Good or Bad – Online Reviews Are Crucial to Your Success
Why Reviews Matter
Positive reviews establish trust. According to BrightLocal, 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation. Aside from increasing trust among potential customers and the likelihood that they’ll choose you over competitors, they offer another incentive to local businesses because search engines use them to determine the quality of a local business. When search engines see gobs of customer reviews from a number of sources, they will assign more authority to businesses receiving the reviews—this means you show up before your competition!
Where to Get Reviews
You can collect reviews from innumerable sources around the web, but there are a few that carry a bit more weight, or at least visibility. Facebook and Google both offer great visibility for businesses. You can easily see the level of visibility these reviews have by typing the name of an established business within Google. The Google review will appear at the top of the search just beneath the map and photo of the business. The aggregate Facebook review will often appear twice: Once on the right of the screen, and once within the search results for the business.
Aside from Facebook and Google, you can get reviews from all sorts of local directories, including YellowPages and Yelp. There’s even evidence to support that getting reviews from multiple sources is great for your visibility on the web. However, some sources carry more influence than others. Google, Facebook and Yelp appear more prominently on search engines. They also attract more users than their competing review platforms. For this reason, we recommend seeking reviews from these sources. There are a few instances where industry related websites trump these, but for most businesses, Facebook, Yelp and Google are the go to sources.
Not Collecting Reviews
Are you asking yourself “Will it really hurt my business if I don’t collect reviews?”—well the answer is yes! Since almost all internet users consider reviews to be as trustworthy as personal recommendations, it is crucial that you are able to beat or match your competitors in your reviews in order to have a fighting chance at landing that lead.
When individuals search for a company by name, they’ll see reviews right away on the search engine results page. For instance, look at the search results page for this Lakeville home builder.
You can see that reviews take up a major part of the page, so they are one of the first thing a potential customer will see. Last of all, these reviews do help your rank, so it’s kind of a no-brainer that you should actively seek them out!
Asking for Reviews
Reviews offer an almost unbeatable value to your business—for little to no cost. Google prominently displays reviews on it’s search engine results page. You’ll see these reviews when you search for a name of a business. Here’s what happens when you search “Cazarin Interactive”:
Searchers will also instantly see reviews of your business stacked up against competitors in your area.
Getting a steady stream of positive reviews ensures your business is well represented when new prospects seek you out, and better yet, it improves your visibility on the web. There’s really no reason not to seek them out.
How To Ask
Many businesses will include call outs requesting reviews in the emails they send to their customers. This works, but the best way to get reviews is by asking directly. That means asking them in person, over the phone, or through a personalized email. Your customers are far more likely to take a handful of minutes to leave you a review when the request is made by an actual person.
Personally asking everybody you do business with may not be a manageable approach for you, but whenever a customer gives you or your team a compliment, it’s a good idea to ask them to leave you a review at that time—strike when the iron is hot!
How Not To Ask
There are a few things you should avoid when collecting reviews:
- Asking for reviews on Yelp. Yelp has a policy detailing why they don’t want you to ask for reviews, and they apply an overall higher level of scrutiny on posted reviews than other sources For this reason, we usually recommend Facebook and Google to our clients as the primary space to encourage reviews. Yelp also has an extra downside to it when it comes to the visibility of your reviews: Some reviews your clients leave won’t show to the public if the client is new to the platform, making it harder for new reviews to appear under your listing.
- Setting up a review kiosk. This used to be a legitimate strategy, but it isn’t anymore. Google will monitor the IP addresses of incoming review sources to guard against this tactic.
Don’t Ignore Bad Reviews
Customers will occasionally give poor reviews, it is unavoidable, and how you respond is up to you. For most business owners, the main course of action when it comes to poor reviews is to do nothing, and a few will even write angry messages in response. Can you guess which one is the right choice? Answer: Neither option is a good idea!
The best course of action is to respond to a bad review in an amiable way by personally reaching out and asking how you can resolve the customer’s complaint. If the customer is reasonable, it’s possible to get them to remove their bad review. If they’re not, you still show goodwill to the community that you tried to right the situation. Also note that getting rid of a bad review on most platforms, especially Google, is a lengthy and difficult process, so personally dealing with your bad review is often the only way to rectify the situation.
Reputation Management
Good or bad, it’s important to respond to reviews. A responsive business shows prospects and customers that you care about their experience. It also can help turn your aggregate reviews in a positive direction. Managing the workflow for this can be tedious as there are numerous review platforms. Thankfully, there’s software that can help simplify the process, or you could come to us! The Cazarin team developed a great solution that can be used to reduce instances of bad reviews while promoting positive ones. Want to learn more? Send us a message today!
