How to Create Better PPC Ads By Improving Your Writing

December 16, 2020 - 4:56pm - by

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is HOT right now. 64% of consumers interact with Google ads when shopping online, and anecdotally we’ve seen a big jump in the number of clients interested in search ads in 2020 here at Starling Social.

Back when the market was less saturated, ad agencies took a (misguided) approach of “set it and forget it”, thinking that setting up a few ads with targeted keywords would be enough to generate results for their clients.

These days, a “set it and forget it” approach just doesn’t work.

PPC ads require a lot of up-front work: taking time to know the client, their customers, the most common questions customers ask, geotargeting, identifying keywords and calls-to-action… but the “secret sauce” that ties all of these elements together is strong, compelling writing.

As a team with +20 years’ running PPC ads and publishing content online, we know a thing or two about creating great ad copy, so today we're sharing a post that will teach you:

• Why is strong writing important for PPC?
• What does “strong” writing in a PPC ad look like?
• How to write strong PPC ads
• Two easy ways to improve your PPC ad writing skills

Why is strong writing important for PPC?

Google and Bing, the world’s two most popular search engines, reward strong writing with higher ad quality scores that help your ads be seen and decrease your cost per ad.

Obviously a low cost per ad is important, but a well-written ad can maximize the limited character space you have available and hold readers’ attention long enough to get them to take the action you want them to take (also known as “reacting to our call-to-action (CTA)”.

Ads with strong copy stand out and capture users’ attention, speak to the specific pain point or need that person is having, and include a clear, actionable CTA.

What does “strong” writing in a PPC ad look like? Two examples:

Before we dive into how to write great PPC ads, let’s review a few examples of what great PPC ads look like:

Upwork

What makes it great?

• Clear CTA
• Great use of the second headline “reinforcing” the first
• Uses the Google Sitelink Extension*

*According to Google, adding a single ad extension to a campaign can increase the click-through rate between 10-25%.

Upwork is a marketplace that connects clients with freelancers. This ad is great because the CTA encourages you to use the service to hire the BEST, not just any ‘ol freelancer.

The ad further reinforces this by calling them experts in their field, which builds trust, and language like “a pool of agencies” helps customers feel confident that Upwork will help them ger great work done for less than they’re paying now.

(Hint: offering anything free, or focusing on cost savings tends to do well.)

Upwork also uses site extensions to direct users to the most important pages, like “how does it work” and “browse freelance talent” which make the ad larger (taking up more real estate on a user’s screen) and greatly increase click-through rate (CTR) by giving specific options for users to click on.

Even better: using site extensions gives us more data to understand what users care about, which we can re-apply to future ads to increase CTR. Yahoo!

Apple

What makes it great?

• Clearly lists benefits
• Speaks to timely concerns (contactless delivery)
• Is relevant to the shopping season (holidays)
• Call-to-action (CTAs) in site extensions

You probably know who Apple is by now, so you may be wondering: why the heck are they running PPC ads if they’re such an established brand?

The answer is twofold: to start, people forget about products no matter how big or well-known the company is. Second (and more importantly) if Apple doesn’t hold the top spot in a search engine results page (SERP), then a competitor will — not good for Apple!

This tactic — of fending off competition — is one of the things that makes PPC advertising so powerful and important for businesses. 

The ad starts by listing all the latest Apple products and speaking to customers’ concerns about holiday shopping, contactless delivery, and fast and free shipping — all things we know customers care about right now.

By using site extensions, Apple can direct search traffic to specific landing pages for the products they’re trying to sell and include CTAs about trade-ins to encourage clicks.

How to write strong PPC ads

PPC copywriters must have a deep understanding of the audience they're targeting with their ads.

Understanding what customers want and need is essential to writing copy that clearly states how you solve those needs. Below are the most important things to keep in mind when writing PPC ads:

Use audience-specific language

Once you know what your customers needs are, you can write copy that speaks directly to their interests, challenges, and proactively shows how clicking on your ad solves their problems.

Again, this comes down to knowing your audience. If you’re not sure what your customers care about, ask yourself:

• What do my customers want when they contact us?
• What language do they use when talking about their needs?
• What are things they care about, like discounts or free shipping?
• What adjectives can I use to convey the value of what we do?

Be detail-oriented

PPC ads are successful when they speak to a person’s specific search query, which means being detail-oriented about the copy you use when targeting different types of searches.

Think about it this way: every search is your customer telling you what they want.

The more specific the search, the more specific your ad copy should be.

On the flipside, a less specific search query requires less specific, more general copy.

Keeping the search intent and level of detail in mind, and crafting copy that reflects it, is how you can write PPC ads that speak to your customer’s needs.

Use call-to-action (CTA)s 

Your call-to-action is one of the most important parts of your ad.

A strong CTA is clear, direct, and to-the-point. Your CTA should specifically state what you want the reader to do and incentivize them to take that action.

Whether that’s “learn more”, “book now”, or “sign up”, your reader needs to be clear on what you want them to do with your PPC ad. 

Hint: an easy way to do this is to lead with a strong action word. “Shop”, “discover”, and “download” are all examples of action words you can use to encourage your reader to click on your ad.

Evoke emotion with your ad copy

By using words that evoke excitement, enthusiasm, or a sense of urgency, you can encourage readers to take the next step. 

This Buffer analysis of the IPA dataBANK (which itself has 1400 case studies of real ad campaigns) found that campaigns with emotional content performed twice as well as ads that were straightforward and unemotional. 

According to Buffer, here are the top five:

1. Amusement
2. Interest
3. Surprise
4. Happiness
5. Delight

Before you start writing, ask yourself: what kind of emotional reaction do I want to evoke in the people who see my ad?

Have a beginning, middle and end

Whether you’re writing a tweet, blog post, or a PPC ad, your copy should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. 

This isn’t just regular ‘ol writing advice — people are conditioned to expect “story arcs” because we grow up with them in the books, TV, and movies we consume. As a result, it’s a pattern we expect, and one that makes us feel good when we see it.

Having an “arc” in your PPC ads creates a familiar structure for your readers, allowing them to act with the ad in a way that feels intuitive and “ends” with them taking the action you stated in your call-to-action. 

Two easy ways to improve your PPC ad writing skills

Below are two of the tools we use here at Starling Social to hone our copywriting and create PPC ad copy that drives results:

The Hemingway App. Ernest Hemingway was known for his tight, concise prose in his novels, and this tool identifies complicated sentences and helps your writing be more clear and direct.

The CoSchedule Headline Analyzer. This tool is exactly what it sounds like! By scoring things like sentence length, keywords, and emotion, this tool (which is technically for blog titles but is useful across the board) can help you understand how your copy is likely to perform.

Conclusion

Remember: writing (like everything) takes practice, but by using the strategies we’ve outlined here you can make your PPC ads stand out from the competition and give you an edge in generating the click-throughs that are essential to a successful ad campaign.

If you’d like more tips on promoting your business and connecting with more customers, subscribe to our weekly newsletter! 

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How to Find New Leads on LinkedIn

October 28, 2020 - 9:00am - by

Want to use LinkedIn to find more leads? Looking for more ways to turn your cold connections into warm leads that move through your sales funnel?

