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Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

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If you’ve ever considered paid advertising as a way to grow your business, you’ve definitely heard of Facebook Ads and Google Ads. But how do you decide between these platforms? Should you run ads on Facebook? Should you choose Google? Maybe both? Which one is better?

The quick answer is: it’s not as black and white as you’d like, since each platform uses a different approach to reach your audience. In this blog we’ve highlighted some advantages of each, to give you a better insight into the options available to you.

Google Ads

With Google you can run ads on Google itself as well as on YouTube. The platform offers a variety of campaign options:

  • Search: ads that show up at the top of the page when a user actively searches for something. These are great for sales, getting leads and driving traffic.
  • Display: visual ads that show up in websites and apps. They help with brand awareness and reach. It’s a great way to remarket to people that previously engaged with your business.
  • Video: ads that are displayed on YouTube and other websites. Use them for brand awareness, generating sales, driving traffic, etc.
  • Shopping: these show up on search results and the Google Shopping tab. Ideal if you are a retail business and want to display your inventory and generate sales.
  • App: use these ads to get new users for your app.
  • Local: great to drive physical traffic to your brick and mortar store. The ads will be optimized for Search, Display, Google Maps and more.

Overall, Google focuses on paid search and the main goal is to increase conversion. Three advantages of the Google platform are:

  • When it comes to getting a higher SERP (search engine results page) position, Google makes it easier to compete with bigger companies. What counts is ad relevance instead of budget.
  • The many campaign options help you reach your audience in different ways, at different stages of the buying cycle, ensuring you maximize your efforts and budget.
  • With Search ads, you have a higher chance of getting hotter leads and the customer is actively searching for your product.

Facebook Ads

When using Facebook, you can place your brand’s ads on the social platform AND Instagram, Facebook Messenger and What’sApp. Think of it as paid social. Through Facebook, your customers may interact with other consumers, express their own experiences with your company, and remain up-to-date with your business.

Some of the many forms of ads you may use on Facebook are:

  • Image: the most basic (which doesn’t mean boring!) and easiest-to-create option.
  • Video: best option for when you want to tell a history or give a demo of a product or service.
  • Carousel: perfect for showcasing multiple products! You can have up to 10 images or videos and each image can have its own link.
  • Lead generation: with this type of ad, you can create a custom form and gather a customer’s information without them having to leave Facebook.

Facebook is all about interaction and brand outreach. The three big advantages of using Facebook ads are:

  • You can leverage your audience’s habits & patterns for targeting. You can use very specific details to micro-target your ideal customers. And if you have an extensive database, you can target those people and those who look like them.
  • On Facebook you can easily engage with the users and create strong relationships with them.
  • You can choose a campaign objective, which will help Facebook to optimize your ads. If you want to increase awareness, you can choose between brand awareness or reach; if you’re after consideration, your options are traffic, engagement, app installs, video views, lead generation, and messages; and if your main goal is conversion, you get conversions, catalog sales, or store traffic.

In the end, both advertising platforms are great allies to businesses that want to grow. The winning strategy is not Google OR Facebook – it’s Google AND Facebook. The secret is in having a clear goal and the correct strategy.

If you’re still confused and want help advertising your business, contact us so we can show you how Curve can help you.

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Best Christmas Digital Ad Campaigns

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Digital Marketing Agency

With the festive season just around the corner, businesses out there are already planning on convincing customers to purchase more. Indeed, online marketing exerts one of the greatest influences on consumers on what and how they are purchasing. This is the reason why modern businesses are spending ample time as well as budget on crafting an effective Christmas digital ad campaign to entice the customers with their lucrative offers.

One of the major aspects of a holiday online ad campaign to be successful is the overall originality. Therefore, you can consider taking inspiration from other brands when it comes to creating the perfect Christmas online ad campaign.

When to Start Christmas Marketing?

Christmas is undeniably the busiest time of the year for marketers and business owners. They are expected to ponder over relevant gift guides, discounts, Christmas offers –all towards boosting their sales. What is the best time to commence Christmas marketing for your brand?

When you start too early, it can affect your overall sales negatively while even turning some consumers off. However, starting off too late will imply losing out on potential customers to the competitors. The best idea is to strike a perfect balance between the two.

Most leading brands launch Christmas ad campaigns during late November. This could be right after US Thanksgiving Day. The reason? The Cyber Monday and Black Friday offers are done away with. Therefore, nothing else will distract your customers when they are searching for Christmas presents.

Another crucial factor is that US Thanksgiving Day turns out to be the last holiday before Christmas. Therefore, it becomes a great opportunity to analyze the pros & cons of your online marketing strategy. You can consider checking the sales & profit of the company, the overall discount efficiency for specific products & services, and the overall customer satisfaction.

When you have relevant results from your previous ad campaign, it will become easier to be prepared for the upcoming festive season. To top it all, as December approaches, people get into the ultimate Christmas mood –planning to purchase gifts for friends & family while making plans for Christmas Eve. Let us help you unravel the secrets of designing the perfect Christmas online ad strategy by taking cues from other leading campaigns.

