Pier Marketing » Blog

The Schonfeld Group Website Design Project

Rob Milburn — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:07:51 +0000

The Schonfeld Group

Pier Marketing recently launched a new website for our friends at The Schonfeld Group.

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Effective Design in Advertising

Jessica Mefferd — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 20:22:06 +0000

Visual cues not only grab a reader’s attention, but also evoke deep thoughts and emotions. It allows them to interpret the image in a literal or metaphorical way. It can signal something in their brain or remind them of something important. Visual cues are used everywhere in advertising in the form of graphic design or photos. It is important that you use your visual elements effectively in order to get the most out of your advertisement.

Before a person can read what an advertisement says, they are immediately caught by the visual elements of it. They see the graphics, the photos and the overall layout. Just like ad copy, the goal of ad design is to get the audience to take some sort of action. Not only the visuals you use, but also how you place them on the ad can help you achieve that goal.

The following are layouts to follow to effectively design your ad:

1. Ogilvy Layout (Five Step Process by David Ogilvy)

Visual – Place your photos and/or graphics at the top of the page
Caption – If you are using a photo, place a short caption underneath.
Headline – The headline of your ad goes next.
Copy – Follow your headline with effective ad copy
Signature – Place your company’s name and contact information at the bottom right of your ad. This is the last place the reader’s eye will go.

*Some of these steps are interchangeable.

2. Z Layout

Place all the contents of you ad in the form of a “Z”. Put the most important elements on the top of the “Z”. The eye will naturally follow the pattern. Place your “call to action” or your signature at the very end of the “Z”.

3. Single Visual Layout

The principle of this layout is “less is more”. This is a simplistic, yet powerful ad. There is only one visual element followed by a simple headline and short ad copy.

4. Illustrated Layout

There is not much room for audience interpretation with this layout. This ad shows the actual product or service offered. It demonstrates what it does, how it works and what it accomplishes.

5. Top Heavy Layout

This layout puts strong emphasis on the visual element of the ad. The photo or graphic design is placed in the top half or the left side of the ad. It is then followed with the headline and copy.

6. Upside Down Layout

This layout is as simply as it sounds: turn your ad upside down. After you finish designing your ad, you may find it is even more powerful in its opposite layout.

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Making a Viral Video for Marketing

Jessica Mefferd — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:03:21 +0000

A viral video is a great way to market your company, product or service. However, making a viral video is more difficult than some think. One myth most people believe about viral videos is that they randomly got famous. Most of the people behind these videos have hired companies to make it go viral.

With about 10,000 videos uploaded each day to YouTube, it takes strategic planning to produce a viral video. Here are come tips to create a viral video that will be an excellent marketing tool for your company:

Work On Your Content

Judging by the existing viral videos, we all know that content is not everything. However, you cannot expect to gain popularity by doing nothing. Think of what you want to say and how to say it creatively. A shocking video will gain attention; don’t give them something they have already seen.

In terms of marketing and content, make sure your company, product or service fits into a large concept and not vice versa. Do not make it an obvious advertisement or the audience will lose its interest.

Remember to keep your video short (around 30 seconds). You are on your audience’s time, they’re not on yours.

“Most Viewed Page”

The only way your video will stand out and go viral is if it is on the “Most View Page”. The best way to get your video out is to share, share, share! Embed your videos on blogs, forums and Myspace. Share it constantly on Facebook. Send the video to your entire E-Mail list and encourage them to forward it.

Choosing a Title

Your title needs to catch a viewer’s attention enough to even click on it. It must be different (i.e. “behind the scenes”). Throughout your videos existence, try different headlines: use shocking fake ones, add drama, etc. Check your views and ratings to see what works best.

Thumbnail Optimization

YouTube automatically uses a frame from the middle of your video for its thumbnail picture. Even if you do get to the “Most Viewed Page,” when your thumbnail is sitting in the middle of 20 others, it needs to grab the viewer’s attention. YouTube also gives you two other choices for thumbnail pictures. You can also consider the middle of the video when editing your film.

Control Your Comments

You and your team should post comments that will evoke controversy, however, be careful not to have a conversation with yourself. Just as you have the power to post comments, you have the power to delete comments by viewers that may possibly be detrimental to your popularity.

Video Release

Unlike traditional blogging, if you have a number of videos to release, do it all at once. Do not try to keep your viewers on their toes for the next video, because it will not work. If the viewer is so intrigued that they watch all five of your videos at once, chances are, they will be interested in your product or service.

