Peter Hoole, Spencer Gallagher, founders of growth consultancy Cactus and Agencynomics and Stephen Knight, Founder of Pimento are lending their support to the growth of the recently formed Alliance of Independent Agencies. Each will join the Board of the Alliance alongside its Founders Clive Mishon and Graham Kemp and the Alliance’s Managing Director Matt Sullivan. Collectively the networks boast over 1000 Independent agency members and around 8000 employees across the UK.
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This Board will direct the trade body that represents and promotes independent agencies and all the people that work in the sector.
The 3 Co-Chairs of the Membership Board, that directs the 9 Peer to Peer Action Groups, will continue to drive the strategic direction for the Alliance under their respective pillars of People (Ruth Kieran as Chair), Purpose (Laurence Parkes as Chair) and Performance (Dion Myers-Lamptey as Chair).
Spencer Gallagher, Founder of Agencynomics and joint CEO of Cactus said “whilst we predominantly support the founders of Agencies, the Alliance supports agency leaders and their teams, which is why it is a natural complementary fit, many of our clients are already members of the Alliance and we hope that more members of the community will follow suit to help their agencies get the additional support they need for themselves and their wider teams.”
Peter Hoole, Founder of Agencynomics and joint CEO of Cactus added “we have already seen the tremendous value and support that the Alliance is offering to the independent agency sector and we look forward to contributing further to their great efforts to date. We will be aligning Cactus and Agencynomics to the Alliance to bring an even better experience to our fast-growing community, and provide better representation of the industry”.
Stephen Knight, Founder of Pimento added “Independent agencies have needed a louder voice and representation for some time, the ethos and values of the Alliance align perfectly with our own and complement our own Member proposition. We are confident that Pimento members will benefit from our investment in the Alliance and that collectively we can punch above our weight”
The Alliance will continue to represent the interests of the independent sector through the Advertising Association and with their membership of the Federation of Small Businesses and The Debating Group.
Graham Kemp, Founder Director of the Alliance says “The independent sector has been recognised as an essential element of the communications landscape, providing creative, innovative and agile solutions for clients big and small. Through collaboration we can give real voice to the independent agencies so it’s a joy to think that now with the collective firepower of Agencynomics and Pimento we can further promote their excellence going forward. Spencer, Pete and Stephen have already made a significant contribution to the independent agency sector and as part of that have been great supporters of the Alliance”.
About the Alliance of Independent Agencies www.allindependentagencies.org
Independent Agencies are a unique and special group of businesses and people; connected by their independent spirit, ideals and purpose, not simply their service offering. To be independent is something unique, and very important in today’s evolving creative economy. The Alliance is the trade body that represents this community and enables its agency members to be as good as they can by nurturing all their people, supporting their purpose and giving guidance to optimise their performance.
In addition to delivering benefits to the independent agencies and their teams, the Alliance is equally focused on promoting the value and unique DNA of independent communication agencies to the wider industry and business community.
About Agencynomics https://agencynomics.com
Agencynomics is a not for profit, social enterprise which started out as an international bestselling book, and has now become an organisation dedicated to supporting the now, next and future of Agencies through it’s free community, events and it’s podcast, Agencyphonics
About Pimento https://pimento.co.uk
Pimento is the UK’s leading independent agency network. Founded in 2005, it now boasts 200 agencies and consultants, covering almost every aspect of marketing services. As such, the firm is able meet the complex demands of clients by creating bespoke teams, drawn directly from its members.
About Cactus https://cact.us
Cactus is the UK’s leading Agency growth consultancy and corporate finance broker. Cactus has worked with over 1,000 agencies globally over the past 9 years many of which are recognised as some of the fastest-growing agencies in their territories. Cactus help Agencies realise their true potential and true financial value.
You see it everywhere. Viral videos on YouTube and TikTok, videos from businesses that are putting themselves out there and showing the world both what they have to offer and the sense of wit that lingers behind their business image. But for many businesses, the question is how to utilise video marketing so that you can create viral content that engages audiences in all the right ways. Well, this guide is here to take you through some of the best methods and secrets.
Put simply, viral marketing is a form of advertisement that relies on the audience to generate and spread the message behind a product or service. This form of marketing is considered viral once it starts being shared by the public at large and not just the target audience. It will start appearing on everyone’s social media feeds with multiple reactions and shares.
