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Are you a business owner? If the answer is yes, please tell us you’re incorporating video into your digital marketing strategy… If you’re not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
Why? Because video is crucial to showcasing your brand and ultimately, getting more clients. And what business owner doesn’t want more clients? After you’re done with this article, circle back to find out how to attract the right clients.
But for now, we’ve got Andrew Marr, Owner and CEO of Digital Storyteller on camera to discuss the importance of using video in your digital marketing strategy.
Let’s hear what this ranting Scot has to say.
Why is Video Important to My Digital Marketing Strategy?
So, why is video important? At Digital Storyteller, we love our metrics and statistics. (Our awesome SEO manager, Devin Aubert, however, is on another level when it comes to statistics love!)
This considered, we thought we’d demonstrate the importance and popularity of video with some stats from Techjury. Let’s take a look at the booming industry. Did you know…
“Video is the number 1 source of information for 66% of people.
Over 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day.
More than 75% of all video views come from mobile devices.
The global video market was valued at $39.61 billion in 2018…” (Imagine where it’s at now!?)
“YouTubers upload 300 hours of video content to the platform every minute.
93% of businesses gain new customers as a result of branded video content.”
The point is so many individuals watch videos nowadays.
In fact, our owner and CEO Andrew admits to watching at least 50 to 100 short videos a day through Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Hey, it’s where his enjoyment sits!
But it’s not just cute puppy videos that grab his attention, Andrew reminds us.
“I learn from video. Most clients in the financial services world, the clients that we work with, have a hard time with video, and understandably so…”
Why? Truth is, it’s hard to sit in front of the camera and talk, especially about ourselves!
Today, Andrew says, your digital marketing strategy must include not only long-form blogs, newsletters, white papers, etc. but also videos. Why? If not, you’re missing out on a huge group of viewers, and therefore, prospects.
How Can I Get Started?
So, if you’re a business owner, you might be wondering… “How do I get started with this video stuff?”
Don’t worry, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
All you need in terms of video length is 30 seconds to a minute.
“But what do I talk about?!” Don’t worry—Think about the questions you receive over and over as a business owner.
For Andrew, these questions include the following:
Why should I outsource my marketing?
How long does it take to see an ROI when it comes to organic marketing?
Why does Digital Storyteller specialize in financial services?
How much does your marketing cost?
What is organic content marketing?
So, think: What are the five main recurring questions you get? Then, sit down and answer those questions.
Make your videos short and to the point.
If you’re not answering a question that you frequently get from clients, consider telling a story instead. You can tell a story about…
How your business helped a client
You can even ask a client to record a video testimonial for you if you’re not quite ready to jump in front of the camera yourself! Here’s how to ask for a client testimonial.
Video is social media’s favorite form of content right now. By using video, you will increase your traffic, up your engagement, AND people will simply get to know you better by seeing your face, hearing you talk, and getting to know your personality!
Read on for more information about boosting your engagement via video in our article “Want to Connect with Your Prospects? Use Video.”
How to Record a Great Video
Need more guidance? Not sure what to wear in the video? Or, how to position your camera? Read our article “How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial” for all the answers you seek.
PS: These tips apply just as well to non-Zoom video recordings! Happy recording!
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News, Outsourced Marketing, SEO
Your Guide to Marketing KPIs
SEO, CTA, KPI … The list of terms you need to know for your marketing strategy seems to go on and on. We’re here to help break it down and make it easy for you to understand. Keep reading for our full guide to marketing key performance indicators (KPIs).
KPI stands for key performance indicator. They are a way to measure performance over time. Following certain metrics over time can help your business reach milestones, gauge processes, and provide insight to make better business decisions.
What Marketing KPIs Should You Track?
Tracking the right key performance indicators can provide a holistic view of how  your business is performing.
We, like Semrush, believe that these are some of the best KPIs you should be tracking:
Conversions: How many of your site visitors are qualified leads? How many of them convert to closed sales?
Organic Visibility: How are people finding your site? Are you showing up through organic search?
Organic Sessions: How many users are finding your site through an organic search?
Bounce Rate: How quickly are users leaving your site after visiting? If your site is not user-friendly, loads slowly, or doesn’t provide the information your users are looking for, they might exit the site after viewing only a single page.
Average Time on Page: How long are your users spending on your site pages? Pages with more content, such as blogs or videos, typically tend to drive longer time on-page.
Backlinks: Sites with higher authority are more likely to see increased backlinks. If your site provides valuable, authoritative information that users find helpful, and useful, they may be more likely to link to it from their own sites. This helps drive referral traffic to your site and continues to support authority improvements.
Keyword rankings: Keyword rankings are the primary driver of organic search traffic. Targeting specific keywords relevant to what your business does is critical to increasing organic search traffic. It’s important to track keywords in two ways: total ranking keywords, and keyword ranking positions.
Branded vs. Non-Branded Traffic: Branded keywords are directly related to your unique business. For our brand, this would include keywords such as “Digital Storyteller,” “Digital Storyteller marketing agency,” “Andrew Marr,” etc. Non-branded keywords are those that your site ranks for that are not specific to you, such as “digital marketing,” “social media management,” and “search engine optimization.”
Page Speed: Page speed is a huge determinant of how your site performs. According to backlinko, the average page loading speed is 10.3 seconds on desktop and 27.3 seconds on mobile. If your site takes longer than this to load, chances are your user won’t wait and will instead visit a competitor’s site instead. Safe to say we’ve become a pretty impatient society …
Coverage Issues: Performing site audits can ensure that your site is functioning properly and that Google is indexing and reading your site as it should be. Google Search Console is a critical tool in identifying coverage issues and can help you solve any issues that you find.
How to Develop your Marketing KPI Strategy
Your business’ marketing KPI strategy should be unique to your business needs. Sure, you can glean ideas from other similar business models, but tailor yours to help guide you where you want to go.
Define your KPIs- Which specific KPIs will your business track? How will you collect the data and how often will you track shifts?
Use the SMART Method- KPIs should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. For example, “Onboard 7 new clients in the next 12 months.”
Keep your KPIs clear- Your team should understand your KPIs and how to act on them to make decisions that ultimately lead to reaching your goals.
Revisit your plan- Sometimes plans need to change. Revisit your KPI strategy to make sure the strategy is still working for you. Maybe you need to adjust a few action items based to keep propelling forward in the right direction.
Don’t overdo it with KPIs- Try to avoid doing too much, too quickly. With access to a plethora of data, it can be easy to try to measure every little thing. We recommend using the information to stay on track with your most important targets- however you define them. This will help you avoid KPI overload.
See an example below of how we at Digital Storyteller keep track of the important KPIs to our business strategy.
Culture, Digital Marketing, Financial Services Companies, News
How to Ask for Client Testimonials
Frequently, our clients ask us, “Should I ask for testimonials?” or, “Do people even read testimonials?” and, “Should we do video testimonials?”
