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A like, a share, a comment, a view – how long did they view it for? Was it more than two seconds? Was it in the tab they were looking at? How long until they clicked Skip ? The era of the internet has made marketing metrics infinitely more complex and unreliable. As marketers, we know that metrics are the currency of advertising  and are essential to measuring campaign success. So, to keep your head in the game, we’re sharing this marketing metrics guide, including the different types, their history, and how to utilize them for your business. Definition Like any useful guide, we’ll start out simply with a definition. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , a metric is a standard of measurement. A marketing metric, then, is a standard of measurement in marketing – that is, the standardized way marketers measure their success. Types of Marketing Metrics There are two broad categories of marketing metrics: impression and engagement. Within these categories, the number of possible metrics has exploded depending on the type of content, where it is displayed, and what the goal of the ad is. With impression metrics, you can see that people have seen your ad, but you aren’t able to gauge their reaction to it—these metrics measure exposure . Impressions measure how many people your ad has been in front of, but not much else. They can be helpful in certain situations, such as for use as a baseline for views. Some examples of impression metrics are cost-per-mille (CPM) and cost-per-view (CPV). Engagement is the only metric that directly measures the way the user behaves towards the content . Engagement metrics allow you to see audience and consumer behaviour, and help marketers understand what is working and what is not. These metrics also allow you to see consumer journeys, acquisitions, or any number of activities. There are many examples of engagement metrics, but a few common ones are cost-per-action (CPA), click-through-rate (CTR), and cost-per-click (CPC). The History of Marketing Metrics When traditional forms of media were the dominant advertising space, impression metrics were the only possibility. Third-party services conducted surveys and audits of listeners, watchers, readers, and subscribers to track what they were viewing and how often. While this was only basic information, it was reliable. This form of measurement was standardized across platforms and companies – the data was unbiased. With the rise of the digital era, this all changed. Engagement became the dominant measurement in a world oversaturated by advertisements. In addition, the growing concern for privacy has resulted in a movement away from third-party tracking. Companies with first-party data now hold the power. However, they also hold biases. Companies want to make it look like ads have the best results, and thus, they may use a slightly different measurement system than other companies. This has resulted in a confusing, unstandardized world for the average marketer. How to Utilize Marketing Metrics So, with an overwhelming number of metrics and a concerning amount of confusion, how can your business utilize marketing metrics? We have two tips to help you navigate these issues. First, track and make use of any first-party data. Any data your business collects itself can be measured and understood without any uncertainty. While companies may have too much data or insufficient bandwidth to do this in every case, use it to your advantage where possible. Second, focus your metrics on your goals and find the metrics that create conversions. While you may not always know what constitutes a view, you can  track whether they increase or decrease. If you figure out which metrics and strategies create the best results and help you reach your company objectives, you don’t need to worry about all the rest. If metrics are completely out of your wheelhouse, an additional tip, of course, is to contact our unLOCKEd marketing team to help you reach your marketing goals! Our experts are well-versed in the world of marketing metrics and so much more! Let us take care of your marketing so you can focus on running your business. Author: Sarah Murphy

The term “marketing” encompasses a wide range of activities, goals, and strategies. If you are not an expert in the field, it can be a lot to try to understand. In this blog, we are answering some commonly asked questions about marketing to help with some of the confusion out there. Let’s get into it! What is the difference between advertising and marketing? While advertising and marketing are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not the same thing. Advertising is the paid promotion of a company, its products, or its services in order to distribute information and gain potential customers. This can include things such as paid social media posts, billboards, and sponsored content. Advertising is only a part of marketing. Marketing is all the activities a brand engages in to promote itself, its products, or its services. This can include advertisements, but also content marketing, logo creation, interior branding, building a website, organic social media content, blogging, and so much more. Why is marketing important? In today’s fast-paced, oversaturated world, marketing is essential to get your company’s name out there and obtain customers. Even if your product is better, your customer service is faster, or your company has better values, competitors will win every time if consumers don’t know you exist. What is a marketing plan? A marketing plan is a document that defines a marketing strategy for a company in order to reach their targeted audience and to track their marketing strategies over a period of time . This plan includes research, goal-setting, and positioning  oneself in the competitive landscape and consumers’ minds. Marketing plans can be broken down into goals accomplished by campaigns and objectives and specific strategies and metrics to achieve them. What is social media marketing? Social media marketing is the combination of paid and organic social media content that a brand posts to promote itself and its products/services. This content can be focused on one social media platform or across several. It can include a consistent posting schedule, social media campaigns, boosted posts, sponsored content, paid advertisements, and more. Which social media platform works best ? Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer for this one. While social media is essential to many companies’ marketing strategies, different social media platforms work best for different companies. For example, a B2B company may find more success on LinkedIn, whereas a B2C company may have better luck on Instagram. This can also change depending on what a company is selling or who its audience is. The key is to find the platforms that work best for your content while reaching your target audience and focus on those! What is a marketing campaign? A marketing campaign is a set of marketing activities designed to achieve a pre-determined goal over a set period of time. This can include organic content, paid advertising, events, or even a new product launch. These activities are usually related or centred around a theme in order to complete objectives and move a company closer to its goal. This goal may be to spread awareness about the company or a product line, answer a question or solve a pain point, gain leads or potential customers, appeal to a new audience, or so much more. Defining metrics to ensure your goal is measurably met is a crucial component of a successful marketing campaign. What is content marketing? The goal of content marketing is to provide valuable, genuinely helpful information to consumers for free, in order to create a relationship with them based on trust, which eventually leads them to make a purchase . This content might include blogs, organic social media posts, information on your website, how-to videos, or even FAQ pages. All of these content types are focused on providing what the consumer needs rather than making a sales pitch. What is SEO ? Search engine optimization, or SEO, is comprised of the actions your company can take to improve search engines’ ability to read and index your website content and, therefore, your ranking on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This can include technical SEO, keywords, structured data, backlinks, internal links, content quality, and so much more. Ultimately, SEO can make or break your website’s visibility. Do you really need a blog? While not every company needs a blog, it can provide many benefits. Blogs allow companies to integrate keywords into their content, build topical authority in their field, and provide consumers with helpful information. This can help with your website’s SEO and SERP ranking while also building relationships with potential customers and leading them toward making a purchase. What is interior branding ? Interior branding has to do with a company’s integration of its logo, aesthetic, brand colours, brand values, etc., into its location’s interior design. This can help a company’s space feel cohesive with its overall brand identity and create a positive customer experience. Plants or a moss wall could align with environmental brand values, furniture or lighting could contribute to a cozy aesthetic, or a well-placed logo or brand colour could help create consistency and recognition. We hope this blog helped answer some of your questions about marketing. If you have more questions or need assistance with your marketing, our experts are happy to help. Contact unLOCKEd  today or check out our website ! Author: Sarah Murphy

Welcome to the final installment of unLOCKEd’s Marketing Mindfulness Series! In today’s hectic digital world, mindfulness practices can provide relief from the chaos when you can’t just shut it off. Mindfulness can benefit your personal and professional life, which we discussed in more detail in July’s Marketing Mindfulness blog . If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to check it out! Over the past eight months, we have shared one mindfulness practice a month to help you gradually implement mindfulness into your daily life. To close out the series, this final blog will discuss the practice of mindful marketing.   Mindful Marketing Mindful marketing  refers to applying principles of mindfulness, like being fully present and aware, to marketing strategies. We’ve discussed these practices over the last eight months in relation to how they can impact marketers. However, by applying them to marketing strategies, your brand and customers can also achieve the benefits!   Benefits Mindfulness practices can benefit employees when introduced in the workplace, and branding when incorporated in marketing strategies and tactics. Let’s get into some of these benefits! Mindfulness in the workplace  provides benefits, such as: Boosting creativity More successful brainstorms Encouraging better teamwork Mindfulness in branding  provides benefits, such as: Enhanced customer engagement Improved brand perception Increased marketing effectiveness Sustainable business growth Competitive advantage For more ideas on how to incorporate mindfulness in the workplace and the benefits it provides, explore the other installments of our marketing mindfulness series!   How to Implement This Practice So, we’ve established that mindful marketing is beneficial for your company, but how do you implement it? Here are three ideas to get you started! The first mindful marketing practice is authentic content creation. Fostering genuine connections with your audience and creating content that is true to your brand and your audience's preferences can help your brand resonate with and engage potential customers. Keep audience interests and brand values in mind when creating content! The second practice is taking a customer-centric approach. Being mindful and present when communicating with your audience allows for more effective and meaningful marketing interactions. Active listening, empathy, understanding, and anticipating needs can enhance brand perception and long-term loyalty. The final practice is strategic decision-making. Mindfulness practices allow for better clarity, awareness, and creativity, leading to more informed and innovative decisions. These improved choices can result in enhanced brand representation, company growth, and overall success.   We hope this blog helps you implement mindfulness in your personal life, workplace, and marketing practices. Be sure to check out the other blogs in our Marketing Mindfulness Series for more!

