AdTrak 360 Blog: News, Updates, Marketing Tips

Social media is a great contemporary twist on traditional word-of-mouth advertising. Generate excitement among your fans, and those fans will likely spread the word, sharing it with their friends. Those referrals are more likely to be positively received because they trust the friend who shared it with them. 

TIP: Make your content easily sharable on social networks by utilizing Share buttons.  Putting this option front and center to your own audience, greatly increases your potential impressions overall.

Because social media is such a popular past time for so many people today, advertising messages within it often don’t feel so corporate.  Therefore, it is often times better accepted and businesses get better results. Try utilizing your social media profiles to communicate with your audience, and test it for yourself!  

As the second installment of our social reach series, we’ll discuss the promotions approach.  

Social media offers a great opportunity to publicize sales, offers and other special events. Another good idea is to provide printable coupons or online coupon codes that customers can access from their computer and utilize when they are ready. Providing unique offers to Facebook fans or Twitter followers only can make them feel special, and like they are part of a group. This can help form a relationship with your online community and build brand loyalty.

TIP: For extra special or large events, create an event on Facebook and invite fans to attend. This acts as a  easy reminder, without having to worry about reminder emails or direct mailers.

Social media marketing has produced not only a fantastic way for people to share information with each other but also for businesses to reach out to their customers more personally. Utilizing social media allows companies to target individuals who might be interested in their products and to interact with them in a meaningful way. When a person encounters a business in the relaxed and casual setting of Facebook or Twitter, it doesn’t feel so much like an encroachment of their privacy, but more of an informal communication, allowing a feeling of trust to develop. 

Social media leaves it up to the customer to decide the level of interaction they have with a brand. The exchange of information may simply stop at viewing posts in their news feed, or they may prefer to go directly to the profile page of that company to actively find out more.

TIP:  Be sure all contact info, such as phone number and web address, is displayed in each of your social media profiles so it is readily available if viewers are ready to take action.

Are you new to call tracking or just not sure what metrics are most important to watch?  Obviously listening to your recorded calls is the best way to gather the most information, but here are a few at-a-glance metrics to give you a quick idea of what’s happening with your data.

Call Length - Without even listening to your calls, taking notice to call length can give you a good idea about the call’s quality. If the call is less than 10 seconds, you have good reason to question the validity of the call, for example it may be a wrong number orhang-up.  A call length of 4 min or longer is most likely a legitimate call of some substance.

Call Date/Time - Checking the date and time of your recorded calls can tell you when your peak call times are. This could help you make staffing decisions, such as how many people are available to answer phones throughout certain times of the day.  Also, be sure to look at total calls per day, certain days of the week may be higher call traffic days.

Total Calls - Studying your overall total calls can help you determine ROI of specific advertisements based on number of legitimate call leads that came from it. 

Calls Map - Taking notice of where your calls are coming from provides you with data as to what locations or demographics are best responding to your ads by taking action.

Knowing which call tracking metrics to focus your attention on can be a crucial factor in your call tracking success.  Utilizing a call tracking software can make it quick and simple by pulling all of your data together in one place.

With the increased use of mobile devices to access the Internet, it is truly in your best interest to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. When people access your webpage from their phone, they need to be able to see and utilize that page fully. This requires some changes on your part so users can have a good experience with their smart phones and other mobile devices.

Finger Scrolling
With mobile devices, viewers use their fingers to click and navigate around a website instead of a mouse. Because some mobile devices have small screens, it is important to keep links and clickable areas large enough to “click” with a finger. Leaving enough space between links is important as well, as to not click multiple links at once. 

Alt Tags
Because some mobile device users choose to turn off images’ visibility for quicker browsing, it is important to use alt tags on all images for your mobile site. This will tell mobile device users what the image should be so they will know what your website contains. The alt tags may help in preventing confusion where the images are lacking.

Readability
Depending on the size of the mobile device, it can be difficult to read websites. Therefore, it is extremely important to use fonts and text sizes that are easy to read on a smaller scale. Make sure you use colors that contrast enough so that users can see all text easily, but avoid harsh colors. Layout is important to consider for a mobile compatible page as well, arranging text in small blocks with enough space between lines and paragraphs. 

