It's Time to Use AI in Marketing
If you and your competition aren’t using artificial intelligence in your marketing strategy, this might be the year that changes. It’s expected this year will be when a lot of businesses wake up to the power of AI, and leverage its abilities to analyze consumer behavior and search patterns, and use data from social media platforms and blog posts in order to better understand how customers find their products and services.
Artificial intelligence is the biggest commercial opportunity for companies, industries, and nations over the next few decades. It’s anticipated to increase global GDP by up to 14% between now and 2030. For this reason, latecomers to AI will find themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage.
Reasons for Adopting Artificial Intelligence in Your Business:
- To obtain or sustain a competitive advantage
- To move into new markets
- Because new organizations using AI will enter your market
- The pressure to reduce costs
- Customer desire
- And more!
For AI integration into your marketing platform, you can look to the big players like Salesforce, which integrates Einstein AI into their platform, or a slew of third-party applications that offer single use AI tools, such as nurturing automation, personalization, and even offers. The new tools are based upon historic behavioral actions as well as aggregated data from target personas.
Linx has found that by using these toolsets, we can improve our Conversion Rate Optimization programs by 2-3x.
Chatbots at Your Service
Chatbots are one of the many ways you can introduce artificial intelligence into your marketing strategy. Chatbots are an AI-based technology which uses instant messaging to chat with customers, leads, and site visitors in real-time. Their natural language processing allows AI chatbots to decipher what information a user is looking for, and the bot will respond as if it were a real person instantly 24/7 (with outstanding customer service, never losing their patience!), which is why they’re widely used across the web and on social media.
- Of the 71% of people willing to use messaging apps to get customer assistance, many do it because they want their problem solved fast
- 63% of people prefer messaging an online chatbot to communicate with a business or brand
- 80% of businesses want chatbots by 2020
- By 2022, chatbots will help businesses save over $8 billion per annum
At Linx, we frequently deploy chatbots on client websites, such as the live chat we implemented on Suburban Exterminating’s website, which allows website visitors to get in touch with a customer service agent within seconds, amplifying the company’s web leads 24/7.
Ready to embrace AI in your marketing strategy? Get in touch with Linx today!
Video Marketing Isn't Going Away
It’s no secret that video marketing is, and will remain to be a huge marketing trend. Not only does video content marketing have the potential to drive sales through compelling content and storytelling, if your website includes video, but it’s also actually 50x more likely to drive organic search results compared to text. This is because users find video more captivating, and Google pushes pages that include videos higher in its rankings.
Here are a few more reasons why you should be using online video marketing in your business:
- 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video
- 93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media
- 43% of video marketers say video has reduced the number of support calls they’ve received
- 88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI
- 99% of people who use video marketing say they’ll continue doing so
Through the use of strategies such as sequential storytelling and day-in-the-life videos, for example, you can truly bring your brand to life on social media through video marketing.
Video SEO marketing is also important—YouTube and other online videos are displayed in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), so it’s going to be important to optimize your videos, as well—text overlays, closed captions, descriptions, titles, and file names are all important to your video SEO.
Linx has a robust history of video marketing for businesses across a variety of industries. Here are a few highlights from some of our recent video production projects:
ELMO Board Product Video
- Created a product marketing video for ELMO, a global leader in educational technology, introducing their new ELMO Board
- Released in 5 different languages to drive product sales around the world
Suburban Exterminating 5 Second Video Ads
- Developed a catalog of 5-second video ads for Long Island-based pest control company, Suburban Exterminating, promoting their “Pests Today, Gone Tomorrow” guarantee
- Used in YouTube retargeting ads to remind Suburban’s past website visitors of the company’s services
Ready to implement video into your marketing strategy? Click here to get started.
User-Generated Content is on the Rise
Content for your audience, created by your audience is a huge marketing trend and is a powerful, often unexplored resource for marketers trying to reach younger markets like Millennials and Gen Z. Creating a user-generated content marketing plan involves coming up with innovative ways to encourage your audience to share their own unique content, often by offering them something in return, such as a discount or partnering for a cause.