The short answer to all of these questions is… YES!
The bottom line is that we receive a lot of questions around the idea of other people (past or current clients!) talking about what you do as a business and how you help people.
So, how do you request a client testimonial? Listen to our CEO, Andrew Marr, speak more about how to ask for a video testimonial.
Don’t lie, you’ve spent time on Yelp or scoured Google reviews… The truth is, as we all know it, a review can make or break someone’s decision to partner with your business.
Use this fact to your advantage. This means you should showcase clients you’ve helped and those you’ve created great partnerships with (because your business is awesome!)
Collecting and displaying testimonials for the world to see helps prospects know how great it is to work with you. After all, Boast found that 72% of consumers say positive testimonials help increase their trust in a business.
Testimonials are powerful, and video testimonials are especially imperative to tell the story of how you helped people.
Many of us grew up in a culture of not asking for help and not talking about ourselves. Video testimonials, however, go against the grain.
When you ask a client to contribute a testimonial for your business, what you’re essentially asking is, “Please, will you talk about us? Will you talk about how we helped you?”
(Hint: These questions are super consequential to those reading—or watching—your testimonial!)
Different questions you can ask your clients to help guide the testimonial are:
How did we solve a problem for you?
How did we help you save money?
What was working with us like?
Why do you like working with us?
How can others benefit from partnering with us?
If you ask your client for a video testimonial, remind them that it doesn’t need to be very long at all. Ideally, the video should be very short, 30 seconds to one minute. Keep it straight to the point.
The clients might need some coaching, but it’s very easily done.
Lucky for you, we have an entire article that you can send to your clients to prep them titled, “How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial.” Check it out!
Once you have the video, put it everywhere. We recommend testimonials live on your website, in blog posts, on LinkedIn, and more. Tell the world how you help people. Hell, shout it from the rooftops!
We’re sure that the clients that you did help will be more than happy to do this for you.
The Right Way to Ask for Client Testimonials
Don’t make things complicated. It’s just five simple steps.
You have to ask for a testimonial to get one. Think about it… When was the last time you gave a testimonial unprompted? You can ask clients whom you’ve partnered with for years, a new client who is excited to partner with you, the list goes on!
Create an easy form fill for your clients to fill out their experience with you. Strike while the iron’s hot and ask for the testimonial during or right after the conclusion of your partnership (these days you can also ask for a testimonial through a short text message).
Offer an incentive. Think outside of the box of gifts! An incentive can be more brand recognition on your website.
Post the testimonial (with a nice headshot) on your website.
Check out our testimonials page on our website for more inspiration.
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News
5 Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Agency
How do you know if you need a digital marketing agency? The simple answer is: if you’re ready to focus on your business and do what you do best. Then, you can let a marketing agency do what they do best- help market your business.
There are, however, more signs that your business is ready to partner with an outsourced marketing agency.
1. You have a Reactive, Not a Proactive Marketing Plan
Yes, there is a time and a place for a reactive strategy, but that time and place is not with your marketing. Why? Because reactive marketing doesn’t work. It’s a band-aid for a long-term problem.
It usually sounds like this… “Oh s**t, we don’t have any holiday posts scheduled for tomorrow!” and/or “We need more leads, ASAP!” Last-minute posts made hastily are more prone to contain errors or be off-brand.
At Digital Storyteller, we help create a proactive marketing plan for our clients through our content calendar that details an entire month’s worth of content.  This accessible and downloadable template can be customized to fit each client’s needs. It also helps our team stay aligned with deliverables.
Need a Thanksgiving post? Boom added to the calendar. Celebrating an employee’s birthday? Bam! Added to the calendar.
Trust us, this content calendar is the best thing since sliced bread.
2. You’re Not Focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Are you focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? If not, how are people supposed to find you in the black hole of Google?
Amazing blog posts paired with a stunning website can only get you so far without SEO. SEO is how you can tailor your content to rank for search engines like Google. For an in-depth review of SEO, read our article here.
When you use SEO consistently and throughout your content and social media, you’ll see organic growth, keyword ranking, and a higher authority score. Hint- it’s what we see with our clients when we apply these same methods.
3. Your Content Isn’t Consistent
Be honest with yourself: Is your business posting content consistently? That could look like weekly blog posts, and at least 3 social posts a week. It won’t cut it anymore to post on social media when you feel like it. In today’s market, your audience is looking at how active you are.
Posting consistent content helps build a better experience for your customers by building credibility and trust. You are seen as an authority in your field as well as a resource for people to go to.
The audience we’ve built at our digital marketing agency knows to expect to see a new article a week along with social posts on our different social media platforms.
4. You’re Not Posting on Your Social Media Platforms
Now that you know you need to post consistent content, let’s discuss where you should be posting this regular content.
As an organic digital marketing agency, we believe in the value of blog posts on your business’ website. Each week, we announce our new blog post on social media platforms that work best for us: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. To find out which social media platforms your business should be on, read here.
We also use these social platforms to post relevant content that add value to our audience. Sometimes, we like to have a little fun with our social posts (okay maybe most of the time we do!)
You’re Not Optimizing for Mobile
It’s 2022, everyone uses their phones for everything- unless somehow you managed to survive this long with just a flip phone.
Everything you do, from emails, blog posts, website builds and social posts should be optimized for mobile. Think about it, we all live on our phones. According to research from Oberlo, 63% of Google’s United States organic search traffic came from a mobile device.
It’s time to get with the times and be as mobile-friendly as possible. If not, you may lose customers who are frustrated with navigating something that is non-mobile friendly.
If you find yourself committing one or more of these marketing no-nos, it’s a sign that it’s time for you to partner with a digital marketing agency. An outsourced partner has the resources to help your business grow, rank, find leads, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.
Read on to learn about more benefits of outsourced marketing.
July 24, 2022/by Beatriz Carias
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/iStock-994066416.jpg 1415 2119 Beatriz Carias https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Beatriz Carias2022-07-24 07:00:002022-06-24 14:07:355 Signs You Need a Digital Marketing Agency
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News
Your Email Marketing Sucks… Here’s How to Fix It
So, you’re a business owner, and your email marketing strategy sucks. It might be ineffective for a number of reasons. Perhaps:
Your business doesn’t have the bandwidth to have a consistent email marketing strategy
Creative copy isn’t your forte and your emails are boring
Or, you didn’t even know you were supposed to be focused on email marketing! (Of course, you have a lot of other things going on while running a business…)
Regardless of what the reason may be, poor email marketing isn’t going to cut it anymore. So, let’s talk about how to fix your email marketing.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing, according to Mailchimp, is “a form of marketing that can make the customers on your email list aware of new products, discounts, and other services.”
Why Is Email Marketing Important?
Email marketing is extremely important for your business. However, promoting products, discounts, and services isn’t the only thing email marketing is used for.
