What does a successful Digital Marketing Agency that stands out in a crowd look like?

Digital marketing is changing at a rapid pace – shiny new technologies, tools, and platforms that promise to be game changers, and clients looking to work with an agency that understands their industry, their brand, and their needs to get them ahead of their competitors online.   With Digital Marketing Agencies (DMAs) evolving at an equally fast pace, what makes a successful agency, well versed in the digital marketing landscape, and a step ahead of other DMAs?  As Digital Brand Expressions (DBE) consistently earns high marks from our clients, our strategic partners, and our employees, here are some of the factors that we think make DMAs stand out:

• DMAs should be original, different, and creative.   Do things that are difficult and take time to reproduce.   Visitor generated content vehicles like blogs, forums, and user reviews are hard to duplicate.  And the more diverse the better!  Encourage everyone in the agency to participate so that over time your blog posts and social sites are reflective of the entire culture.
•  Be a “strategic thinking” DMA.  Look for game-changing information and developing trends that push to the outer limits of the digital ecosystem. Powerhouse players like Google share their insights into the future – and not just next calendar year.  DMAs striving to stay on top of the competition need to look past the breakers to what they can get to on the horizon.  The "Point of Views" DBE has been sharing this year have been very well received…they help others to see what we’re seeing on the horizon and why those things are important.
• Never stop innovating – stay one step ahead.  A lot of DMAs are stuck in a rut, repeating the same “cookie-cutter” approach to campaigns and promotions.  Instead of agencies wasting time thinking about what they have done “before” they should instead invest time thinking about what they can do for their clients in the future.  We take this to heart here at DBE.  We invest in “what ifs” and brainstorming sessions to keep our team in innovation mode so that we challenge ourselves to think “new, better, different.”
• Successful DMAs need to tie online and offline together.  Just because DMAs are not an integrated agency does not mean they shouldn’t take the time to see how this could benefit the client offline and pose possible campaigns that could be explored with another partner.   A lot of DMAs do not have the skill set in-house with regard to traditional off-line material but that does not mean that they shouldn’t be working through their client contacts to assure that the strategy and messaging with what the client is doing both online and offline is in sync.  Cross-channel campaigns include offline events such as direct mail, trade shows, tours and/or networking events.  For DBE, this is where are strategic partnerships come in—by keeping our clients’ needs in focus, a key component to our success is to ensure we have the right partners by our side for traditional marketing, branding, research, and other types of marketing that our clients need.
• DMAs need to understand consumer behavior.  For example, competitions on social media sites like Facebook bring in not just email addresses but people who are engaging with the brand and who have opted in.  This opens up the ability to communicate with them information that motivates them and responds to their needs and continues to build the relationship and loyalty.  By partnering with clients DBE gains valuable insights from their research of their audiences that overlay with their own research and analysis.  Presto—more EQ (emotional quotient) marketing for our clients and their brands.
• DMAs should have a great content development team led by an even greater content strategist (or two!).  There is an explosion of content creation services and software.  Content marketing is the core of every marketing initiative for B2B and B2C.  The search engines are focused on creating the best possible experience for their users, which means sites that offer the most relevant information stand to gain the most visibility.   Investing in original, high-quality content is essential to SEO success in the search climate, and the benefits of producing visitor-friendly content go far beyond rankings.  And it can’t just be well written.  A key component to content marketing strategies is to understand the context in which it will be encountered and how to charge that encounter with high EQ.
• DMAs need to look “under the hood” internally and objectively at where they are holistically as an agency.  They should be able to measure their success - where they are succeeding, falling short, and where they should be fine-tuned.  At DBE we do this constantly.  It’s painful sometimes, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  Honest introspection always yields improvements.

DMAs need to focus on making their agency unique - know the competition, highlight the agency’s qualities with stand-out pitches, and make sure the message is clear to the client that you have what no other DMA has – the people at your agency.  Share your team’s assets and invaluable skills with your clients.  Don’t hesitate to talk about real people, real results, and how you will tailor your skills to their needs.  And ALWAYS tie back to the client’s goals.

Webinar: SEO-cial for B2B Brands

Join Marc Engelsman, DBE's Director of Client Strategies and Analytics, as he hosts a SEMPO webinar on how to integrate SEO and social media to drive greater results -- and quantifiable ROI.

