Online Marketing Changes That Will Matter in 2019

It’s hard to believe the year is already coming to an end. Hopefully 2018 was a successful year for you and your business or organization. It has been a big year as far as marketing and advertising trends go, so that means our business strategies have to adjust alongside them.

With the constant increase in internet use, social networks especially adapt their platforms to conform to consumer demands. Research shows that in 2019, people’s time using of the internet per day will catch up with the hours spent watching television-that’s close to 2.6 hours a day! With this in mind, businesses must acknowledge that consumers are surfing the web for almost three hours a day… making your online marketing and advertising strategies there even more important.

Let’s look back at the major marketing changes and trends of 2018, as we plan for 2019.

Social Media Algorithms

Change was on the wind in 2018. Facebook Founder/ CEO and now Instagram owner, Mark Zuckerberg, said, “you’ll see less…from businesses, brands, and media..[posts] should encourage meaningful interactions between people.” As a result, content posted by individuals in close circles and families is now prioritized, making it more difficult for ads and promotions from businesses to show up on feeds. So what does this mean for your business? Perhaps, Facebook and Instagram won’t be as reliable as they have been in previous years for encouraging visibility and driving traffic to your business or website. You may want to try branching out into an alternative marketing strategy on social media, such as using paid ads or micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are non-celebrity individuals who nonetheless have a strong, established following on social media, and can therefore promote your business or product to thousands of people through their social media channels.

Content That is Voice-Search-Friendly

Voice searches aren’t just a feature on our phones anymore – devices like Amazon’s Alexa are carving out a significant niche in our homes. So as consumers increasingly perform searches on devices like this, businesses’ content must also accommodate for such searches. Incorporating natural conversation language, framing content around questions, and using longer phrases (or even full sentences) for keywords now has to be common practice for writing online search marketing content. As of now, 2 out of 5 adults perform a voice search at least once a day. Analysts say that in 2020 it’s possible that 50% of all searches will be made through voice prompts. Will customers be able to find and purchase your products or services this way? Make 2019 the year to implement changes to your plan if necessary.

The Views Are in The Videos

The dominating trend for posting on social media platforms has become videos. It also helps that Facebook and Instagram algorithms favor videos, so that’s a plus! Videos evoke emotion, they show your current and potential customers that you’re credible, vulnerable, and authentic, ultimately leading to higher conversions, compared to photo and text brand awareness, yielding higher return on investment. It doesn’t hurt that smartphones nowadays capture amazing videos, so you get to give viewers an appealing inside look at your business. And statistics don’t lie. According to research, 82% of consumers say they would rather watch live videos than read social media posts, 67% of live viewers say they are more likely to purchase a concert ticket to see a band or attend an event if they’ve seen a live stream of a similar event online, and 64% of consumers say watching a marketing video on Facebook has influenced a purchase decision in the last month. Time for your business to get that video rolling.

Make Your Plan For 2019

Being ahead of the game means not only staying current with the latest trends, but also looking ahead at the ones currently forming for the upcoming year. Want your business to stand out in 2019? Let us help you incorporate some of these new marketing strategies into your plan for the new year. Brockett Creative Group is a full-service marketing and advertising agency with that exact goal in mind – to know and grow your business with the most up-to-date strategies performed with excellence.

3 Reasons Why Your Nonprofit Needs a Google Grant

Are you a nonprofit working to generate more traffic and interest in your organization? Do you want to raise more money for your cause? Would you like to accomplish all of this, and receive up to $10,000 per MONTH in free advertising? We thought so! Here are three reasons why your nonprofit organization needs to apply for a Google Ads grant.

No Cost to You

We’ll start here: it’s free.  The Google Ad Grant program is a donation-based program designed to provide free, in-kind advertising to approved 501(c)(3) nonprofits as a way to help them reach a more global audience, translating into more awareness and therefore more donations. Basically, it allows you to promote your organization on the internet via text-ads. With over 40,000 Google searches per second (yes, per SECOND) and over 3.5 billion searches per day, Google has become the number-one tool through which to reach your donors, volunteers, and consumers. With no cost to you and up to $10,000 in free advertising per month, you can use your financial resources for what matters the most- your cause.

