The Importance of an SSL

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

Unless you’re a web developer, you might not know what an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is or why it’s so important for a website. Marketing companies and their web devs know that SSL’s are a standard but crucial security technology that helps brands establish an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link makes sure that all of the data that is passed between the server and the browser stays private.

An SSL not only benefits marketing companies and their clients, but it helps your visitor’s data remain safe and secure. If your website doesn’t have a trusted SSL running on your servers, you’re putting your consumers at risk. Now that you know the basics of what an SSL is and why it’s important, here are some more in-depth reasons as to how your website will benefit from an SSL.

Website Authentication

When visitors visit your site and see that you have a valid SSL certificate, it proves to them that their connection with your website is secured, which will make them feel safe. There’s nothing sketchier than visiting a website that doesn’t have a secure connection; it makes you feel as if your data is at risk of a breach, oftentimes turning off potential consumers from your site.

Website Integrity

An SSL also ensures that none of the transmitted data is being altered. The SSL on a website uses algorithms that allow parties to verify that any and all information received by the site is complete and intact. From websites to emails, they help protect your personal data online and make browsing the web that much safer.

Confidentiality

Some people might be paranoid about visiting new websites because of the possibilities of a security breach. Most people have everything on their computers, from important documents to their financial information, so they’re right to want to avoid taking any risks, especially if a potential consumer sees that a website connection is not secure.

An SSL will ensure that not a single byte of data that is exchanged between you and the server can be intercepted. This is all thanks to the strong algorithms used for encryption. Strong algorithms that marketing companies can help set up when working on your website.

SSL is essential for websites today, and it is widely used throughout the internet. If you’re still a bit confused about anything that has to do with an SSL, give us a call at Fusion 360. Our talented web development team is ready to help secure your website and ensure your customers’ online security, and when it comes to trustworthy marketing companies, we’re one of the best.

What Software Do Video Producers Use?

By | digital marketing, Utah, video production | No Comments

Video content has come a long way and some of the videos we see today have incredibly beautiful cinematography. Although a good portion of a high-quality video is dependent on the camera you use, many of the video characteristics you see and love are done in the post-production phase. Editing is a crucial aspect of creating video content, even professional video production companies have to edit their footage to make it look as good as possible.

There’s a lot of different editing software out there, but there are a few common ones that most video production companies use. If you are looking for quality video editing software to use yourself, here are some of the best ones.

Adobe Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro is probably the most common video editing software and is known as the “industry standard.” Most video production companies are going to hire individuals who know the ins and outs of Premiere Pro, and bonus points if you know other Adobe programs like After Effects, Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator or InDesign.

Why is Premiere Pro so common? Well, it’s compatible with both Mac and Windows machines and it has the best selection of video editing features. You have unlimited video tracks, 3D editing, 360º VR content and Multicam editing. Not to mention it’s fairly easy to learn, especially if you are familiar with other Adobe programs.

Final Cut Pro X

Final Cut Pro is Apple’s top video editing software. Unfortunately, Final Cut Pro is only compatible on a Mac but if you use a Mac then Final Cut Pro will be your best friend. Because it was created by Apple, it syncs with your iTunes and Photos collection to help you import content. Video production companies love Final Cut Pro for this reason alone.

Some of the best features that Final Cut Pro offers are different effect options, simple ways to add and edit audio, and keyword tag media. Final Cut Pro is a great option for beginners and is very easy to learn. If you are a beginner and don’t want to spend the money on Final Cut Pro, Apple’s iMovie is very similar and free for Mac users.

Adobe After Effects

As popular as Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are, they can’t do everything. Adobe After Effects is a program for creating motion graphics. Once you create a motion graphic in After Effects, you can easily import it into Premiere Pro and add it to the rest of your video. Video production companies love to use motion graphics in their videos to display a logo or add some moving text.

By using these video editing software, you can create beautiful videos and really transform your online image. Video production companies like us at Fusion 360 can help you create an incredible video (or videos) to boost your online image and help you stand out amongst your competition. Contact us today to get started!

Are TV and Radio Still Effective?

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

The words “traditional media” are starting to get a bad rap in the marketing and advertising world. Traditional media includes print, TV and radio. There are some marketing companies that think traditional media like TV and radio are old fashioned and not effective in today’s digital world. Although many people spend the majority of their time online or on their mobile devices, traditional forms of media are still widely used. If you are planning a new marketing campaign for your company, here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t throw out traditional marketing efforts.