Recently, Linx created a monthly social giveaway program for Farmingdale Meat Market, a Long-Island-based butcher shop with a new national e-commerce website. Farmingdale’s social followers were encouraged to share photos of their cooked Farmingdale meats with their own followers in exchange for the chance to win a Farmingdale gift card, resulting in greater social engagement, brand recognition, and customer loyalty (during a pandemic, no less).
As a whole, user-generated content significantly increases brand engagement, helps SEO, builds loyalty with your customers, drives conversion rates, and according to a recent study by PR Newswire, has the potential to influence the decision to purchase in as many as 90% of shoppers.
So how can you create user-generated content?
- Encourage your audience to share photos of your products in exchange for an entry in a giveaway
- Create branded hashtags for your audience to use in social media posts
- Develop campaigns your audience buys into, with a shared effort toward a specific cause
- Leverage both product and service reviews
If you’re looking for help developing a marketing strategy that includes user-generated content, reach out to Linx today at thinkahead@linx.com.
Welcome to a Cookieless World
After an unprecedented year that impacted marketing around the world, a new year brings exciting new ways to attract, engage, and delight your audience to drive business growth.
Today we’re sharing the first part of our new blog series, The Top Marketing Trends You Need to Know.
Goodbye, Web Cookies
Web cookies are small pieces of data stored on users’ computers by their web browsers, allowing websites to remember information, such as the user’s browsing activity or the items they added to their shopping carts. For many years, cookies have played a vital role in the digital marketing machine by providing key data used in targeting and retargeting audiences at the right time, harvesting data, and improving ad performance.
Now for the mic drop. From now on, you can expect a cookieless world. Popular browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, and Firefox have already blocked third-party cookies, meaning you’ll have to get more creative in your efforts to make up for the loss of valuable data cookies provided.
So, here’s what you can do:
- Embrace AdTech in new ways, such as media mix modeling (MMM)
- Build your own Customer Data Platform (CDP), a process providing long-term control over targeting
- Be at the forefront of alternative technologies; demand-side platforms are a good start
- Rely on the data provided by FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Alphabet); in many cases, this data is sufficient when combined with robust analytics
- Educate, test, and train, from the C-Suite down on this issue and new ways to manage targeting
If you’re looking for help setting a marketing strategy in a cookieless world, reach out to Linx today at thinkahead@linx.com.
In Simple Terms, What Is Predictive Marketing?
This question is best answered by example and by thinking about how things have started to change in the marketing world. Nowadays, businesses can measure and record many aspects of their interactions with individual customers. This information can be used to help businesses better understand which customers are most interested in their product, what their customers’ needs truly are, and which marketing efforts are working best for each customer segment. Once businesses better understand their customer-business interactions, they can make data-driven decisions to improve these interactions. In some cases, this data can even be used to make predictions about new customers.
Making predictions involves creating a mathematical or statistical model which learns from historical data to forecast future events. Being able to predict which customers will interact with your product allows businesses to prioritize their marketing efforts and marketing spend.
As an example, one of our clients is a lending company which keeps track of every customer which was both approved and not-approved after they’ve applied for funding (this company counts conversions as customers who were approved). In addition, the company also keeps track of each applicant’s credit score, industry, state, and annual sales information. Armed with this data, we leveraged statistical modeling techniques to create models that could predict the chances that new customers will be approved. In other words, using the model the company can now classify new customers as “fundable” or “not-fundable”. Why is this useful?
To see how the model could be used, suppose that the company will spend $100,000 over the next few months marketing to new customers, and that 40% of those new customers will not be approved for funding and 60% will be approved. These percentages are not known in advance because the company (obviously) cannot see into the future. This means that $100,000 x 40%=$40,000 will be wasted on non-fundable customers and $100,000 x 60%=$60,000 will be spent on customers who are funded. Alternatively, if the company had used the predictive model from the outset, they would have identified those non-fundable customers and specifically not spent money marketing to them. If the model was perfect, this means the company would have only spent $60,000 instead of $100,000 to acquire the same number of total conversions, thereby reducing their cost per conversion by 40%. In this example, the data collected and the predictive model saved the company $40,000 which can be used towards other marketing efforts or investments.
