Everywhere you drive, even in rural areas, you pass by billboards. They seem like such an old-fashioned advertising method in our current environment of Facebook ads, Instagram ads, radio ads. This makes people wonder if billboards actually work or if they’re just a waste of time and money. Why are billboards still around when it seems like digital marketing campaigns are so much more effective? 

The truth is that while digital marketing campaigns are the leading way to get your business out there and generate traffic, you still see billboards everywhere because billboards actually work. Here’s what you need to know about the ways in which billboards can help your business.

You Can’t Block Billboards

We’re inundated with ads everywhere, so much so that people just ignore them and spend their hard-earned money on ad-blockers so that they can enjoy the internet free of being overwhelmed by advertisements. With how easy it is to throw an ad up on the internet and how very, very many people see everyday, it causes people to view ads with a sense of annoyance. 

Not only does this make it so that online advertisements need to work harder to be more engaging in order to stand out, but it lessens the effectiveness of advertising, because of how much people skip ads and the animosity they cultivate. This isn’t the case with billboards though, hence why billboards actually work.

Even if you see a billboard you don’t like, chances are, you’re not going to change your route just to avoid it, unless it’s offensive. You see billboards everywhere, and while you can choose not to look at them, it doesn’t change the fact that they’re there.

Billboards Aren’t Disruptive

Online, ads often interrupt what people are doing and feel like they are forcing a product or service on them. It’s why people are willing to pay extra for ad-free streaming services and more. Billboards don’t disrupt what you’re doing; they’re just there, along the way. In fact, many people enjoy a well-designed billboard on their drive, as it gives them something interesting to look at. 

While online ads can be forceful and annoying, making people less likely to look at them out of resentment for how they disrupt their online experience, billboards actually work because they do the opposite. Many people grow to like the billboards on their daily commute and find it gives it a sense of familiarity and hominess. So, when a billboard changes, they definitely notice. 

As a matter of fact, while online, people hate advertisements, on the road, about 71% of people will consciously look at billboards and over 50% of people report having been highly engaged by billboards they pass. People are stuck in their cars and an eye-catching billboard provides entertainment and a way for your business to catch attention. 

Billboards Generate More Trust

Since you pass by billboards every day and they are costly to put up, this is yet another way in which billboards actually work, because they reinforce their message every time you see them and establish trust in a very non-intrusive way. If you see a billboard, that means that someone spent time designing it and that it’s a real business or corporation – how many scam businesses have billboards? Very few, if any. 

While online, it can be hard to know whether or not a business is legitimate or whether this advertisement will infect your computer with a virus if you click on it, you don’t need to worry about this with billboards. Hence, it’s another way in which billboards actually work. When people see your billboard, they’ll be more inclined to trust that you and your business are legitimate and can provide them with quality products and services.

Build Brand Awareness

Given that people pass billboards very quickly, it’s another reason why people wonder whether billboards actually work. After all, you only have about 8 seconds before that car has passed. How effective of a marketing strategy can that be?

The purpose of a billboard is to build brand awareness. Hence, the more engaging your billboard, the more likely people will be to remember you. If you have words on it, it’s best to stick to a short catchy sentence, otherwise people won’t be able to read everything before they’ve passed your billboard. Hence, billboard marketing needs to be very creative and engaging.

To ensure your billboards actually work, you need to make them as memorable as possible. 

Ultimately, billboards are signage, and signage everywhere works, whether it is a traditional billboard or on a company van. What matters is that it’s designed well and that you’re strategic about it. For instance, while some companies will be cheeky and put a junk or fast food billboard by a gym, these are better suited to highways and freeways, areas where people will be looking for something to eat. 

Performance Driven Marketing provides professional marketing services, including graphic design for signage and helping your brand develop a visual identity. To learn more about our signage services or the other ways we can help with your marketing, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Google Maps has become an essential tool for our day-to-day lives. While some people still print out directions and have a passenger rattle off street names and exits, most people use Google Maps to get where they want to go – and even to find businesses. With all the different ways to boost traffic out there, is Google Maps good for SEO or is it just a tool for people to utilize? To that we say: both, both are good. Google Maps brings visibility to your business in a variety of ways. Here’s what you need to know about what makes Google Maps good for SEO.

How Are Google Maps And SEO Connected?

