Video Marketing Isn't Going Away
It’s no secret that video marketing is, and will remain to be a huge marketing trend. Not only does video content marketing have the potential to drive sales through compelling content and storytelling, if your website includes video, but it’s also actually 50x more likely to drive organic search results compared to text. This is because users find video more captivating, and Google pushes pages that include videos higher in its rankings.
Here are a few more reasons why you should be using online video marketing in your business:
- 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video
- 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media
- 43% of video marketers say video has reduced the number of support calls they’ve received
- 88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI
- 99% of people who use video marketing say they’ll continue doing so
Through the use of strategies such as sequential storytelling and day-in-the-life videos, for example, you can truly bring your brand to life on social media through video marketing.
Video SEO marketing is also important—YouTube and other online videos are displayed in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), so it’s going to be important to optimize your videos, as well—text overlays, closed captions, descriptions, titles, and file names are all important to your video SEO.
Linx has a robust history of video marketing for businesses across a variety of industries. Here are a few highlights from some of our recent video production projects:
ELMO Board Product Video
- Created a product marketing video for ELMO, a global leader in educational technology, introducing their new ELMO Board
- Released in 5 different languages to drive product sales around the world
Suburban Exterminating 5 Second Video Ads
- Developed a catalog of 5-second video ads for Long Island-based pest control company, Suburban Exterminating, promoting their “Pests Today, Gone Tomorrow” guarantee
- Used in YouTube retargeting ads to remind Suburban’s past website visitors of the company’s services
Ready to implement video into your marketing strategy? Click here to get started.
43rd Annual Golf & Tennis Charity Classic
Cohen Children’s Medical Center has greatly benefited from the hard work of the members of the Children’s Medical Fund. On June 18, CMF hosted its 43rd Annual Golf & Tennis Charity Classic at Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury. The event featured a friendly golf and Tennis tournament followed by a cocktail reception and dinner where there were live auction items and raffle prizes available for purchase to help support the children. During the dinner, a silent auction was held where several superheroes emerged to promote CMF’s new program: Heroes with Heart. Guests were able to bid on the Super Heroes, to send them to the Children’s Hospital. A total of $19,000+ was raised that night.
Linx partnered with CMF in creating this program to help facilitate some happiness for hospitalized children. This program is designed to bring popular superheroes to the bedsides of children to remind them that they’re not alone in their fight. The superheroes come into the hospital rooms with toys and activities to give them a sense of hope and joy during these difficult times.
All the proceeds generated from the golf outing helped fund The Children’s Medical Fund Center for Diagnostic Studies, located on the fourth floor of the new pavilion at Cohen’s. This pediatric diagnostic suite is a state of the art MRI and X-ray area designed specifically for children in the hospital. The NASA-themed suite features two MRI machines, a mock scanner that child life specialists use to ease children’s apprehension, and special goggles that allow children to watch movies during their examination.
For several years, Linx has partnered with CMF to aid in ongoing marketing efforts, including writing email blasts for their events and integrating other client companies’ marketing into CMF events. We also designed the front cover of the journals given out at the golf outing.
Please contact us if you’re looking for ways to boost the marketing of your company or business.
If you’d like to donate or volunteer with The Heroes with Heart program or are interested in learning about the charity, additional information can be found at Cmfny.org.
Augmented Reality – How Can It Be Used to Enhance Your Brand?
Last week, at our weekly “lunch and learn” session, Linx discussed the topic of Augmented Reality and its increasing adoption for marketers.
Augmented Reality (AR)… You might have heard the term, but what is it and how can it be useful to your company?
To start, let’s clear up any questions around the difference between Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and even Mixed Reality.
A Quick Synopsis:
Augmented Reality is when digital content is placed on top of the real world. An example of this was the wildly popular trending app, Pokemon Go, where users searched for Pokemon characters in real-life locations. Or, for a more common example, Snapchat and Facebook filters that place accessories on your face or give you animal ears in a photo.
Virtual Reality is a digital environment that is created that shuts out the real world. In this case, think of utilizing the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive and being immersed into different worlds.
Finally, Mixed Reality is digital content that interacts with your real world and as of now, the king of Mixed Reality is Microsoft HoloLens.