This is just one of many different applications of predictive marketing. In general, predictive modeling should be used to answer specific business questions such as: which markets should I decide to attack next? How should I adjust my budget over various channels to increase revenue? What products should I recommend to my existing customers? One important requirement for predictive modeling is to have high quality data. There are several ways to approach this:
- First define your business goals and then decide what data is best to record.
- First collect a bunch of data and then mine the data for insights.
- Augment you existing data with 3rd party data sources.
Most people would probably say that option (1) is best, but it all depends on your own specific goals and limitations. As newer data-recording and data-storage solutions are created, the demand and utility of predictive marketing will continue to climb. From this perspective, marketing is destined to become an increasingly scientific field. So, we will have physicists, biologists, chemists, mathematicians, and marketicians. Marketicians? Maybe marketologists is a better name. Or not, time will tell.
To check a sample predictive report, click here.
43rd Annual Golf & Tennis Charity Classic
Cohen Children’s Medical Center has greatly benefited from the hard work of the members of the Children’s Medical Fund. On June 18, CMF hosted its 43rd Annual Golf & Tennis Charity Classic at Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury. The event featured a friendly golf and Tennis tournament followed by a cocktail reception and dinner where there were live auction items and raffle prizes available for purchase to help support the children. During the dinner, a silent auction was held where several superheroes emerged to promote CMF’s new program: Heroes with Heart. Guests were able to bid on the Super Heroes, to send them to the Children’s Hospital. A total of $19,000+ was raised that night.
Linx partnered with CMF in creating this program to help facilitate some happiness for hospitalized children. This program is designed to bring popular superheroes to the bedsides of children to remind them that they’re not alone in their fight. The superheroes come into the hospital rooms with toys and activities to give them a sense of hope and joy during these difficult times.
All the proceeds generated from the golf outing helped fund The Children’s Medical Fund Center for Diagnostic Studies, located on the fourth floor of the new pavilion at Cohen’s. This pediatric diagnostic suite is a state of the art MRI and X-ray area designed specifically for children in the hospital. The NASA-themed suite features two MRI machines, a mock scanner that child life specialists use to ease children’s apprehension, and special goggles that allow children to watch movies during their examination.
For several years, Linx has partnered with CMF to aid in ongoing marketing efforts, including writing email blasts for their events and integrating other client companies’ marketing into CMF events. We also designed the front cover of the journals given out at the golf outing.
Please contact us if you’re looking for ways to boost the marketing of your company or business.
If you’d like to donate or volunteer with The Heroes with Heart program or are interested in learning about the charity, additional information can be found at Cmfny.org.
Augmented Reality – How Can It Be Used to Enhance Your Brand?
Last week, at our weekly “lunch and learn” session, Linx discussed the topic of Augmented Reality and its increasing adoption for marketers.
Augmented Reality (AR)… You might have heard the term, but what is it and how can it be useful to your company?
To start, let’s clear up any questions around the difference between Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and even Mixed Reality.
A Quick Synopsis:
Augmented Reality is when digital content is placed on top of the real world. An example of this was the wildly popular trending app, Pokemon Go, where users searched for Pokemon characters in real-life locations. Or, for a more common example, Snapchat and Facebook filters that place accessories on your face or give you animal ears in a photo.
Virtual Reality is a digital environment that is created that shuts out the real world. In this case, think of utilizing the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive and being immersed into different worlds.
Finally, Mixed Reality is digital content that interacts with your real world and as of now, the king of Mixed Reality is Microsoft HoloLens.
These new technologies are bursting with opportunity and are projected to rapidly grow over the next few years. In fact, according to XXX, it is expected that by 2023, Augmented Reality will become a $60 billion dollar industry.
Think Ahead: Leveraging New Technologies for Marketing
Over the past year, Linx has been following the trend of the new technologies that are crossing-over with reality to create new opportunities for our clients to utilize augmented reality to enhance their brand and promote their products and services in new and unique ways.
