Marketing Predictions for 2020 from Asterisk Creative

Marketing Predictions for 2020 | Asterisk Creative | Award-Winning Marketing AgencyOver 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!

What Does it Mean to be a Marketing and Communications Agency?

What Does it Mean to be a Marketing and Communications Agency?At Asterisk Creative, we pride ourselves on being an award-winning marketing and communications agency. But what exactly does that mean?

Bascially, a marketing and communications agency takes a full-service approach. We understand that no matter the set up, marketing must work with public relations which must work with digital and so on and so forth. It’s best for all involved when all of those entities can be under one roof.

At Asterisk Creative, we have teams that are segmented by specialty. However, we all work together to offer you a holistic approach. Whether you’re in need of branding, public relations, SEO, social media management, marketing materials, web design and development, or some combination thereof, our teams work together to make sure your messaging is cohesive and your overall goals are met. All of your campaigns are multi-faceted, and all facets are designed to work together. Your marketing communications are custom-designed to speak to your company and each of its target audiences. What you get in return is a higher lead generation count which ups your potential to increase sales. This is exactly what you should expect from a marketing and communications agency worth its salt.

If this sounds like the type of help you need – or that you’ll be looking for in the new year – give us a shout. We’d love to add you to our client roster and get your business going gangbusters!

Lead Generation in the Face of the Death of Sales Calls

Lead Generation in the Face of the Death of Sales Calls | Asterisk Creative | Southeast Branding and Marketing AgencyA recent study showed that nearly 90% of consumers no longer answer their phones. This is particularly true if they don’t recognize the number calling. Arguably, the increase in telemarketing and spam robocalls led us here. So if the unsolicited sales call is dead, how is lead generation supposed to happen for a business?

Many attribute success to inbound marketing. This is generating leads by marketing in a way that leads consumers to reach out to you. In order to be successful, businesses need to expand their prospecting, marketing, and communications strategies to reach their audiences through the channels the audiences prefer. More and more, this is moving toward digital marketing, especially through various social media outlets. Businesses lead potential customers to contact them through Facebook ads, boosted posts, and sponsored Instagram posts, for example. By leading clients to reach out – whether through phone call, direct message, or email – the sales close rate dramatically improves.

Let the team at Asterisk Creative help. We’re skilled in merging the many aspects of social media, email marketing, website design, branding, and public relations to reach our clients’ lead generation goals. Contact us today!

What is Interactive Marketing?

What is Interactive Marketing? | Asterisk Creative | Southeast Advertising AgencyAgencies throw around terms like interactive marketing as part of their daily jargon. But what is interactive marketing?

Interactive marketing is also known as event-driven marketing or trigger-based marketing. In this type of marketing, an event/trigger starts a two-way interaction between a potential customer and a company. (One example of such a trigger is a post on a social media outlet.) This one-on-one communication usually happens in the form of comments on posts. It is deeply dependent on a company’s content strategy and the content that is produced.

Interactive marketing tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, and other social media outlets allow these types of engagement and interactions with your audience. The challenges in interactive marketing come not just from creating content that will garner engagement from your audience. They also come in the monitoring and maintenance needed to keep the conversation going. In addition, gathering and combining customer information that is typically siloed to get out the right message at the right time presents a challenge.

At Asterisk Creative, we use our knowledge and experience to help you pick the interactive marketing outlets that are ideal for your company and your audience, as well as to assist you with the content needed for these platforms. Contact Asterisk Creative to get your interactive marketing campaign started today.