In 2018, audiences are actively spending more time consuming content produced by social media influencers than just passively sitting in front of the TV. Influencer marketing continues to strip revenue away from traditional television-based “celebrity endorsement” and Instagram with 900 million active users is a leading platform among marketers.
 
Marketing on Instagram with the right type of influencer can boost product exposure and drive sales far more effectively and efficiently than traditional marketing.
 
Here are three important benefits of influencer marketing:

Relevance
Influencers communicate in a voice and style that is relevant to a targeted audience.
 
Authenticity
Influencers have credibility with a targeted audience through the creation of authentic content.
 
Exposure
Influencer content is more likely to be liked, shared, tweeted, followed and this then leads to increased exposure.
 
If you are interested in Instagram influencer marketing, but need help identifying the right type of influencer for your business, and more importantly how much you should pay, then let us know.

Scopic works with businesses to identify more effective and efficient ways to increase exposure, contact us to find out more.

People across the globe will be fixed to their screens this Sunday (U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis | 3:30pm | USA time) to watch if coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady can grab the honors at the 2018 Super Bowl LII.

Like years past, it won't just be the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles competing, but also the biggest global brands.
 
The Super Bowl is one of the biggest days of the year for major brands and they only have seconds to hold viewer's attention. The average TVC production costs over $1 million+ and brands will pay $5 million+ to get a 30-second spot during the big game.
 
Check out our top five TVC picks for Super Bowl LII.

I. M&M'S   |   Human

II. Amazon   |   Alexa Loses Her Voice

III. Doritos&Mountain Dew   |   Blaze vs. Ice

IV. Kia   |   Feel Something Again

V. Sprint   |   Evelyn

Now we are in the last month of the year, it’s still not too late to start shaping your 2018 content marketing strategy. For B2C and B2B social media marketing to really engage in 2018, businesses must publish relevant, authentic and targeted content across selected platforms. To make this happen—you need to know and understand future audience trends.
 
But before we look at 2018, it’s probably a good idea to take a minute to review your social media content marketing wins and losses of 2017—where, when, what and how your target audience consumed your content—what were the results?
 
Okay, now you know what worked, and what didn’t work, let’s focus on the trends for the year ahead.
 
1. Be Visual
Research shows that video will play a greater role in the content marketing mix in 2018.  It may take time to plan, capture and edit video content, but your audience is more likely to engage with video than just text or images. In 2017 90% of all content shared on social media was video, but remember, to make this happen, you need to catch your audience's attention in the first 3 seconds.
 
More Ideas: 7 Ways to Create a Killer Marketing Video
 
2. Be Influential
People will want more authentic and credible sources of information prior to making purchasing decisions in 2018. For this reason, building audience relationships and partnering with a quality social media influencer could really boost your sales. In 2017 74% of people turned to their social media network for advice on purchasing decisions, and 40% of Instagram and Twitter users made a purchase based on the endorsement of a social media influencer.
 
More Ideas: The State of Influencer Marketing
 
Final Thoughts
Using video and influencers may seem like a solution to the lack of social media traction your business made in 2017, but it’s important that you don’t forget key marketing fundamentals.
 
1. Be Targeted
With an explosive amount of content being published across multiple platforms, you will need to be more targeted with the content you create, and where you publish it in 2018. This requires you to even better understand your target audience's social media habits. Take the time to identify, what content and which platforms have your target audience’s attention. Once you understand where the attention is, you can then better create targeted content that snatches your audience's attention from the competition.
 
2. Be Ready
In 2018 businesses with the highest and most effective consumption rate of social media content will be those businesses that conduct A/B testing (split-run testing) of the content they create, and the platforms they publish it on. Through A/B testing you will start to better identify/understand your audience's habits and this knowledge will then shape the content created and the distribution platforms used.

Finally, social media content marketing winners in 2018 will be those that grab and hold the audience’s attention in the first 3 seconds—it's that simple.
 
Scopic works with businesses to create content that grabs attention and builds engagement, contact us to find out more.

We have heard countless people tell us about how they have engaged the services of an SEO agency to increase the ranking and exposure of their business online.
 
Unfortunately, many of these experiences with SEO agencies end in negative results with a financial loss.