Tagging

Tagging is a simple way to lure viewers to your video. However, be strategic about your tags. Use tags that are unique, but not strange. Choose about four tags and use them for all of your videos. If your views decrease, you can always change your tags to a more generic term.

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How Blogging Aids SEO

Jessica Mefferd — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:01:48 +0000

Blogs naturally attract traffic from search engines because they are text-rich, link-rich, frequently updated webpages that use stylesheets, and have very little irrelevant HTML. Here are a few tips for your blog to enhance SEO.

Submit your blog into blog directories
It is a great way to get one-way links to your blog and to your site.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/
http://www.blogarama.com/
http://www.bloggapedia.com/
http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/

How to use keywords
One of the biggest mistakes is using high traffic keywords. High traffic keywords do not rank well and, in return, receive little traffic. There is no direct correlation between high traffic and high sales.

Instead, use keywords that receive a moderate level of traffic. Many of the most lucrative sites only have a moderate level of traffic because their profitable keywords. This results in more subscribers and more profit.

Know where to place your keywords:

Use your primary key phrase in the title of your blog or blogposts.
Use secondary keywords throughout the body of your post. Be careful not to use these too frequently to avoid sound unnatural.
Use your primary keyword in your blog domain.
Use your primary keywords in the anchor text of links.

Search Query
The length of your search query is extremely important. Four word queries form the highest conversion rates from search engine traffic. Because blogs are so well indexed, it has the potential to appear in any number of four word phrases relevant to your industry.

Also use two and three word phrases that target your industry. Try to use a phrase that will attract high traffic, yet with little competition. With constant new trends, developments, products and services, this should not be difficult to do.

Update Frequently
The more frequently content is updated, the more your site will be spidered. After consistent and habitual updating, the spider will eventually add you to a frequent schedule of returns. Your new pages will then show up faster in searches. This will be extremely advantageous to your new product or service.

Posting
You do not have to worry all day everyday about updating your blog. The best way to frequent new content is to write a number of blogs in advance and set up your blog software to post one each day. This will give your site new information each day, and you only set aside one day for blogging.

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De-Branding As a Marketing Strategy

Jessica Mefferd — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:33:30 +0000

Major brands not only define American culture, but also often define whom a person is and what it means to be “normal” or “cool”. Since the majority of Americans have the inability to separate wants from needs, large corporate brands are incorporated into our everyday lives. However, the future of large brands is under scrutiny with distrust in corporations, increased consumer control and a change in the state of mind of society. In order for branding to remain successful, companies must de-brand their products in order to gain or retain consumer attention.The concept of branding originated as a trust factor in consumerism. A person trusted that a familiar brand of peanut butter would not be deadly, so they bought and consumed it. However, this consumer trust in large brands has dwindled as corporate American has constantly proved itself untrustworthy and corrupt. Because of this, anti-brand campaigns (in the form of books, websites and word-of-mouth) are underway, teaching consumers how to avoid large brands, or “de-brand” their lives.

In addition to this brand dis-trust, companies no longer own their brands, consumers do. Consumers control the success of large brands and their future. Today’s social media movement is stealing corporate control over mainstream media and giving more control to word-of-mouth advertising on a large scale.

When it comes to advertising, more and more Americans are becoming smarter and are aware of certain strategies such as product placement. In order to preserve marketing success, large corporations have de-branded their products during product placement, also known as “product displacement.” These companies place their product in movies, TV shows, etc., and intentionally change their product’s name on the actual picture. For example, VitaminWater has changed the bottle’s text to “MeatWater”, Jack Daniels has changed the bottle’s text to “Jake Danzels”, and Pepsi has changed the bottle’s text to “Pecsi” in certain campaigns.

This confusing product displacement works like this: the audience sees the product with a change or typo in the brand and notices something is different. They think about the products real name and associate this “different” brand with the “real” brand. The audience has then spent more time thinking about the product than they would if the product was placed with its original name or logo.

Starbucks is taking this de-branding marketing strategy to a whole new level. As a coffee shop, large portions of Starbucks’ target audience are fed up with corporate control over the chain and, in return, prefer local coffee shops. First, many typical “coffee shop regulars” think small, simple and unique—none of which describe the fast-food-chain-headed Starbucks. Many coffee shop regulars think “different is cool” and might even be part of the de-brand campaign. Second, those who go to coffee shops to do work are immediately turned away by Starbucks while it offers expensive internet, excessive noise, corporate approved music, over-lighting and fresh-out-of-the-package food. Starbucks has become a grab-and-go chain leaving customers feelings less and less welcome to stick around.

