Marketing Archives | Page 2 of 2

How Important is a Competitive Marketing Analysis?

posted on: September 19, 2018

When considering your marketing plan, a competitive marketing analysis is a critical piece of the puzzle. Here’s why.

A competitive analysis will reveal your direct competition (those selling the same products/services as you in the same geographic area) as well as your indirect competition (those selling products/services similar to yours – not the same – that solve the same problem for the customer). You’ll need to know and understand both sets of competition to set the right strategy to give you a competitive advantage.
Knowing where your competitors are advertising can inform decisions on where you should advertise, too. We’re not saying place ads beside your competitors everywhere they are. But it’s possible that outlets they’re using but you hadn’t considered could be a good fit for you, too. It’s also possible that some of their advertising speaks to a niche market you hadn’t thought of before but makes sense after all.
Your competitors’ marketing messages can reveal their strengths and their weaknesses. Playing on their weaknesses, so to speak, differentiates your business from theirs, and this may speak to a pain point for a segment of clients you can help and they can’t.
Partnership and cross-promotion opportunities may present themselves. Just as knowing where your competitors are advertising, knowing the types of businesses they’re using for partnerships or cross-promotion can spark ideas for you, too.
Knowing which publications cover your competitors gives you a list of publications for your public relations people to target as well.

The marketing team at Asterisk Creative are pros at conducting a competitive marketing analysis for our clients, then setting a goal-focused marketing strategy from the findings. Contact Asterisk Creative and get your marketing analysis started today!

The Basics of Influencer Marketing

posted on: August 23, 2018

There’s a lot of talk these days about influencer marketing and how to work with influencers to promote your brand, products, and services. But what is influencer marketing?

In every industry, there are those that others look to for best practices, up-to-date-information, etc. These are your influencers. With the growth of blogging and social media, influencers can dive deeper into niches, specializing in very specific products, locales/neighborhoods, or both.

Many influencers – and those that fancy themselves as such – reach out to companies they’d like to partner with and offer blog posts and/or social media posts in exchange for goods and services. Some business owners fall prey to these folks throwing big numbers at them, but without asking the right questions, they may as well be handing their wares to Joe Blow on the street.

Instead, business owners need to be checking out the influencer’s blog/social media to see if they’re even a good fit for the brand. If that seems to be a match, business owners dig deeper. What’s the influencer’s average reach per post? How have similar posts done, engagement-wise? How many posts will the business get in exchange for the goods/services they’re providing? What type of editorial approval process is included? Business owners need to stay on top of whether the influencer is honoring the brand and reputation they’ve worked to build…or are they tearing it all down in one big swoop.

Does all of this sound overwhelming to you? Don’t let influencer marketing fall on your shoulders, on top of everything else. Let us put our knowledge and contacts to use for you. Contact Asterisk Creative today.

Asterisk Creative – Your Digital Marketing One-Stop Shop

posted on: June 26, 2018

There are a lot of components to digital marketing. In general, it is comprised of website design and development, SEO, social media marketing, and pay-per-click advertising. Basically, it’s any marketing and advertising that appears online.

Many freelancers and solopreneurs fancy themselves digital marketers, jacks-of-all-trades so to speak. We’re here to tell you that that’s nearly impossible. Keeping up with algorithm changes, privacy laws, best practices, and such across one or two digital marketing platforms can be a full-time job in and of itself. One person may be able to do well across the board, but they cannot really excel.

At Asterisk Creative, we understand this and have a team behind your digital marketing. We have folks that focus solely on social media, solely on website design, solely on SEO – and each knows their specialty inside and out. They work and train to stay on top of the latest and greatest in their field, and they put that knowledge to work for our clients. Additionally, they work together to make sure all of the client’s digital marketing elements are working together favorably and promoting the brand appropriately.

Don’t trust your digital marketing to just anyone. To get your digital marketing going full speed, contact Asterisk Creative today.

A CAN-SPAM Primer for Email Marketing

posted on: May 30, 2018

CAN-SPAM Primer for Email Marketing If you use email marketing for your business, you need to know the CAN-SPAM law inside and out. This federal law breaks down what is allowed and what isn’t when it comes to email marketing.