Your Google Maps listing is an essential part of your business. When people talk about SEO, they’re generally talking about where your business shows up in the search results on search engines, how visible it is. There’s that old saying about how being on the second page of a Google search result is as good as being invisible. It’s similar if your business doesn’t rank on Google Maps.

Nowadays, people will turn to Google Maps and type in searches such as “food near me” in order to see what’s around them. About 86% of people use Google Maps in order to look up a business. If your business doesn’t show up, that’s a potential customer you’re losing, given how local SEO impacts ranking business listings. 

Research shows that people find businesses on Google Maps through keywords rather than searching a business name about 84% of the time, as found in a Google My Business study. Thus, it’s important for your business to rank well for the keywords that apply to it in order for potential customers to find you.  

What You Need To Know About Google Maps Marketing

It’s true there are plenty of reasons that make Google Maps good for SEO. However, Google Maps marketing can be tricky, especially as people see “keywords make you rank better” and then start keyword-stuffing and abusing Google Maps in order to improve their ranking. As such, Google Maps has since cracked down on how people use it, in order to prevent these spam listings and ensure it’s promoting legitimate businesses. 

Local SEO and Google Maps are key methods of generating traffic and boosting your business, but you need to be careful to adhere to Google’s ever-changing requirements. There are many businesses that created thousands of landing pages in areas they didn’t even serve in order to generate traffic – if you want to keep Google Maps good for SEO, this is something to avoid.

Here’s what you need to know about keeping Google Maps good for SEO.

Ranking And Google Maps SEO

In order for your business to rank on Google Maps, there are several factors that influence this, such as:

• Whether or not you’ve claimed your Google My Business page
• How close your business is to the center of the city or geotarget
• The domain authority of your website
• The amount and accuracy of your business’s name, address, and phone number (also known as “citations”) on other websites, such as Yelp
• Your average review ratings and how many reviews you have
• Whether your “citation” is on your website and whether or not it has been properly linked with your Google My Business page
• How well your Google My Business page has been optimized and the quality of the content on it

To keep Google Maps good for SEO for your business, you’ll need to keep your business information accurate and up to date. This includes your hours and location and accuracy across both your Google My Business profile and your website. You want a detailed description of your business that is accurate and includes your target keywords, as well as high quality images. 

You can also post regularly on your Google Business profile, which helps Google see that your business is active and helps your business grow as you incorporate keywords in a natural way in your posts. Some great posts you could make are updates, new offers or products, and anything you think would be useful for your customers to know. 

Since most people look at reviews before choosing a business, having credible reviews is important too, in order for people to know they can trust you. 

Keeping Google Maps Good For SEO

There are many ways you can make Google Maps work for you, from running the occasional ad, to linking to your website, to using your social media and building local backlinks, and more. It’s crucial to have a responsive site, to respond to customer queries and reviews, and to ensure all your information is accurate and up-to-date to keep Google Maps good for SEO. 

Do You Need Help With Ranking Your Business On Google Maps? 

Performance Driven Marketing is an experienced SEO company that ensures we stay up to date with Google’s ever-changing policies. We know how important Google Maps is in order for local searchers to find your business. If you would like to learn more about what makes Google Maps good for SEO or if you need help with SEO, we’re here to help! Contact us today to set up your free consultation.

One of the most important tools that new and returning bloggers can use to make their content more rewarding is to use SEO.  Search engine optimization is the process of making your website more attractive and available to potential web users by making sure that the website shows up high on search engine results. Continue reading to learn about how to optimize your content for better web results.

How To Optimize Your Content

There are a few small changes that you can make to your website or blog to help better optimize your content. But before you can make these changes, it is important to understand what things affect SEO for blogs. If you can improve the following components of your SEO, your website will be much more effective and will produce many more conversions. 

Pinpoint Your Audience

The first step when it comes to optimizing your content is to make sure that you know what your audience is. Find out who your audience is and write content that will not only resonate with them, but will help them fix a problem. Fixing a user’s problem makes them want to return to your website and read your content again. This is good for SEO because it will increase internet user’s dwell time and have them returning to your website.

Implement Keywords and Phrases

Implementing keywords and key phrases into your content may well be the most important tip on this list. Before you start a blog, conduct keyword research to find out what keywords people are searching for. However, you also need the content to be connected to what your website or blog is about.

