You’ve probably heard of the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey, and we all move through it on a near-daily basis. But have you taken the time to think about the important role it plays in the experience you provide for your customers?
The consideration stage sits in the middle of the buyer’s journey and plays a crucial role in positioning you as a viable option for prospects. It’s the point in their journey where they’ve identified their problem and are ready to explore every potential solution.
In this blog, we’ll explore the consideration stage and the vital role content marketing plays during this period. You can take what you learn to improve your middle of funnel content and position yourself as a strong competitor moving into the decision stage.Have you read our blog about creating effective content for the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey? It provides an overview of the buyer’s journey, buyer personas, and what you need to know about awareness stage content. Check it out!
What is the Consideration Stage?
Prospects enter the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey when they’ve pinpointed a specific problem. In the awareness stage, they realized there was something in their life they wanted to change. Now, they’re ready to learn about all of the possible solutions to solving that problem. Many buyers take the time to review several options in depth before moving on to the decision stage.
It’s important to remember that consideration stage prospects are focused on finding potential solutions, rather than making a purchase. If you want them to seriously consider you as a potential solution, demonstrate empathy by showing them that you understand their problem.
Why is Content Marketing Important In the Consideration Stage?
The best way to demonstrate empathy to prospective customers is through strategic content marketing. Don’t push your brand prematurely or go for the hard sell with invasive, aggressive advertising. Instead, provide educational content that explores all of the potential solutions to their problem. Ultimately, your goal is to make the short list of options they’re considering as they move into the decision stage.
How to Create Effective Consideration Stage Content
You know that your consideration stage content should impartially educate prospects on potential solutions to their problem. But how can you go about creating that content? It all begins with understanding your audience.
Start by thinking through all of the different options your prospects might consider as the solution to their problem. Can they solve it on their own, or do they need outside help? Is the solution sold off-the-shelf, or is it customized to their specific needs? Try to put yourself in their shoes. Which questions are they asking? What are their most pressing concerns? What are their deal breakers?
Identifying the questions that prospects ask themselves in the consideration stage can help you stick out in their minds moving into the decision stage. You’ll be able to create messaging that speaks directly to their concerns and narrow your target audience to qualified leads who can actually use the solution you have to offer.
Questions to Ask Yourself As You Create Consideration Stage Content
It’s important to be thoughtful and deliberate when creating content for the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey. Your goal is to provide prospects with as much detailed information as possible about each of their options. To do so, ask yourself the following questions about your prospects’ problem:
Which specific solutions are they researching?
How do they go about researching these solutions?
How will they decide which solution is right for them?
This is another great post for an internal link! Integrating your analytics post here makes a lot of sense because understanding what content works during the consideration stage relies heavily on data.
1. Under “How to Create Effective Consideration Stage Content”
In the second paragraph, you talk about putting yourself in your prospects’ shoes to understand the questions they are asking and their most pressing concerns. Analytics are the exact tool marketers use to uncover these behaviors.
Suggested edit: “…Try to put yourself in their shoes. Which questions are they asking? What are their most pressing concerns? What are their deal breakers? If you aren’t sure where to start, looking at your content marketing analytics can deliver actionable insights into what your audience is already searching for and engaging with.“
2. Under “Questions to Ask Yourself As You Create Consideration Stage Content”
You list three bulleted questions that marketers need to ask themselves. You can easily add a sentence right after the bulleted list explaining how to answer those questions.
Suggested edit: “…ask yourself the following questions about your prospects’ problem:
Which specific solutions are they researching?
How do they go about researching these solutions?
How will they decide which solution is right for them?
What to Avoid When Creating Consideration Stage Content
The most important thing to avoid in the consideration stage is being pushy or salesy. Instead, nurture prospects strategically and consider the long game. Provide them with relevant information at the right time to stay top-of-mind as they move towards the decision stage. Here are a few things to avoid as you create consideration stage content:
Producing content that sounds like an infomercial
Overselling or underselling your brand
Overtly promoting yourself as the best solution
Creating content that’s too general to provide value
What Content is Most Effective During the Consideration Stage?
There are a variety of types of content you can leverage to your advantage during the consideration stage. We’ll take a closer look at a few consideration stage content examples below.