Email marketing is a great way to:
Educate your audience on the value of your brand
Keep clients and prospects engaged between purchases
And yet, according to Inc., 60% of small business owners don’t use email marketing. What a shame!
What Platform Can I Use for My Email Marketing?
There are a TON of platforms you can use in crafting a killer email marketing strategy. At Digital Storyteller, we work with a number of different customer relationship management (CRM) softwares to design, build, and optimize our clients’ email marketing strategies, including:
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
How We Create Kicka** Emails
Let’s take your email marketing strategy from meh to awesome! Let’s start off with an example.
Our Most Recent Email Workflow
So, we know we previously mentioned all of the different CRMs you can use… But, it’s not all about the software you use. In fact, what’s IN the email and as well as the CADENCE of your emails is more important than anything.
Here’s a sneak peek into an email workflow Digital Storyteller recently launched for ourselves. It’s a “prospect workflow,” a series of emails are sent to prospective clients to accomplish a specific goal (i.e. onboarding a service or purchasing a product). For us, in this case, it’s to onboard a new content client!
Below is a screenshot of the first email in our prospect email marketing series. The subject line was: “Why Would You Outsource Your Marketing?”
This email received GREAT feedback, with over 600 opens and 48.6% of people read the email (“read,” according to HubSpot, is defined as contacts who have “opened and viewed [the email] for eight or more seconds”).
People responded directly to the number and we got some prospecting calls on the calendar as a result. Why?
The email was FUNNY (in our brand voice!)
It was punchy yet informative
It provided a call to action (“Find out more”)
Emails will look different for everyone as far as brand voice and what your call to action is (depending on what you’re trying to get the reader to do), but here’s what every email should include.
What Every Successful Email Should Include
There are a few elements to consider when crafting awesome emails. (No, it’s not as easy as just slapping something together! Well, it is… But that wouldn’t provide a great ROI, would it?)
Define Your Target Audience
A majority of cold emails get ignored.
This considered, the first thing you need to do is define your target audience. This concept goes further than just creating a list of who your ideal clients are.
You need to understand your target audience at their core. In our prospect email workflow at Digital Storyteller, we used a combination of Andrew Marr’s (the Owner and CEO of Storyteller!) existing LinkedIn database as well as the LinkedIn connections from his Kennected sequence (Kennected is a LinkedIn automation, messaging, and outreach tool that we use) to increase response rates.
Connecting with people prior to emailing them adds a human touch and is a great strategy to practice.
Read on to learn more about how to attract the ideal client.
For a cold email to get read, you need a catchy subject line.
Your subject line needs to be descriptive, short, and something your ideal client would want to open. Examples of subject lines that have worked for us?
One time we titled a prospect email “We think our clients are sexy…” And boy, was this email a wild success! People were shocked, and of course, opened the email… which then said:
“Get your mind out of the gutter – we mean we think our clients’ businesses (financial services) are sexy… At Digital Storyteller, we work exclusively with financial services companies. It’s our bread and butter.”
Now, we get that this type of subject line won’t work for everyone (we’re Jesters!) – but it works for our brand voice.
At Digital Storyteller, we believe marketing without a brand voice is like a margarita without tequila… Learn more about the importance of brand voice.
Preview text is the words that show up next to or beneath the email subject. It’s a sneak peek of the coming email. And do you know how important it is? Research shows that 24% of people look at preview text before deciding to open and read an email. So, use it to your advantage!
Personalizing an email goes beyond just adding your prospect’s first name to the greeting or subject line.
According to Campaign Monitor, “personalization is when marketers use subscriber data within their email content to make the content feel tailor-made for the individual.” And the result? Personalization “is proven to increase open rates and drive revenue by as much as 760%.” Wowza!
You can take advantage of this by:
Adding your recipient’s name
Selecting images based on data and customer profiles
Personalizing offers and product recommendations
Mentioning a mutual friend or contact
Mentioning something your prospect has done in the world recently (i.e. business move, family trip, a conference they’ve spoken at, etc.)
Add a Strong Call to Action
Make it easy for your prospect to understand what you’re asking of them. Do you want them to follow you on social media? Do you want them to download a free PDF or brochure? Always be sure to add a clear, strong call to action (CTA).
When it comes to email marketing, it’s not a one-and-done thing. In other words, you need to include follow-up emails!
Not sure what this looks like? Get in touch with us today to learn more about mapping out your email workflows.
So, to recap, email is not dead and is very much a crucial part of your marketing strategy. With that being said, however, we know cold emailing isn’t easy—which is why we’re here to help. Interested in learning more about how we help our clients? Read on to see how we shorten sales cycles for our clients (using email marketing and more!)
June 26, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Your-Email-Marketing-Sucks…-Heres-How-to-Fix-It.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-06-26 05:20:002022-09-15 15:42:58Your Email Marketing Sucks… Here’s How to Fix It
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News, Social Media
How to Leverage Your Business Using LinkedIn
LinkedIn is more than just a place for inspirational quotes and flexing your job experience… This platform—primarily used for professional networking and career development—is also a great place to leverage your business.
The best part? You don’t have to rely solely on paid advertising when it comes to LinkedIn! (That’s a win in our book). While organic marketing on LinkedIn takes more time and effort, the results are well worth the investment.
Interested in learning more? Here are our best tips on how to leverage your business using LinkedIn.
What is Organic LinkedIn Marketing?
First, what is organic LinkedIn marketing? Simply put, organic LinkedIn marketing is your ability to reach a desired target audience without using paid ads or marketing (i.e. no pay-per-click, also known as PPC).
Now, let’s dive into how to do it.
Connect with Individuals in Your Industry
When it comes to organic marketing, it’s absolutely essential that you have a social element driving your marketing efforts.
This means making connections with individuals who are in similar industries and/or positions (aka individuals who will actually care about the information you put out!)
Why? Your content will resonate even deeper with these connections.
So, how do you start building your network? The search bar on LinkedIn is a great tool that can help build connections. Using the search bar, you can search for:
Don’t Shy Away from Thought Leadership
LinkedIn is known for rewarding those who engage in thought leadership. But what is thought leadership? Thought leadership is defined as “the expression of ideas that demonstrate you have expertise in a particular field, area, or topic.”
Use your industry knowledge to your advantage; become a thought leader! This effort can have an even bigger impact if you’ve grown your social network intentionally as mentioned above (this means all the right people will see your awesome insights!)
Use Video Content to Your Advantage
We’ve said it a million times over… Video content is GOLDEN—especially in today’s day and age! Why? Video is a great attention grabber. Plus, it keeps things authentic and personable!
Think: Would you rather read 300 words on a page or watch a real person speak for one minute on camera? We’d choose the latter. So, use video content you have to your advantage on LinkedIn.
Interested in learning more? Read on in our article “Want to connect with your prospects? Use video.”
