Tomauri Inc.

Project Type:

Brand Strategy

Results:

New Website (2016 Launch)
New Product Development Process
New marketing communication strategy
New brand strategy framework

The post Tomauri Inc. – Case Study appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

There is so much discussion about improving your website’s position on SERP (Search Engine Results Page), most of it is related to the social media that surrounds your website; what I call your “web-presence” vs your “web-identity” (website).

A very thorough Report from Raven Tools outlines very common mistakes made by businesses as it relates to their website’s on-page SEO.  They analyzed over 4 billion on-page SEO issues among 200 million page crawls form February 2013 to June 2015.

It is amazing that the most common issues of on-page SEO are considered “images issues” because there is so much emphasis on incorporating imagery into web content but marketers do seem to do it wrong.    Simple mistakes like not incorporating keywords in image “title attributes” (Top-5 list below).  There are over 1 BILLION page views per day on Google Image Search; so, web users are telling everyone how important images are.

The 5 Most Common On-Page SEO Issues

1.      Images with Missing “Title Attributes”

2.      Images with Missing “Alt Attributes”

3.      Links with No Anchor Text

4.      Meta Descriptions that are Missing or the Wrong Length

5.      Pages with Duplicate Content

It doesn’t take much to correct these most common on-page SEO issues.  Review your websites and make any necessary changes.  Be sure to measure your web analytics prior to making the changes because you will see an impactful change in web metrics after you make the change.

The post On-Page SEO-Increase Website Page Rank appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

Humanitarian Organization for Local Development (HOLD) International

Project Type:

Brand &  Website Strategy

Results:

Established brand

The post HOLD International Case Study appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

Crimson Transaction Technology; Point-of-Sale Software

Project Type:

Brand Strategy

Results:

164% Increase in Sales Leads

The post Crimson Transaction Technologies Case Study appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

This is easier said then done because what makes a successful brand is having a unique promise and committing to that promise.  Brand marketing lives or dies on this principle but is often overlooked and “tossed” in the decision bucket of logo and stationary.

The importance of target marketing and target market personas

• Grouping buyers into distinct groups
• Understanding the problems these groups have
• How you can solve these problems
• Documenting what you know about each buyer persona

Target Marketing

1.Talk

2.Think Like Them

3. Judy, John, James, Julie

4. Pen to Paper (or fingers to keyboard)

5. Engage the Entire Company

The post Target Marketing – Successful Strategies appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

The challenge for most business owners and marketing departments is time and expertise; being able to react in a timely manner and knowing how to do it properly. In the end be sure to have some gauge on the ROI on the time you spend on social media against your defined goals. You don’t have to always generate a sale. Brand awareness and building a community are valid objectives, but they still need to be measured.

Consider these four tips as ways to help you with your social media strategy. Don’t forget, great content attracts users, users create engagement; so, content is king – that’s the overarching principle.

Social Media Strategy Tips

1. Storytime

Tell a story about your offering. Consumers often buy into something that has meaning – this is one of the main reasons why there is increasing popularity with social entrepreneurship (entrepreneurs with philanthropic mandates like www.exelaventures.com). For example, if your company promotes “widgets” that are child-labour-free, stimulating conversation about this topic and then directing them to your company which does not sell “widgets” made in China, you’ve given your target audience an alternative.

2. Quality over quantity

Once you are able to establish a following, you are better off engaging your audience/customers/prospects with compelling content rather than hammering out mediocre content frequently. The key is to let them decide what is important – when that decision is made, they will do the work for you by sharing the content and “spreading-the-word”. By communicating frequently with less compelling content, you risk your audience getting annoyed with you and leaving you.

3. Trial and Error

The nature of social media is dynamic. So, you’re not going to get it right the first time. Be prepared to experiment with different approaches. The focus needs to be on consumer engagement. You don’t know exactly what your audience likes until you test out some content and strategies with them. Be patient with it and when you find out what drives your audience, let them do the rest of the work but stay engaged.

4. Know Your Limits

You don’t have to be on every platform. Once you have completed your Target Market Persona assessment, you will know exactly where your target market “eats, sleeps, reads, works, and plays”. Focus on 1 or 2 platforms at the beginning and do them well; don’t over extend your reach and be present on platforms you have no activity on. It’s not good for your brand. In addition, it’s important to recognize whether or not you need to out-source your social media strategy. There are many good companies available that can manage all aspects, from content creation to bid-management to posting to analytics.

The post Social Media Strategy at Its Best appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

Order in the House
Professional Organizing and Home Staging

Project Type:

Brand Strategy and New Website

Results:

179% Increase in Web Site Visitors (YoY)

The post Order In the House Case Study appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

Besides your inbox being inundated with requests to “stay connected”, has the spam stopped?  Mine has, a bit.  Though the guys in Kuala Lumpur didn’t get the CASL memo and are not following email marketing best practices.

I think there was a lot more made out of CASL than there should have been.  From a “50,000-foot-view”, CASL is actually good for your businesses – what!  That’s right, components of the legislation are good email marketing best practices that business should already be following.

Let me explain.  Your business should always keep a cleaned and scrubbed email list (essentially, your prospecting list), this is an example of one of many good email marketing best practices.  So, CASL actually forced your business to do what you should be doing anyway, “scrubbing” your email list (i.e. refining your prospect list).