Like any purchase you make towards growing your business, we recommend you do some basic research first before choosing an SEO agency. Taking the time to watch this short Google video (prefer reading: do you need an SEO?) on choosing an SEO agency may save you thousands. 

Scopic works with your business to create marketing strategies designed to increase your exposure, contact us to find out more.

The key purpose of your communications and marketing activities should be to entice your client, visitor and/or potential customer to act. This is why you need to use strong and clear call-to-actions (CTA).
 
A CTA is the text and/or graphics you use to persuade your target audience to take positive action. An effective CTA grabs your audience and tells them exactly what to do next.
 
Choose specific objectives
Carefully consider how you want people to act and be specific. Create your CTA based directly on your marketing objectives. Use concise language and keep the actions required hassle-free.
Download your product overview? "Download Now"
Click on a specific webpage? "Click Here"
Sign up to your newsletter? "Sign Up Now"
Pick up the phone? "Call Today"
Visit your store? "Come In"
Send an email? "Email Us"

Use space and color
Carefully consider the negative/white space you have around a CTA as this space will draw audience attention to your key message.  Also, using contrasting colors will draw greater attention to the CTA. Use a different color for your key messages, active text and buttons, so they stand out from the other content on the page.

 Interested in finding out how we could help your business persuasively communicate? Let's connect.

A recent Nielsen report assessed the importance of optimizing your business marketing mix.

The report notes that every brand has unique dynamics, however, there are some controlling fundamentals that apply to them all:

• Brands need to take digital seriously, as digital’s return on investment (ROI) is twice as efficient as TV
• Brands need to better balance the media spend across all branded products, as a balanced media spend benefits sales across the entire brand portfolio
• Brands need to better understand consumer flighting patterns, as maximizing flighting patterns is an essential way to optimize a media spend
• Brands need to support new products for up to two years following launch, as extended product support will build positive consumer behavior
• Brands need to better understand the importance of interconnected media, as a well planned and connected media flow will drive sales.

 
​Access report here: Five Steps To Optimizing Marketing Mix Strategies
 
Scopic helps businesses better understand and engage with their target audience, contact us to find out more.

As the end of this year quickly moves closer, it is not too late to start proactively planning your 2017 marketing strategy and related marketing spend. Ensuring marketing success in the year ahead, requires you to reflect, focus and plan now.
 
Use these simple five steps below to create a plan to drive business growth in 2017.
 
1. Create a marketing schedule
Get a 2017 calendar and mark each day/week you want to launch a marketing campaign for your business. Mark days/weeks that are key sales periods on your “Marketing Schedule” – of course this will vary depending on your products/services and key markets. Remember, to make sure you firstly take the time to review your current 2016 marketing periods/activities and identify what worked for your business.
 
2. Identify marketing deadlines
Now you have created your “Marketing Schedule” for 2017 – for every day/week you marked, count back four weeks and mark it as “Marketing Deadline”. This is when you should have your marketing strategy finalized and ready to go. Too often marketing campaigns are rushed and this impacts on the creative aspect being compromised.
 
3. Consider strategy time
For every day/week marked “Marketing Deadline” schedule at least two weeks before as “Strategy Time” – this is when you need to take a few hours to review the overall marketing strategy to make sure it is inline with current objectives and market trends.  Marketing KPIs you need to be measuring to better understand your ROI may include: website traffic and level of engagement, social media reach and engagement, marketing qualified leads (MQL), sales qualified leads (SQL), and of course sales growth relevant to a particular marketing campaign or promotion.
 
4. Allow for production time
Effective marketing campaigns take time to create, test and revise. Booking quality advertising space or media spots also takes time and by leaving it too late you may be limiting your options. This is why it is extremely important to plan ahead.
 
5. Build professional connections
Finally, now is a great time to start to build new relationships with marketers, designers and media outlets in preparation of launching your 2017 marketing activities. By reaching out now you will be able to start to grow strategic relationships with key partners. Like effective marketing, creative business relationships take time to grow.

Scopic helps you better engage and connect with creative communications, contact us to find out more.

​Nielsen a global leader in consumer understanding shares the keys to unlocking the millennial mindset. With millennials making up nearly 25% of the globe's population at 1.7 billion people they are about to make a substantial impact on the global consumer landscape in the immediate future.
 