The webinar, titled "Yes You Can! Making SEO-cial Work For Your B2B Brand", takes place on Tuesday, May 14 at 12 PM EDT (9 AM PDT).

Marc will share case studies and actionable tips for:

• getting buy-in and collaboration from your content and technology teams,
• establishing measurable goals (and how they will be tracked and measured),
• creating and curating engaging content,
• creating meaningful conversations around the content that your buyers will want to share and more.

Register for the webinar today at SEMPO.org. All SEMPO webinars (and the archive recordings and PPTs) are available for FREE to SEMPO members. Non-members can attend the live webinars for $15 per webinar.

Streamline Your Photo Buying Experience

AP journalists are known for providing compelling images of breaking news around the globe, and now those photos are available to publishers, agencies, and creative professionals in a whole new way.

And now AP Images, the commercial photo unit of The Associated Press (and DBE client), has launched its newly re-designed and optimized website. The new APImages.com offers cutting edge tools to allow photo buyers to get in, out and on with their projects faster than ever before.

The new AP Images platform

APImages.com has been outfitted with features such as improved search speed with type-ahead functionality and infinite scrolling, allowing for a more streamlined image search experience. A personal workspace has also been added to save photos for later use, create category tags to sort images and organize creative and editorial content in order to help users capitalize on AP’s broad distribution network, the largest of any news organization in the world.

As part of an industry that revolves around tight deadlines and fast turnarounds, we think other marketing, advertising and design agencies that use APImages.com will enjoy the time saving features and vast array of editorial, creative rights managed, and creative royalty-free images. Visit the new APImages.com to sign up for a free account. We hope that you find the new APImages.com as useful as we do!

Adapting Marketing to a Mobile Reality

I haven’t used my personal laptop in months. And I’m not alone.

Source: CultureLabel.com

When I’m not working, my tablet and smartphone are pretty much the only technology I need for online shopping and product comparisons, watching videos on Vimeo and Hulu, reading news, paying bills, taking and sharing photos, finding information, and communicating with friends and family. My computer sits in the corner collecting dust.

Mobile devices and tablets are becoming the primary Internet access point for a growing number of people. Why sit at your desk when you can surf from the comfort of your couch or while you’re out-and-about? Mobile is changing the way we discover, engage with, and purchase new products and services.

Multi-device marketing is the new normal. As a marketer, I see this shift in consumer behavior changing the way brands position themselves in the online space. Here are a few of the emerging mobile trends:

• A mobile-optimized website experience is no longer optional. 
• PPC advertisers are preparing for Google AdWords Enhanced as campaigns will be automatically transitioned to appear across all devices in mid-2013. 
• Opt-in SMS marketing is providing an immediate, one-on-one dialogue between brands and customers. 
• Mobile integration enhances other consumer touch points, including in-store displays, print and TV ads, billboards and more, by connecting traditional brand encounters with digital engagements. 

Mobile offers tremendous opportunities for brands to connect with consumers during the buying cycle, often in very cost-effective ways. The question isn’t “should we invest in mobile marketing”, but “what’s the best way to adapt our marketing for a mobile-first world?”

DBE Through a Kid's Eyes

Yesterday, April 25th, was Bring your Child to Work Day and DBE had the good fortune to be joined by Zachary, the 10 year old son of our Business Administration Manager, Candida Pangaldi. We all thoroughly enjoyed having Zachary with us and loved his take on what we do and how we do it. For your reading pleasure, in his own words, here is Zachary's post for DBE:

I spent the day with my Mom for Bring Your Child to Work Day learning what she and others she works with do at Digital Brand Expressions. There were several meetings scheduled for me to meet with people and learn what they do. It was a busy schedule. My Mom helped me come up with a few questions I could ask each of them to learn more about what they do at DBE.

First, I met with Rob at 9 a.m. Rob does site clicking and coding. He used a lot of big words and some I didn't know what they meant. But he was very nice.

Next I met with Marc. He uses programs and gets reports, stats, and graphs that help him figure out how many people are on the sites now and how many people are on there for other months. This helps DBE help other companies get more customers. I think his job is very interesting. He told me to do his job you have to take a Google class and open book test along with other types of classes. His favorite part of his job is to figure out how many people are on different sites.