These new technologies are bursting with opportunity and are projected to rapidly grow over the next few years. In fact, according to XXX, it is expected that by 2023, Augmented Reality will become a $60 billion dollar industry.
Think Ahead: Leveraging New Technologies for Marketing
Over the past year, Linx has been following the trend of the new technologies that are crossing-over with reality to create new opportunities for our clients to utilize augmented reality to enhance their brand and promote their products and services in new and unique ways.
While something like Augmented Reality might seem like a complicated and expensive undertaking, that is not necessarily the case. There are many simple ways for every business to create unique experiences for their customers utilizing the technology. While we round-tabled our thoughts at our “lunch and learn”, we discussed some basic ideas for how specific clients could create interactivity around their brand or showcase their products and services using Augmented Reality.
For our e-commerce clients, we talked about how we can easily allow their customers to try on clothing to see how they would look before making a purchase. For our food industry clients, we explored how customers can take a look inside the packaging and the food items by opening them up right in front of them. For a client who sells home decor and furniture, we discussed enabling their customers to see how the products would look in their home house – a new couch, a lighting fixture, and accent piece – by taking a 360 image of the room. For construction and development clients, we brainstormed how to let their customers see a finished building or home on the exact land or plot to make sure everything is designed to perfection and fits the vision of those creating it. There are endless opportunities to utilize this new technology, but those who find the creative ways to do so will ultimately triumph over those who don’t.
Our responsibility is to bring our knowledge of these emerging technologies to our clients to help them continue to adapt to the changing world. Ultimately, Linx is here to Think Ahead for our clients and our goal is to make your company stand out in every way possible.
For more information on how we can help you use Augmented, Virtual or Mixed Reality to improve your brand, get in touch!
Instagram: The New Hub For Marketing
As many know, the evolution of social media has completely reshaped marketing by providing businesses with the tools that allow them to build loyal followings, create brand awareness and, most of all, generate more sales. What started out as a platform for people to connect with people, social media has quickly become the most effective form of marketing, connecting people with brands.
While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are still among the most popular platforms leveraged by businesses, Instagram is on the rise and more and more companies are shifting their ad spend towards this channel. Which is a smart move, considering the expected user growth projections. “Instagram is predicted to add 26.9 million users in the U.S. by 2020. That’s far more than Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform.” (Entrepreneur.com ) At Linx, we make sure that our clients are aware of trends like this and help them Think Ahead to take advantage of new and growing channels, always keeping an eye on where their target customers are spending their time.
What makes Instagram a hub businesses and customers is that it offers a combination of popular features from Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, making it an all-inclusive social media platform. Recently, Instagram has also been one step ahead of its competitors, last week releasing a new video tie-in that goes head-to-head with YouTube and Snapchat. With this feature, influencers can distribute videos within Instagram, that they would otherwise place on other platforms. And, as Instagram is staying ahead of the curve, so should your business. Whether it be implementing story ads, newsfeed ads or partnering with an influencer, there are a multitude of opportunities to reach your customers through Instagram you may be missing out on… and many successful companies are increasing their ROI this way.
If you’re unsure of how to start an Instagram strategy or are struggling to produce an ROI on your current efforts, here are some ways to immediately increase your effectiveness.
Remarket in a new way and get more followers:
Tons of people are engaging with your ads and posts, but none of these people seem to be following your account. How can you change that?
Engaging with the likes, shares and comments you receive, you can convert these non-followers into followers, and eventually into customers. By re-engaging with those consumers who made the first move on your company’s post, it gives you the opportunity to market to them for a second time, and provides them with a unique and personal experience Resulting in a new follow. This approach adds more value and demonstrates your loyalty and care for your “new customers”.
Track every influencer marketing post:
If you are leveraging Instagram influencers, it is important to know that when working with multiple sources, sending them the same standard link will not benefit your company. Each influencer, should be given a unique link, so you are able to track your exact ROI from each of them. These links will help you determine which influencer is driving more traffic and sales to your website or product/services, as well as track each visitors’ behavior. With this information, you are able to shift your spend to the influencers producing the most the most ROI for your company.
