How to Choose a Marketing Agency

How to Choose a Marketing Agency

by | Jul 13, 2022 | Root & Roam Blog, Uncategorized

Welcome! We’re excited that you’re here and that you’re considering taking the next steps to hire a marketing agency for your business. 

Here at Root & Roam, we understand that this can be a big step to take and often feel intimidating and overwhelming. Let’s talk through some of the basics. 

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Why Hire a Marketing Agency?

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Types of Marketing Agencies

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Find the Marketing Agency of your Dreams

Why Hire a Marketing Agency?

Marketing agencies are here to help businesses of all sizes, from teams of one up to the biggest corporations. There are many reasons to hire an agency. There may be that one task that keeps falling off your plate, a skill set that you don’t currently have on your in-house team, or you’re in need of fresh ideas. Hiring a marketing agency is the perfect way to feel confident that the work will be completed by a team of experts who are focused on helping you reach your goals. 

To choose an agency, you must first know the problem you are trying to solve as a company. 

  • Do you need to clarify your “why” or market differentiator? 
  • Do you need help telling your story? 
  • Do you need help with social media? 
  • Do you need to fix your website? 
  • Is your trouble a lack of brand awareness? 
  • Are you needing to design or refresh a logo? 
  • Are you focused on getting more sales, email addresses, or other leads? 

Types of Marketing Agencies

Once you have determined your goals, you must then decide what kind of agency you want to work with. There are many different types of marketing agencies and specialties, including: 

  • Storytelling 
  • Design 
  • Inbound Marketing 
  • Digital Advertising 
  • Social Media 
  • Growth Marketing 

The key to your search is that you should be able to find an agency that possesses all the competencies needed for your business. This is ideal because your agency will be able to align all aspects of your marketing to the same goals and campaigns.

Another option is to build a group of agencies (preferably independents) who complement each other.  You can have one group of people doing their stuff on the front-end (designing a website, for example) while another group is doing their stuff on the backend (like writing blog posts). That way everyone chips in with their specialties without competing with the others. A team of designers, a team of copywriters, and a team of inbound marketers can all achieve the same results while still working in their own spaces.

Skills Needed to Solve a Problem

The answer may be apparent in your situation, but each scenario is unique with different fits for businesses. Finding an agency that has the skills needed to solve the problem within your business and fits with your team is vital. When you find one, consider speaking with their current clients, inhouse designers and web builders, and view their website and portfolio (if they have one). Then decide if they are the right fit for your business.

If yes, it’s time to reach out!  But remember—there are plenty of agencies out there who specialize in creative design, inbound marketing, and digital advertising, so don’t be afraid to look around. It’s a common practice to meet with a few agencies and get pitches from a few places to see which agency has solutions or campaign concepts that resonate with your business. Finding the right fit for your company – financially and creatively – is key. 

Helpful Recommendation

A good partner helps navigate the changing landscape and set realistic goals and performance indicators. Consumer behavior is constantly changing for a combination of psychological, social, cultural, personal, and economic factors. There are industry and platform benchmarks that are used to help determine these for you if you don’t have any historical data. Be cautious if an agency guarantees you a certain return on investment (ROI) or promises a specific amount of impressions.

For example, if you are an ecommerce business using Shopify, make sure to consider what the industry benchmarks are for conversion rates. This may be a target to shoot for if you are below the benchmark, and then as you learn about your customer, you can fine-tune to exceed those benchmarks over time.

 Find the Marketing Agency of your Dreams

Congratulations on building your business, and here’s to finding a partner to help you grow it! So go ahead and find a marketing agency to partner up with—you really can’t go wrong with a good partnership! If you think that Root & Roam may be the agency for you, get in touch! 

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Connecting with customers through social media engagement

Connecting with customers through social media engagement

by | Apr 11, 2022 | Digital Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized

Social Media Engagement – While social media has proven to be a remarkable tool for projecting voices, it’s important not to forget one of its most powerful features: connecting with and engaging your audience. So how can you go about this?

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Reasons to use social media to connect.

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Benefits of social media engagement.

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Ways to engage through social media.

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Connect with Root & Roam.

You’ve got the content down: Facebook fans thoughtfully respond to your well–written captions, while Instagram followers excitedly comment under your high-res, eye-catching photos. The audience is there, the engagement steadily rising—what’s next? Rounding out your social media engagement strategy through connection!

Reasons to use social media to connect.

  • Build brand loyalty. When a customer encounters your product and a competitor’s product down the aisle, your product will be the one they consistently put in their basket.
  • Encourage further user engagement. This means more direct messages, comments, reviews, current audiences directing other users to your page, etc. And discover more ways to engage through social media!
  • Discover new audiences. As your current audience thrives and grows, you’ll encounter new viewers and have the chance to direct them to your page.

