The key to effective marketing lies in identifying your ideal customer. Once you put together a clear picture of your target audience, you can begin to create compelling, personalized messages directed toward them. This targeted approach further allows you to engage your audience and convert impressions into sales.

Building a relationship with your audience becomes much more manageable once you know who your audience truly is. This clarity will help you allocate your resources more efficiently, reducing wasteful expenses and maximizing your return on investment. Each impression gains more value when your messages reach the right people, leading to higher conversion rates and a stronger marketing strategy.

Aligning Your Audience with Company Objectives

During this process of discovering your audience, it's important to position your target audience in line with your company's objectives. Consider what your company aims to achieve in both the short and long term--whether it's increasing brand awareness, driving sales or improving customer retention. Your objectives should help dictate who your audience will be. Subject to your company's aspirations, targeting different demographics may be more or less beneficial to your campaign.

Analyzing Your Current Consumer Base

Analyzing your current consumer base can offer a solid foundation when it comes to refining your marketing approach. When examining your active audience, look for patterns or commonalities in demographics such as age, gender, location, and purchasing behavior. Understanding who already engages with your business can provide insights into who your most loyal and profitable customers will be, and strategize around them accordingly.

Research

Beyond analyzing your existing customers, it's crucial to explore new opportunities for growth. Conducting surveys and focus groups can help gauge and track interest from new demographics. Staying keen on market trends and competitor strategies can help identify gaps in the market where your company can fill an unmet need in your industry. This proactive approach ensures that you're not just focused on customer retention but seeking expansion in potentially lucrative market segments.

Segmentation

When it's time to segment your audience and plan your marketing strategy, a common tactic is to create fictional 'buyer personas' while you're brainstorming. These fake personas help personify different audience groups based on factors like their interests, behaviors, age range, or gender group. From here, you can start tailoring your messaging around these personas to speak directly to the needs and desires of each of your segmented groups. 

To gauge the effectiveness of your campaign after implementation, it's important to monitor the performance through analytics. Here, you can gauge the effectiveness of each of your strategies toward your targeted audience(s). How are they performing? Are certain groups falling behind others? It's important to be flexible and be able to adjust your strategies accordingly. Flexibility is essential, as not every campaign will succeed as planned.

Agencies like 3D Digital can assist in this process with our advanced tools and years of expertise. We help businesses identify and target their ideal audiences, monitor campaign performance, and adjust strategies to optimize results. By leveraging our professional insights and technology, you can refine your marketing approach and achieve your business goals efficiently.

Give us a call today to learn more at 904-330-0904.

The post Defining Your Target Audience: Who Should I Target? appeared first on 3D Digital.

TikTok

TikTok is largely seen as the platform that popularized short-form online content. The platform has proved its unparalleled ability to allow advertisers to spread their message to global audiences. TikTok has over 140 million monthly users in the United States alone and over 1 billion users worldwide. The site has the highest user engagement rate compared to YouTube and Instagram, especially for accounts with less than 15,000 followers. Most importantly, TikTok is invaluable for advertisers seeking to increase exposure to potential audiences. According to an in-house TikTok marketing ad study, 74% of Gen Z weekly TikTok users would seek more information on the advertised product after viewing a Dynamic Showcase Ad on TikTok. Brands with engaging ads on the platform are more likely to have a positive reception among audiences and a high recall rate even weeks after exposure.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube is an online platform that could potentially be an excellent place to grow your audience. It is the second most-visited website on the internet behind Google, with over 2 billion users every month. Over 70% of viewers participate in the platform through mobile devices. The key to success with YouTube Shorts is to limit your content to a one-minute duration. Roughly 72% of YouTube Shorts are between 16 to 60 seconds, which is the perfect amount of time to pass your message to the viewer without overstaying your welcome.

Instagram Reels

Posting short-form content on Instagram can be an invaluable strategy for small businesses to grow their brand. Instagram Reels are much more likely to reach new and existing audiences, especially for smaller accounts. Accounts with 500 to 2,000 followers can have a reach rate of over 100% via Reels. Reels also receive more likes and have higher user engagement than image posts, so focusing on short-form videos with this platform can be a great strategy to grow your potential audience

Are you looking to elevate your social media strategy with short-form video content? 3D Digital can help! Give us a call at 904-330-0904.

The post Reeling in Clients – Use Short-Form Content to Increase Online Performance appeared first on 3D Digital.

What is Visual Storytelling?
Visual storytelling is the art of conveying a message, idea, or story through visuals such as
images, videos, and graphics. It goes beyond words and taps into the emotional and sensory
aspects of communication. By combining text and visuals, you can create a powerful and
memorable brand narrative that captures your audience's attention and fosters a deeper
connection.

Why Visual Storytelling Matters
Cuts Through the Noise: In today's digital age, people are bombarded with information. Visuals
stand out and grab attention more effectively than plain text.
Emotional Engagement: Visuals have the ability to evoke emotions and create a lasting impact.
When people feel something, they are more likely to remember your message.

