Fusion Blog

We are a team of writers in Salt Lake City. Get to know us at Fusion 360 .

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Sex Sells for GoDaddy.com

If you’re a male above the age of 10, then more than likely you have felt the slight discomfort associated with watching any scandalously sultry GoDaddy.com commercial during the Super Bowl in the presence of one of your parents. Do you look away? Tie your shoe? Cough? Fake a seizure or cardiac arrest? Goshdarnit, you’re only 10! It’ll never work! Dang America’s persuasive advertising agencies! Dang them to heck ….

Barb Rechterman

If you’ve fallen victim to the aforementioned situation, you might be surprised to learn that you have none other to blame than GoDaddy’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Barb Rechterman. No, Barb isn’t a poorly named, icky man; she’s a woman who’s objectifying her very own gender and ruining Super Bowl parties with awkwardness for young men from Utah to New York (especially for those from Utah). So effective, in fact, are Barb’s marketing tactics that she has all male fanatics of the early nineties, box office smash hit, “Wayne’s World,” proclaim valiantly within themselves, “Sha-wing!” as they consider, for the first time in their disgustingly hormonal lives, the nonsensical purchase of their very own web domain for no apparent reason. Smells like the goal of every advertising agencies in the great United States of America. 

9 Years of Super Bowl Advertising Expertise

GoDaddy.com initially birthed its way into the world of shocking television advertising, according to Barb, after she and her marketing team conducted a survey in which they learned that customers weren’t doing business with them simply due to the fact that their existence was entirely unknown. “About two hours after that,” related Barb about GoDaddy’s advertising past, “Bob Parsons, our founder and chairman, he came to me and said, ‘I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to do the Super Bowl.’ I said, ‘Gosh, Bob, you know how much it costs?’ And he said, ‘It’ll be fine.’” It appears that Bob, a modern-day Nostradamus of sorts, was right in that 9 years later, GoDaddy.com would still be churning out millions of dollars to produce Super Bowl ads entirely in-house, without the help of a professional advertising agency. As of 2004, Go Daddy’s domain name market share was 16%. As of 2013, that number has skyrocketed to upwards of 50%. Barb and Bob, a match made in heaven, know what they’re doing, it appears.

Lucas Miller writes for Fusion 360, an advertising agency in Utah. Apart from working with Fusion 360, he writes for a variety of clients based both inside and outside the state of Utah.

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Consumer Customization Is Going Overboard

Ever shudder at the thought that many people have stalked your Facebook page and dug up digital dirt about your life? Despite any repugnance someone has to this scenario, it is at the very least done by your own volition; by putting information about yourself on the Internet, you allow anyone access to that information. However, purchasing products is more crucial to survival than having a Facebook page, and you may be surprised to know that Utah marketing strategists know more about you based on your purchasing history than any of your enamored Facebook stalkers do from viewing your depiction of your own life.

This Is Creepy, Right?

At the heart of a successful marketing campaign sits Eros, the Greek god of love. As Don Draper puts it in “Mad Men,” his presence, or lack thereof, when trying to entice the consumer is “the difference between a sailor leaving his boat and a husband knocking on a door.” With extreme customization, especially in the digital world, Utah marketing “gurus” are violating the tenets of a brand to consumer relationship that would facilitate such a jolting connection. Imagine your significant other sifting through your phone without your permission to find out information about what kind of socks you want for Christmas. Although this demonstrates a willingness to please, it demonstrates even more so an irritating violation of privacy. 

The Solution To The Consumer Customization Mess

Something cannot be creepy if a consumer is not aware of it. Rather than using a consumer’s name to further affine them toward your business, playing an invisible hand at the poker table works better. Finding unique ways to measure behavioral characteristics within larger segments than the individual, like demographic, geographic and psychographic data procuration will not only increase marketing efficiency, it will also help spot and manipulate consumer behavior without them being aware of the business’s tracking process. 

As is true with many things, when it comes to consumer customization, being able to do something is not sufficient justification to do it.   

James O’Connor is a writer for Fusion 360, an advertising agency in Utah. He writes for many other clients as well.

