Archive for ‘Marketing

Internet on the move. Why Mobile matters:

Posted by Justin Shimp

Nov

2011

Filed Under: Internet Marketing Marketing Mobile Search Engines SmallBox

Think back to your first cell phone. Mine was a black and white Nokia with detachable faceplates and a wonderful version of the game snake. Those days are long gone and I now have an iPhone that makes my first computer growing up look like a sad joke.

Not only is this little device in my pocket faster than the computers of yore, it also has the power to view just about every bit of content on the web. But have you tried looking at a website that hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices?

Mobile optimized verus not optimized for mobile traffic

It’s confusing. Images break, forms don’t work. A bad mobile experience means I’m almost certain to search for another site that offers a better user experience on my phone.

According to Google, I am not alone. Around 60% of people are unlikely to return to a site that’s not mobile friendly. User engagement increases by 85% with a mobile-friendly design. That is steadily increasing and for the most part businesses have been slower about catching up with technology than their customers.

In response to these numbers, Google has launched a information site called GoMo to educate owners of websites. The site provides data that makes it pretty clear: mobile browsing is here to stay.

Google’s findings are very much in line with the trends we see in our client sites. In fact, in reviewing a sample of the scores of websites SmallBox monitors, mobile traffic increased a whopping 230% in 2011 compared to 2010.

If you’re ready to get serious about mobile, SmallBox can help! Don’t be caught with a website that cannot be viewed by a huge percentage of your customer base. Contact us today for questions or quotes.

Finding Your Content Comfort Zone

Posted by sara

Oct

2011

1
Comment

Filed Under: Culture Marketing SmallBox

I’ve heard this echoed a thousand times: don’t tweet about food. Funny thing, though. Many of my personal tweets about food get an enthusiastic response. In recent months, my most @replied tweet was about meat loaf. Seriously. Part of it is that I’ve connected with other food lovers and so a food tweet is very at home in my twitter stream.

After offering consulting for a wide variety of brands, I can definitely say that each client and audience is unique and different. When thinking about new content for your brand, forget any generalities you’ve heard like ‘don’t post about this, don’t tweet that.’ What is okay for the casual swimming pool company, might not be kosher for the addiction treatment center.

Take this pineapple picture we posted to the official SmallBox business facebook page as example. It may not tell you that we offer amazing web design and marketing services, but it does provide a feel for our culture and let you know that we like to have fun. For SmallBox, there’s value in this type of message because we’ve decided we want to let people in – to see our space and get to know our team a bit. If you have a more buttoned-up, corporate culture, this type of post might not work for you.

So, how do you decide what’s acceptable for your brand?

Define Your Brand Tone
To determine what is acceptable, start simply by establishing your ideal brand voice. What words best describe the vibe you want to share with your audience? Pick 5 words, or more if you need them.

For SmallBox, we define our ideal tonality like this:
Knowledgeable, Bright, Community-Minded, Approachable, Witty, Personable, Creative, Fun. Sometimes cheeky. We joke, we give shoe-fives.

All content we create is filtered through this lens. In a way, this is just who we are, but it’s also well thought-out. With multiple personalities creating content for SmallBox, having this general direction clearly defined is critical.

Build a Team Who Gets It
As Jeb refers to in his digital brand ecosystem, HR is marketing. Hire and train a team that gets your culture and brand voice and can run with it. Having a tuned-in team that just ‘gets it’ lessens the need for strict guidelines or micro-managing oversight of all of your content creation.

Create Your Content Comfort Zone
What if your team needs more guidance? Your might find you need to spell out what’s black and white, and whether you’re comfortable in the gray areas. Let your content creators know if they’re allowed to be silly and make jokes. Don’t want your official brand twitter to comment on last night’s tv show or celebrity gossip? Say so. By providing specific examples of the types of content you want, and what you don’t, you’ve given your team the confidence to create within your framework.

Detailed content guidelines can be a considerable time investment up front, but really digging in to find your content comfort zone will make your future content creation easier and more focused. Add in a solid content strategy with your business goals, defined target audiences, an editorial calendar and more and you’ll really be set up to succeed in creating great content.

Better Email Results with 1 Simple Tip

Posted by sara

Sep

2011

0
Comments

Filed Under: Email Marketing Marketing SmallBox

Email marketing can definitely benefit from the SmallBox belief in mixing magic and science for amazing marketing efforts. The magic part can be delivered through catchy images and clever messaging – these are often the first things people think of when they craft a marketing email. If you aren’t thinking science too – ways to test and optimize your emails, you’re missing out on opportunities to get better results.

The good news is, it doesn’t need to be overwhelming to get started. While there are countless opportunities to test, tweak and get more science-y (see our case study on how we did it for one client), you can start with one simple change. Turn your attention to what is arguably the most important line of your entire email – the subject line.