Top Christmas Online Ad Campaigns

As soon as the winter holidays approach, marketers get excited about coming up with new marketing ideas. Every year, marketers come up with interesting advertising ideas to draw the attention of the target audience. The most important aspect is that the given set of advertising is the Christmas magic created by such brands during the much-awaited period of the year.

If you wish to create a compelling Christmas digital ad campaign for your brand this year, here are some inspirations to consider:

Coca-Cola Christmas Campaign

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Coca-Cola is renowned for its iconic ad campaign ‘Holidays are Coming’ all around the world. The ad was quite popular some years back. However, the brand has now shifted to the digital platform for expressing its ideas.

In the traditional TV ad of ‘Holidays are Coming,’ Coca-Cola has revolutionized the concept with high-end visual and music effects. Moreover, in the coming year, the brand also aims at unveiling its exclusive cinnamon range for the customers. What about online or social ads? Recently, the brand collaborated with Snapchat. The brand made use of the social network’s lens feature for drawing the attention of the end customers online.

It also used another app named Waze. Here, the users will come across virtual Santa for helping shoppers look for the nearest place for finding Coca-Cola products.

Amazon

Every year, Amazon comes forth its signature singing boxes that produce a heart-warming tune for bringing your Amazon package for the festive season. Recently, Amazon released its Christmas advertisement for the YouTube channel while capturing hearts all across the world.

The advertisement of two minutes features a young ballerina meant for performing in the annual winter dance. However, the purpose of the ad was cancelled due to the advent of the pandemic. The ad goes forth beautifully showcasing the sentiments of the entire year of the pandemic. It also reveals how humans will be overcoming the upcoming challenges.

The ad has been given the perfect title of ‘The Show Must Go On.’ It captures the essence of determination while portraying a realistic Christmas for the season. The advertisement was also coupled with the launch of the brand’s annual Christmas shopping guide. To top it all, the Instagram handle of the brand also start its early hint of the festive cheer.

Target

Indeed, you must remember the famous ‘The Christmas Champ’ Target commercial. It featured a crazy woman who was quite excited about Christmas shopping. However, this ad was not just used on the TV. Recently, it was used in the context of online advertising as well. The brand aims at delivering gentle fun to the shoppers through the ad. Moreover, the ad also aims at implying how the heroes are going the extra mile to ensure that everyone is on the list of the perfect festive gift.

Pepsi

Pepsi serves to be the primary competitor to Coca-Cola. To stand out, the brand aims at creating something unique and stylish to draw the attention of the digital customers. Recently, the brand thought of doing away with the traditional concept of presenting a challenge to the holiday marketing campaign of Coca-Cola.

The company made the decision to choose a famous rap star including Cardi B over Santa Claus. The ad by Pepsi reveals Twerk Shop of Cardi. Here, the famous star teaches an elf twerking as a jingle plays along. This, in turn, encourages the viewers to offer more money than traditional gifts during Christmas.

The core idea of the ad campaign by Pepsi is to ensure that Christmas ads become more modern while targeting younger individuals like the Gen Z. As per Pepsi, it is referred to as the ‘Digital Scratch-off Game’ available as QR scan codes on the soda cans or bottles. When the buyers are capable of revealing three brand globes, they are suitable for winning cash prices from $5 to as much as $25,000. However, there is a single catch –the money that you earn should be given away as donation or to a friend.

Spotify

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Spotify is a leading online video and music streaming service platform. It already boasts the presence of millions of users from different parts of the world. However, during the festive season, the brand aims at unfolding much more for the users. Spotify is known to follow a typical Christmas tradition. It is referred to as Spotify Wrapped. Wrapped by Spotify serves to be a great online marketing strategy for prompting new users to join the high-end Spotify community.

Just as December starts, the company goes forward with offering an opportunity to relive the favourite music tracks that you had been listening throughout the year. Moreover, the platform also creates a list of top songs –including artists and genres that you might prefer the upcoming year. Using the advertisement technique, users are also given the freedom to create the respective Christmas playlists while sharing them with individuals in the respective social network.

Santa Tracker by Google

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Google is undeniable the largest technology brand in the world out there. It developers and marketers keep in implementing new ideas for amazing the Google users. You might have observed the iconic 404 Page featuring a Dinosaur or playing of Packman or Atari Breakout in the browser.

However, as the Christmas season approaches, Google always loves using the interactive Santa Tracker. It is available as an annual entertainment program that was released in 2004. It allows end users to keep a track on Santa Claus during Christmas. Developers at Google include more advanced features in the ad including Christmas tutorials, playing videos, and various other activities –right as December approaches.

Google continue promoting its site on different social networks while adding various questions under the posts of Santa Claus for raising up the interest of the users. Here, you can consider taking part in a race while picking the user who wins.

H&M

It is a famous fashion brand in the world. The brand is known to operate in as many as 60 countries of the world while selling through a majority of them. During its Christmas shopping fun, the company decided to introduce something new.