Live Webinars / Product Demonstrations
Webinars and product demos provide a valuable opportunity to show prospects how your offerings work and benefit their lives. And because they’re online, webinars are accessible to everyone, not just those who can travel to an in-person seminar.
Downloadable Resources
These include things like Ebooks, original research, how-to guides, tip sheets, templates, checklists, and slideshares. Providing valuable information free of charge not only helps you educate prospects, but presents you as a trustworthy authority that has their best interests in mind.
Videos
Videos can be a concise, visual way to explain your products or services. And in some cases, they’re a more effective way to tell your story than blog posts, articles, or case studies.
Testimonials / Customer Reviews
Testimonials provide valuable social proof from people who have actually used your product or service. And studies show that a whopping 90% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. Prospects are more likely to listen to their peers than aggressive marketing pitches, making customer reviews the perfect way to establish trust.
Case Studies
Case studies are a great way to showcase your past successes to prospects. They’ll be able to see exactly how your product or service benefitted a past customer, helping you build credibility. Proving your worth also helps improve your reputation and grow brand awareness within your industry.
Free Trials
If possible, offer qualified prospects a free trial of your product or services. This demonstrates goodwill and positions you as a trustworthy candidate in their search for the solution to their problem.
Ready to create consideration stage content marketing for your business? Our team of content marketing specialists is here to help.
Have you ever used direct mail marketing for your business? In the digital age, many marketers avoid direct mail because they think it’s old-fashioned and can’t compete with other channels. Other companies have used direct mail before, but weren’t happy with their ROI because their campaign wasn’t well executed.
If you’ve ever asked “what is direct mail marketing?” or want to learn more about this time-tested marketing channel, we’re here to help. This ultimate guide provides the basics you need to understand direct mail marketing. We’ve also sprinkled in tips and advice that will help you execute your next campaign like a pro.
What Is Direct Mail Marketing?
Before we can get into the details, it’s important to define direct mail and direct mail marketing. Let’s start by answering a common question :: what is direct mail?
Direct mail is print marketing that’s sent out in the mail (usually via the USPS). It can come in a variety of formats, such as postcards, brochures, and parcels. Direct mail can contain coupons and offers, or it can be purely informational with a soft call to action (CTA). Direct mail is sent to a predefined group of people on a mailing list or carrier route (a smaller segment of a ZIP Code).
Direct mail marketing is a form of direct marketing that targets people with direct mail pieces sent in the mail. Like any marketing channel, it has its own set of best practices. We’ll take a closer look at two of them below.
Direct Mail Best Practice :: The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule
When it comes to direct marketing, the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule is one of the oldest plays in the book. This guideline was developed in the 1960s by marketing pioneer Ed Mayer. Basically, the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule provides advice on how marketers should break down their direct marketing efforts.
While the 40 / 40 / 20 Rule was created in the pre-Internet age, it’s still relevant today — especially for direct mail marketing. The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule breaks successful direct marketing down into three main elements :: audience, offer, and everything else.
Audience. You should focus 40% of your attention on choosing the right audience for your direct mail piece. Even if your mail piece is perfectly designed, your efforts will be wasted if you send it to people who aren’t interested or can’t use your offer.
Offer. Mayer recommends putting 40% of your energy into creating a relevant offer. Providing recipients with an appealing offer they can actually use encourages them to take action. Including a CTA with your offer is very helpful because your audience knows their next steps.
Everything else. Dedicate the final 20% of your time and energy to the details. This includes elements like direct mail format, design, and copy.
Direct Mail Best Practice :: Reach vs. Frequency
Balancing reach with frequency is also critical to any direct mail marketing strategy. Here’s what we mean by reach and frequency:
Reach is the number of people you send your direct mail piece to. In other words, it’s the number of people on your mailing list or carrier route. If you mail to 2,500 people, your reach for that campaign is 2,500.
Frequency is the number of times you send your direct mail piece to the same person. If the same person sees your ad two times, the frequency for that campaign is two.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking reach is more important than frequency. You want to get in front of as many people as possible, right? Not necessarily! According to the Rule of Seven, people must see your brand at least seven times before they notice it and take action. That’s a lot of impressions!