From SEO to targeted ads and everything in between, it can become increasingly difficult to know where to put your marketing efforts to get your business in front of people. Outsourcing your marketing or having a marketing expert on your team can help you understand the algorithms and tools that can be used to your company’s advantage. For now, in this blog, we’ve put together some quick tips to give you a better idea of how to get your business seen online. Brand Presentation Before we get into how to get people to your website or social media pages, it’s important to discuss what these pages look like. If a potential customer finds your page and it is not visually appealing or informative, they will immediately be turned off. No matter how many views you can get on your pages, it will not matter if you can’t keep the viewers there. Additionally, if your website is challenging to navigate or understand, this may discourage customers. Your pages across platforms should be consistent and authentic to your brand in order to give off a uniform message that does not confuse or dissuade those viewing them. Getting Your Name Out There The first way to get your business in front of people is to maximize brand awareness. By getting your business listed on Google or connecting with media outlets or complementary businesses , you are expanding the number of people that may see or hear your name. By increasing the number of people that hear or see your name organically when visiting or looking for other businesses, you are increasing the number of people that may visit your website or social media pages. Creating an email marketing list is another way to get your name out there, albeit less organically. Even if people are not ready to use your business or browse your products and services immediately, sending them marketing emails will keep you on their minds until the need arises. We’ve Said It a Million Times: SEO We know hearing about SEO gets repetitive. Pretty much anyone in the marketing space will bring it up – but it’s for a good reason. Improving your company’s SEO can significantly increase how much your business is seen online. HubSpot explains that search engines look for elements including title tags, keywords, image tags, internal link structure, and inbound links (also known as backlinks) as well as site structure and design, visitor behaviour, and other external, off-site factors to decide how your site should rank in their search results. Using the correct keywords and structural elements ensures that when someone Googles your product or service category, they find your website. Targeted Advertising Have you ever been talking to someone about a business or topic and had an ad for it pop up on your phone later that day? If you’re in the marketing space, you’re probably aware that, no, your phone is not listening to you. In a way, social platforms are “eavesdropping,” but just not in the way we think . Using location tracking allows social media platforms to make connections between the places we go and the people we see and target ads to our activity. If your friend has recently been to a restaurant and you are discussing it, the social platform sees that you are in the same location as your friend and that your friend has been in that restaurant and uses this connection to try the ad on you too. All this is to say that if you want your business to be seen, paying for advertising goes a long way. Social media advertising has become advanced enough that you are not just putting your campaign in front of any old user, but someone with whom the algorithm has made the connection that they might be interested. Chances are, if you see an ad for something you have recently talked about, you’re more likely to notice it rather than scroll by. From location tracking to demographics, targeted advertising makes a huge difference when trying to get your business in front of people. Today’s marketing scene can be complicated, so we hope these tips help! Our marketing experts at unLOCKEd can help make a difference in your marketing strategy so that your business is seen by as many people as possible. Author: Sarah Murphy

In a previous blog, The Importance of Interior Branding , we discussed how branded environments or interior branding can benefit your company. It is not only important for aesthetics and showcasing your logo, but also to demonstrate brand values and create consistency. Many design elements, such as colour, textiles, and even furniture, can be used to achieve this effect. To give you some inspiration for your space, this blog will provide a few examples of brand values and how they can be created through interior design. Accessibility Accessibility has become a common concern among brands. Companies want to make sure that their products, services, and benefits are accessible to everyone. If your brand claims it prioritizes accessibility, your space needs to show it. Make sure your location is updated with wheelchair ramps and accessible parking spots, and that your signs include braille along with text. Accessibility can also be implemented visually by making sure text is large enough to read from a distance, and the text colour is easy to read against the background colour. Further, ensure that all customers can equally access experiences within the space by gaining insight from a diverse range of people. Inviting feedback is also a great way to ensure your location is accessible to everyone. Sustainability Customers love to know that their product is sustainably sourced or made, but what about the packaging or the store? When someone orders your product, do they have to tear through multiple layers of packaging that will end up in the garbage? Using minimal packaging and making it recyclable or compostable is one way to showcase your sustainability. In-store, live plants or a moss wall make your interior design more eco-friendly and can even help clean the air. Lots of natural light can also create this feeling for customers. If your brand values sustainability, ensure your products and the feel of your space reflect this. Comfort Comfort can be included in a branded environment with simple design elements that are uncommon in commercial spaces. Warm light rather than harsh white light is one way to do this. If you want customers to feel good buying and using your products, create a comfortable, relaxing space they can do it in. A bookstore is one example of a business that values comfort. Soft, warm light and cozy chairs to read a book create this atmosphere for their customers. Paint and furniture colours can also have a similar effect. Luxury Think of a jewelry store or a travel agency. As soon as you step into the space, even if it’s just inches from a crowded mall hallway, you are transported into the world of luxury. Gold and glass cases line rows of deep purple, burgundy, and ivory tiles. Twinkling lights reflect on the diamonds and emeralds laid perfectly on velvet cushions. You are surrounded by the luxurious aesthetic you are shopping for. Or maybe full wall murals of a sunset or an attractive couple on a beach envelop you as you walk in. You can practically feel the sand beneath your feet and hear the crashing waves. If your company promises a luxurious getaway, show the customer the beautiful scene they don’t want to miss. We hope these examples give you some ideas on how to turn your space into a branded environment. unLOCKEd marketing experts can help you with projects like this and more! Check out our services on our website to start improving your marketing strategy today. Author: Sarah Murphy