While something like Augmented Reality might seem like a complicated and expensive undertaking, that is not necessarily the case. There are many simple ways for every business to create unique experiences for their customers utilizing the technology. While we round-tabled our thoughts at our “lunch and learn”, we discussed some basic ideas for how specific clients could create interactivity around their brand or showcase their products and services using Augmented Reality.
For our e-commerce clients, we talked about how we can easily allow their customers to try on clothing to see how they would look before making a purchase. For our food industry clients, we explored how customers can take a look inside the packaging and the food items by opening them up right in front of them. For a client who sells home decor and furniture, we discussed enabling their customers to see how the products would look in their home house – a new couch, a lighting fixture, and accent piece – by taking a 360 image of the room. For construction and development clients, we brainstormed how to let their customers see a finished building or home on the exact land or plot to make sure everything is designed to perfection and fits the vision of those creating it. There are endless opportunities to utilize this new technology, but those who find the creative ways to do so will ultimately triumph over those who don’t.
Our responsibility is to bring our knowledge of these emerging technologies to our clients to help them continue to adapt to the changing world. Ultimately, Linx is here to Think Ahead for our clients and our goal is to make your company stand out in every way possible.
For more information on how we can help you use Augmented, Virtual or Mixed Reality to improve your brand, get in touch!
Instagram: The New Hub For Marketing
As many know, the evolution of social media has completely reshaped marketing by providing businesses with the tools that allow them to build loyal followings, create brand awareness and, most of all, generate more sales. What started out as a platform for people to connect with people, social media has quickly become the most effective form of marketing, connecting people with brands.
While Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are still among the most popular platforms leveraged by businesses, Instagram is on the rise and more and more companies are shifting their ad spend towards this channel. Which is a smart move, considering the expected user growth projections. “Instagram is predicted to add 26.9 million users in the U.S. by 2020. That’s far more than Facebook, Twitter or any other social platform.” (Entrepreneur.com ) At Linx, we make sure that our clients are aware of trends like this and help them Think Ahead to take advantage of new and growing channels, always keeping an eye on where their target customers are spending their time.
What makes Instagram a hub businesses and customers is that it offers a combination of popular features from Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, making it an all-inclusive social media platform. Recently, Instagram has also been one step ahead of its competitors, last week releasing a new video tie-in that goes head-to-head with YouTube and Snapchat. With this feature, influencers can distribute videos within Instagram, that they would otherwise place on other platforms. And, as Instagram is staying ahead of the curve, so should your business. Whether it be implementing story ads, newsfeed ads or partnering with an influencer, there are a multitude of opportunities to reach your customers through Instagram you may be missing out on… and many successful companies are increasing their ROI this way.
If you’re unsure of how to start an Instagram strategy or are struggling to produce an ROI on your current efforts, here are some ways to immediately increase your effectiveness.
Remarket in a new way and get more followers:
Tons of people are engaging with your ads and posts, but none of these people seem to be following your account. How can you change that?
Engaging with the likes, shares and comments you receive, you can convert these non-followers into followers, and eventually into customers. By re-engaging with those consumers who made the first move on your company’s post, it gives you the opportunity to market to them for a second time, and provides them with a unique and personal experience Resulting in a new follow. This approach adds more value and demonstrates your loyalty and care for your “new customers”.
Track every influencer marketing post:
If you are leveraging Instagram influencers, it is important to know that when working with multiple sources, sending them the same standard link will not benefit your company. Each influencer, should be given a unique link, so you are able to track your exact ROI from each of them. These links will help you determine which influencer is driving more traffic and sales to your website or product/services, as well as track each visitors’ behavior. With this information, you are able to shift your spend to the influencers producing the most the most ROI for your company.
Optimize your funnels with custom audiences:
As many of you know, Facebook feeds into Instagram, allowing marketers to run Facebook Ads and Instagram ads simultaneously. And, when creating an campaign on Facebook, you are able to create unique audiences based on any targeting parameters, as well as retarget visitors or purchasers. They key is not to run general ads, but rather various ads with unique messaging that speaks directly to your different segments at each stage of the sales funnel. Tracking every interaction and optimizing every element will extract maximum value at every opportunity.