With almost 700 million active users in 2020, LinkedIn has become more than just a job-hunting and networking tool. These days, LinkedIn isn’t just for CEOs and salespeople - it’s a must-use tool for any B2B business looking to increase brand awareness, find new leads, and increase sales by expanding their customer base.

If you’ve never tried using LinkedIn to generate leads, then don’t miss this post! These strategies will help you start reaching prospects and nurturing them into warm leads. 

Update Your LinkedIn Profile To a Custom URL

This simple strategy is one of the most overlooked tactics on LinkedIn. Custom links create a sense of consistency across your LinkedIn profiles and helps you look more professional. 

Instead of your LinkedIn profile URL looking like this:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/d5...

To this:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/al...

Updating this field is super simple! Just follow these steps:

• Start by clicking on the Me icon on the top-right of your LinkedIn home page
• Click View Profile

• On your profile page, click Edit Public Profile & URL on the right

• On the new window that opens up, click on Edit your custom URL on the top-right

That’s it! This simple step will help create a sense of cohesion across your LinkedIn profiles.

Invite connections to like your LinkedIn company page

It seems simple, but it works! This new(ish) feature might not be available for all company pages yet, but once it’s available inviting your connections to like your page is super easy. Just follow these steps:

• Navigate to your Linkedin company page
• Under the Admin Tools drop-down menu, select Invite Connections

• A pop-up window will appear with all your connections listed
• Select each person you’d like to invite, and click Invite Connections
• If an error appears, you may have reached your invitation limit

To prevent companies from spamming their contacts, LinkedIn only allows 100 invites at a time. These invites are “credited” back to your account once someone has accepted your invite to like your page.

Share curated content from LinkedIn Content Suggestions

Another way to find new leads on LinkedIn is to regularly share posts focusing on topics they’re interested in. 

If you’re not sure what to share, LinkedIn has a handy Content Suggestions feature for company pages. This tool helps you discover topics and articles that your audience is engaging with on LinkedIn and is a quick, easy way to share content with your followers.

To use this feature, take the following steps:

• Navigate to your Linkedin company page
• Select Content

• In the pop-up window, select your industry and a few demographics about your audience (ideal leads)
• Click View Content Suggestions

LinkedIn will generate a list of trending content from the last 15 days based on your selected industry and audience demographics. You can refresh this list over and over to find new content suggestions that appeal to different audience types.

But beware: not every content suggestion will resonate with your followers, so choose wisely.

Use LinkedIn Messaging to build relationships

The more people become familiar with you, the more they like and trust you. This is also known as the Mere-Exposure Effect. Our favourite example of this effect in action is this chart of Benedict Cumberbatch

Obviously this chart was made as a joke, but it demonstrates exactly how the Mere-Exposure Effect works: the more someone sees Benedict Cumberbatch’s face, the more attractive he becomes.

So what does the Mere-Exposure Effect have to do with finding new leads on LinkedIn? 

Building the authority and brand awareness necessary to move a prospect from a cold lead to a warm lead takes time. After all, people want to buy from people and brands they like and trust, and the higher the investment in a product or service is, the higher that trust level has to be.

One of the easiest ways to establish this trust is to use LinkedIn Messaging to build strong relationships with prospective customers. 

How to develop a LinkedIn messaging strategy

Sliding into people’s DMs and asking them to buy from you right away is a tactless move, and it’s honestly a little rude, especially if you don’t know the person you’re messaging.

If you want a response you need to approach the relationship naturally. Ask questions, provide value, and be a real human being before pressing for a consultation or sales call. Think about this outreach as a multi-step process that could look something like this:

Step 1: Send a connection request

When you send a LinkedIn connection request, always click Add a Note to customize the invitation. Here’s an example of the kind of note we add (notice it’s focused on them and doesn’t try to sell anything right off the bat):

Step 2: Thank them for connecting with a value-add

Once someone accepts your connection request, send them a follow-up message as soon as possible. This message should thank them for connecting, and include a link to a relevant article or group you manage.

Here’s an example of a follow-up message on LinkedIn:

Hey Sandra,

Just wanted to drop you a line and say thanks for connecting! I’m looking forward to keeping in touch. 

Since you work in a technical field, I’d love your thoughts on this article we recently published about writing technical blog posts. You can find it here: [LINK]

Looking forward to your feedback!

Cheers, Alyson

Remember: the purpose of this message is to show them that you’re a trustworthy resource of content they care about. Make sure to tailor this value-add to the person you’re talking to!

Step 3: Share a link to a high-quality 3rd party resource (article, video, webinar, etc.)

We recommend waiting at least a few days between sending these messages so you don’t seem pushy and overbearing. 

This message should again relate to something they’ve said, posted, or shared on the platform. Be specific about why you think they’ll be interested in the resource and what you think about it as well. Don’t forget to ask for their feedback!

Here’s an example of what this message could look like:

Hey Sandra, 

I hope business has been going well! I found this article and it made me think of you, so I wanted to send it your way. It talks about the importance of showcasing company culture in “technical” industries like yours. 

You can find it here: [LINK]

I thought the suggestion to use the new Instagram Reels feature to introduce followers to your office team was really great. I’d love to know what you think!

Cheers, Alyson

Message 4: Request a phone call

Unless you’re a born salesperson, this is arguably the most anxiety-inducing of all the messages in this strategy.  This message should be short, polite, and to the point.

Here’s an example of what it could look like:

Hey Sandra,

I’m working on getting to know my LinkedIn connections a little better, and since we’ve been crossing paths lately I’d love to hop on a quick call and see how we can both benefit from being connected.

Are you free to chat next week? How’s Thursday, November 5th, in the morning work for you?

Cheers, Alyson

Did you notice that we suggested a specific date and time to meet? This strategy makes it easier for someone to say “yes” because they can quickly check to see if they’re available.

Message 5: Follow up

If the person doesn’t reply, send this follow-up message a few days after you’ve sent the message above. 

Hey Sandra,

Hope you’re doing great! Just following up on my invite to have a short phone chat to get to know each other a bit better. I’d love to learn more about how we can both benefit from being connected.

If not, that’s totally fine! You can always reach me directly via email. I hope to hear from you soon!

Cheers, Alyson

Only send this message once. Sending it multiple times will look pushy and might damage both yours and your brand’s reputations. 

How to find new leads on LinkedIn: conclusion

These are just a few of the many strategies you can use to generate new leads for your business on LinkedIn. 

Remember: the best way to use LinkedIn is to be helpful, positive, and consistent. By posting regularly, liking and commenting on the posts your connections share, and using the strategies we outlined above, you’ll be generating new leads for your business in no time.

Want more resources like this delivered to your inbox once a week? Subscribe to our hand-picked roundup of the strategies you need to know. 

If you’re ready to level-up your LinkedIn marketing strategy, drop us a line!

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The Top 3 Social Media Marketing Metrics You Need to Be Tracking

October 6, 2020 - 9:00am - by

Wondering what social media marketing metrics you need to be tracking?

This post covers the top three marketing metrics you need to know, and how you can use them to make more strategic decisions about your digital marketing.

