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Design eCommerce Marketing

Spectruss Builds Custom Platform for New Medical Spa, Refine Aesthetic Studio

The Client

Refine Aesthetic Studio, an affiliate of Plastic Surgery Group, is a new premier medical spa located in downtown Chattanooga, TN. Our team at Spectruss used creative design and e-commerce web development to build a custom website for Refine Aesthetic Studio.

We also manage their digital marketing, advertising and social media platforms to help build brand awareness and increase online visibility. Other creative work includes event planning, PR, promotion and creative packaging.

Check out our work in the video below!

Web Design

Our creative team was eager to design a beautiful platform for Refine Aesthetic Studio that would readily attract clients. We thoughtfully chose color schemes, images, and layouts that would provide a visually appealing online experience and successfully portray the company’s overall brand image.

Ecommerce

We built a custom website with ecommerce capability to offer online ordering for Refine Aesthetic Studio’s skincare lines. Our goal was to create a convenient online shopping experience for clients to easily purchase their favorite skincare products. Designed to be responsive on all platforms, customers can use any device to shop on Refine Aesthetic Studio’s site.

Social Media

Social media is an effective platform for your business to gain exposure and build customer relationships. Our team managed Facebook and Instagram platforms for Refine Aesthetic Studio to build brand awareness through engaging content that showcased their services, products, and upcoming events. In just one month, Refine Aesthetic Studio saw significant social media growth.

Print

Using print materials is a great way to present potential customers with valuable information about your business in a small, portable form. Our creative team designed visually engaging literature to help build a recognizable brand and promote the offered services for Refine Aesthetic studio.

Photo + Video

From headshots to Instagram stories, we captured quality content to utilize on Refine Aesthetic Studio’s website and social media accounts. Our team will come to your business to create engaging videos and take beautiful pictures that will showcase your company brand.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising is an excellent way to increase business growth by driving traffic towards multiple online platforms. Our team created and implemented advertising strategies to reach a specific target market and grow brand awareness for Refine Aesthetic Studio.

Event Planning

Our creative team organized events for Refine Aesthetic Studio from start to finish. We designed promotional materials, creative packaging and sent out a press release to local news outlets to help drive foot traffic to the new medical spa.

Interested to see what Spectruss can do for your business? We’d love to chat! Give us a call at 423.800.8633 or email us at info@spectruss.com.

Categories
Events Marketing

Why Brands Should Embrace Experiential Marketing

In today’s world, it’s harder than ever to get the attention of consumers. Brands are always looking for new ways to stand out against all the noise and truly engage their customers. An increasing amount of businesses are turning to experiential marketing, which offers immersive, memorable campaigns that help deliver a brand’s message without distractions.

So, What Exactly is Experiential Marketing?

Experiential marketing has been a buzzword over recent years and is gaining increasing momentum in the marketing world. This powerful campaign strategy brings a whole new light to the way consumers experience a brand.

Experiential marketing focuses on direct engagement with consumers by using creative interactions to leave a lasting impression. These experiences could include a live event or a pop-up installation. Its central focus is to provide consumers with a live, engaging experience.

Many brands have found huge success in experiential marketing. Check out some great examples of successful campaigns below.

JetBlue- The Icebreaker

Who doesn’t want to take a trip to the beach in the middle of freezing cold winter? JetBlue airlines used this opportunity to promote their new direct flights from New York to Palm Springs in a very clever way. They put various summer-themed prizes such as beach attire, golf clubs, and free tickets to Palm Springs inside a huge block of ice and told passing New Yorkers that anything was up for grabs.

A social media campaign was launched along with this unique experiential strategy, resulting in a huge success for JetBlue. Everyone loves free stuff, right? Giving away prizes in a unique, creative way gave consumers an engaging experience they wouldn’t forget.

Gatorade Combine

The Gatorade brand is widely known for its close association with professional sports. To create an engaging experience for consumers, Gatorade used experiential marketing strategies to test individual athletic abilities in the form of a combine. A combine is an examination of athletic skills that athletes must complete before going to the professional league. Gatorade worked with a number of companies such as Xbox, Kinect, and Sparta Science to create electronic stations that executed interactive combine tests for each participant.