Here are a few main components of the law, straight from the government’s website:

Your header information must be accurate. Your “From,” “To,” and “Reply-To,” information must be correct and identify the person or business who sent the message. This includes the originating domain name and email address.
You should not use deceptive subject lines. The subject line must accurately reflect what the email is about. You should not put anything in a headline that’s sole purpose is to get someone to click the link, but then the email isn’t what the headline promised.
Let your subscribers know the message is an ad. There’s nothing specific about HOW you should do this within the law. However, you must disclose in a clearly visible way that your message is an advertisement.
You must include your physical addresss in the email message. This can be your current street address, a P.O. Box you’ve registered with the USPS, or a private mailbox you’ve rented through a facility like the UPS Store or those types of locations. But it absolutely HAS to be an address currently associated with your business.
You must tell recipients how to stop receiving emails from you. Your email must include an explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting emails from you in the future. It must be easily understandable and easy for the recipient to execute. One option is an opt-out link within the email. Another option is instructions on emailing a specific address and what to include in that message.
You must remove opt-outs quickly. Opt-out requests must be removed from your subscriber list within 10 business days. You cannot charge to remove people from your list. You also cannot require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on a website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request. Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-SPAM Act.
Responsibility lies with you for the law being followed by your blasts, even if you have a company doing your email blasts for you. Both your company (the company being promoted in the message) and the company you hired that actually sends the message can be held legally responsible.

Breaking any part of this federal law opens your company to the risk of a fine of up to $40,654. That’s not a fee many of our clients could survive. So if you need help staying on top of email marketing laws and best practices, give Asterisk Creative a shout!

Let Us Be Your Storytellers

posted on: April 20, 2018

Let Us Be Your Storytellers | Southeast Marketing and Branding Agency | Asterisk Creative At Asterisk Creative, we talk a lot about being storytellers. But what do we mean by that?

Effective advertising and marketing campaigns don’t just market a product or a service. They convey your brand message to your target audience. They authentically communicate the values of your company. In short, they tell your story.

As one of the southeast’s premier advertising, marketing and branding agencies, Asterisk Creative has made storytelling an award-winning business. We understand that in order to grow a brand you must find the genuine values that speak to your target audience. We know that you must then leverage those in a way that creates new business. Our team focuses on your marketing and branding goals and how they pertain to your overall business objectives. We take a big-picture look at what is meaningful branding-wise, and we set a clear definition of what success will look like. Our team then gets to work on creating a branding and marketing strategy that is the right mixture of design, advertising, & public relations. All to get your story told effectively.

We have a team of storytellers, creative minds with the capability to create content, design, and experiences that will speak to your audience in a way nothing else can. Contact Asterisk Creative and have your story told.

Why You Need A Marketing Strategy

posted on: April 5, 2018

Why You Need a Marketing Strategy | Marketing Agency | Asterisk Creative | Southeast As a business owner, you’re probably used to laying out most facets of your business. If you own a restaurant, you know to lay out your menu, when to order your ingredients, what the high times are for your establishment, etc. If you own a construction company, you know who your preferred vendors are, how to plan a project calendar, which industry groups are important for you to be a part of and those types of things. So why would you leave your marketing to chance?

A marketing strategy takes all facets of your business and looks at where you are now and what your ultimate goals are then lays out a plan to get you there. Without a marketing plan, you could very well be wasting hundreds or thousands of dollars, if not more, getting your name in front of the wrong audience or hitting the right audience at the wrong time. On the other hand, strategic marketing involves intensive research to find the right audience for your business, competitive analysis to gain perspective on what works and what doesn’t, the optimal outlets for reaching your audience and the best times for reaching those folks. With that intel, you can then lay out how to budget for these items and a timeline for deadlines to make sure you don’t miss out on an important outlet.

When you own a business, this may seem like a lot to add to your plate, especially if you don’t know where to start finding some of the information about your audience or the outlets available to you. Asterisk Creative KNOWS marketing strategy, so let us help. Contact Asterisk Creative today.