What Are Social Media Analytics?

Social media analytics is the data provided to you by social networks to help you understand areas like:

• The demographics of the people who follow you
• How many people see your posts
• Which posts are the most popular
• and more!

You can use this information to measure the results of your efforts, build brand awareness, and create scroll-stopping content that engages your target audience.

Every social media platform has its’ own insights or analytics tool built-in:

• Facebook: under the Insights tab on your Facebook Page
• Instagram: under the Insights tab for Business and Creator profiles
• Twitter: under the Twitter Analytics tab
• LinkedIn: offers basic data on your Company Page with a free account and full analytics with a premium account
• YouTube: found under the Analytics dashboard
• Pinterest: under the Analytics tab on for Business profiles

The Top 3 Social Media Marketing Metrics

Now that you know where to find your social media analytics, let’s take a look at the three most important marketing metrics you need to be tracking:

Reach

Reach refers to how many people are scrolling past your advertisement or post on social media. This is also sometimes referred to as Impressions. This number is often super high, but don’t get too excited - most people scroll or swipe right past posts without giving them a second thought, and a person usually needs to see a post or an ad seven times to recall what it was for. This is all before they’ve even made the decision to click through to learn more about what you’re selling.

Reach is important because it means people are seeing your posts, but this metric shouldn't be assessed on it’s own — we also need to measure it against our next metric: engagement.

Engagement

“Engagement” is how we measure whether our posts are creating meaningful, memorable experiences with our audience.

Social networks measure engagement when someone interacts with your post by taking an action, usually clicking on a link.

Comparing Engagement rates to Reach tells us how many people saw a post (or were “reached” by the post) and took the action we wanted them to take (or “engaged” with it.)

When measuring it, don’t just stick to looking at one social media platform - make sure your engagement strategy is being measured and tracked cross-channel and includes elements like email marketing, social media, and marketing automation.

Audience

Audiences are the most powerful way to understand who’s following your brand, and if your efforts are resonating with the right people.

Analytics tools like Facebook Business Centre or Google Analytics show a variety of data points about the people who follow your brand, like:

• Geographic locations
• Demographics like age and gender
• When they're most active online
• The keywords they use
• and more!

This data is useful day-to-day, but is especially important when building audiences to target with your social media and pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

An easy way to expand your audience is to target people who have similar interests to your existing target audience.

Ask yourself: what qualities do my customers have in common with people who choose my competitors? What can I do to speak to these similarities and convert them into customers for my business?

Considering audience overlap opens up your content to a much broader audience who are likely to be interested in what you’re selling.

Tracking Social Media Marketing Metrics

When you pay attention to these three key metrics in your social media analytics, you can understand your audience on a deeper level.

This allows you to create a more personal connection and develop a following that is actually invested in your brand, which makes for lifelong fans and followers.

For more insights on how to grow your business and connect with more of your ideal customers, subscribe to our newsletter and get a hand-picked roundup of articles about digital marketing strategy once a week.

If you’re ready to start seeing better results from your digital marketing, drop us a line and let’s chat.

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5 Common Facebook Ad Mistakes and How to Fix Them

September 8, 2020 - 9:00am - by

Want better results from your Facebook ads? Then you’ve come to the right place! Today, we’re covering five Facebook Ads mistakes you may be making and how to fix them.

Why Advertise on Facebook

Facebook is still one of the most useful and cost-effective ways to reach your target audience. With 2 billion monthly active users and a powerful targeting system, Facebook Ads help businesses generate brand awareness, drive conversions, and increase sales.

Not only does Facebook offer sophisticated targeting, but a study by Wordstream found that the average cost per click for a Facebook Ad in 2019 was $1.72, meaning you can reach hundreds of thousands of potential customers without a huge budget.

Here are a few more reasons why you should be advertising on Facebook:

You don’t need to be a pro to get started

Facebook Ads can feel intimidating, especially once you start digging into Business Manager, Ads Manager, Creative Hub, and the wide range of targeting options available to you. That's normal, believe us.

Luckily, you can start experimenting with Facebook Ads right from your Page before jumping into all the options behind-the-scenes. Try clicking on a recent post and click on the "Boost Post" button to start running your first ad!

Facebook Ads offer high ROI

Facebook is one of the biggest advertising channels on the internet, with total spending from the United States, alone totalling almost 9.9 billion U.S. dollars. There's a good reason for it: the average Facebook user clicks on 11 ads per month, or a total of one ad every three days.

While this may not seem like a huge number, remember that not all ads need a click to be considered effective — some campaigns are designed solely for brand awareness and aren't tied to a "click" as their metric of success. In fact, Reach on Facebook is higher than ever, and with impressions going up and costs going down, there's never been a better time to invest in Facebook marketing.

This stat also shows that users engage with and pay attention to ads on Facebook instead of tuning them out.

Facebook Ads are highly customizable

Facebook Ads offer a wide range of ad types, display options, and audience targeting to help your ad get be to your ideal audience. You can customize your ad design, copy, landing pages, how you spend your budget, audience targeting, and lots more.

For example, if you're a thrift shop solisticing donations you can create a short video ad asking for donated items and target it at people who live in your neighbourhood. Or, you could creat a single-image ad promoting an upcoming sale or special event. The possibilities are really endless, which is what makes Facebook Ads such a valuable tool in your digital marketing aresenal.

Now that we’ve covered why Facebook advertising is important, let’s dive into the five most common mistakes people make when creating Facebook Ads, and how to fix them:

Facebook Ads Mistake #1: Your Ads Aren’t Backed By a Strategy

The biggest Facebook Ads mistake businesses make is launching ad campaigns without a strategy.

This tends to happen because, as we mentioned above, anyone can set up and run a Facebook Ad if they manage a Business Page on the platform. 

Unfortunately, running ads without a strategy that takes elements like your budget, audience, targeting, and conversion goals into consideration will waste your budget.

The Three Stages of the Facebook Ads Funnel

There are three stages to a successful Facebook ad funnel:

• Level 1: Awareness
• Level 2: Remarketing (engagement marketing)
• Level 3: Remarketing (website remarketing)

Awareness

The goal of these ads is to generate awareness about your business. Running ads at this stage builds credibility and authority for your brand, which is important for moving users through later stages of the funnel.

Ads at this stage should be educational or entertaining, and should position your brand in a friendly, knowledgeable way. Content-based ads like video work great here, and allow you to pull the people who engaged with your video into a new custom audience as you move to the next stage of the funnel.

Engagement remarketing

The goal at this stage is to drive people from Facebook to your website to learn more about a product or service and, ideally, make a purchase.

The best content for engagement remarketing ads is a special offer, promotion, or discount. Free trials, BOGO (buy one get one), and percentage-based discounts all work great at this stage.

Website remarketing

The final stage of the Facebook Ads Funnel is website remarketing. Here, we "retarget" our ads at people who have viewed a specific product or page on our website to drive sales and generate more leads.

Remarketing ads act as “reminders” and increase conversion and engagement with people who have already shown an interest in your brand.