A really good example of excellent viral marketing can be seen from the Dollar Shave Club back in 2012. At this point, it was still a little company, but their video marketing went viral alongside the slogan “Our Blades Are F***ing Great.” It was funny, unconventional, and racked up tens of millions of views in no time at all. Subscriptions spiked, and it became a $1billion company.
The big thing that all viral campaigns share is that they are organic. They are never forced, and the truth is that they can’t be. Viral marketing relies on the public to share, react to, and comment on the content that you are providing and videos are the best way to achieve this. They are snappy, engaging, and people love to watch them.
Viral content always has good timing. Your marketing team needs to be right on top of the latest trends, fingers on the pulse of social media channels as they scan for the latest craze. Trends go as quickly as they come, so you need to act fast if you want to capture the audience and get your content out there.
The Secrets to Viral Marketing Success
Viral marketing is not always going to be easy, and you can’t expect your first video release to be a massive success. In fact, it will likely be a failure. But, the fact of the matter is that 56% of web surfers find new sites through viral marketing, and a whopping 80% of businesses have incorporated it into their marketing plan. So, what are the secrets to success?
To Conclude
No one said that viral marketing would be easy, but once you get into the swing of things the content that you generate will be snappy, interesting, and enough for people to want to share with friends and family. All you need to do is incorporate these little tips for success and work hard to create the kind of video content that people want to see, share, and follow.
This week marks Skylark Media’s 15th birthday. Although it’s a bit of a weird time to celebrate we wanted to say thanks to the fab clients, partners, colleagues and friends who’ve crossed our paths over the years. Without you we wouldn’t be here.
It feels like yesterday that Jo Haywood, fresh from making climate change documentaries for the Beeb and Discovery Channel, mustered up the courage to set up her own video production company.
Running a creative business isn’t always easy (especially in 2020!), as our peers in the creative industry will agree. Now more than ever, it’s vital to support each other and take collaboration to another level. Over Lockdown, 92% of independent agencies have either collaborated with another agency to take a brief, or are willing to. That’s fantastic news – and we hope that in our partners we’re able to fill skill gaps, deliver great client service and aid creativity where we can. We are looking to expand our network of creatives and agencies, so please get in touch if you’d like to partner at [email protected]
As we enter another Lockdown, we wanted to reassure everyone that it’s business as usual, and we’ll continue to film according to APA guidelines. If you’ve got a few minutes, we’ve launched our new website this week at www.skylarkmedia.co.uk and Jo has a few words to say herself: https://bit.ly/3kQOxkH
In the age of information, content is in abundance.
Scroll through social media and you will be spoilt for choice: every company worth its salt pumps out content to win over the hearts and minds of prospective customers.
Sadly, it doesn’t always hit the mark. When the ‘Likes’ are low and the average time spent on the page is not marrying up to your expectations, it might be time to go back to the drawing board.
Whether you have yet to devise a strategy or you want to revisit your plan, we’ve put together a step by step guide to help you win at content marketing.
Often, we spend so much time involved in our own products and services that we fail to see the real issues our customers want to hear about.
The outcome? Complex, jargon-filled content that our target audience has no real need for.
If this sounds familiar, take a step back to map out your buyer’s persona. Instead of taking briefs from an ops team, ask your salespeople to give you the lowdown on the conversations they’re having with prospective clients.
What genuine problems do they have that your content could solve?
By taking the time to understand their unique interests, pain points and motivations for choosing a particular solution, you will form a strong starting point from which to build your content marketing strategy upon.
Your goal is to create a content marketing strategy that attracts a steady flow of on-target traffic to your website. After all, without a strategy, the performance of your content is a matter of luck. As with all marketing activity, your efforts should never be random, nor should they be derailed by something shiny.
(“Shall we do a blog post about…” and “I’ve seen so and so doing a podcast” are perfect examples of how not to plan your content. Don’t chase a bandwagon – start your own.)
The best way to achieve goals is to make them measurable and to tie them into wider marketing KPIs. Content-specific performance indicators will help you stick to goals by giving you clear milestones to tick off that prevent you from getting derailed.
Content KPIs will vary depending on your wider objectives but could include form-fills and conversions, page views, time spent on a page as well as social media metrics and email campaign results.
