COVID-19 Archives - Post and Courier Advertising

Important Email Marketing Stats You Should Know

Posted on July 14, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

What is the current state of Email Marketing?

Let's start unpacking this question. Before the Covid-19 pandemic began, many marketers suspected that email marketing would be “dead” within a matter of a few years. However, recent trends suggest just the opposite. HubSpot research shows that 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. In fact, the latest research from Litmus found that for every $1 spent on email marketing, the ROI is $42.

So, what helpful statistics can help your business navigate email marketing practices to increase your email performance, and thus your company’s ROI?

Since April 1, 2020, marketing email open rates have been climbing.

Additionally, companies are utilizing email marketing at a higher rate than before. These two metrics have increased in tandem. Here are some useful insights related to open rates:

Campaign Monitor reports that email sends were up 19% from February 2020 to March 2020.
35% of marketers send their customers 3-5 emails per week (Not Another State of Marketing, 2020)
Mobile opens accounted for 46% of all email opens (Litmus.com)

Additional best practices to increase your open rates involve your subject line.

Before your customer can even read the beautiful and helpful email you’ve created, they need to feel inclined to open. Your subject line needs to grab the attention of your audience within just a few words.

The best part about subject lines is that they can be A/B tested. It never hurts to switch up your language, be mindful of your audience, and test different methods to see what your audience reacts to.

Keep it short. Recipients are often mobile users. Keep your subject no more than 9 words / 60 characters. (Mailchimp.com)
Personalization is key. Use tags to personalize your subject lines with each recipient’s name, company name, or location. Personalization is known to increase open rates for most users. (Mailchimp.com)
Try using emojis. 56% of brands using an emoji in their email had a higher open rate than those that did not (HubSpot.com). Try to limit your emoji use to one, and use them to supplement words rather than replace them to make sure your message is clear. (mailchimp.com)

Implement email segmentation.

Marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue. (HubSpot.com).

What is segmentation? According to Campaign Monitor, segmentation is the division of an email list into smaller segments based on set criteria. Segmentation is a tactic used to ensure relevancy to your audience based on location, interests, purchase history, client activity, and more.

Additionally, measure & analyze your list performance.

Continually monitor email performance metrics like bounce rate & unsubscribe rate.

Your bounce rate is a direct measure of your contact database and how enriched your data is. A high bounce rate would suggest that your contacts are recently active, or perhaps just aren’t updated.

A high unsubscribe rate speaks to your list and the relevancy of your email to your customer. If you’re just beginning an email campaign strategy and your clients aren’t used to receiving emails from you, make your purpose and value of the email clear to your audience. Continue to segment your lists based on the list performance results and nurture the clients who want to be included in the information you have to share.

Create honest, helpful content. This includes educational or resourceful content.

This is more important during this “new normal” as we’ve adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic. If you are a part of an industry that has been slow to adapt to digital marketing, this presents a large window of opportunity.

Conductor.com reports that according to their new research, consumers are 131% more likely to buy from a brand immediately after they read a piece of educational content.

HubSpot Marketing Manager Henni Roini echoes this sentiment, “Only the companies and brands that create human connection are going to succeed. This is extremely true with email. You might get short term benefits from very promotional content, but honest, human, and personalized content creates a following for the long term.”

In our previous blog discussing client Relationship Management, we elaborate on how to use empathy as a tool. Your goal is to design a communication strategy that leads with empathy from an honest place.

Stay consistent and measure your success.

If you don’t have one already, implement a review process to check for broken links, grammar mistakes, etc. Make sure that you have an approval process that works efficiently. Stay consistent with send dates and times to build trust with your audience.

Analyze email performance across all marketing channels.

Did your team write a blog that resonated well with your audience? Perhaps you decide to extend the reach of this article by supporting it with a social media paid campaign. Assess your click through rates - perhaps the topic isn’t as relevant to your customers as you originally thought, or the segmentation wasn’t in the right direction.

The beauty of marketing is the ability to create, test, and analyze to improve your results going forward. Measure results and evolve your strategies.

Ensuring Customers Choose You During a Crisis

Posted on June 16, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

Crisis preparedness comes in many shapes and sizes. Smart decisions + planning can help prevent “business casualties.” Marketing a business during a time of crisis has to first begin with a crisis management plan. Let’s examine ways in which you can develop a crisis marketing strategy to ensure that when crisis strikes, the customer chooses YOU.