Forms
Forms on a mobile device should be simple so it is as easy to fill out as possible. You should also keep images and other distractions to a minimum.  It’s often good practice to have forms open in their own window, taking up the entire screen.  This makes it easier to fill out the individual form fields.

Keeping your webpages optimized for mobile devices will ensure that users can access them in multiple ways, expanding your potential reach of customers. With the increase in popularity of smart phones and mobile devices for web browsing, it is important for your website’s success to keep up with this technology.

When trying to get visitors to come to your landing pages, your ultimate goal is to gain conversions. These “Don’t”s can cause many people to leave the page before taking action, therefore costing you valuable leads. Try to avoid the following…

1) Auto-Play Music
Setting your landing pages to music that plays automatically can be irritating to some visitors. If the volume is up too loud or they are in a setting where noise is disruptive, they may quickly leave the page. While it can be attention grabbing to include video or other sound features on your page, it is best to provide a mute or stop button in an easy-to-find location or require the user to manually click “Play”.

2) False Promises
You may feel pressured to make extreme promises in order to draw in viewers. However, when your visitors see a promise on your site, they expect you to follow through. Your CTA’s should match your actual offer, don’t exaggerate.  If customers find out later that what you promised is not actually what they get, you will lose their trust and possibly gain a negative reputation. 

3) Content Overload
It may be tempting to include a lot of information on your landing page and provide plenty of images to attract the attention of visitors. However, internet users want an easy-to-use site that isn’t overwhelming. Instead, provide your users with the basic information they need and clear CTA’s to guide them to take action.

4) Harsh Colors
In an effort to stand out from your competitors, you may try to use bold or bright colors on your website. However, remember sometimes less is more. Using harsh, or extremely contrasting colors such as red and black can be hard on the eyes and may drive viewers away. Choose colors that make for easy readability. 

5) Boring Headlines
Boring headlines on your landing page will turn visitors off before they even have a chance to learn anything about you. Use interesting headlines that make your visitors want to keep reading. A headline should tell the reader what’s in store. Try using action or buzz words to grab interest.

Landing pages are the gateway to conversion. The entire purpose of using landing pages is to gain new leads. Therefore, you need to create a welcoming landing page that will lead your visitors to learn more about you and feel comfortable in taking action.

QR codes are a new way for companies to draw visitors to their websites and are beginning to grow in popularity. These unique codes can be generated from numerous free sites, and then saved as a link or an image to be placed on almost any marketing material. The codes can be scanned with smart phones using code reader apps. Code readers translate the code and send the viewer to the corresponding web page. This gives customers quick access to a company’s website instead of having to type in a specific URL, which can sometimes be long and cumbersome. 

Here are a few examples of useful places to use QR codes:

Business Cards
QR codes take networking to a new level when used on business cards. It allows new contacts who receive your business card to quickly access your website. Instead of waiting until they are near a computer to type in your website URL, they can instantly access your website to find more info on your company by using their smart phone.   There are even special codes that will automatically fill your address book or an email with a new acquaintance’s contact information when scanned.

Advertisements
QR codes can be placed on many types of advertisements. For instance, if you hang fliers, or send out direct mailers, print the QR code on the corner. If you advertise in a local newspaper or magazine, include the QR code in your advertisement. It only takes a second for potential customers to scan the code and find themselves at your site. The key to QR codes is using them in materials that are easily able to be scanned with a smart phone.

Product Packaging
If your business offers products to your customers, including a QR code on the packaging works in two ways. If a customer is trying to decide between more than one product in a store, they may scan the QR code to gain information to make a decision. If the customer has already purchased the product, he may use the QR code to gather more information about the company. 

Displays
Another good place to use your QR codes to give potential customers easy access to your website is in-store displays. Whether you include the code on your products or not, including them as part of the display in your store or others will give your customer the option to learn more through your website.

QR codes are still fairly new, but are becoming more common. Displaying them prominently on business cards, advertisements, products and displays can help your customers access your website quickly and easily from almost anywhere.