Hopefully by this point, you understand the importance of collecting and monitoring reviews for your company. Reviews are one of the few organic methods for advertising your company to potential customers, so the efforts you put into them are not for nothing. Even if you don’t have the manpower to constantly ask for reviews or to monitor them daily, you have options! The Cazarin team can help you promote the best image possible in the digital market. To learn more about how we can help, check out our Services page.
Let us know the details and together we can find the best solution that works for you! Just fill out our Project Inquiry Form and we will reach out to you soon!
Content Marketing: Make It Work For You
What is Content Marketing?
According to the Content Marketing Institute:
“Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
In other words, content marketing is how you speak to your potential and current customers to keep them engaged with your company – it is telling the story of your brand and building relationships with your customers through their connection to your story.
So, what are some methods for telling your brand’s story? Magazines, short videos, films, photos, digital publications (blogs, white papers, eBooks, etc.), email newsletters, infographics, events, swag, and so much more – but you get the idea.
Deciding what content marketing methods and messaging to use is how you lay the groundwork for all prospect and customer digital marketing communications. The Smart Insights content marketing strategy guide tells us that content marketing gives us “a multi-channel life-cycle engagement strategy, unifying ALL your digital marketing communications to support customer acquisition, retention and growth goals.” A well executed content marketing plan will carry your prospects and/or customers through a cohesive journey with your brand across every platform that they interact with.
Why Content Marketing?
Content marketing gives you an edge over your competition because when people make a connection to a brand, they are more likely to remain loyal regardless of price differences or other side effects of market saturation. Consider Apple, for example. As reported by Fortune, the average selling price of an Apple cellphone has remained mostly consistent since 2010, whereas Android phones are selling for a significantly lower price than they were in 2010.
Source: http://fortune.com/2016/02/15/apple-android-asps/
Apple is able to command a higher selling price because users of Apple products are unwaveringly loyal to the brand and price is not a concern for them. Apple doesn’t feel the pressure to compete on price point with its competitors because they know their customers are dedicated to Apple products and will buy their products no matter how much money they could save by buying Android products.
Apple and other top brands are able to draw such loyal followers for several reasons, and one of them is the consistent and eye-catching content they release to the public. It is important for content to be relevant, but it must also speak to the audience you are targeting and make them want to be a part of your brand by becoming an ambassador for it.
The Dove company did just this when they launched the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004. This campaign involved many different campaigns and forms of content that spoke to Dove’s target audience: real women. This content included commercials, magazine ads, online videos, billboards, social media campaigns, community outreach programs, and digital ads which encouraged women to stop looking at themselves as unbeautiful and to rethink the things they see as “flaws” on their bodies. Examples of some Real Beauty campaigns are below:
What did Dove do right when creating the content for the Real Beauty campaign? They featured real women to speak to their audience, thus their audience was able to see themselves in the content and make a personal connection to the messaging. Kind of a no-brainer. Dove’s content portrayed a genuine interest in their market, and it worked! After running their campaigns for 10 years, sales increased from $2.5 billion to $4 billion per year for Dove. This is the power of content marketing!
How to Implement Content Marketing for Your Company
Successful content marketing speaks to your audience by telling them who you are and what you stand for as an organization. Unsure of where to begin telling your story? The root of any company’s story should be found in its mission and core values – use these as a starting point to find out how you can translate those into something your target audience can connect with.
Take note: It is important that you do not run before you can stand when creating your content – you cannot enter the content marketing world as an expert, you need to take your time. Your audience will be able to tell if you are just churning out content for the sake of content and not putting any real thought into what you are telling them. This is a fast way to deter potential customers. The best practice for effective content creation is to connect it to your customers’ buying process to make sure you are effectively moving your prospects through the funnel from leads to customers.
Once you have a solid grasp on who you are as an organization, you don’t need to do all of the leg work on your own! The Cazarin Interactive team is the resource you are looking for to help you become a leader in your market and for creating the brand loyalty you are striving for. From blogging to well planned and executed digital content, the Cazarin team members are experts in the field of creating a cohesive story across all touchpoints you have with your customers – we help you reach, connect, and engage.
You Invested Time and Resources – Is it Paying off?
In any organization, your want to make sure that the work you put into something is actually benefiting your position in the marketplace, otherwise, what’s the point? This same principle applies to content marketing. Creating cohesive and effective content to relay your brand’s story is a time consuming marathon that should not be done half-heartedly, so naturally it is going to take a lot of time and resources to be executed properly. So how do you make sure that this time and money is not spent in vain? Well, according to the Smart Insights “Guide to Content Marketing ROI”, “the first step toward creating ROI content is to turn your content creation process on its head… think less about producing content and think more about how you can use content to turn your readers or viewers into leads, sales, and advocates all along the buying cycle.” Once you are able to produce this meaningful content, you should then implement one (or both) of these tactics:
- Set a Metric – Metrics relate to how you measure the success of your content marketing efforts. Examples include: page likes, shares, downloads, event attendees, post/video views, new leads, opt-ins, etc.
