Author: Jessica Hagerman

Categories
Digital Marketing eCommerce

Best E-commerce Platforms in 2023

Best E-Commerce 2023

Have you ever been served an amazing ad on Instagram or Facebook and you click on the link to go to their website fully prepared to splurge on said product only to realize their website is not-so user-friendly or good looking? Whew, that was a mouthful, but we’ve all had that happen! 

 

Nine times out of ten, I won’t buy a product solely based on the ease of use of a company’s website or the aesthetic. Sounds crazy, but that’s a company’s first impression and if that’s not done well, then I’m going to venture to say their product is not done well either. 

 

Let’s talk about the stats on ecommerce sites in general because maybe you’re skeptical about creating one and you just stumbled across this blog. 

 

DYK: There are 1.4 billion websites in the world and out of those, 455 million are built on WordPress – so roughly 35%. Out of those, 9.1 million are Ecommerce sites. Think about that. There are 9.1 million websites out there wanting you to purchase something from them. Talk about information overload! 

 

So, which ecommerce site is going to best amplify your business in 2023? Glad you asked. 

 

You’ve got several different options and we aren’t going to go over every single one, but the leading Ecommerce site is WooCommerce (a plugin on WordPress). There are roughly 4 million WooCommerce sites worldwide. The second most popular is Shopify with 1 million sites worldwide. 

 

Pros & Cons of Shopify  

 

Shopify is really easy on the front end. You don’t have to be professional to build an ecommerce site through them and they have really beautiful templates you can just copy and paste to get your site up and running. So, if you’re wanting something quick and easy and you have no previous experience, this might be a great option for you. It’s a simple choice for find-to-sell websites.

 

Now, it’s not very customizable. I mentioned the templates, which are great, but those templates have to match your brand to a T. You can’t change the little things about the site that really make your brand and your brand experience stand out. You also have to use the Shopify credit card processor, which puts a limit on what you can sell and unfortunately you don’t own your site – Shopify does. 

 

Pros & Cons of WooCommerce

 

WooCommerce requires more upfront professional labor in regards to the actual construction and functions of the site. If you don’t have any experience building websites, this process might be more than what you’re wanting. For example, at Spectruss, our creative team usually starts in Photoshop and actually builds out the layers of the site and ensures its responsiveness before it’s even transferred over to WooCommerce. Not every small business has the capacity to do that.

 

Now, what’s great about WooCommerce is that you can customize this site to be whatever you want it to be. If you can think it (within reason) it can be done. This ensures that your brand experience is totally cohesive from start to finish. The site is also totally yours and you can use whatever credit card processor works best for you. 

 

As we know, your brand is not just your logo. Your brand is your complete identity and having the option to apply that to every element of your ecommerce site is crucial. Afterall, your website is available 24/7 so consumers are getting to know you around the clock and potentially buying your products.

 

When you look at what an ecommerce site offers your business, it’s not only a way to maximize your profit, but it’s a way to build trust and brand identity in your consumers. Because of that, WooCommerce is Spectruss’ choice for 2023.

 

At the end of the day, you need to think about the growth of your company, how many products you’re going to be selling and then you need to make your decision from there based on which platform will better cater to your needs. The longevity of your company will make this decision for you. 

 

There are other sites we haven’t talked about like Wix and Squarespace. These two sites are great for small businesses just getting started, artists, or people who are wanting to showcase portfolios, etc. They offer some free options as well, but in our opinion, they don’t offer your company longevity and room for growth. 

When it comes to designing and building ecommerce websites, the options are almost limitless. However, setting the store up and turning on the ability to accept transactions is only the beginning. Here at Spectruss we offer an ecommerce service where we build your ecommerce site from the very first thought all the way to your first purchase. 

Book a 20 minute call with us to get started on taking your ecommerce site to the next level.

Categories
Business Digital Marketing Marketing

Why Spectruss is Chattanooga’s Choice Agency 

Why Spectruss is Chattanooga’s Choice Agency 

 

There are a few things that make Chattanooga the city that it is. Some say it’s the walkability, others say the booming restaurant and bar scene, and many say it’s the amazing natural scenery that’s in literally every direction you turn. 

