Name: The Go! Agency
Address: 1301 Seminole Blvd, Suite C128 Largo, FL, 33770
Telephone: 866.926.2636

3 Ways to Get Your Shopify Store Holiday-Ready

22Oct

You’ve put a lot of work into your e-commerce platform throughout the year, but have you thought about what you’ll do for the holidays?

It isn’t enough to quietly lower your prices. There are a lot of Shopify stores out there, and you need to stand out! Thankfully, there are some simple steps to ensure you’re making the most of of the holidays.

Let’s talk about how you should customize your Shopify store for the winter sale season!

1. Start a Holiday Sale
This one is a no-brainer. Holiday sales are inseparable from the winter shopping experience, and frankly, most shoppers won’t consider your Shopify store if you’re not running a seasonal sale.

To set sale prices, you’ll click on the individual product you want to discount, and you’ll have two options, “price” and “compare at price.” The “price” box will be the sale price, and the other box will be its price outside of the sale. This is a classic marketing strategy. When interested shoppers see how much they’re saving with your sale, they’re more likely to jump on the chance to get your products at a lower rate!

Once you’ve set up your sale dates and prices, don’t stop there! For loyal customers on your email list or new shoppers who sign up for it, why not show them a little extra love with some coupon codes?

2. Prepare Coupon Codes
Special discounts give people that extra push to give your store a try. After all, what do online shoppers love more than a bargain?

You can create coupons for a specific dollar amount, a percentage off an order, or free shipping. Your Shopify discounts will also have a programmable range of dates when the codes can be used, the number of coupons you’ll accept per order, and any order minimums for your discounts.

A word to the wise: Test your coupon codes! If your customers go to checkout and their coupon codes won’t apply, they’ll be so frustrated that they’ll never spend a dime at your store.

Before sharing the coupons, create a buyer’s Shopify account and try to make a purchase from your store. If the code works, then full steam ahead! If you’re getting an error message, you may need to reach out to Shopify’s support team for help.

3. Limit Your Coupons
Remember how I said you can limit the number of coupon codes for each order? Yeah, you’ll want to make that a priority.

Let’s say you’re offering 3 different coupons: 15% off the order, $10 off all orders over $50, and free shipping. Individually, each of those coupons is an incentive for your customer to spend more money at your store. But together? Their $60 order is only costing them $41, and you’re left on the hook for shipping.

By programming your Shopify checkout to only accept one coupon at a time, though, your customers can choose which discount best suits their needs without completely draining the transaction of any profit.

Deck the Digital Halls

It’s a lot of work to get your Shopify store ready for the shopping season, but it’ll be worth it. Apply these tips to your e-commerce shop and you’ll be set to enjoy a holly jolly sleigh ride straight to the bank!

Do you have some lingering questions about optimizing your store for the holidays? Talk it out with the experts at The Go! Agency!

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Your Metrics System: How to Track Results

By Christopher Tompkins

26Sep

Advertising, Social Media

You’ve done it! You created and survived your holiday marketing campaign! While it would be nice to revel in the feeling of accomplishment, you’re not done yet.

“But the campaign was a success!” You say, “we earned so much money! What’s left to do?”

Nothing much . . . only determining if your campaign was actually worth the time, money, and energy you spent on it.

I hear this sentiment all the time from business owners. After they’ve dipped their toes in the marketing world for the holiday season, they decide to leave the pool until the next fall.

“Why would I ever need to know all those marketing stats?” They ask.

This attitude will doom your chances of long-term success. These metrics affect your business, your brand, and your bottom line.

Those “marketing stats” will help you in a myriad of ways. They

are necessary for calculating your return on investment (ROI);
give you valuable demographic information;
help you determine your upcoming budget; and
give you insight into and ideas for your future marketing initiatives.

Here are a few metrics you should consider measuring at the end of your holiday marketing campaign.

Impressions are the number of times an individual person sees a piece of content (ads, tweets, updates, blogs, etc.). This is an awareness metric. Although impressions are important, it can be a vanity metric. Focus on the quality or the effect of the impressions. How many times did a person see your ad before taking an action?