We’ve discussed in previous blogs the importance of the “pull not push” method as it pertains to marketing during a time of crisis. This begins with compassion when communicating with your customers. “Trends suggest that how a business communicates with clients during a time of crisis will directly impact the brand’s reputation for the foreseeable future. The goal is to design a communication strategy that leads with empathy from an honest place.”

Naturally, a crisis will push you into a fight or flight mindset. Now is your opportunity to adapt and be willing to try something new when it comes to your marketing strategy. We know that empathetic messaging is important. However, some trends now suggest that this messaging is becoming mundane thus losing its honesty. So, how do you begin that message to your customers?

Step one: Construct a crisis communication plan.

This will serve as an outline for how & when you intend to communicate with your clients, and the message you want to convey.

Focus on keeping your existing and potential customers updated and informed.

If your company has employees that interact frequently with clients, consult with them. They are a key piece to the puzzle because of their relationships & conversations with customers. Lean on them for insight into your customer experience - what questions do they have that you can provide answers directly?

Here are 5 suggestions to help you construct a crisis communication plan:

Update your Google business listing so that when a client searches for your company they receive the most updated information. Include any special offers or messages related to the crisis at hand.
Update your hours + other helpful info on your business voicemail.
Create a newsletter or a monthly email that highlights useful + positive information, and positions your company as a helpful resource.
Update your company website with a banner on the homepage that leads to a landing page or aggregate FAQ’s page that is concise and easy to read. Include a way for them to contact you directly online with a form + capture the client information.
When creating content for these newsletters, think about what questions your customers want answered. Provide these answers in an easily accessible location. (For example, how can customers purchase from you? What is the best way to get in touch with you? Upcoming events and/or cancellations?)

Next, data shows that people increase digital consumption during a crisis.

Take the time to update testimonials from clients you’ve helped in a crisis before to create trust with a potential customer. Capitalize on this trend by preparing a solid SEM strategy & finessing your SEO for effective customer acquisition.

What is SEM? According to HubSpot, “SEM, or search engine marketing, is using paid advertising to ensure that your business's products or services are visible in search engine results pages (SERPs). When a user types in a certain keyword, SEM enables your business to appear as a result for that search query.” SEM strategies include methods like keyword research and analysis (Indexability of your website, popular keywords searched as it relates to your industry and business, and integrating these words into your site), as well as PPC (pay per click) advertising strategies through platforms such as Google Ads. PPC is a form of digital marketing where advertisers “pay per click” on their strategically placed ad. This is a method of paying for website visitors and potential customers versus relying solely on organic website traffic. Learn more about our Search Engine Marketing services.

Lastly, get creative.

Now is the time to bundle and put together packages that add value and incentivize a purchase. Be innovative in your crisis preparedness - focus on a positive mindset and problem solving. In what ways can your company adapt to the current situation to achieve success?

Relationship Management: How to Keep Leads Warm Without Selling

Posted on May 15, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

As businesses begin to re-open, it is more important than ever to prioritize relationship management and be mindful of how each business approaches potential buyers. Your business’s ability to adapt to an empathetic marketing strategy will have an impact on customer conversions.

Trends suggest that how a business communicates with clients during a time of crisis will directly impact the brand’s reputation for the foreseeable future. The goal is to design a communication strategy that leads with empathy from an honest place.

Using empathy as a tool and not a recovery plan

Understanding your client’s perspective is essential to your success. By listening to your customers needs, you can better provide them with whatever services or products could help them. You want to be their problem solver for the immediate, and need to present longer-term the value in your proposal.

By now, you should have your post-pandemic marketing strategy in place. However, there’s a high possibility that clients may still be uncomfortable with spending. Although sales are down for a majority of businesses, web traffic has increased significantly since March. Marketing Gong's Head of Content, Devin Reed believes customers aren’t making purchases, but they’re gathering information about who/how they want to spend when the time comes.

Positive and creative communication

HubSpot Marketing trends reveal email open rates are increasing and holding steady, but sales are down. Now what? Nurture these leads with a kind voice & helping hand so that when they reach financial recovery (individuals or businesses), they choose to purchase with you. Listen to your clients’ needs and only beneficial information. Deliver value first.

Remove words from your messaging that carry a negative connotation. However, don’t ignore the elephant in the room. Try new + creative email campaigns geared towards providing your clients with helpful resources. Response rates are 25-50% lower and sales open rates have tanked. The idea is to pull, NOT push your clients to you. Lead with relatable and positive messaging and don’t be afraid to add a little (tasteful) humor.

Utilize some of our Post and Courier Marketing Blogs and incorporate them as selling tools. We’ve written dozens of articles in an effort to help small businesses with tons of useful information pertaining to crisis marketing + other free tools we’ve created to help local businesses at this time.