Don’t Be Afraid to Engage
You want people to engage with your content, right? So, don’t be afraid to do the same… Practice what you preach!
Next time you’re scrolling through LinkedIn, consider: Is there a piece of content that you think your audience would like? If so, share it and add some of your insights or thoughts in the caption. Have you enjoyed something that someone posted? Let them know in their comments!
Comments and reshares are a fantastic opportunity to showcase your own expertise while also getting your business’s name out there.
Just like any other form of social media, hashtags are a great tool you should be taking advantage of on LinkedIn. Using hashtags can increase your chances of showing up on someone’s feed as well as the ability to be found by search.
For example, in a piece on the importance of SEO and content marketing, hashtags might include #SEO #ContentMarketing #DigitalMarketing #Marketing and so on.
Let People Know You’re on LinkedIn
Shout it from the rooftops! People should know what social media platforms your business is on. Let people know that you’re on LinkedIn by cross-promoting it on your other profiles (i.e. Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc).
Define and Maintain Your Brand Voice
Every brand has its own unique voice. At Digital Storyteller, we believe that each of our clients has a primary and secondary brand voice, split 90% to 10%. The 12 brand archetypes are as old as Greek tragedy (sadly, we can’t take credit for making them up…) and include:
Want an example or two? Harley Davidson is a great example of an outlaw brand voice, whereas Disney is the magician archetype. An example of a ruler is Rolex; Chanel would be a lover.
Make sense? Not quite? Read on to learn more about our unique Brand Storytelling Sessions that we conduct to define brand voice.
No one wants to follow an account that posts for Thanksgiving and then not again until Christmas. Make sure that you’re posting consistently to LinkedIn (and all of your social media platforms, for that matter!)
To reap the rewards of organic content marketing, you have to be consistent. At Digital Storyteller, we estimate that it takes between six to 12 months to see the results of organic marketing. This is why so many people today decide to go the paid route instead… They are impatient and in search of a quick fix.
Our best advice? Whether you’re posting once a day or once a week, create a content calendar and stick to it.
Don’t worry – We’ve made it easy for you. Click the link below to download our full content calendar template!
Download our FREE Content Calendar Template
Still feeling overwhelmed? Reach out to our team today! When you partner with Digital Storyteller, you gain access to an entire team of marketing experts at a fraction of the cost. Think content specialists, a client success manager, graphic design team, social media team, SEO specialists, and more!
Want to learn more about what a partnership looks like? Read on to learn what to expect when working with an outsourced digital marketing agency (including how much it costs!)
June 19, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/How-to-Leverage-Your-Business-Using-LinkedIn.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-06-19 17:10:002022-05-18 08:36:57How to Leverage Your Business Using LinkedIn
Content Marketing, Culture, Digital Marketing, News
How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial
The cat’s out of the bag. Video is the hottest media source out there right now—and therefore, should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy.
The challenge that many business owners face, however, is not having the bandwidth or the knowledge on how to record quality video without breaking the bank. (No, you don’t have to pay a professional videographer for three hours of in-person recording…)
If you want to connect with your prospects, you have to use video. So, how can you do it yourself? Here are some suggestions on how to get the most out of a video that is recorded over Zoom, in-person, or even on an iPhone:
Lighting, sound, and positioning are important. Here are some valuable, simple tips regarding each element.
Make sure light comes from in front of you, not behind. A big window showcasing a garden behind you might serve as a lovely Zoom backdrop, but without lighting on your face, you’ll be washed out.
Give yourself some space around your head. Frame yourself from mid-bicep up with a hand’s width of headroom above your head.
Sit a little lower than the camera. There is a reason selfies are always up at a 45º angle—and while that’s a little extreme, a shot from below is rarely flattering.
Give yourself some depth of field. Leave room behind you, it’s visually more interesting than a blank wall a foot behind you.
When possible, forego the zoom background for something real. Unless you have piles of boxes or a messy bed, a real background looks better. Not going to work for you, we recommend one of these virtual zoom backgrounds. (Plus, they’re free!)
If you have a lavalier mic or a stationary mic, use it. If you don’t, make sure the birds chirping, car horns tooting, and leaf blower blowing in the background is as muted as possible.
Dress to the nines! Well, not quite to the nines… But you should certainly look presentable!
The Trunk Club recommends that you choose your meeting wardrobe the same as you would for an in-person work meeting or job interview.
Dress and prepare yourself as you would if you were meeting a prospect for a 9:00 am meeting in the office.
Men, a collared shirt; ladies, a nice top. Do your hair and—if you choose—makeup.
What to Say in a Video Testimonial
This is where we find our clients get the most tripped up. Firstly, you want to showcase happy customers and success stories of yours. Why? You can build trust in a video testimonial by discussing your ideal client’s pain points and describing how your product or service helped them.
Here are a few examples of what to say in a video testimonial:
Start with your name, your company, and a brief description of what you do. For example: “Hi, I’m John Doe, founder of Awesome Company and we are a full-service Original Equipment Manufacturer located in Orange County, CA.”
State the “before.” “When we first met Brent at Innovative Capital, we had been looking for financing for a large equipment purchase to increase our manufacturing capacity in our Santa Ana Warehouse.”
State the problem.“We’d been to our regular business bank but, because of other debt and a sharp downturn in 2020 revenue, we were not able to secure the funds the old-fashioned way.”
Explain what the person you’re doing the video testimonial for offers. “We were referred to Innovative Capital by our Bank to help out. They said that Brent knew all about any kind of lending that you can think of.”
Tell the solution. “The whole process took about five weeks from the first meeting to funding. First, they got a ton of information about the company, historical and projected data, and put together a package that he was able to bring to a number of different lending institutions and funds… We couldn’t believe it when he came back with four options each with varying terms and rates after just 10 days.”
Explain how the solution helped you. “Without his help we would have spent countless hours going to banks, jumping through hoops only to get a loan that we couldn’t possibly benchmark against other offers. Brent helped us review the terms and rates and choose the funding source that suited our needs best.”
Share the final result—how did it impact your life and/or business? “We probably saved the business by getting this done so fast.”
How Long Should a Video Testimonial Be?
No more than three minutes. We believe 90 seconds is best!
Final Tips for Recording Your Video Testimonial
Know what you’re going to say but do NOT write a script. Actors spend a lifetime getting really good at seeming natural while saying memorized lines. The truth is, you will not seem natural and, since this is a genuine message, authenticity is important.
Make notes, don’t write a script. It’s OK to look down, but do not look off of the screen where your camera sits.
Talk to someone specific.
Don’t look at yourself in the camera. We can tell when people are looking at themselves.
It doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t record a ton of takes. If you stumble, that’s OK. That’s how people talk in real life (and we want you to come off like a real person, not a perfect, shiny robot!)
It’s not that deep. It shouldn’t hurt, take forever, or be super stressful.