 

You’ve got iconic brands like Chattanooga Whiskey, Hutton & Smith Brewing Co., and Lookout Wild Film Festival. Want to know what all of these brands have in common aside from being a local Chattanooga company? Each of these brands have used Spectruss for marketing or advertising needs to take their company to the next level. 

 

The thing that makes Chattanooga, Chattanooga is that everyone who enters leaves feeling like a local. They feel like they take a little piece of them when they leave. Chattanooga is a city that thrives on locality. From the restaurants, to the attractions, to the parks and the people – it’s home. 

 

Nobody understands that better than Spectruss. Spectruss has been Chattanooga’s Marketing and Advertising Agency for over 11 years. You might be wondering why knowing what it means to be a Chattanoogan is so important as a marketing and advertising agency and the answer is pretty simple…we understand who you are first. 

 

If we understand who you are as a company, creating a brand like Hutton & Smith Brewing Co., for example, becomes second nature to us. Working as geologists from Las Vegas, the owners moved to Chattanooga, TN, and fell in love with the city’s accessibility to rock climbing and various outdoor activities. They came to us at the beginning of the craft beer revolution with a new recipe and a dream to start a brewery. 

 

We were challenged with the concept of creating a brand that could be national, but would remain close to home for the owners. Hutton & Smith was named after the “Father of Modern Geology,” James Hutton and “Father of English Geology,” William Strata Smith. The brand started in Chattanooga with a connection to the rock climbing scene. It started with an understanding of exactly who Hutton & Smith Brewing Co. were and who they ultimately wanted to be. Both the brand and the beer were quickly embraced by Chattanooga’s rock-loving enthusiasts since it’s release in 2014 and you can now find the brand all over the US. 

 

The reality is, one of the things that draws people to our city is the connection to the outdoors. Whether that’s felt through beer, rock climbing, or even films – it’s there. 

 

Since its inception in 2012, Lookout Wild Film Festival has partnered with Spectruss to increase its brand awareness and audience attendance. Our digital marketing strategies and creative branding led to exponential growth for the Lookout Wild Film Festival. Year after year, we strategize on how to meet the high expectations of annual crowd goers. 

 

Each year, we gave the festival a fresh new look to set a new theme from previous years. In 2019, our team redesigned the entire identity of the Lookout Wild Film Festival, including a highly dynamic, attention-grabbing logo and a website redesign.

 

With increased brand recognition, Lookout Wild has attracted major film productions with big brand sponsors such as Redbull, Audi, North Face, and Patagonia. Even though the brand is rapidly growing, it started with Chattanooga. It started with having an understanding of the local audience and the local love for all things outdoors and through that mutual understanding, we took Lookout Wild to new heights. 

 

While knowing Chattanooga sets us apart as a Marketing and Advertising Agency, we’re also experts in the realm of ecommerce sites and website redesigns that are geared to touch other parts of the world. We want your business to grow and expand! 

 

Your website is a crucial part of your business and growth. Chattanooga Whiskey approached us in 2019 when their online presence was failing and in a digital world, you know that can’t be good. Our team worked in overdrive to create a new website for them that was user-friendly and fully responsive. We created their new website with the goal of seamless navigation at the front of our minds. Their online presence has done nothing but soar the last few years. 

 

After building a new ecommerce site for Royal Highnies, their online sales grew 25% and 10% for wholesale orders. While developing the brand new e-commerce site, our team simultaneously built monthly campaigns powered by multiple digital marketing strategies that all funneled to an online pop-up store for consumers to shop. 

 

At Spectruss we aren’t just local experts, we’re industry experts. To check out all the services we offer, visit our website. You can also read more case studies on local brands that we’ve partnered with.

 

Categories
Business Digital Marketing Marketing

How to win business in a recession

How to win business in a recession

It’s no secret to anyone that the economy has been in a tough spot the last few years and it’s been tough for both consumers and business owners alike. Let us help you gain confidence and show you how to win business in a recession.

 

One of the first things our minds shift to in a pre or post recession economy is cutting extra costs. That could be from things like overhead, small business expenses that add up and even marketing costs. 

 

The thought process makes sense. You see a decline in sales and revenue so you immediately start to cut discretionary expenses like marketing. 