Still Relevant Platforms

Radio and TV have been around for decades, and are still around even with all the technological advances. There’s a reason they haven’t been replaced yet and that is because they are still used frequently. Many people are still using radio as it is an almost free service (as long as you have a device to listen to it). There’s also the popular trend of podcasts and online radio stations where marketing companies can display radio ads.

TV has and always will be popular with so many individuals watching shows and movies. With online streaming sites like Hulu, advertisements can be displayed on these sites before, in between and after your favorite shows. In addition, many of our favorite TV shows are still broadcast on popular networks like NBC, ABC and Fox. Think about how many TV’s are in your own house. People still rely on TV stations to get their news and weather updates. By choosing to advertise on TV and Radio, you are still reaching a pretty wide audience and, depending on your campaign and target audience, you can outperform some of your digital marketing efforts.

Major Brands Still Use Radio and TV to Advertise

If you are watching TV, you will notice that a lot of the ads you see are from big companies like Apple, McDonald’s, Google and Microsoft. If these big brands are having success using traditional forms of advertising, then you will too. TV is one of the best ways to advertise, and you are making a mistake if you think that it won’t be effective for your brand. Radio and TV have the power to introduce people to a new brand or product. Chances are if someone sees your ad on TV or hears about it on the radio, they will have their phone or computer next to them to do some research on your product.

Traditional Media Pairs Well with Digital Marketing

Many marketing companies believe that traditional forms of advertising do best when paired with online efforts. Social media and other online platforms actually have the ability to boost TV and radio results. You can create a marketing campaign that covers many different platforms and mediums and they will all support one another. The most successful campaigns are the ones that are spread across different mediums.

One great example of this is Apple. When they come out with a new product, they create billboards, TV ads, web ads and even social media ads to get people aware and hyped about their product. They spread their new product across multiple platforms, getting the most awareness and leading more people back to their website or other online spaces.

Don’t get too caught up in the digital side of marketing. Although it is successful and leads to quick results, there is still a lot of good that can come from TV and radio. There’s a reason that traditional media is still in play, and that’s because it’s effective. If your company is in need of a traditional advertisement or even digital help, marketing companies like ours, Fusion 360, can help create an ad that perfectly captures your brand.

Three Ways to Set Your Brand Apart

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

One of the biggest challenges that marketing companies face today is standing out from their competition. In a world where thousands of brands are trying to set themselves apart as a unique business, it can be hard to find a niche that isn’t already being explored and marketed, but we have a few tips that will help.

Setting your brand apart from the competition is a key part of building a successful brand. While there is an overwhelming amount of competition across the board, there are still methods of separating yourself from said competition and becoming a leader in your industry. Here are just three examples of efficient ways to set your brand apart.

Clearly Develop the Voice of Your Brand

Something that marketing companies focus on most when doing work for their clients is developing a clear voice for the brand. Today, companies might be in such a rush to get their name out there that they might be ignoring one of the most important aspects of a successful business: a clear voice. Developing a clear, consistent voice will help you target your audience efficiently through well thought-out content, and you’ll be able to really let potential clients know what your brand is all about.

When first finding your voice, analyze your psychographics and demographics to determine what kind of voice your current customer base will respond positively too. Of course, still add your own personal flair to the brand, but take inspiration from your audience’s interests as well.

Make Your Brand Personal on All Aspects

Aside from developing a clear and concise voice, your brand should also have a strong, visual presence. A good example of this can come from something as simple as an email address or a URL. For example, if your company is using a Gmail, AOL or yahoo email address, you might not get as much business as a brand who has a personal email address. People tend to look for professional presentation when shopping around for a brand, and marketing companies will tell you that if you have a personal email address and a professional URL, you’ll almost always beat out someone using a standard email address being hosted by Google or Yahoo.

Show Consistency in Your Services

When potential customers are drawn to your brand, it’s because they see potential and quality in your work. One of the best ways to set your brand apart is by staying consistent with your work in order to maintain that trust with your current consumers, who will in turn recommend you to new potential consumers.

These three tips are going to be some of the most efficient ways to set your brand apart, and if you’re looking to thrive in your respective industry, marketing companies recommend that you do all that you can to be different. If you need help finding your voice, contact us here at Fusion 360 ⎯ we’ll help you not only stand out from the competition, but also help you become the flagship company in your market.