- Use Analytics – You can tag specific content with a unique tag to help you track the performance. (psst… this is something Cazarin can help with!)
Overall, you want to pick a way of measuring the ROI on your content marketing that works for you and that measures what is most important to your company. If brand awareness is you main goal, then concentrate on page likes and post interactions. If more leads is what you need, then use those as your measure of ROI.
Tame the Content Monster… Let Cazarin Help!
Content marketing may seem like an intimidating monster, but as I mentioned earlier, you don’t need to tackle this alone!
Creating effective content marketing is hard, this is undeniable, and if you don’t have the internal resources to execute it correctly, it is unlikely that it will produce the outcome you are hoping for. This is why using a company like Cazarin Interactive is a smart idea! Think of us as your content marketing wizards. We will work closely with your team to discover exactly what you want to say and we will recommend the perfect channels to use to reach your target audience.
Check out our Content Marketing page to see how we can help you standout in your field! Interested in other marketing or website services? We have you covered! Explore our full list of services here and let us know what kind of project you would like our team to work by submitting a simple Project Inquiry form.
The Low Hanging Fruit of Marketing
Citations
Companies often spend thousands just on this one marketing tactic. Citations are websites apart from your own that mention your business name, address, phone number or other information. Common sources include Yellow Pages and Whitepages.
Google and other search engines use these and a number of factors to determine where they should rank your business in relation to others.
Because citations are easier to get than other labor intensive practices, many local businesses pursue them first. Unfortunately for them, they go about it in a very expensive way. They often buy third party services like Yext to fulfill their service. This service is expensive and doesn’t always deliver the best results.
Getting Citations For Free
Most sources for citations are free if you go through the process on your own. The downside is that it’s very tedious and labor intensive if it’s your first time. Thankfully, there are a few that you can easily do on your own that will have a positive long-term impact. Plus, they’re free!
1) Google My Business
Google prefers its own platforms, which is why this is probably the most important tactic for any local business. With a completed and verified listing, you’ll show up on Maps.
It also makes your business eligible to show up on the top of search results in what is called the
three pack.
With the potential for this type of visibility, it’s hard to ignore. All you have to do is create a business listing. Then verify the listing. Here are the instructions:
Verify Your Local Business Listing Instructions
2) Bing Local
Bing Local is much like Google My Business. Searchers on Bing, the second largest search engine in America, will see local listings in search results and on their maps. They are very visible on Bing Searches, and because there is a verification process required for their citations, they hold plenty of credibility.
Here are the instructions on how to do them:
3) Apple Maps
Apple phones will come with this application, which means users will use it to search for nearby businesses and services. Like Bing and Google, this one also requires a verification. However, the process of creating a page and verifying it is easier. You don’t need to wait to receive a postcard in the mail as with Bing and Google. Instead, you’ll need to take an automated phone call. The automated phone call will have to go to the phone number listed as your business. This means you will need to be at the office or have calls briefly forwarded from your office to you.
4) Facebook Business Page
Facebook may be best known to local businesses for its potential for social media marketing. However, it works even better as a local a citation. External sources like Google and Bing will display its reviews under searches. Search engines use its address information to validate your businesses location, giving your business a little more oomph to move up the rankings. The process of getting a local Facebook page is generally simple, but it can vary depending on the occasion. You’ll also need to verify this citation for it to be effective. The verification process simply shows Facebook that your business actually operates at your location. The process can either involve a phone call, or you’ll need to provide documentation like a utility or a phone bill containing business information like your name and phone number.
Instructions for claiming an existing un-owned business page
7) Yelp
Whenever you hear Yelp, you think of reviews, but businesses can benefit from creating and verifying a page without receiving a single review. That’s because it’s one of the more prominent citation sources available. Having a page will also make it easier for clients to leave you reviews, something search engines factor into their algorithms for the ranking of local search results. Creating a Yelp page for your business and verifying it is pretty simple, and if you get stuck, their team will help you through it.
8) Express Updates
Express Updates from Infogroup is unique. It does more than a citation by sending your businesses information out to numerous websites that then create citations on their own platform. Yahoo Local, Whitepages, Superpages, CitySearch and several other websites will use the information from this source to create citations automatically. The best part of the service? It’s free. The downside is its speed. It can take more than a year in some cases for you to see the results from Express Updates. Yet it is well worth the fifteen minutes you’ll need to spend on it. In the long run, it’s invaluable.