Reach refers to the number of people who saw your ad. I’ve already discussed how important it is to target the right audience, and this metric lets you see if you hit your target! Did the social media network, website, and/or publication you chose for ads live up to your hopes? Did you get the customers you expected, or did you see a boost in traffic from an unexpected demographic? For instance, video games are marketed to teenagers, but parents are usually the people who actually buy them.

Engagement is, essentially, interaction. It shows that your audience actively participated in your content. Likes, clicks, shares, comments–all of these are ways your audience engages with your brand. Think of engagement as the active result of reach and impressions!

Click Through Rate (also known as CTR) is found by dividing the number of individuals who clicked a link or ad on your webpage by the total number of users who viewed the page. If your page was viewed by 380 people, and 7 of those people clicked the link to your storefront, then the click through rate would be 1.84 percent. That CTR isn’t horribly low, by the way. According to Hubspot, search ads average a CTR of 1.91 percent and display ads have around .35 percent.

Conversions are actions taken by visitors. These actions can include completing a purchase, filling out a survey, or subscribing to an email newsletter. Tracking conversions enables you to retarget consumers. In retargeting, you present ads to consumers who visited your page but did not complete an action (e.g., added items to the digital shopping cart, but never paid).

All of these metrics will vary according to your goals. Too many novice marketers make the mistake of only analyzing these metrics after the holidays or another big campaign, but that is asking for trouble. You need to do this throughout the year! Take stock of where you are so that you can get to where you want to go!

Voilà! I’ve told you everything you need to know about running your holiday marketing campaign! If you have additional tips (or cautionary tales), share with us in the comments below. Don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions about digital marketing, seasonal campaigns, or one of my many Christmas cookie recipes!

Do you need more help with your holiday marketing campaign? Don’t wait for a Festivus miracle! Contact The Go! Agency today for your free consultation!

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Creating Your Timeline for Holiday Marketing

By Christopher Tompkins

24Sep

Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

The holiday season is just a few weeks away! So far, I’ve told you what you need for your holiday campaign, how to target your audience, and where you should focus your budget, among other tips from my years as a marketer. Now I want to address the schedule.

Your holiday marketing campaign isn’t a high school project: you can’t expect to reach your goals if put everything off until the last minute. You need deadlines! I’ve found that there are three pillars for a good deadline. Good deadlines must be . . .

1. Good for Your Budget: The deadline must fit within the confines of your budget. Will you have enough money to run ads for a given amount of time? Will you have enough in the budget to cover your personnel needs until a specified date? These are the questions you’ll need to consider.

2. Good for Your Bandwidth: Speaking of personnel, you must give your team deadlines that are reasonable. Don’t assume that your staff will be able to pull off a Christmas miracle! Factor in human error and human nature by giving yourself and your staff a buffer. Never set deadlines at the last possible minute!

3. Good for Your Campaign’s Effectiveness: Will this deadline further your goals? In other words, are you spinning your wheels? Determine which actions are priorities, and which actions can be postponed.

Let’s start with a list of everything you need to accomplish or complete for your campaign. You’ll notice that some of these lead into the next item (i.e., you cannot complete Y until X is done). Generally, holiday campaigns include:

Final Strategy: When will you have your final plan? This is the blueprint that you’ll be sticking to for the entire campaign; so while you can (and should) be flexible, your campaign plan should be complete.
Budget: When will you have your budget ready? Do you need to hire any contractors or agencies to take on extra work of the campaign? It might sound silly to include deadlines for strategy and budget, but it will help you keep an analytical perspective toward your campaign.
Creative/Visuals: When do you need your final designs? This aspect includes layouts for ads and any new website or landing page visuals. Do you use a contractor for design work? Remember that contractors might book up quickly for the holiday rush!
Copy: When do you need all of your campaign’s written content? This should include landing page copy along with advertisements, posts, and blogs. You’ll need to account for editing content in addition to the approval process for ads.
Advertising: There are a few aspects to keep in mind here. The first is practical: what is the deadline for submitting ads for a given publication, website, or platform? The second aspect to consider is when will your ads have the greatest impact? For example, you can’t expect a lot of engagement from a Cyber Monday sale ad if won’t be approved until Tuesday morning.
Website Landing Page: You could generalize this to your entire website, but focus on the landing page for your holiday promotion or campaign. When will you need to have it up and running? If you use a contractor or another third party entity for your web design, what is their turn-around time? Will the holidays affect their schedule and availability?