Driving customer conversions during coronavirus

Posted on April 29, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

Stay at home orders mean more eyes on your advertising and a drastic increase in impressions. So how can you turn those impressions into increased conversions, and retain those spenders?

You’ll have to focus on improving your Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). This means, addressing all of the ways people are observing your brand and optimizing those channels around the increased eye traffic.

Drive Social Media Conversions

People staying at home and working at home are undeniably engaging more with social media. In a time of separation and distancing, we’re more desperate than ever to see what our peers are up to.

Hopefully, you’ve gotten ahead of this and already started increasing your organic and paid social media presence. Any impression is a good one, but targeted social advertising will give you the most valuable impressions. These leads will take the least amount of work to convert into spenders, since the social platform’s tools have already narrowed down your audience to your desired one.

Keep wording simple

One of the ways you can make your posts and social ads even more digestible is to simplify your wording. Don’t complicate your verbiage with words like “utilize” instead of just “use.” No matter how much you want to appear professional, social media isn’t the place to worry about that.

A valuable tool to help you simplify your messaging is the Hemingway Editor. This website and app reads your wording, grades its readability, and suggests simpler words and improved phrasing. This can be particularly handy if you need to stay under a character limit.

Don’t forget the CTA

Because the goal is to turn a viewer into a spender, you need to always have a fitting and powerful call to action. The person needs to understand what they’re getting into when they move from ad to website or form. The clickthrough needs to align with the content they stopped scrolling to read, after all. Deception is never the answer.

For advice on developing strong CTA’s, such as ones with urgency, check out this post.

Prepare your website for the traffic

Once people take action and click through or search up your website, the experience needs to be good. Between beefing up your site’s stability and designing it for usability, now is the time to give your website some love.

Speed up your pages

The masses are flooding the collective internet with clicks and scrolls right now. Even if your website isn’t being greatly impacted by increased traffic, it’s still a good time to focus on optimization. The last thing you want a new potential customer to see when they visit your website is a lack of graphics, or even worse… an error code.

Your website, and all others, are hosted by a web hosting company that surely hosts hundreds, thousands, or even millions of other websites. Your website’s stability is dependent on that host’s ability to deliver your site to users. So as all websites within the world wide web get bogged down together, your site needs to be ready for potential slowdowns.

Start by auditing your site’s speed. You can do this yourself by visiting your pages, but a full professional audit will allow you to identify the speed pain points slowing you down. This can include things such as image files that are unnecessarily large and plugins that would work just as well as an embed.

Be mobile friendly

As an interactive medium, most of your web traffic is going to come from social click throughs. This leads us to the important fact that almost all social media usage is done on a mobile device. Data shows that people use their mobile device 80 percent of the time for social media.

This means that as people quarantine, your mobile traffic is likely going to outweigh desktop traffic. Which makes a mobile friendly web experience more important than ever. As an added bonus, mobile friendly websites rank higher in google search results.

Whatever website builder or hosting platform you use for your website already likely takes mobile design into account. But this is an automated process. And the best mobile websites were built with mobile in mind first, then desktop.

Similar to load speed, give your site a mobile friendliness audit. This can even be done on a desktop by shrinking your browser’s window size down to look like a phone. As a tip, the aspect ratio size for most recent phones is 18:9. Older phones (pre iPhone X, for example) are 16:9, which still works on newer sizes. 16:9 phones are also the same size as standard monitors and television sets, just oriented vertically.

Give your web pages a look at this vertical sizing and see how your assets adjust and resize. Are your buttons and links large enough for a finger to tap on comfortably? Do your logos and images resize in a way they are still readable?

The truth is, internet-goers are becoming subconsciously used to pages that were built first for mobile, but viewed on a desktop. This is why most articles you read compress content into the middle, leaving a ton of whitespace around the sides. You likely have been finding websites to look cleaner over the last few years, without even giving thought to why. It all comes back to mobile.

Analyze your conversions

In the end, the most important thing you can be doing is looking at your data. Where are people coming from when they visit you online or in person?

Where did they discover you? How long are they spending on your feed or content? You have to track your customers’ journey. Google has shown that the top 10% of well-tracked accounts on google ads have a conversion rate of over 20%.

Your conversions should be easily trackable if you’re utilizing the right tools to drive clicks and other forms of direct engagement from prospective customers. So build up your online presence for both your website and social channels, and keep an eye on your conversions. This is an investment, and the current world circumstances might be setting you up for long term success.

