One of the most fundamental parts of a good marketing strategy is to know who you are actually trying to reach. Oftentimes, businesses pump out marketing materials based on who they want their audience to be or even worse, who they think their audience should be. But, you can’t reach someone that you don’t know. This is why knowing your audience is the crucial first step in building your marketing playbook.

Meet Your Audience on Day One

Knowing your audience should begin early in the development of your product or service. Too many businesses develop a product and then ask their marketers to figure out the target audience later. In reality, you can’t sell something if you don’t know who you’re trying to sell to, no matter how great your product might be. Creating a customer profile or persona can help mitigate this. By starting off with an idea of who you’re trying to reach before you get started with your marketing campaign, you are guaranteeing that you’re already on the trajectory to successfully reaching your potential client.

Engage and Listen

One of the easiest ways to get to know your audience is by engaging with them. Social media and email marketing are great ways to accomplish this. Find ways to get your audience invested and engaged. For example, you can put out a social media post and ask your audience a question to get them talking. Or, you could send out an email campaign and encourage them to respond with their thoughts. People love to feel like their thoughts and opinions are being heard by companies they care about. Once you start getting feedback from your audience, it’s imperative that you listen to what they’re saying and consider implementing changes that could better suit your audience. 

The Takeaway

Knowing your audience and communicating with them in ways that appeal to them and reach them directly is the foundation on which a successful marketing strategy is built. Ready to get started? We can help you determine who your audience is and how to reach them. Reach out to us and let us help you reach new heights of success!

The post Know Your Audience first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.

The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing and at times it can be challenging to keep up and decide what options are the best fit for your customers and business. You may have heard of PPC or pay-per-click, but is it of value to your target audience?

What is PPC?

According to HubSpot, PPC or Pay-Per-Click is “ a form of advertising that allows you to pay a fee to have your website on the search engine result page when someone types in specific keywords or phrases to the search engine.” Once people have found you on the results page, you only pay for advertising if they click on your ad.

PPC ads aren’t just found on search engines. Many social media platforms also utilize Pay-Per-Click advertising. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even Amazon all have options to allow you to advertise your product or service to potential consumers who use their channels. 

What are the Benefits of PPC?

Using Pay-Per-Click advertising can be a valuable part of your marketing strategy. There are many reasons that PPC may be a good option to consider. A few of these include:

Budget-friendly: Platforms allow you to set your own budget and keywords. While in some capacities you may need to increase your budget to reach your audience, this is a great way to start advertising and can be a very cost-effective way to bring in sales and potential leads. 

Trackable: PPC campaign analytics are easily trackable which helps you determine which ads are working and which ones need to be revamped or shelved. 

Easy to adjust: Because Pay-Per-Click analytics are easily trackable, they are also easy to adjust which means you can change marketing campaigns in real-time.

Target your ideal consumer: PPC platforms allow you to specify who your ads are shown to and where they are located. This can help you make sure you are reaching the right consumer and also help make sure that you are maximizing your advertising budget.

The Takeaway

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising can be an important component of your marketing strategy if used properly. Ready to take your marketing to new heights? Twin Peaks can help! Reach out to us, we’d love to talk more!

The post The Value of PPC first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of any successful business. While there are many different ways to reach your potential clients, in 2023 digital marketing is undoubtedly one of the most crucial.

What is Digital Marketing? 

According to the American Marketing Association, digital marketing is  “any marketing methods conducted through electronic devices which utilize some form of a computer, including online marketing efforts conducted on the internet.” A digital marketing strategy may include websites, SEO, social media channels, email marketing, and more. In more traditional forms of marketing, a company communicates in a one-way direction with its potential customer or client. Digital marketing often involves two-way communication and evolving practices. As technology becomes more advanced, so do many marketing techniques.

How to Get Started with Digital Marketing

There are various components of a successful digital marketing plan including:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Successful SEO practices help improve your ranking in search engines and increase the chances that potential customers will find your website or products easily. 

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): PPC or Pay-per-click is a form of digital marketing where advertisers run ads and only pay for them when consumers click on them.  

Social Media Marketing: Using your business’s social media channels to connect with your potential consumer base can help you build on-going profitable relationships. 

Websites: Your website is an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. Creating engaging content and driving traffic to your website can help increase sales.  

Email marketing: Email marketing gives you an opportunity to communicate directly with your potential client and send promotional information to them as necessary.

The Takeaway

Digital marketing is a vital component of a successful marketing strategy. Finding new and dynamic ways to reach potential clients or customers can help create relationships and bring in new revenue. No matter what element of digital marketing you are considering adding to your strategy, Twin Peaks can help you succeed. Ready to reach new heights? We’d love to talk more!

The post The Foundation of Digital Marketing first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.

In 2023 it seems that there are an unlimited number of ways to reach your potential customer. Social media ads and pay-per-click (PPC) have become dominant players in the inbound marketing world. With the ever-changing digital landscape, many may ask if tried and true email marketing is still a valuable tool in their marketing strategy toolbox. The answer may surprise you. 

Email marketing has been a cornerstone of marketing campaigns for nearly 50 years. On May 3, 1978, a marketer named Gary Thuerk sent the first unsolicited email pitch to 400 business prospects. His result? Nearly 13 million dollars in sales. With services like Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and many others, it is now easier than ever to reach potential customers via email. Campaigns can help you build a relationship with your audience and drive traffic to your website or social media pages. Additionally, effective email marketing can be a useful tool to run A/B tests and see which strategies work best for your audience.

According to HubSpot, nearly 80% of marketers list email campaigns as one of their top 3 marketing strategies. With numbers like this, you could assume that these email campaigns bring companies overwhelming success. However, these same statistics show that nearly 72% of marketers using email campaigns find the biggest challenge to be low open rates among consumers. So, this leads us to ask if so few people are even opening your emails, is it even worth it to invest in sending them? 