9) Maintain Consistency
Before you start claiming these pages, it’s important to keep one practice in mind – consistency. Search engines want to see data for your business that matches. If it finds address, name and phone number information that doesn’t match spread across the web, it will likely show your business further down on the rankings. When completing these citations, make sure you use the same name, phone number and address for each of your locations.
Creating and claiming these citations will help you get started, but there’s more work to be done.
You’ll need many more citations. You’ll need backlinks. You’ll need on-page optimization and many more strategies for your business to compete. To learn more, contact Cazarin Interactive today.
Show Off! How to Choose and Construct Effective Case Studies
How to Choose and Construct a Killer Case Study
Storytelling is the natural but often overlooked element in corporate website copy. From childhood, we are fascinated and drawn in by stories, and our human condition naturally responds to and remembers stories better than mere facts. There are recognizable patterns to stories, they involve positive and negative forces at play, and of course there are conclusions, whether satisfying or frustrating. Storytelling is the natural way for humans to convey complex structures, share ideas, and find meaning in situations around us.
Why does this matter for your business? Because your organization, and the people within it, have stories to tell. These stories not only make up the fabric and history of your organization, they give a glimpse into your company’s personality that will be more readable and more memorable to anyone visiting your website.
The easiest way to begin implementing storytelling into your website is through Case Studies.
These are the medium-length stories that go beyond testimonials and buzzwords, showing real examples of how your company works. In a recent study of buyers of B2B products and services, case studies were cited as the most sought-after type of content among those making purchasing decisions.
Case Studies are incredibly useful to your audience because they provide:
- Social Proof of Your Competence
- Specific, Real Life Problems that You’ve Faced
- Evidence of Your Breadth of Problem-solving
- A Personality to Your Company and a Way to Bring Your Staff to Life
- More Authenticity Than Most Mission Statements and Overly-used Phrases
What makes a good case study?
Choosing the right topics for your Case Studies is key. Ask yourself and your team the following questions to brainstorm and pull out the best stories. Start with many possibilities, and then choose 3-10 that balance each other and show off your strengths.
- Think of cases when a customer presented you with an unusual, unprecedented, or new type of challenge.
- Were you able to address the needs of the customer, surpass expectations, and/or surprise the customer (or yourselves)?
- When did you show innovation, foresight, problem-solving, or great teamwork? Or other attributes you want to illustrate?
- When were you an industry leader? Do something new? Try something different?
- Did you solve a problem for a customer when no one else could?
- Did the customer sing your praises?
How do you construct a case study?
Writing your case study well, and getting that story told effectively, is just as important as choosing the right topic. Make sure you are clear on your brand’s voice and how you want to be perceived (i.e., thought-leaders, timeless and classy, clever and sassy, formal and no-nonsense, etc.). Use a professional copywriter and get your case study out there! Follow these 4 steps to build out your case study.
- Present the challenge
- What is the context? What is the industry or nature of the customer?
- What was the singular problem in the situation?
- Why was this challenging?
- How did you respond?
- What specific steps did you take to solve the problem and find a solution?
- Who got involved?
- What are you proud of?
- What secondary challenges came up or had to be solved through the process?
- It may be helpful to draw this out, and later edit it down if needed. Don’t be afraid of boasting a bit here!
- What about this story makes it special?
- What made you think of this case in particular?
- Conclude with how can this story or these attributes can be extrapolated to other customers.
Here are some examples of Case Studies that show different approaches to the practice.
Case studies vary in length, they can highlight a product or internal processes, and they can serve as a platform to highlight your work as well as your client’s products:
- Shake, Rattle and Robot: Unity Precision Manufacturing’s robotic equipment
- Pandora Opens the Box on Data for Improved Revenue and Relationships
- Brewing a Strategic Partnership
The art of corporate storytelling is one that offers potential and current clients unique insights into how you approach problem solving as an organization. Implementing case studies into your content library will help convert prospects into customers by showcasing your creativity, ability to adapt, and willingness to go the extra mile for your clients.
The SEO Glossary for People Who Don’t Know What SEO Is
If you’ve worked with a marketing agency or hired a marketing pro, they have surely mentioned SEO and what needs to be done to please this picky animal. But many of the terms can be confusing, or acronyms, or both. So we’ve put together this glossary of need-to-know SEO terms for busy people who want to be well-informed about their search engine traffic.
0-9
301 Redirect – A rerouting of a web page. When a webpage address is changed or a new site is launched, 301 redirects automatically send visitors (and search engines) to the proper page(s).
A
ALT Text/Tag or Attribute – ALT is short for “Alternative”, so in this case, ALT Text is “alternative text” to describe an image. This is useful for both visitors using a screen reader and for search engines. Since search engines cannot see images, they rely on Alt tags/text to “read” your description of it. This is another way to show that your site offers information—in this case images—regarding your topic of choice.