To solve their problem, Starbucks turned to de-branding as a marketing strategy to go back to their small coffee shop roots and “faking” being “local”. After all, the only thing trendier than Starbucks is a coffee shop far from Starbucks. The first try at this simplification was in Seattle (where it all started), with the transformation of a corner Starbucks into the secretly corporate owned 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea. Other than its previous décor, this “local” coffee shop shows no sign of being affiliated with Starbucks. The shop also serves beer and wine, the baristas pour everything by hand (rather than a button) and local events, such as open-mike night, fill the shop’s evenings.

Consumer trends are constantly changing, which means products and the marketing of products must change as well. It is important for companies to think outside the box and try the unthinkable in order to gain or retain the success of a product.

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Effective Copy in Advertising

Jessica Mefferd — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:06:46 +0000

Advertising is everywhere: in print, online, television, radio, on our streets and even on clothes. It is so simple for a company to advertise a product or service to a given audience, however it is just as easy for the audience to ignore and block out the message. In a world of advertisements competing for consumers, it is difficult to stand out and capture your audience’s attention. Writing effective copy in your advertisements will reduce the likelihood of an audience ignoring your message and gain you the most legitimate exposure. The following are steps to take and strategies to consider in writing the most effective advertising copy.

Identify your message and define its goal.

Before you begin writing your advertising copy, you must identify your target message and the main goal of the message. When developing your advertisement, keep this goal in mind and never stray from it. If your advertisement gets off track from the goal, it creates confusion for your target audience.

Identify your target audience.

Know whom you are trying to reach and everything about them. Know their demographics, psychographics, background, interests, etc.

Appeal to your target audience.

Always keep your audience’s self-interest in mind, not your own. Aim the message at individuals, rather than the entire group.

Capture your audience’s attention.

If an individual’s attention is not caught immediately, your advertisement will not be noticed. Use effective tactics in order to capture attention, keep attention and sell your product or service.

EVOKE EMOTION. If someone feels a strong emotional connection to the words, phrase or idea of your advertisement, they will absorb your message.

BE UNEXPECTED. Think outside the box. Avoid clichés. Use unique and shocking ways to capture your audience.

BE ENTERTAINING. There are many ways to make copy in advertising entertaining. Humor appeals to a universal audience. Telling a story will leave them wanting more. Putting your audience in a situation or mindset will entertain the feeling of your message.

Develop the content of your copy.

Offer your audience something, an incentive to follow through and take action from your advertisement. This can be tangible, such as wealth, a deal or low price, or it can be an idea, such as health or happiness. The audience needs a purpose to absorb your message. The following are strategies to remember in developing your advertising copy:

SIMPLICITY. Keep your message simple and to the point. A complex concept will lose the vast majority of any audience instantly. Never assume your audience already knows something.

CLARITY. Say what you mean to say. Your audience should be able to identify your message immediately. Your message should never be a riddle or up to individual interpretation.

BREVITY. Nowadays, no one has time for advertisements. To get your message out, keep your message short and to the point. Long, drawn out copy will loose your audience’s attention. Cut the fluff and get your message out as quickly as possible.

CREDIBILITY. Promise your audience something and back it up with proof. If you are telling your audience your product or service is the best, let them know why with concrete evidence. Use case studies, ratings, reviews, etc.

Always proofread.

A first draft is never perfect. Always re-work and re-phrase. Try multiple ways to approach your audience and find which one is best fitting. Test the effectiveness of the message on others before you use it for your final advertising copy.

Strategize for the right medium.

Know what is the best medium in which to reach your target audience. Know the most effective area to purchase billboard space, know the magazine your target audience reads most, and so on. Pick a medium in which you can gain the most possible traffic from your target audience.

Always back it up with action.

Always follow through with your promises. This will not only gain you customers or clients, but will help you gain credibility and positive word-of-mouth marketing.

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The Importance of Graphic Design

Rob Milburn — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:48:07 +0000

Graphic Design is all around us in our society. It is what drives advertising, attracts us to brands and makes public settings enjoyable or “hard on the eyes”. With this being said, it is no wonder why Graphic Design is so important to our everyday lives. As times and styles change, the socially acceptable elements of Graphic Design change.