Leveraging Visuals for Your Brand Narrative

1. Know Your Audience
Before you start crafting your brand narrative, it's essential to understand your target audience.
What are their preferences? What emotions do they connect with? Knowing your audience will
help you choose visuals that resonate with them.

2. Tell a Compelling Story
Your brand narrative should tell a story that aligns with your values and resonates with your
audience. Use visuals to illustrate the journey, challenges, and successes of your brand.
Whether it's through photos, infographics, or videos, ensure your story is engaging and
relatable.

3. Consistency is Key
Consistency in visual elements, such as colors, fonts, and design style, is crucial for brand
recognition. When your audience sees consistent visuals across various platforms, they are
more likely to remember and trust your brand.

4. User-Generated Content
Encourage your customers to create content related to your brand. Share user-generated
images and videos that showcase your product or service in real-life scenarios. This not only
builds trust but also creates a sense of community around your brand.

5. Infographics and Data Visualization
Complex data or information can be made more digestible and engaging through infographics
and data visualization. These visuals simplify information and make it easier for your audience
to understand your message.

6. Video Marketing
Videos are incredibly powerful for storytelling. Use video content to introduce your team,
showcase behind-the-scenes processes, or share customer testimonials. Videos provide a
personal touch and humanize your brand.

Visual storytelling is vital for creating a strong brand narrative and forging a deeper
connection with your audience. By understanding your audience, telling a compelling story,
maintaining visual consistency, incorporating user-generated content, and using infographics and
videos, you can harness the power of visuals to make your brand unforgettable.

The post The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Create a Strong Brand Narrative appeared first on 3D Digital.

Utilizing UGC For Business

UGC can be a very effective and powerful tool for businesses to utilize because consumers tend to have a greater influence over others. For example, if a close friend recommends a product or service to you, you’re more likely to purchase that product or service because you trust their judgment. This concept is similar to UGC. If a customer writes a positive review or testimonial about a business’s products or services, other users who read those messages may be more inclined to purchase from that business. “93% of consumers find UGC to be helpful when making a purchasing decision,” according to AdWeek.

Consider a restaurant, for example – when users snap a photo of their meal and tag the establishment on social media, this can serve as a valuable way to attract new customers to the business. Another example could be seen with a clothing brand. Several clothing brands use fashion models to market their products. When real-life customers post photos wearing products from a specific clothing company, it gives potential customers a genuine and more realistic idea of what they could be purchasing.

Importance of UGC

In most cases, promoting UGC can positively contribute to a business’s credibility and establish a stronger brand presence online. It’s crucial to monitor UGC on a business’s websites and social media pages to avoid any harmful publicity toward the brand. This can be achieved by responding to comments that could potentially damage the reputation of the business and filtering spam comments properly. One bad review could negatively impact brand image and spam comments can draw attention away from the reliability of the business.

Benefits of UGC

UGC is beneficial to SEO rankings as it boosts search visibility, has the potential to reach more leads, and builds trust with Google. This can also provide valuable insights into trending topics and the key interests of an audience. Not only is UGC an organic way to promote a business, but it also creates a sense of trust between prospective customers and the brand by showcasing authentic experiences from the existing customer base.

In today’s digital world, UGC truly has the power to make or break your company.

The post User Generated Content: A Prominent Trend in Our Digital World appeared first on 3D Digital.

SEO is when a brand researches its target audience to determine what keywords they are likely to use when searching online. The company can then tailor its content to what the audience is searching for to help get their business toward the top of a search engine results page. SEO is essential because it drives traffic organically, leading to a higher conversion rate with a more minimal marketing investment. According to 99firms, “93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.” This speaks volumes about the power that SEO can bring to your brand. 

The SEO Strategy

SEO is a marketing strategy that reaches out to people in a consumer-friendly way. With this strategy, the customer isn’t bothered with unwanted advertising like cold calling, spam emails and interruptive online ads. He or she will see knowledgeable and engaging information directly on your websites. This can help your brand stand out online and entice visitors to stay on your sites longer. 

Budget-Friendly Marketing

With SEO, you will not always feel the need to pay for digital ads. Once your SEO is off and running, you’ll feel confident that it’s working in your favor to bring leads directly to your business. You can do your own SEO research or work with a digital marketing agency like 3D Digital to do the work for you. SEO is often a one-time investment that can drastically improve your overall marketing efforts long term.

Why Invest?

Investing in SEO is a proven method to gain exposure online. By researching what your audience is searching for, you’re able to gain a better understanding of what their interests are. If you can put out content that they’re likely to search for, it’s easier for you to show up when they’re looking. Crafting your SEO also shows how dedicated you are to your customers because you’re taking the time to provide content they care to see. If you want to do everything you can to show up near the top of a search engine results page, contact 3D Digital today to learn about all the wonderful things SEO can do for you! 

The post SEOh Look At All The Wonderful Things It Can Do appeared first on 3D Digital.