" Millennials are also a demanding generation that wants a more balanced, healthy lifestyle, and they want to be more informed about companies, their products and their business practices. They also expect products to do more for them and for their community."
 
According to Nielsen, “core values and characteristics will remain the key influencers and drivers for how Millennials think, spend and act throughout their lifetimes.”
 
Read more here: The keys to unlocking the millennial mindset
 
Scopic helps you better understand and engage with your target audience, contact us to find out more.

Now we are officially at the halfway point of 2016 – 1st July 2016 – it is a good time to evaluate your social media objectives and plans for 2017.
 
What we continue to find interesting about 2016 is the preferred communication platforms and behaviors of Japanese users on social media. With much of the world dominated by Facebook 1090M+, Japan users continue their love affair with LINE 50M+ and Twitter 26M+. Even the way Japanese users post and interact on third-placed Facebook 25M+ is different compared to United States users; with a slower shift to video posts and a greater preference to link content in Japan. It will be interesting to see whether Facebook uses their rapidly growing Instagram 8M+ user base (55% Females) in Japan to generate growth and synergies across the two platforms in 2017.

See the statistics here: www.socialbakers.com/statistics/facebook 

In 2017, we see Facebook move to become an even more valuable tool for professionals and businesses as it continues to strip away at Linkedin's 340K+ user base and gains the respect of major Japanese brands. 

Scopic works with your business to identify the best social media platforms to increase your customer engagement, contact us to find out more.

Nielsen a global leader in consumer measurement and information offers a snap shot on how a creative strategy can resonate with different consumer groups in different ways. 

"For years, Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s creative strategy has included incorporating sex appeal into a number of their ad campaigns. While their sexual advertising, presumably targeting male audiences, catches viewers’ attention in high-profile events such as the Super Bowl, analysis via TV Brand Effect identified the polarizing effects that these ads have on women that could impact the brand’s overall equity in the long run."

FINDING #1
Carl’s Jr. ads featuring sex appeal creative are no more memorable than their ads without sex appeal for both men and women. 

FINDING #2
Both men and women were more likely to connect the sexual ads to the Carl’s Jr. brand than their non-sexual ads. 

Download the full report here: Nielsen Case Study - Using Sex to Sell

Watch Carl's Jr. | Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger commercial here: Tex meets Mex - Borderball

Scopic helps you connect with your target audience via creative communications, contact us to find out more.

We love sharing simple ideas that will help increase your bottom line.

Stay in touch with the latest creative ideas and smarter solutions for your business with our Ideas blog.

Scopic helps you connect with new audiences through creative communications, contact us to find out more.

1. Think creatively simple
Creatively simple cover designs cut through and connect. To grab the attention of your target audience, combine a powerful image with enticing text. Your brochure must firstly be picked up, before it will be flicked through.

2. Keep content crisp
Most target audiences are time poor, so now they are inside your brochure — keep them engaged. Use strong, clean headlines with quality text, but don’t over do it! Keep plenty of white space, it will help draw attention to your key points.

3. Make people act
The key purpose of your brochure should be to encourage people to act. Do you want people to click on your website? Pick up the phone? Send an email? Visit your office? A strong call to action tells your target audience exactly what to do next, so make sure it stands out on the page!

4. Reinforce your brand
The colors and images you use, the shape and size of images, the font type and message across your brochure must be consistent. Keeping your brand consistent will ensure your target audience develops a visual connection and relationship with your business.

5. Feel the quality
Finally, don’t try to save money with cheap paper stock. Use high-quality paper with a glossy finish to create a brochure that screams quality or a matte finish for a softer more subtle feel. The weight, texture and feel of your brochure are all part of creating a powerful brand image.

Scopic will look, listen and discover fresh solutions that will force people to want to engage with your brand, contact us to find out more.

Press Releases are a smart way to share your brand message or story with a wider audience.

1. Getting out there is fun, but getting picked up is the best part
Your press release headline and first paragraph need to grab the attention of the editor or journalist. Make sure you cover who, what, where, when and most importantly why your press release should make the news in the first paragraph. Remember to write in an inverted pyramid style – most important to least important, just like in the press.