The answer? Sort of. Email campaigns will probably be a consistent mainstay in your list of marketing tools. However, like most marketing techniques it’s vital to test what works best in your industry and what works for your potential customers. For example, if you find your email campaigns are generating leads and getting good open rates, it may be worth it to make email the main element of your marketing strategy. On the other hand, if you find that you’re getting few results and even fewer open rates, it may be a better idea to invest more in another form of digital marketing.

Like all marketing strategies, email marketing is a tool that can be successful if used effectively and with the right audience. It is always important to challenge the status quo and see what techniques are the right fit for your business or organization. Just because something has been around for 50 years doesn’t always mean it’s the best fit for the success of your business. At Twin Peaks, we can help you find the best marketing strategies and solutions that work for you. Ready to get started? Let us help you reach new heights!

The post In 2023 is Email Marketing Still Valuable? first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.

When implementing any type of marketing strategy it’s important to have an idea of the objectives you are trying to achieve and how to get there. One of the easiest ways to do this is to implement a SMART Goal. Not only can a SMART Goal help you achieve the best results for your business, but it can also help you set new objectives in the future.

SMART stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-Bound

Now that we have the basics of what a SMART Goal is, let’s break it down even further.

Specific

Many times when starting on something new, we tend to set goals that are much too vague. For instance, if you want to add reading into your weekly routine, you might say “I want to reach more people with my marketing.” This is a good start, but how can you ensure that you’re setting yourself up to achieve it? By setting the specific goal of “I want to reach more potential customers on social media” you are increasing the chances of your goal’s success.

Measurable

A measurable goal is a goal that is easier to maintain and track. When crafting a SMART Goal, let’s use our example above of “this year I want to reach more potential customers on social media.” For the measurable part of our SMART Goal, we could specify our goal by saying “I want to reach 15% more potential customers on social media.” Now we have a specific objective and also a very tangible number that we’re attempting to reach. 

Attainable

This part of the SMART Goal should go without saying, but it’s very important to set a goal that you can achieve. Using our social media goal as an example, if after looking at the previous year’s numbers, you realize that maybe 15% is too ambitious, revise your goal to “reaching 10% more potential customers on social media.” It’s all about being realistic and making sure that you are setting your business up for success.

Relevant

Making your goal relevant helps to guide your marketing efforts in the right direction. It’s important to ask yourself if your goal is relevant to your overall success. For instance, is making sure that your business “reaches 10% more potential customers on social media” crucial to your business? The obvious answer is yes, but this is not always the case. It’s important to be able to decipher what is and isn’t relevant to your marketing strategy and adjust your goal accordingly. 

Time-Bound

The last component of a SMART Goal is making your goal time-bound and setting a specific time frame to complete your goal. In our example, this might mean “I want to reach 10% more potential customers on social media this year.” This not only gives us something tangible to work towards, but it also helps us set realistic goals in the future. If we are successful in our goal this year, next year we have a better understanding of how to set future goals.

SMART Goals are part of a crucial marketing strategy for your business or organization. These goals can be a part of the process of taking your marketing to new heights. Ready to get started? We’d love to talk more!

The post How SMART Goals can Enhance your Marketing first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.

In 2023 attention spans are short and the amount of content your potential customer has access to is excessive. How do you make your content stand out and reach the right people? We have the tips to help overcome “content shock” and make your marketing engaging and profitable.

Before learning how to combat content shock, you need to know what it is. Content marketing strategist Mark Schaefer defines content shock as occurring “when the amount of content available exceeds our ability to consume it.” Unfortunately, this idea should come as no surprise to us.

Think about your social media feeds. Besides the content that you actually want to see – your friend’s photos, birthday notes, and even news from your favorite source – your feed is filled with content that is completely irrelevant to you in the form of ads. Your potential customer is going to scroll past anything irrelevant to them the same way that you do. This is where knowing how to overcome content shock comes in. Here are some ways to make your content more than just noise.

1. Let’s Get Visual

Making your content unique and visually engaging is one of the easiest ways to help combat content shock. This can be done in many ways. Some easy options include using inviting colors, fonts, and photos to help draw attention in the attention of your audience. Not only does visually engaging content help catch the attention of potential customers but it also makes your content more shareable which can be crucial when it comes to brand awareness and ultimately lead generation.

2. Make it Personal

When making and sharing content, it’s important that your messaging is relatable to the potential customer you are trying to reach. One of the best ways to do this is to make it personally engaging. Humor, holidays, pop culture, and current events are all great starting points. We recommend avoiding politics; after all, your potential consumer is likely getting political content from enough sources as it is.

3. Engage, Engage, Engage

One of the best strategies for making your content stand out is by engaging with your potential customer as they consume it. By creating great content and showing potential customers that you are interested in connecting with them, you are doing more than just advertising to them. You are encouraging them to invest in your brand. 

For instance, a popular magazine recently posted a series of social media graphics about the coronation of King Charles and asked readers to weigh in on whether or not they were planning to watch the ceremony. As followers began commenting, the company responded and in some cases even began sharing links to their website with more relevant content and options for subscriptions. This is a great example of how engaging with your consumer can make your content stand out – and help drive profits in the process!

The Takeaway

There are many ways to combat and overcome content shock. By engaging with your potential customers and making your content shareable and personally appealing, you are off to a great start. Ready to take your marketing to the next level and cut through the noise of content shock? Reach out to Twin Peaks Communications for a free consultation today!

The post 3 Ways to Overcome Content Shock first appeared on Twin Peaks Communications.