Lets look at some examples of changing design.

In the 1970′s there was a lot of design being done with flowers and Earth Tones. This was due to the state of our society being in the “Hippy” era. Designs were Psychedelic and crazy with floral patterns and fun shapes.

In the 1980′s we found the masses being attracted to bright neon colors and a sort of robotic feel. This was most likely due to the advent of computers and the emergence of technology.

The 1990′s brought us a sort of transition phase to where we are now. I personally cannot think of any defined style or relevance of the 1990′s but it was probably in anticipation of the new millennium.

In this dawn of the new century we have a new style that is prevalent all around us. This is sort of a minimalistic, yet bold approach to design. Quite a few ads and designs are not much more than well placed images with a couple splashes of text and a logo. This style has been driving Websites, print ad campaigns and outdoor media for quite a few years now.

No matter what style of design an individual likes, if they are a designer, they still have to follow some basic elements of the trends around them. Adopting parts of various styles will make a design unique, but making sure it appeals to the masses is what will make the design successful.

Pier Marketing is a marketing firm that has worked closely with various companies to develop graphics for everything from Advertisements and Point of Sale Materials to Trade Show Booths and Websites. To learn more Pier Marketing’s Graphic Design and Advertising services, Please contact us today for a no obligation consultation.

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Software VS Service Based eCommerce

Rob Milburn — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:32:29 +0000

In working with eCommerce and analyzing different types of eCommerce software and services, there are some different things to take into account when choosing a service or software.

Services like Yahoo eCommerce or an eBay store are great starting points to test out the waters and get a feel for your market. These services have some nice features and definitely get a person or company comfortable with selling online. The services offer some great tracking and reports while making order management fairly simple.

Though services like this are a great starting point, they are very limited in what you can do with them. They are customizable to a point as far as look and feel. You can change color schemes and graphics, have logo control and some various styling points, but when it comes to standing out and really catching the eye of your audience, the tools that are offered are very limited. Once the market is established it is key to graduate to a more robust software-based eCommerce application like Magento Commerce. This is where selling online really takes off!

By moving to a software solution such as Magento Commerce you will realize why all extremely successful eCommerce sites operate like this. Not only can the look and feel be changed and modified as needed, the entire software can be customized to fit the owners needs. Custom programming can be done for specific sales reports, customer statistics and inventory needs. Also, the ability to add on new features and tools can be developed and custom built for any variety of reason that the store owner sees fit.

Some of the great tools that are a part of Magento Commerce are visual graphs for tracking sales, multiple images and views of the products in the site, graphical newsletter creation and a secure backend administration area that only the Merchant has access to.

Another advantage of using Magento Commerce is the Merchant Account advantages. While using a Yahoo payment service is fine to start out with, usually Yahoo is charging more in fees and transaction percentages. A true Merchant account will be closely linked to an established bank account as well as offer the Merchant a lower fee for processing transactions.

All in all, Magento Commerce based eCommerce solution is hands down the way to go. The amount of features and flexibility that is offered with this type of system allows for infinite growth.

Pier Marketing is a marketing firm that has worked closely with various companies to develop eCommerce applications. To learn more about eCommerce applications and development. Please contact us today for a no obligation consultation.

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SEO/SEM Strategies

Rob Milburn — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:05:40 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are the most effective ways to increase traffic to a given Website. When done properly with long term campaign commitments and diligence, SEO/SEM can lead to increased notoriety and a focused spectrum of visitors.

SEO vs SEM

SEO is essentially the beginnings of SEM. To effectively market a Website it must first be optimized. The SEO process involves stocking the Website with relevant content that is specific to the audience the Website is intended for. Relevant components such as titles, keywords and Meta Tags are embedded into the underlying code of the Website pages.

The second part of the a SEO/SEM campaign is to start marketing the Website around the internet. The most effective way to do so is to keep producing content.

Contrary to popular belief, Search Engines are so advanced that they understand basic language skills and are able to decipher proper linguistics, so the general content of the pages is fine tuned to utilizing specific verbiage and enticing phrases. Press releases, news articles, reviews, events and of course blogs are all pieces of SEM that boost rankings among the Search Engines. Search Engines love new and fresh content. The Search Engines will come back to a site more often, if in fact, content is added on a frequent basis. The Search Engines collect the information in these articles and compare the data to the content of the Website as a whole. As the amount of content on the Website grows, the amount of data stored for searchability by end users on Search Engines grows.

