Proliferation

Jul 21
0

Brands and the People Who Are Loyal to Them

By | content marketing | No Comments

You know who they are: the people at your office that will absolutely die if they don’t have the newest Apple product. Your parents who say they’ll always buy a Ford because its an American car. Your friends who hate Marvel movies but love DC movies.Your friends, family and co-workers (and more than likely you as well) are experience brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty is when a consumer will continually buy a particular service or product from one particular company because they believe it is the best fit for them. Great marketing agencies will focus on brand messaging for its clients so that those businesses can gain an audience that sticks around for the foreseeable future.

Jul 17
0

Advertising and Technology – The Battle for Power

By | advertising, content marketing, digital marketing, SEO, Social Media, Utah, web development | No Comments

Written by Ascari Pena

 

In 2017, we are seeing the mass emergence of many different technological platforms such as Virtual Reality (VR), self-driving cars and dominance of non-traditional television platforms such as Netflix and Hulu. With this technology changing how we interact with media, products will emerge and others will fall. Innovation is the name of the game.

Our media consumptions habits are changing daily and large tech companies such as Facebook and Google are having larger pressures from large businesses to deliver higher quality ad-serving platforms. On the opposite side, advertising and marketing agencies are competing for business and trying to drive growth of their clients through SEO and content marketing.

To further prove the shift to digital platforms, digital ad spending overtook TV for the first time ever in 2016; experts say this is due to the Summer Olympics and the Presidential election. Globally, TV is still leading in ad spending. While many in the advertising arena would like to debate which one is more effective, the shift to digital is real and advertisers need to recognize this.

Apps and Ads

Large companies with billions of dollars in an advertising budget such as McDonald’s are now turning straight to social platforms such as Snapchat to assist in the marketing of their brand to allure teens to apply for jobs.

While this is becoming a trend for major corporations, these prominent social platforms are now having to provide scalable advertising analytics for their dollars spent. Scaling the analytics for advertising campaigns has been a thorn in the hide of Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter.

With the freedom of the internet also comes the one percent that ruin it for the rest of us. In March 2017, major brands such as Honda pulled their advertising from YouTube as their ads were appearing on extremist websites and other content they deemed to be inappropriate to their brand.

While these platforms have nearly all the attention, there is demand from users and advertisers to create systems to filter out hate speech and the new trend of ‘fake news’ through development of algorithms.

Traditional Advertisers

While we are consuming media at an all time high, traditional media spenders need to think long and hard about where they are placing their advertising dollars. Unlike previous generations, Millennials and Generation Z’s have no problem tuning out your annoying 30-second spot on TV.

While traditional television advertising works to reach a broad audience, it does not have the granular analytics that digital platforms do. If an advertising agency is to spend on traditional mediums, the creative must be engaging and provide value to the viewer, or they will be tuned out faster than the latest Nickelback album.

When evaluating where to spend your ad dollars, auditing your ad spend and re-strategizing with an advertising agency like Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City, Utah may be your best option.

 

Jul 12
0

The Downfall of Malls and Rising of Digital Commerce

By | advertising, content marketing, SEO, Social Media, Utah, web development | No Comments

Written by Ascari Pena

 

In 2017, various businesses are either rising or crashing. Right now, we are seeing the beginning of the end for malls. Studies have shown that in 2021, 25 percent of malls will be closed. With the emerging rise of e-commerce, Americans are starting to ditch large retailers like Macy’s, JC Penney’s and Sears for digital companies such as Amazon. To understand this downfall, let’s look at the past, present and future of the American consumer.

Digital marketing companies have predicted this downward trend occurring over the past 15 years and are beginning to capitalize on their correct predictions of the fall of the American mall lifestyle. With marketing firms targeting consumers with extremely competitive pricing of products and the inconvenience of driving to a mall and walking, malls will become obsolete. Property management companies must begin to restructure their business model to deliver further value.

Past

To give a bit of a history lesson, let’s step back in time a bit. In 1956, the very first indoor shopping mall called Southdale opened outside Minneapolis. After the exploding popularity of malls, there was a large retail boom in the United States.

In 1960, there were 4,500 malls that made up 14% of retail sales. In 1987, there were 30,000 malls accounting for over 50% of all retail dollars spent. Malls were the emerging destination for commerce, hanging out and community gathering events.

Malls were the place to be and quickly became a staple in the American lifestyle.

Present

Since 2006, no new indoor malls have been built. This is around the time that online commerce began to emerge. Digital marketing companies have taken notice of this and capitalized on the shift of attention from malls to iPhones. Since 2004, the net sales revenue of Amazon has risen from 6.92 billion to nearly 136 billion dollars.

This is now where our eyeballs and dollars have all shifted to. With less hassle and lower prices, the incentive of going to the mall for relaxation or socializing has become a thing of the past.

Future

In the age of embarrassing viral videos of people stomping over each other at Walmart over a discounted TV on Black Friday, the experience of shopping amongst other American consumers is increasingly negative. If malls are not providing a product or event that requires in person attendance, they will fail.