As part of unLOCKEd’s 10th Anniversary series, we wanted to discuss how the marketing landscape has changed since we started our business. Marketing looks quite different than it did a decade ago, and unLOCKEd is committed to keeping up with those changes to offer quality marketing services to our clients. With that being said, here are some key areas where we have seen the marketing landscape change. Mass Communication to Personal Conversations Mass communication is the idea that the more people your marketing reaches, the better. Companies would put out their sales pitch on as large a scale as possible, assuming anyone could be convinced to buy their product as long as they reached them. However, new technologies and social media have created much more personal conversations between companies and consumers. In an oversaturated digital world with a wealth of competition, getting your ad in front of people isn’t enough – they need to be the right people. Audience targeting has allowed brands to cater their advertisements to specific audiences or customer segments. This allows the ad to have a more significant impact on the consumer and avoids wasting money on advertising outside your audience. This form of marketing is much more personal and leverages new technological advancements. Lasting Partnerships These personal conversations between companies and consumers have led to lasting partnerships and brand loyalty. While brand loyalty is not an entirely new concept, the way many companies go about it has changed. Rather than locality creating trust and dependence, brands create this through their marketing efforts. With national and international brands and plenty of competitors, brand values and ethics are what win most consumers over. Customers look for those personal conversations to create a connection and relatability that they want to come back to time and time again. Brands appealing to consumers’ lifestyles or ethical concerns create trust and lasting partnerships. Impressions to Engagement The final area of change we will discuss is the shift of focus from impressions to engagement. Similar to mass communication, impressions rely on a consumer simply seeing content or advertising. However, due to audience fatigue and advertising oversaturation, this is not enough anymore. It is easy to forget simply seeing an advertisement. On the other hand, engaging with content, especially content that feels personalized, can have a much more lasting impact. This has led to a change in the type of content and advertising companies put out in an attempt to capture their audiences’ attention (and retention). Further, this change has required companies to change the metrics they collect and report on to better understand what resonates with consumers. The marketing landscape changes daily, so it looks quite different after a decade. unLOCKEd has adapted to these changes and more to stay at the top of the marketing game and offer quality service to our clients! Author: Sarah Murphy

There’s a reason why people specify “marketing agency Waterloo” or “marketing agency near me” when they are searching for marketing services. While local marketing isn’t essential for every company, it can be extremely beneficial if you are a small business or have a brick-and-mortar location. Providing marketing services for businesses in the Waterloo Region allows us to give the best services possible and deliver the best results. This blog will dive into those benefits and how they can help you! Meeting Face-to-Face The ability to meet clients face-to-face is great for a few reasons. First, it can help us better understand the company and the services they require. Meeting in person can result in a better connection with the client and provide a more personal feeling. Meeting and talking with employees to get feedback during and after the project can also be useful. Second, it can help us get a better feel for the space. If the client requires services such as signage, interior branding, space planning, wayfinding, or other location-specific details, being able to walk through the space or take measurements can make the process go much more smoothly. Finally, when we are providing social media or website design services, it is helpful to be able to take pictures and videos of the location or a project to create posts or other content. While a client could provide these photos, they shouldn’t have to worry about this step or the quality of the photography – that’s what we’re  here for. Ensuring You Don’t Need to Worry This brings us to our next benefit – alleviating clients’ worries. The client shouldn’t have to worry about picking things up at a supplier or something arriving wrong or damaged. Being a local marketing agency means that we can visit suppliers and ensure colours and materials are accurate before a client needs to deal with them. Clients can rely on one contact to get the whole job done. Knowing the Region Next, there is the benefit of simply knowing the region. Local familiarity allows us to provide more accurate and valuable marketing advice and services. We understand the trends and behaviours of the consumers and the competitors of a business, including what is and isn’t working for them. This knowledge ensures your marketing provider is personal and understands your company’s needs. Local SEO Finally, understanding local SEO is a huge benefit to our clients. Local SEO is about ensuring that your company appears when someone searches for your services or products “near me.”  A local marketing agency understands the competition in the area and how to beat them. From optimizing your Google Business Profile to understanding important keywords to creating content to out-rank them on the results pages, local marketing can help you acquire and retain customers that really matter. Our local marketing services ensure your company receives the best results possible. Contact unLOCKEd  today – the one stop for all your marketing needs. Author: Sarah Murphy

