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Brand Development

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Three Marketing Trends to Expect in 2023

Let’s face it: the last couple of years have been strange. Marketers, like every other industry, found themselves pivoting to accommodate a sudden pandemic and subsequent shutdowns, supply issues, and a new version of normalcy. As we look to 2023, we may not be able to predict every event, but we can look at some expected marketing trends that experts think will play a big role in the year to come.

Hybrid events are here to stay

 

Once it became clear that the pandemic wasn’t going away anytime soon, many businesses stopped canceling their large events and substituted digital options instead. Event organizers used video conferencing technology, social media platforms, and other creative solutions to give attendees a high-level experience that made up for the loss of being able to attend in person. At the time, these fixes seemed temporary. Now, however, it seems that more and more people are asking for digital options to remain available, even if the event is held with in-person attendees.

It seems that the hybrid event is quickly becoming a staple of the marketing community. Your team will need to shift away from planning for in-person events only and begin to consider options for adding digital resources for those who want to attend in person but are unable to do so. While this may mean extra work for your team, it’s also an opportunity to reach even more people. Thanks to tools like live video conferencing, you are not limited in the number of people you can educate about your business – in fact, you now have the entire world available to you.

Optimization for voice activation

 

You’re already familiar with the process of optimizing your content for search engines through keywords and high-quality content. Over the last few years, Google in particular has placed a higher ranking on those search results that demonstrate quality, engaging content. That trend is here to stay, but it has fed into another trend altogether: optimizing your content for voice activated searches.

Experts predict that, moving forward, Google is more likely to give a higher priority to those search results that are most easily understood and activated by the same commands people give Siri, Alexa, and any number of integrated voice search capabilities. Your business will want to take advantage of this trend as they look to optimize their visibility on search engines in the coming year. The information is out there – ask your team to do some research to see how just a few small changes could yield big results for your brand awareness.

Non-profits as part of your marketing plan

 

In a perfect world, every business would be able to give to a charity or organization in need. Sometimes, it isn’t in the budget; other time, you may not have realized just how many of those opportunities surround you at any given time. But non-profit organizations have gained a lot of public traction, and consumers are watching to see which businesses are taking action as a result. This means that you need to not only be engaged with the community around you – you need to do so in a planned, prepared way.

There are an endless number of non-profits to choose from, and asking your employees for any recommendations is a great way to start. Once you’ve chosen who to support, your marketing team needs a plan. Working with a non-profit is more than just a Facebook mention every week or so – you need to make real, attainable goals that will allow you to not only raise awareness but also offer relief and solutions to the struggles that the non-profit is trying to help people overcome. This may sound rather clinical, but sincerity is key – and people will know if you’re trying to fake your way through it. Pick an organization that means a lot to you and your team and work to help them achieve their goals.

2022 is right around the corner, so don’t let it take you by surprise. Stay on top of growing trends to ensure that your business remains at the forefront of the marketing industry, and take some time to learn just a little more about what you can expect in the year ahead.

Brand Awareness SEO Content Marketing

Brand Awareness: are you doing it right?

Keeping your brand top of mind is usually one of the number one goals for any marketer across all industries. You want others in your industry to recognize you; more importantly, you want to set yourself up as a reliable and knowledgeable resource for current and future clients. There are a lot of ways you can promote your brand – but we have some ideas on ways you can do it most effectively, with better results and a smaller budget. Read on to learn more.READ MORE

Brand Marketing Partnership

What to know about brand marketing partnerships

Brand marketing partnerships are starting to become more common between up-and-coming brands and media publishers or more established brands.

The more established brands get to look younger and trendier and the up-and-coming brands get good support from established brands with more marketing clout. It’s a win-win. Especially when a new kid on the block gets the benefit of the marketing savvy and deep pockets of an establishment brand.READ MORE

Find the Right Tone

Watch Your Tone…

How to determine the voice of your company

 

A lot of businesses small and large have become known for their unique tone in communication, whether it’s through social media or their website content or something else altogether. For instance, Wendy’s has made a name for itself through its Twitter account, which is constantly active and usually features a humorous tweet about their own food or their biggest competitors. Wendy’s has done this so well that it has not only become their voice, but is now the expectation for all of their content. So how do you find your company’s voice? We can help – read on for some expert tips.READ MORE

Use Video Brochures to Make A Presentation Unlike Any Other.

How do you break through the clutter of the competition? This is a question we all ponder at one point or another.

In an attempt to answer this question, many marketers will say content, content, content. But what happens when it all just becomes noise?

You need a way to reach people, leave your mark and make an impression they’ll never forget. It’s not just about producing content, it’s the right content at the right time using the right medium. That’s why you need to give video brochures a try.

Focal Point Offering Video Brochures

Focal Point is now offering video brochure solutions to our clients because we see the value and the vision behind it. We understand where the marketplace is headed and believe video brochures can be impactful for sales, marketing, recruiting, training, branding, motivating, fundraising, sharing testimonials, and more.