Marketing firms that represent these properties are looking at new avenues of either providing further value to American consumers to re-attract them, or re-purposing these structures to self-storage, doctor’s offices or apartment structures.

 

Sources:
http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7196

https://www.statista.com/statistics/266282/annual-net-revenue-of-amazoncom/

 

Jul 11
0

Less is More, Right?

By | advertising, content marketing, digital marketing, SEO, Social Media, Utah, web development | No Comments

Written by Ascari Pena

 

When it comes to advertising or marketing agencies, they come in all different shapes and sizes. Agencies can range anywhere from 10 to 1,000 people, and serve many different functions. As eyeballs continue to shift every single day, companies with large marketing budgets are trying to figure out the best ways to target the right people, spend dollars in the right places and ensure effectiveness in their messaging.

The debate of size in regard to an advertising agency is definitely a conversation to be had. Here are just a few differences to keep in mind when deciding to outsource your content marketing, SEO or video production to an advertising agency.

Contact With the ‘Head Honcho’

If you were to hire an agency that employs 500+ people, what are the odds you will be dealing directly with the CEO? Slim to none. If you are to work at an agency with under 50 people, the odds are much higher that you will work with the shot caller. When managing millions of marketing dollars, there needs to be streamlined communications to ensure tasks are completed effectively. The path of least resistance is the best route to travel.

The Workplace

With many companies that we see today, the ‘growing pains’ can sometimes be too much to handle. With a smaller agency, the vision and mission are able to be maintained with much less effort. Keeping an equal workplace mindset is crucial to the quality of the work produced for its clients. A loss in workplace continuity can cause headaches for everyone.

Attention to Your Work

At a larger agency, work can fall by the wayside very easily; a smaller agency overvalues its clients as each one is extremely vital to the company. Your marketing dollars are the lifeblood of your company, and the last thing needed is for your company to fall lower on the priority list because of your budget.

Agencies are ensuring the success of your marketing dollars on an everyday basis. As these agencies are analyzing the daily shifts in attention, marketing dollars need to be spent as efficiently as possible. When choosing an agency for your business, consider that bigger doesn’t mean better and agencies are not ‘one size fits all.’

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/05/30/gen-z-hates-tv-and-what-that-means-for-traditional-advertising/#4934587a32ed

May 20
0

How to Make Your Video Ads More Successful

By | advertising, content marketing, digital marketing, SEO, Utah, web development | No Comments

 

If research and statistics are right, then you’re probably not going to read this entire article.

If people are looking for in-depth insight on any given subject, people now more than ever will turn to videos to get information. Marketing agencies that are worth their salt know that people turn more to videos for content than anywhere else. But how do you make your online video ads stand out in a crowded field of cat videos, how do you make your multimedia presence stand out?

Here are some of our personal tips:

Tip #1 Produce “How to” Videos

In 2015, “how to” video searches grew by 30 percent, which means that people are in a hurry to figure out stuff, and they need someone to walk them through how to do something step by step. “How to” videos are only increasing in popularity, and the more unique your “how to” topic is, the more views you’re likely to get.

So, for example, “How to change a flat tire” won’t get that many hits, being as there are literally thousands of those videos already. But a “how to fix a foosball table” video will get much more of an audience for you, even if that audience is smaller than the “fix a tire” group.

Tip #2 Make Testimonial Videos

In the age of Yelp and Rotten Tomatoes, people are more likely to look at reviews for your brand well before they even come close to buying your product. Marketing agencies have figured this out, so for their clients who sell products or services, they’ll make testimonial videos that prove to consumers that what they’re product or service is better than everyone else’s.

Tip #3 Find the “Sweet Spot” for Video Length

Marketing agencies that produce videos for their clients know that the best video ad length (according to Google) is no longer than three minutes. Within 45 seconds, people will know if they’re interested in the video they’re watching. There are some videos that can be longer than 3 minutes on Youtube that still deliver incredible results, but those exceptions are rare, and your video has to be incredibly engaging to pull something like that off.

May 02
0

Three Great Ways to Make Your Content Posting Less Boring

By | content marketing, digital marketing, Utah | No Comments

No matter what you’re selling, content marketing has become a crowded industry. It’s crowded because marketing agencies see the great benefits of getting brands out to new audiences. Unfortunately, that has led to a lot of content marketing that is being pushed out in boring and dull ways.

Luckily, we know a thing or two about making producing, publishing and promoting good content (because we kind of do it every day), so here are some tips to making content promotion a little less boring.

Tip #1: A Picture Is Worth More Than 1,000 words

Time after time, social sites such as Facebook and Twitter have shown that marketing agencies that utilize images with their content will get better engagement among users than content without images. The reason is pretty simple: reading’s boring. Ok, not boring, but an image that utilizes a powerful and well-written headline can make user entranced with your post, and they won’t hesitate on clicking on your content.

Speaking of well-written headlines…

Tip #2: Master the Art of a Headline

Writers tend to not give too much thought to what their headlines should be because they’re focusing on writing great content. But if you want your content to be seen, you better spend a good amount of time coming up with a great headline too.