Benefits of social media engagement.

By adopting new ways to increase social media engagement with customers, you’re humanizing a brand, both building its trustworthiness and influencing the feeling it evokes. This is one of the greatest benefits of social media engagement, since this feeling ultimately carries some brands (rather than others) to the forefront of a customer’s mind. 

As the relationships between audiences and businesses grow, social media engagement ensues, strengthening your brand image even further and creating more opportunities for connecting with potential customers.

These conversations are vital to bolstering connections and broadening your audience; they work to personify your brand, allowing it to stand out better and become more relevant in users’ lives. As discussed earlier, with each positive one-on-one interaction, the memorability of your page grows! Plus, it allows others to feel seen and included, rather than talked at. Taking this conversational approach with your social media engagement strategy is about engaging with audiences, answering questions while asking them some of your own, and allowing them to feel heard by your business in an entirely new way.

Ways to engage through social media.

The first thing is to get acquainted with your audience. Learn about them! Who are they? What are their interests? What do they respond to? 

Then, develop content based on this information, and balance it with what resonates with you. Let social media be a way to build trust and relationships with your community. (Check out this article on Hootsuite, which covers this in-depth.)

When looking to increase social media engagement, be sure to

  • enthusiastically respond to direct messages;
  • thoughtfully answer comments;
  • post user-generated content (UGC); and
  • engage with other users’ content.

The key to these practices is to be genuine. A social media user can tell when efforts to engage are merely made with the intent of promoting pages rather than contributing to the community. Inauthentic attempts at connecting with customers can backfire! 

Instead, try to meaningfully comment on things interesting and relevant to your brand or social media page. This can help build positive associations with your page and encourage users to start conversations with you, presenting more opportunities to reap the benefits of social media engagement!

For this reason, the daunting influx of comments and direct messages occupying your notifications shouldn’t be seen as a chore, but as multiple ways to positively engage your audience through social media. 

Take time to answer questions, address concerns, or have a leisurely and enjoyable conversation! While you may hold several of these conversations throughout the day, this is likely an infrequent occurrence for your follower/customer, making it more exciting and memorable. It’s what social media is for—connecting and engaging!

Reposting UGC serves a similar purpose as holding conversations with social media users. It helps users feel included and convey a sense of community—which ultimately encourages more engagements, connections, brand loyalty, and in turn, far more chances to make a sale!

Connect with Root & Roam.

All in all, prioritizing customer/audience connections can play a significant role in propelling your social pages forward, allowing you to define your brand through one-on-one engagements positively. And, in case you need a refresher on building your brand, check out our last blog post! If you’re looking for more in-depth help finding ways to engage through social media, the experts at Root & Roam are always here to help. Call us at 325-455-3130 to learn more!

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Building your Brand

Building your Brand

by | Mar 11, 2022 | Branding, Uncategorized

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What is branding?

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Why does branding matter?

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What are the elements of branding?

When you hear the word, “brand,” what comes to mind? The name of a company? A logo? Many business owners spend very little time creating a meaningful brand and instead jump right into marketing and sales after naming their business and designing a logo. Unfortunately, most of these owners discover that they have a difficult time connecting with the actual market that could benefit the most from their products or services. Skimming through the branding process leads to inconsistencies within your brand, which makes it difficult for your target market to recognize you.

What is branding?

We’re not talking about cattle here, but we are talking about truly owning everything in your business, from the fonts you choose to the products or services you sell. ALL of it matters. Branding is essentially creating consistent, purposeful messages to connect you with your target market and to build a lasting impression within your industry. Every detail of imagery, every word you use, and everything you stand for—it all contributes to the strength of your brand.  

Why does branding matter?

Think of some of the most popular brands out there—Nike, Ford, Target, Hallmark, Amazon, just for starters. Now think of some of the unknown competition…you can’t! They’re unknown for a reason. That’s why branding matters. Companies with strong, consistent branding will build brand recognition with their target audiences. You want to be like these companies. You want to be known.

What are the elements of branding?

