An abandoned Facebook page is truly a sad site. A page that has gone months without posts, no photos in site, and reviews and comments that have not been responded to is enough to depress any social media user. (user can be replaced with a different word..guru, junkie, fan, expert?)
Now, studies show that a poor Facebook page is more than just an eyesore. A recent market research study concluded that a full 50% of consumers value a brand’s Facebook page more than their website.
This study, which can be viewed here, http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/facebook-brand-page-value/, presented a full look at how a brand’s Facebook presence is viewed and valued. For example, 87% of people like brands on Facebook, and the number one motivation to do so is to take advantage of promotions, discounts, and giveaways. Equally important are the reasons why people choose to unlike brands, the number one being that the brand posted too frequently.
How can your dealership use this information to your advantage? First of all, make sure your Facebook page is well attended. Create a dynamic selection of postings, but don’t post too frequently. Make sure you give users an incentive to like your page. That can be by posting coupons for free services or gifts. For example, post a coupon for a discount on an oil change. Or, offer a coupon that will give users a free gift if they test drive a certain car. You can also run contests and award winners with a prize to increase interaction.
Of course, you’ll want to avoid posting too frequently. Don’t post more than 2 or 3 times per day, and space out your posts to reach customers who log onto Facebook at different times during the day. Always make sure your content is important, relevant, and varied.
While it’s essential to brand management to have a quality Facebook page, don’t abandon your website in the process. Keep in mind that 50% of consumers place more value on a brand’s Facebook page, so that means the other 50% will judge you according to your website.
Does maintaining an online presence seem overwhelming? We’re up to the task. Contact us for help.
Close your eyes and think of a store or another place you have visited that had a unique or pleasant smell. Keep your eyes closed and imagine that smell. Can you recall more detail about your experience? Do you remember specific details about the time you experienced the smell? How did you feel emotionally?
Those of you who know me also know I travel often for business, and I enjoy shopping for new pocket squares. On a recent trip to Miami, I visited the Hugo Boss store, and when entering the store, it hit me. I realized every Boss store has the same smell from Paris, France, to Hilton Head, S.C., to Buffalo, N.Y., to Miami. I just assumed it was the cologne they offer, so I continued to browse and started to think how the same aroma gave me the feeling of familiarity with my surroundings and put me at ease. I was then off to my hotel, and when I entered the doors to the Sofitel, it hit me again. The smell was was not the same as the Boss store, but was the same scent as other Sofitels I have stayed at in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
I then remembered reading something many years ago about scent marketing, but it was more about the use of scent marketing and oxygen in casinos to keep people gambling longer. I knew there was something more to it, and I started to think of the many chain stores I had visited over the years; the chains would always have the same store layout and furnishings, but a select few would also have the same music and aroma.
This is also known as multi-sensory branding, and it’s an influential marketing tool that can build powerful brand recognition quickly.
How Smells Affect Us
There is a strong connection between smell, mood and emotion. The emotion center of the brain is closely connected to the amygdale and hippocampus, which influence memory, mood and behavior. Think of the smell of chocolate chip cookies and how that affects you. Chocolate chip cookies are a smell that the Hampton Inn uses to make you feel like you have arrived at home. Some boutique hotels use relaxing lavender to calm the senses. There are many businesses using multi-sensory marketing (e.g., Jimmy Choo, Sofitel Hotels, Samsung and even GM when they processed a smell called “Nuance” into the leather of all new Cadillacs).
Double Your Sales
Studies have shown different aromas can increase spending habits of an individual by double, but the studies also showed you can’t just spray some perfume and expect sales to increase. In fact, sales could decrease with the wrong aroma present, so you’d better seek out an aroma marketing company to determine what affects a purchase decision.
Branding Your Dealership Through Smell
Brand recognition by using an aroma in a showroom can create an impression with a shopper and can in fact create an emotional connection. What if you were to utilize that same aroma in a specific and specialized direct mail campaign for lease renews or increased-service-penetration mailers? An emotional connection could be triggered by the aroma of the direct mail piece and remind the individual of the happy day they drove away in that new car, with that new-car smell. Maybe the cliché “smells like a new car” is worth more than we give it credit for. Think of the possibilities of building your dealership’s brand with sight, sound, touch, taste and aroma.
Ethical Versus Non-ethical Marketing
The right aroma has proven it can create a brand identity and induce a sense of well-being, a good mood, a relaxed state of mind, and cause an individual to spend up to twice as much money. The question could come into play that scent marketing can be a form of manipulation. In other words, it is like a drug and can make a person react differently than they normally would.
So, I ask you, is this manipulation of consumers, or is it an ethical form of marketing that you would consider for your dealership?