 

What’s interesting though is that research shows that marketers who cut their media spend risk losing up to 15% of their business. McGraw Hill did a study of companies during previous recessions and found that companies who continue to advertise during a 2 year recession saw 256% higher sales than their counterparts who saw virtually 0% growth. 

 

Why is that? Because your competitors aren’t cutting marketing and advertising costs so they get your business. 

 

It’s easy to think in the short term and just start cutting costs that you might consider to be luxury, but the reality is 55% of advertising is digital. And the ROI for email marketing alone is $36 returned for every $1 spent. 

 

These are numbers you want to capitalize on! How can you do that? Great question! 

 

The only way to get through a recession and prosper is to invest in your brand and your relationships with your customers. Why? Because if you don’t, it will undermine your growth. 

 

More than 60% of brands that increased their media spend during the last recession saw ROI improvements! 

 

Why? Because you’re keeping your brand at the forefront of your consumers’ minds, setting you up for success when the economy rebounds. The worst thing you could do is fall off the face of the earth to your consumers, then when the time comes for them to invest in your industry again, they’ve chosen to go with someone else who invested in their marketing during the lonely months. 

 

So, have we shown you the importance yet of why you want to keep that marketing budget in tact? 

 

Spectruss offers 8 different services that you can invest in on an a la carte basis to fit your specific needs. Let’s say, for example, you have a killer website, but you really need help with google ads, social media ads and daily management of those things. We can help!

 

Or maybe you have a great digital marketing employee, but they don’t know how to build a website that will increase your business. We can help with that too! You can have a custom website built and live in as little as 4 weeks. 

 

We want to make sure that you not only survive during a recession, but thrive. Contact us to get your marketing and advertising plan started today!

 

Sources: 

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/marketers-increase-media-spend-recession-gain-ROI/628712/

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2022/04/19/digital-marketing-statistics

https://www.wearemiq.com/blog/advertising-during-a-recession/ 

Categories
Business Design Digital Marketing eCommerce Marketing

Why Do I Need Digital Advertising?

Why do I need digital advertising?
Why do I need digital advertising?

Unless you live under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of the phrase “digital advertising”. Chances are you fall on one side of the spectrum about that topic: you understand it or you’ve just heard about it and don’t really know where to start. Hopefully by the end of this, you’ll understand why Digital Advertising is vital to your business.  

Digital advertising is a way to get your message out across multiple different digital platforms where your consumers spend most of their time. Some platforms that digital advertising are most effective on are Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Did you know that there are almost 3 billion users on Facebook? That’s more than a third of the world so that’s a great place to start digital advertising. 

What is digital advertising? 

In its simplest form, it’s creating a campaign (or ad) on one of the platforms mentioned above highlighting your product or service to potential customers with the goal being to entice them to buy your product or visit your website to learn more. 

A way to make that the most effective it can be is to put money behind those ads while targeting your specific audience. The truth is we live in a world where the market is oversaturated with messaging. So, with that in mind, we want to make sure your message gets out to the right audience so that the money you spend is actually providing results. 

The magic of digital marketing is finding your customer before they find you.

Why is it important? 

The nature of business is that you need a steady stream of customers coming in to keep your business alive and thriving. That means you need more sales, more website traffic, more leads, more brand awareness, more digital presence. 

Digital advertising is a fun and creative way to get that stream of customers coming in. It’s like you’re leaving a breadcrumb for them everytime they see an ad and each breadcrumb will ultimately lead them to make a purchase. 

It’s important to craft the perfect ad buy strategy when thinking about your business. This is where Spectruss comes in. 

How can Spectruss help? 

Glad you asked! We’ve done digital marketing for some amazing brands including: Royal Highnies, Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, Brewski, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, RefinedLooks Plastic Surgery & Spa and Liberty Safe. 

The Mount Everest of goals when it comes to digital advertising is having a viral hit. Well, with Liberty Safe, we climbed the proverbial Mount Everest. In 2016 they approached Spectruss with a problem – Facebook announced they were banning all advertisements that included firearms. For Liberty Safe, a national gun safe company, this presented a challenge for ad buys. 

We had to think fast. Working around the parameters was a challenge, but we creatively censored a way to bypass Facebook’s ban resulting in a massive viral hit with over 6 million global views. The numbers on this ad were: 6+ million views, 35k+ shares, 10k+ engagements. 