Analytics – Google Analytics and other Analytics services offer tons of information about traffic to your site. This is the place to find out when people visit your site, what path they use to find you, how often they’ve visited, how long they stay on the site, where they’re located, and many other things.
Anchor Text – When you click on a link that takes you to a new page, the anchor text is the words that make up the link, usually blue and underlined. For example, if we’d like to offer you a link to our Marketing Fusion page, the anchor text in this case is “Marketing Fusion page.” Why does this matter? The anchor text signals to search engines what the destination page is about or where you’ll be going.
B
Blog – Coined in the 90’s from the word “web-log”, your blog is the ever-updating part of your site where you publish new content. Whether they’re news items or articles about your industry (like this), having a blog and adding posts to it is good SEO. Why? It accomplishes 2 things: new content shows search engines that you’re not a static site, and new content specifically on your topic is adding fuel to your SEO fire by talking more about your business and industry.
Bookmark – A link to a website that is saved for later reference. The more times people bookmark your site, the greater the indication that your pages have high-quality content.
Branded Keywords – Keywords that include the name of your company
Breadcrumbs – Displayed to a website visitor, breadcrumbs show you how the page you’re on fits in to the structure of the entire website.
For example: Cazarin Home > Cazarin Blog > SEO Glossary
C
Conversion Form – A form on your site that collects information from an incoming lead; it could be a Request for Quote, a Contact Us form, or any other type of form that counts as a lead for your business.
D
Domain – The main part of your site’s web address (example: www.yoursite.com). There could be subdomains before it, and there will be “slugs” after it, but it is the basic name of your site between the www and the .com or .net, etc.
Domain Authority – A value from 0 – 100.0 that indicates the SEO quality of the site, based on age of the site, size, and popularity. The higher the DA, the better. For example, google.com (and all of its subsidiaries) have a DA of 100, because what has more authority than Google?
E
External Link – A link from one website domain to a different one, whether outbound from your site to another, or inbound from another site to yours. These are key indicators to search engines.
F
Favicon – The small icon that appears in the tab of your web browser when you are on a page, usually one letter or a simplified version of a logo.
The Fold – The fold is the bottom of what can be seen on your screen without scrolling. So “above the fold” indicates the parts of your page that are seen first, without scrolling, and therefore get the most attention.
H
Headings – The headings of your site (using a H1 or H2 tag) are just what you’d expect: larger text like a headline. Search Engines look to headings to know the main topics of your pages.
I
Inbound Link – A link from another site that leads to yours. The more you have of these, the better, especially if that site is reputable. Search Engines see these as proof that your site is worth sending people to.
Internal Link – A link from one page on your site to another page on your site. For example, your Home page will have several internal links that bring visitors to other pages on your site.
K
Keyword – The words or terms that users enter into the search. Knowing what keywords people enter to reach you is important so that your marketing or copywriting team can include those in your content. Although keyword stuffing (using your target keywords many times in unnatural ways) is now a detriment to your ranking, your keyword should be used consistently and naturally throughout your site.
L
Link Building – Working to get more inbound links from other high quality sites.
Long Tail Keyword – A longer keyword that someone uses in search, typically 3-4 words or more. These are less commonly used than 1-2 word keywords. They’re more specific, which also means they are less competitive.
M
Metadata – Data that tells search engines what your website is about. This could include page title, meta description, or alt image tags.
Meta Description – A description of a webpage that you see along with page titles on a Search Results page. These should be written manually for each page to encourage users to click on your site. If not, search engines will usually pull out the first parts of text from that page.
mozRank – A ranking for a website from 0 – 10.0 provided by SEOMoz, determined by the number and quality of inbound links to that site–the higher the better.
P
Page Title – The title of a webpage, which is shown both at the top of your browser window and on a Search Results page. Keywords are usually used in page titles, and should be used at the beginning of the title for more SEO impact.
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) – Advertising method in which an advertiser puts an ad in an online advertising venue, such as Google adwords, and pays that venue for impressions of their ads or clicks on their ads.
S
SEM – Search Engine Marketing. Similar to its cousin SEO/Search Engine Optimization (getting your site to rank well organically), SEM includes both organic and paid mentions of your site, and is focused on increasing your visibility on search engine results pages.
SERP (Search Engine Ranking Page or Search Engine Results Page) – After you enter a search query into Google, Bing, or any other search engine, the SERP is the page that shows your results. With Google, this now can include any of the following: organic results, paid ads at the top and bottom in most cases, local results with map, business cards, shopping results, and more.
Sitemap – A document that maps out all of the pages of a given website so that search engines can properly index the site; usually created by the webmaster or special software, and usually accessible in the footer of a site.