There is little doubt that we live and work in the age of social media. From influencers to ecommerce to marketing and brand management, social media is everywhere. But with this rise to prominence of social media comes a challenge for businesses of all types and sizes: How to best use social media to promote your product or service? For many business owners, the first response is a sense of being overwhelmed with decision upon decision & question after question. What platform is best suited for your business? What do I post and when? What is SEO and why should I care? And what is the cost and the benefits of investing in social media? This is where the unLOCKEd team of social media specialists can help. We help you sort through the noise & chaos that seems to define social media to focus on what makes sense for your business in terms of social media marketing & branding. With decades of experience & a well-honed process, we take the guesswork & frustration out of social media. We replace it with focused, strategic, & effective messaging that boosts business, enhances your brand, &, most importantly, ensures that every dollar you invest in social media delivers the impact your business needs. As our introduction to the world of social media, here are the 9 reasons that we feel your business should be on social media. 1 Increasing Customer Reach Social media is the digital world’s answer to real-life word-of-mouth marketing. If your business isn’t on social media, the online world isn’t talking about you. Consumers do a lot of brand research, so a solid digital presence tells clients a number of things about your business. There’s credibility behind the brand if customers can see it engaging online with its followers. If people are commenting on your posts, it gives shoppers a sense of legitimacy . Consumer interaction shows client satisfaction levels . People spend enough time online to be able to see through content that is genuine and content that is nonsense. They’re looking for connections . If you have an engaging social media marketing strategy, your followers will increase bringing you more sales leads. 2 Social Media as an Online Shopping Platform The pandemic locked people inside their homes and pushed them to be online more often and for longer. Being unable to visit stores physically led them to shop online. A lot of consumers still haven’t given up that convenience. The digital space isn’t just a gathering place for people; it’s also a marketplace for new-age shoppers. If your business isn’t presenting itself on social media, you’re missing out on sales. Taking your shop where your clients are (hint: they’re online) is the most effective way of increasing your sales. 3 Building a Sustainable Future As people were locked down indoors, bricks and mortar businesses saw a drastic slowdown in sales. Malls suffered, too. Those with a pre-existing online presence doubled down and increased their investment in social media marketing. They ended up building sustainability into their business in case another apocalypse happens in the future. 4 Holding Online Events As in-person events were wiped off all calendars, people decided to move their communities online and hold digital events. Social media has fantastic tools that offer businesses various ways of gathering their followers online. It’s the new way of promoting your business: by offering an experience to your followers. Audience engagement through such online events can increase followers because people usually bring along a friend when they’re going to an event, even online. That’s a simple way for you to get more eyeballs on your business and brand than you would with an in-person event. 5 Humanizing Your Business A user endorsement goes a long way as a sales pitch. It’s a bit difficult and tedious telling every customer that walks into your store how much your clients admire what they buy there. Online comments and reviews are a natural way of giving your business that human touch patrons are looking for. Social media is the easiest way of getting testimonials out to a large audience. You may not even have to ask people to post reviews; they do it automatically when they’re pleased with a service or product. 6 Become a Market Leader People trust brands that share information and educate their followers. Social media gives you access to hundreds of thousands of potential customers that are seeking just such guidance. Whatever your industry, you have some insight to share with patrons. Being seen as a market leader online automatically makes your business the go-to resource. You stay on top of people’s minds and they instinctively look up your brand for solutions to their retail problems. 7 Customer Connections This is pure gold. Social media is a great way for businesses not only to engage with their clients but also to listen to their needs. It’s the first step for brands to identify customer pain points so they can reassess sales strategies. There are dozens of forums out there in the cyber sphere where potential clients dwell, seeking advice and solutions. You can use social media to put your finger on the pulse. Knowing exactly what your customer wants gives you the ability to design products they’re seeking. These subtle, yet effective strategies, can boost sales and increase followers. 8 Effective Customer Service This is one of the most important reasons why you should have a healthy social media marketing strategy. Listening to patrons online is an effective way of boosting customer service. Responding to clients’ queries in a timely manner shows people how much your business cares about them. 9 Intentional Marketing A tiny bit of investment on social media can go a long way. Social tools now give businesses the ability to spend their advertising dollars smartly by focusing on specific audiences. Once you’ve identified your best customers by being present and active on social media, you can take your sales to the next level by advertising intentionally to those that are interested in the products you offer. It's Never Too Late to Jump on Social Media There’s always time to get your business into the digital world. Stop following the crowd and become a pack leader today. Begin by having a conversation with a social media marketing expert at unLOCKEd. Our customized strategies put your business exactly where it deserves to be — ahead of competition.

