Case Studies - Analyze. Create. Achieve.

August 7, 2023August 7, 2023

Don’t Market Like It’s the Wild West

After an amazing and lengthy trip out west, the idea for “Don’t Market Like It’s the Wild West” popped up. Surprisingly, we found there were other similar comparisons to this blog already written. Pretty much every one of them make great points too. So, we’ll jump in the pool as well, but put our own spin on the topic. You can read one of them here from Social Media Today by Barry Ricks in 2013: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/wild-wild-west-social-media-marketing It is an entertaining blog.

Additionally, we’ll share some photographs from the 2-1/2 week trip throughout the post. 2737 miles were put on the rental during this trip. We covered iconic landmarks and parks from South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. It was an inspiring and eye opening vacation trip.

Don’t Market Like It’s the Wild West

Limitless Territory

The wide open spaces in the west are sights to behold. There are endless picturesque landscapes of deserts, waterfalls, plains, mountain ranges, ranch land, and so much more. If you are an east-coaster and haven’t travelled to the west, PUT IT ON YOUR BUCKET LIST!

Montana

Waterfall-Big Horn

South Dakota

With all of that said, for marketing related purposes, you don’t want your marketing plan to be that vast & expansive. Therefore, you’ll need to tighten up your message. Are you posting about a sale that doesn’t really resonate with customers? Try to restructure the content. You may also have another product or service that should be better promoted. Creating interest is better than spitballing a message out there.

Secondly, you’ll also need to tighten up those strategies that you put your hard earned marketing dollars in to. Does a percentage go to SEO? Are you getting web hits and calls from it? If not, time to examine elsewhere. The world of marketing is almost boundless. That is to say there’s countless opportunities to put your marketing money towards. Basically, at first there’s no need to dump monies all over the place in infinite marketing channels. Some will be successful. Some will not. Tighten ‘er up, partner. Consequently, you’ll start to notice positive results.

Beware, Bandits!

Saloon

Meanwhile, the next topic is touchy. Bandits! Bandits rarely admit any wrongdoing. Likewise some snake oil salesmen “marketers” will knowingly suggest putting your money into areas it shouldn’t be. Instead of finding cost effective ways for your plan to work best, they will “consult” you or even persuade you into spending as much as possible. Don’t let them “bilk ya.” Terrible! Bad business, but it happens. If you come across one of these bandits, you will probably know. Avoid them.

Again, it’s a touchy subject because some can make suggestions based on past experiences or what they think will work best. You can’t fault those for making mistakes. This is true if they have your best interests at heart. Others though, simply know that by getting you to spend more, they will make more. You, as the client, should be comfortable, confident, and even excited to start a marketing plan with whoever you choose to work with.

Instill Rules or Guidelines

Opposite of bandits is the sheriff or trustworthy lawman. They live by a set of specific guidelines and codes that help other people. Create a set of rules for yourself and the marketing company that you choose. Be open and upfront about it. For instance, set a very strict budget that goes only to a few channels you agree upon. See how this works for you for a period of time, then reevaluate. Likewise, again, these are things to discuss openly right from the “git go.”

Mount Rushmore

Ranger cabin.

Following along with a well planned set of guidelines will determine the success or failure of a program. Consistency is the word we probably use most. Consistency will also be important. Within your rules, guidelines, and expectations should be a consistent plan that must be followed strictly. If you are sending out direct mail, make sure the message and content (even visual content) are all cohesive. Further, the same can be said of your social media outline, for example. Stick with messaging that works within your guidelines. This is true for almost any aspect of marketing/advertising.

Grand Tetons

Zion

Bryce Canyon

Time to Skedaddle

In short, we hope “Don’t Market Like It’s the Wild West” gave you some solid info on how to better handle your marketing. We always try to keep our blogs informative and entertaining. Similarly, that’s how we operate our marketing company. If you have questions, want to learn more, or just need a little advice…77 Design Co is a click or call away.

May 11, 2023May 11, 2023

Who is Your Customer?

Who is Your Customer? Simple question. However, it’s not as simple as it seems. This question is the foundation of creating an effective marketing plan, and you should be able to answer it with ease.

Call, email, or text if you have questions. We’ll help in any way possible. Free consultations!

Why is it so important?

Specifics matter. You wouldn’t order a slice of apple pie without the apples. The same can be said of starting a marketing strategy. Knowing who you are marketing towards allows you to tailor the message accordingly. Otherwise, you’ll just be left with the crust.

If your base customer is 55+ years old, Tik Tok and Instagram probably aren’t your most effective channels. As a result, you will find more impactful results with something like paid FB ads directed to that age range. Similarly, another effective plan may be to create a personalized message that is both relatable and easy for them to contact you. Digital tactics such as Geofencing for mobile or even old school print ads could be beneficial.

