A UNIFIED DIGITAL FRONT THAT DELIVERS RESULTS
With more channels to capitalize on than ever before, advertising in one or two areas just won’t cut it anymore. If you want real-life results in the modern digital landscape, your advertising tactics need to align and adapt across the board.
At Stream Companies, our digital advertising experts use forward-thinking tools and technology to customize digital services for your business. When SEO, inbound marketing, social media, paid search, conversion rate optimization, reputation management, and email marketing all join the conversation, you get more conversions, more sales, and more staying power.
SEO
YOU CAN RANK ON PAGE ONE WITH SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
When people search for your product or service—or ask questions that reveal a need you can fill—does your business show up on the first page of results? SEO can move your answer from sometimes or maybe to a confident yes!
Before people read your content, search engines do. They act as the gatekeeper to your digital showroom. They won’t reveal your website at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) unless they sense you’re an authority on the searched topic.
Reaching the top of the SERP doesn’t happen by luck. It takes conscious effort! A fully realized SEO strategy should be the bedrock you build your integrated digital marketing operation on. Stream can put that strategy in place.
Did you know that roughly 90 percent of Google searchers click a link on page 1 of the SERPs?
Move to page 2, and that number drops to under 5 percent. Your site really needs to rank on those two pages to be seen at all.
Our carefully crafted content is designed to reach the right customers at the right time. These are the people who will interact with your business and convert.
We have the insights you need to build your organic presence! You’ll know where traffic is coming from, how leads were acquired, and what keywords were used to drive visitors to your website. Traffic means nothing if it doesn’t convert. Our SEO experts understand that.
SEO Trends to Capitalize On
1. Optimize Content for Voice Search
Voice search technology has made impressive strides in recent years.
As the technology is adopted by more and more users, your strategy will need to account for what is known as “voice search SEO.” Stream’s SEO team will do this by incorporating longer phrases with natural-sounding words that people use in everyday conversation.
For instance, though someone might type the words, “integrated digital advertising,” into a search engine, they are more likely to voice search a phrase like, “Why do I need integrated digital advertising?”
2. Mobile-Friendly Content Will Rank Higher
Since 2019, Google has used mobile-first indexing to rank content. In other words, they use the mobile version of the content, rather than the desktop version, when they index and rank content. Your site must be optimized for mobile devices.
Another stat for you: By 2025, nearly 73 percent of internet users will access the internet solely by mobile device. That’s the majority of the pie—just about three-quarters, in fact—and you can’t afford not to cater your site experience to them.
3. Long-Form Content Will Rank Higher
The average article is somewhere between 900 and 1,200 words—but that simply won’t cut it if you want to see your pages skyrocket to the top of the SERPs. Long reads of 3,000-plus words get more traffic, more shares, and more backlinks.
Obviously, length alone won’t cut it. You need high-quality, 100-percent unique content. That’s where Stream’s skillset comes into play in a big way! We know how to provide value for your readers to keep them engaged.
In your quest to create long-form content, Stream will:
- Link relevant and authoritative sources (including other pages on your website!).
- Use intuitive structure to keep content scannable. Break up your content into subsections with H2, H3, and maybe even H4 headings if needed, and use bullets, charts, and bolding to create the best reading experience for users.
Make your content easy to share. Including sharing links at the headline and conclusion should do the trick.
INBOUND MARKETING
Customers are looking for your company. They may not know it yet, but every time they search for “signs you need transmission repair” or “urgent care near me,” it’s a chance for your business or service to step in with what they need.
And what do they need? First, knowledge, and then, if they like what they see, your services. Yes, inbound marketing is above all an opportunity to educate your audience and provide clarity on the subject of the day.
Let them learn from you and your content—blog posts, infographics, videos, and more. Your audience will see that you’re an authority in your industry, all thanks to the free information you provide.
Our inbound marketing experts create content that makes an impact, attracting, informing, and converting leads. Whether you target customers in the consideration stage or when they’re ready to buy, we’ll make content to empower their decision.
SOCIAL MEDIA
What does your company stand for? What’s the story behind its thriving culture? Social media is the window into your business. Your website tells your customers what your products do; social media shows them who you are as people.
We go beyond creating a social media strategy. We track and measure progress to ensure all your goals are being met.
This is so much more than a community-building tool. It’s a data-driven platform, and we know how to work it. You’re not just targeting a demographic, you’re targeting a person—their likes, dislikes, and hobbies. You need an agency that has the resources to do that.
