Creating EPIC Graphics for Your Business

Today we’ll be talking about the best tips and tricks on how to create stunning graphics for your business’s social media pages, infographics, advertisements, billboards, etc.! It may seem like a daunting task at first but have no fear! After you are finished reading this article you be well equipped to tackle this endeavor with great success.

1.     Pay Attention to The Core Values & Themes of Your Business: You want your graphics to reflect that, if you have a business that is dedicated to fitness you don’t want to go and post quotes about love on your pages and vice versa. The first step is to figure out what types of content and quotes most closely match your business’s core philosophies. We also take this into consideration when considering the visuals, we are looking to use for our posts. If your business focuses on beach attire, you wouldn’t want to pick a visual that depicts a city’s skyline for your post as it just doesn’t match your product or theme you want to show consumers.

2.     What Program are You Going to Use: For programs available to create beautiful graphics we have a couple very high-quality options that come to mind. The first being Canva, which allows you to choose from hundreds of templates, fonts, shapes, pic art, combined with an easy to use format gives you all you need to create an amazing image that will be an accurate visual representation of your business’s core principles. Another viable option is the program Adobe Spark, which allows for professional level quality visuals, and loads of customization options, it does require a bit more practice to become proficient with, as the interface is not quite as user friendly as Canva’s is. There are many other programs available across the web, but these are the two we have personally had the most success with.

3.     Get Creative: The most important thing about creating graphics for your business though is to remember to fully express your creativity, trying different color combinations, visuals backgrounds, fonts, and font sizes, there is many different routes you can go. Perhaps come up with some type of weekly post, of a certain style of visual.

We hope that this post has been an enlightening experience on how easy it can be to create beautiful visuals for your business.

Three Helpful Tips to Create More Successful Social Media Campaigns in 2020

Creating a social media campaign can be a lot of work, that’s why today I’m going to go over some helpful tips and tricks on how to make the process go a lot more smoothly. We’ll be talking about things such as the Pomodoro technique, using a planner, calendars, and other tips to help you keep a clear mind to be your most productive self during the creation of your campaign.

1.     Pomodoro technique: What is it? The Pomodoro technique is essentially a way to better manage your time while working for maximum productivity. It is working in intervals, generally people will work 25-30 minutes at a time, followed up by a 5-minute break, then you continue these intervals until you reach your fourth interval, then you will take a long break up, around 30 minutes or so. This helps to keep your mind fresh, and not become overwhelmed from too much continuous work, it is works very well, and is personally one of my favorite techniques I have developed over the years.

2.     Using a planner: Using a planner is exactly how it sounds getting a planner and filling it up with all of your different goals, aspirations, meetings, project due dates, etc. This helps to keep your mind focused on what you are doing in the present, because you’ve already written down all of the other things you need to do, and when you need to do them by, so you don’t stress about them as much as you usually would. It is also a good idea to create mini goals, or steps that are achievable along the way to a larger goal, as this keeps your motivation and lets you know you’re on the right path. Using a planner can pay huge dividends in your life, if you have various different things you are focusing on at once.

3.     Using a Wall Calendar: Is one of the easiest ways to keep yourself on track for whatever endeavor you are currently tackling in your life. Simply put a wall calendar in a place you pass by or see frequently such as in the restroom, a spot in your bedroom or kitchen, and each day you accomplish a step to a goal you are working towards put a big X through that day, this is you playing mind games with yourself essentially because after a couple weeks it will begin to form a nice chain and you won’t want to break that chain. Even if you do, because as we all know in life things inevitably do happen when we least expect, just try your best to never miss two days in a row, I have also personally used this technique in my own life to stay on top of habits I wish to form and have found it very effective.

We hope that this list of tips and tricks, we’ll help you to stay on track tackling your goals and to do so with a clear mind.

Digital Strategies 101: Explaining Some Common Online Marketing Concepts

Having an established brand and high converting website is one thing, but when it comes to digital marketing in 2019 there are so many possible strategies to pursue it can make your head spin! After all, there seems to be an ever-growing amount of social networks, platforms and tools to use than ever before. In fact, some get so overwhelmed when trying to understand marketing that they give up before even trying. And then for the ones who do try, it can be very disappointing when their money is lost due to a failed marketing strategy. But don't worry. This article is going to break down all the different kinds of marketing strategies that exist today and catch you up to speed as to which is right for you.