Last week, we hosted our first Chamber of Commerce social event in our hometown of Williamsport.  During this networking opportunity, we introduced AdTrak 360 to the local business community and exposed our attendees to powerful new ways of thinking about their marketing and advertising strategy.

Our employees answered questions at multiple stations around the room, each focused on a specific aspect of our marketing.  Throughout the night we also presented high-level tours of AdTrak 360, giving our guests a sneak peak at the power of the console.    

The event was a great success and we  look forward to sharing our passion with all marketers.    

 If you’d like to see more pictures from the event, Like us on Facebook!

When you use website content to promote your business, it is important to format that content in the best possible manner. Readers prefer to see content in an easy-to-read format that is not intimidating. If you follow that format, you will find your readership will increase and your website will achieve greater rankings with the search engines as well.  Try the following formatting tips:

Short Paragraphs
Your readers don’t want to wade through long paragraphs to find out what they want to know. Long paragraphs can be intimidating to your readers. If you keep your paragraphs short and to the point, you will find that your viewers read through the entire article rather than scanning. When readers scan, they may miss important information. 

Use Headers
If your readers are looking for a specific piece of information, being able to scan bolded headers can tell them what your piece is about. They can then quickly decide if they want to read the whole thing or if they only need to read parts of your piece. Scanning headings before reading can also save your reader time if your article doesn’t cover their needs. If visitors feel your site is a waste of their time they may not return.

Bullet Points
Bullet points allow your readers to gather critical information in your article without reading complete sentences. If you have information that can easily be portrayed in list format, bullet points work well, especially when your points don’t have a specific order.

Numbered Lists
For the same reason as bullet points, using numbered lists when possible can help increase readership and impress search engines. If the information you are listing requires a specific order such as a step by step process, it is better to use the numbered list format over the bullet point format.

Images
Using relevant images in your text helps break up your content for readers. Some readers are intimidated by long lines of text with no break and may leave immediately without even scanning. If you include relevant images, a reader is more likely to read your article because he won’t feel like your piece is endless. Many readers like to have a visual element besides just words on the page.

When creating your online content, it is important to implement as many of these elements as you can. However, you should never use them at the expense of the quality of your content. Using just a couple of these elements is enough to keep your readers interested and returning for more.

Arriving on a poorly constructed landing page is comparable to finding a fabulous sale on a highly desired item and racing to the store to find it’s sold out; disappointing to say the least. Looking around, you see an abundance of other items you don’t need, but that one item you wanted is nowhere to be found. Eventually, you leave. A bad landing page can often have the same effect, leaving potential clients and customers running to the competition to find what they’re looking for. Here, we provide a few tips to creating an intelligently designed landing page that your visitors will feel confident in trusting:

• Affiliate Seals – Displaying the logos of larger, and perhaps well-known companies that you may be affiliated with establishes a sense of rapport. People often feel most comfortable with those which whom they share common interests. Your common affiliation with companies they know and trust is likely to earn you their trust and loyalty as well.
• Contact Us – Hiding from your visitors is a surefire way to drive them away. Provide a telephone number in an easy-to-find location to let your customers know that you welcome their calls and questions. 
• Brand Consistency – If your potential customers feel they’ve made a wrong turn down a dead-end road, they’re likely to turn around. Therefore, it’s important to maintain consistency in brand image. Use logos and features similar to the originating site to assure the customer that he/she remains in familiar territory.
• Customer Testimonials – Nothing makes or breaks a company’s reputation like word of mouth. Providing testimonials from real customers on your landing page allows your visitors the opportunity to see the impression you’ve left on other customers which can build the visitor’s confidence in your offerings which often leads to conversion.
• Clear Communication - Provide simple, clear, and understandable terms and conditions, as well as explanations of your offers or promotions.
  

Today’s consumers like to find what they’re looking for quickly without having to sift through pages of unnecessary information. By providing a landing page which displays integrity and clearly states your objectives you will retain the attention of your visitors and gain higher conversion rates!