The Benefits of Hiring an Agency

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

When it comes to your brand’s image, you want to show the public what you are about in the best possible way, and the only way to do this is through efficient, on-brand marketing. Sounds simple, right? Just start plastering ads all over the place; spam your social media and bother the living daylights out of people online. Well, it doesn’t quite work like that. There are proper ways to market your brand, and some of the tasks that come with it might be best if left to professional marketing companies.

So, with that being said, here are the benefits of hiring marketing companies like Fusion 360 instead of trying to do everything on your own.

You’ll Save on Salary Expenses

Let’s face it, you can’t just dump all of the marketing tasks on your current employees — they have other things to do and doubling their workload will burn them out. The next option that you may consider is hiring a team to do marketing in-house but that might not be the best idea either. Unless you’re prepared to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, this idea might not work. By hiring a marketing company, you won’t have to pay a yearly salary, all you have to worry about is the contract pricing.

You Get a “Package Deal”

When it comes to marketing companies, you’re paying for a wide array of services that are going to boost your brand’s image. Agencies are usually comprised of content writers, SEO teams, social media experts, graphic designers, web designers and videographers. If you choose to build an in-house team, that’s a lot of salaries you’ll have to cover, and if you want the best of the best, they won’t come cheap.

You’ll Get Top-of-the-Line Tools

Marketing companies don’t mess around when it comes to their client’s success. Hiring a marketing agency will guarantee you the latest tools and technologies in the world of digital media so you can reap the benefits of beautiful content. These tools aren’t cheap; your company will save big on these tools by hiring an agency.

Marketing Companies Don’t Need to be Trained

If your current employees don’t possess the necessary marketing skills to successfully market your brand, you’re going to spend a lot of time and money as you experiment with your own marketing ideas. Instead, just hire a marketing agency ⎯ they require no training, which means you can get to marketing your brand sooner.

You’ll Benefit from an Outside Perspective

Lastly, by hiring a marketing company, you’re going to benefit from an outside perspective on current techniques, style and branding. By bringing in a marketing agency, they can help you brainstorm new ideas and provide their input on what you can do to improve your brand.

There are so many benefits that come with hiring marketing companies rather than trying to do everything yourself. If you’re in need of a marketing agency to help build your brand, contact us here at Fusion 360.

Reasons to Embrace Video Marketing

By | advertising, marketing | No Comments

You want the best for your business and you want to make the most out of the tools technology has given you to market with. So, you hire an advertising agency to help you come up with best content for you brand. One important thing that they will help your brand do is to come up with video content to drive sales. Video marketing is a vital part of your brand and will benefit your company in countless ways.

Customers Love Videos 

Try to think about how many videos you’ve watched today. From snapchat to Instagram alone, the number could be in the hundreds. With the technology available to everyone, posting and engaging in video content is simplistic in everyday life. Videos create engagement, which is why customers love them so much. They are a great tool of influence and content marketing companies know how to push them out for your brand.

Connection

Videos create a connection with your customers that other content does not quite match. Videos are a way in which you can connect to your customers without seeing them face to face. Customers are able to view your videos and see your products in a similar viewing to what they would see in person. The connection made with videos is has a big influence in customer decision making.

The Drive 

The ultimate goal of video content is to drive more traffic to your site. Those who work with SEO in Utah know that videos are a great way to optimize your reach online. When people visit your site, Google pays attention to how long they stay on the page. Having video content on your website will keep people engaged for a longer period and help your Google standing. This means that when sites are searched on google, yours has a better chance of being found.

 

Sources:

https://tarproductions.com/10-reasons-all-small-businesses-need-video-marketing/

https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2017/07/5-reasons-use-video-marketing-drive-sales/

Top 5 Brand Building Strategies

By | advertising, marketing, SEO | No Comments

Brand building is the process of generating awareness of your brand through marketing strategies and tactics, such as SEO. Despite what some people think, building a brand requires a lot more than communication and exposure. Brand building encompasses everything that consumers know, feel and experience with regard to your business.

Whether you have a marketing team or work with an advertising agency based in Utah, these five brand building strategies will help your brand grow.

Define

The first thing you need to do, and the most critical step, is to define your brand. Create a checklist of your company’s greatest strengths. When writing or posting content, go through this checklist and make sure that your writing reflects your company’s strengths. By reflecting your company’s strengths in your writing, consumers will be able to clearly identify and define your brand.