The results for the Gatorade combine tests provided accurate information for consumers, giving them data and knowledge to apply to other areas of life whether it be workout routines or dieting. Experiential marketing proves extremely impactful to consumers when it not only offers entertainment but also valuable information.

Red Bull- Stratos

The whole world held its breath when Redbull performed a record-breaking, supersonic skydiving jump. Known for its bold actions and involvement in extreme sports, Redbull decided to take its marketing strategy to new heights – – 24 miles about the earth’s surface to be exact! Redbull developed an experiential marketing campaign known as “Stratos” and partnered with Felix Baumgartner, a skydiver from Austria, to accomplish this incredible stunt.

Redbull streamed this event on YouTube and received over 8 million views (the highest viewing traffic of any live stream broadcasted on Youtube!) Don’t be afraid to think big and push the limits with your marketing strategies. Leave a lasting impression on your consumers by using the power of suspense and giving your audience something new to experience.

Categories
Design Marketing

Email Design Trends for 2020

We’ve entered into a new decade of email design.

It’s important that we adapt our email strategies to appeal to new audiences and keep ahead of the competition. Check out the trending 2020 email designs below that will be sure to spark new interest and grab the attention of your readers!

Design for Dark Mode


We’ve all heard about Dark Mode. This new feature on digital devices displays copy on a dark background and a light foreground. This setting is gaining huge popularity and is a solution for those with light sensitivity. More people are using dark color schemes as the default setting on their digital devices and find bright designs to be a jarring experience.

Designers should start using darker background colors in their email designs to stand out against the many bright-colored email campaigns we saw in 2019.

Use Minimalistic Design

The power of minimalism is in the beauty of simplicity. Inboxes can get quickly jam-packed with emails, so cut through the noise with an easy-to-read design using plenty of negative space. By simplifying the content and making it easily digestible, you provide a clear call to action for the reader.

Minimalistic design in emails has been gaining attention over the last year and is expected to continue to soar in 2020.

Apply 3D Visuals

Designers are getting more creative with their use of visuals in emails. 3D visuals have already begun to gain popularity with big brands because it delivers imagery that is more realistic and intriguing. In contrast to traditional flat imagery, 3D visuals bring products to life and spotlight key messages.

Using 3D imagery in email campaigns brings a wow factor to the table and is expected to continue to gain major traction in 2020.

Ditch the Columns

Switch it up and don’t be so boring! So many emails follow the typical column layout which starts with the email header at the top followed by the product image, description, and so forth.

This year, think beyond the conventional email layout and start using broken grids in your designs to create a more engaging experience for your subscribers.

Categories
Business Marketing

5 Tips for a Successful Black Friday

The holiday season is here and businesses everywhere are gearing up for the busiest shopping day of the year- Black Friday. Over 74 million Americans shop on Black Friday (if they were to form a country, it would be the 20th most populous on Earth!) Is your business ready?!

With so many stores offering huge deals on Black Friday, it can be difficult to stand out against all the noise. However, incorporating a few simple strategies can help your business provide an excellent Black Friday experience and leave a lasting impression on your customers.

Staff well

The crowds….the lines. We all know what this national shopping day is like. Make sure you have plenty of staff to get your customers through the checkout lines quickly. If your store is understaffed, it will be a very long and frustrating day. Black Friday shoppers are expecting lines, but your store can offer a refreshing experience by being extra organized and efficient.

Make it fun

Black Friday is a long and busy day for your staff, so make it fun by bringing in lots of snacks and goodies for the break room. You can even offer contests and prizes for meeting goals at the end of the day. Making it fun for your employees will help to create a positive atmosphere which will translate to a great customer experience with your store.

Keep your store looking extra special

According to a recent study, foot traffic to big box stores is expected to increase by 34% this year. Many small and medium retailers located near these stores could expect a spike in traffic as well. It is important for your businesses to prepare for this additional traffic by making sure your store looks in tip-top shape. Bringing out your latest merchandise, sprucing up your window displays and keeping things in order throughout the big day will be sure to leave a great impression on your customers.

