Marketing Agency

Communication with Your Marketing Agency

February 6, 2018 by K-Kom

As a business owner, your schedule is probably usually packed full, which is why you’ve taken the time to hire a professional marketing agency to take care of that very vital portion of the business.

It can be extremely tempting to hand it over and not think about it after that. Unfortunately, this is not the path to increased success or a happy relationship with the people who are doing the marketing work! Perhaps you don’t quite know exactly what you need, but you do know there’s a problem and you need a solution.

The agency will provide a list of things they need from you, to do their job in the best possible way. Once you have a good flow, establish the information you’ll usually need to have ready for them and make sure to stay organized by having one delivery method to maintain maximum efficiency.

As an agency, it’s then our job to provide as much education as you would like, to take a bit of the mystery out of our process and ensure you’re reaching your business goals.

When you feel the efforts aren’t fulfilling your expectations, tell us. Ask how the problem can be solved so you can begin to form an idea of the tactics used to solve various issues.

At the beginning of a new project, there is more need for collaboration, and as we go along we come to a lesser and more consistent level of communication.

Here are some examples of things we will ask you for, and why.

Past Marketing

Tell us all the successes AND failures the business has experienced over the years in terms of marketing techniques and campaigns. In-house or other agencies, we want to know everything so we can start off on the right foot.

Current Goals

Clearly defining your business goals and explaining these to us is of utmost importance. If necessary, sit down before our meeting and decide what is most important for the future of the business and your brand marketing campaign.

We all need to be on the same page when it comes to expectations, timeline, short and long term targets. Without this insight, your campaigns might not run in the best possible way!

Content

You will hear us talk about content until your ears fall off. This is because it’s very high on the priority list of things your site needs to be visible to the right people on search engines. With our tools and resources, we can provide some content, competitor and industry insights for you, but no one knows your business better than you.

Initial Batch

Provide an initial batch of ideas and previous content as a starting point, things you’ve seen be successful and not so successful. Photos, videos, blogs, news articles, white papers, etc.

Continuous Flow

Think of Google as a big hungry AI robot that needs data to stay fed and happy, and if your site doesn’t provide this, it will bury you alive to make room for others that can provide it, are better quality, and fresher.

As your marketing agency, we are the robot feeders and once you give us a continuous flow of what’s happening in the business, new offerings, new team additions, industry trends, etc. you’ll be heading in the right direction!

4 Reasons to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency

December 7, 2017 by K-Kom

As a business owner, you’ve likely gone between the ideas of expanding your internal marketing team and hiring a marketing agency to handle it all for you. Here are a few benefits to hiring an agency that your internal team may not be able to match.

Time for Changing Trends and Maintaining Skills

The world of digital marketing changes almost daily, so it takes dedicated time on a regular basis to stay on the cutting edge of techniques and the most important SEO factors. Does your internal team have time for this? Usually this is not the case, whereas it is a digital marketing firm’s job to do this, otherwise, we would become obsolete!

Capacity for Busy Times

When your company runs into a hectic time of the year, whether that’s during a trade show or a new product launch, other marketing efforts tend to be put on the backburner (likely in times you need it most). Utilizing a digital marketing agency in times like these is useful since there are more people to take care of the things that need to be done to ensure maximum business success on your end.

Creative Thinking and New Perspective

Marketers are trained to think creatively about new ways to increase sales and customer loyalty. Using the same techniques for 20 years can be detrimental to growth, but seeing new opportunity from the inside can be very difficult.

Marketing companies not only bring a new perspective, they have knowledge on changing trends in marketing and your industry, as well as examples of what has and has not worked for their other clients.

If your company has a lot of layers that make it difficult for anything to change, an agency can bring the right changes to the table and the reasons for why those changes need to happen.

Efficiency = Time and Money Saver

When you hire a digital agency, your internal team can focus on what needs to be done for the business, to get things done in the best possible way, without worrying about taking two hours of the day to write a blog and post to Facebook.

Probably the best strategy would be to find a happy medium, keeping your internal team minimal yet functional for the small things and as a liaison between the business and a marketing agency. Invest in your business’s future and watch the improved results come in!