Have fun! Tell a short story and say thank you. Know that video helps people connect with businesses by increasing trust and reducing stranger danger.
BEWARE OF THE BAD CAMERA ANGLE… Here, our kick*ss Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Amanda Rogers, is here to demonstrate…
There you have it! All of the tools to set yourself up for success when recording a Zoom testimonial for prospective customers to view. Interested in learning more? Read on to hear about the variety of different video types available for your business to record.
May 15, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/How-to-Record-a-Great-Zoom-Testimonial.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-05-15 07:00:002022-04-21 14:46:35How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News, Social Media
What is Going on With the Instagram Algorithm!?
Social media algorithms, we’ve written about them before. It seems, however, that with every month, week, and sometimes daily, Instagram is implementing new changes.
Instagram has recently implemented a number of changes to its algorithm that have crashed engagement across nearly all accounts.
The most common complaints we hear? “I never see my friends’ posts anymore,” “I think I’m shadowbanned…” “My engagement sucks lately.”
We’ve heard it all and we feel your pain! Let’s talk about some of the recent changes Instagram has implemented and address some of these concerns.
What’s Going on with The Instagram Algorithm?
What better way to dissect the algorithm than to look at a blog post that Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote titled “Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works”?
Most importantly, Mosseri wrote that one of the main misconceptions about Instagram is the existence of “The Algorithm.”
“Instagram doesn’t have one algorithm that oversees what people do and don’t see on the app,” says Mosseri. “We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose.”
There’s a ton more good stuff and information on how the Instagram algorithm works (or lack of!) in the actual article, so check that out if you’re interested.
For now, let’s talk about some of the recent changes Instagram has implemented that might affect your content being seen or not.
Chronological order is back!
It’s about time! Instagram’s @Creators account finally announced the return of chronological order.
Back in the day—in 2010, to be exact—the Valencia filter ran rampant and the app itself looked like a neutral-toned vintage camera. Moreover, your home page was a single stream of photos that were sorted in chronological order.
Viewing posts in chronological order, however, was a feature that was removed in 2016. If you ask some, this choice nearly started WW3 (Just kidding … Kindof).
But flash forward to today, it’s back!
“You’ve been asking, and we’ve been listening! 👀” is what @creators captioned the announcement.
Instagram decided to take things a step further.
Instead of reverting back to solely chronological order, Instagram now offers three options to view your feed:
Here is a brief description of what makes each different.
Home: According to @creators, “home” refers to the feed you’ve gotten used to. This feed will “remain a mix of content from people you follow, recommended content you may like, and more.” Home will remain your default view when you first open the app.
Favorites: Your “favorites” feed will show you the latest posts “from a list of up to 50 specific accounts that you choose.” This might include your best friends, favorite creators (including Digital Storyteller of course), or other favorite accounts that you follow.
Following: Just as it sounds—the “following” feed will show you posts from only accounts that you follow.
Are You Using All of Instagram’s Features?
Over the past five years, Instagram has launched a ton of new features, including reels, stories, IGTV, and even shopping.
We’ve noticed that sometimes it feels like Instagram either rewards or punishes accounts based on your usage of the app as a whole. The bottom line? Instagram wants you to use and try all of its features.
Depending on your business or goals, your digital marketing strategy might include a combination of:
The algorithm favors consistency and patterns. Find out when your target audience is most active, and tailor your posting schedule toward that. At Digital Storyteller, we do this with ease using the scheduling platform, Metricool. Of course, there are various alternative scheduling platforms and tools that can be used similarly as well.
A Quick Rundown of Each Social Media Platform
Lastly, it’s important to know which social media channels are best suited to help you attain the unique needs and goals of your business. That’s why we’re sharing a brief rundown of what each platform can be used for when it comes to your business. So, what the heck does each of them do? Speed round, go!
Instagram is great for building engagement and sharing culture. That means taking pictures of your team at events, showing off your pets, and happy hours and posting them!
When an Instagram user visits a business’ Instagram, they want to see the people behind the business. Show them who they get to work with when they decide to buy your product or become a client.
Facebook is for your grandma… Just kidding, kind of!
Facebook, in the business world, is a largely pay-to-play platform. In simple terms, if you’re not putting money behind your Facebook efforts, chances are not many people will see your content. Boosting a specific post to your Facebook audience can attract thousands of impressions, whereas organic content doesn’t typically reach the same levels of performance.
(Please note: We’re not suggesting that you dedicate your entire marketing budget to your Facebook page, but putting $50 behind a post here or there can significantly support your Facebook performance).
LinkedIn is a professional platform, which means it’s probably not the best-suited platform to share your family photos or pictures from your latest island vacation.
LinkedIn is a great platform to help you build authority and build a professional network. Chances are, LinkedIn is your best bet if you’re looking to identify qualified leads via social media. It’s also a great way to gather expertise from established experts in your industry.
In a nutshell, Twitter is for politics, news, and funny one-offs (think: memes, GIFs, recaps of the Oscars…)
We know that managing your business’s social media presence can be a lot to keep track of on top of running your business. That’s why we recommend you pass on the work of crafting a killer digital marketing plan to our team of experts at Digital Storyteller.
Not ready to make the jump yet? Let’s get REEL instead! Check out this article on how Instagram reels support your social media strategy. Then, shoot us a message.
May 8, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/What-is-Going-on-With-the-Instagram-Algorithm.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-05-08 07:00:002022-04-21 15:03:51What is Going on With the Instagram Algorithm!?
Digital Marketing, Financial Services Companies, News
How to Attract the Right Clients
So, you’re a business owner looking to get more clients? (Trust us, you’re not the only one!)
Every business owner ever:
But hold on – before you go all Heidi Klum on us and start looking to get MORE clients… Have you taken a minute to consider how to attract the right clients? Yes, the right clients. After all, you don’t want to be marketing your products and/or services to every person you walk by…
Not sure where to start? Lucky for you, we’ve got Andrew Marr, CEO and Owner of Digital Storyteller on camera to chat about how to attract the right clients.
Let’s see what he has to say.
Who is Your Ideal Client?
Clients, for any business owner, are obviously extremely important. Without clients, you’d have no business! (But you already knew that).
This considered, building a successful business and getting more clients is most likely one of your primary goals as a business owner.
Before we jump the gun and talk about getting more clients, however, it’s important to first discuss who the right clients are for you. How can you attract the right clients to your business?
Identifying the Perfect Client
The question isn’t, “Do you want more clients?” Of course, you do! The number one thing is, have you identified your perfect client?
Then, after you’ve identified your ideal client, think: Are you willing to create strategies around that particular client?
Our Perfect Client at Digital Storyteller
At Digital Storyteller, we focus on marketing for financial services companies. The realm of financial services ranges from commercial insurance to wealth advisories, commercial real estate firms, the list goes on.