The best content at this stage is ads that add social proof, like testimonials. You can also test sales and promotions that create a sense of urgency and encourage users to take action right away.

Facebook Ads Mistake #2: Using Truncated Descriptions

Another common Facebook ad mistake is ignoring the character limits in your ads. The main reason this happens is businesses running ads don’t update the news feed or carousel card description.

Facebook will automatically pull a description from the destination URL you set for your ad, so it’s important to be deliberate when planning your carousel card and news feed link descriptions to make sure they don’t get cut off.

If your descriptions are too long Facebook will cut them off (truncate them), resulting in ads that look incomplete.

Losing part of your text muddles your ad messaging, looks unprofessional and hurts the effectiveness of your ads.

Protip: the easiest way to make sure your ad text isn’t truncated is to check the mobile news feed preview to see how your ad will look on users’ phones.

Facebook Ads Mistake #3: You “Set and Forget” Your Ads

The third biggest mistake we’ve seen brands make is taking a “set it and forget it” approach to their Facebook ads by not checking in and managing their ads once they’ve started delivering.

A “set it and forget it” attitude hurts your campaign performance, since you won’t be able to identify any issues with your ads and make adjustments based on how it's delivering.

Some examples include:

• Your Facebook audience has ad fatigue. “Ad fatigue” happens when people who’ve seen the same ad creative too many times stop paying attention to it.
• Your cost-per-click (CPC) is too high. Your cost-per-click is an indicator of how well your campaign is performing. Read more about how to keep Facebook Ad cost-per-clicks (CPCs) low here.

In both of these cases we’d want to take action by updating the ad creative, ad copy, our campaign objective, audience targeting, and our call-to-action (CTA).

Facebook Ads Mistake #4: Underutilizing Facebook Remarketing

Remarketing ads are essential for seeing the highest return-on-investment (ROI) for your efforts.

These ads target people who have visited your website before and act as “reminders” to encourage users to return and convert.

The key to being successful here is to make sure your ads don’t continue to target people who haven’t visited your website in a while. Using a 3-5 day duration and setting the engagement condition of All Website Visitors, excluding purchases, means you won't miss out on the chance to connect with a single user.

Facebook Ads Mistake #5: Using Mismatched Lookalike Audiences

If you haven’t used these powerful targeting options before, it’s time to start using Facebook lookalike audiences in your ad campaigns.

Lookalike audiences are the most advanced audience types on Facebook. These audience types help you find new potential customers who share similar characteristics to a source audience, like a customer list or website traffic.

The biggest mistake businesses make when setting up lookalikes is not using a high-quality source audience. When setting up your lookalikes, use either your customer database (creating a “customer file” custom audience) or use a website custom audience.

Protip: Creating lookalike audiences is more effective when you have at least 1000 people in your source audience. If you don’t have enough you can use your website traffic, engaged page followers, and page likes to create lookalike audiences as well.

Common Facebook Ad Mistakes: Conclusion

With the Coronavirus pandemic affecting businesses across the globe, the demand for digital advertising has never been higher or more competitive.

As a result, Facebook continues to introduce new features, targeting updates, and new processes that make it more challenging for newbie marketers and businesses to stay up-to-date with the latest Facebook Ad best practices.

By avoiding the common Facebook Ad mistakes outlined above, businesses can enjoy a high return-on-investment from their Facebook ads, build brand awareness, and increase conversions and revenue.

Are you worried you may be making a Facebook Ad mistake? Get in touch and let us know how we can help.

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How To: Create Facebook Lookalike Audiences That Deliver Results

September 3, 2020 - 2:34pm - by Alyson Shane

Hey there! This post was originally published on December 2017, but has been updated as recently as September 2020.

Are you looking to connect with more customers and increase leads for your business? 

Are you wondering how to use Facebook Audiences to create Custom Lookalike Audiences?

This post will be your guide! In our first post about Facebook Custom Audiences we shared how to choose the right Custom Audiences for your Facebook ads, but this one will go into one of the most powerful tools at your disposal when you use Facebook Ads: Facebook Lookalike Audiences.

What Are Facebook Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike Audiences are audiences created from the profile data you've previously uploaded when creating your Custom Audiences.

Facebook will use the profile data from these audiences to create a new list of Facebook users who share similar demographics and interests. This is a super-reliable way to optimize your campaign targeting and make sure that you're not just re-targeting the same people from previous campaigns.

Lookalike Audiences allow you to take a relatively small sample size (10,000 customers, for example) and create "lookalike" audiences comprised of hundreds of thousands of people.

Before we get started, you'll need to have the following prepared and in-hand:

• Access to your customer lists (emails or phone numbers), usually pulled from a system like MailChimp, or Shopify for our e-commerce friends.
• Facebook Conversion Pixels set up on the pages you want to track results for.
• The visual assets, headline and ad copy that you want to test*.

* We recommend using at least 2-3 of each, which will allow you to test how different combinations of words and text perform with your audience.

Let's get started!

1. Open your Business Manager and click on the "Audiences" option under your Assets column. 

2. Select 'Custom Lookalike Audience' from the drop-down "Create Audience" menu.

3. Select the Audience Size you'd like to target. We recommend creating two versions of the same custom audience: one at 1% and 3%, which will allow you to target users who most closely match your original Custom Audience, as well as a broader audience of users who may not be as close a "match" as the 1%.

4. Click "Create Audience" and wait while Facebook matches users and populates your new list. 

5. Once this process is complete (it may take a few minutes) open up your Power Editor and begin setting up your Ads as you normally would. When setting up your targeting, just select your new Lookalike Audience from the drop-down menu:

... and that's it! Now you can take your visual and content assets and begin setting up your Facebook Ads like you normally would.

Using Lookalike Audiences to Increase Sales

Now that you've learned how to create your own Facebook Lookalike Audience, it's time to begin using it to drive conversions... starting now!

Here are a few ways you can leverage the power of your audience:

Grow Your Facebook Page 

One of the easiest ways to grow your Facebook Page is to target one of your Lookalike audiences. This allows you to save time and takes the guesswork out of targeting new users who may not have interacted with your page before.

Increase Sales for Your E-Commerce Store

If you run an e-commerce store you can set up Facebook Ads that deliver to your Lookalike Audience which sends them directly to your website to start buying.

For example, if you have a women's wear section on your website you can create a Custom Audience of only women, then you can use Lookalike audiences to deliver ads to women who closely match interests or demographics of the women who have completed a purchase.

Increase Subscribers, Signups, and Get Leads

The fastest way to turn a lead into a customer is to increase the amount of interactions they have with your brand. Examples of "interactions" can include:

• Answering a survey
• Filling out a form
• Subscribing to a mailing list
• Downloading a piece of content

This tactic is similar to what an e-commerce website would do: upload a Custom Audience, create the Lookalike Audience, and then send people directly to a landing page on your website specifically set up to encourage them to take the action you want them to take.

Get started!

Now that you know how to set up and use Facebook Lookalike Audiences, it's time to start implementing them as a routine part of your Facebook Ad strategy. If you still have questions, drop us a line or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. We're always happy to chat.

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How to Build a Monthly Content Strategy for Retail Businesses

August 17, 2020 - 9:47am - by Rose Regier

This post was written by our Account Manager Rose Regier.

