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The Question Digital Salespeople Should Always Ask

The client has committed and you got the sale. Great! The next thing you should ask this client is, “How will you evaluate if this campaign is successful?” Often in our excitement of getting the order we overlook this extremely important question. If you don’t know how the client will be judging the effectiveness of the digital ad spend, you are...

Consumers Are Not Willing to Pay to Block Ads

If you’ve heard of Adpocolypse, and actually feel like it’s the end of the world for digital marketing, you have my permission to take a deep breath and relax.  For those of you who have not heard of Adpocolypse, it is the seemingly detrimental trend of internet users employing ad blockers so they are not shown digital display ads....

Content Marketing: What it is and why it’s important

Here at Vici, we excel at getting visitors to your website and engaging with your brand. But what happens after that initial engagement? For some, they remain interested in the brand and become a loyal customer. But for many, that one-time engagement is just that. So how do brands retain more of these new visitors from their advertising campaigns?...

Understanding Facebook’s News Feed Ads

In the last year Facebook has rolled out an amazing number of new products!  They now have several options to utilize to target potential customers with display or video ads based on demographics, interests, behaviors, or even a list of email addresses or phone numbers. While Right Hand Column ads have long been in place, we recommend using Right Column...

Digital Video Ad Spend is Experiencing Major Growth

If you’re looking for a new trend that isn’t high-waisted shorts or man buns, look no further than digital video.  Recent studies have found that digital video spending is on the rise, and shows no signs of slowing down. It looks like this year’s digital and mobile video ad spend will be about 85% more than it was in...

Traditional Advertising’s Digital Counterpart

If you offer digital advertising to your clients, then you know that sometimes it gets overwhelming with all the new and changing digital advertising options available. So here is a “If This, Then That” guide to what you should suggest to clients, based on what they are currently doing with their traditional advertising. “I do direct mail”  If the advertiser...

Emoji Use on the Rise in Marketing

Locavore, hypermiling, refudiate, selfie, and…. ‘Face with Tears of Joy?’ () One of these things is not like the others. These words are all past winners of Oxford Dictionary’s coveted Word of the Year award, but the most recent winner is not a word at all, it’s an emoji. The use of emojis spiked in 2015 (a contributing factor...

My fingers are too fat to shop

Yes, mobile advertising is a must – but so are desktops and laptops. Here’s why. Even people who are heavy mobile users still prefer to sit comfortably with their computer and make purchases from their keyboard.   It is no surprise that mobile usage is up – way up! Check out any pack of teenagers, moms at the park, the commuter...

User Explorer: Google Analytics’ New Tool to View Individual Website Interactions

Google has begun releasing a new feature (currently in Beta) which allows website owners the ability to view individual, anonymized, interactions up to the minute. User Explorer, as it’s being called, began showing up in Google Analytics dashboards a few weeks ago and those who have had a chance to really dig into it have given the new tool...

How I Explain SEO & Pay-Per-Click To My Mother

I think Search Engine Optimization is one of the hardest things to understand and even harder to explain to small business owners. Now, Google is making all kinds of change to their Search Engine Results Page (SERP), making it more confusing than ever. I’ve learned to run things through my “Mom Test.” If I can explain a digital product in...

The Best Online Ads Use the K.I.S.S. Technique

The K.I.S.S. technique has been a favorite among marketers for decades, especially when it comes to billboards, short radio spots, or television ads that fill less then :10 seconds worth of inventory.  The acronym stands for: Keep It Simple Stupid.  This is also known as the more politically correct and sanitized Keep It Short and Simple (albeit less fun). ...

Digital Marketing Roundup: March 2016

With March officially over, and with the promise of warmer weather around the corner, it seems like the perfect opportunity to take a step back and look at some interesting stats and info from this past month surrounding digital marketing. First up, a new eMarketer study predicting that digital ad spending will surpass TV ad spending next year. Digital to...