While we love whisky, chardonnay, puppies, and tacos, we don’t market for companies that have anything to do with these elements. Why not? Because we’ve identified our perfect client (financial services clients) and unfortunately, whisky, chardonnay, puppies, and tacos have nothing to do with this industry (a little sad, right?)
We know it’s difficult not to accept whatever business walks through the door. It’s important, however, to hone in on who your ideal client is and not accept anyone else apart from this target audience.
So, to attract more clients, you have to first, figure out who your perfect client is. Put your energy and resources into that.
Interested in meeting one of our ideal clients? Check out this spotlight we did on our client Frank Crivello, founder and CEO of SBMA Benefits.
March 11, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/How-to-attract-the-right-clients-FI.png 1080 1920 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-03-11 08:15:572022-04-21 14:37:17How to Attract the Right Clients
Digital Marketing, Financial Services Companies, News, Outsourced Marketing
How Do We Help Our Clients Shorten Sales Cycles?
At Digital Storyteller, we market for financial services companies. This can encompass a lot of different types of businesses that offer different products or services. Think law firms, HR consultants, commercial real estate firms, wealth advisories, commercial insurance, and more.
We know, a little bit random… but we love it! Read on to hear more about why we chose marketing for financial services (hint: this industry is wildly underserved).
Working in the financial services industry means helping our clients might look a bit different from your typical B2C marketing agency. So, how do we help our clients?
Today, we’ve got Andrew Marr, CEO and Owner of Digital Storyteller answering that very question. It’s your lucky day.
But what is the main goal of a digital marketing agency? We’re going to hand things off to Andrew.
What is the Main Goal of a Digital Marketing Agency?
There’s one major goal, and it’s simple. That is to shorten the sales cycles of our clients.
What is a Sales Cycle?
A sales cycle is defined as “the repeatable and tactical process salespeople follow to turn a lead into a customer.”
This includes everything from the first encounter a client has with your business (whether it be through seeing your posts on social media or through receiving an email) to closing the deal and follow-ups.
A great illustration demonstrating sales cycles, courtesy of Snov.io.
How Do We Help Our Clients Shorten Sales Cycles?
Well, there are a lot of things we do to achieve a shorter sales process at Digital Storyteller. This might look like:
A clever email strategy
An ongoing content marketing strategy
A kick*** website (that’s functional and optimized for SEO!)
A relatable, informative social media strategy
As you can see, there are a lot of different branches that come off of that tree.
The number one goal, however, for any marketing agency, is to use their toolkit to shorten sales cycles for their clients.
Want to hear some more of this Scottish lad ranting? Visit this page on our site that’s decked out, head to toe, with Andrew reviewing chardonnay. (We know, it’s kind of ridiculous—but we promise it’s entertaining!)
March 11, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/How-Do-We-Help-Our-Clients-1.png 1080 1920 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-03-11 07:44:552022-04-21 14:31:08How Do We Help Our Clients Shorten Sales Cycles?
Culture, Digital Marketing, Financial Services Companies, News
Storytelling: What is it and Why is it Important?
It would feel morally wrong to write an article about storytelling and not tell you how our company came to be… Digital Storyteller starts with our Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Amanda Rogers.
In 1997, when the actors union was on strike, Amanda taught herself how to code from a book. (Yes, these were the days before WordPress, Squarespace, and WIX—scary times…)
Anyway, Amanda’s martial arts teacher was an 8th degree blackbelt teaching amazing Tang Soo Do in New York City—and had only five students. Amanda knew he needed a website—so she taught herself to write HTML, CSS, and Javascript to try to help him build a studio.
A year later when Amanda moved to Los Angeles, the studio was thriving. In fact, 80% of the students came to him through the website. She was hooked.
After a few twists and turns, Digital Storyteller was born—an organic digital marketing agency in Encinitas, California.
Today, the team has grown from one to nearly 15. On our team, we’ve got content specialists, social media experts, a client success manager, SEO team, as well as a website and graphic design team to continue what Amanda started.
If you haven’t already recognized the importance of storytelling within a business, we’ll continue on for you. Better yet, we snagged the CEO and Owner of Digital Storyteller to chat about storytelling on camera, Andrew Marr.
At its core, storytelling is (you guessed it!) about telling stories. Yoast tells us that storytelling is “about using stories to engage your audience, or to make something more clear.”
As humans, we’re wired for story. From each of our early days, it’s likely we recall our parents and the people around us sharing and telling stories. We love to read books and see movies and musicals—why? Because people are addicted to stories.
But what does storytelling look like when it comes to marketing for your business? When it comes to marketing for financial services companies, we see storytelling as making what you do and the services you provide:
Easy to understand by your audience
Why is Storytelling Important in Marketing?
Storytelling builds trust. Here are some of the stories you can share in your marketing strategy as well as how you can share them:
Share your stories on your website
Share your origin story
Share how you’ve grown
Share the challenges your business has faced (How did you overcome these challenges? Did any positives come out?)
Share how you help your clients (A lot of companies don’t share how they help their clients. Come on, boast a little!)
As the old adage goes, sharing is caring… Communicating your story with your audience.
A Word of Advice from Our CEO and Owner
So, how important is it to share your company story with your digital followers? (i.e. prospects, people in similar industries, current clients, etc.)
According to Andrew, it’s extremely important if you want to build trust and if you want to build a following. We believe in the power of storytelling. In fact, we start all of our partnerships with a Brand Storytelling Session.
Picture this: You go onto a website. For ease, let’s say it’s a digital marketing agency. You’re looking at their services, considering partnering with this company but you don’t find anything about their story.
There’s nothing about their employees or how the company came to be. Does that make you want to partner with that company even more? No, of course it doesn’t. That’s not the way things go.
For those who feel like it’s weird to talk about yourself or what you bring to the table as a business, for fear of coming off as arrogant or boastful, think about it… It’s your website. That’s kind of the point!
Let go of the taboo you were taught in grade school, that it’s bad to talk about yourself.
In business, it’s important that you share your success stories and tell people how you help them.
Lastly, share your company culture. People want to know what it’s like to work with you. People want to know if your employees are happy. Are they going to do a great job for them if they decide to partner with you? Share stories, story after story.
Interested in learning how to build more trust with your prospects and clients? Check out this article on how pricing transparency builds trust.
March 10, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Storytelling-What-is-it-and-Why-is-it-Important.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-03-10 17:09:392022-03-10 17:09:40Storytelling: What is it and Why is it Important?
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, News, SEO, Social Media, Website and Design
Top Seven Categories of Digital Marketing
How They Work Together
The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving. (We know you know this because we remind you of this in nearly every piece of content we push out!) There are, however, a handful of tried and true marketing efforts under the larger umbrella term of ‘digital marketing.’
Because let’s be honest, not all marketing efforts are created equal. Here we will discuss the top seven categories of digital marketing and how they work together. These seven categories of digital marketing are fundamental to the success of your business’s content marketing strategy.
