Things to Remember When at the SXSW Festival for Small Business Owners

It is the time of year when the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) becomes a big deal for business owners, especially small business owners.

When at the SXSW Festival, it is important to learn new techniques and tools for running a business. One thing to remember when at the festival and looking for new tips to make your business more effective is to think about your customers first. As a Chicago creative marketing agency, we will tell you that a successful business is one that focuses on its consumers' needs before its own.

You might think, "But if the business doesn't take care of itself first, how can we help consumers?" Here's the thing, your consumers' needs are your needs. If your business ignores the consumers' needs, then there are no consumers for you to think about, which means there is eventually no business for you to run, either.

Give your consumers what they want, what they need, and what they may not know they need, yet. One thing any good Chicago marketing company does is market research, which is what your business needs to do (or contact a marketing agency to do it) and find out what your consumers' needs are. Simply asking them will be a big help. A consumer will (often) only buy something if they know how it will improve their life, this is why knowing the needs of the consumer is crucial.

Another thing to remember when going to the festival is to be storytelling topics that people will find engaging. Find something cool that you know your consumers will like? Post about it! Content marketing and social media marketing are great places to be a storyteller and create engaging, worthwhile content.

Need more business tips? Then email Integraphix, a Chicago marketing agency.

How Can Your Business Create Great Content During March Madness?

Brands that are looking to make campaigns for their social media marketing platforms during the NCAA March Madness tournament need to craft something special to succeed. One place they can look to for inspiration is the NBA. NBA teams are often considered some of the best at utilizing social media marketing, specifically with video.

What does the NBA do that has caught the eye of our Chicago marketing company? The NBA has the ability to dominate videos for social media as well as quickly shooting off still photos. Each photo is a moment in time, a cliffhanger, and it has the ability to make us care about that game. The key is to have great video and photos- both in terms of film quality and content quality.

One way to accomplish the content quality objective is to show the elite, popular players or teams doing what they do best, creating highlight reel plays. For example, a star NCAA player posterizing another guy? That is a photo or video that will be seen by many.

The tournament is already a very exciting event for people to be a part of, so capitalizing
on that excitement and getting exposure is something for brands to lose. It is right there, right for the plucking. March Madness marketers have this A+ opportunity to entertain consumers and create compelling, storytelling posts and videos.

Another thing that brands can do to be great during this opportunity is to show the behind-the-scenes moments. Maybe some players building each other up in the hallway by the locker room? Terrific content. Other great moments to capture can be a pre-game ritual, a celebration of a big shot or win, and other great moments that allow viewers to connect with the players, even without meeting them. Our Chicago marketing agency is a big preacher of brands creating relationships and communication with consumers.

Brands will want to monitor the chatter and see the opportune moments to enter the conversations and create and deepen the connections with consumers. Talk about the Cinderella stories, the dynasties, the moments of emotion, everything, with the people and show a human side! The narrative is there, brands have to do little to create it.

Take a glance at the social media accounts of NBA teams, especially their Twitter & Instagram profiles, and see what they are doing that is so special.

After that, email Integraphix and see how our creative marketing team can help your brand get great content prepared for the NCAA March Madness tournament.

Integraphix Case Study: Weldbend Print Advertisements

Weldbend and Integraphix have been doing business together for a long time. Our agency & Weldbend worked on projects like app design & web design, allowing us to know Weldbend's target market, desires/needs, and their products when it came time to launch a print advertising campaign.

Our Chicago creative marketing agency has designed and developed Weldbend's monthly ad campaign; the results of the campaign have been wonderful. Weldbend has seen their company grow and become an industry leader and authority.

The campaign was built on graphic design and marketing strategies so the ROI would be worth the expense for the company, despite being a multi-million dollar business. Welbend constantly needs to improve and grow their market-view and marketshare, this means a top-notch advertising strategy at all times.

Every month, our creative marketing team brings targeted and powerful imagery to the campaign so the messages say exactly what they need to and leave a powerful impact with consumers.

Does your business need greater exposure? Then email Integraphix and get started with a terrific ad campaign-- print or digital. 

Use This Trick to Break Your Cycle of Bad Writing

Someone who chooses to live of life of curating ideas is someone who should choose to read books and articles; when this is done, the reader may realize that they can find a commonplace with the story in the literature they are reading.

Read anything. Everything. Even if you must read the same thing over and over, read. This was a trick that our Chicago marketing company implemented with our teams, especially the copywriters and it has worked wonderfully.

Find something to read that captivates you and encourages you to think deeply, creatively, and critically. Recently, an Integraphix copywriter read a historical-fiction book about a WWII soldier and he read the same book 3x in a row before he moved onto another book, it was that good. The best thing about that book is that it inspired him to write and write better.

Research has suggested that reading and studying books from different eras will help you escape a writing rut, especially if your rut is filled with business jargon and other language that the average person (outside your industry) will not understand.

Does your business need assistance with writing? Then email Integraphix and see how our teams can help your business get better marketing.

How To Create a Great YouTube Video for your Business

Videos for digital marketing are very classy and effective, we all like videos that engage us and are entertaining. A company can really benefit from this medium, after all, it is just a smaller concept of TV commercials.

Unfortunately, not enough businesses are utilizing this format; the odd thing is, this has been around longer than social media marketing and some other formats, which brands are jumping all over.

In order for a YouTube video marketing to be successful, it has to be:

• Very educational/informative
• Sincere/genuine
• Fun/entertaining

However, some of the businesses that use video do wrong is not give enough consideration for professionalism; they produce a video that is choppy, looks like it was shot with a phone's camera, and people are robotic. One of the main things is that your business remembers to be informative, sincere, and fun and the quality should follow. 

Here are 7 tips for producing a great video for your digital marketing. 

