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Business Design Digital Marketing eCommerce Marketing

4 Strategies for Holiday Marketing Success

Did you know that Holiday sales alone can make up to 40% of the annual customer transactions for both small and mid-sized businesses? You should be capitalizing on that! It’s crucial that ecommerce businesses, specifically, revamp their holiday marketing campaigns to manage this increased revenue during the Holiday season. Let’s dive into our 4 Strategies for Holiday Marketing Success.

 

Create a sense of urgency 

There’s nothing that will cause a customer to make a purchase quicker than seeing “only 1 item left in stock.” If a customer knows that an item they want is likely to sell out, they won’t wait to make that purchase. Creating urgency can also be caused by Holiday discounts that consumers know only happen once a year. It’s easy to devalue your brand when you have thoughtless giveaways or discounts throughout the year, so be intentional about the sales you create, especially during the Holiday season. 

 

You want to ensure that you capitalize on building a relationship with your customer during this season so that customers will want to make repeat purchases. 

 

Creative Holiday Visuals 

Whether it’s through digital or print ads or packaging for your item, get creative with your visuals! Why? You’re not just looking to be festive or enhance the appearance of your product, but you’re wanting to create an overall memorable experience for your customer. Christmas is full of nostalgia for many different reasons and finding a way to incorporate that nostalgia through a video campaign or packaging is a way to set your products apart. While new visual strategies can be beneficial, people love familiarity and are seeking that now more than ever since there has been so much change the last few years. Throw a big block party every year for past and future customers! 

 

What would the benefit be if every year you released a Holiday theme for your packaging, store decor, or a festive party? Get creative and let your customers weigh in on the excitement through a social media campaign! 

 

Involve the Community 

Christmas is the season of giving and many consumers look for companies that give back and support the community to purchase items from. Find a local organization that you can partner with whether it be your staff going to volunteer one evening, or if a portion of each sale goes to supporting that organization. Take behind the scenes footage of your staff volunteering and curate a Holiday video highlighting the partnership and telling customers how they can further show support. 

 

This creates that warm and fuzzy feeling that only giving can and customers are willing to pay a little more for a product when they know it goes to supporting a further cause. This is a great way to bring Holiday cheer to an organization that needs it while also creating incentive for customers to support your business. 

 

Personalize, Personalize, Personalize

Do you get the point? Holiday marketing can seem so generic at times and you do not want your company to fall into that trap. There’s not a better feeling than getting an ad served to you that feels like it was written just for you! Get incredibly targeted with your ads this year. Don’t just create campaigns for your big Holiday sale and call it a day. Have different target ads with different audiences and intended outcomes to allow your campaign to mean something to a consumer. 

 

For example, instead of a campaign reading, “Don’t miss our big Holiday sale November 30 through December 24th!” Let it read, “We know you’re shopping last minute. We also know you’ll be in the dog house with your kids if you don’t knock it out of the park this year, so help me help you by taking advantage of our big online sale going on now through December 24th.” That ad has a specific audience – parents. Most parents do shop last minute and it may seem simple, but again, when your audience feels like you’re speaking directly to them, it matters.

 

Spectruss was created to help you perfectly curate messaging and campaigns to maximize your ROI. If all of this seems overwhelming to you, we’d be happy to sit down and chat about your goals, targets, and Holiday campaigns in greater detail! 

Contact us to get your marketing and advertising plan started today!

 

Categories
Business Design Digital Marketing eCommerce Marketing

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?

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! 

 

Categories
Business Design Marketing

Tips On Designing Your Billboard

Are you looking to advertise your business on a billboard? Good idea, it’s reported that over 70% of drivers look at billboard advertisements while driving. That’s a lot of eyes on your ad! Let us give you some tips on designing your billboard. We’re pros at this!

 

Here’s a few beginner’s tips to think about:

 

Keep Your Design Simple

You only have 5-10 seconds to capture your viewer’s attention. If your ad is busy and overcrowded, they will not know where to look. Don’t let your design overpower your brand’s messaging- keep it short and to the point!

 

Your Billboard Colors

Contrasting colors are key to a great billboard. If a billboard has colors that are similar and competing beside one another, they will “wash out” and be hard to view from a distance. For digital billboards, remember to use RGB colors that are bright and bold. 

 

Incorporate Your Business Branding

The ad should tie in to your brand. Don’t forget to add your business logo, URL, or social media handle. To note, you do not need to do all three. Depending on your ad, how long your URL is, etc. will depend on what you should put on your billboard. If you need further help with your billboard advertising, contact Spectruss today!