Let’s say you are in the home remodeling industry. Most of the homes you work on are small urban remodels within 15 miles of the city. These are typically owned by new younger families within the 25-35 year old range. Running radio ads on the local oldies station is not only a waste of money, but it isn’t even close to your target audience. Therefore, it’s good to know exactly who you are targeting. Forbes offers seven great ways to help find your target audience here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/04/17/seven-ways-to-identify-your-ideal-client/?sh=6220093a4c21

How to figure it out.

One of the first questions we ask upon meeting a new client is, “who is your ideal customer?” If they immediately answer it’s a great sign. If not, there is some work to be done. We’ve discussed this in the past. Start small if you must.

Knowing your customer means better ways of making more money.

I suggest taking a small sampling, of say, 20 recent customers. After that, break this down to try starting with age. If you do not have a customer profile on them use your best judgement. At least an idea is better than nothing at all. Record your findings. Start an Excel file on customers if you have to. Even more, next you can attempt to record other valuable info like, geographic area, sex, rough estimates on income, purchases they’ve made, and more. In due time, you’ll have a handy customer profile that allows you to target your customer better!

Need help?

77 Design Co has many ways to help you better figure out who your customer really is. It’s one of the many ways we help you market your business better. For a free consultation and Customer Profile template, contact us here https://77designco.com/contact-us-2/

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023

Making Your Brand More Visible

Making Your Brand More Visible. This time we’ll offer an article about some ways to get more eyes on your business and its brand. Visibility is important. The importance of this is especially true for a newer business. Some of the things we’ll discuss below are what you can do to help customers see your brand more often. While it’s true that everything has a cost, there’s also a few inexpensive ways to help with visibility also. Read on…

Make your brand more visible with these tips below.

Invisibility.

What are we talking about here? Firstly, let’s discuss companies that do 0 marketing or branding. These businesses may feel there is no need. That’s totally fine. Many have thrived from word of mouth alone for years.

However, they very well could also be leaving a lot of potential work on the table. For many companies invisibility can be their downfall too. Ask around. Those who failed likely had little to no marketing or visibility. Or, moreover, it wasn’t very creative. Unless you are in a position of complete comfortability with a consistent stream of work, invisibility can seriously hurt your business. The invisibility we are talking about here is the absence of any online visibility, social media, print marketing, or even nothing as much as a billboard.

Ways to increase visibility.

“When you need a tissue, do you ask for a tissue, or for a Kleenex? When you’re ordering a drink at a fast-food restaurant, do you ask for a cola, or a Coke? What about when you cut yourself? Do you look for a plastic bandage, or a Band-Aid?” This is the opening paragraph of 18 Sneaky Ways to Build Brand Awareness by WordStream. It’s available to read here: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/07/10/brand-awareness The article starts off with showing readers just how important visibility can be for your brand.

The above is a prime example of visibility and awareness. Yes, building this kind of brand awareness takes time. Also yes, it probably cost these large companies a ton of money. However, you can do the same! At first, you can start smaller and locally. As your brand visibility and income increases so can your budget. Here are some ways to start showing off your brand and business:

*social media-consistent and entertaining posts

*hats/shirts/and other apparel-hand these to clients and employees

*billboards digital or traditional-be bold and eye-catching

*direct mail-know your audience and make these interesting with good offers

*networking-meet people and pass out cards/brochures

*SEO or digital marketing-can be expensive but depending on your industry very worth it

*vehicle wraps and other signage-you see these everyday

*sponsorships to causes, trade shows, and so much more.

Wrap up.

The point here is that if customers can’t see you, how will they know about you? We aren’t saying spend $100,000 or $1,000,000 on a marketing strategy, but create a branding strategy that is effective based on your budget. Of course there also needs to be some imagination, creativity, and outside the box thinking involved to attract attention.

Making your brand more visible takes some time, lots of effort, creativity, likely some external help, and of course at least some budget. Need a hand? Let us know how we can help here: https://77designco.com/contact-us-2/

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023

How Marketing Helps Other Areas of Business

“How Marketing Helps Other Areas of Business” is an article discussing the additional benefits marketing has on your business. It’s not just sales that a great marketing plan assists with. There are many other advantages you will find with a creative and well-planned marketing strategy.

How Marketing Helps Other Areas of Business

Customer retention

Even if you do not get one new lead, call, or make one sale through a marketing program, there can still be benefits. Customer retention is at the top of this list. A great promotion of your products & services will keep you on top of mind with your current customers. Of course, the marketing has to be of interest and come complete with consistent professional content, video, or images. Likewise, this leads to repeat purchases from your base down the line. In many cases in our experience, the repeat business alone pays for itself.

Keeping customers is important to just about any business. A solid marketing plan makes this easier and more possible.

Tracking & analytics

Another reason to consider how marketing helps other areas of business is through tracking & analytics. It’s important to realize how your marketing can help you forge ahead with what is working, and what is not. Have you ever looked over your company FB analytics to see how much reach or engagement you get on a particular post? No? Well, you should. For instance, that is just one simple example.

The very idea of tracking what a current customer (or potentially new customer) is interested in should peak your interest. Why? Because this is how you make the connection! Certainly you would want to know who your customer is, what they like, their ages, and as much more as you can about them. Obviously, all of this information can and should be used to tailor your marketing message. You get to know and understand your customer more intimately.