H&M decided to collaborate with Coca-Cola’s ad for promoting some interesting online gifts –including staff for both the H&M & Coca-Cola fans. Here, the shoppers can consider buying hoodies, t-shirts, joggers, sweatshirts, hats, and much more featuring Coca-Cola prints.

Conclusion

You can come across a myriad of brands extending their interesting Christmas online ad campaigns. If you also wish to stand out this festive season, it is expected to think of something creative and fun. By leveraging the latest online marketing strategies and tools, you can maximize your brand identity using unique Christmas online ad ideas. All the best!

If you don’t even know where to start, contact us and we’ll get you on your way. 

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How to Rock Email Automation

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So you went through the trouble of building up an extensive email list; now what? Are you utilizing your email contact list to its full potential? 

Many people spend months, even years on campaigns that build up an email list, but end up with a huge contact list that they don’t know what to do with. So it just sits there, collecting dust, a.k.a opt-out. 

When done correctly, email marketing is the most valuable content you can put out there. Yes, people tend to ignore a lot of emails but if you can automate your emails properly, you are guaranteed to get great ROIs.

What is email automation?

It’s a means for creating sequences through workflows that produce meaningful content for your audience. In other words, it allows you to set up automatic emails that go out to a particular audience based on their specific circumstances. You can create lists, groups of contacts, categories, and criteria that need to be met in order for your audience to receive emails tailored to their needs. It eliminates tedious, time-consuming tasks such as compiling contact lists and scheduling emails. Your marketing team will be less distracted and more focused on valuable projects.

AND people much prefer personalized/customized emails over getting spammed with meaningless blast emails that they receive day in, day out. With email automation, your customers will be more engaged than ever.

Firstly, you need to make sure to choose the correct place to set up your automations. Some of our favourite Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software includes Sharpspring, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Curve’s own CRM system “Cedar.” Send us an email at info@curvecommunications.com for more info!

Here are the five steps to rocking your email automations:

1. Set Your Goals

You need to have your goals clear cut. This is the only way to go into your automation journey with confidence. If you don’t have clear goals, you will run into problems at every stage, and that will set you back big time.

2. Detect Your Triggers

Your contacts will need to meet certain criteria to be eligible to enter into a workflow. Based on your goals, you need to determine a set of criteria for each workflow. Once you do this, your contacts will essentially trigger a separation into lists. This is where you start to see the personalization of your contacts. 

3. Timing is EVERYTHING

Figure out how many hours, days, weeks, months need to go by between each email. The timing will be different for each workflow, depending on the circumstances. If your workflow is about an offer that runs out in a certain amount of time, you will need your workflow to last only a couple of days or weeks. If you have a year-long campaign, maybe sending your contacts an email once every few months will be enough. 

Keep in mind that there are optimal days and times to send out emails for a good open rate. You can find them on this HubSpot blog.

4. Determine Your Assets - The Emails

Where in the email journey are your contacts at? Are they a regular customer? Are they new? Have they been sitting in your contact list for a while, not opening anything? 

All of this matters for the content you’re providing them with. If they’re new to the subscription, sending a promotional email straight away will turn them away. Give them a warm welcome first. It’s extremely important that the content of the emails is curated for the workflow that it is in.

5. Testing

TEST, TEST, TEST!

Always remember to test out your workflows, because not everything will work out the way you initially plan. One part of the workflow having an issue can cause the whole system to collapse. So put yourself through the workflow as many times as you need to, until it’s perfect.

6. Frequent Reporting

You thought we were done once we set it up and tested it, but there’s one more step. Setting up reports is important to keep track of your email marketing performance. Especially at the beginning of a new campaign, you will want to see your data to know what’s working and what’s not. Plus, it’ll be a confidence boost to see that your contact list is engaging with your content more than ever! 

Pro tip: If you don’t know where to begin with email automation, take a second to think about all the time you’ve wasted sending emails manually. Take those emails and set up a workflow so they can be automated. Once you have that set, you will have a clean slate to start with. You can now come up with clear goals, and follow through with them.

Having a functioning email automation helps you maintain a list hygiene, meaning you have a clean contact list, containing people that are fully engaged. Email Automation also makes your business more scalable. Once your business grows, your team won’t get overwhelmed by the amount of emails and contacts they need to sort through.

Follow these steps and you’ll be golden for your next automation! 

Still have some questions about automations or need help setting them up? Contact us and we’ll steer you in the right direction.

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Surprise Name Change at Google HQ

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Google My Business is becoming Google Business Profile. How will this impact your business?

Google My Business (GMB) rebrands to Google Business Profile (GBP). Is it their fourth, fifth, sixth name change? We’ve lost count…

Curve is a big believer in optimizing GMB pages (is yours optimized?) so we were paying close attention to the announcement. To be honest, we always thought the Google My Business name was kind of weird and confusing, so the new name is an improvement. 

So — besides the name, what’s the big difference?

First off, the team behind the application for local listings “GMB” is killing off its dedicated app while shifting users to Google’s web experience. These are Google’s efforts to unify the current business profile management ecosystem by bringing it out of the mobile app and making it more accessible directly via Chrome, Google Search results, Maps and their respective apps. 