It’s no secret that we love a good spreadsheet. Let’s just say they spark joy, so we use them a lot. And the monthly content calendar spreadsheet we use with our retail clients might be our favourite.

If you’re not a retail business, don’t go just yet! What we’re about to share can apply to any type of business.

Before we dive in, let’s talk about why we should plan our content. Why go to all the effort of planning content a month in advance? Wouldn’t it be easier and less time consuming to post on the fly? 

Read on, because we’re about to show you how planning content frees up time to spend on essential marketing activities that have a big impact on the success of your brand. 

Here are the benefits of a monthly content strategy:

1. Strategy in action

Planning posts in monthly blocks allows you to see at a glance how your content aligns with your digital marketing strategy. It also allows you to identify any gaps in content and make sure no product category is left behind.

2. Consistency is key

Building and maintaining a relationship with your audience takes consistent effort over time. Posting a flurry of content one week and then disappearing for a month can leave your followers feeling annoyed or disinterested. Using a content calendar allows you to spread out content so that your audience hears from you regularly and stays engaged. Plus, it’s great for the algorithms.

3. Tracking for the win

Although the monthly content calendar is mainly a planning tool, it also keeps a record of what you’ve done in the past. 

This allows you to keep track of what you’ve posted so a) you can avoid duplicating content and b) you can measure the effectiveness of each category of product posts.

4. Stay one step ahead 

Identifying key events — like holidays, sales, and product launches — and plugging them into the content calendar ahead of time means you never have to worry about those important posts slipping your mind.

Let’s move on to the “how.” How does the monthly content strategy work exactly?

How does our monthly content strategy work?

Our cloud-based monthly content planning spreadsheet allows multiple people to contribute in real-time. This gives our clients and account managers the ability to collaborate on the content planning process.

We work together to choose specific products to highlight based on the following criteria:

• New arrivals
• Most loved items
• Products we need to move
• Holidays or seasons
• Sales or promos

Each month gets a tab in the spreadsheet, and serves as a record of the content we’ve shared. Product categories are colour coded for a quick visual way to see the variety in planned content (e.g. clothing, accessories, jewellery) and identify any gaps in the schedule.

Here’s an example of how the calendar might look like before the product details have been added:

Of course, we also leave room for posting user-generated content. Customer reviews are 12 times more trustworthy than messaging from a business, so we make sure to work content created by customers who know and love our clients into the mix.

In a perfect world, all content would be planned in advance, and we could wrap it in a bow and send it out into the world. 

The reality is that planned posts sometimes need to change, and some posts are time-sensitive and need to be created in real-time. Staying on top of upcoming posts to ensure the content is still accurate/relevant is crucial, so we bake this into our process.

Posting on the fly might seem faster and easier, but our brains work better when we dedicate ourselves to one task for a few hours as opposed to rapidly switching from one task to another. 

Creating content in "blocks" of time instead of posting on the fly ensures higher-quality, on-brand content because we're not scrambling to come up with something new every day.

Even better: having the foundation of a monthly content plan frees us up to spend time on the behind-the-scenes activities that get results for our clients: 

• Monitoring and responding to customer comments/messages
• Researching and adjusting hashtags
• Staying on top of social media trends and social platform updates
• Engaging with customers and vendors by commenting on their posts and stories
• Reviewing and sharing user-generated content
• Analyzing data across all platforms and adjusting the marketing strategy

Want to know more about working with us and how we can help your business succeed? Get in touch and let’s chat!

Do you want articles like this one delivered right to your inbox once a week? Then click here and subscribe to our hand-picked roundup of must-read articles.

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How to Write The Best Technical Blog Posts for Clients

August 4, 2020 - 4:01pm - by Alicia Kurz

This post was written by our Account Manager Alicia Kurz.

Are you wondering how to write a great technical blog post for your clients?

Chances are, when you think about writing a technical blog post, your first feelings are a sense of dread, followed by being bored before you even start. If you aren’t an expert in whatever complex subject you are about to embark on, starting can be discouraging.

Luckily, these steps will help you develop a process to create useful, interesting technical content and take the guesswork out of publishing great technical posts. Let’s dive right in:

Where do you even begin?

The good news is, the thought of writing a technical blog post is more challenging than actually doing the work. The key is finding the points in the topic that interest you and focus on highlighting those points. When you’re more interested in a topic, you’ll be more enthusiastic about writing the post and finding the correct information. The better the post, the easier it is for the audience to connect with the topic.

Technical blogs are a great way to reach a lot of people and give people information that’s easy to consume. After writing many technical blogs, here’s the workflow that makes things easy to focus on content instead of logistics. Let’s start spreading some good ideas!

1. Define your audience and key messages


Who are you writing for? If your target is moms between 25-40, your writing is going to sound much different than writing for 30-50-year-old engineers in the forestry industry — am I right, ladies? 


Audience personas can be quite helpful when you’re thinking about the tone and structure of your piece. A wine blog for beginners can likely be more light-hearted than a post about the environmental impacts of dust on a local community, for example.

It’s always important to think about what’s in it for your audience. People have limited time, so reading your blog better be a good use of theirs. Are the key messages of your blog in line with what your target audience is looking for? If not, you will need to make adjustments so people aren’t asking “who cares?”


2. Research your topic


Thank God for Google. Likely, you aren’t the first to write about whatever topic you are about to delve into. That’s a good thing. You have information from multiple sources — just please fact check — so it allows you to piece together the best information in the easiest to read way. Just because others have done it first, doesn’t mean they have done it best.

Often the research provided to you is written in nerd language and it’s your job to figure it out. If you’re a writer, that can be fun. It’s like fitting puzzle pieces together to make information more accessible to a larger audience.

If you have questions, other people probably do too. Your blog is where people will go to find those answers.


If you are writing this blog for a client, schedule a call where you can ask questions and make sure your key messages are clear. While you can independently find out a ton of information by yourself, it makes it a lot easier when you and your client are starting on the same page. Plus, they probably have specific information they want to be included that may not have been clear to you initially.

Make sure to record the call so you can go back and reference it. This will save you a lot of stress. It’s much easier than taking notes and trying to remember everything.

3. Create an outline


Now that you have your key messages down, you’ve researched your topic, and your client has given you an idea of what they are looking for, it’s time to create an outline.

Luckily, you have other blogs to reference and see first-hand which ones you were drawn to and which ones you pressed the back button immediately.

I said it once and I’ll say it again: always start with “what’s in it for them.” If your introduction doesn’t have a hook, your audience is gone.

Use headings and lists to make your content easy to read, and use a call to action at the end of your blog that aligns with your goals. Book a meeting, follow us on Facebook, or buy now are all great examples of how to further engage your audience after they have read your blog.

Outlines are also great to organize your thoughts and weed out excess information that will cloud your key messages.

4. Start Writing

Use your own voice to relay your messages. Whether that’s the professional version of your voice or your Saturday night version after a glass of wine version, just make sure the tone matches your content.

