To some, sports is a religion. Strangers band together to celebrate wins, or to reck havoc when teams lose.
Before the introduction of social media, sports were only available live either on the TV or radio. Of course there were post game updates on networks like ESPN or articles posted on major internet news sites, but ultimately, there were no live updates a decade ago. Now, social media is playing a huge role in how we view sports. Continue…
On July 28th, 2016, Clutch released their picks for the Top Email Marketing Agencies and of the fifteen from around the world, HMG Creative was selected. We couldn’t be happier about being featured, and now we are here to share our secrets. Email marketing can be considered an art because of the designs, content and the ability to bring attention to the message. Though, more and more consumers are learning how to avoid marketing emails and businesses are suffering from it. Continue…
Retargeting has proven to be one of the most cost-effective online marketing strategies in the digital world. This concept allows advertisers to target consumers who have previously interacted with a certain website. By using cookies, you are anonymously tracking visitors on your site and seeing where they go next, what other websites they are visiting, etc. to help better understand their target market.
The madness of starting another school year is finally starting to slow down. People are beginning to get back into their normal routines, and whether we like it or not, it’s time to accept that summer is coming to a close. We, personally, are looking forward to a breather from the Texas heat! Aside from saying goodbye to summer, it’s also time to prep for a strong finish to the last quarter of 2015. From our experience, digital marketing strategies can and does play a huge role in determining your success from quarter to quarter, so it should not be left on the “back burner.”
To help you in your final push towards the new year, we wanted to offer up some of our insights into building an even stronger digital marketing plan for your business. Regardless of what your company objectives are, each of these can provide a great deal of value in distinguishing yourself from your competition, building relationships with your audience, and increasing your profits.
1. Publish Content Regularly
Your goal should be to develop a content strategy that encompasses the products and services that your company offers. Not only that, but you want to show your audience that you are the industry leader in the market. Consider posting content that illustrates your experience on a particular issue for your clients, or write a feature story on one of your products. Also, don’ t be afraid to recycle older content. Often times, you can simply repost content that you created years ago. Unless it is irrelevant, this is a great way to generate a ton of content that is already proven to be successful. For more information about developing quality content, check out our blog post on incorporating appropriate and relevant content.
We’ve all heard that a sleek, well designed website is vital for a business, but why exactly is good web design so important? Well, HubSpot breaks it down via Red Website Design’s data and infographic. It dictates exactly what impacts Internet users the most, including Load Time, Color Scheme, Layout, Trust, and HTML 5. If the primary load time is less than one second, 4.6% percent traffic growth is achieved, while four seconds or more results in negative traffic growth. For color, green has 3.0% traffic growth, while red comes at a 1.35% growth loss. For layout, the first two paragraphs are very important, users look in an F-shaped pattern, and 70% of people look at lists with bullet points. 94% of people cite design as a reason they do not trust certain websites. Finally, 27% of sites use HTML 5 – those sites account for 49% of pageviews. For all of the data laid out in a very clear manner, check out the full infographic.
When people think of a brand often the first image that comes to mind is the logo. Companies like Nike, Apple, and Starbucks can be identified if you only see the logo – the name is not even necessary. In today’s digital world, branding is way more than just a logo. A consistent identity must go very deep within company collateral. It needs to communicate not only the values of the company, but also the careful precision and attention to detail.
Hello! My name is Tanner Hertzog and I am the new intern here at HMG Creative. I am about to begin my senior year at The University of Texas at Austin where I am studying Public Relations and Business. I have a huge passion for digital branding, and specifically interested in learning how to handle a crisis via social media. I am so excited to be here at HMG Creative. I think this will be a wonderful opportunity for me to learn even more skills on how to manage a brand online and how to connect with potential new clients. Aside from social media work, this is a great opportunity for me to learn the ins and outs of the marketing/business side of operations in the “real world.” I have learned so much in the classroom, but it’s a completely different situation when you are actually using what you have learned in the workplace.
Prior to beginning this internship, I was running all of the Moody College of Communication’s social media channels. I was responsible for overseeing all the distribution of content, as well as the promotion of our account to current and prospective students as well as alumni. This internship provided me with my first opportunity to manage a brand’s social media network, and I learned a great deal about how to effectively grow a brand online.
When I am not working, I enjoy spending my free time exploring all that Austin has to offer. I am a self-taught guitar player, and was a competitive swimmer for 17 years. I have the competitive attitude in everything that I do, especially in the classroom. I am also an avid fitness guru. I spend a great deal of time working out in the gym, and focusing on a healthy diet.
I am looking forward to providing you guys with some great insight into this industry, and hopefully we both grow together over the next 5-6 months. Please follow me on Twitter @tannerhertzog, and if you have any questions for me please feel free to reach out!
Branding is often discussed everyday by individuals in the marketing, advertising and design industries, but rarely is it defined with a simple answer. In brief, branding is one of the most important tools a company can utilize to reach their target market, build recognition and develop customer relationships. It includes a wide range of factors such as logos, colors, patterns, typefaces, imagery, packaging, taglines, wording and more, all of which combine to create your company’s image.
Why Do Consumers Need Consistency?
In order to build a strong brand, you must stay consistent throughout all of your selected mediums. This strategy creates the opportunity to gain brand recognition among your target audience when done correctly. On top of that, consistency brings clarity and purpose that consumers then buy into. In turn, consumers become loyal to a brand. However, building this kind of trust takes time and effort.
Most consumers have to be exposed to a brand many times before they are loyal to it. So a consistent brand message has to be established so that consumers will immediately distinguish it from a competing brand. This means a business potentially loses customers, and may even help its competitors, if a consistent “look” and tone is not achieved. Continue…
If you haven’t already, please take a minute to read our previous post discussing our current blog series and what all you can expect to read over the next few weeks!
Alright, to kick things off, let’s get to talking about the value of social media. Words like “follow us” and “like this” are buzzwords that virtually drive the entire online world these days. If you are redesigning your website, you should highly consider the value of integrating your social media channels with the site. Don’t have social media? While we recommend you reconsider your decision, fear not: you can utilize a blog! We can’t stress enough the importance of connecting with your audience on a personal level, and the best way to do so is through social media and blogging.
It shouldn’t be a shock that having appropriate and relevant content on your website will aid to its overall success. The reason we mention it, though, is because often times people are not quite sure what “appropriate” really means for their brand, and why it is so valuable. With quality content comes not only quality engagement with your readers and target market but also increased search engine rankings for your web content as well. Sounds pretty valuable doesn’t it? Lets break it down more and take a closer look at why all of this is so important.
The first thing you should think about when trying to write content for your website is, “Why do we have this website?” You need to understand what you are trying to accomplish with the site, and then mold your content to accompany those goals. Every time you write copy for a site, you should aim for it to entertain, inform, and entice the reader. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on SEO, if readers are not interested in reading it, they will leave the site. The reader and your goals should ALWAYS be the center of the writing, no matter what you are discussing on the page.
You see this over and over again were a company depends too heavily upon the weight and popularity of their brand to drive traffic to their site. Of course, it’s great that they have established their name or product in the minds of the public. But if you have one competitor who has done the same, and also provides quality written content on each page of their website, you’ve just lost a share of the market for no good reason.