When you have a good keyword list, take one of the keywords and build a blog around it. But make sure that the blog is answering a question regarding the keyword phrases.

Add Engaging Images

Another way to optimize your content is to add engaging images to your content. Images provide contrast to the words that individuals are reading, essentially breaking up the words to make it less monotonous. Images are also a tool for SEO. When people look up words or questions, they often look at pictures or videos for further information, which can end up leading them to your content. Adding alt text to your images for those that are visually impaired can also improve your search engine ranking.

Consider Relevancy

Another important thing to remember when optimizing your blog content is to make it relevant to your audience. There is no substitute for relevant, quality content, and search engines recognize that. Focus on providing great content to your audience.

It is also important to improve your reader’s experience while they are on your page by providing clear, accurate and comprehensive information. It is also important to make your content easy to read by breaking up content into paragraphs, adding images, using headings, and improving page speed. 

Make Your Content Easily Searchable

One of the best ways to optimize your content for search engines and make it stand out to potential readers is to make it easily accessible and searchable. Keep your website organized and stick to the basics when it comes to organization. Make your content easy to get to from the home page. You also want to make your blog content (as well as the rest of your website) easy to navigate from many different devices. Mobile responsiveness is so important for website content because many people read from their phones these days.

Want More Tips For Optimizing Your Content?

If you enjoyed this article and are looking for more information about how to optimize your content, consider keeping up with us at Performance Driven Marketing. We provide all sorts of tips for website users and businesses that can help them improve their website including SEO tips, web design tips, web development information, writing tips, and business improvement tips.

However, offer more than knowledge. We are also experienced and creative website builders. We can help you build your website from the bottom up and can even help maintain your website for an extended period of time after it has been built. For more information or to set up a consultation, feel free to reach out to us at Performance Driven Marketing.

“This page just won’t load. I’m done.” You think to yourself. 

If you’re like most people, then you might move to another website if the website you’re trying to access keeps slowing down when it loads content onto your screen. That’s because in a fast-paced world like in the 21st Century, people are looking for quick and easy things to do and use. In psychology, this is often referred to as the desire for  instant gratification. If you’re a brand or business looking to expand your brand, then you will need to tap into your consumer’ bases mindset. This mindset includes wanting things that are quick and easy to use. 

To help you understand how to measure how quick and easy your website is to use, in this article, we’ll talk about Core Web Vitals. We’ll also talk about why they’re so important or should be important in your digital marketing strategy. Keep reading for more information on this key marketing metric system. 

What are Core Web Vitals?

Core Web Vitals are aspects of your website that Google looks for when it comes to overall user experience. These Core Web Vitals are markers of how your pages are doing based on user data. 

Core Web Vitals are important because they can improve exposure to your brand or business, as well as raising awareness of your brand or business.  These Vitals are also important because they can help you figure out what’s working and what’s not. We’ll share more about why Core Web Vitals matter later on in this article. 

What are the 3 Core Web Vitals

There are three types of Core Web Vitals:

• Content load speed: this is how quickly your content shows up on the user’s screen. This is also called “Largest Contentful Paint” (LCP). LCP can be rated. LCP includes both text and media content. An example of this is how if a user clicks on a page and is waiting for the page to load. 
• Interactivity: Interactivity is also called First Input Delay (FID). This FID is how long it takes for a user to undertake an action and for the page to complete that action. For example, if a user is trying to download a whitepaper, FID would measure this. 
• Visual Stability: Visual Stability is also called Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). This measures how stable the page is once it loads. An example of poor CLS is if images and texts move to different areas of the page once they’ve loaded. 

2  Reasons why Core Web Vitals are important

Core Web Vitals matter for a variety of reasons. Here are just some of those reasons.

1. Core Web Vitals measure how easy or difficult it is for a user to use your website

A user should be able to easily use your website. If your website is hard to use, then it’s unlikely that the user will stay on the page for a long time. They may then go to another website that provides the same service but with better website functionality. For example, if it takes a long time for the page to load, then the user might just move on to another website. Likewise, a user may move to another website if the content looks disorganized due to lack of visual stability or what’s called CLS. 