Instagram is moving at a fast rate and it doesn’t seem to have a plan of slowing down anytime soon, that means businesses have to react to all these opportunities that instagram has to offer.That’s why our client rely on us to… Think Ahead! Contact us today and let us help you build a true brand value and increase your business ROI on Instagram and react faster new instagram features.
New Television Audience Data Can Help Marketers Fine-Tune Targeted Ads
Recent research has identified market trends regarding target audiences and the television shows they watch. This information can be leveraged by marketers to help determine where they should place digital campaign ads, while providing the opportunity for marketers to now target and engage with audiences they had not previously targeted.
Marketers can now evaluate data and see if there is a discrepancy between audience search demographics and who is actually tuning into specific television shows. Brands can take this data and fine-tune their targeting with television ads ensuring that they target consumers by advertising to specific interests. Conversely, television show producers will be able to use this information to convert audience that is ready for engagement into viewers.
Here is a sampling of the insights that initial research revealed:
- Home improvement shows tend to draw a 45 and over female audience with an income over $50k. The HGTV show Flip or Flop attracts a 45 and over female audience, with an income of $50-150k who have an interest in celebrity news, restaurants and home furnishings.
- Dramas attracted females primarily in the age range of 18-34. Specifically the NBC show This Is US attracted females ages 18-34, with an income over $100k who have an interested in television, face and body care and travel. Meanwhile the Fox show Empire attracted females, ages 18-34 who made less than$50k and had an interest in shopping, television, and face and body care.
- Late-night television attracts male viewers ages 18-44 with an average income of over $50k. Research confirms that Conan O’Brien’s show has an 18-44 male audience, with an income of $50k-150k, who have an interest in sports, colleges and television.
- Comedies are indexed to 18-34 year old viewers with less than $50k income yearly. Research indicates that The Big Bang Theory of CBS has an 18-24 and 55+ male and female audience, with an income of less than $50k and an interest in television, humor and physics. The ABC show Black-ish draws an primarily female, 18-34 audience who have an income of less than $50k, and an interest in television, face and body care and colleges.
- Crime shows attract more males than females, ages 18-44 with a higher income, typically over $100k. Research indicates that the CBS show NCIS has a male and female audience, ages 18-44, with an income over $100k, and an interest in travel, face and body care and colleges.
- Research indicates that reality television shows tend to attract an 18-34 year old, female audience with an income of less than $50k. The popular ABC show The Bachelor has a female audience ages 25-34 and 45-64 with an income of $100-150k, with an interest in television, celebrity news and restaurants.
Marketers that has access to this sort of research can see where discrepancies lie in initial demographics when placing ads and can adjust their marketing plans to place ads where they will be more likely to reach their target audience. These insights will subsequently help marketers create better content, design the ads to best sell their product and convert potential buyers into customers.
Marketers that has access to this sort of research can see where discrepancies lie in initial demographics when placing ads and can adjust their marketing plans to place ads where they will be more likely to reach their target audience. These insights will subsequently help marketers create better content, design the ads to best sell their product and convert potential buyers into customers.
Think Ahead™ 50 Years
Inspiration Appears in the Most Unusual Places
Have you ever been struck with a genius thought while in the shower? Maybe for you, it’s while you’re taking a leisurely walk, or playing with your kids or grandkids. Perhaps you came up with your newest product or service while doing something that had nothing to do with work at all?
Harvard psychologist Shelley H. Carson, author of “Your Creative Brain,” says that little distractions can actually be a good thing when it comes to creativity. She explains that interruptions and diversions can lead to a creative “incubation period.”
While visiting a client on a recent business trip to California, I experienced what Carson would describe as a creative “incubation period”. While walking through Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with my son, I began to notice artwork and other exhibits promoting the Summer of Love Experience in celebration of its 50th anniversary.