Businesses have become lazy with email marketing because it is an affordable marketing channel; “whip” together some content and press “SEND”.  The common pitfall is that businesses look at email marketing as a mass channel – yes, I know it is.  However, if you actually view your email marketing strategy as a more focused strategy, by segmenting your list, your email campaign to 1000 segmented recipients will be more meaningful, with better results, than a campaign to a general list of 5000.

The truth is, a company with a strong marketing team is constantly “scrubbing” their contact lists and monitoring their sales funnels – so, CASL would have had minimal impact on them.  These companies have being doing this all-along; the hype is all for nothing to these businesses.

The other interesting side-effect of this law is that I believe you’ll observe more phone calls and personal interaction.  Cold-calling will probably increase.

Email Marketing Best Practices

In light of CASL, I want to outline some email marketing best practices that are fundamental for every company and marketing team.

1.    Collecting email addresses

It is imperative that you collect your email addresses legitimately.  Otherwise, your business will be in violation of CASL – and you will have ignored the whole purpose of this blog post!

2.    Segment Your List and Customize Your Message

Industry Tradeshow sign-ups should be kept separately from, say, your website sign-up.  Segmenting your list much more accurately allows you to create a more customized message and in turn, a better chance of engaging with your customer (a possible sale).  It is also important to know at what stage in the decision-making process the recipient is in – this is key to converting an email recipient from a prospect to a sale.  Isn’t that the purpose of marketing?

3.    Don’t ignore the metrics

After every email campaign, your marketing team should always pay attention to the metrics of that campaign.  The metrics are telling you who is opening your email, what are they reading, what emails are bouncing back.  More importantly, you’ll be able to identify what recipients are more engaged than others and which recipients may warrant a follow-up of some sort (another email, phone call etc).

CASL is not all bad.  It simply forces your marketing team to be more focused and get in-line with some good email marketing best practices.

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Diamond Beverages
Coffee Services and Water Systems

Project Type:

Brand Strategy and New Website

Results:

162% Increase in Web Traffic

The post Diamond Beverages Case Study appeared first on GIANT Marketing Solutions.

IS

The problem is, this debate is always overshadowed by egos! So, marketing people want to believe THEY are more important and of course, sales people always think they are the most important! :- )

The truth is if there is ever a need for two disciplines to work together for the sake of the success of a business, it is these two. Marketing and sales strategies DRIVE the business’s growth. They are so intertwined, yet, so different in how they execute and behave. Let me explain…

I’m an event organizer; I host parties for Gen-Xers! This spring, I am going to host a huge party! I am going to have the best music, the best food, and the best drinks and host it at the best facility. So, I create some flyers describing my party as “the best party in town”; I post them up in High Schools and Senior’s Homes. And so, the date quickly approaches and there I am, with only a few people in attendance, I’m offering them Zooks Candy, stirring up some Fuzzy Navel’s and dancing to Madonna’s “Holiday”. No one really wants to talk to me as I explain to them the other great “Retro” Party’s I’m planning in the coming months. Not long into this party, [queue the crickets], I’m the only one left.

What went wrong? I KNOW I have the best music, the best food, and the best drinks and that I hosted the party at the best facility for Gen-Xers. Why didn’t they appreciate it? It’s because High School Students (Gen-Yers) and Seniors (Baby Boomers) don’t appreciate and find value in Zooks, Fuzzy Navel’s and Madonna. So, I attracted the wrong people to this party and as a result, I didn’t even get a chance to tell them about my future parties (sell to them) because they just weren’t interested.

The Difference Between Marketing and Sales

Here is a very clear difference between marketing and sales. The marketing failed and so, as a result, sales failed (i.e even those in attendance didn’t want to hear anything about my upcoming events). How did the marketing fail? Most importantly, the target market /audience was not clearly and specifically identified (the job of marketing). The message was not focused enough to suggest it was a “Retro Party” and so it didn’t resonate with the intended audience (the job of marketing). The marketing channels (where I distributed my flyers) were not anywhere close to where my target audience is “living and breathing” (the job of marketing). Whatever time and money I spent on informing people was wasted. Those in attendance that I tried speak to, were not at all interested in what I had to say about my upcoming events (the job of sales) and so, all the features of my party that I thought were great, didn’t make any sense to them. I couldn’t reinforce the message of the “best party in town” because to them, this party stinks!

The difference between marketing and sales is that marketing oversees the brand, the message, the creativity everything associated with TELLING people the specific value you can give them; I can throw the “best party in town” but if people, the right people, don’t know about it, then my party does not have a chance to succeed. Marketing is meant to attract attention.

Sales ensures that whatever marketing promises, is what is delivered; sales oversees the actual product and reinforces, the “promise”. Sales is meant to cultivate and educate the prospects (those who were attracted by marketing).

If marketing brings in the right people, and sales reinforces what marketing promised, then marketing can “recycle” that experience, that delivery of a promise and continue to create another message to start the process all over again.

The difference between marketing sales is really in their core objective; marketing attracts potential customers and Sales engages them, ultimately, delivering the brand promise.  They are complementary and intertwined tasks but each has its techniques and tools to achieve their objectives.

Keep in mind that successful companies recognized that Sales is NOT independent of marketing. A successful company will often have VP of Marketing who is responsible for Sales as opposed to a VP of Sales and Marketing which creates an unhealthy distinction between sales people and the rest of the team.

The difference between a Fuzzy Navel and a Cherry Bomb?  They are both alcoholic beverages but a Gen-Xer probably won’t know what a Cherry-Bomb is and a Gen-Yer probably won’t know what a Fuzzy Navel is.  Identify the target market clearly, cater your message to them; selling becomes easier.

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