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The Worst Brand Extensions Of All Time

Brand extensions can be great for business growth when executed correctly. However, they sometimes flop. When they don’t sell as expected, it’s usually because the product’s attributes don’t align closely enough with consumers’ previous experience of the company’s product. For instance, a brand that prides itself on affordability should not venture into luxury products or vice versa. Additionally, a brand’s attributes should stay bundled within product categories: If your company sells sponges, mops would make for a great extension since both products rely on absorption and cleaning capability. If these options aren’t clear-cut, you may need to consult a Utah advertising agency for help. Don’t turn out like these brands.

Bic cologne 

Cologne is every man’s stab at sophistication, not the affordability proffered by cheap and disposable products made out of plastic like pencils and razors. 

  Bic underwear 

Bic gets two brand extensions on this list. The moral? Don’t take an office supplier and try to clothe yourself with it. 

  Cheetos lip balm 

Cheetos and lip balm are both good at ending up on your face, but Cheetos’ foray into lip balm was the biggest mistake they made. Hopefully it was not a Utah advertising agency that helped them with this one. 

  Colgate kitchen entrees 

When you think Colgate, you think toothpaste. Not the main reason why you need to have toothpaste — eating. 

NASCAR romance novels 

In an attempt to grow their female fan base, NASCAR tried being Nicholas Sparks for several years. However, this isn’t the most fertile ground for a compelling romance novel, since 80 percent of men will eventually end up paying more attention to their car than their wife or girlfriend. At least Utah digital marketing experts didn’t have to witness this mess on the Web. 

  Hooters Mastercard 

How could the awkwardness not ensue when a man frequents Hooters to utilize the card’s points program, leaving his wife at home or even worse, bringing her to the restaurant with him? 

Harley Davidson perfume 

This brand prides itself on masculinity, toughness and being a renegade. It wouldn’t be fitting to get in a bar fight over a game of pool and then spritz your neck and wrists in perfume, would it? 

Heineken shoes 

Hopefully these shoes were easy to take off. If not, plenty of college freshmen ended up binging on Heineken, falling asleep in the apartment foyer with their Heineken shoes on and consequently waking up with a face smeared in sharpie. Oops. 

James O’Connor is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Put Content First in Content Marketing

Social media networks like Twitter and Facebook are great marketing tools for any type of Utah business, but those networks are just a channel. In order for those networks to work for your benefit, you can’t just post random facts about your company or business; you have to create content that is engaging and will catch the eyes of your followers. BRW.com says “for content marketing to work, we have to realize this important creed: Your customers don’t care about you, your products or your services; they care about themselves.” 

Utah content marketing should be useful to people, and consumers must be interested in what you are writing — only that will help get and keep your followers’ attention. Talking about yourself is going to bore them and they will become disinterested. People love to talk about themselves and what they are looking for and want.

People don’t connect with information about products or services. Most people connect with content marketing to which they can relate, like a story. Storytelling content is a great way get your social followers’ attention. A story is more relatable then an ad. 

Constantly communicating on social networks is also a key role in Utah content marketing. I’m not telling you talk to people and give them your sales pitch. Actually talk to them in your own voice and answer any questions they may have. If they ask your opinion on something, don’t give them a vague answer that doesn’t actually answer the question. Answer it honestly and let them see that you are a real person to whom they can relate.

Where should you start with Utah content marketing? According to brw.com “First, identify who the reader is. You may have seven or eight different types of buyers, but for content marketing to work you need to focus on who your target audience is. Second, tell a different story. What makes the content you are creating and sharing mar important than anything else your customers are engaging with? Third, focus on creating an audience. At the end of the day, we want our content marketing to become an asset. That asset is best represented by attracting and keeping an audience, just like media companies do. So maybe, in the future, you won’t have to buy advertising, because the people you want to target are already part of your audience. This is the essence of owned media.”

Taylor Hatch is a writer for Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Taco Bell’s new breakfast campaign a digital hit

Taco Bell has already been known for their success in introducing new products such as the Doritos Locos Tacos and FourthMeal. Just this past week, Taco Bell introduced a new breakfast marketing campaign that had everyone in Utah talking.

