Scenario: it’s the home-stretch of 2018. The fourth fiscal quarter hits and you see consumer traffic dry up like a raisin. Well, maybe things aren’t so dire. But we all know that, as a business, you’ve got to acknowledge and adapt to the seasonal change in consumer focus. No, it’s not like people have completely stopped buying vehicles in the last three months of the year—your amped up Black Friday and fear-mongering “Get Ready for Winter” ads have seen to at least a few vehicles leaving the lot since November but, admittedly, it’s nothing like the crazy consumer action you might have seen in July. “Time to tighten up the purse-strings”, you say, “if sales are down, it must be because our advertising isn’t effective, and we’ve got to seriously scale back for the lean months.” Next thing you know, you’ve slashed your total advertising spend in half, thinking you’ve done yourself a fiscal favour for the time-being. Continue reading “The Q-4 Scaries”→
It was almost a day like any other, only that myself and another member of the Strathcom team flew to Toronto to take in Facebook Marketing Pro Expo–an event designed to showcase Facebook’s offerings to select advertising agency partners. Only the best agencies from all over Canada took in the half day event in the beautiful West Toronto event centre, The Glass Factory. In a move to improve the agency relationship, which will in turn improve the client relationship, Facebook introduced Facebook Pro: their new Marketing Partner program.
How It Went Down
The event itself was a great opportunity for Strathcom to network with companies Facebook has partnered with to improve advertising on the Facebook platform. One such provider is Shakr, a tool that lets you build out multiple ads with different content seamlessly, utilizing a user friendly, what you see is what you get-style interface. Along with these networking opportunities, the event offered the chance to connect with Facebook creative consultants to discuss ad creation best practices, and to converse with Facebook engineers to discuss the platform (and any issues that our agency has encountered). While lots of companies claim they’re always trying to improve user experience, we were able to actively influence the platform–which should net you real results! There were several lectures that our team attended, broken down by agency business practices: creativity, technology, and customer relationship management).
Creativity
Some of the key takeaways from the creativity lecture were:
Facebook’s creative shop works with 7 million advertisers to support agencies. Facebook itself works with 5,000 advertising agencies.
On the advertising platform 4 million accounts use Instagram stories every day, and 3 million users are using Facebook and Facebook Messenger stories daily. If you aren’t already utilizing this tool, get on it.
Good creative makes people do three things: think, feel, and do.
Technology
From the technology lecture there was one standout highlight–the impact that attribution modelling can have on a business’ advertising strategies. Facebook Analytics will now show you more in-depth, key insights on your customers. You will be able to look at customer’s journey, and opportunities to reduce drop offs.
Marketing Science
Marketing science helps businesses grow by transforming marketing practices, grounded in data science. One of the key takeaways from this lecture was the measurement journey that a department –grounded in a scientific approach to marketing– would use to measure success. This journey to better marketing requires you to have the right mindset, to test assumptions, and to create a long-term strategy that leaves room for growth. Facebook’s suggested format for this is:
Track the correct metrics. If they aren’t furthering your business’ goals, you may not need to focus on them.
Understand the results that Facebook is currently driving.
Optimize Facebook; have it work harder for you.
Determine how Facebook fits into your media mix. Spend the appropriate time to see the appropriate ROI. How does something like cross-device behaviour impact your marketing goals (which will impact your future marketing decisions).
Inform your media spend with better data! This goes back to tracking the proper metrics, and making sure they align with your goals. How much of your budget is allocated to specific channels?
These are all decisions that will help to build a successful Facebook marketing plan.
Unfortunately, like the holiday season, the conference was short and sweet. By lunch we had been filled with knowledge and Facebook branded products, and we headed toward the exit. It may have only been a half day conference, but we’ll see the impact of what we learned playing out for a long time. Fortunately, there was a little time before our flight back to our snowy home of Edmonton, so the two of us took in the West Toronto streets and dined on delicious hot ramen. The perfect way to end a chilly 23 hours in Canada’s little NY.
People around the world would have a different opinion on what the perfect website should look like, and that’s because a website’s design is based on people’s experience and perspective. One look may be liked by many, but it might not be by others. I tried going by the name Eugene for a bit and some people in the office actually started calling me that (and liked it for a bit), but ultimately, I think Cedric suited me best because that’s just who I am. I also thought I’d look good with a shaved head, but ask me again after I’ve had a pint of Guinness. There are many factors that contribute to successful web design. That’s why our team of well-rounded and knowledgeable designers and I compiled a bunch of tips to help you keep your website looking snappy and running smooth.
by Darene Cole (with an unnecessary amount of input from the team/peanut gallery)
If you’ve read our blog before, you know we love what we do here at Strathcom Media. And while we consider ourselves to be superhuman content-creating machines, our team must grow to ensure that all that quality content for our growing roster of clients hits the interwebs with the quickness—while maintaining a high level of accuracy and effectiveness. That’s why we’re hiring a Junior Content Strategist to join our SEO team this January. If you’re looking for a fun job (on *ahem* the best team at Strathcom) where you’ll get to learn new things every day, we’ve got the position for you!Continue reading “Get out of that unemployment line, and into the Strathcom lineup!”→
When I was young my parents had a red Subaru hatchback. We’d take that little car camping all over the backcountry, and we’d load enough stuff for a family of four to survive the wilderness for a weekend (and then some) on top of the roof–including a wooden canoe! Loaded up like that, her bumpers barely cleared the road and she sure didn’t win any awards for speed. But, she did get us to where we wanted to go… eventually.