Websites are your online storefronts in this ever-changing world. Your digital stores are always open to your customers, but who looks after them when they visit? The answer: good content. When customers enter your bricks and mortar store, employees engage them in conversations and talk about the uniqueness of your brand, the owner’s expertise, and the value the product or service brings them. But what replaces this interaction on the digital front? There is a secret tool you can use: blogging. What is a blog? Remember when people kept journals? Well, when the internet became popular, journaling also moved online and became known as blogging. But that’s the personal side of blogging —for businesses, blogging holds an entirely different meaning. It’s the key that turns website visitors into customers. 1: Marketing Blogs Build Value Shopping isn’t a reflex action anymore. People are more likely to think before making a purchase. They ask questions; they do market research to establish credibility; and then they spend money. Business blogs serve as digital conversations. New-age customers interact with brands because they want to feel empowered and informed. They have a need to become more aware. A good marketing strategy includes regular informative blog posts that take consumers along on the brand’s journey. Sharing information via blog posts creates an alliance with customers. 2: Blogs Generate Community Humanity sells, so show your consumers the human side of your behaviour. You can do that with regular content that gives insights into not only the business and its products but also you. Sharing stories opens up a window into the business. It’s makes people feel like they’re part of an insider community, which is committed to the success of the business. Once the emotional investment has been made, the next step is for people to become loyal patrons. 3: Blogs Create Interactivity Engaging blogs not only bring more visitors to your website but also generate interest in related posts. This increases the amount of time someone spends browsing your website. And the more time a visitor gives to a website, the higher the likelihood of them buying something. 4: Boosting Brand Awareness Your website is the flag bearer of your brand. Well-written content that hits all the right search engine spots pops up in query responses. The more your blogs talk about solutions your brand offers, the more hits you will get online. The more visible your brand is the more people talk about it. If readers feel they’re learning from your blogs, they will share your content, increasing your brand awareness. 5: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Regular blogging is like regular flossing. It keeps your website from developing any cavities and other issues that would send it to the web doctor. But Search engines are constantly changing the way they rank websites and how they use data to connect businesses with brands. Posting with an established frequency and building SEO using keywords keeps your business on top of a search engine’s AI mind. As the internet becomes more and more responsive to users’ needs, the rules for content also keep changing. Fresh copy tends to rank better than copy that hasn’t been touched for a number of years. Up-to-date blogs are an easy way of ensuring your website remains fresh and search engines rank it higher than competitors’ content. 6: Blogs Increase Website Traffic If you’ve done the SEO part of your blogs well, the world of algorithms will automatically drive more traffic toward your brand. Website visitors pay close attention to how often you post. Updated content shows potential customers how actively you’re involved in your business and its development. Seeing recent posts shows a caring mindset. Your consumers will look at you as the involved and passionate business owner that cares. The more hits you get, the more you will also be seen as an expert in the field. Once your authority is established, your service or product will be the first one that comes in your consumers’ minds. And they will also be more likely to refer your business to others. 7: By the Numbers Prioritizing business blogging will give you 13 times more ROI. Don’t believe us? Listen to the experts. ContentPlus says 60% of consumers feel engaged and report positive feelings for a brand after reading custom blog content. The DemandGenReport says that 47% of B2B buyers will read at least 3 and up to 5 blog posts before they pick up the phone and talk to a salesperson. According to SEJ 90% of businesses use blogs to market their products and brands in 2022. Make sure you’re not in the 10%. 8: Blogging Generates Customer Insights When you’re working on a blog schedule, you will constantly ask yourself: what are my customers thinking? This brainstorming will force you to develop important client insights. Gripping content will not only stir curiosity among readers but will also lead to a new level of interactivity with your brand. People will reach out asking questions and seeking more information. This kind of exchange is crucial for businesses that are trying to understand their clients and gain insights without spending thousands of dollars on expensive listening software. “I’m Busy Running My Business…” This is a line we constantly hear from business owners when we ask why they aren’t blogging. Yes, we understand you’re busy running your business. We also understand the business is your top priority. And we also get that many entrepreneurs will take marketing upon themselves. But with every task pulling for your attention, content is the first one to move to the back of the list and then fall off the radar altogether. But, at unLOCKEd, we let you put your content at the forefront through our customized care packages. We will take this task right off your plate. We’d love to talk about how we can free up more of your time for what’s key for you — being the best at what you do.

As we approach 2025, it’s a great time to take a step back – consider the marketing trends you’ve seen or participated in throughout 2024, which ones were or were not successful, and how those may change or evolve in the new year. Be sure to take a look back at our Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2024  as a resource for this. In this blog, we’ll discuss some new or evolved trends to look out for in 2025. Let’s get started! AI Content and Strategy AI for marketers in 2025 has a few facets to consider. First is safety  – in a privacy-focused digital landscape, transparency in consumer-facing uses of AI is essential. While many marketers are eager to integrate AI into their workflows, they must first understand the impacts and what to watch out for. The next two considerations concern how AI will be integrated in 2025: content and strategy . According to Hootsuite’s surveys , 83% of marketers say generative AI helps them create significantly more content than they could without it. Despite the above-mentioned safety concerns, AI has been and will continue to be used for everything from editing text to generating images. However, AI is not just being used for content creation and execution, but also for strategy. According to the Hootsuite Social Media Trends 2025 Survey , even more social marketers responsible for strategy decisions implement AI tools