Finally, you should consider the timing of your overall campaign. The timeline for a campaign that peaks on Black Friday is drastically different from a timeline for a campaign that peaks during the week of Christmas.

Armed with my advice, creating your campaign timeline should be a breeze! I mentioned this already, but it’s important enough to repeat: keep your plans firm, but allow for some wiggle room! Life happens. You realize that your copywriter will be out of town for Hanukkah. Your social media manager is hosting a horde of relatives and cannot work any overtime. Your IT guru will be on PTO all of Thanksgiving weekend–and you approved her request back in March.

This guide should help you create the optimal timeline for your holiday marketing campaign! Now let’s go!

The holidays are coming in fast–is your marketing strategy ready? The Go! Agency can help you get results! For a free consultation, contact us today!

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Contests, Promos, & Giveaways: What You Should Know

By Christopher Tompkins

19Sep

Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

Whether your business centers on a product or a service, the holiday season is filled with opportunities. But how can your marketing compete when all of your competitors are pushing for the same clients? Why not incentivize your customer with a contest, promo, or giveaway?

In my years as a marketing expert, I’ve noticed that companies fall into one of two camps when it comes to incentives. The first camp consists of the anti-incentives crowd. These brands might feel that giving a free incentive would denigrate their product or service. They believe that such promotions (or even discounts) could damage the brand even if they attract new customers. Antis see incentives as pandering to their consumers. The second camp is filled with pro-incentives people. Such brands believe that people love free stuff, therefore free stuff will attract customers. This group is all about giving away promotional materials, too. (Coincidentally, brands like these are the reason we have unique, quirky, and just plain weird marketing swag.)

Both sides make fair points. You don’t want your brand to appear aloof, but you don’t want customers to take you for granted, either. There’s a way to balance both. Let’s discuss contests, promos, and giveaways, along with incentives!

Contests are events in which individuals (or teams) compete for a prize. They are a great way to get user-generated content (UGC). Often, brands will ask customers to post pictures or create videos that meet certain requirements.

Tagline: “Send us your best pic, and the winner will receive an all-expenses-paid cruise!”

Promos (short for promotions) are limited-time offers or events that are held to encourage consumer engagement. Brands want to attract new customers, so they’ll offer free shipping for a given time period. Some companies offer discounts to new users or members. In several U.S. states, the school year is preceded by a “tax-free weekend,” in which the government forgoes sales taxes in an effort to increase back-to-school shopping at local establishments.

Tagline: “Buy-one-get-one-free sale on pens this weekend only!”

Giveaways are when a brand gives an item or provides a service free of charge to consumers for promotional reasons. These can range from a free gift with purchase to giving out promotional swag to passersby.

Tagline: “Free gift with every purchase!”

As you decide what you want to do, you need to think about the following points.

1. Competition
This point could just as well be labeled “research.” Find out what your competitors are doing. While you want to stand out from the crowd, knowing industry norms will keep you from looking reckless or foolish. For example, a Porsche dealership wouldn’t hold a buy-one-get-one (BOGO) for free deal on cars, but they might throw in free oil changes and other maintenance for the lifetime of the vehicle.

2. Incentives
There are actually two types of incentives. The incentive could be a reward, i.e., something that could be considered a bonus. With the above example, a reward might be the inclusion of an official Porsche crest keyring. The incentive could be a motivator, i.e., something that would push your audience through the decision process faster. In the previous example, the free maintenance acts as a motivator. The great thing about the types is that you can combine them or use them concurrently. One final note on incentives: it should be something complimentary to your service or product. An insurance company might give out a free umbrella to new clients, for instance.

I personally believe that incentives can be great for your brand’s sales and reputation. I’ll leave you with a story that, to me, proves the value of an incentive.

The Go! Agency handles the marketing for a franchise of assisted living facilities. One challenge they faced was that caregivers of potential residents who toured their properties would love what they saw, but choose another home for their loved one. These decisions were often based on price and other factors that our client could not control. We decided to add value to the tours by creating an ebook that explained what you should ask about a potential assisted living facility. At the end of each tour, the guide would say, “I know that you’ll probably continue looking around and researching your options. We totally understand–you want to find what’s best for your family! Anyway, the website has a link to an ebook we’ve written. The book gives you some questions that we’ve had people ask time and time again. We’ve chosen the most important ones, so it should be useful if you tour another residence.”