Your brand values are also an important aspect in defining your brand. Show consumers that you care about the environment and society by supporting local and national organizations. Depending on the industry you’re in, you could even vow to use as much recycled material as possible or conserve energy and water.

Differentiate and Position

If you want your brand to stick out, you need to differentiate and position your brand. Why should consumers buy your product? How is your product better than competitors? Pinpoint the unique advantage that your product has and use that to position your brand in a way that helps customers see why your brand is better than the competitors’.

One of the main duties performed by marketing firms is helping brands differentiate and position their products. If you don’t show consumers how and why your product is unique, how can you expect them to buy it?

Build

Building your brand takes time and consistency. Create a voice for your brand using blogs, forums and social media sites. By creating a voice for your brand and consistently posting content, you will help your brand grow because people will start to recognize your brand.

Another important aspect of brand building is developing a brand personality. Your brand personality affects how consumers think and what they say about your brand. This is what drives people to identify with your brand.

Personalize

Give your brand an identity. Engage with consumers and let them see and experience your brand’s personality. Create a brand that consumers want to identify with and provide them with the opportunity to co-create the values of your brand. This will help consumers feel like a part of the brand and give them a reason to engage with your brand.

Review

Marketing agencies constantly review their client’s brands and how well they’re doing. The fact is that brands have their ups and downs. Sometimes, brand strategies will work well and your company will benefit from it, and other times they fall short. Don’t become discouraged if your strategies don’t seem to be working; look for new opportunities and ways that you can improve.

Like any good advertising agency, consistently review your brand and find out what’s working. Make sure that you have clearly defined your brand, as well as differentiated and positioned it in comparison to others. Over time and through consistency, your company will grow and your identity will become clearer to consumers.

Sources:

http://www.coxblue.com/5-effective-brand-building-strategies-to-attract-customers-2/

http://www.brandanew.co/top-five-branding-strategies-used-big-players/

The Top Challenges in Marketing

By | SEO | No Comments

Inbound marketing is an innovative way of reaching consumers. Instead of attempting to appeal to everyone, it focuses on those consumers who will find the product relevant and necessary to their own lives. Some of the more popular forms of this marketing style are blogs, social media and web searches. Marketing companies are beginning to become more creative than ever as they examine the industry and brainstorm ways to combat complications.

In a survey of 4,500 marketing and sales professionals, HubSpot asked about inbound marketing. Here is what they said regarding the challenges in marketing and what they plan to do to face them.

Is the Tech Industry Becoming Too Big?

By | advertising, digital marketing, marketing | No Comments

Written by Ascari Pena

 

Microsoft is beginning to cut back their sales and marketing teams, which allows us to ponder as technology becomes integrated into our daily lives. In 2014, nearly 17 million workers were employed in the high-tech sector. While this number continues to skyrocket, many other sectors are either being eliminated or restructured.

As an advertising agency in Utah, we are seeing an incredible boom here in the Silicon Slopes with jobs and economic growth.

Advantages of the Tech Boom

As technologies such as self-driving cars, virtual reality and fully automated online retailers such as Amazon, there is no stop to what technology companies are going to innovate. Technology also brings alignment to the consumer, allowing them to have a much more informed purchase cycle.

For example, before smart phones, the average consumer would visit around ten car dealerships to “kick the tires” and see pricing options. Now, the average buyers visit around two dealerships because of the help of online information and resources.Technology also allows the consumer to be smarter with each dollar they spend.

A perfect example is ride-share programs. The taxi business has never been centered around the customer experience, with rude drivers and ridiculous pricing to make for a pretty unpleasant experience. From here, comes Lyft and Uber, offering a much more customer friendly experience at a much better price. Now, taxis are struggling to survive — for better or worse.

Disadvantages of The Tech Boom

While technology is great, it has come with unfavorable conditions for some. Billions of dollars are being lost in traditional mediums such as television and print advertising. With everyone ditching anything even remotely related to the word ‘traditional’, businesses are folding. Traditional television advertising, shopping malls, travel agencies, newspapers and book stores are all having to change their models drastically to keep up with the demands of a 2017 consumer.

At Fusion 360 Agency, we understand where the eyeballs are at. We know that traditional models are dying and we are the pros of digital sustenance — from content marketing to SEO. Our combination of services have allowed us to build something great, and we’re happy to see innovation as a result.