With this in mind, you should always prioritize frequency over reach when sending direct mail. Mail to a smaller group of people several times, instead of a large group of people one time. Like any marketing channel, consistency is key to your success because it helps you stay top of mind.
Can Direct Mail Marketing Work for My Business?
Yes! Direct mail works for businesses and organizations in every industry you can think of. Here’s a short list of businesses and organizations that can benefit from direct mail:
Restaurants
Gyms
Grocery Stores
Churches
HVAC Companies
Landscaping Companies
Accounting / Tax Firms
Automotive Shops
Dentists
Salons
Whether you’re looking to boost sales, increase brand awareness, or reactivate lapsed customers, direct mail can do it all.
Not convinced yet? Just check out these direct mail response rates from the Compu-Mail. The response rate to direct mail can be as high as 37%. Direct mail also pairs well with digital marketing. And Merkle reports that campaigns using both direct mail and digital marketing saw a 118% lift in response rates, as opposed to campaigns that only use one advertising channel.
Who Should I Send My Direct Mail To?
Figuring out who to target with your direct mail is the first step of any successful campaign. Who you mail to varies based on the goals of your direct mail campaign, which we’ll discuss later. First, let’s look at three common methods marketers use to segment their direct mail audience.
Ways to Segment Your Direct Mail Audience
There are a variety of ways to segment your audience into groups with shared characteristics. Here are three of the most common:
Geographic segmentation. This method is exactly what it sounds like and involves targeting people within a specific geographic area. This might be people who live within a specific ZIP Code, carrier route, or radius of your business.
Demographic segmentation. This method breaks people down into groups that share specific personal characteristics. These can include gender, race, income, education, and employment.
Firmographic segmentation. This method is used in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. It breaks companies into groups based on traits like industry, location, customer type, legal status, and performance.
Putting Audience Segmentation Into Action
So, what does audience segmentation look like when it comes to direct mail marketing? Here are a few examples:
New mover campaigns. These help you drum up business with people who are new to your area. You can purchase a mailing list of new movers and get to them before the competition.
Grand opening campaigns. Opening a new location? Use geographic segmentation to target people who live within a certain area of your new location.
Abandoned cart campaigns. Use your eCommerce platform to identify people who have abandoned their online shopping cart. Mailing them a special offer for the product / service they were interested in can get them to complete their transaction. Abandoned cart remarketing is commonly done via email, but direct mail is also a great option because most companies don’t use it for this purpose.
Birthday campaigns. Obtain a list of prospects with birthdays or mail to your existing customer database during their birthday month. Making this personal connection can encourage them to take action on your CTA.
Rewards club / loyalty program campaigns. Show appreciation for members of your rewards club or loyalty program by sending them special offers. This is a great way to upsell, since they’re already brand advocates.
Upsell campaigns. Send existing customers an offer for an item that complements something they recently bought from you. For example, if someone purchases bait from your sporting goods store, send them an offer for a fishing rod. Even if they aren’t in the market for a rod at the moment, they’ll be reminded of your brand and may purchase from you again in the future.
Winback campaigns. Since you already have data on lapsed customers, it’s easy and inexpensive to create a personalized offer they’re likely to respond to.
What Are Direct Mail Formats?
So, you know who to mail to and the campaign type that’s best for you. But which direct mail format should you choose? This is a very important decision, and the format you choose can have a big influence on whether your campaign is successful. Here are a handful of the most common direct mail formats.
Brochures / Menus
Brochures have more space than some other direct mail formats, so they’re perfect for sharing detailed information about your products / services. If you run a foodservice business, your brochure might take the form of a menu. Menus help boost brand exposure because recipients may put them on the fridge or in a kitchen drawer.
Letters
Because they’re sealed in an envelope, letters can feel more confidential than other formats. They also offer a lot of personalization options. They’re great for things like prospecting and upselling to existing customers.
Postcards
Postcards work well for prospecting because they’re an inexpensive way to get in front of people who may not be familiar with your business yet. Make a great introductory offer, and you may just get them through your doors. You can also send postcards to existing customer lists, like people with birthdays or members of your loyalty program.