Some products you will see on the breakfast menu at your local Taco Bell in Utah are innovative and unique. The waffle taco is the most popular product, which consists of eggs, sausage and cheese wrapped in a waffle and served with a side of syrup. Another new product is the A.M. Crunchwrap, which resembles the original Crunchwrap but with eggs, hash browns, cheese and your choice of breakfast meat. 

Most fast food joints in Utah have a breakfast menu. With breakfast being the most important meal of the day, it’s about time Taco Bell developed a digital marketing campaign promoting their new breakfast menu for its customers. Along with the new breakfast menu, Taco Bell has come up with some interesting digital marketing tools that have helped speed its message. 

The first technique Taco Bell used in their digital marketing campaign was the burner phone campaign. This involved 1,000 people in seven cities that received a prepaid mobile phone from Taco Bell. These people would wait for a call or a text revealing a challenge for them to accomplish in order to be declared a winner. 

Most challenges invited customers to post an Instagram photo or tweet within four hours of receiving a challenge. The awards that were handed out to the winners of the burner phone campaign included Waffle Taco pajamas, Crunchwrap bed sheets and free breakfast for a year. 

Another way Taco Bell promoted their new breakfast menu was by involving their biggest competitor. In a not so subtle way, Taco Bell took a jab at the famous McDonald’s fast food restaurant. They went out in search of multiple men throughout the entire country with the name Ronald McDonald. Each Ronald tried the new Taco Bell breakfast product and afterwards they all were interviewed about the product. One hundred percent of Ronald McDonalds that were interviewed enjoyed the new Taco Bell breakfast menu.

In response to Taco Bell’s Ronald McDonald campaign, McDonalds made a Facebook post which read, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” followed with a link to McDonald’s breakfast menu. Utah loves rivalries — and who said fast food industries can’t join in on the digital marketing fun? If the first week of Taco Bell’s Waffle Taco is a judge, this rivalry may be here to stay.

Ashley Waite is a content writing intern at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Preventing Interruption and Message Overload In The Digital Age

Some communication researchers speculate that message overload lingers on the horizon for Utah advertising agencies. Others postulate that consumers are not anywhere near being overloaded by the array of messages they witness and interpret daily. Still, others think message overload occurred for decades, and is still occurring. But given the concern of message overload, marketers are worried that each message they create and put out to the public will see reduced efficacy in lieu of message encoding and understanding. However, there are several things companies and their advertising agencies can do inside of Utah to ameliorate the negative effects of overloading their prospective consumers with messages.

Dictionary.com defines information overload as an excess of incoming information, as one might confront on a crowded street, forcing one to be selective in the information received and retained. With this in mind, there are psychographic, demographic and geographic factors that will detract from or contribute to a consumers’ susceptibility to information overload.

Men are more prone to information overload, as are the less educated. Additionally, geographic areas with less densely packed populations will have fewer consumers to target, and therefore less consumer susceptibility to overload. However, this creates a unique conundrum; it’s relatively easy to saturate a sparsely populated area with messages that appeal to homogenous psychographic preferences, but how is a Utah content marketing strategist or advertising agency supposed to tackle an already media saturated market like Salt Lake City, comprised of various personalities, ages and preferences?

If you’re giving consumers a call to action, the less demanding and lengthy the demand, the better your brand will fare. Not only does this reduce gross rating point costs, but it gives your brand the same coverage for less money while also increasing the messages’ potential for cognitive absorption. Consumers will be able to see the benefits in your plan of action they won’t be as leery of engaging with your brand in the near future.

One of the most common errors that Utah content marketers, advertising agencies and SEO experts make when setting forth their ideas, is bombarding consumers with too many choices. According to the elaboration likelihood model, most consumers have low motivation to process advertising messages for most products and services. Bombarding consumers with too many choices will surpass their motivation to interpret the various benefits of the choices prevented. Be sure to streamline your consumers down no more than one or two paths when possible.