Use the K.I.S.S. method. In case you weren't born 60-years ago, or you just prefer to not reference rude acronyms, that means Keep It Simple, Stupid. Take out industry jargon and complicated language. You can sound smart without using words people have to Google. Your blog should be accessible to a large audience and easily consumable, not feel like more work.

5. Take a Break

Give your eyes a break once you’ve written your piece. After you stare at your computer for hours trying to write the perfect blog, you might become blind to minor errors. Maybe you typed “and” twice or used the same word in a paragraph three times. Try going on a walk, or just not looking at a screen for a couple of hours before you come back to it.

Although I prefer to save the trees, a great tip is to print your piece and edit it on paper — after you have run it through Grammarly, of course. For some reason, it’s easier to make changes that way. 

Plus, it’s kind of satisfying to edit your own with a red pen… maybe that’s just me.

If you have a chance, ask someone else to read it for you. Try not to get annoyed when they give you irrelevant suggestions. They also might catch something you said twice, or ask a question about something you thought you answered, but you weren’t clear enough.

6. Add the Finishing Touches

Now it’s time to make your blog look nice. Add headings, photos, article links, and an SEO-friendly title.

7. Publish

The most satisfying part of writing your blog is clicking the publish button. Ensure the blog is going to the right part of your website, add tags, set a featured image, and utilize any widgets you have installed on your site to make your blog SEO-friendly.

After it’s published, check that the image that pulls works on your social platforms and that it loads correctly on both desktop and mobile feeds.

8. Promote

You want people to see what you’ve posted. Share your blog post in places your target audience hangs out. Ask people to share it. This gives you a chance for your network to spread your post to their network.

Use Canva to create free images that look great on social, and you don’t need to be a designer to use. You can also resize these so it fits correctly on all platforms.

If your piece is really awesome, consider doing some digital advertising for it to get the most eyes on it.


Just remember, practice makes perfect. Eventually, writing technical blogs will become more of a habit, and creating these posts will flow much easier.

If you need help writing blog posts or getting your content in front of the right people, drop us a line and let us know how we can help!

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Everything You Need to Know About Outsourcing Your Digital Marketing

July 14, 2020 - 11:20am - by Alyson Shane

Do you have questions about outsourcing your business’ digital marketing?

If you’re struggling to figure out if your business is ready, you may be wondering:

• Why should I outsource my digital marketing?

• Should I keep my digital marketing in-house?

• What parts of my digital marketing should I outsource?

• What are red flags to look for when selecting an agency?

If you’ve wondered any of these things, then this post is for you. Let’s dive right in:

Why Do Businesses Outsource Their Digital Marketing?

There are lots of reasons a business would outsource its digital marketing, but here are some of the most common:

You’re not seeing the results you want from your in-house team/person

Many businesses outsource because their in-house team isn’t meeting their goals.

This could be due to inexperience, disorganization, or a cultural mismatch. Whatever the reason, your marketing is always behind. If it’s been a few months (or even years) since your business has launched a new campaign or tried a new strategy, then it may be time to outsource your marketing.

You don’t have the resources to scale in-house

One person often isn’t enough to manage all of a business’s digital marketing needs. After all, graphic designers aren’t copywriters or social media managers, and vice-versa, so you may still have skill gaps you need to fill to meet your marketing goals.

If hiring 2-3 more people is out of your budget, hiring an agency is a cheaper alternative that can give you the variety of skill sets you need to see success.

You’re task-driven, not strategy-driven

Posting for the sake of being active on social media isn’t a strategy.

As a business, you have revenue goals that need to be supported by your digital marketing strategy. While it may feel good to know you’re posting 3-4 Instagram posts a week… that posting doesn’t do you any good if there’s no strategy behind it.

If you’re not happy with your existing digital marketing strategy, then it may be time to outsource to an agency.

You have no reporting structure in place

If you aren’t able to measure the results of your efforts then you’ll never have a clear sense of where new business is coming from.

A qualified agency will work with you to set up a reporting system (we submit ours monthly and on a per-campaign basis) which will include a breakdown of what worked, what didn’t, and suggestions for building on successes.

If you don’t have a reporting system in place, then outsourcing to an agency can give you the clarity you need to make data-driven decisions about your digital marketing.

Why Outsource Digital Marketing? Your Questions Answered

Before we talk about the benefits of outsourcing your digital marketing, let’s answer a few of the questions we hear most often:

Is outsourcing digital marketing cheaper?

Outsourcing your digital marketing to an agency is almost always cheaper than hiring in-house staff - usually by significant amounts, too.

Consider this: you could pay a single person to handle your marketing strategy, copywriting, social media, blogging, email marketing, SEO, landing pages, paid ads, and reporting.

Or, you could spend the same amount and have an entire outsourced team handling the same workload.

Consider the costs, scope, and quality of the work of a single person vs. a team of people, and it’s easy to see how outsourcing becomes the most affordable option.

Is outsourcing digital marketing easier to manage?

Yes, outsourcing is easier to manage than in-house marketing because you don’t have to manage an external team the same way you would with an employee.

Qualified agencies will have processes in place that will keep projects and campaigns running smoothly behind-the-scenes, allowing you to focus on your business without feeling the need to constantly check-in.

Does outsourcing guarantee a higher level of expertise?

Yes, outsourcing almost always guarantees a higher level of expertise than hiring in-house.

This is especially true if your business relies on new grads and less experienced marketers due to salary limitations. Most newbie marketers lack the hands-on experience needed to develop, manage, and execute a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Agencies, on the other hand, are typically founded by and employ digital marketers with years of experience, often in a variety of areas.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Digital Marketing

Let’s talk about the best parts of outsourcing your company’s digital marketing!

Outsourcing gives you outside insight into your business

Hiring an outside agency can give you a fresh perspective on how to approach your digital marketing.

Any qualified agency has a rigorous onboarding process that allows them to develop a deep understanding of your business, your customers, and how your products or services solve those problems.

This work, and the work of measuring and reporting consistently on your digital marketing, offers insight into your business, making them a valuable partner.

Outsourcing gives you access to experts

As we discussed earlier, the level of seniority and expertise that a business can access through an outside vendor is often much higher than they could hire for in-house.

Not only will you work with more experienced marketers, but qualified agencies will always be on the lookout for innovative new tools and techniques to amplify their efforts on behalf of your business.

Outsourcing guarantees a return-on-investment (ROI)

Put simply, agencies have a vested interest in generating continued ROI for your business, or else they risk losing your retainer. This means they’ll continually work to find new ways to make campaigns more successful, increase open rates, and generate more interest about your business online.

(If you don’t feel like you’re getting that level of service right now, let’s chat.)

Red Flags When Outsourcing Digital Marketing

We’ve spent a ton of time talking about all the benefits of outsourcing, but what about the red flags? What are some signs that the agency you’re considering might not be all it’s cracked up to be? Let’s take a look:

They don’t walk the talk

Let’s face it: a lot of marketing agencies (older ones, especially) tend to offer digital marketing services to stay competitive, not because it’s their passion.

As a result, you can tell pretty quickly which agencies are experts in areas like digital marketing and content strategy, and which are faking it for clients.