Direct mail postcards have evolved far beyond the traditional 4” x 6” postcard. Today, companies can send interactive postcards that play video content or have scratch-away stickers with special offers printed underneath.
Periodicals
According to the USPS, periodicals are newspapers, magazines, and other publications sent to a list of opt-in subscribers. Businesses use periodicals to stay top-of-mind with existing customers, boost brand awareness among prospects, and provide information on their products or services.
Packages
Businesses that sell expensive products / services might send parcels (like gift boxes) to high-value customers / prospects. This usually costs more than sending other direct mail formats, but it can pay off if customers make repeat purchases or if your product / service has a high price point.
Which Direct Mail Mailing List is Right for Me?
Once you know who you’re mailing to, you’re ready to get your direct mailing list. Like we said before, your target audience plays a key role in the mailing list you choose. Let’s take a look at two common mailing list types and the USPS Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) service.
Targeted Mailing Lists
Like the name suggests, these mailing lists target specific people based on shared traits. Say your business designs and manufactures high-end navigational systems for yachts. You wouldn’t mail to just anybody, right? Instead, you’d get a targeted mailing list comprised of yacht owners or people who have expressed interest in nautical navigation systems in the past.
As you can see, targeting a specific group of people with shared traits helps you reach individuals who might be more receptive to your offer. Knowing their names and a few personal traits also helps make your direct mail more personal, which can increase response rates by up to 36%.
Targeted mailing lists can be expensive depending on how specific they are. A house customer list is another example of a targeted mailing list, but it’s free since you already own the names on the list.
Saturation Mailing Lists
Saturation mailing lists contain the names of people who live within a certain geographic area. As a result, they help you blanket specific areas with your direct mail campaigns. Saturation lists work best for businesses that offer a product or service almost anybody could use, like restaurants and auto shops.
Because they’re less specific, saturation mailing lists usually cost less than targeted lists. However, you can still do some targeting when you use a saturation list. You can remove the following address types from a saturation list:
Business addresses
PO Boxes
Some residential addresses (i.e. apartments, seasonal dwellings, drop addresses)
If you do choose to remove address types from your list, make sure you still adhere to the 90 / 75 Rule to get the best postage rates. This stipulates that you must mail to 90% of all residential addresses or 75% of all business and residential addresses on your chosen carrier route
Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) (No Mailing List)
EDDM® is a DIY USPS direct mail service. Unlike campaigns that use targeted or saturation mailing lists, EDDM® does not require a mailing list. That’s because your direct mail is delivered to nearly every address / door along a carrier route.
You can still do some audience segmentation with EDDM®, even though there’s no mailing list. The USPS EDDM® tool allows you to segment by the following median demographics:
Address types (residential or business)
Age
Household size
Household income
Keep in mind that because EDDM® uses median figures, your pieces will reach people who may not be interested in your offer. Direct mail sent via EDDM® is addressed to “Local Postal Customer” since there’s no mailing list. You’re also restricted when it comes to the size and format of your pieces. You can only send flats, which are large envelopes, newsletters, and magazines.
How Do I Get a Direct Mail Mailing List?
You’ve chosen the type of mailing list you want to use. But where do you get a direct mail mailing list? There are several mailing list sources, which we’ll review below.
Use Your House List
Don’t overlook your house list of existing customers or people who have expressed interest in your business in the past! This free option can be very effective because you already have information on these individuals. Here are a few examples of house lists:
Active customers
Past customers
Prospects who provided you with their contact information
Members of your rewards club or loyalty program
One-time customers
You own your house list, so make sure you keep it clean and updated. Here are three mailing list data hygiene best practices:
Make sure your mailing list is CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) certified. CASS standardizes your addresses for the USPS to ensure deliverability. This process includes things like adding ZIP + 4 codes and IMBs (Intelligent Mail Barcodes) to your mail pieces.
Run your mailing list through the NCOA (National Change of Address) database. This service provides up-to-date information on people who have moved within the last four years. That way, you don’t waste money mailing to people who no longer live at an address.
Deduplication allows you to pinpoint and merge duplicate records, which saves you money because you’re not mailing to the same people twice.