We bring a lot of expertise to this area and we believe digital advertising can be the catalyst for your business to soar. 

How do I get started? 

The first step is a Zoom discovery session where we will go over your goals and start laying out a strategy for your ad buys. We’ll talk about budget, design, messaging, timing, correct platforms to use, and more. After we design your ads and you approve them, we can get the ads running inside of one week! 

What will this cost me? 

Well for starters, for every $1 spent on paid advertising $2 is returned. This is crucial for your business with that kind of ROI (return on investment). The pricing will vary based on the agency’s work and the ad buy itself. 

The ad buy depends on the campaign itself, what platform is going to be used, the size and audience, etc. An example package starts at $1,000 and can include: Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Linkedln Ads and YouTube Ads. We offer payment plans and financing as well. 

Here at Spectruss we believe in transparency. You will always know exactly what was spent, where it was spent and what the ROI was. We provide clear reporting and use hard numbers and data for our digital advertising campaigns. 

So, are you ready to start advertising your business online?

Categories
Design Digital Marketing eCommerce Marketing

Why do I need a custom website?

Why do I need a custom website?

In the world of web design your homepage is like a firm handshake the first time you meet someone. It’s important. It tells a lot about you without you having to “say” anything.

Building a strong online presence builds trust with your consumer. They feel like they get a glimpse into who you are as a company and what you have to offer them. A strong web presence also builds your credibility. There’s nothing more sketchy than wanting to check out a product someone offers before you make a purchase only to find they don’t have a website… or a good website. Did you know that 75% of consumers decide the credibility of a business solely based on their website? Wow! 

BRAND AWARENESS

Having a great website also helps build brand awareness. You want people to know who you are and what you can offer them without you having to spell it out everytime. Everytime they look at your logo, that leaves an imprint on their minds, so it’s imperative that your website is able to back up your brand and help solidify who you are to build consistency across the digital world.

Something else that your website is great for is what we call conversions. In the marketing world, a conversion is the moment that a potential customer takes a desired action previously decided by you. An example would be signing up for a newsletter or making an online purchase. The overall fluidity and design of your website are the most important steps to get conversions. 

This is where Spectruss comes in. Here at Spectruss we believe that first impressions can make or break a business which is why we provide web design as a service for an affordable rate and in a timely manner to ensure all your needs are met. After all, you can’t make a second first impression.

FINANCING YOUR CUSTOM WEBSITE

You can have a new custom website built in as little as 4 weeks AND we offer financing. In a post-covid world, cash flow can be hard to manage so you can choose between a 6 or 12 month plan to pay for your custom website. 

We don’t just build websites that are aesthetically pleasing, we care about the content. We care about giving you a competitive advantage in your industry which is why we strategize with you about what to say, the flow of your website, and how your custom website is going to aid in making your business the most successful it can be. 

Why do I need a custom website?

WHAT HAPPENS NOW 

So, let’s say you’ve recognized the need for our web design service and you’re interested in financing with us, the first step is a Zoom discovery session. In this first call, we’ll chat about what your goals are for the site and establish a strategy that will provide you with results. 

After this, the fun begins! We work with our specialized team to design the look of your website in Photoshop. Once we have your website checking all the design boxes, we give it to our programmers for them to begin making your website compatible for all screen sizes. Since most online traffic comes from mobile devices, it’s important your mobile site offers the same experience as the desktop version. 

So what happens to your website after it goes live? It’s all yours! You have total control of what happens to it. We will show you how to access the site through one of our hosting partners and then from that point we can be as hands on – or off – as you’d like.

If the digital world is still a little overwhelming to you, we offer ongoing support and maintenance packages after your website is live. What does that mean? That means anytime you have an update to the site, we take care of it for you. 

Spectruss boasts 10+ years of expertise in website design and development, so we’d be happy to help you maintain your website. 

LET’S DO THIS

If all this is getting you really excited to build your new site – we totally get it! We recommend scheduling a free consultation with us where we can go over those goals and strategy we talked about earlier, and you’ll also receive a quote! 

Web design is just one of the 8 services we provide on an a la carte basis, but it’s a great place to start!