Users can easily claim and verify their business listing ownership through the search query, without having to log into Google Business Profile manager. Simply search for your business in Google Maps and Search, then edit the listing there.

Second, during the months to come, the current GMB management interface will also be updating and making the move to primarily support businesses managing multiple locations. It’s all meant to streamline the ordeal of using Google’s tools to manage your business listings. The only caveat is that there will be many business managers left frustrated as they lose their handy mobile app, being required to handle things through the web browser. 

Most of the big changes are expected to take place after the new year at some point in 2022 but it’s not yet clear when businesses will have to adapt to their new Google Business Profile home. 

Do the changes affect your business? Other than a flashy name change, there isn’t much going on here. You will still have access to the features that you do now. These changes don’t affect how we optimize our listings. But they might affect where we go to manage our listings.

Whatever happens, Google’s increased attention and development of the Business Profile tool will continue moving forward and the team at Curve believes your business should keep an eye on what Google is up to. Because if you don’t, as Google continues to develop their suite of tools for local search, you will only lose your standing in search results and that’s going to hurt your sales. 

Don’t wait to get your listing update; download our how-to book right now or book a meeting for a free business analysis. Stay on top of Google, any way you can! 

P.S: Developers need not fret as the Google My Business Profile API is only renaming to Business Profile API and will retain current functionality while remaining under active development, according to Google. 

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5 Tips That Will Elevate Your GMB

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*Changes are coming to GMB, read our next blog for more information*

Google My Business is the tool that almost every business overlooks, but it holds a ton of value when new and current customers are looking at your business. 

Did you know that 46% of all Google searches are for local information? Google My Business is a powerful tool that people use EVERY DAY to find local businesses through a simple Google search. Essentially it’s that little rectangle of business info that pops up when you search, for example, “ice cream near me”. This is why you should make sure that the information that appears in that pop-up is both accurate and trustworthy. When doing so, pay attention to these specific ranking factors:

  1. Business information and hours
  2. Google reviews
  3. Photos
  4. Categories and services/products
  5. Business-to-customer interaction

So how do you know if you have a good GMB? As a small business, it really comes down to the basics. Learning how to utilize them to your advantage is important in order to stand out and beat your competitors. If your Google My Business account is not optimized, then Google’s web crawlers will instead prioritize a business that is. Today we review five strategies to guarantee your listing is chosen over your competition. 

Accurate Business Information and Hours

How many times have you looked up a business, and the hours on the GMB listing say that it’s open? But when you show up to the business, it’s closed. For many potential customers, this happens way too often. It’s also not just small businesses making this fatal mistake, it’s even BIG brands like Sephora, H&M, and plenty of others. They fail to update even this “small” piece of information. It’s wild that these are companies that have massive marketing teams, but even they overlook the power of GMB. So don’t let that happen to you. 

The first thing you need to do is log into your GMB, and take a look at the Info tab of your business page.

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Go through the page and see if everything looks correct — and pay close attention to your hours and address. 

Many businesses will set up their info, and then never look at it again. Not realizing that information may eventually be outdated. The other reason to check often is that Google users and your potential customers can suggest changes to your business info. And Google may go in and change it without you even knowing it. So it’s important to check this page frequently. 

If your address and business hours are looking good, take a look at the the More hours and Special hours sections:

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This is another important section to not overlook. More likely than not, there are holidays on which you are closed or have limited hours. So make sure you add those in, and routinely update them (they won’t automatically update yearly). Doing this will take out the guesswork for your clients, who are trying to figure out whether you’re open on Thanksgiving, and will save you an angry review or phone call.

Google Support explains “Businesses with complete and accurate information are easier to match with the right searches.” This is why it’s so important to enter all business information accurately and to update frequently so future customers understand where you are, what you do, and when they can stop in.

Google Reviews

Speaking of reviews, positive Google reviews are one of the BEST ways to nudge your GMB up to #1 on Google Search Results without spending money on ads. Google has a system in place that is constantly checking on the trustworthiness of a GMB, so having lots of reviews not only looks good for a customer, but it also helps build trust with Google, because real people are verifying that you exist. 

Next, ensure you are replying to your reviews, whether they’re positive or negative. In the age of information, ignorance is a choice. Customers nowadays want proof that a business is accountable to customer expectations. Engaging with both positive and  negative reviews shows the public that your organization cares about customer satisfaction. So thank your customers for positive reviews to build loyalty, and don’t shy away from negative reviews. You can turn a disgruntled customer around by addressing the issues raised.

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Lastly, ask your customers to leave reviews! The more the merrier, so don’t be afraid to reach out. If you’re overwhelmed with the task of manually asking for reviews, there are plenty of programs (including Curve’s own program, Cedar) that can automate review campaigns for you! Take some stress off your back and generate lots of positive reviews!