Once you have identified and set-out a thought-cloud of topics to fuel your content, consider the medium they will best respond to. Written content is a classic – as well as conveying the expertise of your company, it can enhance visibility across search engines given the right research.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t step outside the parameters of your business’ blog to engage your audience. Research from Cisco projects that global internet traffic from videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021 – and you don’t have to be Spielberg to tell a compelling story through video.
Concise and captivating video content can be as simple as your CEO answering a frequently asked question. It also presents an opportunity to showcase a snippet of your employer brand to the outside world. Charity events and team days out can make for clickable content that acts as a window into your company culture, and all it takes is a phone with a good quality camera to get started.
Beyond video, helpful content such as short slide decks and eye-catching infographics can help your brand to stand out in a crowded space.
Now that you have laid the foundations of your content marketing strategy, the next step is to ensure you can deliver on your intentions.
Without an individual or team to take ownership of your strategy, the task often falls to anyone with free time. Of course, time is money, and when urgent issues take priority, content slips back down to the bottom of the pile until – yep, you guessed it – someone sees something a competitor is doing on LinkedIn and asks:
“Why aren’t we doing that?”
More often than not, it comes down to a lack of commitment.
Simply put – if you want your business to be a leader in content marketing, it must be a top priority. As such, it should have ample resources behind it. Hiring a dedicated team or even just one specialist is far more effective than leaning on the sales team to throw something together when they have a spare moment.
A winning content marketing strategy is often best executed with the help of a content calendar.
Why?
Because a big behemoth that comprises of several mediums and messages can make for a daunting task. By breaking it down into smaller blocks that chunk off particular themes against set times in the year, the plan becomes a lot more manageable.
A reliable content calendar can be organised on a weekly or monthly basis, and helps keep track of all content being produced and published, whether that means upcoming articles, whitepapers, case studies, webinars, or promotional event updates.
As well as saving considerable time, a content calendar keeps the momentum going to prevent infrequency and encourages regular audience engagement.
Top tip: Before putting an editorial calendar together, we recommend undertaking a content audit on your website to determine which pieces can be re-used, re-purposed or re-shared throughout the year.
Just as every business is different, so too are your audiences. While there are certain mediums and channels that help boost engagement and increase reach, there is no off-the-shelf solution that works for all.
Analytics are your North star – they should help guide you in the right direction by identifying what is working and what is not. Don’t hesitate to make changes on the fly: if a particular style of content isn’t resonating as you thought it would, do some digging to discover the reason.
There will nearly always be key takeaways that can tell you more about what went wrong and what to action in the future to improve performance.
Need a hand on creating a content marketing strategy? We’re here to help. Drop us a message or give us a call to find out what we can do for you.
With the nation back in lockdown and redundancies expected to skyrocket, virtual agency network Pimento has teamed up with leaders in the world of HR, finance and wellbeing to provide support for those who find themselves out of work.
Research by the Chartered Institute of Marketing estimates that almost 40,000 people – one in ten of the sector’s workforce – have already lost their jobs during the pandemic, with many more to come as the UK heads into lockdown 2.0.
In response, a consortium of experts – including Reality HR, Talent Spark, Premier Consultants, Wilcox Day Wealth Management, Pimento People and MHFA England ambassador and instructor Michelle Morgan – have launched a joint initiative to get people back into employment.
The ‘What Next’ programme is designed to provide specialist advice across a breadth of topics, and give those in the creative, marketing and communications sectors the skills, tools, and motivations to find a new role – or set up as a freelancer.
Starting from November 10th, the series of interactive workshops will cover a range of topics from mental health advice through to going freelance and CV writing.
“We are expecting a ‘jobs bloodbath’ in the coming months,” says Stephen Knight, founder and CEO of Pimento, and the driving force behind ‘What Next’.
“The marketing and communications industry will be amongst the hardest hit, and these seminars are designed to help those affected to get their feet back on the ground after the shock of redundancy.”
Endorsed by the Alliance of Independent Agencies and the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), several other leading industry bodies are also looking to extend the reach of the programme in the coming weeks.
For more information on the scheme and how to join, visit: https://pimento.co.uk/what-next/
This month I’ve been stunned by two different films that come from popular mobile brands, Samsung & Orange.