Have A Customer or Lead List? How Can You Maximize It Beyond Sending Emails?

73.5% of small to medium sized retail businesses maintain a customer or lead list, according to BIA/Kelsey.  Great news, right? You have the names, addresses, or emails, the question now becomes HOW do I reach this gold mine of existing customers and prospects? Reaching out to your current customer base, subscribers and/or social media followers may be the easiest way...

Grow Your Small Business with Digital Marketing

As a small business, you may be pinching pennies and trying to save money wherever you can by not doing anything excessive or unnecessary. And you may be of the mindset that digital marketing is one of these nonessential things. I’m going to let you in on a secret: it’s not. Digital marketing, if anything, is going to help...

Free Ways To Boost A Website’s Organic Search Ranking

One of the things I get asked about by our clients is how they can better the search engine ranking of their website - especially on Google.  Of course, one way is have a company (like Vici!) undertake a Search Engine Optimization campaign for you.  But there are also a number of free things you can do as well....

Helpful Hints for Making Successful Carousel Ads

A carousel is no longer only found at carnivals and parks. Now, you see carousels all the time on your Facebook or Instagram News Feed (and may not even notice). Carousel ads are a rotating group of up to five images that allow you to show your consumers more of what you offer. They are shown as native ads...

What Is Keyword Targeting? (No, it’s not PPC!)

Did you know that almost half of searches do NOT start with a search engine, but rather on a specific website where people are looking for information?  This means that simply doing paid search ads isn’t enough for local businesses to break through with their advertising.  In 2016 it is projected that display advertising will surpass paid search ads...

Facebook Reactions: What You Need To Know

As people, we are able to react to our environment with an array of emotions. Why is it then, that Facebook only allows us to Like content in our News Feed? Well Facebook has finally done something about it. This past week, Facebook has released a new feature which has changed the way we can now react to individual...

Instagram Continues to Grow

If you want to target customers under the age of 35 in your next digital campaign, Instagram is the platform for you. Instagram is continuously growing, and with that growth, is becoming a major player in the mobile social media game. According to an article by eMarketer, this year 89.4 million people in the United States will be scrolling...

What is Google AMP?

Google has introduced a new search engine results page feature called Accelerated Mobile Pages or “AMP.” It’s not an ad platform and it’s not a paid search product. AMP are website pages that appear in the organic results in a “news carousel” and have special code written into them so that when clicked, the page instantly loads on your smartphone. Here...

Google Announces Major Change to Pay Per Click Advertising

On Friday, February 19th 2016 Google confirmed that the search engine results page (SERP) will no longer show text ads down the right hand side of a search, worldwide. Replacing the old format will be four text ads displayed above the organic listings, as well as three text ads that will appear at the bottom of the page. So...

Automotive Dealerships: Mobile Or Desktop Ads?

In a previous post I talked about ways that automotive dealers can use mobile – and specifically location based targeting, to reach consumers who are ready to purchase a vehicle. That has led to several questions from clients. Given the success of this type of auto buyer targeting, should dealerships ONLY use mobile ads and not use desktop and...

How To Create Successful Ads For Facebook News Feed

An ad campaign with good copy can still fail if it is partnered with bad ad creative. In order to avoid such failure, it is important to understand the key aspects of a good, successful ad. One aspect that I always suggest is to try to tailor the ad to the medium or platform on which it is running. For...

Is My Digital Ad Working?

All digital campaigns measure clicks - as in how many people “clicked” on the ad. The Click-Through-Rate (CTR) is merely the beginning of the story.  CTR’s serve a purpose. They allow you to gauge the results of your digital campaign in a very simple form and these metrics are important – however, they do not provide the complete engagement...

Matching Small Biz Digital Marketing Priorities To The Right Digital Product

Finding out what potential advertisers’ needs and goals are for a campaign is critical, but matching those to the right digital product is just as crucial. A majority of small businesses say that they will be spending more on digital marketing this year and a recent study details what they say are their primary goals and priorities. So let’s look at...