BOOM

By sharing knowledge, our client is now an expert.

BOOM

By trying to help out caregivers, our client is now a resource.

BOOM

By emphasizing that they understand, our client has now endeared themselves to that family.

All because of an incentive.

Contests, promos, and giveaways are great for encouraging engagement from your audience and drawing attention to your brand. You can do so much with these events, both in terms of money made and buzz generated.

Do you need help with with an event, or your overall marketing strategy? Discover what my team of marketing experts can do for your brand! Contact me today for a free consultation!

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7 Questions to Answer When Creating a Holiday Sale

By Christopher Tompkins

17Sep

Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday . . . . We’re about to enter the holiday sales season!

I have seen so many brands crash and burn when it comes to holiday sales. Either they do no promotion at all or they go overboard and spend a fortune promoting the sale. You don’t want to do either! Sales should be organized, promoted, and measured. Never wait until the last minute to plan your sale! And remember that you have to budget for the whole season: you should never throw all of your holiday budget into promoting your Black Friday sale, for example.

I’ll let you in on a secret: you can learn a lot from your competitors! What are their promotions like? How far in advance did they begin promoting the sale? What discounts are they offering? Do some research and see what the norms are for your industry.

On to the nitty-gritty! Here are seven big questions you should answer.

1. What is Your Goal?
What are your desired results from this sale? Do you want to reach new customers or gain exposure? Do you want to make room for new inventory? Do you want to make money? This will affect the details of your sale, like prices and discounts.

2. Does Your Sale Revolve Around the Price or the Product?
“But wait,” you say. “Don’t sales involve both?” I’m talking about discounts versus bundles here. Are you offering your merchandise at a blanket discount (“20% off the whole store!”) or are you grouping products/services into bundles (“Buy One, Get One half price!”)?

3. How Will You Measure Success?
Determine what metrics you will use to gauge your success. One thing you should absolutely find out is the total amount grossed from the sale, minus the total amount spent on promoting the sale. Other metrics might include counting unique website visitors, new email marketing subscribers, or social media engagements.

4. Where Are You Going to Promote It?
You should definitely advertise your sale on social media, but how do you choose which platform? The obvious answer would be: the platform which is most frequently used by your target audience. Boosted or sponsored posts on the right platforms are crucial!

5. What is Your Promotional Budget?
Speaking of sponsored posts, you’ll need to determine your promotional budget. What will you spend on ads and boosted posts? For online merchants who also have brick and mortar stores, will you be making any physical materials like flyers or signs? Keep in mind that this might not be the only sale you will have during the holiday season–budget accordingly!

6. What is Your Timeline?
This not only includes the time of the sale itself, but the lead-up to the sale. How long will the sale itself last–a few days, one day, a few hours? A good timeline is thorough! You should include deadlines for writing ad copy, designing visuals, and placing advertisements; additionally, you need a deadline for sending your website or IT team the necessary codes and information for the website! As I mentioned above, you should look at your competitors and other companies in your industry to determine discounts, duration, and other specifics.

7. Is Your Website Ready?
The doomsday scenario for every online merchant is a website crash on the day of a major sale! Don’t let this happen to you! Consult with your website design team to double check that your online store is stable and ready for an influx of customers. Contact your web host to ensure that their servers can handle the anticipated above-average volume of traffic. If possible, ask your IT person to be on standby during the sale–especially for weekends or holidays, but expect to pay for their time–in case of emergency issues.

There you have it! These will help you plan the holiday sale–without losing your holiday cheer! I’ve learned from experience that there’s no such thing as a stress-free sale, but these questions will help keep you focused!

Do you need marketing help for the holidays and beyond? Contact us today for a free consultation!

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How to Create the Perfect Budget for Holiday Marketing

By Christopher Tompkins

10Sep

Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

I know, I know, I know. Budgeting at this time of year can be challenging at best. As we go into the 4th quarter, most of the marketing budget has probably already been spent. Every business enters the crucial 4th quarter period counting pennies and figuring out ways to cut costs so that they can still somehow end the year with a bang.

Why is this an issue for so many companies? Why does it keep happening year after year?