Facebook

Define Your Audience

In order to reach the right people you must define your audience. One of the best ways to do this is by utilizing Facebook demographics. The Facebook Audience Insights tool shows information for people connected to your page, people in your custom audience and people on Facebook. With this you can learn key demographics like age, gender, ethnicity, education and Facebook usage. Then you can tailor your Facebook content to your specific audience.

Plan Content

Posting the right content at the right time is imperative in a social media marketing campaign. Too much content overloads the user and posting unrelated content will push people away from your brand. You must create a plan of what will be posted and when. A good strategy to follow is the 80-20 rule where you use 80 percent of your Facebook posts to inform, educate and entertain and use the other 20 percent to promote your brand. When there is a good balance of content on your page people are more likely to engage.

Instagram

Strategic Partnerships

Even though social media platforms use similar marketing strategies, each platform has its own unique advantages. Instagram is special because it’s image-based. According to Hootsuite, “92% of Instagram users say they’ve followed a brand, clicked on their website, or made a purchase after seeing a product or service on the platform.” Find other Instagram accounts that reach your target audience and follow them. This builds a community where you support each other by sharing each other’s content. You can also build collaborations with your content and this will reach out to wider audiences.

Turn Followers Into Fans

If you use Instagram right you can quickly turn your followers into fans who will be with you for the long haul. Since Instagram relies on images to communicate, any text you use must be enticing to viewers. Keep the captions fun, but make sure you’re driving people to your website and other external links to really maximize the platform. You can also create a bio on your page that explains who you are. Put a link to your website and all other contact info in the bio so your new fans know exactly how to reach you.

LinkedIn

Appeal to Other Professionals

LinkedIn is a platform for professionals. It specializes in promoting yourself and your business by creating valuable connections across industries. Businesses use other social media platforms for business to consumer interactions, but LinkedIn stands out by focusing on business to business interactions. Marketing yourself on LinkedIn can gain you valuable exposure within your industry and with those searching online for an expert in your field. You can take advantage of LinkedIn marketing by positioning yourself as this expert by posting ads and sharing strategic content.

Maximizing social media can be more challenging than you think – but never give up! There are many different platforms, each with its own strengths. If your campaign is not performing as you well as you hoped, evaluate what you’re doing and think about expanding your horizons to another platform.

The post Don't Give Up on Social Media! appeared first on 3D Digital.

Is digital marketing still an effective way to reach my audience today?

Yes! Digital marketing is arguably the most effective way to reach people right now. Think about it - people are spending more time at home using their devices and consuming more media than usual. Advertisers know this and are using it to their advantage to promote their products and services.

What digital marketing tactics should I use during COVID-19?

Every business is different, so every approach to marketing should always be unique. Our clients are experiencing success using many different digital marketing tactics during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the three tactics we have been recommending the most are addressable geo-fencing, video and social media.

How is Addressable Geo-fencing more efficient today than traditional Geo-fencing?

One digital marketing tactic we’re seeing outstanding results from right now is addressable geo-fencing. Similar to traditional geo-fencing, addressable geo-fencing allows you to target devices within the confines of a virtual fence. However, where addressable geo-fencing really shines is in its ability to target devices in specific homes using property tax and public land surveying information to create ultra-precise fences around desired homes in an address list. People are going to be spending more time at home for the foreseeable future. Addressable geo-fencing allows us to reach those people without them ever having to leave the house. Traditional geo-fencing and other marketing tactics can require people to visit a business or area relevant to an advertiser’s marketing campaign. Unfortunately, many businesses are now closed or are in the process of reopening, so advertisers are missing out on a good chunk of the population they would normally be able to reach. Addressable geo-fencing eliminates that problem and allows advertisers to reach their target audience directly at home using addresses they already have in their database or an address list custom created to target specified incomes, interests and geography. This can be a great way you can reach your audience right now too.

What’s the best way to tell my story using video?

Video allows businesses to tell their story in their own way. Using your own voice you can create an experience for your viewers that they couldn’t get anywhere else. Right now video seems to be having the best results on social media and OTT ads. Social media allows you to create videos and share them directly with your audience. Whether it be a company background, product demonstration or employee spotlight, it’s important to keep social media videos fun, fresh and to the point. The shorter the length the more likely they are to be seen and shared. OTT videos are a little different. They’re essentially commercials that are shown on streaming platforms With more people at home and streaming video consumption on the rise it’s a no-brainer that OTT videos are a great way to get your message out to the world.

Besides video, what are some other ways I can use social media to my advantage?

Social media use was already increasing before the pandemic, but now people are spending even more time on social platforms connecting with others and engaging with content. Technology has become a main source of socialization with those outside the household. As a business it’s smart to be where the people are – and the people are on social media.

In terms of social media strategy, it’s important to balance educational and entertaining content with more sales/marketing-based posts. Social media can be your Times Square to share news about your business, like reopening dates, store hours, specials and giveaways. One of the best ways to level up your game is through social media advertising. Ads on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn allow you to reach current and potential customers, vastly expanding the reach of your content.

The post What Digital Marketing Looks Like in a New Normal appeared first on 3D Digital.