Tag Archive for: marketing agency

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How to Know if It’s Time to Delegate Your Marketing to an Agency

We are a marketing agency, so of course we’re going to tell you that marketing your business is important. Unless you are offering the world’s most fantastic product or service, have no competition whatsoever and don’t care to improve performance or profits, marketing should be a priority. But as a business owner you may not have the skills, knowledge or know-how (or interest) to execute marketing strategies that work. It is important to understand when it is time to delegate any aspect of your business for the overall good, and marketing is usually one of the first areas to be handed over to professionals. Not sure if it’s time you left your business’s marketing to the pros? Here’s are some signs.

  1. Your Facebook Business Page Header hasn’t been updated all year

If your Facebook Business Page headers hasn’t been updated in months, if it contains pixelated or cropped images, or is some cheesy stock photo that doesn’t represent your business or brand, it’s a sign you are not using Facebook to its fullest potential. All of this is assuming you have a Facebook Business Page, and if you don’t, stop reading right now and hand over the marketing reigns to a professional this second. Facebook is an excellent portal for potential customers to get to know your brand, and your Facebook header is an opportunity to let them know what is new and exciting with your company, or to explore what it is that you stand for.

  1. Your last Blog Post was in 2011

If you can get past how silly the word ‘Blog’ sounds and get to the underlying function of a Blog, you will see the importance of it and hopefully stop neglecting this crucial part of your website. A Blog is a way to introduce fresh content to your website; search engines like this. Blogging about topics, products and industry news and events can help your business or brand gain authority, can provide value to your customers, and will provide you with more opportunities to be found on search engines. Don’t be that business that blogs once a year and then gives up. A regular and engaging Blog is an important part of every businesses content marketing strategy.

  1. You don’t have an Instagram Account

We know that the world of social media can be overwhelming, and that it’s hard to stay on the bleeding edge of every new social channel and update online. Instagram is now mainstream, and if your business is not using it yet, you are getting well left behind. We can’t think of too many businesses that wouldn’t benefit from an Instagram account. The visually appealing content is a great tool for story-telling and building brand awareness, and is the place to reach the millennial demographic. We get it if you’re scared of adopting new social channels into the mix, let us do it for you.

  1. Your website doesn’t display on mobile phones

Have you recently had someone tell you that your website doesn’t display well on mobile phones? Check yours right now, is it clear and easy to navigate from your mobile? If the answer is no, your website is not responsive, and you are potentially missing out on over half of web visitors because of this flaw. Mobile browsing minutes accounted for 70 percent of all browsing minutes in 2016. Websites should now be designed mobile-first, meaning appealing to mobile users before desktop users because mobile devices are what people are using to browse and buy online these days.

  1. You have no idea what SEO stands for

Do the acronyms SEO, SEM and SMM baffle your mind? If you don’t know what the all-important SEO stands for, it’s time for you to step aside and let the professionals handle your marketing. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Essentially it is how people find your business online (for an in-depth explanation, see here). This is such an important thing for the success and longevity of your business we cannot even begin to explain. Without SEO you do not exist to pretty much everyone on the internet. Period.

  1. You rather do just about everything else but work on your marketing

If you’re not jumping out of bed jazzed about marketing, you likely aren’t giving it the energy and attention that it requires. And why should you? You are running a business and probably have a lot on your plate. A good business owner knows when it’s time to part ways with different aspects of the business. If taking your dog out for a pee in the morning is more exciting than checking your web analytics, it’s time to delegate to an agency.

Lucky for you there are people that dream about digital design, study social media engagement and obsess about SEO. Here at Cloud9 Marketing we get our kicks from helping business like yours kill it online with tailored results-driven marketing strategies that get noticed. Can we help take your businesses marketing efforts to the next level? Schedule a one-hour free consultation and let’s chat.

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How Agencies Deal with Competing Clients

As a marketing agency in Whistler, BC we are commonly asked how we manage competing clients in an unbiased and equitable way. Although we represent clients from around the world, the bread and butter of our clients are local businesses here in Whistler. Due to the resort town nature of the community, the main industries that require digital marketing support are tourism and hospitality, retail and real estate. As you can imagine, because of the limited number of industries in Whistler that require marketing support, many of our clients compete, either directly or indirectly with one another. Here we hope to address the issue of representing competing clients, and how we ensure integrity and professionalism when doing so.