Improve Photos and Videos

Another frequently overlooked feature of a GMB page is the photos section. It is proven that a potential customer is more likely to choose a GMB that has over 100 photos, than a business that only has a few. When first creating your GMB – much like with social media, you can add a cover photo and logo. These authenticate your business in the eyes of customers and will bring more click-throughs to your website and more requests for information. Adding photos to your GMB is vital to bringing in new customers. 

Some great photo ideas to add to your GMB are:

  • Exterior photos of your storefront or office
  • Interior photos of your office, business, or store
  • Photos of staff working, having fun together, and interacting with customers
  • Photos of your owners interacting with staff and customers, holding events, working, discovering new ideas
  • Customers interacting with your business or using products and services
  • Before/After photos (if applicable)
  • Photos of events and holidays
  • Photos of products and/or services
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There are many ways to add to the photo section of your GMB. But make sure these photos are flattering to your business. For example, don’t post a photo of your storefront looking empty or closed. You want people to be able to recognize your business both on the computer and in real life.

Another option to consider is getting professional photos taken of your business.  For example, Airbnb noted a 40% increase in earnings when hosts uploaded professional photos to their listings. High-quality photos can make a huge difference, and in the end they pay for themselves.

Take Advantage of the Posts tab

The Posts tab is probably the most underutilized section of a GMB. It is a great way to directly promote updates and infuse your GMB with information that both Google and potential customers will want to see.

The Updates tab has 3 main sections:

  • Offers
  • What’s New
  • Events

And you can create 4 different types of posts by adding:

  • Offer
  • Update
  • Event
  • Product
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You can use these sections to promote sales, discounts, and special events that are happening at your business, and it’s 100% free to do so. (Free advertising in this day and age? Wow!)  Bonus: it will boost your visibility even more on Google search results, making it easier for people to find you. 

Also, according to Google, posts with rich media (GIFs, videos and photos) attract significantly more engagement from customers. To help increase this engagement, your posts need a relevant call-to-action and a link.  

Finally, because your GMB is updated with the latest about your business, why wouldn’t a potential customer choose you over any other competition? It’s a win-win for everyone. 

Pro tip: One great way to take full advantage of GMB posts is to share snippets from your most recent blog post and link back to the original.

Create an FAQ for Your GMB

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Lastly, a great feature that can be added to your GMB, which is overlooked by many businesses, is the Questions and Answers section. The Q&A section of Google My Business can be used to attract customer traffic to your website. The questions and respective answers are showcased publicly and can even show up at the top of your listing. If a customer happens to search for a term related to a question or answer posted within your listing, then your business will most likely be the top search result for said query.

In order to access it, however, you have to go to the actual listing page on either Google Maps or as a Google search result. There you can actually write your own questions to your page and answer them. So this is a fantastic opportunity to sneak in an FAQ! 

We suggest picking three commonly asked questions to which your clients frequently need answers. Respond with some great answers to those questions, and you can even add a link to a section of your site to direct traffic there. That way, when people come across your GMB, their questions will have already been answered and they’ll be even more inclined to choose your service/products. It’s also a great way to show you are engaged and that you CARE about your Google audience and provide more information from the get-go. 

Bonus tip! Turn on Messaging

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Did you know that your GMB has its own messaging system? This is a great way to connect with people by allowing them to contact you directly through Google Maps or Google Search Results. You can access this feature either through the desktop or even the app. However, you have to make sure that you typically reply within 24 hours. If you don’t, Google will sometimes turn off the feature due to inactivity, and it can even hurt your search results. 

Google My Business is a feature that has been out for a few years now, and it’s still very much uncharted territory for many businesses. So take some time to play around with it, and try to figure out how you can best benefit from it. It’s so much more than just filling out your business information and then never looking at it again. Google My Business, if used correctly and effectively, can be one of your most valuable tools when it comes to marketing your company.

GMB STRATEGY BOOK

If you’d like some help getting started, we’re here for you! Click here to schedule a chat with the team at Curve Communications.

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What NOT to do on Video Conference Calls

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We’re many months into the pandemic (we’ve officially stopped counting), yet every now and then we hear a story about someone doing something embarrassing on a video conference call. 

Virtual meetings have become the new norm for many of us who work in the office, but whether you’re at home or in the office there is some simple etiquette you should follow to avoid the dreaded Zoom fail. 

So, whether you’re new to one of the many video conference platforms, such as Zoom, Teams or Slack, or even if you’re a veteran, you can avoid risking embarrassment (or even worse, your job) by avoiding these four missteps:

DON’T Assume the Microphone is off

It’s always a good idea to keep your microphone off when on a video call. It gives the presenter the ability to speak without being interrupted. However, there’s an old rule for anyone in journalism: always assume the mic is on – even if it’s not. It’s safe to say that this rule now applies to anyone in front of a computer during a virtual meeting. Even if you think you’ve turned your microphone “off,” there are situations where a button accidentally gets pushed and the next thing you know, your team members are hearing things they shouldn’t — you muttering your true feelings, your kids screaming in the background, dogs barking, or even worse, someone farting–like this teacher who sends her students into a giggle fit when she accidently farts on camera.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvzB-ZQ_8oI