Raise more awareness for your cause through highly specialized ads

With a Google Grant, Google’s advertising and marketing team will work for you, by creating unique and specialized ads that market your nonprofit to the right audience, increasing your brand visibility where it matters most and resulting in high-conversion traffic to your site. Additionally, when a viewer clicks your ad, they will be sent to the strongest page of your website (the page that leads to the most action), instead of just being sent to the home page. There, they will at once be met with information about who you are, a call to action that will encourage them to donate, join your mailing list, become a member, etc, thus translating into more support for your cause.

Promote your nonprofit with a Google Ads Campaign

With advertising dollars you receive from a Google Grant, you will be able to bid on keywords so that your ad will display above or alongside a competitor’s ad. Bidding on Keywords will help bring your ads to the top, and if they’re not, Google Grant’s team will help you figure out why, and fix it. In this way, your nonprofit can expand its reach by utilizing certain keywords to make sure that your ads are seen by the right people. If your site also provides strong, relatable content, your viewers will want to stay, and keep coming back, which can only benefit your organization to help you succeed in achieving your goals for success.


At Brockett Creative Group, we specialize in applying for, setting up, managing, optimizing, and maintaining Google Grants on your nonprofit’s behalf. If you are interested in receiving up to $10,000 a month in free advertising, contact us today to set up your free consultation.

Types of Google Ads

Each business, organization, and non-profit organization has a different approach to successfully marketing itself and gaining customers.  Fortunately, there are different Google Ads options to help everyone achieve their goals in a way that best suits them. No matter which kind of business is yours, you are sure to find the right kinds of Ads that will generate traffic and profit by reaching the right people at the right time- specifically, those who are most likely interested in the product or service that you offer to get you a great ROI.

It all starts with a campaign, a budget, and relevant keywords- and you’re ready to advertise through Google Ads!  At BCG, we specialize in helping our clients choose and launch the campaign that produces the best results for them. Here is a great guide to help you get started.

Search Network

One of the easiest ways to reach potential customers is to show your ads to those who are already searching for your specific product or service.  A Search Network Campaign only shows your text ads when someone searches for terms that include or are relevant to your ad’s keywords.  For example, if you own a window replacement business, your ads would appear when a search is done for “home improvement.” Your ads will appear near Google search results, thereby advertising your organization to high-potential customers.

Display Network

Unlike the Search Network, the Display Network allows you to advertise more broadly, and to people who are not necessarily searching just for your specific keywords or product.  As part of a campaign designed to pull in new customers as well as re-market your product to those who may have shown previous interest, the Display Network employs engaging, appealing ad formats to catch the attention of potential customers.  Here, Google also uses automated targeting by strategically using your existing audiences and landing pages, leading to more conversions.

Shopping

A shopping ad is designed to promote local or online inventory by boosting traffic to your website or store.  Through photos, title, price, and location of the product, these ads give users a sense of what you’re selling before they even click the ad.  Shopping ads don’t use keywords- instead, they use your product data to determine where to show your ads.

Video

Any business can benefit from creating a video- whether it’s simply to promote your product or service for the first time, or to keep your audience engaged with fun updates and new content.  This type of campaign show video ads across the Google Display Network or within other platforms like YouTube.

Universal App

This ad platform is fit for those who have an application to promote across Google, Google Play, and Youtube.  Through adding a few lines of text and a bid, Google Ads will help lead to more app installs, and in-app action.  Google’s systems test which ads are performing the best and generating the most value, and will show them to audiences more often.

Here to Help

Now that the Internet has become the primary way to promote products and services, it is fundamental to have a strong online influence in the midst of the growing competitive market.