If you don’t want to use a house list (or if you don’t have one yet), you can also rent or buy a mailing list.
Rent or Buy a Mailing List
If you only plan on mailing to a group of people one or two times, renting a mailing list is a smart option. While you don’t own the names on the mailing list, you do own any information you get from the people you mail to. You don’t have to maintain the list yourself, and rented lists typically cost less than purchased lists.
If you plan on using a list many times, buying a mailing list is usually your best bet. You’ll own the names on the mailing list and any information you gather from recipients. You’ll need to perform your own list hygiene, though.
There are two main types of rented or purchased mailing lists: compiled lists and response lists.
Compiled lists contain the names of people with similar interests, like rock climbing, tennis, or gardening.
Response lists contain the names of people who have purchased from or requested information from businesses offering products / services that are similar to yours.
How Do I Track My Direct Mail Campaigns?
Direct mail tracking is very important, but many marketers overlook it. Don’t make this mistake! When choosing a tracking method, make sure you consider the format of your piece and the goals of your campaign. Make sure you’re using different tracking codes for each direct mail campaign so you can differentiate between them.
Here’s a short list of methods you can use to track your campaign:
Trackable phone numbers. Adding a trackable phone number to your piece allows you to determine how many calls you receive as a result of your direct mail. This helps you tweak future campaigns because you’ll know what is and isn’t working.
Trackable URLs or PURLs (personalized URLs). These are another easy way to track the effectiveness of your campaign. Adding a name to a URL (i.e. https://www.towermarketing.net/norafulmer) and greeting them by name on the landing page helps you speak to people on a one-to-one level.
Trackable email addresses. Like trackable phone numbers and URLs, printing trackable email addresses on your pieces helps you track response rates for your campaign. Use it to look for trends that you can use for future audience segmentation and tracking.
Coupon codes. If your direct mail piece includes coupons, make sure each coupon has its own unique code. Whether recipients redeem the coupon in person, over the phone, or online, make sure employees are meticulously tracking coupon codes. This helps you determine which offers are getting results and which ones aren’t.
QR codes. QR codes are easily trackable and help you glean valuable information on your direct mail campaigns. Plus, they’re easier for prospects / customers to follow up on, since they don’t have to type a URL / PURL into their web browser. All they have to do is scan your QR code with their smartphone camera or a QR code reader app.
How Much Does Direct Mail Cost?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to direct mail marketing. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. As you’ve learned, there are a wide variety of components involved in any direct mail campaign. Everything from your mailing list type to the format you use affects your cost. That’s why working with an agency that offers direct mail marketing services (like Tower!) is a great way to lower your expenses. We use our experience and connections with vendors to get you the best results at the lowest price point.
Want to try a direct mail campaign for your business? Contact our print media experts today to start the conversation!
It’s not always easy brainstorming new content ideas; especially when you’ve been blogging since Day One, and you feel as though you’ve covered every topic under the sun within your industry. Trust us, we’ve been there, staring at the blank piece of paper labeled “Amazing Content Topics for XYZ Month.” So what to do when you’ve got a serious case of brainstorm block? Below we’ve outlined some creative ideas to get outside your own head when brainstorming new content ideas. Some we’ve tackled, others we can’t wait to try ourselves. Let’s dive.
The Magic of Generalized Topic Ideas
If you work with SEOs, then you know that the more niche and long-tail the focus keyword is for a content piece the better. I agree (as I AM an SEO myself). However, sometimes looking for that perfect, specific, unicorn keyword isn’t realistic. Focus, instead, on generalized topics and narrow it down from there.
For example, let’s say you work at Pets-R-Us. You feel as though you’ve beaten pet care, pet emergencies and adopting pet topics into the ground. You’ve focused on heartworm in dogs, dental care in cats, things your audience may not have known about guienea pigs, and why certain fish can’t be together in a fishbowl. You’re feeling stuck.
Instead of looking for a granular keyword, pull out your focus and pick something basic…like birds! Now, you may have written 100 blogs on birds. That’s cool; keep in mind what ones you have already written, but start narrowing down from there. Pull out as many possible bird blog ideas as humanly possible. Write a giant list of all the possible scenarios you could touch on when it comes to birds. Your list is probably getting pretty long. If you’re still feeling a bit perplexed, we tend to turn to Answer the Public. Here you can type in a keyword phrase and it provides you hundreds of questions people have asked surrounding that topic that you can answer.