Do you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at Potratz? You already know that we’re a full service advertising agency specializing in digital marketing, but what does that really tell you about us? Maybe you’re picturing the cast of Mad Men fast-forwarded through the decades, or maybe you’re simply thinking of The Office and it’s shenanigans. While both of these presumptions aren’t completely wrong, they’re not completely right either. Walking through the front door of Potratz is like walking into another world…and it’s an ad world after all. Hidden behind the 27” iMac screens, sitting on the edge of Herman Miller chairs, you will find the Potratz team.
Walk upstairs and witness a floor full of eager Account Managers checking their email or making a phone call at any given time. Walk down the hall and see our Human Resources director meeting with the greatest talent the Capital Region has to offer. Head back downstairs and you will find the graphic designers, video producers, and digital marketing team hard at work. Venture around the halls and you will find Paul and his pocket square shooting the newest Think Tank Tuesday video, or Christy teaching the latest leadership session. We may still sound like your average advertising agency thus far, but I can assure you we are not.
From decorating our walls with Man Candy Monday images to rocking out to the best music of the 90’s on Boy Band Fridays, we are anything but average. Wednesday morning you will find us all around the conference room table, anxiously awaiting this week’s Fish award winner while enjoying our well-deserved coffee and bagels. But the thing that truly sets us apart from the rest is who we are. You will find us researching the latest trends and applying them before they even become trends. You will find us striving to go above and beyond what is expected of our services. And most importantly, you will find a little piece of each of us in every piece of work we do.
So what is it that makes our agency so great? Maybe it’s the strong and dedicated connection we have with our clients. Maybe it’s our innovation. Or maybe it’s all of our unique personalities, our exceptional talent, and our dedication to this industry pushing us forward.
Digital marketing is no longer part of the future, digital marketing is the present. So, what are you waiting for? Become part of the Potratz team today!
Facebook is constantly changing it’s website to stay fresh and new, as well as keeping up to speed with the ever changing world of online marketing. This happens so often it can be hard to stay up to date with what is going on, but don’t worry, we are here to help! So what’s new on Facebook this week? The answer is retargeting.
Retargeting, in case you may have forgotten, allows you to create a list of who has visited your website and subsequently places ads on the pages they visit after. This means that if a person visits your website, they will see your various ads over and over again on different websites they visit, allowing the opportunity to keep your business at the top of their mind.
With retargeting on Facebook, an additional retargeting code is added to your dealership page, which builds a list. This list is then used to display your ads on Facebook to those same users, allowing them to see your ad again and again on their Facebook page.
Retargeting on Facebook is a very helpful tool and the bottom line is that your retargeting ads can now be expanded to Facebook. While this will require expanding the budget a little, ads can be run for as little as $25 a week! So, what are you waiting for? If you’re ready to reach the 75% of users over the driving age currently using Facebook, then contact us now to get started.
Last week, Facebook announced they would be launching verified Pages to “help people find the authentic accounts of celebrities and other high-profile people and businesses on Facebook.” Users will be able to distinguish which Pages are verified by a small blue check mark besides their name that will appear on timelines, in search results and everywhere on Facebook.
As of right now, this isn’t an option for everyone on Facebook and it is done automatically for a Page of a certain stature; currently it is only available for a small group of prominent people including celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brand and businesses with larger audiences.
My guess is that eventually this will be rolled out to all business pages allowing them to verify their Facebook Page as legitimate. The benefit of this new feature is that a user will automatically be able to decipher between legitimate and fake Pages without having to do a lot of research. This could essentially help in the growth of Likes; since a user will have no question as to whether a page is real or not, they may be more likely to click to most sought after “Like” button.
Until this feature is available to all Facebook Pages, there are still some steps you can take to help your business page stand out. If you look at a business page, that little box underneath the business name is your holy grail, providing your fan with EVERYTHING they need to know about you!
Make sure you add your category; just because you have a Facebook Page that represents your business name that does not mean that a user will automatically register what type of business you are. In addition, by adding this to your profile page, you also increase your chances of showing up in a Facebook search.
The same goes for your address. If you don’t put where you are located your fans will not know where to find your place of business! Sure, they can go to your website and search for it, but the easier it is for them, the more likely they are to visit your location.
The above applies to your phone number and hours as well. If your fan doesn’t know how or when to reach you, they won’t.
There are other tidbits of information you can add in your “About” section as well, including your website, a description of your business, and links to other social media sites you might be active on. These are all important as well, but the information in the top box is what the customer sees without having to take the step to find out more about you.
Have a STRONG profile picture and cover photo.
The profile picture is the image that shows up in the search. If it doesn’t help represent your place of business, the less likely your customer is going to click on your Page.
Your cover photo is by far the largest image on your Page, and it is the first thing your fan will see once they click on your Page!
If you’re ready to get started on your social media marketing, it’s time you contact us to take your social media to a new level!