Slug – the part of a url that follows the main domain name. For example, the word “/business” in this url: http://www.startribune.com/business/ or, for this page, /blog/
Spider – A program that systematically browses websites on the internet and indexes web pages and web content for search engines.
T
Traffic – The visitors to any page of your site.
U
URL – Uniform Resource Locator; the complete web address of any given page on the Internet.
For more on Search Engine Optimization and how Cazarin Interactive can help your site, contact us.
Understand Yourself First: 4 Types of Brand Statements Every Company Needs
Companies, whether newly-launched or well-established, need to take the time to drill down and construct their Mission, Vision, and other brand statements, for two reasons. Not only does this help inform their marketing agency (ahem), but this informs and guides all aspects of what they do.
According to Minneapolis consultants Martini & Associates, “Too often, those organizations that choose not to do this find themselves the ‘victims of change’ rather than the ‘architects of change.’“ Spend the time and effort to construct a comprehensive branding plan, and it may save you time, confusion, and effort lost in pursuing the wrong things.
Cazarin Interactive recently went through this process and we’d like to share some of our results with you.
Here are four types of brand statements, with Cazarin’s examples included.
1 ) Brand Promise
What the company commits to the people who interact with it. It’s not a description of what a company does in a literal sense; it’s a description of the company’s character.
Examples:
The NFL: “To be the premier sports and entertainment brand that brings people together, connecting them socially and emotionally like no other.”
Coca-Cola: “To inspire moments of optimism and uplift.”
Virgin: “To be genuine, fun, contemporary, and different in everything we do at a reasonable price.”
Cazarin Interactive: “To be a genuine agency that specializes in building relationships not only between ourselves and the client—but between the client and their customers.”
2 ) Mission Statement
A written declaration of an organization’s core purpose and focus that normally remains unchanged over time. Properly-crafted mission statements (1) serve as filters to separate what is important from what is not, (2) clearly state which markets will be served and how, and (3) communicate a sense of intended direction to the entire organization. Entrepreneur Magazine calls a company’s mission statement “a key tool that can be as important as your business plan.”
Examples:
Google: “To organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Bristol-Myers Squibb: “To discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”
Dow Chemical: “To constantly improve what is essential to human progress by mastering science and technology.”
Disney: “The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world.”
Target: “Our mission is to make Target the preferred shopping destination for our guests by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and an exceptional guest experience by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.® brand promise.”
Cazarin Interactive: “To help our clients understand and solve their marketing challenges with customized solutions, achieving client-specified goals.”
3 ) Vision Statement
An aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serve as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. As Lewis Carroll said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
Examples:
Microsoft: “Empower people through great software anytime, anyplace, and on any device.”
Amazon: “Our [Amazon’s] vision is to be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
World Wildlife Fund: “We seek to save a planet, a world of life. Reconciling the needs of human beings and the needs of others that share the Earth.”
Disney: “To make people happy.”
Cazarin Interactive: “To be a premier digital marketing agency where both employees and clients enjoy working together in a creative environment filled with happy people.”
4 ) Customer Value Proposition
A business or marketing statement that describes why a customer should buy a product or use a service. It is specifically targeted toward potential customers rather than other constituent groups such as employees, partners or suppliers.
Examples:
Pinterest: “A few (million) of your favorite things.”
Fundly: “Raise money for anything. Fundly is fast, easy and has no raise requirements.”
Thumbtack: “Accomplish your personal projects.”
iTunes: “You’ve never been so easily entertained.”
Cazarin Interactive: “A unique blend of design, creative, and technological solutions that catapult brands both large and small toward specified goals.”
Now, how does a team determine these statements? And what do you do with them once you have them?
There are many ways to arrive at these nuggets, from locking yourselves in a conference room for 2 hours, to a 3-day dig-deep consulting session. Whether you use organizational effectiveness experts to help you develop these statements and create a plan for how to live them out, or turn to Cazarin to provide guidance as your organization begins these important discussions, it’s a step that cannot be skipped.
Need to make this a priority for your company?
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Google Results Shake-Up: How 2 Big Changes Affect Your Business
First, let’s review what has changed.
In August, the Local Results that are often shown directly under paid ads went from including seven results to only including three. And the competition to be in that pack of 3 instantly got fierce.
Then in February, Google changed their desktop results to look even more like a mobile search by getting rid of Right Column Ads altogether.
There are now usually four paid ads at the top of the page instead of three, while the other ads that used to appear on the right column of the page have shifted down. Those ads now sit quietly below the full page of organic results. Basically ad #4 got an upgrade to first-class, while ads #5 and #6 got downgraded to the cargo bay.
Taken together, these changes produced two major consequences for businesses, and both have to do with “the fold,” which means the top part of the page that you see without having to scroll.