Social Media

Social media is the use of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your brand. Every brand should use some form of social media - most platforms are free to use and it is a great way to engage with your customers. The brands who should not be on social media are the ones who look to create a platform on every platform. This is unwise because it will lead to you doing a lot of work for what could be a low return on your investment. 

Social media works when your brand uses it to create engaging content that you post on a regular basis. It doesn't work when you try to inundate your customers with profiles on every single platform. This just wastes your own time and doesn't bear as much fruit as posting more strategically to platforms you know will be effective. 

Social Media Ads

Purchasing paid ads through social networks is a great way to spread the organic reach of your social media posts. This is a great tool for anyone who frequently shares content via social media or who wants to target specific demographics with their ads. It usually works when you have a specific audience in mind for your post. It doesn't work when you try to cast too wide of a net and end up reaching users who may or may not want to see your message. There is a low cost for entry when it comes to social media ads, so if you write effective copy and create compelling ads you can expect a significant return on your investment. 

If you need help putting together a custom strategy or have questions don't hesitate to contact us. We'd be happy to walk you through it all. 

Four Digital Marketing Habits to Get into in 2020

1.      Be diligent in your research: If you’re deciding how you’re going to advertise a new product, you must look at many different variables to find out who your target market is, what demographics do they fit into, their religion, their income, their gender, their ethnicity, the amount of children they have, and that is just on the surface. What makes your potential consumer tick, what are their inner most desires. You can find these things out and much more, through research, whether that be focus groups, surveys, etc. You have a wide range of tools at your disposal, and with the ever-changing landscape of the consumer market, it is important to always fine tune your target market.

2.      Know Your Why: While consumers are going to always be interested in what your selling, they want to know who is selling it, when it is going to go on sale. The most important W out of the 5 is Why, why are you selling what you are selling, what change do you hope to see in the world from people having your product and/or service. Is it simply to just have more money in your pocket and that’s it? While not exactly what I’d call inspiring, I do commend you for your honesty. Having a powerful why is one of the best habits to create for your business, take some time to really sit down and think about why you want to do what you want to do.

3.      Be Human: In a day and age of forever increasing automation, artificial intelligence, and fake connections. We should all as marketers want to try to be as genuine and human as possible in our approach. Whether that be in our advertisements, our public relations, or even with our own staff, we need to remember that transparency and the warmth that can only be created by a true human connection, are some of things hold closet to their hearts.

4.      Pay Attention to The Competition: For our last good marketing habit to get into, is to pay attention to your competitors! See what materials they’re using, what’s their customer service like, what is about their product that consumers like more than yours. Your competitors are one of your greatest reservoirs of information. So much to learn through their mistakes and successes. Do not be too prideful to make use of this information.

I hope you’ve found this information useful, and informative, and may it assist you greatly in all of your future marketing endeavors.

Three Strategies to Get more Organic Reach on Facebook

This Week I had the pleasure to chat with a Major Nationwide Brand… and they we’re wanting to find out why their Facebook Page was not getting any organic reach anymore.  It was truly an eye-opening experience as I was shocked that such a large brand that was dialed in team wise with social, but they were lacking any community engagement.  The call was actually really simple….  I said You’re Doing it WRONG if you want Facebook to play with you!   Then stayed silent… they said hmmmm?  I could tell that they we’re a little shocked with my real feedback!

Then I lead with my Top 3 Types of Posts that WORK for sure on Facebook… I said if you do these each week along with your other posts, I guarantee that you will get more organic reach each week!

1)     MEMES – Especially Funny Memes… search on Google or Make your own MEMES that are focused on the funny topics around your business… don’t BRAND them with your logos.  No one wants to share a post if it looks like a Ad Billboard!

2)     MOTIVATIONAL – Find motivation quotes around your audience and motivate them each week or even better on the weekend!  These won’t get as much love as FUNNY… but it will for sure resonate with your community weekly

3)     CONTESTS – Give away your products, services, or even just a $10-$20 Starbucks Gift Card weekly to your fans… they goal should be to have them Like and Comment on your post to be entered to the contest!  This is the for SURE way to get engagement…. GIVE TO GET!

Facebook is a community… if you try to send them to a landing page, website, or away from Facebook it’s going to COST you Organic REACH, and if that is all you’re doing on Facebook .. you will slowly LOSE!

Take these three keystone content elements and run with them.. I promise you that your community with GROW & THRIVE AGAIN.    