So, let’s get started.
First, what is content marketing? Content marketing is the bread and butter of what we do at Digital Storyteller.
Content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience—and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action,” as put by the Content Marketing Institute.
Today, the traditional sales pitch style of marketing is decreasing in value every day. Instead, content marketing approaches prospective clients by providing useful, relevant content to help solve problems or answer questions. Furthermore, content marketing aims to build trust with your prospective clients rather than simply complete a sale.
Effective content marketing utilizes the “creating and sharing [of] relevant articles, videos, podcasts, and other media.”
This type of marketing helps to establish expertise and increase brand awareness. The goal is to make sure your business is at the top of your prospect’s mind when the time to purchase a product or service comes.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is another crucial pillar in terms of your digital marketing strategy. SEO, in simple terms, is what allows your content to be found.
For our friends who love definitions, SEO, according to Moz, is “the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.” SEO is how marketers tailor their content to appeal to search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.
For example, you might search ‘affordable chardonnay near me’ on Google. The way that Google then provides results based on your search is determined by SEO. SEO is the tool that tells Google, “Hey! This is what information my website has, this is what I’m talking about, and these are the types of people that would find my website interesting!”
One of our favorite SEO tools to use at Digital Storyteller is Semrush. Semrush is an online tool that collects research on your business’s SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), content, and social media efforts. It can also help you identify keywords you are currently ranking for or targeting.
If you didn’t know, information about ranking keywords is critical to making your way up the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
For more on all things SEO, check out this article for 10 tips to maximize your SEO efforts, this article we wrote on why SEO is important, or one of our more recent articles on how to effectively combine SEO and content marketing!
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Parallel to SEO, we have SEM. You guessed it, another crucial piece of digital marketing.
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is, according to Optimizely, “a digital marketing strategy used to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).”
In the past, SEM typically encompassed both organic and paid search. Today, however, it almost exclusively refers to paid search advertising.
SEM is “the act of using paid strategies to increase search visibility.” Every day, businesses pay big money for their ads to rank first on search engine results pages. Hint: You can tell when businesses are using SEM by the bold “Ad” text that accompanies a search result.
SEO, SEM, why so many acronyms?! While these two may seem like the same thing, they are actually quite different. Learn more about the difference between the two in this article.
Email marketing is not dead. It has, however, become increasingly difficult to grab the attention of clients and prospects through their inboxes.
Email marketing, as defined by MailChimp, is “a form of direct marketing as well as digital marketing, that uses email to promote your business’s products or services.”
Email marketing can be used to promote your latest items and offers, or it can assist with lead generation, brand awareness, relationship building, and customer engagement.
The biggest challenge with email marketing is breaking through the noise. The best email marketing experts:
Understand optimal audience outreach
And analyze customer interactions and data
Email marketing software companies, including HubSpot, Campaign Monitor, Constant Contact, and more, help perfect your email marketing campaigns by providing automated email workflow options as well as in-depth email marketing data (i.e. open rates and click-through rates).
Marketing without data is merely speculation—a guessing game of what you hope will land with your prospects and clients.
At Digital Storyteller, we recognize that data is a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy. When it comes to our analyses, we use Google Analytics (primarily for website data), Semrush (for keyword analytics), and additionally Metricool (to look at social media performance).
As far as design goes, making sure your brand is consistent across all digital and print platforms helps clients and prospects recognize your brand immediately.
Contrary to popular belief, design—whether for marketing collateral, social media, or a website—is more than just pictures and drawings. Venture and Grow state, “Graphic design is the art of communication that requires creativity and a systematic plan to solve a problem or achieve specific objectives.”
So, what makes effective design in digital marketing?
Effective graphic design “highlight plans to discover what makes [content] genuinely stand out and get shared.”
Additionally, top-notch design helps:
Influence the customer decision-making process
Don’t underestimate this component’s power in your digital marketing strategy. After all, you could have amazing content that gets swept under the rug because of poor presentation.
Speaking of design, let’s take a moment to chat about your website. Your business’s site isn’t just an opportunity to showcase your branding and design. Whether or not your site is easy to navigate and structured properly has a huge influence on how (and IF) clients and prospects will interact with your brand.
So, take a minute to ask yourself these questions: Is my website easy to navigate? Is it nice to look at? Does it lead people on a journey to find out more about my business?
Of course, social media is a huge pillar in your digital marketing strategy. The platforms that you use (and that are essential to your digital marketing strategy) depend heavily on your target audience. Ask yourself where your prospects spend the most time, and where they are most likely to be influenced to trust a brand.
To learn which social platforms your business should be on, read our article “Financial Services Companies: Which Social Media Platforms Should You Be On?”
Social media marketing includes any content that is released via a business’s social media channels. When it comes to a business, however, it’s not all fun and games. Crafting the perfect social media marketing strategy to fit into your larger digital marketing strategy is more complicated than posting on your own Instagram or LinkedIn.
Social media marketing is integrated and strategic. It takes hard work. Everything that pushes to social media must mirror the messages that are used throughout your business.
Analytics are also crucial to your social media marketing.
This data can help you discover what types of posts do or don’t do well and why. With this data, social media marketers can better tailor their strategies for their business’s benefit.
Digital Storyteller is Here to Help
We know, there is a lot that goes into a successful digital marketing strategy. At Digital Storyteller, we like to think of your digital marketing strategy as a giant system of gears working together. Content is at the heart of this system and drives all of the marketing components like SEO, SEM, social media marketing, and so on.
The system would fail without each gear in place. So, how does your digital marketing strategy measure up? Read on to learn how to measure the success of your digital marketing strategy. You might be surprised by how your business is really doing.
February 20, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Top-Seven-Categories-of-Digital-Marketing.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-02-20 07:00:002022-04-20 14:16:07Top Seven Categories of Digital Marketing
Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Financial Services Companies, News
Why is Organic Marketing Great for Financial Services Companies?
When you think of ‘marketing,’ what do you think of?
Chances are the first place your head goes is to advertising—billboards, television commercials, magazines, Instagram ads, the list goes on.
We don’t blame you! We are bombarded by ads every day. In fact, did you know research shows every day the average person encounters between 6,000 to 10,000 ads? This is a massive jump, considering that back in the 70s, “it was reported that the average person saw between 500 to 1600 ads per day.”
But remember, advertising is just a small piece of the marketing pie. Although paid ads have their time and place there’s a better way to market yourself. (Psst… It’s called organic marketing).
Amanda Rogers, Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Digital Storyteller, talks about why organic marketing is great for financial services companies (and all companies for that matter!)
Let’s get into it.
The Mistake Many Business Owners Make
If you’re in the business-to-business (B2B) space and are trying to get more clients under your belt (as one does!), your thought process about doing so might go something like this:
“I’m going to put out some ads and tell people what I do.