When considering who you want in charge of your digital marketing strategy, ask:

• Do they post to their social media profiles regularly?

• Is their content friendly, helpful, and interesting?

• Do they show creativity and innovation in the content they share?

• Do they have a newsletter, and is it any good?

• Do they blog regularly to demonstrate industry expertise?

If the agency you’re considering doesn’t do any (or even some) of these, then they may not actually have the depth of knowledge and experience needed to deliver high-quality results.

They won’t show past or current work samples

Whether that’s sharing links to past or present client work or providing case studies, a qualified agency should be able to point to at least a few success stories.

If you’re considering working with an agency but they’re giving you the runaround on actual work samples, consider this a huge red flag and take your business elsewhere.

They force long-term contracts

No matter how great or experienced an agency might be, you’ll both need some time to get to know one another and decide if your partnership is something you want to continue long-term.

If an agency is pushing for a multi-year contract before work has even begun, consider this a red flag.

Outsourcing Digital Marketing - Final Thoughts

Figuring out what to do with your digital marketing can be stressful, but outsourcing your needs to a qualified agency can bring strategy, clarity, and quality to your business’ online presence.

As we’ve covered here, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to work with digital marketing experts who work hard to consistently deliver ROI for your business.

If you’re ready to take the next step and work with an agency to grow your business, drop us a line and let’s chat.

Still not ready to take the plunge? No worries! Our weekly newsletter will keep you informed with all the latest hand-picked digital marketing news and strategies. Subscribe now.

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The Ultimate Guide to Pricing Plans (+ Examples!)

June 25, 2020 - 10:41am - by Alyson Shane

Do you want to learn how to price your services so customers click on your preferred pricing plan? Have you struggled to drive customers towards the option you want them to select?

Then you've come to the right place! This article explores the psychology behind consumer marketing, and uses research and examples to show you how to price your products and services to drive consumer behaviour.

Why is understanding consumer psychology important?

Knowing why consumers choose one option over another helps us make more informed decisions about our pricing.

Being strategic in our pricing doesn't only improve conversions! Understanding the psychology behind pricing allows us to create positive experiences for our customers, which helps them feel happy about their decision to buy.

How can we help our customers feel this way while buying from us? Keep reading to find out:

The Decoy Effect, aka Asymmetric Dominance

"The Decoy Effect" describes our tendency to change our preference between two options when presented with a third, less enticing option.

The third option, known as the “decoy”, uses asymmetric dominance to push customers to choose between one of the two better options.

What is Asymmetric Dominance?

Asymmetric dominance means that the decoy is priced to make one of the other three options more attractive.

The decoy is “dominated” in terms of perceived value (price, quality, quantity, features, etc.) and isn’t actually intended to sell.

The decoy exists only to nudge customers away from the “competitor” and towards the “target” (usually the most profitable option.)

Real-life examples of The Decoy Effect

One of the most popular examples of The Decoy Effect comes from the researcher Dan Ariely. In 2009 he ran a study that analyzed the pricing options for The Economist with 100 MIT students.

In one scenario, he gave students the option between a web-only subscription or a print-only option for twice the price.

Not surprisingly, 68% chose the cheaper, web-only option.

When given a third option - a web-and-print subscription for the same price as the print-only option, just 16% chose the cheaper option.

Instead, 84% opted for the combined version because they perceived it as a better value.

In the second scenario, the print-only option became the decoy and the combined option became the target.

Here's a video of him explaining how the study worked:

Another example of The Decoy Effect is an experiment by National Geographic to see if they could encourage customers to buy a large popcorn over other sizes.

They started with a small bucket of popcorn for $3, and a large bucket for $7.

The initial choice showed that most people bought the bucket of small popcorn.

When they added third, “decoy” option - a medium popcorn for $6.50 - most people chose the large bucket because they viewed it as being a better value.

In their test the medium bucket was asymmetrically dominated by the large one, so customers chose the more expensive option.

The Decoy Effect takeaway

Using decoys takes the guesswork out of selecting the option that has the most value.

Adding a decoy that you don't expect to sell may seem counter-intuitive, but an option that makes the others look better empowers your customers.

Decoys make customers feel like they're getting a "good deal" by choosing the asymmetrically dominant option.

Protip: don’t be afraid to experiment with different decoys to test which comparisons yield the results you’re looking for!

Anchoring Bias

Anchoring Bias describes people’s tendency to use the first piece of information they get as a reference point when comparing related items.

Again, researcher Dan Ariely is one of the leading voices on this subject. In his TEDTalk, he describes research for his book Predictably Irrational, which confirmed that we assess and compare items based on the first piece of information we're exposed to, known as the “anchor.”

Real-life examples of Anchoring Bias

Anchoring Bias in retail pricing

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book: cross out the retail price and show your price beside it. If you make handcrafted items, like jewelry or pottery, provide a range for retail price instead ($150 - $200).

Anchoring Bias in Pricing Services

If your business provides a service, use the same strategy listed above on your pricing page, but list the typical cost of the service instead.

Anchoring Bias in competitor price comparisons

Some businesses may want to consider showing their competitor’s prices for comparison. This tactic only works when

1) your price is actually lower, and

2) the comparison highlights extra benefits so your customer isn’t focused only on the price

But, beware: we don’t advocate pitting yourself against another competing company. Not only could they respond in kind, but aggressive tactics might turn off some customers.

Anchoring Bias in price comparisons

Create strategic price comparisons for your products and services to “anchor” the package you want to be the most popular in the middle.

You probably know what you want your ideal price for your product or service to be, so create a package that includes its features and benefits. Then, set this package in the middle of two other features.

On the left: create a slightly cheaper “base bones” package with very limited features.

On the right: create a much more expensive package with few extra features.

Placing your ideal option in the middle "anchors" it in the center, so anyone looking at it will subconsciously compare the other two options against it.

When done properly, most customers will naturally opt for the middle option because it appears cheap and offers the most value.

Anchoring Bias takeaway

The first thing we see sets the tone for how we assess related items, so set the stage for your ideal price by “anchoring” it against less valuable options.

Use visual tricks like crossing out retail pricing and strategically arranging packages to guide your customers to click on the option you want.

Protip: right-align your prices. Studies have shown that customers perceive a bigger discount when the sale price is positioned to the right of the original price.

The Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice describes the psychological phenomenon that makes us feel overwhelmed by too many choices.

This is why many of us feel "analysis paralysis" when trying to choose between a lot of options.

When we have only a handful of options in front of us, we feel confident and less anxious about our choices.

Real-life examples of The Paradox of Choice

The most famous example of this paradox is the “Famous Jam Study” set up by researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.

Researchers set up two sampling stations at real-life supermarkets, one with 24 jam flavours, and one with six options.

They found that while more people stopped to sample at the station with 24 flavours, only 3% of shoppers made a purchase.

The table with six jams had fewer shoppers stopping to sample, but a whopping 30% of those who did purchase at least one jar of jam - a 900% increase!

The table with fewer options obviously outperformed the table with more options - but why?

The researchers found that the larger selection overwhelmed shoppers to the point where they weren’t able to make a decision they felt confident in… and so they made no decision at all.