Don’t try to compete with the big box stores

Let’s face it, the retail giants will always be able to offer bigger and better deals on Black Friday. Trying to compete with the big stores will only hurt your business by eating up all your margins. Instead, your business needs to focus on what those box stores can’t offer- a personal experience. As a smaller business, putting community and family values first is essential for generating loyal customer relationships. So, don’t bother opening on Thanksgiving because your customers will appreciate your businesses more for staying closed on the holiday.

Offer coupons with future dates

With the influx of traffic to your store on Black Friday, it is important to implement a strategy to encourage those shoppers to keep coming back. A great way to do this is by handing out coupons to customers at checkout. Be sure that those coupons are dated for a week or two in the future. This will bring shoppers back to your store during a less rushed time and could lead to long-term customer relationships.

Categories
Business Digital Marketing

5 Quick Tips for Mobile-Friendly Email Campaigns

If your emails aren’t mobile-friendly, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to engage your subscribers and drive conversions. A recent study shows that 67% of all emails are now opened on mobile devices. In order to grab the attention of the modern day consumer, it is imperative to tailor your emails for smaller screens and scrolling fingers. Check out these key tips to ensure your emails are optimized for mobile viewers.

1. Short Subject Lines

47% of email recipients decide whether to open an email based on the subject line alone. If the subject is too long, it can get cut off on a mobile screen and disrupt the opportunity to connect with your reader. A mobile device only shows 25-30 characters of an email subject line, so it is imperative to be concise with your wording.

2. Single Column Layout

On a mobile device, multiple columns in an email often look too busy and can be confusing for the reader. Using a single column template will simplify your design and highlight your important content. It also makes the email easily scrollable, keeping your call-to-action in direct line of sight.

3. One Clear Call to Action

Emails that contain a single call to action (CTA) can increase clicks 371% and conversions 1,617%. To receive the maximum amount of clicks on a mobile device, it is important to keep a CTA to 2-4 words, use a higher contrast button color, place CTA towards the top of the email, and size the button to at least 44 x 44 pixels.

4. Concise Copy

Too much copy in an email can be overwhelming and boring to look at, especially on a mobile device. Use bulleted lists and short paragraphs to create easily scannable content for the reader. It is also important to increase the size the text to avoid people needing to zoom in to read the information.

5. Space to Click

Mobile screens get crowded quickly. If you stack links and CTA’s too close together without leaving enough space around them, recipients can accidentally click the wrong link. To keep this from happening, make sure to leave plenty of room to click, keep links to a minimum, and avoid stacking them.

Categories
Business Digital Marketing

Boost Your Sales During the Holiday Season

The holiday season from November to the end of December is the most lucrative time of year for retailers. Is your business ready for the shopping frenzy? With the holidays quickly approaching, now is the time to formulate your marketing strategies to attract customers and generate those sales! Check out these marketing tips below to see how your business can maximize its sales during the holiday season.

Make Your Cyber 5 Strategy Part of a Bigger Game Plan

Those extremely important shopping days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday are referred to as the “Cyber 5”. A common misconception is to get your ad campaigns up and running just in time for Black Friday. While it is crucial to recognize the Cyber 5 as huge shopping days, implementing a more comprehensive advertising approach will result in a more consistent and effective campaign. In 2018, marketers devoted 19% of their search budgets to Cyber 5 spending, but those days make up for just 9% of holiday shopping. This year, more businesses are looking to adopt a strategy that encompasses the Cyber 5 as well as the whole extended holiday season. This results in catching the attention of both the October early-bird shoppers and the last minute shoppers.

Optimize for Mobile Use

A growing number of consumers are visiting websites from mobile devices.
Your business must be optimized for mobile use if you want customers to find your store and stay to shop. A responsive web design is crucial for grabbing the attention of consumers and will result in greater engagement and higher sales numbers. The National Retail Federation projects 105 billion in online sales this holiday season with an estimated 127 million shoppers predicted to shop on Cyber Monday. Of these Cyber Monday shoppers, 25 million said they would specifically use their mobile devices for purchases.