DON’T take your Computer to Private Places

As with any real meeting, nature calls. If you’re on a laptop, resist the urge to take it with you to the bathroom. It sounds silly but there are countless stories of people being caught on in the bathroom thinking their camera and/or microphone was off. Like Jennifer, for example, who didn’t let her meeting get in the way of having to go pee. Needless to say her colleagues were pretty shocked and Jennifer quickly became an internet celebrity with the trending hashtag #PoorJennifer. Don’t be like Jennifer. Leave the laptop where it is and excuse yourself, if needed. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xqLjc2y6O4

DON’T Assume Video Backgrounds Block Everything

The most “fun” feature that Zoom and Teams offer are the virtual backgrounds. They are great for blurring out a messy room in the background of your shot. There are many cool backgrounds you can use, from beach settings to outer space. You can even import your own images and use them as a background. However, a video background won’t hide everything. If there’s a moving object or person the effect doesn’t work. Unfortunately, one former Vancouver Councillor found this out the hard way — live on air with Global BC. During his Zoom interview, his husband made a “cheeky” appearance in the background and that’s when he and many others learned that digital backgrounds don’t block everything. 

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/cheeky-mishap-vancouver-buttocks-exposed-during-live-interview-video-bc-2830505

DON’T Eat on Camera

With a full fridge always nearby, it’s easy to always have something to eat while you’re working from home. However, eating while you’re on camera is just bad virtual meeting etiquette (unless you’re all eating on camera). If your meeting is running late and you’re really hungry, it’s best to turn off the camera and microphone to eat. No one wants to watch you munch on a sandwich while they’re speaking.

Conclusion

If you’re new to virtual meetings, it’s always best to practice, practice, practice before you make a real call. While Zoom and Teams are pretty easy and straightforward to use, there are many features that can throw you off. Get to know each platform before your meeting because they are different! It’s also a good idea to test out your camera and microphone beforehand to ensure they’re working properly and that you’re comfortable turning them on and off. And more importantly, be on your best behaviour; you never know what can happen or who is watching. 

The team at Curve would love to meet with you on Zoom! What do you want to talk about? We promise not to eat while we chat. Contact us here. 

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Three Handy Tips To Attract Sponsors To Your Event

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So you’ve got an event coming up, but you don’t quite have the budget to pull it off the way it exists in your planner brain. You need a bigger budget! You need sponsors. 

Not always an easy task. Pitching sponsors can feel like going to endless job interviews, since both are all about selling yourself (well, your event), and making your proposal stand out above the many others that are also coming in. It’s convincing your crush that they should choose you. Because you, of course, will be the one to make all their (marketing) dreams come true …or something like that.

In order to attract sponsors to come on board with your event, here are a few things you should consider.

Make It About Them

No matter how friendly your potential sponsor seems, they’re not going to give you money just because you ask nicely. There has to be something in it for them—something good! Sponsors are looking for opportunities that benefit and support their marketing goals. Can your event offer some perks that align with their current marketing campaign?

Do some research before you even make contact. Get a sense of the organization’s community outreach goals, their mission statement, their key areas of investment, and find that sweet spot where your event fits. And be genuine—if you can’t find a reasonable connection or an avenue for your event to legitimately benefit the sponsor, then it will do you no good to make promises you can’t keep. 

Let’s go back to the idea of job hunting. You are not about to send the same generic cover letter or resume to every company out there. You will customize it and explain specifically what you can provide for that potential employer, just as you must customize your sponsorship proposal to meet the needs of your potential sponsor. The same rules apply, so make yourself and your organization attention-grabbing and relevant!

Provide Lots of Data

When you are preparing the proposal, it is important to include all relevant details and data. The sponsor will be looking at your event as an advertising opportunity, so they’ll want to see some statistics before they decide that your event is a worthwhile investment. Here are a few pieces of information you should be prepared to share:

  • Provide information about anticipated attendance, as well as the demographics of those in attendance. It is best when the target market of your brand matches that of the prospective sponsor. Could members of your audience be potential customers for your new sponsor? What can you do to increase the likelihood that they are, or that they could become such? Let them see how they will be reaching the right audience by contributing to your event.
  • You should also have statistics about social media engagement. Demonstrate that your audience is an attentive and social one, and that your potential sponsor would benefit from being the object of this potentially far-reaching attention. And encourage your audience to share! #mutuallybeneficial
  • Show how you will measure the success of your event, and therefore how your sponsor will easily recognize that their investment was a wise business move. 
  • Get testimonials from past sponsors. Specific reactions from previous supporters of your event will give your potential new sponsor something to which they can relate.
  • It can also useful to be particular about the funding you require. Break down the relevant parts of your budget and where your potential sponsor’s funding would go.

Consider Different Type of Sponsorship and Maximize the Non-Financial Benefits

Give your sponsors options for how they can show their support. While some might have a monetary allowance they can spend, others might only be willing to participate with an in-kind agreement of goods or services. Be flexible! Are there ways you can maximize an in-kind contribution? 

