Alina McComas, on October 4, 2017
As a student of Florida State University in the 90’s, I fell in love with the sport of football. It has been great to see my alma mater be relevant again in the world of college football, but I have always been a fan of the sport—whether it is college, professional, or even just well-done football movies. One theme that flows through all football successes is strong leadership, talented players, and a vision/philosophy that every person must believe in, to be a part of the team.
Alina McComas, on July 20, 2017
Yes, it’s a strange question to be asked, but it led to a great conversation. I remember the workshop so clearly. Someone once asked me what I felt was the easiest way to lose a sale.
Alina McComas, on May 4, 2017
The average American social media user spends an average of 3.2 hours a day with social networks according to research by Ipsos. With that much time being spent on a social network, businesses who have not developed a social media plan as a part of their marketing strategy are missing out on a lot of opportunity.
What’s the solution? Use social media! Sounds easy enough, and building a page on social media is simple. But posting once a day and tweeting is not enough. To effectively use social media for marketing, marketers need to build an audience and create engaging content that resonates with that audience.
If you are currently using social media to market your business, or you offer digital solutions and are looking to help your clients build and enhance their social strategy, here are five things to consider:
Social networks are not all the same. They all have different audiences that engage with the content in different ways. To understand which social network(s) you should be active in, first identify your target persona. Learn how they use social media, which networks are they most active in, and which content they engage with most on your website.
Alina McComas, on January 2, 2017
In this first week of 2017, most ofus are thinking about our New Year’s Resolutions and what we can change in the new year to make ourselves better. The usual list of suspects includes a promise to get into the gym more, quitting smoking, losing weight, spending more time with family and friends, getting out of debt, and getting organized. But what about your professional resolutions? Have you determined what commitments you plan to make to achieve your professional aspirations for 2017?
Alina McComas, on October 11, 2016
Campaign recaps are the norm when it comes to digital marketing. In an integrated marketing campaign, those results are usually separated out even though we design the campaign to work together. All too often, the digital portion of a campaign recap is simply a beautified spreadsheet or PowerPoint that includes creative images and a handful of metrics like impressions delivered, clicks, click-through rates, and sometimes view-throughs. These types of reports do very little to show how the campaign is actually achieving the goals of the client—and when that is the case, they can result in a cancellation or non-renewal.
The goal of a campaign recap is to sell the results back to your client so that you can retain and grow that piece of business. You want to make it clear that you are driving results—making the connection between the numbers and the emotions of your client. So how do we move beyond the simple delivery of numbers, to effectively sell the results of our integrated campaigns?
Here are three easy steps to get you there:
Alina McComas, on August 17, 2016
I am often asked by salespeople, “How do you know which is the right digital capability to pull into a solution?” or, “What is the right budget to recommend for a prospect or client?” The answers to both of these questions stem from the same place – understanding the client's challenge and their goals.
Alina McComas, on February 11, 2016
Mid-February is an interesting time of the year. The stores, malls, and grocery stores are jam-packed with people shopping for Valentines Day. If you like to shop, this may be paradise… heading out with all of the other crazed shoppers, trying to find that one special thing for that special someone. But if you're not into shopping, you probably want to minimize the places you have to go.
Imagine if you only gave yourself one opportunity to find that special gift—you're determined to go to only one store. Some of you would get lucky. Others might find that is it out of stock, while others find that the one store chosen never even carried that special something. So what do you do if you weren’t lucky? Since you only gave yourself one shot, you have two options—find another gift or go home with no gift.
Don’t like those options? Me either, but when it comes to digital marketing, I see salespeople and marketers do just that all the time when using ad targeting to reach their target consumer—their someone special if you will. Instead of using multiple targeting options available to them, they make the decision to hyper-target… using just one behavior, age group, or a small geographic area. Doing that is the same thing as just going into one store to find your target gift. You might get lucky and generate results, but more often hyper targeting minimizes your chances to deliver results.
Alina McComas, on October 8, 2015
As digital marketing continues to grow, so does the demand for demonstrating an ROI. Marketers want to know that the dollars they are spending are making an impact on their business. They are looking for ways to use all of the available data in the digital space to help them correlate the dollars spent to tangible results.
While there are a variety of website analytic tools that businesses can use, a good number of them are using Google Analytics. And why shouldn’t they? A free tool that can provide some great insights into how potential customers use a business website… seems like a no-brainer.
Alina McComas, on September 17, 2015
Like most people nowadays, I spend a lot of time online. Due to my profession, a lot of that time is spent looking at the ads on the screen. I find myself analyzing and critiquing the message, the look, and the layout of the ads, without even realizing that I am doing it. I have seen some good and some bad.
Alina McComas, on June 23, 2015
As Social Media continues to mature, they continue to search for new ways to engage consumers and drive revenue. Two weeks ago, Pinterest and Instagram introduced similar features aimed at accomplishing both goals and these new options could be game changers for businesses and consumers.
The first "buy now" button is the Buyable Pin that was introduced by Pinterest on June 2nd. The new feature will allow users to purchase products without ever having to leave Pinterest—when they see a blue Buy It button. If you live in the United States and use an Apple device, you will begin seeing the new feature in a couple of weeks. According to the company’s blog, you should be able to discover over 2 million Buyable Pins on your iPhone or iPad by the end of June. Android users will have to wait a little longer to see the new Buyable Pins.
