Why Your Business's Marketing Has to Evolve

Every business has to market themselves to some degree, whether they realize it or not. However, some businesses get stuck in a rut, sometimes a good rut, and stay there. Marketing has to change, it has to evolve.

Now, it can work to keep the same message, mascot, color schemes, branding, etc. But it does not work to keep the same platforms, techniques, and strategy. Very few businesses have succeeded because they kept with the same techniques & strategy.

Industries change. Consumers change. Interests change. You get the point. 

That's why a business's creative marketing has to evolve. If you don't evolve, you miss your market. Then you're like that owl wondering, "Where'd they go? Did we miss them? What happened?"

Industries change. Every industry in the world has likely changed in the way it operates over the last decade or two. For example, marketing. This industry has massively changed in the last five years, alone! Now there's a heavy emphasis on digital marketing and digital advertising; things like social media, YouTube, blogging, or search engine marketing have all become points of interest.

• Take a look at your industry, how has it changed? 

Consumers change. Every generation thinks differently than the last. Every demographic has its own interests. Every culture has its own way of doing things. If you haven't heard, Millennials are a big topic to talk about in marketing. So let's talk about them! They are vastly different than previous generations, Gen. X and much different than Baby Boomers. If your business targets a demographic like 20-30 year olds, your target market in 2015 is vastly different than your target market was in 1975. Even from year to year, consumers change; our minds change all the time.

• Take a look at how you shop, how has it changed? 

Interests change. As hinted in the last point, our minds change all the time. What seems like a good idea now might not be in a few months. Look at the K-Cup. At the beginning, people loved it because it was easy, personal, and no prep/cleanup. Now, it's one of the most hated ways of consuming coffee on the planet. Or, for us techies, look at how fast apps come and go in popularity. Draw Something? What's that? Maybe fashion is more your fancy; how often does fashion change?? There was a time when baggy jeans, K-Swiss shoes, and bull-cuts were popular. Now, it's skinny jeans, boots, & fades.

• Take a look at your interests, how have they changed?

The bottom line is that in business, especially marketing, if you stand still, you will be left behind. Don't stand still and become a static business! Hire Integraphix to help your business get going forward, not become irrelevant. 

In Order to Get Consumers to Change, Marketers Have to Understand What They're Giving Up

Losing something hurts. It hurts a lot. Whether you lose a sports game, a person, or an object that you like; losing hurts twice as much as it feels good to gain something. We know this from the concept, loss aversion, which is from "Prospect Theory" by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Psychologically, we are much more hit by a loss than a gain, which explains why we are much more likely to talk about a negative consumer experience than a positive one. Loss and negativity stick with us. 

Psychology and marketing are very related; they are not quite twins but more likely brother & sister… or at least cousins. So much about marketing and advertising are guided about how we know people think, feel, and act around certain situations and ideas. Prospect Theory, among other psychology theories, have brought more knowledge and insight to the heart of marketing than many approaches.

Where psychology and marketing/advertising meet is very fertile soil for creative agencies. Within this ground, we can see how Prospect Theory, especially loss aversion, will influence the way people act and the choices they make. This powerful notion is what drives people to have an interest in maintaining and knowing the current state of affairs, a.k.a. status quo bias.

As a marketing agency and advertising agency creative, it is routine to ask people to make a choice. Choices, by definition, mean gaining something and losing something. For a consumer making a choice they have made many times in the past, the gain outweighs the loss, or at least they are ignorant to the loss. However, when we are asking consumers to choose a product or service over a product or service they have preferred to buy in the past, the loss is much greater. People don't like loss; this is part of the reason why brand loyalists exist. There is less loss.

Producing behavioral change in consumers can be an uphill battle. Marketers take the route that explains how a product or service will benefit lives via its cool features, new tech, or how it's different than the competition. Too many marketers fail to consider what the consumer stands to lose if they change their current purchasing behaviors.

To be more successful at engineering behavioral changes in consumers, our Chicago creative marketing agency analyzes both sides of the issue. If your business wants more ROI for its marketing, then call or email Integraphix.

Does Pinterest Actually Boost Web Traffic?

Many businesses put lots of effort into social media, even social media platforms like Pinterest (aside from the usual Facebook & Twitter). Pinterest can be a great place to post things like blog posts, product images, process images, etc.

But does the power of Pinterest actually aid the SEO process and generate traffic to your blog and/or website? 

Short answer: Yes. Yes it does.

When you use Pinterest, it creates a local place for people to visit to view your important messages without sifting through junk. Even on your company's Twitter and Facebook, you still have to get through informational, promotional, and even silly posts to find the ones that share things like recipes, how-to's, or posts of the like.

Pinning your blog posts, which are hopefully linked to your site, or pages within your site extends their viewership lives. What do we mean by that? Well, when you post these things to Twitter, Facebook, or Google+, they get pushed down onHowever, on Pinterest, while they will get pushed down on the newsfeed, they stay in the same position on your profile, making each pin very easy to find (especially categorized by boards).
the timeline as you post other stuff (and even faster on newsfeeds).

If you tag your pins right and put healthy descriptions, you can get them found via search very easily, unlike other social media platforms.

What are some tips to do Pinterest for business well?