As I walked, I noticed street signs comparing 1967 to 2017. This caused me to pause and reflect back, thinking about the original Summer of Love and the changes the world has seen over the course of 50 years. As I continued to read the street signs I started to notice a trend – though the specific group, community or cause changed over the years, the root of each of these causes remained the same. Social justice, equality, health care, connectivity, personal identity – all of these causes are just as important today as they were 50 years ago – they’re just known by new name. Or from a marketing perspective – they’ve been rebranded.
Which upon reflection brought me back to where the company I founded, Linx, finds ourselves right now – in the middle of a rebranding of our own. We’re giving ourselves a facelift after 22 years in business, as the third generation of our family business begins to lead the company. Because of this and the timing of the Summer of Love experience, my creative incubation period shifted into hyper-drive. Re-branding your image forces you to really evaluate your brand and tests you to make sure you truly know what your company’s core values are and if they can stand the test of time.
During our rebranding our core values will remain the same as they have for the last 22 years. Some of our core values at Linx are:
- We are trusted advisors to our clients
- We adapt faster than the speed of change
- We are accountable to each other’s success and personal growth
- We simplify complexities to maximize communications
- Our financial and personal success are inextricably linked to the results we achieve for our clients
Think Ahead™
Companies with a strong foundation are the ones who last through generations because they recognize that while times change, the root of what your company stands for won’t. Before you even consider re-branding, the first thing you need to do is stop and evaluate your brand as it stands right now.
As I mentioned, the foundational elements of your brand should never change. Look at companies that have stood the test of time – Pepsi, Apple, Target and Burberry for example – and take note of the fact that their core messaging never changes.
For example, over the years Pepsi has acquired various additional brands, expanding their product line and changed their look – but their mission has remained the same. Pepsi purposed themselves to remain relevant with each upcoming generation with advertising campaigns that have evolved throughout the years – first with their Pepsi Generation campaign in 1963 followed by the sub-sequential “The Choice of the Next Generation” and “GenerationNext” campaigns.
A successful brand stands for something fundamental – this bedrock principle must show up at every turn and with every product and service offered. Without strong emotional connections your brand won’t have any traction. Successful brand positioning rejects following the masses and conformity and stands out from the crowd. It stays the same while simultaneously evolving with the changing cultural tide over time.
So how is this accomplished?
At Linx, we’ve been changing the way organizations see the world… and how the world sees them for the past 20 years. But today we’re simplifying our value by helping companies… “Think Ahead™ ”. We recognize that change is guaranteed, which means we need to help our clients stay ahead of it. Typically, a new technology or product is introduced and people are forced to waste valuable time playing catch up to learn how to optimize that change within their company. By default they follow a formula where change drives learning. We have discovered however, that learning must be done at a pace equal to or greater than the rate of change. In other words L≥C. This allows for faster adoption of change and accelerated growth opportunities.
50 Years from Now?
Back to Haight Ashbury. As we are processing through our own rebranding, encountering the Summer of Love Experience forced me to ask myself what the world was going to look like 50 years from now?
Surely social justice, equality, affordable health care, connectivity and personal identity would be just as relevant as it is today, but by what parameters? What challenges will we be facing regarding healthcare or social justice? Who or what will be the new hipster? Is it a word that we’ve even created yet? What about equality or civil rights? With the rise of AI technology, will we find ourselves petitioning for equal rights for them, or will it be for someone or something entirely different?
We may not know these answers yet, but I feel it is our responsibility to begin considering them. Many companies put their trust in us to recognize the upcoming shifts in the market and anticipate new trends before they happen. Which means as a strategic marketing agency – our team must be ready to usher in these changes.
What’s Your Take?
So we decided to ask the question. What will these signs say 50 years from now? We want to hear from the masses. So this summer in honor of the Summer of Love, we will be surveying people across the country asking them this very question.
Please participate in our survey… pass it around and share it and we’ll report back out on the top choices society envisions the world will look like in 2067.
The Future of Your Brand Starts Here
As you and your team begin to ponder how to ensure the relevance of your brand in the near and distant future, remember that the team that stays ahead of change is most able to help you see the future as it will most likely occur, giving you and your company new and significant grow strategies to meet the needs of your customers today… and tomorrow!
Take our survey here.