5 Reasons Why It Makes Sense to Work With A Media Buying Agency

1. Professional knowledge

Unless your marketing director has a lot of experience with media buying, it is better to hire a media buying agency. Harness the power of professional knowhow and avoid rookie negotiation mistakes, inadequate plans, or poor placement. Buy using their skills, you not only gain access to their connections, but also to their industry knowledge and overall experience with matching a brand to the best opportunities.

2. A Localized plan

Media buying is about relationships at stations and publications across a number of markets. That means a variety of deals spread across several mediums. Comparing how different groups are weighed and learning new industry-specific terminology can be cumbersome on an already full plate for any marketing director. Rather than trying to juggle many pieces to a fragmented plan, a media buying agency ensures that you only have to go to one place to plan, review, or negotiate your media plan.

3. Better view of the big picture

With an objective and removed view of the company, a media buying agency is better able to see with fresh eyes the overall goals of the company. They aren’t susceptible to the tunnel vision that many marketing staff naturally get from working to promote specific products or channels. With a better overall view of the situation, they are better positioned to purchase a plan that serves the company overall, as well as the individual service lines.

4. They have the necessary tools

...And know how to use them. Chances are, your marketing budget can’t afford expensive software and other tools that are specific to media buying. It doesn't make sense to earmark staff time for such a specific venture. A media buying agency has already made that investment of time and money and also has the ability to use them to build a smart media plan, based on your brand and business goals.

5. Smarter purchase

A media buying agency looks at a variety of factors when creating a plan. They work to optimize the purchase to reach as many of the target audience as possible. They start with market research in a variety of areas. This helps them create an educated plan that strengthens the media purchase over a variety of formats, each with differing pricing rates, based on hard data.

If you would like to learn more about a media buying agency in Dallas, visit Creative Options.

Is It Time to Refresh Your Corporate Brand?

Corporate branding is an important aspect of any company and should be managed. Overseeing a marketing department or business is a huge task. With many moving parts and multiple activities being done at once, it can be easy to fail to take a periodic overall view of the company’s brand effectiveness. Here are a few tale tell signs that it is time to refresh your corporate brand.

Change in services or products

Your brand should always be an accurate portrayal of your services and products. If your company has made significant additions or updates, or plans to in the near future, then it is important to take time to evaluate how the corporate branding aligns with the new lineup. Your brand could leave your image lacking and miss opportunities for potential clients, because it doesn’t provide a broad enough picture of you.

Evidence of Inconsistency

The key to any strong and successful corporate branding plan is consistency. Perform an audit of all the iterations of your logo, tagline, colors, and images to the public. They can each be tailored to best fit their channel, but should also be consistent in overall feel. The same voice, word choice, and image should be recognizable across formats. The message should also consistently speak to the ideal customer. If the audit returns a list of mish-mash results, then your audience is likely a bit confused about what exactly your brand is.

Outdated branding

With so many new advances in marketing and business, it can be difficult for the successful brand image of yesterday to fit into the new formats. In order for corporate branding to remain fresh and relevant in the eyes of your customers, it is important to be proactive with keeping a brand up to date. Many times, business leaders are attached to a format or approach that gained success for them before, but it could be best to start fresh and refresh the look.

If you would like to learn more about corporate branding in Dallas, visit Creative Options.

5 Copywriting Secrets for Traditional Media Advertising

1. Know your objective

It is important in traditional media to know your objective for each channel, and for the overall marketing goals. Without this, even the best and most creative advertisements can be ineffective shots in the dark. Before starting the campaign, have a clear understanding of what you want action you want the reader to take from it and how that fits into the marketing plan. The rest of the ad can be created around those ideas.

2. Know your value

Knowing your value is one of the first lessons in marketing 101. In order to convince any potential customer that they should choose your services over another provider's through traditional media, you have to know why you are the better option. This includes how you are different from competitors and how you can better serve the customer’s needs and wants.

3. Know your approach

Customers live in a world with advertisement pollution. In order to stand out against the media white noise, it is important to have a well crafted advertising approach. The creative content, graphic design, ad placement, and brand superiority all need to be considered and tailored in the ad to fit the taste and activities of the ideal customer.

4. Know your format

People react to words in predictable ways. Traditional media works best when the piece is crafted to speak directly to the reader and uses strong action words. A great headline or tag line is also helpful, to catch and draw attention. The body of the ad should be clean and concise, so the reader doesn’t get distracted or lose interest. Including testimonials, pictures, or examples can also make a piece more attractive and helpful for the reader.

5. Know your ideal customer

The key to all successful marketing campaigns is an intimate knowledge of the ideal customer. Without this, copywriting can run the risk of falling flat and having a poor ROI. Define the age, gender, lifestyle, and habits of the person that could best use your services or products. Determine where they live, shop, go for entertainment, and look for what they need. With these details as the basis of the format for all traditional media, there can be an educated focus and a better chance for success.

If you would like to learn more about traditional media in Dallas, click here.

Hiring a Digital Media Planning Agency? Don't Forget These Must-Ask Questions

Hiring a digital media planning agency can seem like a daunting task. You know you need a good plan, crafted by professionals that understand the ins and outs of digital media and how to properly utilize all possible channels. You know the importance of having a solid digital presence, for both company growth and customer reach. The problem is that creating a mix can be difficult and implementing the wrong mix can be costly to fix. Finding a great agency that understands your company and your client is imperative.

Do they have the proper experience?