2. Keep things clear, accurate and short
Write in short sentences, short paragraphs and keep the information clear and to the point. Include facts/data from a research paper or report as it is to the point and it's much more likely to be picked up by a publications. As a general rule, keep the press release to one A4 page. If your press release is picked up you will get the chance to add more detail later if required.

3. Quote someone special
People like to hear news from credible sources or experts in their field, so make sure to always include quotes. Using quotes will help make sure that your story is "newsworthy" and newsworthiness plays a central role in whether your story makes it to the presses.

4. Close on your brand story
A press release is all about building positive public interest/relations, but focus on the news first and keep a short "Brand Story/Message" to the end. Remember, a strong relationship between your business and media outlets is mutually beneficial. If all goes well journalists, bloggers, content creators, everyone will be sharing your brand story brand.

5. Make it look smart
Make sure you put Press Release (large font 14point) at the top of your page and remember when emailing media outlets make sure to have “Press Release” and your headline in the subject.  Remember to attach an image that works with the release…

Head your press release with the following:
Press Release
For Immediate Release – (Date)
Editors or journalists will need to have your media contact details to ask questions or to arrange an interview if required.

Close the press release with following:
Media Contact:
Email:
Phone:
Press Release Ends

Scopic helps you engage and build new audiences through creative communications, contact us to find out more.

Effective social media marketing requires planning, time and money. To get real results, it takes much more than just a couple of minutes a day and random posts/tweets about your products or services. So, here are 5 simple ways to boost your social media marketing for free.

1. Choose the best platform for your business
There are plenty of social media platforms to choose from, so take the time to check out which platform your target audience is engaging with on a regular and genuine basis. Unless your business is a major global brand, you are probably safe with choosing just a few from the more common platforms like Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter or YouTube. Finally, always make sure that across your chosen social media platforms you maintain your visual brand identity.

2. Timing is everything in this space
Research the best times and days to post/tweet for your specific industry, target audience and target region. For many businesses, this may be Monday to Friday between traditional trading hours of 9am - 5pm. However, if your audience is working at this time they may not be connected, so this is where researching and testing the social media habits of your target audience will be truly beneficial. 

3. Tell the full story with words and pictures
As mobile device usage grows and speeds continue to take off people are wanting more than just words. Research shows images and videos perform much better than just words on a screen. It may take time to create or search for the right image, but your audience will like you for it and even share you amongst their network. Remember, if you do use images, videos or even infographics make sure they add value to your brand image and are always of a high quality.

4. Maximize your time and energy
Social media is all about quality and not quantity, there’s no point using every social media platform and posting/tweeting the same content across varying platforms. Each social media platform serves a different purpose and attracts a unique demographic. Take the time to create quality content and your target audience will keep coming back to you if they discover something interesting, informative and engaging.

5. Be a creative and intriguing business
Playing it too safe could leave your business coming off as uninteresting, so your social media content needs be creative and intriguing. In order to build great social media content businesses need to look and think outside the box. Mix things up a little and see what kind of engagement you get. If the content, image and timing of a risky post/tweet generates positive engagement and exposure, do it again!

Scopic works with your business to build creative social media strategies designed to increase your exposure, contact us to find out more.

1. Do you know your audience?
Knowing and understanding your target audience is an essential element in creating a successful visual identity. Defining who you are speaking to will help you target your visual communications.

2. Do you know your colors?
Color is a central element of your visual identity. While it is not the only element in your visual identity, it is definitely one of the first things seen and possibly the most memorable of your visual identity. Carefully consider your visual identity color mix, as it will set the mood for your business.

3. Do you keep things simple?
Your visual identity needs to be simple and uncomplicated. When you try to do too much things get watered down. By keeping things simple you are keeping the visual communications strong, clear, and understandable.

4. Do you keep your visual communications consistent?
The colors and images you use, the shape and size of images, the font type and wording across your visual communications must be consistent. Keeping your brand consistent will ensure your target audience develops a visual connection and relationship with your business.

5. Do you really know your style?
The best way to know and maintain your visual brand identity is to create a style guide with exact specifications and guidelines. As mentioned earlier, to clearly communicate with your target audience in a consistent way you should always use the same colors, fonts, sizes, and image categories. 