Branding & visibility

Keep colors, logos, and other branding consistent.

Is your business immediately recognized when you meet new people or potential customers? Yes? Alright, feel free to click away. No? Well, time to make it recognizable!

The tagline, logo, and other branding content should be consistent throughout. Every social media page, printed material, web page and all else should look the same or at least very similar. Additionally, Hootsuite offers plenty more here: https://blog.hootsuite.com/brand-awareness/

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

February 7, 2023February 7, 2023

Give Us Your Marketing Problems

Give us your marketing problems. Yep, you heard that right. We want your marketing problems. Bold…but true. We have the tools, experience, and resources to fix your problems.

Give us Your Marketing Problems. We have the tools to fix them.

In the Beginning

When we started this venture together, we identified a host of issues that both of us have ran across over the years we have been in business. I will not say we’ve seen it all. However, we have definitely seen our fair share of problems in the creative/marketing world. Everything from web designers bailing on their clients never to be heard of again, to improperly designed logos, to incorrect photo files delivered to customers.

Additionally, we’ve seen a whole range of other issues in between. Too many times creatives simply just take the money. Then, they create sub par products and disappear or never correct the problems. This is unprofessional and irritating to the clients that have come to us with these issues. Likewise, it also annoys the hell out of us too. It’s a black eye on the industry.

Not Everyone

Firstly, let me also say that this is not completely across the board. There are amazing graphic designers, photographers, and web creatives out there that do top notch artwork. They understand also that they need to give clients the highest quality of work and service. We love meeting these people! If you are reading this and feel like you are a highly creative, responsive, and a responsible professional in one of these fields…drop us a line. We’d be excited to chat with you and see how we could work together.

Sorry If This Has Happened to You

Above all, if you are a business owner that has fell into one of these traps…we are sorry. We’ll make the apology on their behalf. If you spent way too much money on something that didn’t work or didn’t work very well, again, we are sorry. We are also here to help find the solution.

Ever Have Any of The Following Problems?

Is your website outdated or not designed to your liking? Does your social media content lack an impactful message? Do you only have web sized files that a photographer delivered to you and are unable to use any images for print? Are the photos not very well focused or even eye catching? Is your logo pixelating and distorting when you try to add it to a larger sign, or even on the web? Did the person who made your website make it and then never return calls or emails? Not sure what to do with your business social media pages, or how to operate them to maximum efficiency? Was the cost associated with any of your marketing efforts beyond what you wanted to spend? Need a way to get customers to see what your product or service is REALLY all about? Don’t feel that the marketing company you used in the past completely understood your industry and business?

If you answered yes to any of the above or similar questions give us a call. We’d love to help with a free consultation.

We listen. We’ll offer free advice. Next, we’ll dig deep into your business to learn as much as we can about it. After that we act quickly. We are not your typical marketing service. However, we have all the tools and know how to fix your marketing problems!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.

January 11, 2023January 11, 2023

Begin the Year with a BANG!

Begin the Year with a BANG! 2023 is a new year with new challenges which requires some newer ideas to make your business more profitable. If your business is like the countless other small businesses across the country, the last few years may have been difficult. To say the least. No time to sit around. No dillydallying. And definitely no “I’ll do it tomorrows.” Time to kick it into gear and start 2023 off strong!

Get Social

Facebook. LinkedIn. Instagram. Even Tik Tok and Twitter. Yea, that’s right, Twitter. Regardless of all of the politics involving these platforms they can be incredibly beneficial to your business. If you want to begin the year with a bang, and your company is not on social, it’s time to change that. It’s 2023 for crying out loud! Don’t let the idea of not knowing how these channels work scare you into not taking advantage of them.

Many, MANY businesses have been taking advantage of social media for years. In our experience, several even rely solely on social media as their main #1 marketing source. That is to say, social is where they get most, if not all, of their new customers. All in all, most companies can definitely utilize these platforms to their advantage. There are industry specific groups in almost every field you should be sharing information with, or just making connections through. “We don’t think social media is for us.” WRONG! Use it, but use it to its full potential the right way.

Make Rockin’ Videos

Video is still at the top of the mountain for promotion. There’s a ton of different ways to utilize them. So, let’s discuss this. In general video can be used anywhere (other than print marketing) as a great source of marketing. For the most part, almost every marketing expert out in web-land is predicting short video as the go-to marketing resource. Likewise, they may not be wrong.

Short impactful videos can promote your company as, caring, knowledgeable, industry experts, humorous, or just generally fun to work with. So, each one of these traits are helpful in attracting customers. Start a YouTube channel. Create YouTube shorts and do paid promos there. Share short video links through email marketing, social media channels, or even on digital billboards. Make them. Use them. Benefit from those videos.

In short, there are likely other ways you can “Begin the New Year with a BANG” in regards to marketing. These are just a few. So, let us know what you need help with and we’ll make it happen for you and your business!

Analyze. Create. Achieve.