While much goes into branding, there are a few elements that absolutely must be incorporated into your branding strategy:

  1. Voice and tone
    Yes, this is a 2-for-1 special. All of your copy (your mission statement, company description, taglines, text on your website, or anything written by your company), both internal and external, needs to have a consistent voice. It should tell your audience who you are and who you’re not. Ask yourself, “whose voice do I hear when I think of my company as a person?” Maybe it’s Morgan Freeman or your Uncle Fred. Ideally, every bit of copy your company produces will sound as though written by the same person—and the right person. Your tone should attract the audience your brand is meant to serve. When creating your tone, determine how you want your brand to make people feel and what you want them to think of when they hear your company’s name.  
  2. Logo
    Your logo is essentially a visual symbol to represent your company. It can include images, copy, or both. It should match your voice and tone and convey the emotion of your choosing. Eventually, when a person hears the name of your company, this symbol will come to mind, so it’s important to already have a clear purpose behind your business (including voice and tone). Some logos that we like are Amazon and Tour de France. They have great symbols and messages hidden behind them! 
  3. Fonts
    While it’s fun to play around with fonts to convey specific emotions for each message, it’s more important that all of your materials, both print and digital, be consistent. Consistency helps people form connections and retrieve memories, even memories about companies they’ve encountered. Just as with a logo, the fonts you choose should add to the purpose of your business and the emotions you are trying to elicit from your target audience.
  4. Colors
    Again—consistency and emotions can’t be stressed enough. Our design experts understand how colors work together to convey specific emotions, and we’re happy to help you choose the best combinations for your company. 
  5. Styleguide
    Your brand styleguide is literally a document that outlines your company’s voice and tone, logo, fonts, colors, and anything else you choose to add. This document can be shared with your entire team and should be referenced and followed for every marketing effort. If you outsource your marketing (like maybe to Root & Roam), be sure to share your styleguide. This is how you achieve consistency and, ultimately, brand recognition. 

 

If you’re interested in making lasting connections sooner rather than later, let our experts here at Root & Roam walk you through a structured process of building your brand from the ground up. Already have a business but need help rebranding? We’ve got you covered, too. Contact us today, and let’s get your brand on. 

Event Marketing—How to plan and market an event

Event Marketing—How to plan and market an event

by | Feb 9, 2022 | Event Marketing, Uncategorized

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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What is event marketing, and how can Root and Roam help?

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Why is event marketing important?

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Event Marketing Plan

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Event Marketing Plan—The Questions You Need to Answer

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Event Marketing Strategy

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Develop Event Marketing Assets

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Marketing Ideas for Events

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Our Experience with Event Marketing

What is event marketing, and how can Root and Roam help?

“Event marketing describes the process of developing a themed exhibit, display, or presentation to promote a product, service, cause, or organization leveraging in-person engagement.”—Adobe Experience Cloud

As an event marketing agency, Root and Roam aids clients in planning out the finest details of their events. This includes putting together a marketing strategy and asset creation. We even provide photography and videography services during our clients’ events. 

Our team of event marketers is skilled in creating event marketing strategies that help our clients succeed in achieving their event goals. The process of creating the strategy requires diving into the who, what, when, where, and why of the event and building on those answers to paint the larger picture. In this article, we are going to take you through the process of event marketing planning.

Why is event marketing important?

Event marketing allows consumers to get a small inside look at your business, the values your company upholds, and the value that your product or service can provide them. Event marketing spans from trade shows to charity events and even conferences. 

At these events, you have the opportunity to form personal connections with consumers, and the personal connections you form at these events have the potential to blossom into long-term client relationships.

Event Marketing Plan

Your event marketing plan is the base starting point for marketing your event. This is where you plan out the date, time, and theme of the event, what you will offer your audience, and the overarching goal and purpose of the event.

Event Marketing Plan—The Questions You Need to Answer

Similar to any other marketing plan, the first step you need to take when planning a marketing event is to create the strategy. To create the strategy you need to determine the when, where, who, and how of your event.

  • When will the event take place?
    • What is the time and date of the event?
  • Where will the event take place?
    • What is the city, state, and/or country of the event?
    • Will the event be indoor, or outdoor?
  • Who?
    • Who is hosting the event—are you the host, or is someone else the host?
    • Who will be there—is the event open to the public or strictly private?
  • How?
    • How will you be participating in the event?
      • Are you speaking?
      • Will you have a booth?
      • Are you donating?
      • Will you be providing a demonstration?

Use this form to get started on your event marketing plan.

Event Marketing Strategy

The event marketing strategy is the second step in marketing your event. Let’s walk through the pieces of an event marketing strategy together.

Event Goals

Let’s nail down the goal of your event. We need to know what you are looking to achieve in order to create the best plan for your event. A few goal ideas for events are to raise money for charity, create brand awareness, or generate leads.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Start with your KPIs for the event. KPIs are how you measure the success of your marketing event. KPI’s should always be reasonable and attainable, based on the projected event attendance and your budget. Your event marketing KPIs can include but are not limited to

  • Obtaining a certain amount of contact information (email addresses, phone numbers, or mailing addresses)
  • Speaking to a certain number of people per day
  • Performing a certain number of demonstrations per day or per event
  • Giving a speech that hits on specific topics
  • Achieving a certain number of sales at the event
  • Reaching a certain threshold of dollars donated—this usually applies to charity events

Your team can even look into KPIs that are achieved post-event courtesy of your efforts at the event. Those include

  • Phone calls 
  • Door swings
  • Sales
  • Contracts

All of the above are achieved because the client learned about your business at the event.