Overall, this is most effective when done as an ongoing process. SEM should be part of any Website’s perpetual marketing budget. When SEM is done once or for short periods of time, the content gets stale and the Search Engines pass over it.

Fresh Content

Utilizing a tool like a blogging platform (WordPress) is the best way to keep a website and its content relevant. Blogging is not only used to express opinions and interests, but it is the perfect way to distribute news, upcoming events and press releases. By adding content to a blog on a regular basis, it will keep readers interested.

Adding a blog component is a simple setup and should not be overlooked. WordPress itself can be added to a Website in a folder and the appearance of the blog can be easily skinned to fully and seamlessly integrated with the rest of the Website. The backend of the WordPress platform is easy to learn and simple to use.

The other great thing about WordPress is the fact that it has been built from the ground up with SEO as a priority. Search Engines frequent WordPress sites because of the way it has Pingbacks and Clean URLs built right in. These are features that will help Websites climb the ranks of Search Engines when content is added on a regular basis.

Third Party Content

Search Engines also compare relevant content across all Websites. If there is content about a specific topic on a company’s website, the Search Engines will compare that to a review on the company and the search results will show up next to each other in the search results presented to the end user.

This information is important because in today’s market everyone has an opinion and it can be voiced. Not everyone likes the same things or views experiences the same. If someone utilizes a review site to voice an opinion about a company or experience, it may not be what the provider had in mind for a review to be. Websites like CitySearch and Yelp are open to anyone. People can register and post a review or opinion on an experience they had. While everyone has the right to do this, it may not be what the business owner was looking for as a favorable review.

To combat this, it is important to be active in submitting content and being a part of these third party Websites. With tactful responses, these reviews and opinions can be counteracted with subjective content that is in favor or the business or organization. This also servers a humanistic approach that someone knowledgeable is taking the time to actively respond to another person’s opinion and tends to boost the reputation of the entity begin reviewed.

Closing

All in all, SEM is an ongoing aspect of a successful marketing plan. As time goes by, the nature of writing content for a Website becomes second nature and the thought of putting new information out for the world to indulge in is exciting. Expressing thoughts, news and keeping others abreast with the happenings is very satisfying and leads to constant exposure across the largest information medium in the world.

Pier Marketing is a marketing firm that has worked closely with various companies to develop eCommerce applications. To learn more about eCommerce applications and development. Please contact us today for a no obligation consultation.

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10 Useful Marketing Tips

Rob Milburn — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:05:02 +0000

Getting your name out in the world can be one of those tasks that seems too hard to even take on. You have to make others believe that you are a rock star at what you do and that others should believe in what you say and how you say it. In order to do this, you need to market yourself successfully.

Present yourself as your business
When scouting out new clients you should make them believe that you and your business are one-in-the-same. People work with people, not with companies.
Have a clear image
Make sure that your product or service is to the point and people can understand what you are promoting.
Cut the BS!
Do not hide fees or try to sell someone on something and then have restrictions. Be upfront with people and let everyone be on the same page. It will do wonders for your word-of-mouth referrals.
Communicate
Make sure to constantly be in touch with colleagues and associates. By keeping the lines of communication open, people will think of you as the “Go-To Person”.
Offer Advice
Be insightful to your peers. By offering advice and knowledge to those around, you will let them know that you can be a valuable resource and could lead to future business.
Collaborate
Get with other people in your industry or outside of your industry. By talking to those around you, you may end up with ideas of your own that you didn’t realize.
Stay Organized
Keeping yourself on top of things and being organized will keep your brain on track. Make lists, write things down and focus to achieve your goals.
Don’t Be Shy
In order to attract customers you need to be willing to get out there and show yourself off. By having an outgoing attitude, you will be contagious to others.
Keep Deadlines
Make sure that your projects and services are delivered on time. Clients love the fact that deadlines are met. Even if changes end up needing to be made once the deadline is met, clients will know that you are committed to getting projects done or delivered when promised.
Don’t Waste Time
Time is so important that you want to make good use of all of it. By maximizing your time you will get more accomplished and feel better about yourself for being productive.

These are just some of the things I can think of off the top of my head to offer advice.

Pier Marketing is a marketing firm that has worked closely with various companies to develop eCommerce applications. To learn more about eCommerce applications and development. Please contact us today for a no obligation consultation.

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