Although the films are very different, they have some telling things in common. Neither of the films feature any product or service whatsoever, apart from the logo at the end. How refreshing…it’s as if the Covid crisis has forced many brands to have more of a conscience. Both these films support an idea that benefits humanity. Brands are beginning to realise that unless they put their money where their morals lie, unless they can actively demonstrate they are purpose-led, as well as creative in their communications, consumers will just switch off.
SAMSUNG’s film – ‘Inspired by a True Photo’ – is really inspired by an original photo, a simple sack of ‘Onions’, taken by a real person called Scott Anders. But we don’t see Scott take the photo, instead Director Sam Hibbard of Somesuch imagines a story behind the photo that sees a boy meet a girl for the first time – but full of comedy, pathos and using a surreal style. At its heart, the film is about connection – the hope & expectation of the boy’s journey.
Samsung have realised that it’s not the quality of camera that is important but the way people use images to communicate with each other. Samsung claim that when we take and share our images, they take on a life of their own. The shot becomes the conversation. The beauty of Sam’s film is that it avoids all the brand’s technology to tell a fun story using great characters, images & original music.
Connection & communication that is funny & uplifting in the time of Covid has never been more important.
The ORANGE film – ‘The Toy’ – takes a more direct approach to saving humanity by encouraging us to recycle our old phones. Millions of old phones are to be found hibernating in long-forgotten draws & these phones are wasting our planet’s precious resources.
The film is directed by Frédéric Planchon of Iconoclast, aimed at a European rather than UK market. It shows the relationship a little girl has with one of her first toys, the famous ‘Fisher-Price’ rolling phone. We see the girl become an adult & then rediscover her old toy in the attic with her own child. The recycling parable is clear.
Like the Samsung film, ‘The Toy’ uses great images & music to tell a life-affirming story with emotion.
A recent study has uncovered how the UK creative sector has continued to thrive, despite the challenges faced by the pandemic – with 81% of independent agencies winning work virtually for the first time ever.
As well as more projects being awarded over video calls instead of face-to-face meetings during the lockdown, the research also found that 92% of independent agencies have either collaborated with another agency on a brief, or would now be happy to, should the opportunity arise.
The main reasons behind marcomms companies favouring this joined-up approach, it seems, are to fill skills gaps their team doesn’t have (77%), provide the best client experience (44%), aid creativity (33%) and foster a more flexible working culture (17%).
Only 8.5% confessed to preferring to keep all projects in house.
The research – which quizzed small and medium-sized independent agencies throughout the UK – was carried out by virtual agency network Pimento, in association with the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), Marketing Agencies Action Group (MAAG) and independent communications collective, Harbour.
Other revelations from the survey include almost half of agencies (44%) disagreeing that colleagues need to be in the same physical place to be creative.
But with collaboration remaining a hot topic – and 53% of respondents revealing they now have spare space in their current premises for additional bodies – this perhaps goes some way to explaining why 77% of people said they would consider sharing offices with another agency.
When commenting on the results, CEO and founder of Pimento, Stephen Knight, said: “The pandemic has uncovered the power of virtual communications more than ever. And while agencies were collaborating years before COVID-19, the current situation has highlighted the need to accelerate this, in order to thrive in the current climate.
“As the research indicates, harnessing the era of the specialist is crucial for agencies. Every business has a niche – something it’s really great at – and joining forces with other professionals to deliver clients’ projects, not only helps foster high-quality output, but strengthens the foundations of our industry as a whole.”
The results also showed a shift in agency mindset when it comes to preferred working locations. 60% of respondents confessed to working mainly from the office prior to lockdown, whereas 72% admitted they will now look to split their 9-5 time between the office and home.
Only 15% of people want to continue working from the company headquarters full time, while 17% want to permanently operate remotely.
“Agencies are clearly continuing to adapt the way they function, in order to remain buoyant in the marketplace – with many challenging the ‘traditional’ office concept”, Stephen added.
“Creativity doesn’t just happen due to being in the same four walls as your peers, it’s the people and their skills which bring briefs to life – no matter where they are in the world. And the fact so many agencies have teamed up – and are open to sharing projects – as a result of lockdown, is a trend we’ll definitely be reading more about over the coming months.”
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Pimento is the UK’s leading independent agency network. Founded in 2005, it now boasts 200 agencies and consultants, covering almost every aspect of marketing services. As such, they are able to meet the complex demands of clients by creating bespoke teams, drawn directly from its members. https://pimento.co.uk/
The survey collates the findings of 50 UK independent agencies, and all figures, unless otherwise stated, are from Pimento’s own research which was carried out online. Fieldwork was undertaken August 2020.
