Archives for February 2020

Talking Lead Gen With Our Lead, Jennifer Smiga

When we want to talk about lead generation (we’re a bunch of marketing nerds who love talking about this stuff), we go to ultraviolet founder and creative director Jennifer Smiga. Jen isn’t just our esteemed leader, she’s a marketing mastermind and was asked to share her expertise at next week’s Design Influencers Conference. The whole ultraviolet team will be there: we’re sponsoring the Genius Bar where we’ll host appointments with brand reps seeking to improve their online presence and serve up sparkling rosé at our Mingle & Matchmaking event.

Today, we picked her brain about lead generation, real-life parallels, and why everyone needs a marketing blueprint.

Meet our lead, Jen

UV: What do you want people to know about lead generation, from a high level, that you think they might be missing?

JS: Lead generation is a completely different beast from just pushing out content.

UV: How so?

JS: With lead generation, you’re required to lay out the steps. Every campaign has to have a process, and when you’re focused on the lead gen, that process has a start, a middle and an end. The end is when you have developed a sustained relationship with a client or customer.

UV: And that relationship is the goal of the whole thing, right?

JS: Correct. You start with a campaign, and then you begin telling the story around it, to attract the right people. Then, whatever inbound marketing platform you are using, it integrates all the information you are getting from this storytelling and the response you’re getting to it, and you can see the journey, you can see it all.

UV: And other than feeling like an all-seeing superhero, what can we do with that information?

JS: Well, that ability to see all of that information is incredibly valuable, especially before an event like the Design Influencers Conference. DIC is dominating the digital design space in the lead-up to the event. People are writing about it, reading about it, sharing it on social—and this is all before it starts. We’ve been laying the groundwork ourselves, tweeting, and posting on Insta and Facebook, and writing and sharing blogs, we even partnered with DIC on a blog for their site. It’s all for relationship building. We’re hosting a Mingle & Matchmaking event there, with rosé (naturally) to help people develop these kinds of relationships in person.

Photo by Design Influencers Conference

UV: As much as I want to pretend we’re just hosting a rosé-fueled rager, I know we’re really doing this to get people together. What is the purpose of making these connections?

JS: It’s about, on the surface, meeting great people and introducing them to your brand, whether it’s corporate or personal. But really it’s about getting a step closer to your goals. I’ve been big into the concept of a blueprint lately. Being in the design space, it’s a familiar concept whether you have any marketing experience or not. It all comes back to that core idea of having a process and following it.

UV: When you’re creating a blueprint for a client, what do you do?

JS: Well, I ask them about a thousand questions first, like: What’s your product focus and how is that tied to your marketing for the year? Where’s your calendar? Is your custom content related to events, products campaigns? Are you participating in any social experiences or webinars? When was the last time you did a site audit? And after we have all of these answers, and I understand what their goals are, I create the path for them to get there. And in a lot of instances, this is where ideas like influencer partnerships come into play. They can really be the asset that pushes a campaign from being a goal into being a success.

UV: Yeah, we love our influencers!

JS: Yes we do! And for a lot of reasons. We’ve talked about it before and I’m sure we’ll talk about it again. Finding the right partner—whether you are an influencer or you are a brand—is the key to building a successful, mutually-beneficial partnership. And one of the things I take pride in is our ability to find the right person—whether it’s a designer, a macro-influencer, whoever—for a brand. Which is why I’m so excited to host the Mingle & Matchmaking sessions at DIC. Speaking of, you know I could talk about this all day, but those bottles of rosé aren’t going to buy themselves.

Meet Jen and the rest of the ultraviolet team at the Design Influencers Conference, Mingle & Matchmaking sessions, Sunday 3:00-3:30 pm and Monday 3:15-3:35 pm. And if you miss it, text DIC2020 to 66866 to download Jennifer’s brand track presentation on influencer marketing.

Think you’ve found the perfect influencer to showcase your products? Let’s help you kickstart the relationship on a positive, professional note.

When Words and Pics Alone Don’t Cut It: Our ❤️ For Video Marketing

Every brand needs a video marketing strategy. It’s 2020: Video isn’t just one piece of your overall marketing plan, it should be a central part of every outreach and every campaign. Video has become increasingly important on every platform and channel, but it’s especially dominating social media. According to a recent HubSpot report, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are among the top platforms where consumers are watching videos.

We love video—the impact it has, the way it can tell a story. Which is why we knew when we wanted to tell the world about our home base, Bell Works, words alone weren’t going to cut it.

Designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen, Bell Labs was once THE place to work—the Google of its day. But for years the biggest corporate building in central NJ sat empty. By the time of its acquisition in 2013 the public had just about forgotten it existed.

As the building transitioned from the abandoned Bell Labs into the thriving Bell Works, our challenge was this: find a compelling way to show the exciting transformation that was happening behind all the mirrored glass. Together with Silver Style Pictures, another Bell Works tenant, we conceived, crafted and promoted a series of thirty second films for web and social all built around the question: What do you do #AtWork?

Michael Altino of Silver Style Pictures in front of the iconic Bell Works building and water tower.

“We came up with three examples and filmed them to help pitch the idea,” said Michael Altino, director/writer/producer at Silver Style Pictures. “And we went in and showed the three videos, because we didn’t think they would fully understand it otherwise.”

That’s right, video is so powerful that having video examples helped us get the go-ahead to do this campaign.

“If we didn’t have the videos, they would have never gone for it,” said Altino. “We don’t normally make videos to go pitch an idea that could just get shut down, but since we were here, it made sense. And it was worth it because they ended up really liking it.”

