The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

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Marketing Should Be for Humans. Not Algorithms.

One of the biggest mistakes we see in marketing today is changing a strategy solely to appease algorithms on social media.

While social media is a key component in any successful marketing strategy, the best strategies focus on the WHY behind social’s power and prominence.

What is that? It’s the humans behind the algorithms.

Real people, not algorithms, are what purchase your products and solicit your services. Those real people happen to be on social media – and that’s a great reason to leverage it into your existing marketing strategy.

Be Warned: Social Media Is Subject to Change

Here’s the thing, social media algorithms are dictated by one thing: how they can drive more revenue. The best way for them to do that is to sell more ads (purchased by businesses seeking to connect with their target audience).

As their ad revenue dips, the algorithms change. Suddenly, your reach is lessened, your engagement dwindles and sooner or later, you are forced to decide if you want to pay a monthly subscription fee (read: ads) to the social platform so your audience can see your content.

Who’s winning here?

Control Your Content, Control Your Narrative

When we play the Game of Algorithms (written by M.E. Zuckerberg), we all lose. Instead, it’s best to focus your content and marketing on your audience rather than hitting certain KPIs on social metrics.

We always tell our clients to focus their content on the two things they can completely control online: their website and email list. Everything after that is simply leveraging tools where you can share your content with your audience where they are at the beginning, middle or end of their day.

The best marketing campaigns stay devoted wholly to their audience day-in and day-out – they don’t bother with the whims of a platform – good marketing campaigns tell the company’s story of how they provide value to their customers. Want to see what that should look like for your company? Drop us a line.  

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Stop Relying So Heavily on Data for Marketing

Data sets are great – they make you feel invincible, right? You have all this knowledge at your fingertips – and knowledge is power, after all. Pretty sure Machiavelli said something of the sort…or Russel Crowe.

For those of you who are data-fanatics, what we’re about to say may not jive with you at first. That’s okay. Just do us a favor and let it simmer for just a bit. Alright, you ready?

Here it goes: Data is not the end-all-be-all driver to a successful marketing campaign.  

No, of course we’re not saying that data isn’t useful, or that you should forego it altogether. We’re not masochists. But, we are telling you that focusing KPIs alone does not generate a robust marketing campaign.

So Much Data, So Little Impact

The ability to access data and analytics is at an all-time high. With fresh CRMs dropping daily and cool new apps to track all sorts of KPIs coming out faster than you can read this article, it’s almost impossible to avoid the data hype. Unfortunately, this can all too often create an addiction-like response to tracking these numbers. Tailoring your marketing plan and your content to only what the data sets tell you means that you’re reacting rather than acting. The result is a content strategy based on the past, not on what your audience is likely to do in the future. It also fails to tell you the most important information – why someone chose to interact with your content.

Thinking about the reasons your customers engage with you can help you better understand their motivations. Focusing on your customers’ motivations is the best way to decide what information you should be sharing, when, and how frequently. The goal is to share insightful, informative and engaging content that engages your customers on their level – based on their wants and needs, rather than your metrics.

Creative Leap of Faith

Ultimately, marketing should be driven by the value you provide your consumers or clients. Leveraging creativity to deliver distinctive and in-demand content does require taking some risks. Tap into pop culture, sentiments, and trends to create something unique that represents your brand. And guess what? Studies have shown that companies that focus on creativity first generate roughly ten percent higher revenue. So, even the data supports focusing on the creative!

We’re not saying you should ignore the data. What we’re aiming for is balance. Sometimes, that means working with a marketing firm that enjoys a good data set but also wants to really get into the work of the behavior and mindsets both of your business as well as your consumers. It’s understanding your audience that leads to the most creative, engaging, and results-driven marketing strategies.  

Too much reliance on data can detract from your brand identity and your overall mission. We’ve seen too many businesses get bogged down in the data and lose sight their original goals as a result. You don’t want that – we don’t want that for you!

We can help you curate content that builds on your brand and bolsters your engagement metrics too. We’ll still get you the data you crave, but you’ll know more about the best ways to use it!

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Ghost of Marketing Trends Past: Why Trends Come and Go

The first time you see a new idea, it catches your eye. If it’s unique and the timing is just right, it might become the newest trend. The trick in trends is to hit the sweet spot but move on to something new before it becomes tiresome.

For a while the different versions of a new trend are still new enough to get positive attention while having become familiar enough to be comforting. The longer a marketing trend hangs around the more likely it is to become trite. In a spooky context – if you were the first one in your neighborhood to get the giant, 12 ft skeleton your decorations were the coolest!

If you miss a trend the first time you might be able to swing back around to it after some time has passed to cash in on the nostalgia factor. People are drawn to things that are both new and familiar simultaneously. The way you might find yourself humming along to a song you’ve never heard because a bit of an older, popular song is part of the new one.

Is Trend Marketing for You?

Not every marketing trend will work for you, even if you do get the timing right. For example, unless you’re already experienced at creating and editing video content there’s no reason to create a TikTok account for your business.

Think of it like peer pressure in high school. The most important aspect of any marketing strategy is to stay true to your brand. If you find a trend that does fit into your brand identity jump on that! On the other hand, no matter how edgy and cool a trend seems if it strays from your branding, it’s definitely not worth straying from your plan. Don’t let the lure of being in the In Crowd tempt you away from your own, unique style. No amount of 80’s couture will ever be as cool as Molly Ringwald in a homemade dress. Stick with your own curated style first, and only use trend marketing as an accessory.