Testing Email Subject Lines
You can do your own basic subject line test in a couple of easy steps. Write two subjects lines that you can compare against one another. Divide your list into half and assign one to receive Subject Line A and one to receive Subject Line B. Then, just send two separate emails with the differing subject lines and see which garners a higher open rate. The hard part is writing them – you have very little real estate to convince your busy audience that your email is worth reading.

Here are some examples of email test strategies we have used at SmallBox to gain insight for our clients:

We had one client offering a discounted product, plus a free gift with purchase. We tested one subject line with the free messaging and another with the discounted product. Even though the discount was more valuable than the free product, the free subject line earned a much higher open rate. (Hint: Free is a powerful word!)
Another client wanted to promote several items under one broad category of their sales mix. We tested broad language vs. being more specific by mentioning the specific products. The specific product language earned lower open rates against the broader language, possibly because the choices seemed overwhelming, or less relevant than the general category.

Other subject line test ideas:

Drum up interest with a little enigma. Test a cliffhangers like “And the winner is…” against “The Winner is XYZ.”
Test adding numbers in your subject line. In one option, “Killer Summer Events” vs. “4 Killer Summer Events”

One More Tip – Check Your Subject Line Length!
I highly recommend using the Litmus Email Subject Line Checker, a free service to preview your email subject line in various email clients. What happens if the last few words of your subject line are the most important… and they get cut off? Let’s pretend you want to announce a sale on a few key items. You plan to use this as your subject line: “All Widgets, Thing-a-ma-bobs & Kazoos on Sale Now.” A quick review through the subject line checker shows that your audience won’t see the sale message at a glance.

The end goal is to engage your audience, right? If people aren’t even opening your email in the first place, you can’t begin to accomplish your goals. If you only do one thing to try to improve you email efforts in the next month or two, make it subject line tests. It’s easy to do, and you get instant feedback on what resonates more with your audience. Over time, you’ll identify words and tactics that work for you, and you can enjoy the your rising open rates – the first step toward more conversions from your email marketing.

Have you ever tested email subject lines? Please share any insights you’ve gained through your own testing in the comments!

Web Marketing: Tips for Promoting Events

Posted by Jack

Aug

2011

1
Comment

Filed Under: Culture Internet Marketing Marketing Social Media

Aside from devigning websites here at SmallBox, I’m also quite involved in the Indianapolis dance music scene. Having planned or organized over 100 dance music events in Indianapolis, and being such a tech nerd, I’ve learned several ways to make sure an event goes off with a bang. Here are a few things I’ve learned about promoting events online:

Offer as many ways as possible for fans to learn and spread the word about your events. Where you promote your event depends a lot on who your target audience is.

Facebook. If you’re putting on a public event that in any way relates to music or art, you’ll want to create a Facebook event. You’ll also want to use your company’s Page and even your own Facebook profile to highlight the works of your featured artists or performers.
Email Marketing. This might seem old school, but email really works! Always give your fans a way to sign up for your newsletter, whether on your website, through contests or a simple sign-up sheet at events.
Think Local! If your event is about art or music, chances are there are local magazines and websites that will post about your event or give away free tickets. You might even get some coverage! Good examples in Indianapolis include NUVO, IndyMojo and Musical Family Tree.
Other Social Spaces. Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIN might not have mechanisms especially for events, but any avenue that reaches your audience is a good one. There are tools that integrate with these services, however, like schmap.it, which offers credits for you to get your event in front of other twitter followers in your area.
Your own website. Post your event on your own website! Be sure to include tools so that your visitors can easily RSVP to your event as well as share the event on their own social profiles.

Broad Ripple Music Fest event on Facebook

Target your promotions as best as possible, but don’t wear out your welcome. People have a low tolerance for noise in their lives, so it’s best to avoid being part of it. You might have 5,000 friends on Facebook, but unless you’re sure all of them want to attend your event, it’s best to invite only those that would be interested. Use Facebook’s friend groups or location filters for this. If you’re putting on an all-locals event, just invite locals. If you’re bringing a bigger, more established talent, you might send out invites to the surrounding cities and states as well.

To avoid annoying your fans, make sure your posts are relevant and well timed. Watching the details of an event unfold is exciting, so make a post when you’ve confirmed fire dancers for your event, but don’t beat your audience over the head with it.

Offer a discount to fans that are willing to purchase tickets ahead of time. This isn’t really an issue if you’re throwing a free event, but if you’re going to offer up tickets ahead of the event, be sure to offer a discount (and discount enough to make up for the associated fees).

Be a part of the community. This includes going to other events, participating in online discussions, making friends, supporting others’ events, supporting other bands, DJs, artists, and the organizations that support them.

Get your friends involved. Chances are you have friends that not only want to attend your event, they, too, want to see it a smashing success! Send them a quick note asking for their help and support. Ask them to take photos, design a flyer, spin fire, do live art or even just spread the word.

Last but not least, don’t rely solely on the internet! Didn’t see that one coming, did you? The internet is a great place to get the word out and for having meaningful communication, but nothing beats real life communication and a friendly smile.

Do you have any tips for promoting events online?