The right digital media planning agency will not only have experience in your market, but in your industry and company size. All of these components factor into how to create a good blend of digital media choices for any particular company. A good agency will not only have experience with companies like yours, they will also have professional knowledge they can bring to the table. Ask for examples of past work and results of those campaigns.

Are they able to perform the necessary research to understand the customer?

The best media plans are created with lots of research done beforehand to guide the mix. A good digital media planning agency should know this and have a solid research approach. In order to create an effective plan, they must know the audience. With the right research, they can define your ideal customer and target them properly.

Do they fully understand how to leverage your brand?

It is important for a digital media planning agency to listen to you. They may have knowledge and professional experience, but the best agency knows how to craft a plan with a brand image in mind. They need to be able to learn what your company is now and what you would like it to become in the future.

If you would like to learn more about a digital media planning agency in Dallas, visit Creative Options.

3 Essential Elements of a Strong Corporate Brand

While a large amount of complex research and work goes into corporate branding, there are three essential elements to keep in mind throughout the project. Once these pieces are in place, they can be outlined in a branding guideline that can be easily implemented across all areas of business, moving forward.

1. Identity

A good portion of the pre-project research should be dedicated to determining a company’s identity. Corporate branding is all about making a company stand out in the minds of their customers, before their competitors. That means developing a cohesive and concise identity that encapsulates all of the feelings, priorities, benefits, and style. While that is a tall order, it is a necessary component of any strong brand.

2. Image

The image of a company is more than just the logo. It is the identity personified. The color palette, style, voice, word choice, graphic arts, and traditional and technical channel options are all part of a corporate branding image. The image must be carefully crafted to bring out all of the important qualities of the identity in a way that speaks to and attracts the ideal customer. This area can also be tricky to do well, but with the right creative team, a worthwhile design, full of impact can be created.

3. Mission

No company can advance until they have a mission. This means a clear and intended path for the future. A strong corporate brand not only speaks of a company’s standing today, but also where they want to be five, ten, or twenty years down the road. Incorporating a mission into corporate branding also keeps the branding standard focused on the true point of what the company wants to accomplish. This helps keep the marketing efforts narrowed, so they have the most impact in the most important areas for overall growth and company success.

If you would like to learn more about corporate branding in Dallas, visit Comark Direct.

Is It Time to Let Go of Your Traditional Media Plan?

Many marketing managers might be under the impression that traditional media is a thing of the past and should be abandoned for the shiny new high-tech channels now available. While any business would be neglectful to not invest thought and funds into including websites, social media, and mobile optimization into their marketing plans, they should not be so quick to abandon the tried and true traditional options. Instead, it is better to rethink how they work together.

No one can doubt the huge impact that the internet has had on marketing. Even fifteen years ago, a company could get by with little or no web presence. Now, they not only need a highly polished website, but also social media accounts, blogs, online video production, investment in SEO keyword strategies, and mobile device optimization. This wide array of must-haves can be daunting for even the savviest of marketing professionals. It can be tempting to simply forgo traditional media, to save time and money, especially since the old designs don’t seem to mesh with the new-and-improved internet layouts. However, this option leaves out all of the benefits of those traditional marketing channels.

Instead, the answer is to focus on the company branding standards and the ideal customer. Rather than spreading the marketing budget thin maximizing everything, pay attention to what reflects the brand image and will be helpful and attractive to the ideal customer. Rework the designs of traditional and new channels so they all have the same feel. Then, cross-pollinate your channels. Include mentions of a print ad on the website (“Look for our ad in Popular Attorney Magazine”) and a social media mention in the print ad (“Like us on PeopleBook”). By staying focused on the core concepts of the company and customer, it is possible to weave together a variety of channels, including new and traditional media options. This allows a company to maintain branding guidelines throughout, and end up with a complex, but cohesive image with smart design that leverages traditional media strengths.

If you would like to learn more about traditional media in Dallas, visit Creative Options.

3 Reasons Why Your Direct Mail Marketing Isn't Working

Direct mail marketing is a tried and true method of getting information about goods and services to current and potential customers. When done well, it is an effective method of marketing. Unfortunately, there are a few strategies that companies often take that reduce the return on investment. Most often, the reason is poor planning and little effort put into the project. By taking a bit more time in the creation stages, the finished mail piece can have a much bigger impact and a better response rate.

1. The mailing list is not targeted

Many companies send their direct mail marketing to a huge list with little or no focus, other than a quick zip code sort. The idea is that if they send it to a million people, a certain percentage are likely to respond. The better way is to make the effort to create a highly targeted list, based on finding the company’s best customer, through customer modeling, profiles, and analytics. If the project is worth your company’s time, it is worth doing correctly.

2. The design of the piece doesn’t catch the recipient’s attention

Too often, a great idea is lost in a boring package. Rather than simply putting your information on a page of letterhead, tri-folded in a #10 envelope, try a creative and eye-catching option. The sky's the limit for a creative direct mail marketing piece. It can get as whimsical as you like. However, a budget-friendly, but still attractive and captivating, option can be easily created with the help of the right team.

3. The call to action wasn’t clear enough

Direct mail marketing isn’t done because businesses like to support the post office. Time and money are spent on them to build business and increase awareness. In order to do that, the piece needs a clear and compelling call to action. One good option is to provide an easy to find target webpage or phone number. This will not only allow the customer to move forward with the solution you can provide for them, but also provides a way to track the responses. However, it all starts with a clear direction of what they should do after opening the mailed piece.

If you would like to learn more about direct mail marketing in Austin, visit MindEcology.