Managing your brand through effective social media, online & traditional marketing

Consistency is key in running ads. Run them regularly and maintain a consistent look to your ads. 

Consistently means on Facebook might be 3-4 times a week and in newsprint at least weekly. In radio, during drive times – 3 times a day for 5 weekdays. Run at least a full week monthly but the better would be two weeks every month.

It’s all based on your budget. But a good rule of thumb is 10% of your overall budget. At least begin with 5% if you are start-up so you have more to rely on that only Facebook and Instagram free posts. Put some toward ads on social media and traditional media to get the business name out.

It has to be included in part of your week/month as you do with invoicing, bookkeeping or other admin business – if you are choosing to do it yourself. 

It’s about creating your content – the ads, posts, radio spots – at one time and schedule them to run throughout the month. That way it’s done at least for a month at a time.

Local radio and newspaper sales reps will help you keep up and provide you ideas and assistance for those placements. 

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing and learn from it.  Look at what your competitors’ online presence – website and social media - and that will get some idea of what is and isn’t working. 

Conduct a competitor analysis and do your research with these types of questions in mind: 

• What type of content do they use (e.g. a company blog, videos or visuals, custom landing pages, original research or user-generated content?) 
• How do they communicate their brand and what makes them unique? 
• How well do they engage with the audience and how (e.g. social media channels? 
• What platforms do they use?
• Do they have any brand advocates or influencer partnerships?
• Do they have a loyalty program and if so what does it offer?

Studies show 76% of all consumers look for a company online before visiting a store and 45% are likely to visit the store after finding a strong online presence in a local search.*

Every business should look at digital channels as a way to generate leads and convert interest into customers.

*Based on studies by Digital Marketing Institute 

• Increase your interaction with prospects and learn exactly what they are looking for i.e get to know your customers better.
• Reach out to anyone in any location and at any time zone as there are no geographical boundaries with digital 
• Target the right audience at the right time through hyper-personalization
• Communicate with your prospects and customers at every stage of the buying process
• Save money and reach more people for less 
• Understand your audience and drive engagement to boost customer loyalty.
• Track and monitor campaigns in real time so you can optimize or tweak content or targeting.
• Offer better customer service using social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing and learn from it.  Look at what your competitors online presence – website and social media - and that will get some idea of what is and isn’t working. 

Conduct a competitor analysis and do your research with these types of questions in mind: 

• What type of content do they use (e.g. a company blog, videos or visuals, custom landing pages, original research or user-generated content?) 
• How do they communicate their brand and what makes them unique? 
• How well do they engage with the audience and how (e.g. social media channels? 
• What platforms do they use?
• Do they have any brand advocates or influencer partnerships?
• Do they have a loyalty program and if so what does it offer?