Optimize your funnels with custom audiences:
As many of you know, Facebook feeds into Instagram, allowing marketers to run Facebook Ads and Instagram ads simultaneously. And, when creating an campaign on Facebook, you are able to create unique audiences based on any targeting parameters, as well as retarget visitors or purchasers. They key is not to run general ads, but rather various ads with unique messaging that speaks directly to your different segments at each stage of the sales funnel. Tracking every interaction and optimizing every element will extract maximum value at every opportunity.
Instagram is moving at a fast rate and it doesn’t seem to have a plan of slowing down anytime soon, that means businesses have to react to all these opportunities that instagram has to offer.That’s why our client rely on us to… Think Ahead! Contact us today and let us help you build a true brand value and increase your business ROI on Instagram and react faster new instagram features.
New Client: Taking the success of Madison’s Niche Brick & Mortar Locations to the Web
This month, Linx began working with a new client, Madison’s Niche, a lifestyle boutique with four locations in the heart of Long Island’s most popular towns. The client turned to Linx for help in bringing the growing success of their store locations to the web. With no current website, the opportunity to open a new channel for sales – “a fifth storefront” – is a sure strategy to take the brand’s success to the next level.
Linx’s key team members began the process by visiting the newest Madison’s Niche location in Stony Brook Village. It was important for us to get a feel for the ambiance of the store and the brand. Immediately upon entering, it was clear to us that the vibe was high-end, fashion-forward, unique and elegant. This was the feeling we needed to capture for the e-commerce website.
After our location visit, our design team worked to develop a mood board, which outlined the color palettes, imagery presentations, competitive analysis, typography, and overall look and feel for the brand that will serve as the foundation for all design elements, including the website, moving forward. Reviewing this with the client, we discovered that we were on track with what Madison’s Niche had envisioned their physical space might look like on the web.
Next, our customer experience experts got to work on mapping out the user experience and interface (UX/UI) functionality for an optimal shopping experience for users. This requires a deep-dive into the stores’ products and how they are presented and categorized, as well as various online shopping behaviors, to ensure navigating the site and finding products is simple and easy for users.
Linx is just getting into the planning phase of the website project, working closely with the client to develop the design and infrastructure foundation for the new e-commerce website. We expect the website to launch for Fall 2018 and are excited for Madison’s Niche to grow their customer base and bring their unique shopping experience to the web and shoppers nationwide. Check back for more updates on the online store launch and, in the meantime, visit the temporary splash page we created for the brand here.
How Influencers Can Make Your Brand: The Importance of Influencers in the Age of Social Media
The traditional means of attaining a loyal customer base by “buying” them through previous, time-tested means—such as broadcast media and PPC— is becoming less and less effective—and harder to monetize. The truth is that growing your audience takes time and money.
That is why Linx is helping our clients build relationships with B2B and B2C influencers to optimize their budgets and make greater impacts. Linx has long emphasized the importance of social media as a primary means of outreach—and the importance of Influencers within that medium.
The Importance of Modern Influencers
Unlike the traditional means of building reach and frequency through earned or bought media, the digital age has completely democratized both the means of customer outreach—and the strategies with which marketers can successfully reach their target audiences Today, generating reach to build a quality audience through recognizing Influencers can actually improve brand trust and value.
Today, the top TV shows get an audience of about 15 million—a drastic drop in historic highs just a decade ago. These days, a new flock of media stars are creating their own online channels with millions of followers and viewers, establishing for themselves the crucial status of effective Influencer. Through social media platforms, today’s top Influencers are capturing an audience upwards of 25 million.
In one incredible example, this year marked a crucial recognition of the growing importance of self-made Influencers. At New York Fashion Week this past September, social media fashion Influencers were given front-row seats next to some of the industry’s most established names—finding previously unknown Influencers ring-side with such fashion powerhouses as famed Vogue editor, Anna Wintour.
This request was made by the brands themselves who are now paying individuals millions a year to help market their wares.
How Can You Utilize Social Media-Driven Influencers To Your Brand?
It all begins with the by building the right relationships with the right influencers. Here are some fast-track ideas to get you started.