Two words: poor planning.

You don’t account for surprise marketing expenses. You don’t adequately track your annual marketing spend. You just don’t plan.

Listen, what’s done is done: you need to move forward. Tomorrow is a new day–a day when you still will have the ability to plan and budget for your success. The wonderful world of social media marketing has many hidden expenses that can pop up suddenly. So expect the unexpected–and include the unexpected in your budget!

Let’s throw the other important factor into the mix: the holiday season. You need to answer some basic questions before you can begin your preparations. Are you a product company or a service company? Do you know what you should realistically expect to pay for social media advertising during the busy holiday season? What are your objectives? How much saturation will you need to overcome in your market? What are your competitors doing?

Now that you have those basics, how do you prepare the perfect budget for your holiday marketing on social media? Here are my tried-and-true, go-to tips to help you begin!

The Objectives: What does your business need to achieve in that all-important 4th quarter? Increase number or amount of sales? Get rid of old stock? Build awareness for an upcoming initiative or launch? Your first step when it comes to any budget is to understand what you want to achieve.
The Where: Once you understand what you want to achieve, you need to think about where you’re going to focus your efforts. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube? All of them? This is important as each one of these has not only a different price tag for entry, but includes a whole separate set of work.
The Who: Now that you have objectives and social media sites in mind, who is doing the work. In-house, or are you outsourcing? Why – there is a cost associated with this decision.

Now it’s time to work on your budget:

What Are You Working With? Take a look at your annual budget and see what is left. How much will you be able to allocate to your social media marketing for the holiday season?
What Is Your Timeline? How long will your holiday marketing campaign last? Do you want to slowly escalate it, or stay at one pace? When will you be doing the most marketing?
What About Advertising? If you don’t plan on outsourcing your social media efforts, this will be your only remaining price pusher. How much do you want to spend on social media advertising? If you are new to this concept, I would suggest Facebook Advertising. It has a low barrier to entry and will help you understand how to execute a campaign. My top tip is to test ideas for your advertising accounts before you launch the full holiday campaign!

This will help you get your ducks–or reindeer–in a row. Remember that the more you spend on social media advertising (when the correct audience and metrics are in place, of course), the more results you will see. Now get going!

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Target Acquired: Tips for Finding Your Audience

By Christopher Tompkins

5Sep

Advertising, Business, Facebook Advertising, Social Media

On your mark . . . . Get set . . . . WAIT!

I have seen so many marketing campaigns that feel like a pee-wee track meet: they are hastily organized, poorly attended, and all hell breaks loose at the sound of the starting pistol.

Too much money, time, and effort are wasted marketing the wrong message to the wrong audience. In fact, you’ve probably done it yourself.

“That’s impossible!” You say. “We hired the best copywriters to create persuasive content! Our design team made stunning visuals! And the videos were so expensive, they had to be good! But we didn’t see any return on our investment!”

You are frustrated and exhausted. “This was the absolutely perfect campaign!” You ask, “where did we go wrong?”

Well, I hate to tell you, but at the very beginning, my friend. When you planned that campaign, did you think about your target consumers or clients?

I am all about planning every single detail prior to the launch of every marketing initiative, but some aspects still get lost in the process. There is one point I don’t feel is emphasized enough when creating the strategy for a marketing initiative: identifying the actual target for all of these marketing efforts.

Everyone is sharing the latest ways to “work” (note the scare quotes) the Facebook algorithm to your advantage or quickly boost your Instagram views, usually with just a few steps (kind of like those “one weird trick to losing weight” ads). Awesome, right? Wrong. All of the tips, tricks, and tactics in the world are useless unless you fully understand who your target audience or customers are.

Right now, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Well, that might be true for some business people, but I know who my customer is.”

Again, I hate to tell you this, but . . . you probably don’t.

I’m not trying to insult your knowledge of your own business, but when you are marketing on social media you need much more than the standard demographic outline. With any digital or online marketing, you need to dive deeper and understand more elements of your target audience.

Not to worry though, I have you covered. Here are some of the simple steps that we take our clients through when they are having trouble identifying their target audience. Let’s go!