Grow Any Business Online in 4 Easy Steps

July 25, 2017 by K-Kom

Lots of businesses are enjoying huge profitable success with an investment into their digital presence. With the ability to measure with a fine-tooth comb what is and isn’t working allows for some major advantages over traditional marketing paths, including saving precious time and money. Here are four major steps your business can take to vastly improve your digital footprint no matter where you are in that journey (side note: if you don’t have a website, do this first, then continue with the list).

Layout your digital business goals and stick to them

Too many businesses out there do not have a real plan, and this is what causes them to fizzle out in the long run. Having a blueprint allows you to try something, and compare your goals to your results, making it far easier to analyze and determine where the problems are, and what needs to change immediately.

Target your audience online

First you must really get to know your audience at a deep level. Where are they online? What other things do they like? Are there any new niches you can tap into that would be even more relevant for one of your products or services? If they’re on any social media channels, establish a page for your business in every place you can that will be relevant and potentially valuable. All of these platforms will serve as a “salesperson” that doesn’t need a commission ;).

Create helpful, quality content

Reciprocity is a powerful principle that is respected by most people. Give someone some value, without asking for anything in return, and if you’re giving to the right people, they’ll be far more interested in what they can buy from you.

Be mobile-friendly

Something that Google search engine now punishes websites for is not being optimized for mobile, and not being lightning fast. Does your mobile site make sense? What are your customers supposed to do on the site, and is it easy for them to accomplish these goals? Is it easy for you? Some businesses have experienced an increase in revenue simply by increasing the speed and usability of their websites.

There are far more details and things you can do to grow your personal business online, especially depending on the progress you’ve already made in this journey. But, these are some major points that if you conquer, your revenue should no doubt increase.

Contact K-Kom today to learn more about these steps and the various other ways to grow your business in the digital world, including social media strategy.

The Benefits of Having a Pro Manage Your Brand on Social Media

March 28, 2017 by K-Kom

For large and small businesses, with the semi-new popularity of brand management comes skepticism and question as to whether or not it’s really as important as some businesses make it out to be. But for any of the globally-successful names that come to mind right away, they would tell you that yes branding is incredibly important (learn more about this in a recent blog post What Exactly is Brand Marketing).

So first, what does a brand manager do?

A brand manager or branding agency begins by researching the marketplace in which their client resides, determining the level of competitiveness based on the big players and comparable rivals, competitive positioning, products and pricing. After analyzing this data, the brand manager then goes in and develops a brand strategy which can include marketing, budget management, helping with digital and print design, promo activities, price and sale analysis, and a thorough evaluation of how the brand can be seen by a wider consumer base, while maintaining relevancy. Telling a clear story in a genuine way causes those that resonate with the story to be more loyal; in an age like today where loyalty is scarce, this is becoming invaluable.

Win More Sales

The idea is to take the four P’s of marketing (product, placement, price, promotion) and put them on a sort of autopilot. Consumers have so many choices between all sorts of products, it’s often difficult for them, if not impossible to tell the difference between each. But, if you have a brand that is well known with a good reputation, you are more likely to win that decision and sale.

Brand Strategy FTW

So, to approach this the right way takes dedicated time and effort, which is why many companies turn towards professional brand management companies or a brand strategist, so you can keep running the business and doing what you need to do, and can leave the details to someone who is familiar with the ins and outs, has the resources for continuous research, and will dedicate time each day specifically for improving your brand image.

Social Media Is Still In It’s Early Stages – Take Advantage

Social media has become increasingly important for brands as a way to communicate directly with customers for entertainment purposes, surveys, direct feedback about what the business is doing as a whole, or customer service. Customers and potential customers can see what kinds of people belong to the company, and you can address widely known issues to many people at once which is very helpful if you must have a recall or if negative rumors are spreading through the media. Admitting your mistakes and telling people how you’re going to improve them improves customer loyalty and kills negative Nancy’s pretty quick!

If your business is ready to try out social media, could use some new marketing ideas and brand management, or you just want to know more about corporate branding services, contact K-Kom and we’ll be happy to tell you more and get you going in the right direction!

“OK Google: social media marketing Milwaukee!”