2. Core Web Vitals are important if you want your user to become a consumer

As a brand, your ultimate goal is to help your user understand the benefits of your service. If a user feels like your content lacks coherence and that your website is difficult to navigate or use, then they may not want to be a consumer. Think of traditional forms of marketing: if a flyer looks sloppy and is difficult to read, then potential customers might see this flyer’s sloppiness as evidence of your brand’s lack of organization. 

Performance Driven Marketing has the tools and knowledge to to help you

If you’re looking to expand your brand or business, consider reaching out to us at Performance Driven Marketing (PDM). We can help you set up your website so that you’re aware of how different pages are performing. We’ll also help you with:

• Providing high quality content
• Understand how your pages are performing
• Create a marketing strategy that will work for you and your brand

Our ultimate goal at PDM is to help you expand your brand. We would also like to help you gain more visibility and clients. Reach out to us at 801-326-0582. You can also contact us here.  We would love to hear from you!

 

As Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Content is king.” What this means is that in your overall digital marketing strategy, content is what helps attract potential clients to you. Content is also the norm in the 21st Century’s movement to a more targeted marketing strategy. Content is also what helps you increase and improve on many aspects of your marketing strategy. In this article, we share 4 reasons why content is important in digital marketing. 

Content Marketing–A Growing Trend in the 21st Century

Content marketing is growing in popularity because of all that it can do to help you increase your clientele. Content ranges from website pages, white pages, to blog content. Content is short form and long form. So, to help you understand just what content marketing can do for you, we share 4 reasons why content is king in digital marketing.

1. Share your brand or business’s story

As Gary Vaynerchuk writes in Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy World, “The incredible brand awareness and bottom-line profits achievable through social media marketing require hustle, heart, sincerity, constant engagement, long-term commitment, and most all, artful and strategic storytelling.” What this means is that most potential clients or consumers are interested in your story. By story, we mean:

• What your business or organization does
• What makes your business or organization different from others
• Why the potential client or consumer should care/what you can do for the client or consumer

Sharing your brand or business story can happen through your website’s pages. It can also happen in your blog posts and email marketing. Remember, human’s like a human and personalized touch to things that may seem impersonal. They also want to know what sets you apart from others and why they should care about your business or organization. 

2. Connect with your audience

Another reason why content is so important to your business is because it can help you connect with your audience. For example, by tracking which type of content is getting the most views and generating the most interest, you’ll be able to find out what type of audience you’re getting with. You’ll be able to find out:

• The demographics of your audience
• The type of content they’re interested in
• How to produce more of that content so that you can improve your digital marketing strategy.

Connecting with your audience can help you refine your content marketing strategy. That’s because one of your goals as a business or organization is to generate potential clients or consumers. Knowing what they’re interested in and what they’re like can greatly help you connect with them. 

3. Drive traffic which can help with more conversions

Connecting with your audience also helps you drive traffic to your website. Traffic to your website helps with exposure to what your business does and what makes your business unique. Think of traditional marketing strategies of passing out flyers. The point in passing out flyers isn’t just to gain potential customers who love everything about your business, it’s also about increasing the exposure your business has. You want as many people as possible to know about your business or organization. 

Having an organization or business that is well-known can also help you convert potential clients or customers into actual clients and customers. The more people that know about you, the more likely you have more customers and clients. 

4. Build your credibility with useful content

Finally, sharing useful information can help you build your credibility. If you want to be recognized as a leader or expert in your field, then you need to be sharing content that addresses your potential clients’ answers or problems. For example, instead of only creating content that tries to sell your business, you should also create content that can help a client with questions or problems related to your field. This helps establish your credibility since you’re not just trying to sell; you’re also trying to engage with your audience. Think of how useful content can help with Google rankings (we’ll say more about this in another article), reviews, and your overall marketing strategy.

Performance Driven Marketing–Quality Content That Engages Your Audience

If you’re looking for quality content that engages your audience, then you should consider Performance Driven Marketing (PDM). At PDM, we can help you with:

• Long and short form content
• Website content
• Blogs
• And so much more.

Our goal is to help you produce content that is both useful and interesting to your audience.  We can also help you create content that drives more traffic to your website, thereby increasing the level of exposure to your business or organization. We can also help you find and convert potential customers into actual customers. 

Reach out to us at 801-326-0582 for more information. We would be happy to address any questions or concerns you have! 