Jeopardy Topic Ideas
This method has the #TeamTower stamp of approval for topic generation. If your business has multiple facets and/or product lines, pull a sample of people from each team. Come together and start writing in the form of questions about your specific department. Categorize your questions based on monetary value:
$100-$200 Questions: Basic, top-level questions that we receive on a pretty regular basis
$400-$600 Questions: Questions we receive that are a little more intensive, for the intermediate level customer
$800-$1,000 Questions: Questions that we ourselves ask others in the office as experts or have seen on professional forums about this product/department/skill
Set a timer for each round of questions and keep the questions for brainstorming new content pieces moving forward.
Getting Outside Your Four Walls
Oftentimes as marketers we forget that there’s a whole world of people outside our office, including a) our audience itself and b) influencers who speak the same language we do. Consider the following when brainstorming content ideas:
Ask current customers what they want to know more about. Send them a survey or pose the question on social media.
If you’re open to guest writers, pick their brains about topics they feel are your weak points on the blog and/or topics that they themselves have more experience in than you do.
Look at popular industry forums and see what questions other professionals are asking. Write a couple blogs that specifically answer these questions and post the link back in the forum when you’re done.
Reach out to businesses/consumers that might use your product/service. Ask them, if they were looking into purchasing your product/service, what questions would they want to have answered when looking at a potential site.
“Do Geckos…” and Other Recent Google Search Ideas
It may seem too simple, but oftentimes the best ideas are. Looking for a topic? Start typing into your Google search bar and see what others have looked for recently regarding that topic. You may be surprised that many of the questions posed could all be included into one singular blog.
Imitation Is the Greatest Form of Flattery…And Then Do It Better.
Get inspired. Find other content pieces and topics that you love on Pinterest, on competitors’ sites, through popular content publications, by other influencers…and then figure out how you can either a) expand on the topic or b) make it more compelling, interesting, or entertaining.
For example, you find an amazing blog on a competitors site entitled “The First Six Months With a New Puppy.” It explains all the vaccines you should be getting for your pup, what common health issues might pop up, training qualms to expect and growth patterns. The information is comprehensive and the writing is easily formatted enough to not be overwhelming for users. It’s a 10/10 on the content scale. So how can you do the same but better? We know humans are visual creatures. How about an infographic? How about personal anecdotes from your customers? How about a “Case by Case” scenario or a comparison chart between common breeds? In what way can you take a topic that’s already been done and make it 10X better?
Feeling like your creative well has run dry can be tough, but finding the right brainstorming technique can crack the code for the jackpot of all ideas. We wish you luck and happy writing!
How are you brainstorming content ideas? Have a topic you’d like us to write about?
As a business, you have your own tasks and duties to focus on. That’s why you hired an agency to do your marketing in the first place, right? Not quite. You want to see results from the agency you hire, but there is a big difference between good results and great results – YOU. All too often, clients hire an agency to do their digital marketing and then don’t partake in the process. I’m not blaming clients for this; rather, I want to stress that businesses that hire marketing agencies should be involved from A-Z . That is when they will see the best results.
Why Do Clients Need to Collaborate with the Marketing Agency?
There needs to be agency and client collaboration for any and all digital marketing services to achieve the best results. Good marketing is relational by nature. Nurturing and understanding from both the client and agency contributes to online success. Find out why your business should be involved with your marketing agency’s plans and projects:
Clear Communication and Understanding Goals from the Get-Go
This might seem obvious, but it is often overlooked. There should be an initial discovery discussion where the agency can ask questions to better understand your business, culture, target audience, needs, and business approach. The marketing agency needs to learn about the current state of your business so it can prepare to move ahead with a solid plan. You, as their client, are who will shed that much-needed light.
Being Involved Means Understanding the Process
A large reason why I encourage clients to be involved with the marketing execution is so they understand the process.
Clients will have a better understanding of timelines for creating a website, creating an SEO campaign, or developing creative content.
Clients will be able to offer insight as the agency makes progress.