3 Tactical ways to go VIRAL in 2020

Do you think you have what it takes to go Viral? WE DO :)

Today we’re going to be discussing on how to get your business to go viral! The holy grail of social media the viral hashtag, challenge or meme! It is as elusive as it as glorious, many have tried and failed, but we will be giving you the toolkit on how to greatly increase your chances of success of achieving such a lofty feat.

1.     Create a challenge! Examples of challenges are the ice bucket challenge! The mannequin challenge! Or even the more dangerous tide pod challenge! (Please do not try this at home.), the Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge! Or to throw it way back planking! These are all viral sensations that were wildly successful, all very different but very intriguing to the masses, so get in the lab with your colleagues and begin to brain storm, jot down potential ideas, and experiment with the good ones and put them into practice, who knows you may be on the verge of the next big thing.

2.     Viral Hashtag! Examples of viral hashtags throughout the years are #TheDress, #HeForShe, #PutYourBatsOut, #BlackLivesMatter, #CupForBen, as you can see many of these viral hashtags are tied to cause that people are passionate about. Find a cause your company truly believes in and wants to assist and create something witty, hilarious, or daring that could potentially help to support that cause!

3.     Viral Memes! Examples of viral memes are the world record egg! Which shattered Kylie Jenner’s previous record of most liked Instagram post, it was a quirky post which caught fire all across the social media platform being liked by millions upon millions of users all across the world. Fixing things with instant ramen! Bottle Cap challenge! Tough Guy Entrance! And many, many more! There is so much opportunity to create the next viral meme, just requires some creativity, a little elbow grease, and a great sense of humor!

We hope you found this information to be not only helpful but inspiring in your quest to make your business the best it can possibly be!

Pitfalls to Avoid In Your Influencer Marketing Campaign

Influencer marketing - that is, using people with a social influence in a particular field is here to stay.  It is essentially establishing a relationship with a person so that they help you create relationships. Influencer relationships work. One pitfall, in fact, is probably not using one. That said, here are common mistakes marketers make in their influencer marketing, and how to steer clear of them. 

Bad briefs

The quality of your communication is everything. A lousy brief will waste everybody's time: the influencer's because they have to edit it, and yours, because of the to and fro feedback loop. So make sure you write clear, concise, and accurate information. It's also key to give your influencer creative freedom. Provide the necessary information, not copy. Also, do not micromanage.

Choosing a Name, Rather Than Relevance

Most marketers fall into the pitfall of choosing big names as opposed to relevance. Remember, the audience of the influencer is the audience you are targeting. That's why if, for example, you are marketing new software, a leading expert in technology influencer with 15k followers is better than a food blogger with 100k followers.

Relinquishing Content Control

While it's essential to give the influencer creative freedom, it's crucial to stay on the same page. Reading from different scripts can cause disappointment and fallouts, situations everyone wants to avoid. Give the influencers a list of clearly defined deliverables. Articulate your expectations from the very beginning of the campaign. Have them include a call to action, specifying exactly what the audience should do. Again while doing all these, allow them freedom. Remember, they know their audience better than you.

Failure to Stick With the Right One

75% of marketing teams agreed that finding the right influencer is a challenge. If your influencer ticks all the right boxes of what you value in one, hold tightly to them. A long-term relationship with an influencer ensures consistency and also cements your brand's relationship with the audience.  

Treating Your Influencer like an Advertisement Agency

Working with your influencer should be about a relationship, not a transaction. Get them involved with your brand. Give them the complete experience, and not only will they be grateful, but they will also feel more connected with your brand. This is powerful because the quality of the content they share will be earnest and impression-making.

So there you go. Influencer marketing is a way to go above the basics and reach niche audiences. Avoiding these pitfalls will keep your influencer marketing game strong, and everybody wins.

Contact us  to learn more about influencer marketing.

How to Attract More Customers to Your Social Media Page in 5 Minutes!

In the day and age of fast pace social media, advertisements, and viral content, it can be confusing and often times frustrating trying to figure out ways to attract new customers to your blog, website, or social media page. Well that’s what we here at Real-Time OutSource are going to teach you to do today, in 5 minutes!

1.      First! Look at the current trends in the landscape of social media, what is hot right now? What memes are getting the most reposts and tags? What hashtags are blowing up right now? What is the funniest video on the web? Find these currently hot items and somehow make your business relevant to that, in an attempt to ride the wave, it is a very easy way to create more buzz for your business and in turn get more customers clicking your way.