Social Media Trends to Capitalize On RIGHT NOW
1. Social Commerce Will Continue to Grow
We’ll say it again because it’s that important: social media is so much more than a community-building tool. In fact, it’s becoming a mainstream retail channel on par with other mediums like websites and brick-and-mortar stores.
Social media isn’t just another opportunity for fun branding—although it is that! As more and more social media networks introduce pro-selling features, such as Instagram shoppable posts, you have a golden opportunity to sell.
Sure, social channels are a fine tool for boosting brand awareness and acquiring new leads. But as social commerce expands, you have a real chance to do more.
2. Video Content Will Reign Supreme
Sure, you want an agency partner with plenty of word-savvy copywriters. But not every word should be something your readers see on the page. You should be aiming some of your wordsmithing firepower at scripts for video content, too.
From short-form videos like those on Stories to long-form videos like those on YouTube, you need to harness the power of the moving picture! It’s the only way to stay in business and on the people’s social media wavelength.
3. Traditional Social Channels Will Drive the Conversation
This one should give you a little breathing room! Don’t feel the need to go out there and master every social platform that gets its five minutes of fame. Know that Stream will keep an eye on emerging trends and major shifts for you.
For the foreseeable future, though, the same platforms that have dominated will continue to drive the conversation. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter—in that order—are seen by firms as the most effective for reaching their goals.
PAID SEARCH
You want digital traffic, and fast. You want it yesterday. Organic presence takes time to build, but paid search (also known as pay-per-click or PPC) is here to bridge the gap! Use it to boost your site straight to the top of the search engine results.
Every time one of your PPC ads is clicked, a prospect lands on your website. Your business pays the search engine a small fee per each click. To optimize ad spend, you need relevant PPC keywords and a strategy to convert more PPC traffic.
Every dollar matters for your business. Every dollar matters for our PPC specialists, too. That’s why we’re hands-on with all campaigns and accounts. We maintain a low account-to-strategist ratio to ensure yours gets the attention it deserves.
Generate more traffic and leads per dollar invested and improve business reach and exposure with a smart PPC strategy. At the end of the day, it means more phone calls and leads for your website!
PPC Trends to Capitalize On RIGHT NOW
1. More Attention Will Be on Messaging
With strict character limits and little space to work with, you may not think of PPC ads as real advertisements—not in the traditional sense. But you need an agency partner that does because the art of messaging is important here. Perhaps more important than anywhere else.
In a world and online space more cluttered than ever with messaging, writing better ads becomes more and more important, especially for PPC. You never want to reach the right person, at the right time, in the right place, with the exact wrong message!
That means grounding every message in customer data, which we carefully gather with the help of always-on artificial intelligence (AI). But at Stream, we realize you have to go further than that if you want your ads to have an impact.
Yes, we’ve brushed up on our Hemingway, and we know how to drive connection and engagement in just a few powerful words! From emotional triggers to unique, keyword-rich display URLs, we pull out all the stops to see you succeed.
2. Site Links Will Be Planned at the Campaign Level
If you want higher click-through rates (CTRs), you need better sitelinks. If there’s one theme to this article, it’s that better means more personalized to each user.
Account-level sitelinks may be faster, but faster doesn’t always mean better. At Stream, we’ll help you take the extra time to create sitelinks on the campaign or ad group level so you can customize links.
Make your PPC links directly reflect the topic your audience is searching for. In a modern world of hyper-personalization, it just isn’t enough to link to your site’s “About Us” or “Contact Us” or “Inventory” page and call it a day.
You haven’t yet given the user a reason to take that call to action! First, you must delight them with content that addresses the need they are looking to fill.
Stream’s PPC specialists can strategically link your ads and drive users to more interesting and relevant content, such as:
- Blog posts
- Case studies
- Research and Product Reviews
- Videos
- Testimonials
3. A Diverse Media Mix Is Vital
Traditionally, PPC advertisers have put their ad spend into Google Ads Search and Display—paid search tools on the most popular search engine around! Obviously, Google isn’t going anywhere, but other platforms are rising.
Why? In part because Google has been moving away from actionable data toward machine learning. This will likely lead many advertisers to consider platforms such as Microsoft Ads that allow them more control over spending, reach, and messaging.
To continue doing the best possible work for their clients, many PPC providers will increasingly turn to these platforms and become better versed in the field. The more diverse the media you use, the more agile you can be. That could be said for all of integrated digital marketing, in fact.
At Stream, we stay ahead of the curve to leverage the platforms that drive more overall business for you!
Is there room for improvement in your PPC strategy? Discover costly PPC mistakes you may be making with our eBook on the 7 Most Common & Costly Advertising Mistakes.