The Paradox of Choice takeaway

Fewer choices reduce purchase anxiety and make the buying decision easier, so don’t overwhelm your customers with a bunch of overwhelming options.

Protip: use call-to-action statements like “Best value!” and “Customer Favourite” to help customers feel even more confident in their purchasing decision.

“Three Charms, Four Alarms”

Research shows that repeating a phrase three times makes it seem more true, but repeating it four times or more starts to make people feel skeptical. 

To determine this, researchers Shu & Carlson asked participants to read about five items, each with a range of 1-6 positive claims about it. Their results found overwhelmingly that repeating a phrase three times makes it sound more trustworthy and true.

Specifically, the study also found that repeating the same claim four or more times reduced how trustworthy the participants rated the statement, while fewer repetitions “charmed” participants every time. 

Real-life examples of “Three Charms, Four Alarms”

Finding examples of this principle in real life is actually pretty easy: most SaaS companies use this tactic to make their customers feel more comfortable and confident in their purchasing decision.

For reference, let’s compare a few different pricing pages:

Source: https://buffer.com/pricing/publish

Buffer’s pricing page has a lot going on, including calls-to-action, highlights text, and extra details to help customers feel more confident in their purchase - but you’ll note that there are only three options, not four.

We can see the same strategy applied to Sprout Social’s pricing options:

Source: https://sproutsocial.com/pricing/ 

Like Buffer, there’s a lot going on here - but it doesn’t feel as overwhelming because we’re only comparing three options. 

Now, let’s compare Salesforce’s pricing page: 

Source: https://www.salesforce.com/ca/editions-pricing/sales-cloud/ 

There are a lot of the same psychological factors at play in these three examples, but according to research the additional option on this Salesforce pricing page actually damages conversions overall by reducing customer confidence. 

So why would Salesforce offer four options instead of three? We can’t know exactly why, but a guess would be that they’re testing various pricing decoys in order to promote the $150/month plan.

“Three Charms, Four Alarms” takeaway

Limit the number of choices to three whenever possible. Avoid two, or even one option, as binary choices can feel limiting to potential customers and a single “take it or leave it” option also doesn’t leave them feeling empowered and excited to buy.

Protip: use the “three charms, four alarms” trick in your marketing copy as well. Never miss out on a chance to create a sense of trust with your customers!

How to build your pricing plan

Now that we’ve covered the consumer psychology behind it, putting together a pricing plan that (gently) encourages customers towards our preferred option is easy. Just follow these steps:

1. Include a “decoy” option. Use asymmetric dominance to price your decoy option so it makes one of your other options more attractive.
2. “Anchor” your customer’s expectations. Use visual tricks like crossing out text and strategically arranging packages on your pricing page.
3. Remember the “Paradox of Choice.” Don’t overwhelm customers by offering so many options that they feel too overwhelmed to make a choice.
4. Use the “Three Charms, Four Alarms” rule. Research shows that three options build trust, while four or more options decrease trust - so include three pricing options!

Start building your pricing plan today

Using strategy and data to build a pricing plan that drives the sales you want and makes customers feel great about their choice is exactly the kind of thinking that helps businesses grow and thrive.

If you’re ready to start bringing strategy and clarity to your digital marketing, drop us a line and let’s chat. 

If you’d like useful articles like this one hand-picked and sent right to your inbox once a week, subscribe to our newsletter.

If you have any thoughts on this piece, we’d love to hear it! Share your tips and feedback with us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

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Successful Content Marketing in 7 Simple Steps

June 2, 2020 - 9:00am - by Alyson Shane

Wondering how to build a content marketing strategy that gets results?

Different pieces of content (blog posts, whitepapers, infographics, etc.) are all intended to serve different purposes as a potential customer moves through the sales funnel.

Since these pieces are tied so tightly to a customer’s intent to buy, it’s important for us to understand what each piece is designed to do, how we’ll measure its success, and how it fits into our larger marketing strategy.

Below are seven (simple) steps to get you started:

1. Set clear goals

Be as ambitious or as cautious as you’d like — just be clear about what your goals are. 

Make sure your goals are achievable and measurable. This not only helps set expectations for your team (or your clients), but also tells you if your strategy is working, or if you need to adapt.

Once you’ve set your goals, decide how often you’ll review them and adjust - more on that below!

2. Do your research

Do keyword research to find out which topics are trending in your industry and the language your customers are using to talk about them. Tools like SEMRush, AnswerThePublic and (of course) Google’s Keyword Planner are great places to start.

Understanding keywords helps you identify popular content topics that you can develop content for in order to attract eyes to your brand. 

3. Develop a strategy 

Once your goals are defined, create a plan for how you intend to achieve them. Use your buyer personas to target the right audiences, and outline your plans for reaching them with your content. 

Pay attention to what your competitors are doing, and do research into the latest techniques for engagement and community growth before executing on your plan. Create a Content Marketing Master Document that acts as a “living document” and details your process, goals, and strategies for every aspect of your content marketing plan.

4. Create your content

The content you publish should be useful, timely, and clear.

Use the research completed in the previous steps to decide on topics, keywords, and content type before creating anything. 

Planning these elements out in advance helps you stay on topic and work your keywords into your text in a more natural way.

For blog content, start with a bulleted list of all the headers you want to write, and add the details in as you go, “fleshing” out the sections until you have a complete post. An example could look like this:

• Intro/CTA
• 1. Set clear goals
• Be clear, achievable and measurable
• 2. Do your research
• Talk about keywords
• SEMRush, AnswetthePublic, Google
• 3. Develop a strategy
• Content Marketing Master Plan
• Mention/link to buyer personas

You get the idea. This is especially helpful if you’re planning a post that references a lot of resources since you can add the URLs of your sources in the list for quick reference.

5. Publish and share your content

The best place to publish your content is your blog. 

Here’s why: your blog exists on your website, which means that by the time someone is reading your blog post they’re already within your brand’s ecosystem — you don’t need to get them to click through to your website because they’re already there.

Other places you can publish your content include sites like Medium.com and as articles on social networks like LinkedIn. Don’t forget to share it on social media and in your newsletter, too!

Websites like Business Insider and Inc.com are also great places to write and share original blog content in order to reach a much broader audience.

6. Use eye-catching visuals

Once your post is ready to go, spend some time in the photo editing tool of your choice (we like Canva) creating additional marketing materials to use on social media.

Create images featuring quotes and wisdom from your posts and share them with URLs to your blog. This gives your audience a hint at what they can expect from the post, and increases the likelihood that they’ll click through to read.

7. Measure your success

Once your content has been online for at least 30 days, conduct a detailed analysis of whether or not it achieved your goals. 

If it didn’t achieve what you’d hoped, don’t get discouraged. Take this as an opportunity to learn from your experiment, and apply your knowledge to your strategy for the next piece of content you produce.

Improve your content marketing starting today

Content marketing is a big, complicated beast, and it can be hard to keep track of all the latest developments and what they mean for your business. That’s why we created our weekly newsletter, which features hand-picked articles to help you step up your content marketing game.

Looking for help developing a strategy that helps your customers connect with your brand and that grows your business? Drop us a line.

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