2.      Is there a cause that your company is passionate about? Breast cancer awareness? Lupus? ALS? You can create something that will not only get you more customers but also more importantly create a meaningful impact. Take for example the famous ice bucket challenge, while it may seem silly and ineffective it did wonders in raising money for research and created real positive change, all off one viral challenge. Take some time to brainstorm with your colleagues to create the next ice bucket challenge!

3.      Give an incentive to future potential customers to want to visit your page, holding a contest perhaps, where if someone reposts something and follows your page, they get throw into a random drawing to win a prize! Things like this get people excited, as nothing sounds better than free. This is an easy way to create a big buzz with minimal cost. These are all unorthodox methods of creating brand awareness, guerilla marketing if you will.

4.      Other more traditional ways of getting more customers to your page, are using tools such as Google Ads which is tremendously useful it allows you to show ads to targeted demographics all across the web whether that be on Google’s own search engine, YouTube, different blogs, and any kind of website you can think of where your customer may be going to.

I hope you all have found this information useful, but always information is only good if it is being applied!

Where to find inspiration when planning your Digital in 2020!

Today we’re going to discuss where we can find inspiration for new ideas on what to post, what to talk about with your customers, new ad campaigns, new video ideas, new podcasts, anything and everything that can help your business grow!

1.     See what other creatives are doing!

Contrary to popular belief it is okay to take inspiration from others. Look at your competitors’ websites, for those “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments, this will help your company to grow and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of business and social media. Another way you can do this is to read more blogs just like this one, watch YouTube videos, get in contact and discuss with other creatives.

2.     Brainstorm with your colleagues.

You can begin a brainstorming session with your coworkers! Take some time out of the work day to sit down with your employees and just discuss, pitch ideas back and forth to one another. List the pros and cons of each of your ideas and give constructive criticism. The way to do this effectively is by making everyone feel that their ideas matter and they will not be criticized for offering their ideas. Make it a weekly thing, and watch the new ideas come in abundance.

3.     Talk to your customers!

Where better to find ideas than your most important resource your customers, ask them open ended questions to find out what makes them tick, what makes them truly enjoy a product, why do they buy certain products? Is it for ethical reasons, is it because it’s innovative, do they buy the product because the company’s ads really moved them in some way? There are many different reasons why people buy things, but each reason is special and unique to that person, the main reason for this exercise is to try and find a specific trend of reasons among your targeted demographic.

Two Most Common Mistakes Businesses make on Social Media

Today were going to be discussing all too common mistakes that appear on businesses social media posts, these mistakes will make your business look less credible and will turn customers away. We will be discussing how to remedy these unfortunate situations.

 1.      Grammar

First, we will be discussing grammar errors in your posts, on your social media pages, or your website. Things such as using the wrong there, their, they’re, or using inappropriate capitalization, makes your page look as if you did not take the time to proofread before posting it. This will make consumers think if you couldn’t even take the time to do a quality inspection on something as small as a post, are you really going to inspect the quality of your products before shipping them? It makes your overall business seem sloppy and not well polished. Ways to cure this, would be using an app such as Grammarly, which helps you to find and correct grammar mistakes while you are creating your posts. Another way would be just to thoroughly go over your posts once or twice, to ensure maximum quality. While a mistake or two will undoubtedly make its way through your defenses one way or another, taking the necessary precautions to prevent this are worthwhile and will be appreciated by your customers.

2.      Having Poor Quality Photos

Second, another common mistake we see on businesses social media pages is poor quality photos. This is very off-putting to consumers and is disappointing to see that you could not take the time to either edit your photos, invest in or pay someone to craft high quality photos for you. It makes your business look very generic, if you have grainy, low resolution photos, but with a little work you can have very nice-looking photos, which is typically synonymous with quality in consumers’ minds. This will get your customers excited to see if the pictures look this good, they can only imagine how great the actual product will be! Ways to fix this common mistake, would be to invest in a decent DSLR camera, doesn’t have to be a top of the line and there are many affordable options to choose from. You could even use some of the newer cell phone cameras as a substitute, the newer models have very capable cameras on them and with some editing can create astounding photos. That brings us to our next solution, which is investing in some good editing software, many of the Adobe Creative Suite programs are excellent options such as Lightroom and Photoshop and are worthwhile investments for any business looking to create high quality photos, logos, and among many other different kinds of marketing material.