Take Advantage of In-Channel Buying

Consumers are more connected than ever before. A recent study found that 64% of customers are using multiple channels to complete a single transaction. This translates to many touchpoint across numerous different platforms. In 2018, holiday traffic to digital sites from social media channels grew by 22% year over year. This year, even more shoppers are expected to be buying in-channel. This means that retailers should be ready to push their brand where the consumers already are, such as social media platforms.

Royal Highnies’ Holiday Success

Royal Highnies is a growing luxury loungewear and undergarment retailer. From boxer shorts to lounge pants, to tee shirts and more, Royal Highnies provides ultimate comfort for the whole family.

During the 2017 holiday season, Royal Highnies wanted to boost its online advertising in order to attract more consumers to the brand. This is where Spectruss came in. Our team worked with Royal Highnies to implement digital marketing strategies that would result in a huge ROI.

First, we conducted detailed market research to identify a specific target market for Royal Hignies. Based off this audience, we did rigorous keyword research to ensure their brand would be seen by the right consumers.

Once we defined a specific customer base, we developed a digital marketing plan that included creative email campaigns, shopping ad campaigns, display ads, social media ad campaigns and fresh graphics.

This campaign utilized new approaches and creative materials designed specifically to reach Royal Highnies’ target market. The end result? Royal Highnies saw a 25% increase in online sales and a 10% increase in wholesale sales.

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Uncategorized

Recession Proof Your Business

We’ve all seen the headlines, and some of us have already felt it. A recession is looming. The R word can send chills down a business owner’s, and even employees’, spine. Luckily, there’s good news. We know how to beat a recession. On top of that, we know how to make your company beat your competitors in a recession. Here’s how:

First, a company should see a recession as an opportunity to beat your competition, not to run and hide. For instance, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut took advantage of McDonald’s choosing to drop their advertising budget during the 1990-91 recession. The result was Pizza Hut growing 61%, Taco Bell 40% and McDonald’s declined 28%. Pretty astonishing numbers, right!?

Second, a recession is a great time to trim the extra fat and lower your recurring overhead. Payroll is the largest recurring line item cost for each business, and if things slow down during a recession, you could be stuck with an uncomfortable amount of payroll. At the same time, those large agencies that you have been using for your campaigns and technical aspects of marketing, charge huge numbers based on their large overhead. This is where smaller, more nimble agencies, such as Spectruss, have an upper hand. Not only do we thrive in the digital realm, but we also have all of the capabilities in-house to act as your entire marketing department. This lowers your costs, and allows you to easily scale up or down with us, even on a month-to-month basis. 

Third, have a team that is constantly watching the data. There will be a lot of opportunity that will open up during a recession, including areas of advertising with less saturation, lower costs per click, and adjusted sales pitches that really resonate. Having the ability to track all of this data, monitor it daily and adjust in real time will produce the largest return on your investment. 

Attacking advertising and marketing with a digital first approach has helped Spectruss grow over the last 8+ years. We have grown to bring all technical aspects of marketing and advertising in-house, thus strengthening the client’s brand identity and lowering their overall cost. We can either act as your out-of-house marketing department taking lead from your in-house CMO, or even help you build strategy as your Virtual CMO. In short, Spectruss makes your business recession proof. 

Give us a shout today to setup a free consultation with Founder Sam Silvey. 

Categories
Business Marketing

What is UGC and Why are Brands Using it?

In a fast paced, digitally-run world, it is becoming increasingly harder to grab the attention of consumers. If brands want to stand out in this highly competitive market, they must get creative with their messaging and their marketing strategies. Customers are looking for authenticity in a brand and one of the best ways to establish this is with user-generated content (UGC).

UGC is content related to a certain brand that is voluntarily produced by individuals with the potential to drive conversation and build engagement. If a customer has a great experience with your brand, they are inclined to share that experience with their peers. Word-of-mouth referrals are extremely profitable for businesses because it provides authentic information from previous customers, boosting brand credibility and recognition.