than those responsible for execution. As we enter the new year, ensure you consider the safety of and uses for AI in your marketing team. Social Listening The next trend to look at is social listening . While marketers are aware that understanding the value of social media marketing needs to go beyond impression metrics, such as likes and follows, social listening takes the search for consumer engagement one step further. Social listening involves utilizing social media as a way to engage with your audience – not to drive a conversion, but to understand them. Social listening helps organizations better understand their audience, improve their strategies, uncover market gaps to guide product development, spot potential crises so they can quickly take control, and even drive sales . In addition, social listening can improve your social media content and effectiveness. Awareness of social media trends, how they resonate with your audience, and how they perform can help social marketers understand how to participate in them. It’s generally not about briefly going viral, but consistently connecting with your audience. Content Experimentation Third is content experimentation . To stand out from the crowd and connect with niche audiences, brands are experimenting with content and social media usage. The two key ways we are seeing this are brand in consistency and outbound engagement . Brand inconsistency involves using social media channels to step outside of the brand’s personality and comfort zone to push creative boundaries and entertain its audience. There is a move toward entertaining and educating, often without any direct promotion for the brand. This creativity goes against the consistent, trustworthy brand that’s been aimed for in the past, looking to capture and delight audiences instead. This is evident in the use of outbound engagement: brands commenting on other people’s posts. Especially on TikTok, you can scroll down to the comments section of almost any social post and find a brand or two chiming in on the conversation . These comments often have nothing to do with promoting the brand or even brand values. Still, they frequently capture and delight, cultivating community while putting their brand in front of new audiences. However, this trend still needs to be approached strategically - Social Element has found that two critical factors drive success for outbound engagements: timeliness and length. First-party and Zero-party Data As previously mentioned, privacy is a key factor in today’s media landscape. This means a shift away from third-party data and towards first-party and zero-party data. The desire for first-party data has resulted in the rise of Retail Media Networks as digital advertising platforms . Their abundance of consumer data allows brands to reach highly targeted audiences through personalized ads on retailer websites, apps, and even in-store digital displays. Kantar Media Reactions 2024  shows that 41% of marketers globally are planning to increase their advertising investment in retail media in 2025. On the other hand, zero-party data  is information that customers proactively share with brands and will also be crucial in 2025. Brands will need to focus on data-driven strategies and interactive experiences that allow them to gather this data directly from consumers. However, once obtained, this data can be used to create personalized and highly targeted campaigns , allowing them to more easily reach niche audiences, produce conversions, and avoid privacy concerns and regulations. Balancing Acquisition with Retention The final trend we will be discussing is balancing acquisition with retention . With the need for increasingly personalized content to resonate with consumers, retaining an existing customer is five times less expensive than acquiring a new one . Balancing acquisition costs with a strong retention strategy boosts profitability and results in high-value customers. This involves understanding what drives retention, such as post-purchase engagement and loyalty programs. Taking this into consideration will be a huge help to your marketing strategy in 2025.   While these are some key trends to look out for in 2025, the marketing landscape is constantly changing and evolving. Our experts are committed to staying on top of these trends so we can provide the most effective marketing services and the best results! Contact unLOCKEd  today – the one stop for all your marketing needs. Author: Sarah Murphy

Brand loyalty is, of course, very important for companies to turn customer acquisitions into customer retention. However, it is increasingly difficult to appeal to consumers through traditional advertising and to differentiate yourself from other brands. Despite this, one key element that tends to drive this brand loyalty is customer engagement. Rather than just reaching your audience or gaining impressions, fostering engagement with your customers tends to be more memorable and emotionally connected. But encouraging this engagement can be difficult, too. That’s why we’ve put together five key strategies for unlocking brand loyalty through customer engagement to keep your audience coming back for more. Let’s get into it!  1. Branded Content Branded content differs from traditional paid  media advertising in that it is a company’s owned  media, often created to generate earned  media. This is important in a few ways. First, there is no need to worry about what your content is next to, since it is on your page or platform. Second, it bypasses the ever-growing trend of ad blockers. And, most importantly, it alleviates audience fatigue. Consumers see ads everywhere, and many are annoyed by their constant presence. They have learned to scroll past, turn to other content, or click skip as fast as possible – and can you really blame them? Branded content avoids this issue by looking like and appearing next to other media content that your audience wants to see. In addition, it serves a function for the customer, independent of a sales pitch. Whether it is entertaining, educational, informative, or just engaging, it must be content that the audience would look for or be attracted to anyway. This can range from web content to mini-films and everything in between! This creates more of a brand ambience or brand awareness than a hard sell, benefiting and hooking the customer. 2. Purpose Marketing Purpose or activist marketing is another way to appeal to the fatigued consumer and differentiate your brand. Purpose marketing involves supporting a social cause through brand activities. This can be through products, educational content, financial support, and more! The key reason this engages customers is because it appeals to their emotions. Consumers these days care about social and political causes, especially if your target audience is Gen Z. They want to see that your brand is more than just a product for profit and is something they can connect with. Creating that emotional bond makes your brand more memorable and trustworthy in a consumer’s eyes, encouraging them to pick your brand over another and keep coming back to support you. 3. Personalize Interactions This strategy is also about creating that emotional connection. While many tasks can be streamlined through automation, customer interactions are not always the best place to do this. While chatbots can answer basic questions, creating a quick, seamless, and helpful brand experience can sometimes be more beneficial for your brand. Many customers value good customer service. Personalizing and improving your interactions with them makes your brand stand out and may even be the difference between a customer choosing you or your competitor in the future. Overall, connecting to your customers and showing them that they are valued is a key strategy to gaining their loyalty. 