Influencer Marketing Archives | Asterisk Creative

Marketing Predictions for 2020 from Asterisk Creative

posted on: December 26, 2019

Over the last couple of months, lots of experts and pundits have made their lists of predictions of what will happen with marketing in the next year. So here are our marketing predictions for 2020.

Visual marketing will continue to grow.

This one’s a bit hard to believe. Given the rise of voice search through devices/apps like Alexa, Siri, and Google Home, it seems implausible. But mobile search is still on the rise, too. And studies have shown that people do not engage with plain text at the same rate as with visuals. (Visuals, in this case, could be videos, images, infographics, or other visual content.)

Consumers will expect more personalization in marketing.

Technology allows for more than just email marketing to be personalized now. In turn, consumers are now expecting it more. Given the data that is shared via all the various outlets that exist, personalization can come in the form of retargeting, lookalike audiences, product recommendations, and more.

New SEO tactics will need to be employed to reach digital marketing goals.

With the rise of voice search, mobile search, and local search, only optimizing site content around keywords will no longer be effective. Companies will need to invest time and/or funds into optimizing all on-page elements, as well as their profiles on outlets like Google My Business, Yelp, Bing Places, etc.

Spending on influencer marketing will increase.

As trust in celebrities (down to local level) continues to rise, spending on brands they recommend will continue to rise. As such, companies will need to look more into how to leverage influencers in their own social media marketing campaigns. This doesn’t necessarily mean marketing budgets will have to increase. It may mean business owners and marketing managers will need to take an in-depth look at their current marketing efforts to audit for what’s working and what’s not, then shifting funds as appropriate.

As an award-winning marketing agency, we’re adept at looking at what’s happened in the last year or so with successful marketing campaigns and judging what will be successful moving forward. If one of your 2020 business goals is to get your marketing on the right path, give us a shout!

Top 2019 Public Relations Trends to Watch

posted on: April 9, 2019

In every industry, as things change, a few hot trends emerge. Public relations is no different. Here are a few of the 2019 public relations trends you should keep an eye on.

Storytelling is still the heart of public relations.
We’ve long maintained we’re more than public relations practitioners or social media managers or website designers. We’re storytellers. As an article in Public Relations Today said, “No matter the platform being used, a story with a soul is important.” Our job, and the job of all PR practitioners, is to get those stories seen.
The line between public relations, marketing and advertising is becoming more and more blurred.
As companies review budgets for PR, marketing and advertising, we’ll see these three areas of business promotion become even more firmly intertwined. Public relations professionals today have been forced to become social media experts, content marketers, trend spotters, and brand ambassadors. We expect to see more of this as 2019 moves along. We’ll see more PR firms offering broader services, doing more than just traditional PR.
Influencer marketing will continue to grow, and PR professionals will help that.
We’ll see this more in certain industries – like mommy blogs, restaurants, and the beauty industry. But this one can be a game changer. Influencers can help a business reach an entirely new market or niche. A PR pro well-versed in how influencer marketing works knows just what to pitch and just what to offer to get their clients in front of these new audiences by connecting with the right influencers.
Consumer trust in the media will continue to wane, but public relations practitioners will help fight it.
It’s no secret that overall consumer trust in the media has diminished in the last few years. But PR pros have the opportunity to fight that with their pitches. When bringing a story to the media, it is a PR pro’s growing responsibility to bring their media partners meaningful stories backed up by reputable stats, expert input, and solid facts to ensure the information published is accurate and reliable.

If you need help staying on top of the latest public relations trends and keeping your business’ story seen, contact Asterisk Creative. Our team offers public relations, web design, social media marketing, and more, so we can be your one-stop storytelling shop!

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.