James O’Connor is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Essentials of a Great Website

Websites are essential for any Utah business. In the digital age, prospects search for potential purchases on the Internet. If your Utah business does not have a website, or does not have an up-to-date website, chances are you are going to miss out on new business. According to Forbes.com, winning the Web starts with having a firm command of the fundamentals; they’ve canvassed Web designers, consultants and marketers to come up with the essentials of any effective website.

The first step in website development is to tell everyone who and what you are. A website must scream the basics to everyone who comes across it. Don’t leave people guessing visitors must immediately recognize who you are and what you do. For example, upon visiting a website it should be clear that MWM equipment is a Utah manufacturer of miniature footballs.

Next for your website development plan, you must make sure that your company’s contact information is conspicuous throughout the site. Forbes.com suggests that at the very lest you put the phone number at the bottom of each page.

Your website should also have a clear path for visitors to follow. One simple solution is to have a tab on your homepage that says “I’m looking for” with a drop down menu that includes the most visited links, pages and products. However you decide to format your website, make sure it is easy to navigate and that visitors will be able to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily.

Another important aspect of website development is to make sure your code is simplified and your servers are upgraded so your website doesn’t take too long to load. There is now a three second rule when it comes to website performance. If it takes a potential client more than three seconds to find what they need on your website, you may be missing out on business.

Your website should highlight a few of the reasons your Utah business stands out from the rest. Don’t try to drown them with information about every intricacy of your business; simply point out two or three of your company’s most important features (i.e. attention to detail, great customer service, experienced team, etc.) and hammer those themes throughout the site. Use this opportunity to tell people why your company is special.

Another essential part of your website development is to make it easy to update your site’s content. Fresh content can drive traffic to your site in a couple of ways: it gets the attention of search engines, and it will keep people coming back for more. Some Utah businesses upload weekly tips to their website, which makes people want to return to read what they have to say.

These essentials will not only improve your website, but also your business. Don’t let a rundown website be the reason you are missing out on customers.

 Kylie Moore is a writer and social media manager at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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How to Find a Job in Content Marketing

Content marketing in Utah is a strong, growing industry. For those who enjoy writing and are skilled in entertaining your audience, this career choice could be for you. The important thing to remember is that some businesses might need to be sold on their need for content marketing — but all of them need it. Here’s how to land your perfect content marketing job. 

Choose your business wisely. This is the first step in finding the content marketing job you want. It is hard to fake being interested in something. It is crucial that you have an interest in the business you select. If you are into fashion or design, then writing for a car dealership might not be the best fit for you. Once you know what sparks your interest you can make an educated decision on what businesses in Utah to send your resume. 

Focus on your skills. Having an education is important to most employers in Utah — but if you can show your diverse skills, then you will be able to work with that. Some skills that are necessary for a content marketing job in Utah are exceptional writing skills, experience with business, confidence, ability to entertain readers and organizations skills — all skills honed at a content marketing internship . These skills, when mastered, will get you a job in content marketing in any business you chose. 

Nail your interview. In most cases, your interview doesn’t end when you walk out of the office. Most employers find out who their hiring by checking out what they have been doing online. This means they will be checking your Facebook status updates, Twitter posts, and LinkedIn profile. A good way to make sure you come out on top is by using these social media sites responsibly. You can do this by sharing posts about your passions, having a good attitude when writing, and showing that you are a fast learner. 

By choosing a business in Utah with your passion, fine tuning your skills, and conquering the interview process you will have a good chance of getting the content marketing job you want. With any job, having a passion for what you do will sell itself. Just remember that businesses are looking for people to mold into what they want. That means you need to be flexible enough to take direction from your employer. 

Ashley Waite is a content writing intern at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Laws of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing can be a valuable asset to Utah businesses. Businesses can utilize social media marketing to help elevate your audience and customer base in a dramatic way. But according to Entrepreneur.com, there are certain laws you must follow to be able to build a solid foundation.

First is the law of listening. It is important to look at your target audience’s online content to learn what is important to them. Audiences want content that will add value, rather than clutter their lives, so what better way to give it to them than by listening to what they want.