Potratz, an award-winning advertising agency located in Downtown Schenectady, will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce on March 28, 2013, to celebrate the renovation of their newly acquired property. The ceremony will begin at 4 pm, and guests will be invited to tour the facility, and enjoy entertainment, wine and refreshments.
At the end of last month, Potratz held an open house to unveil the stunning renovation of the property at 31 Lafayette Street in Schenectady. Attendees witnessed the renovation that stayed true to the original architecture, while modernizing specific elements to bring it up to date, keeping it in the line with the company ethos: respect the traditional but constantly delve deeper into new technology.
After the ribbon cutting, attendees are invited to take a tour of the new locale. Upon entering they will see the first floor’s open floor plan sporting color-drenched walls, and facets original to building including a freight elevator and an oversized metal fire door, which was used to separate the pressroom from warehouse and office space. New additions include energy efficient lighting that mimics natural sunlight, two sound studios and a video studio.
“We’re really excited about this opportunity to work with the Chamber of Commerce to announce our completely renovated building. Schenectady County is a thriving area with the potential to achieve great things. The town and the county support small business and because of that, we have been able to grown and expand exponentially,” said Paul Potratz, COO and founder of Potratz.
Potratz Partners Advertising is a full-service automotive advertising agency specializing in digital marketing. The agency was founded in 2003 by Paul Potratz in Schenectady, NY and received a Dealer Satisfaction Award from Driving Sales for Search and Behavioral Marketing every year since the award’s inception. Paul has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and CBS and has been a featured speaker for NADA, Driving Sales, Auto Dealer People, Dealer Elite, and Automotive Digital Marketing. You can see Paul every Tuesday on the Think Tank Tuesday series available on iTunes.
The CADEX East Conference announced that Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, will be a featured speaker when the conference meets on Friday, April 5, at the Casino Nova Scotia, in Halifax.
This is the second annual CADEX Spring Training event, and the speakers will be bringing industry-leading ideas on key topics to the Maritimes.
For more information on the 2013 CADEX East Conference, click here. For additional information on Potratz or to receive announcements of future speaking engagements, contact us now.
Have you ever been to a doctor’s appointment and felt as though your doctor was speaking in a foreign language when diagnosing you? Do you find yourself asking, “Can you repeat that in English Doc?” The frustration you feel is normal and happens due to miscommunications caused by unnecessary jargon.
Industry buzzwords can be useful when attempting to create a unified language within organizations, especially when working in a fast paced environment such as an advertising agency or emergency room. Although they can prove to be useful tools in the business world, problems can arise when attempting to use the same buzzwords or “bizspeak” when dealing with clients.
To the outside consumer these complex phrases can seem like meaningless jargon and can cause miscommunications that may result in lost opportunities when attempting to generate leads or conduct business. It’s important to understand when and when not to use buzzwords so that you don’t come across as if you’re speaking Martian.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with non-industry consumers:
Create a buzzword thesaurus for yourself and your team — provide common translations for complex industry lingo
Train your team on the importance of using “normal” language with clients
When sending communications, try to use language that the other person will understand
Consider the following questions before sending an email or leaving a message on an answering machine:
How much exposure has the person on the receiving end had in the industry in which you work?
Are there simple substitutions to some of the complex industry words you are accustomed to?
Could the message be lost in translation if a secretary or intern is the one taking it?
While not all industry lingo is bad, it’s important to find the balance between sounding informative and sounding confusing to the recipient.
Try and keep these tips in mind the next time you have a conversation with a potential client.
Pinterest has recently captured the attention of the masses, and the social media site is definitely gaining traction; it is now the seventh most popular social network, and keeps growing daily, so it’s vital to think about all that it has to offer in the means of social media. It’s important to consider the marketing potential Pinterest has. A popular image you post (which will link back to your business’s website) could theoretically get repinned on hundreds, or even thousands, of different users’ boards!
Using Pinterest For Your Business?
Make sure your business makes sense with what Pinterest offers. You might be surprised at how many businesses can benefit from Pinterest.
Use other social networks like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to direct more users to your Pinterest boards.
Make sure you use Pinterest to feature all the different things your business can offer users.
Follow popular names to build more awareness around your company.
Spend a consistent amount of time on Pinterest so that stronger connections can be built.
Keep your board clean, don’t pin too many different things onto it. Each board should have a clear theme.
Users like to see boards that relay a lot of concise information, so promote your product as well as others.
What Not To Do On Pinterest?
Don’t spam your product out.
There is such a thing as too much promotion for your product. Keep it regular, but not constant.
Don’t pin too much onto one board, make separate boards so you can keep them clean and easy to look at.
Keep in mind Pinterest is all about images, so steer away from pinning too much text.
Be consistent with the network.
The goal of Pinterest is to focus on consumer goods and products, which makes it an opportune social network for marketers to gain more clients and more attention, so don’t miss out! Not sure how to get started? Contact us now!