Clients will have a better sense of what to communicate to higher management
Trust and Transparency
When a client is involved, sharing ideas and being a team member, this allows for transparency. When there is nothing to hide, there will be no nasty surprises for either party to be caught unaware and have to fix. Developing a working relationship on a regular basis with an agency prevents miscommunication, helps to move the process along, and encourages an environment of trust. Where there is trust and transparency between client and agency, there are productive marketing results.
A Stronger Force
The marketing agency does not know your business as well as you do. That is why it is imperative for your business to be involved in all areas of marketing efforts being carried out by the agency. The client should be the face(s) of the company, not the agency. People trust you more than your agency. The agency is more of a supportive device rather than the front-facing part of your company. As a result, when an agency supports the client, the client will be more willing to support the marketing efforts of the agency. This collaboration will produce a stronger force that can achieve more.
The Client Becomes Better at Marketing
Through collaboration with the agency, the client will become a well-oiled marketing machine. By building relationships and working in a transparent environment, the client will naturally become better educated in internet marketing.
Better Results
Clients hire a marketing agency to get results. A marketing agency that has the collaborative efforts of their clients will be able to do more in less time and with a better understanding of the client’s industry. When clients help navigate the murky waters of marketing, agencies can focus on other important factors. Collaborative business relationships are not easy. It takes time to build-up communication, trust, and transparency, but it can yield long-lasting results.
Looking for a collaborative relationship with a marketing agency? Meet our expert team and learn how we can collaborate.
There many metrics that measure the effectiveness of SEO and internet marketing in general. For small to medium-sized businesses it can be overwhelming trying to keep track of these metrics and understanding what is driving these numbers. Domain Authority is one metric Tower Marketing uses to measure SEO progress and success of a client’s website campaigns in comparison to competitors. DA looks at a variety of broad spectrums, taking into account many of the factors Google considers important.
What is Domain Authority?
Domain Authority (DA) is scored on a scale of 0-100 and was developed by the analytics software team Moz.com. The DA metric predicts how well a website will rank on search engines. You use DA when you’re comparing one site to another or tracking the “strength” of your website and content efforts over time.
Where did the Metric Domain Authority Originate From?
Domain Authority is comprised of several metrics that are calculated to show a picture of how well a domain is likely to have its pages ranked in Google’s search results (SERPs). It is based on data from the Mozscape web index and includes the total number of links, MozRank and MazTrust scores, and dozens of other factors outside of Moz. DA uses a machine-learning model to predictively find an algorithm that best correlates with rankings across thousands of search results that Moz predicts against.
Is Domain Authority a Stable Metric to Measure Against?
Yes, it is, but it is important to understand that the Domain Authority is affected by several organic factors that will always continue to fluctuate. DA is a slow-growing score because it is based on organic elements of marketing (unlike paid search which is almost instant).
Don’t expect to see your DA jump from 23 to 47 in just six months worth of SEO. There are too many factors involved to make the DA index move that fast.
How is Domain Authority Calculated?
Moz has calculated this metric by combining all other link metrics. These metrics include the number of domains linking to your site, number of pages linking to your site, number of total links (internal and external), ‘followed’ vs ‘nofollowed’ links (equity passing links) as well as MozRank, MozTrust, etc.—into a single score.
DA is heavily link-based, but it takes into account the quality of content and social linking signals too. So, why is there so much emphasis on links?
People link and share content they like. No one shares an ugly looking website or a website they can’t find. Links are still arguably the strongest signal of how popular a website and its pages are.
How Should Your Business Apply Domain Authority to Its Site?
As mentioned earlier, Domain Authority uses machine-learning. This helps it build up a better understanding of Google’s algorithm, which is constantly changing, so that it can best model how search engine results are generated.
There are over 40 signals included in the calculation of DA. This means your website’s Domain Authority score will often fluctuate. For this reason, it’s best to use Domain Authority as a competitive metric against other sites, as opposed to non-industry specific websites.
If your website content is education-related, don’t compare your DA against a sports website. Compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges, capiche?
Additionally, since it’s not a precise metric, it’s not the best data to measure the success of your internal SEO efforts with. Instead, you should look to other important engagement metrics to assess your efforts.