• Finding the Right Influencer
As the importance of Influencers has become more and more apparent to marketers, specialized databases have been created to cater to the needs of every industry. If you want to save on the time and effort that a broad search engine method represents, there are now many options to help you better-target your search. New platforms like Traackr and inPowered can quickly match you with some of the best Influencers for your brand.
• Get Your Influencer Involved From the Ground Up
When you’re launching a new product/service, you need to introduce it in a way that would turn heads and appeal to the target audience at the same time. This is where involving an Influencer early-on is crucial. Get influencers involved in designing your new product from the beginning. Your Influencer will then promote this partnership with their loyal followers—which will not only educate them about the product but also build hype around it.
• The Give and Take of Social Media Promotions
Even something as simple as a tweet or an Instagram post can make a huge difference for your product launch if you happen to choose the right influencers. You will need to approach the influencer first, build a connection with them, send some samples, and request for a mention on social media. When someone with significant influence on your target audience says something positive about the product, it’s going to build hype and establish trust among the audience.
• The Influencer Marketplace
If searching for the best Influencer to meet your branding needs one your own isn’t quite turning up the results you’d hoped, there is now the option of utilizing an Influencer Marketplace to help both marketers and Influencers find each other. New websites like TapInfluence bridges that gap by bringing the two together. Here, potential Influencers agree to be part of the branding campaign and list the types of activities in which they’d be interested. In return, the brands themselves can then match up Influencers with their needs, crafting a symbiotic relationship where both benefit—as well as the customer.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
With each of these concepts in mind, the most important lesson to be learned is that social media, coupled with the proven value of trusted Influencers, can benefit those organizations who learn to monitor online digital trends within their industry. Monitoring creates the knowledge of who is leading the conversation and how to participate in it. Today, Linx specializes in monitoring those trends. But more importantly, we creatively put them to use for our clients.
With the pace of information moving at an ever-increasing rate, marketers have to be true to a brands values and react faster to opportunities that present themselves. Planning can only take you so far! That’s why our client relies on us to… Think Ahead!
Contact us today and let us help you use every element of today’s modern technologies to reach your demographic.
Facebook’s New Advertising Policy Forces Companies to Improve Customer Service
Facebook’s New Advertising Policy Forces Companies to Improve Customer Service
Facebook has put a new policy in motion to fight against yet another form of advertising abuse in an effort to prevent “bad shopping experiences,” and to avoid consumer frustrations with the Facebook platform. Users will now be surveyed on their experience if, after clicking on a Facebook Ad, they purchase something. If a business continues to receive poor reviews, Facebook could potentially limit or even ban that company from advertising on their platform in the future.
What Does This Mean For Advertisers?
Well, some businesses may see this new policy as a negative, but in reality, this can be an opportunity for companies to improve their customer service and operations. Many organizations may think they are currently serving their customers well, from their perspective, but fail to really analyze their internal processes from their customers’ point of view. That’s why it’s so important that marketing extends from the first customer touchpoint through the entire customer journey and relationship with your brand.
Think Ahead: Marketing Beyond the Ad
At Linx, our Strategic Advisory services approach marketing in a holistic way that includes a deep-dive into every client’s operations and processes – the root of the customer experience. By analyzing and restructuring organizations for optimal marketing success, we are building the foundation for memorable and enjoyable brand experiences that lead to customer retention and brand loyalty. And, your operations and processes must change and evolve as your business grows, and as new and changing marketing trends, and customer needs, develop.
So, Will The New Policy Affect Your Brand Negatively Or Positively?
The answer is… it’s up to you! Companies who have adopted an agile culture in today’s ever-changing world are primed to continuously improve their customer experience and grow their business. These are the brands who are listening to and communicating with their customers, personalizing their experiences and engaging them in more than just their products or services. Companies that are not doing this are risking the retention of customers to those who are!
New Television Audience Data Can Help Marketers Fine-Tune Targeted Ads
Recent research has identified market trends regarding target audiences and the television shows they watch. This information can be leveraged by marketers to help determine where they should place digital campaign ads, while providing the opportunity for marketers to now target and engage with audiences they had not previously targeted.