How Can Digital Salespeople Prove ROI To Their Clients?

It’s great news to see that 56% of small and medium sized businesses are planning to increase their budgets in 2016. Of particular interest is that many will be concentrating those increases on digital marketing. For those of us in the online advertising world this is indeed great news, but behind this lies a problem. Almost half of small business that...

Local Searches? 64% Don’t Start With A Search Engine

When performing a local search online, many would think that Google-ing it would be the preferred method of inquiry. However, according to a recent study by IDC Custom Solutions, the process is actually quite varied. According to their study, only 36% of individuals performing a local search start with a search engine. What does this mean? Well instead of going...

The Rise of Location-Targeted Advertising

Real estate agents’ favorite line is now moving into the field of digital marketing: location, location, location. The number of smartphone users is rapidly increasing; it is predicted that the number of smartphone users will reach two billion people worldwide this year. This means that where consumers go, their smartphones go as well, creating the perfect environment for location-based...

Facebook’s Lead Generation Ads Get Even Better

Facebook recently rolled out a new product called “Lead Ads.” Lead Ads were designed to give people a fast, easy and privacy-safe way to sign up to receive information from businesses right from their mobile phone and without leaving Facebook. Consumers expect to be able to do everything from their phones and Lead Ads make it easy for consumers...

How Are Auto Buyers Using Mobile In Their Path To Purchase?

The average American consumer considers 2 or more types of vehicles and 5 brands before making their car-purchasing decision. 60% of people are “in market” for a car for at least 6 months, gathering research and seeking advice to help guide their decision making. This is according to a research study  commissioned by Facebook and done by Ipsos Media...

Top 5 Ways Digital Sellers Blow the Sale

As a trainer of all things digital for Vici, I have the opportunity to travel all over the country and meet talented sales teams in television, radio, and print.  My job is to teach “traditional” media sellers to become well-rounded integrated marketers who combine both digital and traditional marketing techniques to accomplish the end client’s sales goals. A fascinating pattern...

Consumer Intent: the Key to Mobile Success

It’s 2016 and consumers are more impatient than ever. The advent of newer, better, and faster technology is making on-the-go mobile searching commonplace, giving us instant access to information about almost anything. When we want something, we try to find it, and where better than our smartphone? This idea of want and search, or having some goal in mind...

Advertise Better in 2016

This past year has taught us a lot about advertising and the consumers who make our jobs possible. The millennial generation became an extremely important demographic to advertisers with their strong spending habits and digital engagement with content. The increase in ad blocking made publishers get smarter about their web content. And Google’s “Mobilegeddon” made many legacy businesses realize...

Negative Online Comments/Reviews – What Should You Do?

Brands and companies, as well as people, are living their lives online and there are times we all have very little control over our online presence and reputation.  However, there are many things we can and should do to ensure we are putting our best possible image forward, and most of it boils down to excellent online customer service. As...

Paid Search Ads Are No Longer King

Display advertising will overtake Paid Search (pay-per-click) advertising in 2016 for the first time according to eMarketer’s estimates.  This fact underscores what we have been saying here at Vici for a while now…Paid Search isn’t the only game in town and it isn’t always the best use of your digital ad dollars. Paid Search is for customers who are ready...

What is a Facebook Custom Audience?

Here at Vici, we like to build campaigns with elements from all parts of the sales funnel. However, the most important piece to include is the retargeting element. This is because it is much easier to sell your products or services to existing customers, rather than to find new ones. One of the best new ways to do this,...

A Majority Of Digital Shoppers Say Targeted Ads Are “Helpful” – Really!

It is estimated that a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today according to recent research.  With so many messages bombarding consumers on the daily – how do you break through and get your message to the right consumer?  By targeting. Targeting consumers online...

How big should my advertising budget be?

