Don’t Get Lost in the Digital Maze: Strategic Marketing for 2024

Don’t Get Lost in the Digital Maze: Strategic Marketing for 2024

At Emerge Marketing Solutions, we know the digital landscape can feel overwhelming. With a constantly evolving array of platforms and tactics, how do you choose where to focus your efforts? In 2024, the key lies in a strategic approach that prioritizes quality over quantity and aligns perfectly with your audience and goals.

Know Your Why & Who:

Before diving into the latest trends, take a step back. What are your marketing goals? Brand awareness? Lead generation? Increased sales? Once you know your “why,” it’s time to understand your “who.” Who is your ideal customer? Dive deep into their demographics, online habits, and pain points. This buyer persona will guide your platform selection and content creation.

Content is King (But Quality Reigns Supreme):

Creating high-quality content is paramount. Remember, it’s better to have a few impactful pieces than a mountain of mediocre ones. Consider your content creation capabilities. Can you consistently produce engaging videos, blog posts, or infographics? Focus on what you do best, and leverage outsourcing strategically when needed. Don’t forget that here at Emerge Marketing Solutions we are experts in digital marketing and are happy to help you develop your content strategy, design templates, and more.

Let’s Get Visual: The Power of Video

Gone are the days of long-form content dominating the digital space. Today’s audiences crave short, visually-appealing content. Enter the age of vertical, short-form video. Platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok are booming, offering incredible reach and engagement. Note: although short-form video is the trend right now, at Emerge we still value high-quality traditional form video in addition to these short clips.

Platform Powerhouse: Choosing the Right Channels

Now, let’s explore some popular platforms and their unique strengths:

  • Facebook: Still a social media giant, Facebook offers powerful targeting options and a variety of content formats. Ideal for B2B and B2C marketing, event promotion, and community building.
  • Instagram: Perfect for showcasing your brand personality with visually stunning photos, stories, and Reels. Great for lifestyle brands, product-based businesses, and B2C marketing.
  • Pinterest: A visual search engine ideal for driving traffic to your website. Works wonders for recipes, DIY projects, travel inspo, and any product with a strong visual appeal.
  • Google Search Ads: Want to appear at the top of search results for relevant keywords? Google Ads is your answer. Perfect for driving targeted traffic to your website and generating leads.

A Local Example

Imagine you’re a local bakery promoting your award-winning pies. A strategic approach would be to leverage Instagram Reels with mouthwatering close-up shots of your pies. Pair that with eye-catching Pinterest boards featuring your pie recipes and beautiful photos. Facebook could be used to announce upcoming farmer’s market appearances and run targeted ads to reach people who love homemade baked goods. Finally, Google Search Ads can ensure your bakery pops up when someone searches for “best pies near me.”

The Beauty of Analytics: Adapt & Thrive

The beauty of digital marketing is that it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. By using platform analytics, you can continuously monitor what’s working and what’s not. Did your latest Reel go viral? Double down on video content! Are people not engaging with your Facebook posts? Explore different content formats or consider reducing your posting frequency. Remember, digital is not going away; analytics allow you to constantly refine your strategy and ensure it’s always on point.

Emerge Marketing Solutions: Your Guide in the Digital Wild West

Feeling overwhelmed? Let Emerge Marketing Solutions be your partner in navigating the ever-changing digital landscape. We’ll help you develop a strategic plan that aligns with your goals and budget, so you can make the most of your digital marketing efforts in 2024 and beyond. Contact us today and let’s chat about your unique marketing needs!

Unlock the Power of your Brand with a Digital Marketing Plan

In the dynamic landscape of online interactions, a powerful digital marketing plan is your key to making a lasting impression. Our strategic approach goes beyond mere promotion; it’s a carefully crafted roadmap to elevate your products and services, align with your business identity, and achieve organizational goals. Let’s unlock the full power and potential of your brand with a digital marketing plan! Below is what we offer here at Emerge when it comes to digital marketing plans.

Why Our Digital Marketing Plan Matters:

Strategic Alignment

  • Crafted with precision, our plan strategically aligns your online presence with your business’s overall identity and goals.
  • Ensures that every digital touchpoint resonates with a consistent and impactful brand identity.

First Impressions Count

  • Recognizing that search engines and social media are often the initial touch points for your audience, we design a plan that creates a memorable and impactful first impression across multiple platforms and entry points.

Empower Your Team

  • We provide a common framework that empowers practically anyone to implement social media posting with ease.
  • Reduces the time required to generate content, fostering a consistent, professional identity across platforms.

Targeted Recommendations

  • Tailored recommendations for specific social media platforms and posting strategies based on the unique usage patterns of your target audiences.
  • Maximizes engagement and ensures your brand message reaches the right audience.

Strategic Review and Refinement

  • The plan undergoes regular reviews to refine strategy and adapt to evolving trends.
  • While the basic framework, brand voice, and overall approach remain consistent, we built in flexibility to adapt and evolve your digital presence.