Welcome back to the second blog in our three-part series on Augmented Reality (AR). In our first segment, we introduced AR technology and explored its potential impact on our lives over the coming years.
But the technology already exists. And so, this poses an opportunity today.
Any brand who considers themselves a true tech pioneer, who is looking to distinguish themselves from their industry competitors, or is ready to forge an unrivalled relationship with millennial and Gen-Z customers, should consider grasping the opportunity AR presents for marketing and customer engagement, today.
When it comes to experiential marketing, there’s no better vehicle for delivering an unforgettable brand experience than AR. As mentioned in our previous blog, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination – but there is one decision you’ll need to make early on: how you’ll deliver the experience to your viewers.
For those looking to get started today, there are two methods of AR access to choose from: by building an app, or using WebAR.
For many, apps are the option of choice. In-app augmented reality enables you to control the entire experience from end-to-end, maximising elements such as branding.
Take Pokémon Go, for example. The combination of technology, art and culture to form a real-life treasure hunt was arguably one of the most successful experiential campaigns to date.
During its peak, as many as 20% of Pokémon Go players were using the app every day, and by March 2019 it had been downloaded more than 1 billion times. Those are some vast numbers.
The ease of use was a key factor in the app’s success – and it’s worth noting, there’s no doubt that downloads would have been significantly lower had the app required specialist technology, i.e. had it required additional headwear like ‘Snapchat Spectacles’-type tech to play. But every one of us has a smartphone in our pocket at all times, leaving a near-zero barrier to taking part.
The other option for creating an AR experience is to use WebAR.
Sometimes referred to as WebXR due to its ability to support AR, VR and MXR (Mixed Reality) functionality, WebAR allows you to use an AR experience directly within your browser – without having to download an app.
Most smartphones are WebAR-enabled, making it arguably even easier to access than downloading an app. However, you may have less control over some elements of the design.
So how do you choose the right platform for your audience? At P+S, we believe it comes down to your intent.
If you’re looking to integrate an AR experience into your website, maximise the ‘wow factor’ of your marketing materials or offer an AR experience in real-world locations, WebAR is a great choice. It removes barriers and offers instant access for anyone using a compatible device – without the need for having to stop and download an app.
However, if you’re looking to run a more complex experience – a game, or a more developed user interface like map overlays – then launching an app offers an excellent self-contained, immersive experience with unlimited customisation options. And you’ll have the added benefit of being able to update and push new content without disruption to your other content and materials.
Apart from creating the next gaming sensation, how can augmented reality actually be applied for brand marketing purposes?
For those businesses promoting a product, it could be as simple as creating the ability for customers to ‘see’ a 3D visualisation of your merchandise face-to-face – all from the comfort of their own sofa. IKEA have recently begun offering just this, enabling customers to view furniture in their homes before ever making a purchase. And with COVID-19 set to disrupt the store experience the foreseeable future, now has never been a better time to offer virtual product experiences.
For those businesses who offer a service rather than a physical product, this is an opportunity to think laterally about marketing.
Let’s take an airline, for example. While enabling customers to view a Boeing 747 in their own living room isn’t necessarily offering value, they could offer an augmented ‘map’ of airline routes across the sky instead.
Or, they could look closer at the in-airport experience. In larger international airports, offering an augmented map that leads customers from the security gates to the airline’s private lounge, or straight to their flight gate, would be a breath of fresh air.
Architectural firms can use AR to show their projects to a client in real-time. Financial services can demonstrate abstract concepts in a more tangible visualised form. And what’s more, the data shows that AR visualisations improve B2B buyer confidence, and help to speed up sales cycles.
From marketing, to product visualisation, to making invisible concepts visible, the AR experience creates higher levels of engagement, increases conversions, and offers a powerful branding opportunity. When done well, it’s inherently social media friendly, shareable and creates a powerful lasting impact.
But that’s not the limit of what AR will bring to brands.
Our next blog, and final instalment of our AR series, is coming soon – stay tuned.
Why not contact us today at [email protected] to discuss your goals with our team.
Instagram Reels has created a huge buzz, however, most conversations believe that it is Instagram’s response to TikTok.
