Agency Insights

We tend to think of Small Business Saturday® as a day that exclusively benefits local stores, shops, restaurants, and any type of independent merchant. Yes, benefits abound on this day – and not only for small businesses, but for consumers as well. If you own a local business, keep in mind that Small Business Saturday is the date to shine. This is especially true if consumers take as much a shine to your store as what is sold. Let’s explain…

There’s a lot of truth to the expression “time flies” – especially in marketing and advertising. Rapidly advancing technology, combined with fast-changing trends in how consumers browse, shop and purchase are proof of how fast time is flying. Just think: The holiday marketing season is here. Time is of the essence. What follows are a few effective approaches to making the most of holiday and year-end advertising.

After years of chasing Pandas, Penguins and Hummingbirds, is Google now wanting SEOs to take a walk down Sesame Street? No, they just rolled out a new Google algorithm update called “Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers” – or Google BERT, for short. This algorithm update, which has been under development for five years, may impact one of every 10 searches – so marketers should pay attention.

Halloween’s over. Thanksgiving’s coming soon. Then there’s Black Friday, when the gigantic number of sales is outnumbered only by the customers crowding into stores to save on these deals. Then, everyone gets to relax on Saturday and Sunday and recharge for Cyber Monday, where online sales rule. Both days are feasts for buying and selling. Did you ever stop to wonder which of these two days your brand or business should take part in?

Keeping your company website user-friendly is crucial in providing a positive experience that encourages visitors to engage with your content. However, we often forget that being “user-friendly” applies to ALL USERS, including those with disabilities. Do you know if your site is ADA compliant? It’s a serious question, because the consequences of not being ADA compliant can result not only in alienating users, but legal ramifications for you and your business.

Everyone has his or her favorite Halloween traditions. Some people have costume parties, while others decorate their homes to turn them into personalized haunted mansions. (Some do both.) Whatever the custom, there is no denying that Halloween is all about creativity. Two well-known brands have devised what may be some of the best Halloween campaigns. The creativity behind these ads is so good – it’s scary! (There, we said it.)

Ever use newsjacking to market your brand? Or, are you familiar with what newsjacking is? If not, settle in and take note of this “hot off the presses” online practice that is applied to practically everything – even marketing. You may be surprised at what potential opportunities might literally be happening right now.

Social media platforms – whether Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (or all three, among others) – have benefitted many brands in getting their goods and services before the public. But your social media strategy needs to be carefully curated and tended to. If not, making a great impression and attracting customers will see an about-face and drive them away. What then, should be done – or rather, avoided – to making your social media strategy a success?

With craft beer’s increasing popularity over the past decade, breweries have a lot more competition. As you walk through a bottle shop or beer distributor today, the sheer volume of craft beer choices are endless. In order to combat this, breweries have to stand out from their competition, and craft beer labels have undergone a major facelift because of this. In order to grab a consumer’s attention, the craft beer label design has to be eye-catching and reflect the brewery's brand story. Below, we showcase some beers that EGC's Craft Beverage Division have created.

No, that is not an accidental repeat of the word “brand” in the title. The use of a brand ambassador has been a popular and powerful marketing tactic since the beginning of advertising. Using a personal touch to promote a particular brand’s goods and services makes impact. But does a business really need this for its brand marketing?