Marketers can now evaluate data and see if there is a discrepancy between audience search demographics and who is actually tuning into specific television shows. Brands can take this data and fine-tune their targeting with television ads ensuring that they target consumers by advertising to specific interests. Conversely, television show producers will be able to use this information to convert audience that is ready for engagement into viewers.
Here is a sampling of the insights that initial research revealed:
- Home improvement shows tend to draw a 45 and over female audience with an income over $50k. The HGTV show Flip or Flop attracts a 45 and over female audience, with an income of $50-150k who have an interest in celebrity news, restaurants and home furnishings.
- Dramas attracted females primarily in the age range of 18-34. Specifically the NBC show This Is US attracted females ages 18-34, with an income over $100k who have an interested in television, face and body care and travel. Meanwhile the Fox show Empire attracted females, ages 18-34 who made less than$50k and had an interest in shopping, television, and face and body care.
- Late-night television attracts male viewers ages 18-44 with an average income of over $50k. Research confirms that Conan O’Brien’s show has an 18-44 male audience, with an income of $50k-150k, who have an interest in sports, colleges and television.
- Comedies are indexed to 18-34 year old viewers with less than $50k income yearly. Research indicates that The Big Bang Theory of CBS has an 18-24 and 55+ male and female audience, with an income of less than $50k and an interest in television, humor and physics. The ABC show Black-ish draws an primarily female, 18-34 audience who have an income of less than $50k, and an interest in television, face and body care and colleges.
- Crime shows attract more males than females, ages 18-44 with a higher income, typically over $100k. Research indicates that the CBS show NCIS has a male and female audience, ages 18-44, with an income over $100k, and an interest in travel, face and body care and colleges.
- Research indicates that reality television shows tend to attract an 18-34 year old, female audience with an income of less than $50k. The popular ABC show The Bachelor has a female audience ages 25-34 and 45-64 with an income of $100-150k, with an interest in television, celebrity news and restaurants.
Marketers that has access to this sort of research can see where discrepancies lie in initial demographics when placing ads and can adjust their marketing plans to place ads where they will be more likely to reach their target audience. These insights will subsequently help marketers create better content, design the ads to best sell their product and convert potential buyers into customers.
Marketers that has access to this sort of research can see where discrepancies lie in initial demographics when placing ads and can adjust their marketing plans to place ads where they will be more likely to reach their target audience. These insights will subsequently help marketers create better content, design the ads to best sell their product and convert potential buyers into customers.
Think Ahead™ 50 Years
Inspiration Appears in the Most Unusual Places
Have you ever been struck with a genius thought while in the shower? Maybe for you, it’s while you’re taking a leisurely walk, or playing with your kids or grandkids. Perhaps you came up with your newest product or service while doing something that had nothing to do with work at all?
Harvard psychologist Shelley H. Carson, author of “Your Creative Brain,” says that little distractions can actually be a good thing when it comes to creativity. She explains that interruptions and diversions can lead to a creative “incubation period.”
While visiting a client on a recent business trip to California, I experienced what Carson would describe as a creative “incubation period”. While walking through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with my son, I began to notice artwork and other exhibits promoting the Summer of Love Experience in celebration of its 50th anniversary.
As I walked, I noticed street signs comparing 1967 to 2017. This caused me to pause and reflect back, thinking about the original Summer of Love and the changes the world has seen over the course of 50 years. As I continued to read the street signs I started to notice a trend – though the specific group, community or cause changed over the years, the root of each of these causes remained the same. Social justice, equality, health care, connectivity, personal identity – all of these causes are just as important today as they were 50 years ago – they’re just known by new name. Or from a marketing perspective – they’ve been rebranded.
Which upon reflection brought me back to where the company I founded, Linx, finds ourselves right now – in the middle of a rebranding of our own. We’re giving ourselves a facelift after 22 years in business, as the third generation of our family business begins to lead the company. Because of this and the timing of the Summer of Love experience, my creative incubation period shifted into hyper-drive. Re-branding your image forces you to really evaluate your brand and tests you to make sure you truly know what your company’s core values are and if they can stand the test of time.