1. Use music. You do not want it to be overwhelming or too loud but using music in your video is a great idea. The music can be split up or constant throughout the video. Think of some of your favorite scenes from movies or TV, chances are, they incorporate music to some degree. 
2. Have a preview to the video. Having a preview of the video that shows teasers of the scenes they will see can be a great hook. Why? It shows the viewer what they can expect to see and what they'll miss if they choose to skip the video. 
3. Have contact information. This is a must, according to our Chicago marketing company social media team. When you have a video, put your company name & contact info (number, email, and/or website) at the beginning of the video, not at the end. Why not at the end? Because people do not often make it to the end of the video. You can mention this information throughout the video, as well.
4. Have pop-ups. We're not talking about pop-up ads but rather pop-ups that feature some info that you did not say in the video. Maybe it's a link to a site or additional, perhaps more specific, information. 
5. Humor. Be a little funny, be people-friendly. While you do not want to turn the video into a stand-up act or tell risky jokes, be engaging and fun. Be appropriate. 
6. Involve current, real customers. Of course, get their permission (sign a waiver) but involve some of your actual customers. Does it need to be said that they should be happy customers? Well, they should be. Have them talk about their experience with your business. 
7. Still shots & effects. This will help change the pace of the video, keeping it fresh and engaging. Using still shots can be great for allowing viewers to see something that they might miss in video format. Also, use some effects like slow-motion or time-lapse (or hyper-lapse); the slow-motion is great for things that happen very quickly & time-lapse is great for things that would take a long time to watch. 

Does your business need to be noticed on the web? Do you have quality YouTube videos to use in your marketing? Email Integraphix about digital marketing efforts such as YouTube videos, videos for Facebook or Twitter, or even Vimeo. 

How To Do Real-Time Social Media Marketing During Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is watched by millions and millions of people across the country, even in other countries, every year. It is considered to be the most popular sporting event in the country and try to capitalize on this sort of popularity.

Taking advantage of the popularity of the Super Bowl for your brand is nothing to be ashamed of, every company does/tries to do it. Why do you think Super Bowl ads have become as popular as they are? Brands spend a huge chunk of change for a mere 30-second ad that might be forgotten amidst the excitement of the other ads and, oh, the game itself.

Of course, on-air advertisements are not the only way that brands try to connect with the viewers of the game, social media marketing is a very, very popular option for brands as well. As with anything, there is a right way to do it and a wrong way; when it comes to social media, doing it the wrong way can be incredibly detrimental and that bad news spreads like wildfire.

Here is what not to do with social media during the Super Bowl. 

1. Don't claim/brag that you have a newsroom full of people to cover the game, this does not impress people and it sounds like you're to impress. Think about it this way, it is like when someone unnecessarily mentions "impressive" things that they've done, we tend to roll our eyes, right? 
2. Don't try to insert your brand into every single tweet or post that happens; also, don't try to put a branded post/tweet for everything that happens during the game. Pick the right moments that can be a great tie-in for your brand. Maybe a receiver drops a big pass because they didn't see it and your brand makes eye-glasses? That can work. 
3. Don't do automated posts. 
4. Don't beg for affection such as retweets, favorites, etc. The popular, "Fave for A, RT for B" is never going to happen. Stop trying to make it happen (Thanks for that phrase, Regina George). 
5. Be human and converse! Talk to people. Consumers love when their favorite brands recognize them on social media. 
6. Post when you have something to say, don't say something because you want to post. (Yes, this is a spoof off of the famous quote by Plato). 
7. Be spontaneous. If you have to use approved posts, tweets, then make a long and varied list of them or lest you be boring. 
8. Be considerate. Don't post something people might find offensive or you'll regret it. 
1. Remember the difference between your business accounts and personal accounts. This is an all-too-common digital marketing mistake. If you are posting for your personal accounts and your business accounts, be careful! One way to avoid confusion is to use different devices, may your phone for your personal account and your desktop for your business account. 
9. Use hashtags but don't use too many. Our Chicago marketing company social media team can give you more info on that, just ask!

Remember our tips if you plan on using the Super Bowl to expose your brand with social media. If you need assistance, then contact Integraphix, we are a Chicago marketing agency with great experience in internet marketing. 

Google Glass Needs Rebranding, nay, Reinventing ASAP

Google Glass has to shake off the "Glasshole" reputation, and fast. Do a simple search for anything related to "Google Glass" such as "glass wearable tech" and you will find lots of results about Google Glass; once you review the results, you will figure out why is not available for public purchase. As of now, the product is under construction with the help of Nest founder, Tony Fadell.

Some of the results we found were:

• More Google Glass wearers attacked in San Fran
• Google Glass wearers record at beaches
• Google Glass wearers banned from movie theaters
• Man robs Google Glass wearer on street
• Etc. etc. 

If you type in "Google Glass wearer" into the search bar, you will see the auto-finish finish your search with verbs like, "attacked," "beat up," or "banned". This was what the innovative product was getting in return for its presence in the world, however, it can be understandable; people were afraid of what wearer's were doing and people got annoyed with the mentality of its wearers. This was an issue with the marketing that went on with Google Glass, perhaps, a lack of.

There was some social media marketing with the product but it seems much of it was from the testers, not necessarily from Google, itself; both sources needed to produce good, informative content. Perhaps the quality of it was not the best either, such as a man wearing them in the shower and proclaiming his love for the product (people don't want to view a video of a man in the shower).

Of course, there were some issues with the product outside of marketing it, such as the fact that many consumers thought it looked goofy. Fashion designers worked to change that perception, however, it was unfruitful. This was a major hit in the branding for Google Glass.

Even Larry Page has yet to be seen wearing a pair.

Does your business have a product or service that could use some rebranding? Then contact Integraphix -- a Chicago marketing company. See how we can help your product or service garner new, greater attention!