and-play components. There are Headlines, Descriptions, URL and paths. The current Expanded Text Ads (ETA) allow for a maximum of

  • (2) x 30 Character Headlines
  • (1) x 80 Character Description
  • (1) x URL (your final URL root domain)
  • (2) x 15 Character Paths

While that was an increase over the Legacy Ads, the new Responsive Ads are even longer. These new ads allow for up to:

  • (3) x 30 Character Headlines
  • (1) x 90 Character Description
  • (1) x URL (same as ETA Ads)
  • (2) x 15 Paths (same as ETA Ads)

What Else Is Changing?

In addition to the increase in characters allowed, the other, more drastic change is how Responsive Search Ads are constructed. You no longer write a single (full) Ad Copy. Instead, you write multiple (max  of 15) Headlines and a few (max of 4) Descriptions. Google Ads (formerly AdWords) then “constructs” the final Ad Copy by using 3 of your Headlines and 1 of your Descriptions.

It is important to know that any of your Headlines could appear as the first, second, or third Headline, but will not be repeated within the same Ad Copy. There is however a “Pinning” option which allows you to pre-select a Headline to only be shown in a given Headline position.

Why The Ad Copy Change

This new approach to treating Ad Copy as components as opposed to a single Ad unit has the biggest impact on Ad Copy Testing. You no longer need to have multiple unique Ads within a single Ad Group. Instead having just 1 Responsive Search Ad in which you write 5 Headlines and 2 Descriptions with a Final URL and (optional) paths, is equivalent 120 Ads. The testing is then automatically done within Google Ads.

After this Responsive Search Ad runs and it becomes clear that certain Headlines and/or Descriptions are being shown more often due to maximized performance, then it is time to start a new test. Rather than writing a completely new Ad or making a subtle change to a current Ad, by replacing a few Headlines and/or Descriptions the auto testing starts all over again.

Are Responsive Ads Better

Since these Ads are still in Beta, the verdict is not in yet. Longer Ads allow advertisers to say more, which going from Legacy to ETA ads seems to be very helpful. The real question here is “Will writing the components of an ad (Headlines and Descriptions) separately and allowing Google Ads to auto create the actual Ad Copy that will be seen by searchers lead to a performance boost? Only time will tell.

Let’s us know your thoughts on or experience with Responsive Search Ads. Are you a fan of the segmented approach to Ad Copy writing or do you prefer to have more control over how your final Ad Copy will look?

4 Steps To Find Your Brand Voice

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Congratulations! You’ve just launched a new service and are eager to create a strong online presence. Or perhaps you’ve just been given the green light for your business’s first website redesign since Al Gore invented the internet. Either way, you’re ready to start the process of crafting a winning digital brand strategy. However, before you start shouting your message to anyone and everyone, there are some important things you need to consider.

The Importance of Brand Voice

First, you need to establish your brand’s voice, or how you plan to consistently express your brand through words. While images, videos, and podcasts have grown in importance, text-based communication remains critical to online marketing. Relatable language lends credibility to your message and can contain the keywords that your customers are searching for.

While you can certainly improvise and have some success, by not having a defined brand voice you risk confusing your audience with different messages. And since 83 percent of customer loyalty is driven by trust, mixing your messages makes turning first-time customers into returning customers that much harder.

Instead, consider how you’re going to communicate your value before you start a conversation with the audience. The process can be broken down into four easy steps:

1. Define Your Major Brand Traits

Think of a few words or phrases that describe your business, your product, or your culture. Are you professional or fun? A thought leader or a product innovator? Whatever words or phrases you choose, these brand traits will form the foundation of your company’s marketing efforts and the cornerstone of your brand voice.

The characteristics should reflect the value you aim to provide. Do your B2B customers want to hear that you’re adventurous? Maybe not. But if you sell gaming products, that trait might resonate with a large segment of your target audience.

2. Convey Why You’re Different

Odds are, the traits you’ve chosen to reflect your company aren’t exactly unique. We get it: here at DaBrian, we’re also quirky and authentic. Remember, you’re trying to reach the same buyers as competitors in your industry. This means there’s a good chance that you’re all defining yourselves in similar ways. However, if you can move past the “what” and the “how” to convey the “why” to your listeners, you can quickly set yourself apart from the crowd.

The WHY is about what a company believes in, not about what you make or how you make a profit. So extend each of your key defining traits so that they begin to tell a story. If one of your traits is “irreverent”, have a plan to explain why you’re irreverent. People want to hear your David vs. Goliath origin story, not the latest software features you offer. Influential companies link their purpose with their brand voice to convey why they are different.

3. Give Your Voice a Break and Listen Up

This is a key step that many companies skip in their rush to spread their messages. Don’t forget that the audience you’re trying to reach probably has its own way of communicating. Take a break from developing your own brand voice and tune in to what your peers, competitors, leads, and customers are saying.

Every industry has jargon that you need to be careful to include – or avoid – in your own messaging. Brands that fail to embrace the language of their target audiences come off as outsiders who don’t care about the people they want to work with. Companies that listen develop stronger brand voices, and come across as consultants instead of the latest in a long line of product pushers.

4. Put Brand Voice into Action

Once you’ve agreed on a few unique traits for your brand voice and confirmed that they align with your audience and industry, it’s time to put your plan into action. Extend your voice characteristics to include a few practical “do’s” and “don’ts” for your marketing team. If your brand voice includes “passion”, you might give the direction to include strong action verbs and to take a stand, even on controversial issues. You might also tell your marketers to avoid passive voice and lukewarm endorsements.