• Pin consistently
• Schedule pins
• Have great descriptions
• Add links
• Have great images
• Pin to appropriate boards

Tired of having social media strategies that don't get your business any good leads? Then email or call Integraphix for a free marketing analysis! 

How to Make the Perfect Post on Each Social Media Platform

As a Chicago digital marketing agency that deals with a lot of social media marketing, we understand it can be very difficult to remember how to create the perfect post on each social media platform.

We don't like leaving people in the dark, our agency is all about transparency; due to that mentality and model, here are tips to help your business create the perfect post on every major social media platform.

• Google Plus: 
• Make sure to use a great image. The higher resolution, the better. The more relevant, the better. For size, 800 pixels by 600 pixels or 800 pixels by 1200 pixels are the optimal sizes. 
• Pinterest: 
• Create boards with a specific theme. 
• Put descriptions for each pin, 200 characters, sprinkle in keywords. Pinterest will find these in search. 
• Vertical images optimize "real estate" on your Pinterest. Images 735 pixels by 1102 pixels. 
• Link Pin to your site or another source. 
• Relevant, high quality images. 
• Twitter: 
• You have 140 characters but leave 10-20 characters open for each tweet; this leaves room for manual RTs with comments. 
• Include links and/or images. 
• Use engaging, action-sparking words or phrases. 
• Facebook: 
• Vary between photos, videos, and links. 
• Include a personal bit of information- thoughts, summary, synopsis, question, etc. with each post. Be personal. 
• LinkedIn:
• Don't post quotes. 
• Be consistent. 
• Links to articles or using images in posts goes over well. 
• Share OC as well as sharing someone else's content. 

Do you have questions or comments? Then call or email Integraphix, we would love to help you! 

8 Stats about Digital Video You Need to Know

Some exciting news has been revealed about the current state of digital video, which were revealed during the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Digital Content NewFronts meeting (yeah, it's a mouthful).

The scope that awaits what can happen for digital video has never been seen before for any aspect of marketing. Here are 8 points why digital video's future is so exciting and why your business needs to get in on the action:

1. Market researchers have surveyed ( 1,900 consumers and they found that consumption of digital video is up 13 percent since 12 months ago. And, as we've mentioned before, advertising in digital video is becoming much more appealing for brands since more & more people are watching YouTube ads from start to finish. 
2. 24 percent of the people surveyed stated that they watch at least one video per month that they've never seen before. This is a two percent increase from last year but when you consider the amount of videos on the web, even just YouTube, that's a lot of video consumption. That is a lot of people viewing your company's videos and digital marketing efforts. 
3. TV influences the traffic and activity on the web, too; 11 of all online shopping is spurred by something seen on TV and 153 million social media posts are generated by TV shows each month. 
4. 91 million social media posts are generated by reality TV alone, every month. That is 16 percent of TV viewers that watch TV share their thoughts on social media. 
5. Tremor Video and Magid Associates surveyed 1,000 people and found that 55 percent of U.S. households have more that four devices (TVs, computers, tablets, and phones). 40 percent of households still have access to video streaming services. 
6. Eight percent of the people surveyed in pt 5 plan to cancel cable TV within the next 12 months. 14 percent of the respondents have no cable TV service now. The trend of cutting the cord is growing, especially among Millennials. 
7. Subscription-based streaming is huge. We know the success of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime streaming, but apps for channels are catching on; HBO Now just released last month and of the respondents, 70 percent signed up for HBO Now. 
8. Ads that utilize pathos have more success. When videos get viewers to experience an emotion, they are 2x likely to be shared. The Coca-Cola "Grandpa" video ads had an eight percent share rate in their 2014 campaign, pretty good! 

Creating videos to increase brand awareness for your business is making the shift from being a luxury to a necessity. Integraphix is an internet marketing agency of 25 years. Call or email us about getting started. 

Save Money on Your Marketing Project

Don't get left behind and let your competition get more visibility than you. Call or email Integraphix about your next indoor marketing or outdoor marketing project for a trade show, event, billboard, anything! 

How to Get Noticed with Great Print Marketing

Canva for Work is Here! It's Here!

A sigh of relief was breathed by the business professionals of the world as Canva has announced its latest venture, Canva for Work.

Designing and building graphics is not a skill that everybody has, however, Canva wants to change that. We have known of Canva's service that allows people to easily create graphics, covers, invites, posters, ads, etc.

Today, Canva is rolling out a new service to expand its growth and offerings, Canva for Work. With the addition of $6 million in additional funding from investors, Canva for Work is exclusively offered at business professionals. Now businesses can create images for social media, presentations, print marketing materials, and more.

40 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Canva, among all the smaller businesses that use the site. This sparked a large need for the site to accommodate all the businesses that were using Canva. In fact, over 200,000 businesses are reportedly on Canva; our Chicago marketing agency has been known to create graphics on Canva, like that one right there.

The site is a hit with professionals and the general public alike, gaining 2.3 million users in the last 20 months, creating a total of 3.2 million designs last month. Some of their growth is due to word of mouth marketing with elated users spreading the word to friends, family, and coworkers; another significant portion of their growth is via people seeing their quality graphics be posted on the web on social media, blogs, and other places.

Go and create like a professional graphic designer!