Individualized Strategy

As I’m sure you can appreciate, no two businesses are the same. Even a real estate agent operating in a competitive marketplace targeting the same clients has unique selling points and competitive advantages that differ from their competition. Our job as a marketing agency is to focus on these distinct competitive advantages and create an online marketing strategy that is in alignment with your business’ goals and objectives. In short, no matter how similar two businesses may be, each online marketing strategy is comprised of a different marketing mix and each business differs from its competition giving us the marketing juice needed to create a customized strategy and online presence.

Your success = Our success

As a marketing agency our business thrives on creating happy clients. This is intensified due to the size of the community, the nature of online marketing and our competitive business space. Whistler is a small tight-knit community and this makes it absolutely essential to keep clients happy. In small communities there is no anonymity; people talk and a business’s reputation is everything. Ensuring our clients are kept happy by implementing results driven digital marketing strategies is crucial to Cloud9’s success.

As a digital marketing agency our space is online. This means our work is out there on the internet for anyone to see, interpret and critique. Being exposed in this way is another reason why it is in our best interest to ensure our clients succeed. Your successful presence online is a testament to our capability as online marketers. Having clients with thriving online marketing strategies is simply good business for us.

The competitive nature of our industry is another reason we need to do everything we can for our client’s success. Since we don’t lock our clients into contracts, we need to continuously deliver on our promises or face losing clients. We are not only competing with marketing agencies in Whistler but with hundreds of thousands of agencies around the world. It is our priority to ensure our clients see the benefits in choosing us right away to keep long term clients.

Industry Experts

An advance of representing clients in the same industry is our knowledge and expertise in that industry which ultimately benefits clients. Due to the homogeneity of Whistler’s main industries we have become resident experts in the local tourism, hospitality and real estate industry. We are constantly staying on the pulse of trends, events, statistics and news allowing us to stay relevant and informative to your target market. Although the message you communicate to your audience may be different from your competition, the core industry trends and information is likely the same, and our understanding of your industry is an important asset.

Ethics and Best Practices

Finally good old fashioned ethics and best practices are flag posts that ensure we always have your best interest at heart. Delivering an honest, authentic and transparent service are values we stand by and our values drive what we do every day. Striving for your success is our number one priority. We want to make you happy, we want your business to succeed and we want to create a long-term and rewarding relationship with you – these are the things that get us out of bed in the morning!

If you’ve ever been concerned about how agencies deal with competing clients hopefully your fears have now been abated. Although we can’t speak for all digital marketing agencies, the words published above are our truth and are part of the reason why we’re a growing and thriving marketing agency in Whistler, with a base of long term loyal clients whose businesses we are strongly passionate about.

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How A Social Media Professional Will Improve Your Brands Reputation Online

Hiring a professional to manage your brands social media has immense benefits. With over 3 billion internet users around the world a social media professional could be your ticket to having your business seen and heard online.

If you’re familiar with social media, you may wonder why it’s best to outsource this part of your business to a professional. Even business owners who are confident and fluent with social media could probably make better use their time in other areas of the business. Agree? What may appear simple on the surface, the complexities of social media become quickly apparent when you begin to target your efforts and measure your results. Social media professionals can help grow your business online and improve your brands reputation. Here are the benefits of out-sourcing your social media to professionals.

Strategy

The most important tool for creating a successful social media presence is having a rock solid strategy. A social media professional will work with you to establish goals and objectives that will create the direction of your strategy. A social media presence without a strategy is like a train without a track. You’re moving, mostly forward, but are you actually getting to where you want to go?

A social media strategy will assess and define primary and secondary target markets which will determine the most appropriate social media channels to use. Once it’s clear what channels will be used a detailed posting calendar can be scheduled. Social Media professionals will use tools such as Hootsuite or Sprout Social to plan posts in advance. This avoids wasting time daily trying to figure out content. Spontaneous posting gets some of the best engagement and is important alongside scheduled posts.

A strong social media strategy is one that evaluates objectives, market research, channel coverage, hash tag strategies, target market, social media scheduling and engagement tactics.

Engagement

Social Media is much more then posting a few comments and pictures. A successful social media presence involves constantly building, networking and growing channels. It involves sharing meaningful information that helps your target market solve their problems and it includes sharing catchy, relevant and trending images, text and videos.

Being successful online involves a two-way exchange. A small portion of the content should be broadcasts of special deals, offers and events, but a majority of the posts should be about providing useful information to your fans and followers. Creating conversations around topics with fans and followers as well as industry and key influencers maximizes engagement.