4. Guerrilla Marketing Guerrilla marketing is a great way to think outside of the box and break through that audience fatigue we discussed earlier. Guerrilla marketing involves using unconventional and often offline spaces to market to your audience. Avoiding traditional ad spaces or strategies makes your marketing stand out from other brands and is usually interesting. The element of surprise in seeing these forms of media in unexpected places also makes them more memorable. Stickers in urban spaces, branded graffiti, or ad space used in unconventional ways are just a few of the possibilities guerrilla marketing offers. While it is usually offline, it often provides shareable content that can go viral and gain organic media attention. This is a great way to generate excitement or interest in your brand through engagement with your content! 5. Loyalty Programs While these first four strategies were more innovative, newer ideas, we should not forget the tried-and-true classics. Loyalty programs can be a significant factor when customers are deciding where to buy from. Whether it’s a points system or member discounts/benefits, let’s face it – people like free stuff! Simply offering a loyalty program can really drive, well, loyalty! In addition, a membership card or something similar can create a familial or connected feeling for customers. They feel like they have a more exclusive connection with your brand. This feeling can even make them more likely to promote your brand through word of mouth. Whether it’s posting about the deal they just got or telling their friend about it over dinner, this customer engagement provides their brand loyalty, and maybe even attracts more customer acquisitions! Standing out in an oversaturated media environment can be difficult, but implementing these strategies can make a big difference. For marketing advice or services, contact  unLOCKEd today! Author: Sarah Murphy

As part of unLOCKEd’s 10th Anniversary series, we wanted to discuss some notable marketing trends from our ten years of business! A lot has changed and evolved since 2014, and looking at these trends can help refocus current marketing strategies. So, let’s get into it! 1. Content Marketing The first trend is content marketing. Content marketing has become increasingly popular over the last decade, focusing on creating valuable, relevant content to attract and engage audiences. Alongside companies’ traditional advertising, blogs (like this one), videos, infographics, and podcasts have become valuable tools! 2. Influencer Marketing The next trend is influencer marketing. While we saw some of this when we started unLOCKEd, it has picked up exponentially. Collaborating with social media influencers has become a way for companies to reach target audiences. As this trend has gained speed, it has moved from simply asking influencers to promote a product to associating it with influencers’ lifestyles to appear more authentic and relatable, traits audiences increasingly value. 3. Social Media Advertising This trend has become essential for the majority of B2C companies. Increased investment in paid social media ads on platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn, is many companies’ primary means of reaching audiences. As consumers spend more and more time looking down at their devices rather than at billboards or even their TVs, it is vital to a company’s success that they follow this move to maintain their audiences’ attention. 4. Video Marketing Video marketing is another trend that has become increasingly prevalent throughout the last ten years. As technology advances, there are ever-increasing possibilities for digital marketing. Video marketing has become more attainable for even small businesses, and it is a great way to capture your audience’s attention. Video content is a key component of marketing strategies, including live streaming, stories, and short-form video content like TikTok and Instagram Reels. 5. Artificial Intelligence and Automation This trend is another result of technological advances. AI-driven tools and automation have become popular for tasks such as chatbots, customer segmentation, predictive analytics, and personalized recommendations. These technologies can help save time and eliminate human error for both companies and customers. While that isn’t to say that these tools do not have certain downsides, they have certainly become quite popular! 6. Voice Search Optimization As voice search has become increasingly popular and sophisticated, marketers have had to optimize their digital content to keep up. As early voice search technologies like Siri progressed to smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, optimizing content for voice search has grown into a necessity to reach audiences. 7. Mobile-First Marketing This trend is vital to any marketer’s success. As mobile usage surpassed desktop usage for internet browsing and e-commerce, prioritizing mobile-friendly content and experiences become a front-and-centre priority. From mobile-friendly websites to e-commerce apps, companies must ensure their content is easily accessible on mobile devices to stay in the game. 8. Social Commerce This trend is a little more recent than some of the others we have discussed. With the increase in online shopping and social media influencers, shoppable content through directly integrating e-commerce features into social media platforms has allowed users to shop without even leaving the app. Not only can an influencer say, “Check out this cool product,” but now they can encourage their audience to buy the product on the spot! 9. User-Generated Content This is a trend that has had both success and created publicity nightmares for companies. User-generated content is when brands encourage customers to create and share content related to the brand, leveraging authenticity and community engagement. However, leaving your marketing up to the public also releases your control of the content. A successful user-generated content campaign should be about the audience to increase participation and include a screening process to avoid unwanted messages associated with the brand. 10. Sustainability and Ethical Marketing Our final trend is companies’ movement towards sustainability and ethical practices. Consumers have become interested in more than just a product’s convenience, but also the impact of creating it. Consumers’ growing demand has encouraged brands to adopt sustainable practices and promote ethical values in their marketing efforts.  These trends have really put into perspective how much marketing has changed in the last decade! At unLOCKEd, our marketing experts are up-to-date on current trends and advances in the field so that we can provide the best marketing assistance for your business! Author: Sarah Murphy