- Organic results are now “Below the fold” in many cases, meaning that ads and local results in the map take up the top real estate of the search page. (See the “security systems” example search above.)
- Competition to be within the top 4 ads on the page and the top 3 local results with the map is suddenly much tougher than the previous layout of 6 ads and 7 local results. Basically businesses have half as many chances to show up above the fold as they did before.
What to do?
Adwords
First of all, it turns out the 4th spot isn’t so bad now. Some argue that the 3rd ad position has actually received the biggest boost in clicks. While Cost-per-Click has gone up slightly for some because positions 5 and up are basically useless, the truth is that the 4-7 slots along the right rail weren’t getting many clicks anyway. Careful campaign management and watching those average positions and CPC will be key moving forward.
Local SEO
The local results that are shown with the map are still powered by Google’s algorithm, and you can’t pay to get there. And since the organic links are farther down the list, the local 3-pack has become even more important for local businesses. Now more than ever, businesses should be focusing on optimizing for local searches.
What does that mean?
Cazarin Interactive can help you optimize your local SEO. This includes monitoring and fixing directory citations, having consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone information), optimizing webpages for specific locations, and, among other things, creating and keeping up your Google+ local profile, especially by earning new Google+ reviews.
It’s worth noting that this update has made it more difficult for businesses located outside their target audience’s specific city. For example, if you search for Restaurants, the map will return with 3 restaurants very close to your physical location (probably with google+ reviews). Google has given more weight to physical location, which is helpful for some businesses like florists or dry cleaners, but less sense for businesses that serve an entire area.
Organic SEO
Although the organic results are below the fold on many occasions, SEO is still extremely relevant not only because it factors into local rankings, but because in some cases, paid ads and local results are NOT part of the search engine results page. That’s right, when searching with certain terms, all of the information we’ve just given you does not apply, and it’s just you and the organic results.
For example, searches using long-tail keywords (those using 3 or more words) often return a page of only organic results, like this:
In Summary
Although your friendly Google results page may look a bit bare, having a balanced strategy that includes the trifecta of a solid SEO plan, a strong Adwords showing, and quality content on your website is still the best way to fare these changes, and any changes yet to come.
What are Infographics and Should I Be Using Them?
Click below to see an example of an infographic on Responsive Website Design:
Should You Be Using Infographics?
Infographics can be very useful in the following situations:
- If you publish blogs or articles and would like to bring more attention to your content.
- If your business or blog has a presence on Pinterest. Pinterest is fueled by powerful images, with infographics as one of the main stars.
- If you have complicated results, data, or timelines you’d like to share with your visitors, and need an easy way to convey them.
- If you’d like to share your industry knowledge with your followers, and could use an attention-grabbing, potentially viral way to do it.
What makes a good infographic?
Color
The colors of an infographic need to grab attention without being overwhelming. Consider using your brand’s colors, seasonal colors, or build off of the images that lead the topic. See this example created by Cazarin’s team.
Readability
If you’re planning to post on Social Media (and you should), your piece will end up in a feed of other images. The text must be readable enough at smaller sizes, particularly your headlines and subheaders. Check out this example!
Balance
Balance white space with content. Balance text with graphics. Balance dry data with interesting tidbits.
Relevance
Don’t build an infographic just to build an infographic. Make sure it contains meaningful information and tidbits that can be read quickly or understood visually. If your infographic has text in paragraphs, take those parts out and let them take their rightful place in an article. See this example by Cazarin.
Branding
This is a chance to show your business’s expertise, and it should be branded accordingly. In addition to including your brand colors and your logo, work in your own message and personality. Use your brand’s voice, and include tidbits about your experience or your specialties where appropriate. See this somewhat subtle example from Ford about childhood “The Road to College.”
Accuracy
An infographic is only as good as the information it displays. Be sure to use only credible, accurate information, and place reference links in the footer of the infographic.
Resources for Infographics
The team at Cazarin Interactive can create an infographic on any subject. We’ve covered everything from Sleep Tips to Online Word Origins to Social Media.
The Next Generation: What a New Intranet Can Do for Your Company
These days many companies have locations in several cities and/or employees who work remotely, work from home, or are on the road.While online tools mean that staff is more flexible and mobile than ever, your productivity and office spirit may pay the price.
How to combat this modern mobile office dilemma?
Company Portals and Intranets.
Intranets have been around for years, but have recently become much more advanced, customizable, and affordable. You no longer need to dread logging in to some monochromatic bulletin board of boredom, provided you can even remember your password.
Today’s intranet systems can handle group chats, individual messaging, file sharing, large numbers of employees, and fun components like staff photos, company event calendars, polls, and forums.