Then, they’ll come to my website.
Then they’ll give me a call.
And BOOM! I’ll get clients.”
Sigh… if only it were that simple! In today’s world, paid advertising alone is not enough to attract the right clients. So, what else do you need in addition to occasional paid advertisements? Enter, organic marketing.
Paid vs. Organic Marketing: What’s the Difference?
Let’s make this simple.
Ads are about building awareness; organic content is about building trust. While different, BOTH are important to building a successful digital marketing strategy for your business.
As Amanda shares, there are often situations in which the two overlap even. “There are elements of organic content that also build awareness.” For example, integrating boosted posts into your organic social media strategy.
What Does Organic Marketing Actually Do?
Most importantly, you need to know the primary benefit of organic marketing: building trust. Organic marketing might include email marketing, a thought-out video strategy, blog content, etc.
The greatest benefit of all of these things, however, is that organic marketing increases the feeling that people have of knowing and trusting your brand.
Don’t get us wrong, there are certainly strong benefits of paid ads (which you can read more about here) but it shouldn’t be the only marketing effort your business is focused on.
However, as Amanda puts it, “If and when you do decide to do ads, [if] you’ve been doing a strong organic digital marketing push,” the benefit will be much greater.
Your domain authority will be higher
Your ads will show up in the top three search results
And most importantly, your ads will be supported by showing up on that first page of Google with an organic result
“This reinforces in the viewer’s mind, not only do I see their ad, but I also see that they are legitimately what I’m looking for,” says Amanda.
And the best part of all? If you’re paying less for ads, you have more money left over that you can spend on wine! What better motivation is that?
So, are you ready to save money on ads so you can spend it on wine? Us too. At Digital Storyteller, we specialize in organic marketing for financial services companies. If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency that will grow your business better than just pushing paid ads, contact our team today.
February 13, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Why-is-Organic-Marketing-Great-for-Financial-Services-Companies-1.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-02-13 07:00:002022-01-19 15:21:25Why is Organic Marketing Great for Financial Services Companies?
Digital Marketing, News, Outsourced Marketing
Six Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing
Outsourcing isn’t as complicated as it sounds. When you outsource your digital marketing services, you save time, energy, and money. Here are six benefits of outsourcing marketing.
January 30, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Six-Benefits-of-Outsourcing-Marketing.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-01-30 07:00:002022-04-20 14:29:50Six Benefits of Outsourcing Marketing
How Do You Measure the Success of Your Digital Marketing?
So, you finally caved and implemented a kick*** digital marketing strategy for your business. Congratulations, that’s amazing!
But how do you know if it’s working? How do you measure the success of your digital marketing strategy? It’s an important question and is often an inquiry that Andrew Marr, CEO & Owner of Digital Storyteller, gets from prospects and clients.
He’s here to answer it today. Watch Andrew’s video below to learn how he measures the success of a digital marketing strategy. Let’s get started.
The Most Important Question to Ask
Whether or not your digital marketing strategy is successful or not comes down to one main question: Are you getting more clients?
If the answer is no, it’s time to reevaluate your strategy. Here’s how you can do that.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
We’ve all heard of KPIs.
Digital marketing KPIs, according to Digital Dot, are “quantifiable metrics that you can use to measure and monitor the partial and overall success of your digital marketing strategy.”
KPIs help to establish clear goals regarding campaigns and can be used in a variety of marketing approaches, including:
“Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
Here are some of the most important KPIs to track when it comes to your digital marketing strategy.
How to Measure the Success of Your Digital Marketing Strategy
At Digital Storyteller, we conduct monthly and quarterly reporting for all of our clients. These reports help us show clients how we’re moving the needle, what’s working for them in their digital marketing strategy, and where we can shift to improve.
Below are some factors we evaluate:
Authority score, according to Semrush, is their “compound domain score that grades the overall quality of a website or a webpage.” Your score can range anywhere from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more credibility a site typically has. Obviously, an authority score of 100 is #goals, but realistically, a score ranging from 32-48 is where you’ll see a strong organic marketing score lie.
This figure is determined by a few key factors including:
Among many other factors
Because of these factors, authority score takes time and consistency to grow. After all, you can’t grow your authority score overnight– even though we wish you could.
There are, of course, specific keywords that your business will want to rank for. If you’re in the commercial insurance industry in San Diego, for example, some of your keywords might include:
“Commercial Insurance San Diego”
Using a tool like Semrush—which collects research on your business’s SEO, PPC, content, and social media efforts—can help you identify the keywords you are currently ranking for (or currently not).
Information about ranking keywords is critical to making your way up the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Organic traffic is defined as “visitors that land on your website from unpaid sources.”
The amount of organic traffic that your website receives is a huge indication of where or not your marketing strategy is successful.
Session duration shows how much time visitors spend on your website. As a general rule of thumb, you want a high session duration. That means people are engaging more on your sight instead of clicking away!
You can increase session duration by:
Providing quality informational content on your site
Ensuring your site is easy to navigate; user-friendly
What is bounce rate? Bounce rate indicates how quickly someone exits (or “bounce” from) your website after visiting it. For this reason, we want a high session duration and a low bounce rate. Semrush tells us that “an optimal bounce rate would be in the 26% to 40% range.”
Our goal is to keep people on-page as long as possible. You can decrease your bounce rate by:
Making sure your website loads quickly
Including all information that prospects might be looking for
Creating an easy to navigate the site
We, of course, cannot end this article without talking about social media statistics. In our monthly and quarterly reports we give in-depth information for each social platform being used on:
As we’ve worked with our clients, however, we’ve noticed that it’s not uncommon for clients to get hung up on numbers. For example, the number of followers or likes they get on an Instagram post.
It is very important, however, to identify where their prospects spend time. For example, Instagram followers and likes might not matter so much for a financial services company compared to a clothing brand.
While it’s important to be active and engaged on Instagram, a better indication of a financial services company’s success might come from a platform like LinkedIn or YouTube. For those interested in learning more, here’s an article on what social platforms are best for your business to be on.
To reiterate, likes and followers don’t automatically equate to success, but it is important to be engaged and consistent within your social media strategy. Naturally, this means that as time goes on, your following, likes, engagement, etc. should increase.
Notice the trend? Slow and steady growth wins the race.
Depending on who you ask, engagement might be a more important factor than the number of likes and followers.
Well, that’s all folks. We hoped you learned a thing or two from this article! If you’re interested, read on for more on social media, specifically the difference between social impressions and social engagement.
January 23, 2022/by Becca Jones
https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/How-Do-You-Measure-the-Success-of-Your-Digital-Marketing.png 628 1200 Becca Jones https://digitalstoryteller.io/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Storyteller_Logo_RGB_Signature_Full-Color-300x300.png Becca Jones2022-01-23 07:00:002022-03-03 16:32:14How Do You Measure the Success of Your Digital Marketing?
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