The power of user-generated content has proved to be so beneficial that brands are integrating this into their marketing campaigns.

Share a Coke With…

When Coca Cola launched its “Share a Coke” campaign, people went crazy over the personalized bottles. Coca Cola changed its traditional label to “Share a Coke with” followed by a name. This multi-national campaign, which used 250 of the country’s most popular names, aimed to have people find a coke bottle with their name on it and then share it with friends.

To keep the hype going, Coca Cola asked customers to share pictures of themselves enjoying a coke with their personalized bottles on social media. This lead to massive amounts of user generated content, raising awareness and increasing user engagement with the brand. This massively successful campaign resulted in Coca Cola’s customers stepping into the role of advertiser.

The Royal Wedding

We all remember the highly anticipated royal wedding of American TV star Meghan Markle and Prince Harry of England in 2018. The lavish royal weddings of the past have always been real affairs, but this time, things were a little different.

Along with sending traditional reporters, the BBC news channel also sent 50 people from the general public to watch the wedding and share their experiences on social media. This built a connection with the public by providing them with a way to view the wedding through the eyes of every day people.

The individual stories shared from these 50 viewers were a form of user-generated content. The BBC news used this strategy as a way to attract more viewers and engagement from the public.

People trust the opinions of peers which is why it is so important for brands to incorporate UGC. The more trust and transparency a brand can establish with its customers, the stronger the brand will become.

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Uncategorized

Free Strategy Consultation with Our CEO

What can a full-service all in-house advertising agency do for your business? The opportunities are endless, but you may have some questions. What services do we offer and which ones are best for your brand? And how much does it cost? Well, our services aren’t a one size fits all. We customize pricing for each client based on their specific business needs. At Spectruss, we love to learn everything we can about your company so we can develop the best plan of action for you!

Over the past 10+ years, our team at Spectruss has studied everything from video creation to web programming to become experts on how each aspect can benefit and grow a company. Our agency offers a vCMO service which encompasses all aspects of web programing, graphic design, videography, photography, content writing, advertising, digital marketing, and social media management. The vCMO package comes in four different levels including: entry level, silver, gold, and platinum. Each level provides more hours of service with a lower cost per hour.

Not sure if you are ready for a vCMO package? We also offer a la carte services which means you can take advantage of individual tasks such as branding, website design, etc. The best way to know what you can get for your budget and what services are ideal for your company is to give us a call! In fact, we are extending an offer to you to schedule a FREE 30 minute strategy consultation with the founder and CEO of Spectruss, Sam Silvey!

Categories
Business Design Marketing

Spectruss Now Offers Month-to-Month vCMO

Month-to-month means no long term commitment. We all know the painstaking process of signing to a year long commitment. If things don’t go right, you still have to finish out the contract. We give the freedom and ability to go month-to-month with our vCMO service and give you the peace of mind to cancel at any time. But, we are sure that’s not going to happen, because you’re going to love our services!

We offer four different vCMO levels: entry level, silver, gold, and platinum. Each level provides more hours of service with a lower cost per hour. That’s the beauty of having no long term commitment. You can change the level of work you may need each month!

So what exactly is vCMO? Well, vCMO or virtual Chief Marketing Officer, is a service we provide that covers all strategic marketing for your business. Our team of professionals strategize the best ways to maximize your company’s growth and then implement those methods to provide the largest ROI for your business. Within our vCMO service, we provide all aspects of web programing, graphic design, videography, photography, content writing, advertising, digital marketing, and social media management. And if your company already has a Chief Marketing Officer? Great! We will work along side them to assist with any and all outsourcing needs. Since we do everything in-house, we provide strong brand consistency and high quality results.

We realize not everyone is ready to sign a contract, which is why we are excited to offer our month-to-month vCMO services to demonstrate the work we can do to grow your company. Ultimately, our goal is to establish a long lasting relationship with our clients. When you grow, we grow too! We are confident in what we do and we know that when you experience our work for your company, you’ll want to stay with us!

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200 W M.L.K. Blvd
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Chattanooga, TN 37402

info@spectruss.com

423.264.2404