At 10:15 a.m. I met with Lauren. Lauren works with Adam and she makes close relationships with DBE clients. Lauren told me that to do her job you need to go to college and get a degree. Her favorite part of her job is working with her clients.

Then I met with Adam who works with Lauren. Adam tests out other client’s products and gets to travel to where the clients are located. Adam told me his favorite part of his job is that he gets to travel to different places and try out other client’s stuff.

At 11 a.m. I met with Mrs. Fielding, the owner of DBE. She has a very busy job making sure everything runs smooth. She said she is always on the phone and works on getting new clients for her company. She showed me what Google and Yahoo! see behind the websites. I thought that was really cool! Mrs. Fielding is so nice and showed me a lot.

I met with Meghan who does DBE’s writing for websites at noon. She posts blogs about different tips, writes a lot, and researches ideas. She is still going to college and she is always asking others for advice so she can learn more. Her favorite part of her job is getting to write blogs and tips for other people.

Lunch time! I got to have pizza with the whole company in the conference room… yum!

At 3 p.m. I met with Trishna and Bethany. They make advertisements for Facebook and other websites. They showed me a video advertisement for Coca Cola and how marketing works. Then they showed me a funny picture of a Star Trek app that you can post a picture of a person to and make them a Star Trek character. They took a picture of Adam and turned him into a Borg. It was pretty funny. I learned that Trishna is going to school to get her Masters degree in marketing. Both Bethany and Trishna love making advertisements for websites.

I met with Andrew next and learned he puts up pictures and description boxes for clients on websites like Pinterest. I thought his job was cool. Andrew is just finishing college. He also took the Google class and test just like Marc. His favorite part of his job is posting things on the internet.

At 3:30 p.m. I met with Pam. Pam is the boss of all of the teams. She makes sure everyone is doing their job and when she gets an idea she tells the clients as a suggestion to help them build their business. She told me she is good at her job because she got a college degree and has learned through experiences.

The last person I will tell you about is my mom who I spent most of the day with. She is the Manager of Business Administration. She takes care of office things, computers, employees, and manages DBE’s money. I think she has a pretty important job. She told me her favorite part of her job is getting to do a variety of things so she is not bored and working with great people. I think she is pretty lucky to work at DBE and I love her.

Adding Content for SEO

How to build an Optimized WebSite

You’ve just launched your beautiful, streamlined site. Now why isn’t there any traffic?

It seems like the latest trend in website design is minimalism.  If you’re launching a new site or redesigning an existing one, think about one thing; “How are people going to find me?”  Even after taking care of all the technical aspects to make sure your site loads quickly and can be crawled by the search engines, you need to do more.  While it may look great to limit the content on your site to a handful of pages, it’s not a good idea from an optimization perspective. 

I’m sure you’ve heard that in SEO "content is king".  To attract search engine visibility for a variety of keywords, each keyword needs its own page of well-written, engaging content.  Great content gets referenced and linked to by other websites which is a key search engine ranking factor. On top of that, people share great content with their social media networks, making social signals another factor the search engines are now taking into account.

For an evaluation of a well-constructed site, and a list of tips and design ideas, request our full POV.

Pharma Marketers Blaze a Trail in Social Media

Where do you turn for healthcare information?

New research indicates that nearly half of US adult consumers used social media for health-related purposes in 2012, and that number continues to rise as social media earns acceptance as a universal communication tool.

 
With the exception of a few shrewd trailblazers, pharmaceutical companies in the US have long been skittish about using social media to connect with consumers due to a lack of social media guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The growing opportunity to connect with patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers through social media, however, is leading more pharma companies to explore their options.

Social media communities and technologies can be leveraged to meet a variety of objectives, including patient loyalty and support, physician education, clinical trial recruitment, consumer research, disease awareness, corporate social responsibility, and brand protection. Protocols and staff training help manage compliance challenges and make social media a manageable – and highly effective – marketing tool for drug companies.

At DBE, we’ve had the satisfaction of helping guide our pharmaceutical clients through the social media adoption process, working closely with their teams to develop strategies that support larger brand goals, and delivering results that are demonstrable through online conversations and bottom-line numbers. Contact us to learn more about how we’re helping our pharma and healthcare clients – and how we can be helping your brand.