We believe that Instagram’s newest feature is more than just a copy of a trending video platform; it is becoming an integral part of Instagram’s business model, offering users and businesses an amazing opportunity to widely reach new users and turn them into loyal followers.
If you’re still not convinced that Instagram Reels are for you, here are seven reasons to change your mind.
1. Instagram Reels – Revolutionising content
Instagram Reels is the newest feature from Instagram, and in social media everything that’s new is trending. It was rolled out at the beginning of August as Instagram’s newest addition to their already extensive line-up of features. It may feel jarring on your feed at first, but so did stories, and so did IGTV.
Basically, Reels allows users, creators, and business accounts to share short, addictive videos in addition to posts, stories, and IGTV. The videos posted through Reels can be easily and quickly made and will feature on the feed and in the explore section. Reels are the first thing you see when you open the Instagram app or use the search button to look for anything on Instagram.
2. The Instagram Reels editing tools are next level
So, what makes Instagram Reels different from a standard video?
With Reels, you can create short, impressive, and addictive videos up to 15 seconds in length – there’s also a timer & countdown option to make filming easier. The videos can be overlaid with text that appears, disappears, moves, and more. Music is available from an existing library and sounds can be integrated at any given moment within the video, making the videos extremely impactful. Another useful feature is the transition options. With this, you can align objects from one clip with the start of another, making the transition smooth or shocking, or however you want. Playing with the speed of the video, either in full or in specific parts is also something you may want to try out as this makes your videos feel dramatic and high quality.
Like all Instagram content, there is an excellent selection of filters and options to choose from to make your videos slick and with a clean finish.
3. Instagram is a hot place for businesses
Across the digital industry, there’s a lot of chatter that Instagram Reels is merely a copy of TikTok. The main argument underpinning this is that Instagram Reels does not have the same creativity as TikTok and that the user experience is less creative and community focused. While there is some validity to this argument, let’s not forget two important aspects:
This is not, however, a comparison between Instagram Reels and TikTok. We want to show you why Instagram Reels is valuable for businesses, not necessarily instead of TikTok. Businesses are already using Instagram, and their audience is on Instagram, which is why, using Reels is the best strategy today for engaging with existing audiences and improving the relationship between brand and customer.
All you have to do is take a quick look at the first businesses jumping on Instagram Reels, and you will see that it’s here to stay: NBA Franchises, Louis Vuitton, Sephora France, Red Bull France, etc.
4. Instagram prioritises Reels content
As this is its newest ‘thing’, Instagram wants to encourage users to start uploading content through Reels. This is your opportunity. It’s time to take to Reels and be seen organically on Instagram. The fact that Reels is in its infancy gives you an advantage and should be capitalised on sooner, rather than later.
Remember, your audience will be impressed that your brand is up-to-date with the latest trends and this will reflect in your overall brand image as fresh and relevant.
5. Instagram Reels can be monetised
At the moment, you can gain reach, impressions, and engagement from Reels, which will translate into increased brand awareness and conversions by following the sales funnel strategy. But, it won’t be long until Instagram Reels is integrated into the Facebook ads placement strategy. As things evolve at Facebook, businesses will be able to monetise Reels content and will be able to clearly track conversions from Reels to sales. Don’t underestimate this power.
6. TikTok’s future is uncertain
Right now, TikTok’s future is up in the air. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to ‘sell’ part of TikTok to a US firm in order to keep running in the country. Furthermore, TikTok was banned from India, one of its main markets. These have thrown into question the security and future of the Chinese app. With these insecurities remaining front and centre, Instagram Reels might be just the thing to replace TikTok all together, at the right moment and in the right countries. TikTok’s young audience will still want and need a place to hang out online and share their content, and Reels is primed to be that spot.
7. One billion users are active on Instagram each month
Finally, there are 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram and this figure is continuing to grow. These 1 billion can all see Reels content on the explore pace, and in their own Feed. It’s just sitting there – why not create engaging Reels for your audience to see?
Instagram Reels is still very new, and there will undoubtedly be many more twists and turns to come. Until then, we know this about it:
Knowing all this, the only question remaining is why aren’t you using it for your business?
If you need help with Instagram Reels, get in touch with OggaDoon today.
Marketing automation software does what it says on the tin: it’s technology which relieves some of the pressures of marketing your business, product or service, by automating your marketing processes.