Audience

The next step in the strategy is to determine who your target audience is and where to reach them. We determine who the audience is based on your niche market and the goal of the event. If the goal is to raise money, we will want to target an audience with a certain level of income. If the goal is to create brand awareness, we can target a broader audience within your niche. Staying within your niche is also important so that you don’t waste precious resources on those who are not interested in your business type, to begin with.

You can find out where your audience a few different ways, you can survey new potential and existing clients, you can also rely on quality research regarding your target audience’s media habits. The Root and Roam event marketing team is equipped to assist you in the process of determining the best avenues of advertising for your event.

Budget

Determine your budget for the event. Not only do you need to know the overall budget, but you also need to break that budget down into necessities and non-necessities.

Necessities

  • Permits
  • Building/space rental
  • Transportation (plane tickets, rental vehicles, gasoline)
  • Passes—to enter the event and parking
  • Room and board—food and hotel expenses for yourself, employees, and participants
  • Products and tools for demos
  • Advertisements
  • Wages for attending employees

Non-necessities

  • Entertainment
  • Gifts

It’s important to factor in necessities (the things you have to pay for) first, then tack on the non-necessities if there is room in your budget. This way you have a firm grasp of how much the event will cost your company or organization.

Develop Event Marketing Assets

Event marketing assets include messaging and visual elements of your marketing efforts.

Event Marketing—Messaging

The messaging should be informative and easy to skim. Messaging includes all of the need-to-know elements of the event, along with any fine details that your audience should know. The messaging should also match the event theme and meet your goals of what you want your audience to feel when they read it. Need-to-know information includes but is not limited to

  • Event name
  • Event time, date, and location
  • Entertainment—live entertainment, speeches, tradeshow vendors, food and beverages available—ALWAYS INCLUDE FREE ITEMS IF AVAILABLE

Fine details to include in your messaging are

  • Entry or ticket cost and where to purchase or pre-pay
  • Parking information if applicable
  • VIP opportunities
  • Age limits if the event is not child friendly
  • A web address where your audience can learn more about the event

Event Marketing—Visual Elements

The visual assets are the “pretty pictures” that go along with the event messaging. Visual assets include graphics, infographics, websites/landing pages, photographs, and videos. To create these pieces, you will need to hire graphic designers, website designers, website developers, photographers, and/or videographers. 

Luckily for you, Root and Roam is a full-service event marketing agency—meaning that we are fully staffed with team members that can cover all of the asset development pieces for you.

Marketing Ideas for Events

Based on Root and Roam’s experience, there are a few marketing avenues that we suggest looking into when planning marketing for your event. Our suggestions include pay-per-click advertising, a website or landing page on your website, social media posting and paid ads, radio, newspaper, and magazine ads, flyers, direct mailers, email blasts, newsletters, billboard ads, and word of mouth (tell everyone).  The marketing avenue that will work best for your event depends on your target audience, discussed in the “Audience” section of this article.

Here are a few other marketing ideas for events that we can offer, depending on your role in the event: 

  • Prepare a speech that delivers the purpose, goal, and good of the event and your company or organization’s role there;
  • Purchase booth equipment—this includes the booth fee, tables, chairs, and sectioning screen or curtains if needed;
  • Purchase fliers, banners, pamphlets, a digital slideshow, or free gifts for guests at the event;
  • Prepare sample kits—include any products that you are willing to give away. Remember that consumers are more likely to purchase what they can taste, smell, and touch;
  • Prepare a demo stage—include the equipment you need to produce a demonstration, including safety equipment;
  • Stock up on checks with your company’s name on it, and/or order a giant check for photos;
  • Post on social media—post lives, photos, and videos, and schedule updates throughout your time at the event. You can even let your fans know where to find you at the event.

Our Experience with Event Marketing

Root and Roam has specialized in event marketing in a few different forms, the largest being the production of Bacon Bash Texas, held annually in Cranfills Gap since 2011. Our team is fully involved in the planning and production of Bacon Bash Texas every year. This means that we assist with things as small as hiring judges for the bacon cook-off to the setup and takedown of booths on the day of the event. We also handle all of the pay-per-click, social media, and website marketing for the event year-round.

Outside of Bacon Bash Texas, we assist our clients in preparing for conferences and trade shows by designing and ordering banners and signs for booths. We can even let your fans know that you will be at an event in their area via social media or pay-per-click ads.

Click Here to View our Event Marketing Expertise

Needless to say, Root and Roam has the experience to assist with your event marketing needs. Click the button to kick off your event marketing plan.

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