When working with our clients, we are often asked how much they should be spending on advertising. Many companies spend a certain amount, but few know what that amount should actually be for what they do. The short answer: it depends. There are a few factors that should be considered before setting aside money for advertising purposes. I will...

Digital Ad Terms You Need To Know

A/B Testing: When you compare different versions of digital ads or website landing pages to see which one performs better. An A/B test for digital ads would be running two different versions of ad creative and then measuring which version gets a higher engagement from viewers. Above The Fold: This is a term from the print advertising industry. In digital,...

Do Digital Display Ads Drive Phone Calls?

If the question is “Does display advertising influence consumers to make a phone call?”  The answer to this question is absolutely “yes.”  Digital advertising drives phone calls, but they are not always immediate. According to a research study done by Marchex, display ads influence 60x more phone calls than they do a direct click-to-call. On average, they find that approximately 2%...

Facebook Adding “Holiday Shopping” Ad Targeting Category

Facebook has announced that starting on Thanksgiving and running through New Year's Day they will let advertisers target ads on Facebook and Instagram to people who publish posts related to the holidays. How will they do this? Facebook looks for holiday-related keywords in people’s posts, what they like, comment on and share. This means advertisers can zero in on people who are...

What is Co-Op Advertising? (Example)

Cooperative advertising is a great way to help supplement media spending and even increase your ROI by reaching more of your target audience. What is Co-Op Advertising? Cooperative advertising is when a business or brand who wishes to advertise, whether it be via radio, print, television, or digital, partners with a manufacturer of a product that they sell, and runs ads with that...

How To Use Facebook & Instagram Ads For Automotive Dealers

With all the new Facebook and Instagram ad targeting options for automotive dealers, you need a “cheat sheet” to remember all the available options!  We’ve been testing this platform for automotive dealerships with stellar results.  Here are the basics you should know if this is an important vertical for you, and you can print it out and use for...

Facebook Advertising… in a Nutshell!

If you haven’t already noticed, Facebook is everywhere and it’s not going away anytime soon. But that’s OK. With over 72% of online adults using the platform, the highest of any of its social counterparts, Facebook has become an advertising goldmine. It’s not every day that you find an advertising platform that can let you target individuals down to...

Geo-Fencing and Geo-Targeting: What’s the Difference? (Example)

Digital jargon can be pretty confusing at times.  Many words can have different meanings and it's important to dig further into their true definitions.  For example, keyword targeting could mean Pay-Per-Click, organic keyword display, or can even mean targeting keywords on your website to increase a websites SEO value.  See what I mean? Confusing! Most often confused? GEOs!  I often...

7 No Cost/Low Cost Resources For Digital Marketing Help

You know that feeling you get when you learn a new shortcut? Whether it is a keyboard shortcut, a new trick on your phone or just a shorter distance between two places you travel regularly…finding a quicker way is exciting! You save time, resources and money all while eliminating stress. It feels awesome! If you are a small business or...

Mobile Ad Spend 2017: Why You Should Care

Back in 2008, an analyst by the name of Mary Meeker predicted that “mobile will overtake fixed internet access by 2014”. Many well-respected individuals laughed at her prediction. Fortunately, they are no longer laughing. Halfway through 2014, the number of global mobile users eclipsed the number of global desktop users according to a study by ComScore. In 2015, that...

Google Analytics: Unlocking the insights in the Audience Overview Report

If knowledge is power than knowledge of Google Analytics is a super power. In a previous post I covered how to understand the Home Page of Google Analytics. In this post, we’ll tackle the Audience Overview Report. This report gives you basic information about a website’s performance and traffic. You can navigate to this report by first logging in to...

Instagram: Marketing’s Rising Star.

Instagram launched in October, 2010, as an easy way to upload and share photos with people who shared similar interests. Their app quickly became a staple for smart phone owners around the world, garnering over one million users in just two months. This early success did not go unnoticed either. Two years later, they joined Facebook as the sites premier...