Since the start of the early 2000s, social media has continued to rise and become one of the most profitable marketing methods for businesses. Social media gives companies direct access to their target market and can create stronger relationships with those customers. With nearly three-quarters of Americans actively using social media monthly, it is vital to have it become part of your marketing strategy.

Create a Solid Social Media Strategy

Before you start posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you must take the time to plan out the social media strategy. Take the time to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is our target audience seeking on social media platforms?
2. Do we have an existing social media strategy? Have we seen any results?
3. What are our goals for social media marketing?
4. Can we effectively manage multiple social media channels?
5. What are our competitors doing on social media?

Create a social media calendar to push content to the correct social media platforms for proper engagement.

SEO Pro Tip: Use the 80-20 rule for social media marketing. 80% of content to entertain, inform, and educate—20% for brand and product promotion.

Define Social Media Platforms

It is important to take time to define your target audience by understanding where they spend their time. Are your customers primarily on TikTok, or do they spend all day on Twitter or Instagram? The more you know about their social media patterns, the easier it will be to spend most of your time on those social platforms instead.

SEO Pro Tip: Use this helpful social media Audit tool from Hootsuite to evaluate your social media strength.

Find Your Audience

Social media marketing strategies can be successful when you are capable of finding your audience. Start by reviewing the analytics on your website. Find out which platforms they are on the most and go to the social media site’s analytics. Create a marketing strategy that helps to link the two interests to bring in a new audience.

Test Your Advertising

To learn what works for your customers, start by testing different ads on social media platforms. The majority of businesses turn to Facebook for a direct advertising method while Instagram is centered more on “relationship marketing” to strengthen the brand’s image and generate interest.

If you want to see results for a local business, target the local conversations. Facebook groups provide information focused on connecting local customers to local businesses. Look for discussions that pertain to your customers so you can build a more substantial community presence.

Maintaining a strong local presence will expand the trust and loyalty for the company. The higher the interaction rate on social media, the higher your account will appear in the social media search algorithms. Relationship marketing leads to sales over time, based on reputation and trust.

Find the Influencers

Another way to build your following, reputation, and overall visibility is learning who influences your customers on social media. Who do people trust? Why do they follow this influencer? How can you connect with this individual and ask them to promote your product or service?

Instagram influencers often make upwards of $1,000 a post. The micro-influencers assist in establishing brand trust and do not cost as much as the more significant influencers.

Make It Visual

The world today is centered around color. Compelling visuals make for a great way to catch the eye of your target audience. People have come to expect things to be visual and often ignore the posts that are not. Social media networks are all visually-driven. Take a moment to review the top five posts on your feed, how many of those are compelling enough to look at?

Memes are a great way to gain some visual attraction. Start by testing visual posts with older posts by updating them with a new image and seeing how many unique views they receive. The more you watch these trends, the easier it is to see how vital visual posting is for social media.

Use photos to tell a story to your customers. Share the stories of your employees hard at work. Giving your customers a face to connect to names they interact with builds stronger customer relationships.

Social Media Focus Must Be Engaging

Do not just post to post; always look for ways to post something that engages your audience. Do the posts offer value to your customers? If you only post to sell something, you aren’t going to keep your audience motivated. Social media platforms are built upon the foundation of relationships. Look to social media to foster new relationships and strengthen the relationships you already have with your target audience. Posting great content is key to winning on social media.

Respond to Comments and Messages

People have come to expect companies to use social media as their direct source to speak to the company. You must acknowledge when people are commenting and when they send you messages. Respond to comments in the right way and when it is appropriate. Social listening is one of the most critical elements of social media users.

Use Content Scheduling Tools

A great way to free up your time is to use tools like Hootsuite to manage social media. On Hootsuite, you can manage several channels at the same time by planning using the content calendar. A content calendar automates social media marketing and will post the information on the day you choose and with the image and content, you create.

Review and Change Often

Just like the search engine algorithms, social media is always changing. It is important to keep up with the latest information on how to manage social media correctly. Understand how to use new and emerging social media platforms. TikTok is one of the hottest social media platforms in 2020, but not too many small businesses can understand how to use it within their social media marketing tools. Hiring someone with the knowledge and experience with TikTok and emerging apps and tools can help keep your business in the know when it comes to social media.

Social media can drastically alter the way your company connects with your audience. Join Performance Driven Marketing on Tuesday, September 2 to find out how you can empower yourself to drive social media forward for your business!