Scopic works with you to create your visual brand identity, contact us to find out more.

Color is one of the most effective ways to communicate your brand and services/products to your target audience. It may not be the only element in your brand’s visual identity, but it's definitely one of the first things seen and possibly the most memorable.

Research into the impact of color in marketing, conveniently titled Impact of color on marketing found that colors really do influence the moods and feelings (positively or negatively) of consumers. The research paper indicated that between 60‐90 percent of product evaluation is solely based on color use alone.

Good brands use color to great success to engage their target audience. Before even choosing the color mix for your logo, marketing materials, website or product range it is important to firstly consider some simple points:

1. Know your audience
Know the demographic breakdown of your target audience and what motivates them. Defining who you are speaking to will greatly influence your color selection and color balance. 

2. Analyze the competition
Check out your competition and consider how you can differentiate your offerings from your competitors. This can be tough, as you still need to align with your sector and at the same time stand out from others in the marketplace.

3. Consider media platforms
Be sure that whatever color mix you choose for your brand and business it can work online as well as in traditional print marketing. What looks great on a computer screen in RGB may not look so great on paper in CMYK. Start by asking yourself, does my logo work in black and white?

Take the time to carefully consider your color mix, as it will impact on your brand's visual identity. 

​Scopic works with you from the start to create a strong and consistent brand identity, contact us to find out more.

Everyone loves stuff for free, right? So, here are 5 free Google tools you should consider using to improve your websites SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

1. Google Webmaster
Purpose: Diagnostics and health checker
Webmaster Tools remains one of the most important resources of diagnostic and health tools for website managers. Understanding and using Webmaster Tools will help keep your website running smoothly, and help identify bigger issues quickly.

2. Google Analytics
Purpose: Website analytics 
Analytics gives you important information on page visitors, page impressions, and geographical tracking. Keep in touch with your target audience by seeing when and how they interact with your website. 

3. Google Adwords Keyword Planner
Purpose: Keyword research and campaign planning
Keyword Planner allows you to workshop keyword ideas, get historical keyword statistics, and see how a list of keywords may perform before spending your cash. We recommend making use of Keyword Planner to lay the groundwork before your next campaign.

4. Google PageSpeed Insights
Purpose: Website speed and functionality
PageSpeed Insights measures the performance of your website on both desktop devices and mobiles devices. PageSpeed fetches and rates (out of 100) your webpage url twice, once with a desktop user-agent, and once with a mobile user-agent. Your website's speed matters, as it has become a signal in Google’s search ranking algorithms.

5. Google Trends
Purpose: Identifying keyword trends
Google Trends is a great tool for seeing what is trending in Google search results and to get a glimpse of keyword search popularity. Understanding if a keyword is increasing or decreasing in popularity is highly valuable for creating rich content, and like all of the above is available for free!

Scopic will look, listen and find fresh ideas and creative solutions that make people want to engage with your business, contact us to find out more.

Great logos generate strong audience engagement, so make sure your logo is simple, consistent, and memorable in a competitive marketplace.

1. Be Simple
Keep your logo simple and brand focused, basically don't try to do too much.
2. Be Fussy
Use only one or two fonts and two or three colors you love, just like the big brands.
3. Be Consistent
Make sure your logo sizing and positioning is consistent across different platforms.
4. Be Memorable
Use a recognizable and memorable shape or design element in your logo to boost visibility.
5. Be Engaging
Finally remember, your logo should connect with your target audience and be easily identifiable from your competitors.

Scopic works with you to create more effective communications, contact us to find out more.

The words on your website play a key role in driving targeted traffic to your business. Increase the power of your website with these three simple tips for writing effective web copy.

1. Firstly, understand your target audience and write for them
Make the content engaging and easy to read.

2. Remember less is always more on the web
Use effective headings to attract the eyes and powerful topic sentences to keep them focused.

3. Identify the keywords your target market uses to find what they are looking for and use them
Make the most of keywords in the copy that your target market searches. 

Use this free tool to find out what your audience is looking for: Keyword Tool. 

​Scopic works with you to create more effective communications, contact us to find out more.