No longer just the secret weapon of larger enterprises, marketing automation makes campaigns for businesses of any size easier to manage. From email to social, websites to text messaging, automation technology works across multiple channels – and across different touchpoints in the customer journey too.
But with hundreds of tools available, where do you start?
Luckily, we have tonnes of experience with automation software at P+S. In this blog, we’ll break down why it’s worth investing in automation, how it all works, and give you five top tips to make sure it’s a success.
So, if you’re searching for a way to deliver more qualified sales leads with less supervision, nurture customers more effectivelywhile conserving your resources, and reduce your marketing spend while increasing sales opportunities, read on.
In short, automation software can do almost anything. One of the biggest benefits is that it saves you time and resources – no more having to hit ‘send’ on every action you take. Plus, automation tools give you one place to manage multiple marketing streams, collect customer data and customise your campaigns.
Some of the tasks automation software can assist with include:
With the right automation software, you can liberate your team’s time and creativity. So members are free to work on bolder ideas for attracting customers, free to aim for more ambitious targets, and free to expand your business into new growth markets.
But your team still needs to deploy, optimise and develop your marketing software strategy: team members will still need to do the thinking, while the ‘heavy lifting’ is carried out by the technology.
There are thousands of different MarTech providers out there, offering hundreds of marketing automation solutions. Choosing the right one can be a bit of a minefield.
The best place to start is by identifying your business’s most critical needs. Are you taking too long to react to customers’ buying signals? Or maybe you regularly find yourself chasing the wrong leads? Make a list of your most urgent issues – there will undoubtedly be a tool designed to solve them. Once you’ve covered the business critical, you can then increase this list to include ‘nice-to-haves’ to help you further narrow down your options.
It’s important to create tangible goals, too. Not only will these help you measure your progress after deploying your technology, they will also help you to ascertain whether the investment is worthwhile for your business – and to justify that choice to your stakeholders, too. Using SMART objectives is a strong starting point for developing goals that make the most sense for your business.
Whichever provider you decide is best for you, there are a few ways to optimise the approach further.
Whatever software solution you settle on, choose to focus on simpler automation processes first, using simple data sets. This could be pre-scheduling some of your social posts, or regular marketing emails. Once you’re sure you know exactly how well this works, and that you’re benefiting from doing so, you can begin automating more complex processes with more tailored audience segments too: personalised automated upselling for customers who’ve shown interest in certain products, for example.
Any campaign you’re managing with automation software should complement your existing marketing. This isn’t the opportunity to overhaul your tone of voice and begin bombarding people with daily newsletters. You’ll still want to focus on enriching your customers’ lives with relevant news, information and products.
Employing new software is easier when your team is receptive to the change. Who will drive its success within your business?
Identifying someone to be the internal champion of your automation software is a powerful move. Usually, this person is in a senior position, acting as an authority on the tech as well as a successful user of it. This person’s guidance and experience will also help you make decisions about training and support requirements, and put plans in place for the adoption and rollout process.
The goal here isn’t to just market as much as you can – it’s to increase the value of your brand to your customers, using automation to build a long-term relationship with them. Automation enables you to interact with them in a more meaningful and relevant way, to build brand loyalty at every point in their journey.
And, of course, this wouldn’t be a P+S blog without us mentioning measurable goals. As previously stated, setting clear, ambitious but achievable KPIs from the very beginning will allow you to measure your success. Lead scoring and nurturing data should form a part of these KPIs, and will help you to establish a business case for continued investment.
Even the strongest marketing team can benefit from automation technology. Half of the challenge of marketing today is collecting, organising and applying insights from a flood of customer data – which is easier said than done.
From website visits, to open rates, clicks, social engagement, events and forms – the amount of customer information available is truly staggering. But by analysing it all, you can identify key behaviours which can then become a trigger for marketing automation processes. It means you can immediately respond to those triggers, and exponentially improve the efficiency and value of your marketing.
At P+S we work with our clients to ensure their marketing automation software gives every customer a better, more personalised experience. We’ll save your marketing teams countless hours on repetitive tasks, and ensure your business never misses an opportunity to connect with customers across every touchpoint – no matter where they are in their user journey.
Plus, not only do we help you make more of your customer data, we also measure the results – and continually optimise them, to become even greater.
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