1. Money, Money, Money, Money: Yep, everyone loves that green stuff. Turn your attention to your books. It is crucial for you to be able to identify a few key monetary aspects. Who–demographic-wise–is spending the most money? What product or service sells the most? What product/service delivers the highest margin? Once you know that, determine who is buying it. If you are a beauty brand that sells 1,000 hairbrushes for profit of $10 and sells 500 hair dryers for a profit of $400, then I would look into the demographic makeup of that hair dryer crowd–the brand should focus on the products that bring in more money with fewer sales. Use your sales successes and current client roster as your starting point.

2. Sex Matters: If you have a product or service that is specifically made for a woman, it does not mean that men could not be loyal consumers of your company. Don’t ignore any markets or demographics without the proper data to back up your decision! Major opportunities are lost this way.

3. Location x3: Where are your consumers? National, regional, state-wide, city-wide, or even more local? Why do I ask? Well, did you know that you can place advertising to specific audiences based on specific zip codes? Yes – you can be that specific.

So now you will have a very strong initial idea of some of the basic concrete aspects of your target audience. But you want to take this further. You’ll need to create two more items:

1. Baseline Audience Demographic Profile: This is where you take the information gathered from the initial three steps listed above and put it into an outline that can be used as a jumping-off point for further analysis and inspection. The profile would need the following information: age range, gender, location, average value of each new client/customer, net worth, household income, and any other pertinent data.

2. Buyer Profiles: Now this is where you can dive deeper and get more acquainted with your target audience. Buyer profiles allow you to create specific customer profiles that will reflect your audience in multiple ways. These take your existing data and delve deeper into various aspect such as interests, hobbies, media habits, and more. Buyer profiles will help you not only engage with your audience in a more human way, but also identify your audience faster.

While this might seem like a lot of work, the reward is well worth the effort. For one thing, digital marketing gives you more opportunities to target! For instance, did you know that on Facebook alone you can target based on restaurants that your audience visit, movies that they see, and political parties that they follow? And that is just scratching the surface.

So as you can see, it is more than having a product and/or service and simply choosing your audience. Proper audience identification is a process that may take a little time, but pays dividends when completed properly. Take your time and ensure that you have this piece completed before moving forward with any costly or time-consuming marketing activities or initiatives. Otherwise, you’ll be left in the dust.

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Your Ultimate Holiday Marketing Strategy Checklist

By Christopher Tompkins

3Sep

Advertising, Business, Facebook Advertising, Local Marketing, Marketing

As the summer draws to an end, the kids go back to school, adults pack away their summer wardrobes, and everyone begins to settle back into the hectic autumn schedules.

But something seems . . . wrong.

It’s barely September, but suddenly we see Halloween decorations everywhere. Thanksgiving-themed wreaths abound. Turkeys and Santas have begun rearing their ugly heads! It’s bad enough that holiday decorations are on display before the leaves change, but why are Christmas trees already 25% off???

Well folks, ’tis the season to commiserate about how annoying it is that the holidays are stretched out just a little bit longer–and start a little bit earlier–each year.

While Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday (yes, I get really into it), even I roll my eyes when I see Christmas wrapping paper in stores before I need to use my car’s heater.

But instead of seeing this trend as an annoyance, I have a much more productive angle for you. This “Christmas creep” is a wake-up call for your fall marketing campaign! If you have not yet created your marketing strategy and budget for the holiday season (roughly November through January), September is your last chance!

Why am I telling you this? Because in my ten years handling clients at The Go! Agency, I have seen first-hand how last-minute planning can sabotage a company’s holiday earnings. Too many brands waste time and lose money by procrastinating this time of year. The less time that you spend planning your holiday marketing strategy, the less success you will have against the better-thought-out campaigns of your competitors.

Based on my experience, I have identified specific aspects that you should start thinking about NOW in order to kick-start your holiday marketing strategy. Keep in mind that each business is unique (whether you sell products or provide a service), so this is just a springboard for your planning efforts for the season.

Without further ado, let’s jump in! The Go! Agency presents your Ultimate Holiday Marketing Strategy Checklist!