Stimulus Checks Strategy for Businesses

Posted on April 21, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

This week, stimulus checks are being distributed into the pockets of consumers. Trends already show that people are spending their stimulus money on food, utilities, and gas. It shouldn’t be ignored that many folks receiving this check are looking for the financial support they need to simply survive the economic strain the coronavirus has caused. However, as a small business owner it is important that you market wisely to generate income during this time, too.

Small businesses are a pillar to the economy, and generating revenue is crucial to reviving the economy.

The way businesses choose to market and capture their audience + keep them engaged throughout the year is imperative. The saying, “business is business” has never held a truer meaning. As a business owner you cannot change the status of your customers’ bank account. But, you can put your best foot forward by inviting customers to spend with you and offering yourself as a useful resource.

Positive thinking related to business is very important right now. In order to implement a productive campaign, you must be willing to take some creative risk and pivot the company’s direction as needed. In a recent article, The Washington Post acknowledges that financial planners have urged people to use the money to buy basic necessities or pay off debt. Spending trends have already shown people are spending on essential goods. So if your company is non-essential, how do you market to potential customers?

First, think about who your ideal customers are. Then, consider what the company provides that could be beneficial to them right now and why it is helpful. The customer needs to trust you, and pitching something useful plays a part in that.

If a business is non-essential, promotions should incentivise the customer.

Furthermore, enrich the client database by capturing simple marketing information like an email address. Then, continue to engage these clients throughout the year with business updates and other promotions.

For example, perhaps your business decides to run a contest. The contest is to win a discounted service, which means the company still earns revenue. To enter the contest, the client must enter their email address into a form, which is then captured and organized into a CRM system. Utilize this same idea with a survey- the customer completes a survey which benefits the company by providing feedback. Upon completion of the survey, the customer is entered for their chance to win a small service/product. This same contest method can be implemented on social media as well. The client motivation should still be a reward, and the business incentive is customers (or in this case, followers/audience).

The idea is the customer provides useful information to the business, and they’re rewarded by the company. Therefore, potential revenue from customer growth + increased engagement = the ROI.

Lastly, create a way for people to give back to your company. Not everyone will have the finances right now to shop your product or afford your service. However, there are a lot of folks looking for ways to give back in amounts that are feasible to their wallet. And, you can’t leave out those who are financially stable and want to give back. Erin Lowry of Acorns suggests,

“If you’re fortunate enough to have job stability and an emergency savings fund that can cover anywhere from 4 to 6 months worth of expenses, you could spend some or much of the money to support small businesses and charitable causes you care about."

There are numerous ways to receive donations online. Keep the door open for those who want to come in! If you’re lucky enough to fall under this category, check out The Post and Courier Charity Guide for ways to give back.

5 creative ways businesses are advertising during COVID-19

Posted on April 20, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

The coronavirus pandemic has caused major disruptions in the advertising world. As this crisis affects everyone in different ways, remaining sensitive to all potential customers’ situations is challenging.

It’s important to keep capturing the attention of anyone who still needs your business right now, in whatever way you’re able to serve them. If you’re looking to come up with clever advertising strategies to reach customers living the stay at home life, the following examples might inspire you.

Lowes’ #BuildThanks advertising campaign

Lowes is one of the larger retail stores that has had the good fortune of remaining open throughout the pandemic. As an essential business, Lowes continues to sell products that help people maintain the home they’re stuck in. But instead of showing off the things it has to sell, Lowes is dedicating its advertising efforts to thanking frontline workers.

Lowes has committed $170 million to coronavirus relief and is asking customers to make and show off DIY thank you signs. They’ve even built a campaign around #BuildThanks. It’s a campaign that doesn’t compel people to spend money on products, but instead compels them to spend their time at home thanking modern-day heroes.

If your business already serves the work from home lifestyle and doesn’t need to advertise new products or services, consider dedicating your advertising to positive messages like this. Let your products speak for themselves and use this time to build your brand’s image.

J.P. Morgan is proud to be working from home

This commercial, highlighting J.P. Morgan Financial Advisors showcases how its employees are continuing to serve customers from home. The spot shows advisors utilizing their home office setups to work with customers.

This example shows that your messaging doesn’t have to center on your customers. You don’t just have to talk about how your products or services can suit the work from home life. Showing that your employees are operating from home allows you to lead by example.

Anheiser Bush advertising hand sanitizer production

Anheiser Busch is one of the countless alcoholic beverage companies dedicating their production chain to creating hand sanitizer.