Many distribution companies or those with sales agents use Intranets for their reps to be able to log in, find documents and information, and get what they need easily—no matter where they are. Member-based organizations can use intranets in similar ways.
Take Cazarin for example. Our former intranet had fallen out of use, so we created and implemented our own upgraded Intranet system, and we highly recommend this product for other small businesses.
Here’s why:
- Staff can collaborate on Forums and Discussions, which are updated with comments in real time instead of keeping track of emails
- HR forms, such a Vacation requests and Payroll submission, can be done online
- Branding assets, such as logos, branded documents, and brand guidelines can be accessed from anywhere, with the knowledge that you’re using the newest version.
- The Projects capability allows a project leader to determine tasks to be done, assign them to people, and watch the progress of an endeavor.
- Polls and voting allow us to easily manage our internal contests. Yes, we do internal contests.
- An admin can grant different access levels to different people, and can place people in private groups according to department.
For all these reasons, we’ve created bWell Software.
Check it out here: www.bwell.software
Designed by our in-house designers, and built off the dual meanings of the word “well”—bWell is both a place to “come to the well” to catch up and discuss, and also has the goal of keeping our company and our people well.
bWell is extremely customizable for the company that uses it. We help identify what will help a company Be Well, based on your industry, your size, and the way you would use the system. Then we build the intranet around your needs. For us, we included Group Chats, Polls, and Forums for quick discussions on topics, and use the File Manager and HR forms regularly. Starting at $95/month, plus a one-time set-up fee, there are several affordable options.
Want to try a demo?
Request a Demo of bWell to see how this intranet solution would fit your company’s needs. Or Contact Cazarin Interactive for more information on this and our other digital marketing solutions.
The Keys to a Good Logo – Check Yours Against These 6 Tips
Your logo is one of the most important aspects of your brand. It acts as your spokesperson, communicating on your behalf to current and potential customers. It must be easily recognizable while also exemplifying your brand. Take a moment every few years to objectively look at your logo and determine how well it’s serving you. Here are some pointers.
1. Does your logo translate from full color to one color, while still looking clean and recognizable?
Some designers even start their process in black and white to eliminate having to make this transition later on. If your logo cannot translate into one color you might need your designer to create an alternate logo, in which shapes are simplified, outlined, or separated more.
Why would you need a one color logo when you only plan on using your logo in full color? There are many special circumstances that may arise for your brand where you’ll need a one color logo, such as stamps, embossed versions, and signage.
2. Is your logo unique and memorable?
If it’s made with stock images or an online logo generator, the answer is probably a negative. A logo that’s unique is extremely important, and increasingly harder to find. When it comes to the icon, oftentimes uniqueness is sacrificed for being literal to what your brand does or company name. Remember, some of the best logos throughout history have nothing to do with the meaning of the company’s name or the product. They can pay homage to the history of the company (Starbucks), be a showcase of one of the letters in the company name (WordPress), or just be abstract symbolism (Pepsi).
3. Does your logo have specified Pantone colors, as well as CMYK and RGB colors?
These standardized color specifications will help keep your brand consistent in print materials.
Not sure what these are? Pantone is a company that makes a large number of specific inks that are always consistent in color. CMYK color is likely what your printer at work uses, when it mixes 4 primary colors to make any colors in your document (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key [black]). Because every printer is different, CMYK printing can result in very slight color inconsistencies. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color space that screens and monitors use. Having these three color types determined for your logo will help ensure your brand colors come out looking right every time.
4. How your logo is used is just as important as how it looks.
Decide what version or what colors you’ll be using for print materials, in one-color contexts, and with or without text. If your logo has ever been updated, ensure that everyone is consistently using the newest version. Make sure your logo is used in places where it remains readable. It should have a margin around it to give it space and room to breathe.
Consider creating a brand guide that clearly defines how your logo, company name, and tagline are to be used in different situations.
5. Does your logo scale down well?
Your logo will inevitably need to be seen at very small sizes, and it will need to remain distinguishable when this happens. If your logo looks muddled when scaled down, create an alternate, simpler version. For social media it is also important to have a small avatar version. This can be just the icon part of your logo or it can be a unique letterform in your logotype. It should fit into a square while remaining bold enough to distinguish at very small sizes (such as on mobile devices or next to YouTube comments).
6. Is it obvious that your logo was designed 5 years ago?
Trends in the design world change quickly; it’s important that your logo doesn’t look dated. Ideally your logo will be timeless. But as no one can predict the future and it’s hard to anticipate where design trends will go, it will more than likely look a bit dated after a while. To keep up with the times, logos can be completely redesigned (MoA) or just slightly revamped (NFL).
Remember, there is no exact recipe for a successful logo. There are plenty of good logos out there that may not follow all of these rules. Is your logo up to snuff? If it’s not, we can help!