Goals: Of course, goals are the first thing that you need to establish when planning any marketing campaign. What are your goals for the holiday season? Do you want to increase leads and sales? Do you want to receive more brand recognition? More website traffic?
Objectives: Objectives, my friend, are measurable goals. Think of it this way: if your goal is at the top of a staircase, each step would be an objective. Here are a few good examples of objectives: ten new leads per month, ten new sales per month, 1,000 post impressions, or increasing web traffic by 25 percent.
Timing: Should your fall marketing focus on the major winter holidays, or the late autumn holidays? The Christmas holidays are huge for most brands, but you might see increased sales earlier, around Halloween or Thanksgiving!
Discounts/Promotions: Are you prepared to offer any special discounts or package promotions? You better decide now! Even so-called “flash sales” require a lot of planning and preparation. And if you want to have a Black Friday special, you can never start planning too early!
Labor: Do you have the right people in place to execute your holiday marketing campaign, or will you need to look beyond your current staff? For instance, you might have a great marketing manager, but you need an SEO specialist for one part of your holiday strategy. You had better move fast: the demand for talent around the holidays is fierce! Even freelancers can be booked months in advance.
Advertising: This is a key component, especially when it comes to social media marketing. Did you include this crucial piece in your budget for holiday promotions? Where are you going to advertise? How much can you spend on ads? Hey, speaking of which . . .
Budget: You need to account for outsourcing, advertising, and who knows what else! Do you have a budget in place for–or any money left from your annual budget to use on–your holiday promotions? (Pro tip: you should create a specific holiday budget into your annual budget when you pitch it each year and then earmark the funds for the fourth quarter.)
Schedule and Timeline: You need to map out the deadlines for every aspect of your marketing campaign, from creating content to determining release dates. It can be as rigid or as flexible as you need.
Measurements: What tools will you use to measure the effectiveness of this campaign? How will you quantify your goals? This will help you not only determine your success but also refine your future holiday strategy.
Competition: Not sure if you are on the right track? What’s the competition doing for the holidays? Take a look at the strategies of others in your industry (especially direct competitors). The findings may be surprising, but will always be helpful.

These ten items will help you focus on the holiday season so that your marketing campaign does not get left out in the (ahem) cold.

Remember: they sell Christmas trees in August because people will buy them–it’s basic supply and demand. The next time you notice any pre-seasonal cheer, take it as a reminder that you need to get your holiday marketing game in full gear! Keep your eyes on the prize, double down on strategy, carefully consider your budget, and don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. It’s time to get to work!

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Social Media Marketing Solutions: Fitness Studios

By Christopher Tompkins

29Aug

Business, Local Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

For the rest of the summer, the Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of different industries. For each week in August, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; our second blog will explain how to fix those mistakes.

As we discussed in our previous blog, the fitness industry has some work to do when it comes to social media marketing. Thankfully, the common issues have easy fixes. Let’s take a look at one fitness studio that needs some more coaching on their marketing techniques! (Note: The following example is a hypothetical case study that combines features from several different situations. Names, locations, and other details have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of source examples.)

Ferris Fitness is a small boutique fitness studio that specializes in spinning and pilates. CEO Carol Ferris wants her studio to be a space where people can feel comfortable and get healthy. She is busy enough with the day to day operations (and keeping head trainer Hal from throttling Guy, a spin instructor), so she leaves the social media operations to Kyle, the receptionist and de facto office manager. Kyle likes that this duty enables him to flex his creative muscles (his degree is in graphic design), but he doesn’t know a lot about marketing.

Bad Visuals
Carol wants to show off their gorgeous layout, so she’s taken lots of pictures of the studio. Always when it’s empty, of course–why would you want people in the way? Pilates teachers Jessica and Simon will frequently snap candid pics during workouts, and sometimes even take (admittedly shaky) videos of group classes.

Solution: Polish your image.
We’re not saying that you need to make your trainers wear full make up so that you can take pictures of the class, but you need to look polished. Pay attention to lighting and composition of your shots. Take time to actually set up your photos. And enough with those sad pictures of empty gyms: people won’t be impressed by the space, they’ll be confused by your lack of clients.

Too Perfect
Spin instructor John wants to take before and after photos of clients, but Carol worries that asking would offend or embarrass them. Right now, their photos are mostly shots of the trainers during their own workouts.

Solution: Embrace reality!
You need to show the “before” picture if you want the “after” picture to have any impact. People want to see what your gym could do for them, and the best way to do that is to show a person who is at the beginning of his/her fitness journey. More than that, people want to to relate to others. Ask your clients if any of them would be comfortable sharing before and after photos. Ideally, you should present a mixture of all different ages, sizes, and body types.