Varied Skill Set

Social Media professionals have a varied skill set and can use graphic design, copy-writing and SEM skills to enhance your image online. Having appealing photos and videos, with catchy and concise copy that is delivered at the right time is key to increasing engagement. The importance of a varied skill set is often overlooked when business owners try to manage their own social accounts, or delegate them to front-line staff. Customers know a professional social media presence when they see it.

Reporting Metrics

Analyzing social media metrics is essential for determining if the goals and objectives set out in the strategy are being met. Metrics also provide insight on what’s working well, and what’s not working enabling a shift in strategy if necessary. Important metrics that your Social Media professional will monitor include Fan/Follower Growth, Impressions, Reach, Engagement, and Demographic Information.

With over 1.19b monthly active users on Facebook, 271m monthly active users on Twitter and 396m members on LinkedIn social media is the best vehicle to connect your business with current and prospective customers. As the online marketplace becomes increasingly competitive and complex across industries, having a professional manage your social media is more important than ever.

Cloud9 Marketing in Whistler, BC has Social Media professionals who provide results-driven strategies for a diverse range of clientele.  If you are ready to get serious about social media contact Cloud9 today.

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Why Hiring a Marketing Agency Will Rock Your World

Marketing is fun in the beginning. It’s all about ideas and vision and finding incredible ways to get your product or service out to the world. This is why so many businesses undertake this momentous task themselves. What businesses fail to realize in the honeymoon stages of a marketing plan, is how much work is actually involved, and how hard it is to stay focused. Once the ink has dried and the glow of a new idea begins to fade it’s easy to abandon ship, switch direction and never achieve anything worthwhile in the end. Marketing is an essential function for any successful business and hiring a marketing agency is the best strategy to reach your goals – here’s why…

Lightning Pace of Trends and Technology

Technology and trends are moving so fast that by the time you’ve familiarized yourself with the latest SEO tactics Google’s algorithms have changed once again. As a business owner, or with an internal marketing department, it can be hard staying abreast of the latest technologies and trends. There is just too much other work to distract. Marketing Agencies live and breathe change and innovation, it’s what sets them apart from their competition. It is a blatant waste of time for business owners to stay on the bleeding edge of innovation – of course having an idea of what is happening in your industry and how technology is changing is important – but staying on the pulse of everything new and trendy is best left to professional marketers.

Agency Wide Skill Sets

Marketing Agencies are often collectives of highly skilled strategists, brand specialists, web and graphic designers, copy-writers and bloggers, and social media managers. Business owners and internal marketing departments very rarely have the same extensive skill sets as agencies. When out-sourcing to a Marketing Agency you can leverage all of the skills and experience in that particular agency. This is great for long term marketing plans as well as one off projects. Not only can Marketing Agencies cover a broad range of projects they can do so with trained expertise.

In it for the Long Haul

Persistence is the key to any marketing plan’s success. Results cannot be expected over night. Marketing Agencies have experience executing marketing plans. They know that taking small consistent steps in the direction of your goals and vision are key to long term success. Too often when businesses execute their own marketing plans they get impatient if results aren’t immediate. Marketing agencies have the skills and experience to execute marketing plans but also have the understanding to step back, re-evaluate and shift focus if necessary.

It’s Cheaper

When you look at the hourly rate of a Marketing Agency or the cost of a one off project you might gasp. Although the hourly rate may appear more than the hourly rate of an internal marketing coordinator or manager, when you look a little harder you will find out-sourcing is a lot more affordable. When hiring a staff member internally there are many fixed costs that you may fail to consider. Taxes, vacation and sick pay, CPP contributions and health benefits can be as much as the base salary. Considering recruitment, training and human resource issues the costs of an internal marketing department can escalate very quickly. When you hire a Marketing Agency you are generally not doing so on a 40 hour per week basis. An Agency may be able to do the same amount of work as an internal team in a fraction of the time.

Finally, licenses and software programs to support marketing efforts can be costly and time consuming. Marketing Agencies generally have licenses to all the required software already, and may pass on a nominal charge for you to use them. This saves businesses the stress of training staff on various software programs plus the ongoing cost to upgrade and update the programs.

Outsourcing to Marketing Agencies is becoming more common as today’s marketing environment becomes more complex. Here at Cloud9 Marketing in Whistler, BC we operate as a marketing collective with a team of freelance web designers, graphic designers, social media coordinators, photographers, strategists and bloggers. When we receive a project from a client we have a full team of experts on-hand to get the job done quickly and professionally, using the latest tactics and technology. As many business owners strive for a better work/life balance, out-sourcing is becoming an essential way to achieve this lifestyle. Let Cloud9 Marketing rock your world by turning your marketing dream into a reality.

 

 

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