If you need a style guru, reach out to us. We love to help our clients figure out their own, personal style.

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5 of the Scariest Marketing Mistakes We’ve Seen

It’s spooky season, and we’re leaning in to the theme! We’ve compiled a list of some of the scariest, and most harmful, marketing mistakes we see too often.

5 Scary Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

1: Ignoring data and analytics. It can seem overwhelming, but it’s important information you absolutely shouldn’t ignore. It tells you which efforts are working best, and which ones are just not getting you any traction.

2: Ignoring your competitors. We’re not saying you should go head-to-head with anyone. But looking at what your competition is doing is a great way to find the ways to settle yourself into an underserved niche.

3: Not knowing who your ideal customer is. Marketing is never about you – it’s about your customer and their wants and needs. If you don’t have a solid grasp on who your customer actually is, you can’t know how to give them exactly what they’re looking for.

4: Forgetting to focus on customer retention. Once you have a good customer you don’t want to lose them! In the hustle of seeking out new customers it’s easy to take your current customers for granted with your marketing plan.

5: Not enough focus on maintaining your brand. This is just a remember who you are reminder. Your brand is your foundation, and you want to stay laser focused on it in everything you do. Once you focus long enough it becomes second nature.

Notice a Common Thread?

It’s a little like a horror movie really. Paying attention to your surroundings is the best way to avoid these marketing massacres. When planning out your marketing strategies it’s a good idea to have a punch list to keep you on track. Make sure that your marketing ticks all the boxes you’ve identified & you’ll be the Final Girl (or Guy.)

We can help you avoid marketing mishaps! Let Us Help! Get in touch today.

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Black Friday and Holiday Marketing: If You Haven’t Started Yet – You’re Behind.

Don’t panic, but it’s already late to be planning for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and holiday sales!

If you already have your sales, promotions, and marketing materials planned and designed – congrats! You’re doing a great job. If not… you’re officially behind! Womp, womp, womp.

Holiday seasonal content should roll out no later than beginning of November. And yes, you can absolutely start sooner, especially if you’re planning a series of sneak peek or promotional products, sales or posts.

Make Holiday Marketing Work for You

Whether you are a fan of stores busting out the holiday décor months in advance or not – the reality is, that’s where the money is. In the prelude.  As consumers, we get into the festivity and plan for it well in advance. The same rules should apply to any holiday sales you want to promote this season.  So, what should you be considering if you’re late to the game?

Teasers, or Sneak Peeks, are a great way to generate interest from consumers. If you plan on offering a Black Friday sale or Holiday Product, start teasing those out ASAP. If you make them enticing enough, your audience’s curiosity should be enough to keep them coming back for more and setting their alarms to take advantage of your holiday rates!

FOMO will get as much attention as a large discount – plan to offer something they can only get at this one time of year. Something limited edition, a specially priced bundle, a gift with purchase… all these things attract attention from your customers. Black Friday is still about saving money, but it’s also become almost its own holiday. Families plan shopping as part of their Thanksgiving get togethers. Getting to the limited items first is high on their shopping plan!

Plan to post more often than usual to be sure that you get in front of as many customers as possible. Finding the right volume of posts for your audience is always a little tricky. However, holiday marketing is really more like marketing an event than your regularly scheduled posting. Twice as many posts as usual at the beginning of November is a good start. Ramp up to daily posts about a week before Thanksgiving to make sure your efforts aren’t lost in crowd.

May the holiday odds be ever in your favor! Oh, and of course give us a call if you’re panicking now and need a little help.

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Why an Annual Content Calendar Will Save Your Marketing Strategy

Seeing your content marketing strategy all in one place gives you a panoramic picture of what information you will share with your audience for the year. Planning ahead is the best way to avoid unnecessary repetition while also enabling you to capitalize on key promotions that you don’t want to forget about due to last-minute-marketing.

To be most effective with your content calendar, you’ll need to decide how often you want to post content, and how that content will make it to your target audience. A good mix of scheduled emails, blogs on your own site, and social media is the best way to reach your customers where they are.  

Getting Started is the Hardest Part

We get it – looking at a blank calendar can be intimidating. Take it from the content pros, putting your content strategy to the backburner will do far more harm than good.

Finding one event to mention or promote within your content for each month is an easy way to start building your content calendar. Holidays, local events, National Day of (Fill In the Blank) – it seems like every day is a national day of something – are great topics to get you started.

Next up? Think about some of the most commonly asked questions you get from either prospective or current clients. Write down twelve that you are really tired of answering. Boom. That’s another post per month.  And here we are chipping away at creating a boat load of quality content.

As you’re planning out topics don’t forget to take notes. Never assume that you’ll remember why you wanted to include specific content, or what you wanted to say about it. Make yourself as many notes as you can. Even if it’s just raw ideas, having notes to jog your mind down the road will make creating your content and sticking to your posting schedule go much smoother.

If the idea of drafting a content calendar is a bit too much, or downright stress-inducing, then drop us a line. We do this every single day. Literally. For all sorts of great businesses, just like yours.

At The Found Gen, we cater to businesses who want to maintain their online presence but need all their time to run their business. We work closely with our clients to craft the right combination of online content, email content, and social media activity for them. Part of that is creating a content calendar just for you – with all original content.