Lastly, make sure your team is on-board. Your brand voice needs to be clearly articulated to everyone in your organization as part of your overall brand guidelines. Go through examples of content that hit the mark. And show content that misses the mark, and make suggestions to fix it. Doing so will provide clarity for your content team and ensure that your brand voice is consistent across your marketing channels.

Conclusion

Developing your brand voice is crucial to conveying your brand’s personality and authenticity to potential customers. With just a few unique traits that resonate with your target audience, you’ll be on your way to digital content that builds brand awareness and customer loyalty.

For more information about brand elements to consider when designing digital content, contact us or leave us a comment below!

Before You Use Google AdWords…

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Although creating an Google AdWords account is easy and free, there is a good amount of preparation work that should be done before paying for your first PPC click. Before you put your company credit card info in AdWords, make sure you can clearly answer the following questions:

What Is The End Goal For Your PPC?

Stephen Covey wrote it best in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.”  Knowing if you want to build a subscriber list, generate leads via form submissions, or increase online sales, will change your campaign targeting and setting as well as your keywords, call to actions, and extensions.

Who Is The Target Audience For Your Google AdWords Ads?

Know who you want to reach and engage with online. This will impact audience targeting setting including which network(s) to target (Search and/or Display). Are you trying to generate new traffic or focused on driving return visitors via remarketing? This would drastically impact the verbiage of your ad copy and landing page(s). Pairing the answer to the first two questions, will help you write targeted and clear Call-To-Actions within your ad copy and landing pages.

Why Should Your Audience Click On Your PPC Ad?

Without knowing your company’s value proposition, your ad copy on Google AdWords will be very generic and unlikely to get clicks. Make sure you highlight features and benefits that you (and only you) can offer your customers. Give them a reason to click on your ad. Here is the example (with my notes) from Google AdWords Support:

The Headlines hint at who they are targeting  – someone looking for insurance within their budget.

The body/ad description line builds trust, offers and discount and the suggested call to action is request an online quote. (Sidenote – don’t forget to leverage Ad Extensions to add more specific details to your ads.)

How Will Your Customers Reach You After Their AdWords Click?

Go through your customers journey yourself. What are they searching, does your ad catch your own attention, and is your landing page relevant and easy to use/navigate? After you have done that once, consider doing it again on a different devices (computer, tablet, or most importantly mobile.)

After, going through these quick questions, you will be prepared to setup and begin running your Google AdWords. As you go through the setup process, keep in mind your target audience and what their needs/wants are. Use your ad copy and landing page to speak directly to their problem/pain points and your solution to them. Ensure your landing pages are as mobile friendly as possible and that your conversion funnel/path can be easily completed on any devices. Once you are ready to go live, start collecting data and reap the benefit of all your preparation work.

Have any questions, or think we missed a crucial piece of preparation work for setting up a PPC campaign, let us know in the comments or via twitter or facebook.

General Data Protection Regulation: What You Should Know

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If you’re in the digital marketing or analytics industry, you have probably been inundated by communication from vendors and partners regarding the General Data Protection Regulation, often referred to as (GDPR). Below, we’ve highlighted what GDPR is, why you should care, what impact it will have on your business, and what actions you need to take.

What is GDPR?

GDPR standardizes data protection law across all European Union (EU) countries and imposes strict rules on how personally identifiable information can be collected, stored, and used. The law goes into effect on  May 25th, 2018, and all organizations working with the data of EU citizens must comply or face heavy fines. GDPR applies to every business that collects data from customers in the EU, regardless of the company size, location, or intentions.

Why should you care?

GDPR applies to all organizations that handle the personal data of EU residence. Many companies located outside the EU are unaware that the new EU data regulation applies to them. If an organization offers any products, services, or information to EU residents, it must meet all GDPR compliance requirements. Gartner predicted that up to 50% of American firms will not be compliant. Those organizations that do comply with the required transparency should help to build brand trust and equity among consumers.  

How GDPR impacts your business?

Fines for noncompliance can be significant. A maximum fine of 4% of global revenues can be applied to companies that fail to gain user consent or violate core data security expectations. Lesser fines of 1-2% of revenues can be applied in situations where a company keeps incomplete records or implements insufficient data controls. GDPR requires organizations to appoint a Data Processing Officer (DPO) for EU government entities or public bodies or a company that either processes or monitors data subjects or sensitive information for citizens of the EU on a large scale.

What actions should your business take?

Below are a few steps that can help guide you for GDPR compliance:

  1. Create Procedures for Breach Notifications
  2. Determine if you’re a controller or a processor. The regulation breaks out responsibility for protecting data into two roles: controllers and processors.
  3. Audit your data and know which technologies are being used on your website
  4. Take the time to understand what data your business is collecting and why.
  5. Review what consent and disclosure look like for your customers. Get the consumer’s blessing on data collection.
  6. Evaluate exactly what third-party processors are collecting, where that data is going and how it’s being used.
  7. Keep a document on data processing and create a process to refresh the documentation periodically
  8. If a breach occurs, take action to inform regulators within 72 hours and be
    ready to inform consumers as quickly as possible.

GDPR Impact on the United States

In our opinion, it’s a matter of time before the US government takes action on data collection.  With Facebook data privacy being a “hot button” issue currently, antitrust questioning, data collection, and consumer privacy are on the radar of the US government and citizens who watched the Congressional hearings. You would think that the US government is closely watching and measuring the impact of the GDPR to see if it’s worth considering within the US.

Resources:

https://www.pandadoc.com/gdpr

https://www.observepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GDPR-ASAP-a-7-step-guide-to-prepare-for-the-general-data-protection-regulation.pdf

https://blog.pipedrive.com/2018/03/gdpr-compliance/

https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/security-and-risk-strategy/7-steps-to-gdpr-for-us-companies/a/d-id/1329235?