CRO
CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION
You’re proud of your website, and you should be! But you know as well as we do the value of continual improvement and continual conversion rate optimization (CRO). And why wouldn’t you want to convert more of your traffic?
Our savvy digital specialists know the game. We’ll fine-tune your site’s conversion funnel to make your visitors into customers—and we’ll keep the cost of conversions as low as possible. Only a team of true experts can pull off a balancing act like that!
How do we do it? By studying Google Analytics information, heat maps, and other data to determine where improvements can be made using A/B testing. We never stop asking ourselves, “What if?” and we test every improvement we implement.
In short, you can increase your profits without boosting ad spend. All you need to do is convert more of the traffic your website already gets. See how easy that can be with Stream’s CRO specialists on your side!
You can increase profits without increasing ad spending just by converting more of the traffic you’re already getting.
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
What you say about your business is an opinion. What others say is a fact. When reviews are bad, the reputation is bad–and when your reputation is bad, your business is out of the conversation.
We track and optimize up to five review sites, including those specific to your business. We respond to reviews in real time, all while verifying that they are genuine, to establish long-term relationships.
One negative review isn’t the end of the world. It’s all about how you respond to it. Your future customers are reading, and they want to see what you do when unsatisfied callers come knocking. This isn’t just a response to one person. It’s a window into your character for all to see, and we treat it as such!
EMAIL MARKETING
Email marketing isn’t just about nurturing leads but about maintaining relationships with current customers. It’s an affordable and creative way to stream your message into inboxes and hearts and minds everywhere.
Our email marketers and strategists stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques. For instance, businesses like yours should always be in the know about the latest spam laws on the books.
Without proper coding from a knowledgeable marketing team, your emails simply won’t land. We’ll use our expertise to keep them in front of people’s eyes and out of the spam folder!
Email Marketing Trends to Capitalize On RIGHT NOW
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Will Become More Prevalent
When it comes to email marketing, AI performs some tasks better than people. Obviously, when it comes to copy and creative, you want that human touch. But collecting and processing data? That’s a job best left to AI.
So, for list segmentation, content analysis, and effective outreach, email marketing is on the move to a more automated world. As the scope of AI increases, its importance in all aspects of marketing will be something to watch.
2. Hyper-Personalized, Human-Centric Emails
You can use an email marketing campaign to achieve all sorts of aims. Whether your purpose is raising brand awareness or re-engaging stalled leads, you need complete personalization in your email marketing.
What do we mean by that? If you’re not targeting prospects with personalized messaging, you run a high risk of sending out mistargeted emails.
Not only will these emails end up in the trash folder, more importantly, they may cause your audience to unsubscribe from emails, visit your website less often, and become less willing to buy products or services. With so much “spam” in the modern age, shoppers are extra wary.
With the assistance of AI, Stream will see to it that this doesn’t happen to you. We collect data about your customers and use it to accommodate their needs better through hyper-personalized emails with human-centric lifecycles. In other words, we banish the spam and open up individual conversations.
You and your future customers deserve so much more than blanket sales pitches and overly promotional copy. At Stream, we harness data to meet each prospect where they are in their unique buyer’s journey.
3. Email Design Will Steal the Show
Messaging is more than just copy. If you want your email marketing strategy to succeed, pair your stellar words with the latest trends in email design!
Now, not every trend will make sense for your business and your audience. You should always consider the big picture of your email campaign’s purpose before diving into the details of style. Still, we think these trends have staying power:
- Bold Typography. Ah, neatly placed text in bold—perfect for skimming when you have a short attention span… which most of us do!
- Design your email with a fading effect and watch the image gradually give way to text.
- Emotional Design. Use colors and imagery to evoke the right emotion: orange for freshness, perhaps, or blue for serenity and peace.
- 3D and Textured 2D Images. Stock photos and vectors work wonders, but why not try new visuals and give more depth to your emails?
At Stream, we have a creative expert to match every data geek. The right hand always knows what the left hand is doing!
Turn Your Digital Footprint into Real Foot Traffic with an Integrated Agency
Stream Companies is proud to be an end-to-end business solutions partner to clients across the country. Our fully integrated, tech-enabled solutions are designed to boost your digital conversions and reduce your ad spending all at once.
Want to see those web visitors transform into web buyers–and better yet, in-store visitors? Our integrated solutions can do the trick! Request a demo and discover what our digital marketing magic can do for your website.
See how our savvy specialists can Stream-line your integrated digital advertising operations! Pick up our free eBook on 3 Ways an Integrated Agency Can Save You Money today.