As a Google Partner, Brockett Creative Group is certified by Google to create and manage your company’s Google Ads so that you can reach your goals in the way that best fits you. Contact us today to get started on your Google Ads Campaign!

There is No Denying It, Google Ads Work!

Online advertising is the most highly recognized way to market a business or organization, and it’s essential that your business is noticed online and by the right audience. Google Ads, formerly Google Adwords, is one of the most effective paid online advertising systems used by thousands of different organizations. It’s super flexible to fit the exact needs and wants of your business. Here are just some of the ways Google Ads can amplify your business:

Exact-Audience Targeting

Creating an Ad with Google is special because it lets you target exactly who would want what you have to offer. By properly setting up and modifying your campaigns, Google makes your ads visible only to people who are likely to become your customer, opt-in to your email list, or positively respond to your call to action.

Refine Your Strategies For the Best Results

Google Ads provides you with fast, transparent results based on how your ads perform, to help you make adjustments accordingly and continually track your campaigns- making them the best they can be. It’s of great value to see details like which keywords consumers use to find your website, their location, the devices they use, and the days and times at which they search.

No Money Wasted

Once your Google Ads campaign is up and running and you’ve caught on to customer habits, you can have such a distinct audience that you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad. With the information and analytics Google uses, your ads will probably only show to the exact people you want to target, making every dollar count.


Google Ads is becoming a “must” to grow and sustain your business within the heated online competitive market. As a Google Partner, Brockett Creative Group is certified by Google to create and manage your company’s Google Ads campaign.

Media Buys: Purchasing Advertising in Traditional Media

When you’re running a business in any capacity, you want to focus on moving forward and upward, not get bogged down in minutia. Among the more dreaded of these tasks is media buying, or the purchase and placement of advertisements for television, radio, and print.

Considerations that go into a media buy include:

  • Time slot
  • Ad length (radio and television) or size (print)
  • Channel(s)
  • Publication(s)
  • Page placement (print)

There are several benefits to using an agency such as Brockett Creative Group to do your media buying. The agency advocates for your business (and your budget) and monitors and audits all aspects of the media buy on your behalf. We will get tear sheets – which help determine if the ad was 100% accurate – as well as spot check ads by tuning in or reviewing them in the publication.

At times, print ads can be printed where the image is blurred, was printed in black and white rather than color, with images cut off, or an entirely wrong ad was run. Similarly, with television and radio advertising, the ads running may be cut short or be the wrong ad. The agency then works on your behalf with the media outlet to make good on any of these errors.

An advertising agency like Brockett Creative Group can not only take on this duty for you, but we can also work on the advertisements themselves. Email or call us at 315-797-5088 to get buying those ad placements!

Better Together: Online/Offline Marketing Integration

Online and offline marketing strategies can be very effective when done right. Both methods are designed to attract the attention of potential customers and continue to hold the attention (and hopefully affection) of current customers.

There are several methods Brockett Creative Group uses to integrate these two facets of brand marketing:

 

  • We ensure that your online and offline marketing efforts have a consistent look and message, so that the consumer’s opinion of your brand is reinforced each time they see one of your marketing pieces (be it a business card or an advertisement on YouTube).
  • Quick Response (QR) Codes can also be an effective marketing tool. They can be used on business cards so that contact information can be loaded and saved directly to one’s contact list, they can be used on print ads to take the consumer to the commerce page on your website, or they can be used on a poster in a window so passersby can get information about an upcoming event.
  • Trackable links are used to show you what is driving traffic to your website. For example, you may include a coupon in a specific publication with a unique url (let’s say yourproduct.com/coupon). The consumer types that address into their browser to visit the page, and your analytics will tell you that the traffic came from your investment in the publication. Not only will your website get more hits, but you will also be able to tell which marketing vehicles provide you with the greatest return on investment, allowing you to strategically spend your marketing budget.

To begin integrating your online and offline marketing, email or call Brockett Creative Group at 315-797-5088.