Perhaps you can use a sponsor’s gift as a door prize, which offers value to your audience. Maybe they are willing to provide a particular service at your event, which can help you save on event expenses. Ultimately you want to build ongoing partnerships with your sponsors, so be open-minded—you never know what might happen and it could be the start of a great and long-lasting relationship.

If the arrangement is for a financial contribution, be sure to provide sponsors with multiple tiers of sponsorship options—and be clear about what they will get in return at each level. List everything, even the things that might seem obvious to you. 

For example, if you will have a professional photographer at the event, you can ask your photographer to ensure they capture the sponsor’s logo or event-attending rep in action. Then make sure the sponsor gets emailed copies of those photos, which can be super valuable when they need to report back to their superiors on how they spent their sponsorship budget. 

As another example, maybe your sponsor has a trade show booth and they’re looking for exposure. If your event has the space for it, why not offer them some real estate? It’s an additional perk for your sponsor, and costs you nothing. You have just added value to your proposal without spending a penny.

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In what other ways might you offer value to your sponsor? Don’t be afraid to ask them directly. Your attention to detail here can make all the difference: not only can it determine whether or not a sponsor views your event as a valuable investment they want to repeat in the future, but if you take full advantage of your resources, you may be surprised at how much extra value you can give back to that sponsor. 

In the end, it’s all about building relationships. Your organization is seeking funding, and your potential sponsor is hopefully looking for exposure and/or marketing & PR opportunities. With the right match and a little creativity, you can develop a mutually-beneficial arrangement that has both parties feeling like they’ve won the lottery! 

Still feel like you need some support? Reach out to us at Curve and we’ll be thrilled to help you out.

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Easy Tips and Tricks to Elevate your Facebook Business Page

by Blog
Digital Marketing Agency

A Facebook business page is a free-to-set-up page that businesses can create on Facebook to increase their online visibility. Just like a personal Facebook profile, your business page on Facebook can send and receive messages, post updates, and receive notifications. Your business page can also like, comment on, and share the content of other Facebook users and pages.

When it comes to Facebook business pages, there are an endless number of profiles. This can make it difficult to stand out as a brand. However, simply paying for ads isn’t the only thing you can do to boost engagement. There are numerous ways to elevate your Facebook business page!

Share Industry News on Your Feed

If your clients/customers/followers work in the same industry as your business, it’s a great idea to share industry news on your Facebook page. Sharing relevant and fascinating industry news demonstrates to your customers and followers that your business is current with industry trends. It also indicates that your company is invested in its niche. Which may assist and build trust between you and your potential clients and customers. It may even open up relevant discussion, incite questions. And most importantly, boost interaction with your posts, which ultimately increases your relevance on the Facebook platform.

Study the Competition

When you’re just getting started on Facebook, it can be super intimidating competing with similar companies that have massive followings and picture-perfect social media posts. However, every business page started with nothing at one point. So whether you have fifty or fifty thousand supporters, don’t give up just because your competitors are seemingly “doing better” than you are. Likely, most of them are playing the Facebook guessing game, just like you.

So what can you do with that? Well, study your competition and take what works and doesn’t work for them. Allow it to assist you in achieving success on your Facebook page. Determine which businesses in your industry have done an excellent job of building a Facebook community. Pay attention to the sort of posts and content that generates the most significant engagement from their followers.

Hold a Contest on Facebook

Once you’ve built up a dedicated following, hold a contest! Giving away a prize through a contest post on Facebook is a pretty effective way to increase engagement on your page. Programs like ShortStack or Gleam are two great tools for building successful contests for your Facebook page. They include great design customization that allows you to create eye-catching and high-performing competitions while capturing leads, all in one platform. 

Find New Ways to Show Off Your Products and/or Services!

Use your creativity and attempt to appeal to your followers’ needs. This can be done by uploading funny, interesting, or relevant content that promotes your products and/or services. For example, plan a photo shoot to get professional photos of your clothing line, or take an internet trend and incorporate your product into it. Even just silly interviews around the office are a great way to show your followers that you’re present and fun to work with. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and make your followers feel included in your brand story.

Keep Engaging!

The most common error businesses and organizations make when they first start on Facebook is failing to maintain an active presence once their page is established. You’re not going to see massive growth if you’re just posting once a month or only when you have something significant to market. Following the creation of your business page, keep the following in mind: 

  • Be a human being! Facebook users come to Facebook to interact with their friends, not to purchase your product, so talk to your followers and engage them in conversations.
  • Keep your status updates brief and concise. If they’re super long, people may not take the time to read them.
  • Keep in mind that people are more likely to look at content that includes photos and videos, so include them whenever possible.
  • Consider the time of day when posting: when are most of your followers online?
  • Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% of your posts should be valuable and useful for your audience, and 20% of your posts should be directly promoting your business. 
  • Avoid posting more than 1-2 posts each day since this can overwhelm the feed of your followers and cause them to unfollow your page.