 

What’s Included:

6-12 Month Digital Marketing Plan:

  • A comprehensive strategy designed for sustainable impact over 6-12 months.

Empowering Training Sessions:

  • 1-hour training sessions with your team to ensure seamless and effective plan implementation.
  • Equip your team with the skills to navigate the digital landscape confidently.

Ongoing Consulting Support:

  • 1-hour/month consulting for six months, providing valuable insights, upcoming post recommendations, and strategic guidance.
  • Having our expertise at your fingertips will help you navigate challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Emerge strengthened in the new year with a memorable digital presence. Our digital marketing plan is not just a checkbox; it’s a transformative journey that empowers your team and elevates your brand online. Ready to embark on this journey together? Let’s shape the future of your digital presence. Contact us today to unleash the power of strategic digital marketing.

Create Engaging iPhone Videos

phone video

If you own a small business and are looking for ways to engage customers, share and sell new products/inventory or simply share updates about your business, we are here to help you create engaging iPhone videos! Don’t let that intimidate you. You do not need expensive equipment or software to create effective video content; you just need an iPhone and simple editing software.

Many of our clients have been asking our team to help create videos to capture the essence of their business, showcase their community, or simply engage in new ways with their audiences online.  Check out some of the videos we have created in the past year.

Here are some tips to help make your iPhone videos more successful and engaging!

1. Orientation of your Phone Matters

It is typically always best to hold your phone horizontally when recording video. This orientation will work best when uploading videos to YouTube and most other platforms, but if you’re posting to Instagram, vertical videos will look better. Instagram will crop your video to a square, so keep that in mind when shooting. Make sure to be consistent for each video.

2. Check your Camera Settings

iPhones can record at 720p, 1080p and 4k. 4K resolution will be the best quality, but it will also take up more space. If you are trying to preserve space, try recording in a lower resolution. Frame rates can also be adjusted. Most phones can be adjusted to film in 24, 30 or 60fps (frames per second). 30fps is just fine for videos being uploaded to YouTube, Facebook or Instagram. 60fps should be used for action videos or filming sporting activities. These settings can be found by going to Settings, selecting camera and then select record video.

3. Keep the Speaker Close

If someone in your video is speaking, try to have the phone as close to them as you can to ensure the best audio quality as possible. Amazon does sell affordable lavalier mics if you are planning to do frequent videos and want better audio quality.

4. Use the Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds can simply be explained by imagining an image divided into thirds horizontally and vertically, so you are left with nine parts. Placing points of interest along the intersections will give the shot a well-balanced look. Especially when setting up an interview, do not center the person in the frame, but use the rule of thirds. Most phones have the ability to turn grid lines on to make this very simple.

Rule of Thirds

5. Use a Tripod when Possible to create Engaging iPhone Videos

To prevent shaky or unstable video, we recommend always using a tripod or finding a hard, flat surface. If you have to hold your phone, try using a selfie stick!

6. Lighting and Background are Important

Ensure that your background is simple and not distracting before you begin to film. It is also important to make sure that your subject is appropriately lit and that there are no shadows. If something looks over exposed or too dark, tap your screen until a yellow box appears. By sliding your finger up and down on the screen, you will notice that the brightness changes; adjust until your subject is lit to your liking.

7. Download a Free Video Editing Software

iPhone conveniently come with iMovie, making it easy to edit your videos right on your phone. If you prefer to edit on a computer, you can utilize iMovie or other free video editing software. HitFilm Express or Video Pad are two other highly rated programs.

8. To Zoom or Not to Zoom?

Try not to zoom in while shooting, remember that you can always do this in the editing stage. The more you zoom, the more you will see the shakiness of your hand holding the phone. And when you zoom, you’re really just making pixels bigger, not actually zooming. If you have an iPhone 11, the main camera has a 1x magnification and the second camera has a 0.5 magnification and the 11 Pro has an additional camera with a 2x magnification. Filming at any of these magnifications will result in good quality video.

9. Focus!

No one wants to watch a blurry video. This should be fairly simple as most phones will auto focus. But if you need to change the focus from one thing to another, you can simply touch the object on screen that you want in focus.

10. Time Matters

You will hear different opinions of how long videos for social media should be. You need to consider each platform that your video will be featured on. Facebook allows videos up to 240 minutes, Instagram allows one-minute videos, Instagram stories can be 15 seconds, it is recommended that YouTube videos be six to eight minutes and Twitter allows videos up to two minutes and 20 seconds. While keeping those limits in mind, think about people’s attention spans. If your video is interesting and engaging, your audiences will likely stick around and watch longer. Ultimately, your video should be as long as it takes to get your message across.

11. Start Early and End Late

Last, but certainly not least, always start recording well before you want your video to start and stop recording well after you are finished. And if you are taking b-roll shots (additional footage), do not zoom and stay on the subject you are filming for at least ten seconds (you’ll thank me later). I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to begin editing and then wish you had a few seconds more of a certain shot.

We hope that these tips help you create successful, engaging iPhone videos and as always, do not hesitate to reach out if you have any marketing questions! Contact us today or request a quote!