Engaging people with both visual and audio elements through video brochures goes a long way in making it to the next step – whether that be earning a follow up appointment or bringing top talent to your team. With video brochures, recipients are able to hold, watch and listen to a company controlled message in the ideal way without a salesperson having to be present. Simply put, when done correctly video brochures can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

How Video Brochures Work

For the recipient – all they have to do is open it. That’s it. Just open it and they can experience the video as you intended.

For the producer – it’s a matter of creating a video, selecting a design and simply loading your video into the brochure. All stuff we can assist you with here at Focal Point.

They are completely rechargeable and reusable, meaning you can update the video as needed to match your latest marketing message. Additionally, they don’t use any complicated technology so there’s no need to worry about the video crashing. And finally, video brochures work with a Mac or PC making them very versatile for different file types.

Why Video Brochures?

Video Brochures give you a leave behind or presentation supplement that doesn’t get forgotten/thrown away. Analytic reports show viewers are sharing them with their co-workers, and most importantly, decision makers.

Whether you’re trying to win “the war in mailboxes,” secure a follow up meeting or simply reach people in a way that’s more affordable and effective than TV – video brochures could be the missing piece to your marketing puzzle.
Focal Point & Video Brochures

When working with clients, we were able to see how video brochures fit into their marketing strategies time and time again. By having the ability to produce video content for our customers, while also being about to coordinate the design presentation and functionality of delivering video brochures – adding this service just made perfect sense. It’s essentially an extension of what we are already doing for many customers, just packaged in a new, highly powerful way.

Contact Us

Considering a video brochure? We’d love to have a conversation about how this service could work for your business. Just take a moment to contact us online today!

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How Hot Will Your Brand Be Tomorrow?

The hottest newest brand or brands attract a lot of consumer and media attention. When they’re hot. But whatever is hot today is rarely still hot next quarter.

 

Updates, fads and trends are coming faster and more frequently.

 

That’s why former hot brands like Dell soon get crushed by Microsoft. And Microsoft gets toppled by Apple. And Blackberry moves out of favor as iPod comes on the scene, and so on.

 

At FocalPoint, we think there is a lesson in all of this for the rest of us. As soon as a hot brand becomes exceptional, it’s hard to grow, move ahead and make changes. Why? Because the ‘wow’ is working too well for you at that moment, and it’s hard not to drink your brand Kool-Aid.

 

We think brand evolution and flexibility are the best responses to the ever-changing, fast-paced competitive marketplace. So we work with our clients to continually improve our client’s brand. Even when it’s hot. This is particularly true in today market.  I just came from a speaking event where the subject was in part how the product lifecycle has changes and you really do need to be reinventing your product or service while it is still a hot commodity.

 

We want to be sure our clients’ positioning re-earns attention and re-connects in new ways so it stays in line with what’s important to their customers.

 

We make it a point not to drink any brand’s Kool-Aid here.

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In 3… 2… 1…

You’ve got less than 5 seconds to pique someone’s interest enough to click on your link.

The first few sentences of any presentation determine whether your idea gets heard.

Studies show that each of us has to connect on some level with any new idea or product at least three times before we are willing to give it a chance with our pocketbook.

How does the information above square with your marketing campaign?

Here are basic questions to ask before you launch any new marketing campaign:

  • What need does this fulfill?
  • Are there typos?
  • Is the idea sexy?
  • Is the design compelling?
  • Is it this offer too good to be true?

You can’t blame your prospects for ignoring you. You’ve got to know the game and cut to the chase differently, faster, and most importantly, memorably.

Stand apart from the crowd in a way that is memorable. And timely. Then you will be heard above the fray.

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shake-things-up

Shaking it up

Do you want your marketing to fit in with everyone else’s? You want to stand out. Get noticed.

We thought so.

At FocalPoint, we know it takes real work to become a stand out. It takes questioning basic assumptions and trying a few crazy new ideas to create something different. Something of value.

If you have a vision that’s different from the norm and a passion that pushes you to move forward with it, here at FocalPoint, we consider that a gift.

We like to work with the movers and the shakers in the business and tech world. We enjoy working with folks that aren’t looking for different just to be different. Like us, they are looking for different to be better.

If that sounds like you, let’s shake a few things up together.

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What can we learn from our competitors?

The answer is quite a lot.

Your competitor is not your enemy. He’s an educational opportunity just waiting to broaden your horizons.

Chances are great that your competitors do all kinds of things you can learn from. If your competitor frequently hires staff out from under you, for example, find out why. What benefits do they offer that you don’t? Ditto for the people that you’ve tried to hire away from them. Ask why they chose to stay, even if you offered them more.

Ask yourself:

  • What does your competition do they do better than you? And how do they get it right?
  • How and where do they market their services?
  • What are the best decisions your competitor or your predecessor made recently?
  • What do they do or make that you could produce better?

It’s always a good idea to pay attention to your competition in an open minded way. It’s easy to get in a rut with insider thinking. Looking at the way your competition does things can unlock new ways of thinking and open doors to biases you didn’t even know you had.

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