We have a long history of supporting our communities and employees – this time is no different. That’s why we are using our supply and logistics network to begin producing and distributing bottles of hand sanitizer to accommodate the growing needs across the United States. pic.twitter.com/nqImcE5WJP

— Anheuser-Busch (@AnheuserBusch) March 22, 2020

This is a great example of repurposing products that aren’t as essential in the world we’re currently living. Perhaps your business has the ability to rework cloth supplies into facemasks. Anything that allows you to fill a demand that every customer has during these times.

Coca-Cola gets creative on social media

The world of social media advertising has always allowed for more creativity and unique messaging. Coca-Cola came up with the idea of handing over the keys to its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to health and welfare groups.

Our Twitter is going to look a little different as we donate our social feeds to experts and partners sharing helpful information. Stay tuned for messages making a difference. ❤️

— Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) April 7, 2020

Scrolling through the brand’s Twitter page, you’ll exclusively find retweets from organizations like The American Red Cross, United Way, and The Salvation Army. The company admits that its reach is best used to spread important messages from these groups right now. It’s a humble move that is surely creating powerful positive-will with customers for the Coke brand.

The takeaway for businesses here isn’t that you need a massive audience to spread positive messages, it’s that selflessness is more important than ever. Any move you can afford to make that tells customers you care more about a good cause than selling products, will elevate your brand.

Old Spice makes an old advertising new again

Old Spice got creative and efficient by repurposing old content in a way that supports stay at home efforts.

This ad, featuring Terry Crews was actually filmed and ran years ago. But in lieu of getting Crews back for a new commercial shoot, they simply had him record new lines which were then dubbed over the original video.

This advertisement keeps on-brand with the tongue in cheek style Old Spice has been pushing for years, while addressing the important message of staying home.

We can help you be the next source of inspiration

Your business and the way you run it is unique. As your local business partner, The Post and Courier is here to help you during these trying times. We can be the bridge between you and the customers that need to hear from you, more than ever. Contact us to get started on your next creative advertising campaign.

Webinar Takeaways: Marketing your Business in a Time of Crisis

Posted on April 7, 2020 | by Peyton Riddle

History shows: Don’t stop advertising!

Smart businesses excel in a crisis. From the Great Depression to September 11th, companies have found ways to thrive during tough times. As your competitors stop spending on advertising and your consumers spend more time consuming media, now is the time to put yourself out there.

During recessions, consumer confidence drops, but demand does not. Find out ways to alter the way you do business right now, and avoid being lost to history.

Data shows that businesses want to maintain or increase ad spending

Local businesses with greater experience in marketing plan to spend more on advertising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Media consumption rises by 60% when people are asked to stay at home. This includes both entertainment and news consumption. During this time, you have a larger audience and less ad clutter to compete against.

Consumers are seeking credibility

Consumers are paying more attention to local media right now, in an effort to confirm what they hear elsewhere. Advice and ideas for advertising to these consumers can help get your message communicated clearly and empathetically. Messages from non-essential and at-risk businesses have to be creative.

100% of customers need to be communicated with right now. People need to know the status of their surrounding businesses and how they are operating.

There are 3 main opportunities to consider. You can: sell new products to old customers, sell old products to new customers, or sell new products to new customers. Find out which is best for you and communicate that to everyone.

This is not the time to get your messaging wrong, find a marketing resource to help you find the right way to communicate.

Examples of effective messaging

From American Airlines and Uhaul to local dermatology doctors, businesses are thinking differently about their operations and messaging. Address the short term and long term. Advertise both what you’re doing to stay in business now, and what you can do to keep your customers spending when life returns to normal. Discounts and future offers are great for this.

Adapt your messaging to the unique environment of the world right now. Lean into the fact that people are working from home. Professional attire companies found a creative way to market clothes that keep you “looking sharp from the waist up” for a video conference.

You also need to be careful with your messaging. Companies should not make light of the situation or lean into the wrong aspect of this crisis. For example, a restaurant shouldn’t be offering free toilet paper with their delivery meals. That creates a bad look and might push away customers, even though it is timely and comes from a good intention.

Don’t assume your business is useless right now

Find ways to reframe your business or shift services. For example, a dog kennel service might appear useless right now with everyone staying home. But a smart way to shift this would be to deliver dog food or give out tips for taking care of your dog.

As another example, real estate professionals should be working harder to reach customers right now. This might be a tough time for people financially, but at the same time some people are being displaced or looking for a cheaper living situation.

Bring your product or service to the consumer. Don’t wait for the buyers to come back to you months from now, when we can leave our homes. Give people a reason to think about what you do and how you fit into the current environment.

Email Marketing Stats You Should Know

Covid marketing trends that are here to stay