During our rebranding our core values will remain the same as they have for the last 22 years. Some of our core values at Linx are:
- We are trusted advisors to our clients
- We adapt faster than the speed of change
- We are accountable to each other’s success and personal growth
- We simplify complexities to maximize communications
- Our financial and personal success are inextricably linked to the results we achieve for our clients
Think Ahead™
Companies with a strong foundation are the ones who last through generations because they recognize that while times change, the root of what your company stands for won’t. Before you even consider re-branding, the first thing you need to do is stop and evaluate your brand as it stands right now.
As I mentioned, the foundational elements of your brand should never change. Look at companies that have stood the test of time – Pepsi, Apple, Target and Burberry for example – and take note of the fact that their core messaging never changes.
For example, over the years Pepsi has acquired various additional brands, expanding their product line and changed their look – but their mission has remained the same. Pepsi purposed themselves to remain relevant with each upcoming generation with advertising campaigns that have evolved throughout the years – first with their Pepsi Generation campaign in 1963 followed by the sub-sequential “The Choice of the Next Generation” and “GenerationNext” campaigns.
A successful brand stands for something fundamental – this bedrock principle must show up at every turn and with every product and service offered. Without strong emotional connections your brand won’t have any traction. Successful brand positioning rejects following the masses and conformity and stands out from the crowd. It stays the same while simultaneously evolving with the changing cultural tide over time.
So how is this accomplished?
At Linx, we’ve been changing the way organizations see the world… and how the world sees them for the past 20 years. But today we’re simplifying our value by helping companies… “Think Ahead™ ”. We recognize that change is guaranteed, which means we need to help our clients stay ahead of it. Typically, a new technology or product is introduced and people are forced to waste valuable time playing catch up to learn how to optimize that change within their company. By default they follow a formula where change drives learning. We have discovered however, that learning must be done at a pace equal to or greater than the rate of change. In other words L≥C. This allows for faster adoption of change and accelerated growth opportunities.
50 Years from Now?
Back to Haight Ashbury. As we are processing through our own rebranding, encountering the Summer of Love Experience forced me to ask myself what the world was going to look like 50 years from now?
Surely social justice, equality, affordable health care, connectivity and personal identity would be just as relevant as it is today, but by what parameters? What challenges will we be facing regarding healthcare or social justice? Who or what will be the new hipster? Is it a word that we’ve even created yet? What about equality or civil rights? With the rise of AI technology, will we find ourselves petitioning for equal rights for them, or will it be for someone or something entirely different?
We may not know these answers yet, but I feel it is our responsibility to begin considering them. Many companies put their trust in us to recognize the upcoming shifts in the market and anticipate new trends before they happen. Which means as a strategic marketing agency – our team must be ready to usher in these changes.
What’s Your Take?
So we decided to ask the question. What will these signs say 50 years from now? We want to hear from the masses. So this summer in honor of the Summer of Love, we will be surveying people across the country asking them this very question.
Please participate in our survey… pass it around and share it and we’ll report back out on the top choices society envisions the world will look like in 2067.
The Future of Your Brand Starts Here
As you and your team begin to ponder how to ensure the relevance of your brand in the near and distant future, remember that the team that stays ahead of change is most able to help you see the future as it will most likely occur, giving you and your company new and significant grow strategies to meet the needs of your customers today… and tomorrow!
Take our survey here.
A Summer of Linx – Our Summer Interns are Hard at Work!
This summer we are pleased to welcome three new faces to our office. Duad, Miles and Zoe have joined our Linx team as a part of our summer internship program!
The interns will spend the summer months working with our marketing, production and design teams to help develop new campaigns and work on existing campaigns as well. Each intern has been placed within our existing teams, and already they are making impactful contributions to our projects. As they continue to work with our teams, they are gaining real-time, real-world experience, while being mentored by some of the industry’s best talent.
Our clients benefit from our internship program with the added value of having a fresh set of eyes looking at their projects from an outsider’s perspective. As with anything, a fresh outlook can often bring exciting, new insight to a project. Our interns bring with them their fresh viewpoints, skill-sets and at times, new technologies they are learning about in school. They keep us young and “hip” and help us take our clients even further than before. We are excited to see what they will bring to the table this summer!