Conclusion

Facebook is by far the largest social network on the planet. Therefore, if you’re looking to grow your business online, it’s an obvious choice to create a Facebook business page. However, make sure to take the time to create an effective social media strategy. Do your research and create valuable content. Remember, at the end of the day it’s not the number of followers on your Facebook page. That is not what determines how much people engage with your page and your business. It’s how you use it strategically and creatively to increase discussion and interaction, and ultimately, community.

Want some help getting your Facebook business page in shape? Get in touch with us!

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The Anatomy of a Blog that Converts

by Blog
Digital Marketing Agency

Writing a great blog is both a science and an art. A science because a good blog that converts should follow a system of best practices to optimize its content effectively. These processes give the piece its best fighting chance of breaking through the overcrowded blog market. As for art, well that comes down to either the team working on it, or you assuming the roles of writer, editor and designer, working in harmony to imagine and create a blog that converts.

Science = Art?

Art and science are both attempts to understand and describe the world around us. Forbes writes, “Science = art. They are the same thing.” A great blog bridges the gap between the two. It’s a systematic creation.

Lance Esplund from the Atlantic further explains, “to understand art, think biology.” Biology is the science dealing with living organisms and art can honestly be classified as that: a living organism. When you break any art down by dissecting its various parts, you discover how its components band together like the anatomy of a body to “contribute to the life of the artwork as a whole”.  Anatomy is the science identifying the structures of living things. So, to ensure we bring to life a blog to be proud of, come with us on this journey to learn the anatomy of a blog that converts.

1. Topic Conception

The first element of a blog is the idea behind it—its topic. To conceive the topic of a piece, one must ponder and ask themselves a few questions: 

  • What will the blog be about? 
  • Where do I begin? 
  • How do I make something unique?
  • How do I even come up with it? 
  • How do I create something great? 

There are many avenues to stroll through but for the sake of clarity, we will only visit a few. If you’re writing a blog for work then there are countless ways to get inspired. 

Read your team’s past blog posts and see if there is anything not written about. Find the gaps of what was done before or maybe a subject covered you can expand on? Ask yourself, what part of your work day can you share that is interesting, aligns with goals and will bring value to the reader? Maybe you simply learned a new skill that is making your life easier so you opt to share those useful tidbits of information with the world. 

Whatever the case might be, the metaphorical well of knowledge is never dry if you remain motivated, find new angles, and uncover gaps you can fill.

2. Topic Research

via GIPHY

After unearthing your topic, the next step is to begin researching it. Explore Google trends to find out its related topics and queries, getting a sense of the current state of the subject. You can further use Google to your advantage researching the topic and reading the various content currently ranking on Google’s search results page (SERP). 

Pro tip: Compile a list of industry-related, topic-related, and audience-related keywords to supplement your knowledge and find new research avenues. My favourite free tool is Keyword Tool.

3. Automatic Writing (Info Dump)

via GIPHY

With your brain filled with information regarding the topic, you can now put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and begin writing. Write, write, write and then write some more. Just write what comes to mind relating to the topic. Don’t stop for typos, or to fix formatting issues. No idea is dumb, no avenue not visited. Just write away letting the ideas and inspiration flow through like you are merely a vessel dispersing knowledge. Once you feel like your brain is drained and you cannot think of anything else then you can stop.

4. The Structure

By the time you are done writing your fingers should be steaming. The blog is in its purest form. Just raw and unfiltered knowledge and now comes the fun part. Read through the piece and identify sections as well as the purpose of the blog.

Most people nowadays don’t read but scan through content. Composing a blog that is scannable is one of the key elements of a great blog. So draft subheadings that explain the essence of the sections or what their aim is so that “most people” can skim and scan through, stopping at the section that grabs their attention. 

Also, if you haven’t already, you can begin drafting, editing and giving shape to the introduction and conclusion. Just remember to include a hook to draw them further in at the introduction as well as  a call-to-action at the conclusion so that every blog can be used as a marketing tool.

Pro tip: Once you have finished grooming your blog, read it through once more and create a title that incites wonder into those about to read on.

5. Sourcing Images

After you have finished the writing and proofing process, give your blog some colour by including high quality images. Add a banner image that gives a preview of what’s to come while also finding rich media for various sections to draw the reader in. There are many free websites where you can find free high quality stock images, some of my personal favourites are Pexels, Pixabay and Unsplash.

Pro tip: Create a free account on Canva to edit and find even more stock imagery.

P.S: For more resources read our blog, “Where to Find The Best Free Content/Stock Images“.

 

From conception to reality, all these sections make up a small part of the whole blog. They set the foundation for something great but before you can publish it, there is much more to be done, the behind the scenes of it all. The SEO as well as internal and outbound links mapping, then you can also draft a distribution strategy employing social media to greatly expand the reach of the blog created. But those are topics for another time. All these structures coalesce together in synergy to bring to life a truly beautiful piece of art.

Interested in more content marketing tips? Follow us on social media and read our blogs for more insights about the digital marketing world. Click here to schedule a 1:1 chat with us!