After Thoughts from SESNY

It’s been about 2 weeks since SESNY.  I covered the conference as a social reporter for our client SEMPO and captured some tweet highlights in my guest blog for them last week. Interestingly, unlike other conferences I’ve attended, I find myself still thinking about some of the overarching themes that emerged there and wanted to share some thoughts:

• As a conference name “Search Engine Strategies (SES)” is no longer representative of the evolved state of our business.  Fortunately, as I discussed with Incisive’s Matt McGowan while at SES, they purposefully delivered keynotes and a number of sessions that reflect the now-accepted understanding that sophisticated marketers consider search (SEO and PPC) as part of a larger digital marketing strategy that is integrated with offline tactics as well.
  
• The term “content marketing” is being used by many to bridge the growing synergy between SEO and Social Media.   Unfortunately, I think it’s becoming one of those broad, corporate speak buzz words that sound good but lacks definition or, worse, means something different to all who hear it.  We here at DBE actually prefer to use the term “context marketing” that addresses the need to put the right content in the right place(s) to drive connection with your target audiences.  Context marketing also extends beyond SEO and Social to include other emerging media delivery channels like video and mobile.
  
• Speaking of buzz words, “big data” was bandied about quite a bit at the conference and I wonder if it’s plateaued as a concept (i.e., big data your 15 minutes are up).  Don’t get me wrong - the need for analytics is more important than ever to drive program improvements and to justify investment.  But it seems like more and more marketers understand it’s not really about the amount of data you have but how you leverage it that matters.  In fact, we've seen how “small data” insights can often lead to big revenue increases for our clients.

Stay tuned.  I’m headed to an iStrategy conference in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to see how it compares/contrasts with my takeaways from SES. 

Google AdWords Enhanced Campaigns

Google recently announced AdWords Enhanced Campaigns, an initiative that restructures ad and device management settings within AdWords.  There are some benefits to the changes, but also some major drawbacks. 

 

Google has added some controls and options that have been a long time coming, but the primary change revolves around how AdWords Enhanced Campaigns handle settings for device targeting.  For the uninitiated, the simplification of device targeting should result in additional traffic from new sources, and makes it easier to manage, but for experienced AdWords marketers this traffic is already available with infinitely more control over where and when ads are displayed and how much those ads will cost.

AdWords Enhanced Campaigns will be a forced migration.  Campaigns can be opted in now, or Google will automatically transition campaigns late in Q2 2013.

Google is giving a little and taking a lot.  The changes to device settings are like trying to create a detailed sculpture with a jackhammer.  Precise management is critical for quality results.  By forcing advertisers into mobile and limiting their control over it, Google is going to increase competition as well as cost per click.

 

For more information about this change and action items related to it, request our full POV.

 

Facebook Lookalike Audience Targeting

Last week, Facebook introduced Lookalike Audiences, an ad targeting feature that lets brands reach new people who are likely to be interested in their products.

According to Facebook, “Lookalike audiences help you reach people who are similar to your current customers for fan acquisition, site registration, off-Facebook purchases, coupon claims and brand awareness.” 

There is no additional cost for using this targeting for your Facebook ads. Here’s how it works:

• If a brand has a customer database, they can upload the phone numbers, Facebook user IDs, or email addresses to the Facebook ad platform. 
• The platform will then match the encrypted data against Facebook's active users, and build a Custom Audience in your account with everyone that matches your list. 
• Brands can then display targeted ad messages to these users. 
• Once a Custom Audience is established based on your existing database, you can choose to create a Lookalike Audience that targets new people based on similar interests, demographic data or location. 
• Ideally, a Custom Audience should include at least 500 people. The larger the list, the better off you’ll be as this gives the system more information on which to base an accurate Lookalike Audience. 
• You can also overlay Facebook targeting to refine your audience and reach an even more precise group. 

What about data security? Facebook protects your customer data through a process known as hashing. As explained in the Facebook FAQ: “When an advertiser imports their hashed audience list into power editor, we compare it with our hashes to find all the matching user IDs. If an advertiser imports a hashed email address that we don't have, it won't match anything. Facebook won't know the original email address, so Facebook never receives your customer list.”

The early adopters who’ve applied their CRM data to Facebook social advertising report improved cost-per-acquisition. You can read more about these successes at Inside Facebook or contact our team to learn how we’re helping our clients get the most value from the enhanced targeting.