Strictly Business
Ferris Fitness has an eclectic bunch of employees. Guy volunteers with the Special Olympics. Jess and Simon co-emcee a popular karaoke night at a nearby bar. The staff includes two retired veterans: Hal (USAF) and John (USMC). Sadly, no one would know any of this by looking at any of the gym’s social media channels.

Solution: Get personal.
Show off your staff! No one who’s seen Guy yelling at cyclists in his lunchtime spin class would ever think that he’d be great with children, much less children with special needs. Jess is so quiet during classes, but she’s effervescent on stage. Happy-go-lucky karaoke night Simon likewise bears little resemblance to stern trainer Simon. Hal and John don’t like to flaunt their military service, but they wouldn’t mind being mentioned on Veterans’ Day. By showing the human side of your trainers, you allow your audience to connect.

Ferris Fitness has one advantage that too many businesses lack: an owner who was willing to learn. After Kyle mentioned their social media issues, Carol did some research on her own. She had thought that her fitness studio was average in terms of social media, but she quickly saw how much she was missing. Carol decided to contact a small social media management firm. She felt doing so would be the best for herself and her staff–and the results have been great!

Don’t do all the heavy lifting of digital marketing by yourself! We can help you optimize your marketing strategies. Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Why Am I Not Getting Leads from My Facebook Page?

By Christopher Tompkins

28Aug

Advertising, Facebook, Facebook Advertising, Social Media

…or How to Succeed in Facebook by Really Trying

As the CEO and Head Strategist of a social media-centric online marketing agency for the past ten years, hundreds of new clients looking to turn their Facebook fortunes around have asked me this question. And they all have a similar story . . . .

You are a business owner, marketer, or sales person who is managing the Facebook Page for your business. You have heard about the wonders and riches that Facebook is bringing others in your industry, and have read countless articles about how to make it work for your company. The articles all seem to repeat the same formula:

Focus on content.
Tell your story.
Be consistent with your messaging strategy.
Use visuals.
Pray to the Facebook gods for results.

You have tried all of these elements . . . why oh why are you not getting any results?

First, let’s take a look at that term “results.” Do you know what type of results that you could expect from a Facebook marketing campaign? Have you set goals? Have you set measurable objectives?

No?

This is the first reason why you are not getting leads from Facebook. No success metrics are in place.

For all marketing initiatives, one of the key elements that you must consider is what measurable outcomes you expect and are working towards. While many people still hang onto the fact that they cannot secure a true ROI of Facebook marketing, it’s hard to find ROI when you haven’t defined the terms!

So the number one item missing from your Facebook Page marketing strategy is your objective. You need at least two (yes, count them–TWO) objectives that you would like to achieve. These could be awareness (reach, impressions), audience growth, or even engagement. Putting a number to these will help you see the power of your page and where you need to focus going forward.

Secondly, how much are you spending on Facebook Advertising? Nothing? Then you are pretty much done here. Given how the Facebook algorithm is built, if you don’t have a decent budget for advertising, then your content will probably never reach your target consumers. If it doesn’t reach your target consumers, you can’t get them to engage with you, learn about your services or products, and move through to your website to purchase or get more information.

What I want you to understand is that Facebook success is not free initially. You have to pay to be seen. Then if you build the right market, put out the right content, and get the right level of engagement, you will be on your way to sustained success. With an ongoing advertising budget in place, you will be able to continually add more new people to this funnel and perpetuate success.

But what is success? That takes me back to the first point: create and name measurable objectives. Based on those objectives, create a Facebook advertising campaign (or four). Reap the results and repeat.

Are you still wondering what you are missing about Facebook Marketing? You are not tracking your goals realistically and your Facebook Advertising campaign is either weak, nonexistent, or is thirsting for more from your budget.

Think what you would make on a typical client (what you would net). Try creating an ad with that demographic in mind that is aimed at fulfilling one of your objectives. Run it and see how it does. Then refine and repeat. Testing is not a bad thing and will help you get closer to your goal. Just remember to have one to begin with.

Tag : business strategy

…or How to Succeed in Facebook by Really Trying