How is DA Scored?
The Domain Authority score ranges from 0 to 100 and is a logarithmic scale (non-linear scale for large ranges in quantities). Thus, it’s easier to grow your score from 20 to 30 than it would be to grow from 70 to 80. As your DA grows it will be harder to acquire more points.
How can Businesses Influence their own Domain Authority?
Unlike other SEO metrics, Domain Authority is difficult to influence directly. It is made up of an aggregate of metrics (MozRank, MozTrust, link profile, and more) and each have an impact on this score. This was done intentionally; this metric is meant to approximate how competitive a given site is in Google’s SERPs. Since Google takes a lot of factors into account, a metric that tries to calculate it must incorporate a lot of factors, as well.
The best way to influence this metric is to improve your overall SEO. In particular, you should focus on your link profile and getting more links from other well-linked-to pages that are relevant. Links from other websites act as a vote of endorsement. The more links for relative industries that have good quality content on their sites and that are active on social media, the greater the chances of your DA growing.
What is my DA Score?
There are free tools to find out what your DA is and also what your competitors are ranking at. Moz has created a toolbar for Chrome that you can download onto your browser. You will see a new menu above your navigation bar showing you the DA authority scores as well as some other handy metrics. Click here to download the MozBar.
Now that you have a better understanding of what DA is, what will you do to improve your score? Work with our expert team to grow your DA.
When you hear the phrase parallax scrolling, what do you think of? The title of the next Star Trek movie? That’s exactly what I thought it was. When I was told that I was wrong, the next thing I said was, “Well then, what is it?”
Turns out, parallax scrolling is the next big thing in web design. Many companies have seen the benefit and the fun in these types of websites – including Tower Marketing! This trend began back in 2011 when Nike launched its website, “Nike Better World,” and it hasn’t stopped since. Basically, it is a scrolling technique in which background images move at different speeds than images in the foreground. This creates a 3D effect or an illusion of depth on your website.
Why Use Parallax Scrolling? – An Outsider’s Viewpoint
I say an “outsider’s viewpoint,” because I am in no way a designer or web developer. When I look at a website utilizing parallax scrolling, I am looking at it from the viewpoint of an end user. If I like the way a website uses parallax scrolling, it is because I thoroughly enjoyed the user experience. Parallax scrolling completely changes the way users interact with a website. Instead of simply scrolling from the top to the bottom of a flat, stagnant page, the user is taken on an eye-catching journey where shapes, pictures, and other animations morph on the screen and reveal new portions of the site.
This is all well and good, but let me reiterate the importance of user experience. Having a visually appealing site always puts points on the board, but if I’m scrolling through a beautiful website and it stutters, or I can’t locate a button to take me to the section of the site I’m looking for, then you have scored negative points.
Examples of Parallax Scrolling
Now that we have gone over what an outsider thinks about parallax scrolling, let’s look at a few examples of this trendy scrolling effect. I came across a list of 50 great parallax scrolling websites from 2014, and I have to say, some did not work well in my opinion. A few examples looked interesting, but they tended to lag on occasion. Their overall user experience was poor.
However, I did come across a few great examples of parallax scrolling (once again, this is my opinion as the end user):
This website takes you on an animated car ride down the coast of California on Highway One. As you scroll, your vehicle passes through the many landscapes of California, all while providing instructions on what to do if you get lost. The tour includes radio stations in the area, facts, and cameos from the likes of Sean Connery as his character from the Alcatraz movie, The Rock, and Will Farrell as Ron Burgundy.
Sony’s site for their “Be Moved” campaign goes through many of its new products as they assemble themselves on your screen while you scroll. The animation can be a little bit choppy, but overall it provides a great experience. I played with this site for a while, as I watched how each small piece of technology came together to make their smartphones, cameras, and TVs.
This website, done for Public Service Credit Union, also takes the user on a visual journey that flows well without any hiccups. It also does a great job of showing and telling the message, which is the importance of credit unions and how they can benefit someone. It finishes with a simple screen that tells you how to join a credit union in your area.
Do you have a website that utilizes parallax scrolling? Has it benefited your company? Tell us about your experience!