They’re difficult to come up with, because headlines have to wear multiple hats. They have to be intriguing while not looking like click bait, and they have to make your content seem unique or worth reading. It’s a tricky thing to master (some marketing agencies still don’t know how to make great headlines), but once you do, you’ll see your content shares go up.

Tip #3: Be Unique

When making content, you shouldn’t think about producing something you’ve already seen before. Try and come up with content and ideas that are out of the box. Writing more unique content will in turn give you more unique visitors to your website, and you’ll get audiences of all types flocking to your social media sites to see what’s the next best original piece you’ve written.

Oct 28
0

Bringing Your Big Bad Brand to Social Media

By | content marketing, Social Media | No Comments

You’ve done it — you’ve branded yourself as the coolest cat on the block. You’ve got a product that will fly off the shelves. You know your target. Now you’ve just got to do the easy stuff, and bring it all to social media.

Not so fast, cowboy. Transferring your brand to social media successfully isn’t nearly as easy as it sounds. Something that used to be the job you’d pass off to the intern now has entire branches of content marketing companies devoted to it. Your social media not only needs to be engaging, but it has to encompass that brand in its entirety.

Find the Right Outlet

When starting social media you may be tempted to join every social media outlet. But before hopping on everything right down to the Tinder train, ask yourself, “Will I reach my target demographic in an effective way through these efforts?”

Facebook consistently has the best reach, though platforms like Instagram reach a younger demographic. Follow in the footsteps of the great content marketing companies and do your research before diving all in.

Provide Sharable Content

Social media is one of the few channels where you can have paid, earned, shared and owned media all in one place. Try saying that five times fast. To grow your brand, you need to extend your reach with genuinely interesting and engaging content. It’s imperative to make something your consumer will want to read and share your work — so they can come across as cool cats as well.

Tie It Together With “The Look”

The power of displaying your brand visually is unmatched, just ask employees of content marketing companies. Bring consistency to all your channels by using the same theme and images across all platforms. In doing so, your audience will begin to recognize you and identify with your content.

Make social media great again, be the brand you were born to be through all mediums.

Oct 19
0

How Fusion 360 Is Like Eleven on Stranger Things

By | content marketing | No Comments

We all fell in love with the buzzed hair, pink dress wearing, Eggo waffle eating little girl that is our sweet Jane Ives, a.k.a. Eleven in “Stranger Things.” In a parallel universe we like to believe that we’d be the Eleven. Most of us can’t claim that we were born to a mother and tested for incredible psychic abilities. However, we are one of the few content marketing companies that can connect with El on a deeper level.

We’ve Got Great Taste in Music

As we flashed back in “Stranger Things” time to the spunky sounds of the 80s tickled our eardrums. We felt a deep connection with the vibes that little El was putting out. “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” more like the soundtrack to our SEO.

Sensory Deprivation? We Have the Next Best Thing

Eleven skillfully uses a sensory deprivation tank to observe people in other locations. While we praise the creativity behind turning a pool into a tank, as many content marketing companies claim, we have the skills to reach people far from us. Through our skilled analytic technology, we know the words to use and the websites that need help — blacked out goggles not necessary.

Like Eleven, We Love Eggos

What are content marketing companies without the kitchenette full of snacks? El took on grocery store employees to get her hands on a few boxes of frozen waffles. Just the other day we took on an entire Costco to fill our kitchen with brain food to feed our creative team.

We Take Down Monsters, Too

El took down the metaphorical monster that was Mike’s bully Troy. Following that action she took down the monster from the upside down with nothing more than her telekinesis. We are proud to say we can take down the metaphorical monster that is the workload we’re faced with each week.

As for our telekinetic superpowers, some things are better left off the internet.

Oct 12
0

Signs That You Work in Content Marketing

By | content marketing | No Comments

Every job has its tell tale signs. Lawyers wear suits and carry brief cases, doctors dress in lab coats and have messy handwriting. Regardless of your profession, your family and friends make jokes about the stereotypical habits, dress and actions associated with your career. For those who work for content marketing companies though, the signs might not be as obvious to the untrained eye.

Content marketing companies employ the creative and out-of-the-box thinkers. While your family and friends may not recognize the signs, the critiques of other’s blog posts and the apt use of hashtags are dead giveaways for fellow content marketing moguls. So, as you walk into work tomorrow, embrace the Chucks on your feet and wear your cat cat pride — because you are part of a unique and powerful marketing force.

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Aug 15
0

7 Content Marketing Trends You Should Know About

By | content marketing | No Comments

At Fusion 360, we pride ourselves with being the leaders in content marketing. From our offices in Utah, we set precedent, make waves and basically make everybody wish that they were as cool as we are. Well, we’ll let you in on a little secret of how you can be: Set trends when you can and follow trends when someone else thought of an awesome idea first.

The year 2016 has set a lot of amazing trends in content marketing. Here are a few top trends that we think you should be aware of and use to produce the most effective content.

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