All told, we made 25 videos— one a week! — and the #AtWork campaign grew the Bell Works’ social accounts by 42 percent in six months. We quickly surpassed 500,000 unique views, which is impressive but not a surprise since videos are consumers’ favorite type of content to see from a brand on social media. Research shows that quality matters: people want entertaining, funny, and informative content. Which is why it was important for the #AtWork campaign to feature the right mix of people. Just like with any other part of your strategy, authenticity is key.

“We started by reaching out to other tenants and people we knew, and seeing what they were doing,” said Altino. “We didn’t want them to have to do fake stuff, so it was all like ‘Let’s ask Domenic and Paul, who play ping pong during meetings’, and that’s how that one came up. We saw them play and just sent them an email.”

These shoots were fast and fun—and with one going live every week, that helped get everyone involved. Plus, we tried to be mindful of everyone’s time, which Altino has an important counterpoint to:

“I always like to remind people who are anxious to get back to their desks, this is work, too. You are working. Don’t feel bad that you’re missing a couple of emails. The company needs this and you’re helping.”

And these videos definitely helped Bell Works. Thanks to the impact of this campaign, Bell Works’ social influence continues to rise, attracting tenants with over 80 percent of the 2 million square foot building leased.

Photo by Silver Style Pictures

The success of the #AtWork campaign shows why we’re so smitten with video—as storytellers we understand that there are times when a video is the perfect fit for the message. Would words and photos have been able to capture the beauty and scale of the building? Maybe. And the same goes for telling the stories of the people who help make Bell Works such an amazing place. But we knew showing, not telling, would make the most impact.

“Usually the days before the shoot is all the technical stuff that no one sees, lights, equipment, scheduling, set up,” said Altino. “But when you get down to it, for the #AtWork series, we kept things small on purpose. I’m big into show don’t tell, and we just showed the people here, enjoying the space.”

#AtWork is just one example of why you don’t need an all-star cast and crew to make an impactful marketing video today. Dollar Shave Club started with a viral video and is now a billion-dollar brand. You don’t need to be a billion dollar corporation with a massive budget and endless resources to make great branded videos. You just need an idea and a camera.

“Sometimes people don’t see how they can use video, how to tell the right story,” said Altino. “For some people, imagining it is tough. But I could sit in a room with any sort of business and say ‘Here are some ideas for you on how to use photos or video.’”

In 2019, users spent a weekly average of six hours and 48 minutes watching videos online, and that number is just going to continue to climb.

Let us help you connect with and build your audience through video.

Marketing Stats Got Us Fired Up. Jumping Into 2020 Like…

The world of content marketing, much like your average pop star, is always evolving. It’s critical for your business that you stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the industry. It can be an exhausting task if you don’t know where to look. One of our favorite ways to stay on top of marketing trends is to keep an eye on yearly statistics.

We’ve rounded up some of the most surprising content marketing statistics from around the web to help make 2020 your most focused and successful year yet. Using these statistics to guide and inform your content decisions for the year, you can leverage data to bring results in terms of the attention, awareness and leads you have set as your goals.

Let’s start with the obvious statement of 2020: Mobile isn’t the new kid anymore. It’s the most common way people access the web. But that doesn’t mean there still aren’t some surprising numbers:

There might be a lot of talk about social media, but that doesn’t mean that email is becoming any less valuable: it can do much more than just getting messages into inboxes. When it comes to customers’ acquisition & retention especially if you’re looking for direct impact and reach, there’s no competition with email marketing. Email marketing has stood the test of time—it remains as one of the most effective ways to generate new leads and get users back to your site time and again.

Speaking of email, the success of any email campaign depends on the open rate. But the fact is that while when you send your email is important, the what and the why are just as integral to your success. Finding the perfect day for your email doesn’t mean much if the email isn’t an intriguing value add to your subscribers lives. And while Tuesday’s have the highest open rates, they have the highest unsubscribe rates, too.

These stats show something we’ve always known and focused on—people really are looking for content. There’s a lot of data out there showing why blog posts are an important part of any marketing strategy. Frequent posts can help bring clicks to your website, thanks to organic search and SEO. A wide range of content, and making sure to focus on building your voice, will help build your brand’s online voice. And as is the case with all of our digital content, authenticity is key: consistently sharing fresh, engaging and quality content is just as important as the content quantity.

This stat shows that the app is clearly the leader when it comes to mobile social media use. No other social media network comes close to the mobile referral traffic that Pinterest has. Pinterest reported having 322 million monthly active users worldwide at the end of last year and 71% of global Pinterest users are female. In the United States alone, Pinterest reaches 83% of women ages 25-54, the same group who make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households.

Audience relationship is one of the most important factors to consider when running an influencer campaign, which is one of the many reasons we frequently pair our brands with micro-influencers. Micro-influencers are passionate content creators: 77% publish content daily, with nearly half (48%) publishing at least twice a day. Nearly 90% of all marketers find ROI from influencer marketing comparable to or better than other marketing channels. And a recent survey found that 42% of daily U.S. Instagram users bought something because a blogger or influencer they trusted recommended it.

Audiences are hungry for locally inspired content from a business they recognize: For one of our clients we generated local brand awareness through a campaign of co-branded assets, supported by local social ads. This campaign was a powerful lead generator for the companies, and outperformed all of their other content for the year.

Out of all the 2020 marketing stats out there, this one surprised us the most: only 30% of marketers say their content strategy is effective. We can’t imagine not being part of that 30%.