Word on the Street

Halloween is almost here! When we’re not filling up on candy corn, we’re glued to our phones, exploring these festive mobile apps…

Earlier this year, Inspirion Wealth Advisors asked us to create a new brand that would better represent their company, a progressive, high-end financial advisory firm, and position them as a competitor in their field. Of course, we leapt at the challenge.

What if I told you I have hundreds — make that thousands — of people who are interested in your industry and willing to meet you in person? They are eager to learn more and open to making purchases. It’s not too good to be true; it’s just a good old-fashioned trade show.

The rapid adoption of mobile has changed the way strategies are being developed. Marketing via mobile devices is about unlocking the potential of an expanding, captive, and engaged audience. Leverage the power of smaller screens to reach your audience and deliver interactive experiences wherever they are.

Recently, two of our team members, James Hansen and Kent Brubaker, took the certification exam to become Marketo Certified Experts. What is Marketo, you ask? In layman's terms, it's a fantastic marketing tool that helps us create and manage client email marketing campaigns. Marketo is much more robust than your average email marketing software; it gives us the control to be highly accurate in our deployment of email, and it gives us tons of information on its effectiveness. In short, it helps make sure our campaigns are reaching their goals. Marketo certification is awarded after proving you have extensive knowledge of all the ins and outs of this powerful tool. The certification also gives our clients a high level of confidence that we know what we're doing.

When you spot buttons to download, donate, or share; a QR code to scan or a link to visit; or simply an invitation to learn more, these are all calls to action (CTAs) in varying forms. A strong CTA—an instructive message that invites a user to do something—will motivate, persuade, and convince your audience.

Keeping things fresh and new is always important in advertising. Getting a customer’s attention and keeping it long enough to consider the content of an ad is always a challenge. Rich Media ads are one of the newer formats of digital advertising, and take advantage of animation and video to truly catch the customer’s eye.

With a steady increase in the use of websites such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram, the public has become even more accustomed to seeing images incorporated in their lives.

According to Direct Marketing News writer David Eldridge, “It’s [marketing] an ongoing process made up of many discrete but valuable steps, each contributing to the greater cause.” Street Level Studio agrees.