Trying to find available billboards near you? Insert your zip code here to find your next advertising location!

Categories
Business Design Digital Marketing

Adding Brand Colors In Your Photoshoot

If you’ve stumbled across this article, it may be because you are planning an upcoming photoshoot for your brand. How exciting! Adding brand colors in your photoshoot can seem like a big task. Let us show you how in this article! 

 

Your Background

 

Let’s say your brand colors are black, grey, and light blue. You will want your backdrop to be styled in a way that complements those colors. Use mostly neutrals with no other bright colors that will compete with your brand. A white background is always a safe bet if you are unsure. 

 

Your Outfit

 

While using the brand color selection of black, grey, and light blue, let’s continue talking about what you are going to wear. 

Your background matters- so try to think about what your clothes will look like in comparison to your photo’s background.

 

For example:

If the photos are being shot on a neutral background, you could wear a fun light blue suit as shown below. If your background is light blue, wear a neutral.

Accessories

 

Your clothes do not always have to be your statement piece. If you want to utilize your pop of color in a fun way, try doing so with jewelry, a coffee mug, or some type of stationary product. 

Fun Edits

 

Do special effects or an overlay with your “pop of color”. This could simply be done with a flat lay photo. Add a transparent overlay with one of you branding colors.

Do you need to find images that matches your brand? Try searching here!

Needing help cultivating your brand strategy? Contact us here!

Categories
Business Design

Can Design Make or Break your Business?

Did your know that the design of your website could be the deciding factor for whether or not a customer will do business with you? In fact, users take only 0.05 seconds on average to form an opinion about a website… and 94% of those first impressions are related to design!

Is your website design falling behind? Here are several key design tips to keep your users engaged and take your website to the next level.

Bold Font

 

We hate to break it to you…. but most users will only read about 20% of words on a webpage. To avoid your users getting lost in large blocks of copy, use bold text to really help your messaging stand out. Not only does bold text make your website more functional, but it can also bring a fresh, modern look to your website.

Visual Hierarchy

 

Visual hierarchy is the arrangement and presentation of design elements to show their order of importance. This design principle is crucial for leading users to your “call to action”, which is ultimately the most important aspect of your website.

A call to action is what prompts the user to take action on your page by contacting your business or buying a product. A recent study found that 70% of websites for smaller businesses lack a clear call to action. Without this design element, your website could be missing out on significant customer conversions.

Personalized Content

 

Consumers are tired of a generic interactions and want an experience to be tailored specifically for them and their location. Even a small amount of personalization goes a long way towards boosting engagement. In fact, 93% of companies who incorporated personalization to their website saw a significant boost in customer conversions. And a recent study found that 44% of people said they would become a repeat customer after a personalized shopping experience with a brand.

Photography with Graphics

 

Grabbing a users’ attention and keeping them interested with your site is crucial for converting visitors into customers. A great way to do this is by introducing eye-catching imagery. A big trend we’ve seen this year is to mix photography with graphics and here’s why:

  • It adds depth to your site and draws people in
  • It gives your website extra personality
  • It reinforces company branding
  • It grabs immediate attention

 

Overlapping graphics with photography is a great way to add a creative flair to your site as well as unify your brand personality. Find free graphics here.

Mobile Ecommerce

The year of 2020 set a precedent for mobile online shopping. Mobile ecommerce traffic grew by 25% in the first quarter of 2020 – making up 71% of total traffic!

With 45% of consumers saying they are shopping more on their phones since March 2020, it is more important than ever before to ensure your mobile web design experience is flawless.

 

Could your company website use a boost? Contact us today to see how we can help you take your website design to the next level!

Categories
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
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 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!

Categories
Design

Bring Your Brand to Life

Every company starts off with just an idea. Imagine an idea that can be brought to life surpassing your wildest dreams. That’s how Spectruss treats every design project. We are passionate about creating beautiful designs that proudly reveal your brand to the world!

Our in-house creative director, Justin Aragon, has a Bachelors degree in Architecture from the University of Tennessee. His background in architecture has helped shape his career as a designer. Our creative director says, “My architectural training and knowledge of the classics have helped me identify and incorporate the qualities of timeless design to every project.”

Our design team keeps your brand cutting edge, memorable, and consistent across all mediums. From classic, to modern, graphic heavy, to a more minimalistic approach, the Spectruss design team works in every style to ensure a brand aligns with your company. Whether you’re needing a logo, graphic work, branding voice, web design, or all the above, the creative minds at Spectruss can’t wait to take your idea and turn it into a beautiful, timeless brand.

Here’s just a few of the designs we’ve created. Love what you see? Let’s talk!