Next is the law of patience. Social media marketing success doesn’t usually happen overnight. It is far more likely that you will need to commit to the long haul to achieve your desired results. One or two posts a month is probably not going to get you the success you are hoping for, you need the time and workforce to dedicate to the task.

The law of accessibility requires that you be available to your audience. You shouldn’t just publish content and then disappear; you need to consistently publish content and participate in conversations or you can expect to be replaced by someone who does it better.

There is also the law of compounding. If you publish quality content and work to build your online audience of quality followers, they will share it with their own audiences on various social media outlets. This sharing of content opens new entry points for search engines to find it in key word searches.  

The law of value requires you to create valuable content rather than spending all of your time directly promoting your products and services. Utah businesses need to focus less on conversions and more on creating great content and fostering conversations. Social media marketing is about networking and adding value to the conversation.

The law of acknowledgment goes along with this concept of developing relationships. Entrepreneur.com points out that you wouldn’t ignore someone who reached out to you in person, so you shouldn’t ignore them online. Building relationships is one of the most important aspects of social media marketing, so you should acknowledge every person who reaches out to you.

These are just a few of the key laws of social media marketing. To view the complete list, click here. 

Utah businesses who do not have the time or workforce it takes to run successful social media marketing can seek the aid of local Utah marketing companies who can help businesses achieve success in this area.

Kylie Moore is a writer and social media manager at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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The Internal Brand Revolution

With the advent of Utah ad agencies, digital marketing experts, SEO specialists and content marketers, brand promotion is more intricate than ever. In many ways, branding efforts focus on customers’ external perceptions of their brands. Utah businesses try their best to form desired perceptions of their products through advertising on billboards and magazines, and some consult advertising agencies to help them form specific perceptions about their company’s worth. Although this is important, it leaves a void in the most fertile place to develop customer relationships — internally. 

Everyone has witnessed an advertisement that portrayed a message incongruous with the actual experience delivered by a brand. A fast delivery is promised, but never actualized; the service is touted as reputable, but couldn’t be worse; being put on hold is a thing of the past, but you sit there lulled to sleep by elevator music. You are a long-lost customer, and at this point, you’re destined to seek a business that walks its talk. If the brandscape fosters lies and undelivered promises, no digital marketing strategy will be able to help it, no matter how creative your ideas are. 

UPS recently launched an internal brand overhaul for this reason. They realized their internal operations and procedures scarcely mirrored their customers’ experiences. Their brand was slipping from the inside out.

But their improved customer service made them one of the Best Global Brands of 2012. They demonstrated how a brand is not a gimmick, but rather a promise meant to be kept at every level of interaction the consumer has with their logo. Although their avowed internal brand statement is much different than its external statement, “what can Brown do for you” is supported by what the employees see as important every day: “One brand, one company, one vision.”

Forbes reports that only 50 percent of employees believe their company’s branding concept, and that an even smaller percent are equipped to carry out the brand’s message. Marketing no longer starts with the customer, it begins with the inside of an organization. Utah businesses understand that digital marketing helps them, but in-store experiences count as well — whether they be online or in real life.  

If you want to gain an advantage in the ever-increasing brand chaos that permeates media, you need to start internally. In other words, consumers are already overloaded with advertisements. But they are not overloaded by kept promises and they never will be. Along with UPS, Walmart, Starbucks and IBM, successful branding from the inside out leads to a thriving business. Yes, Utah SEO experts will be able to put your business atop Google’s search results. But it’s up to you and your company to deliver the promise of your brand’s message.

James O’Connor is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Creativity: It’s More Formulaic Than You Think

Creativity: the ineffable light bulb that seemingly ebbs and flows independent of our behavior can be tamed by human understanding. The creative process becomes increasingly important as any Utah advertising agency strains to outpace its competitors. Utah digital marketing experts, SEO professionals and content marketing strategists must also take note of this research if they want to remain competitive.

Although researcher Graham Wallis mapped the creative process in four steps, his guidelines to creativity do not explain how creativity is stimulated. He contends that preparation, incubation, illumination and verification map the cognitive steps in creativity, but recent evidence hints at ways to expedite the process.

Scientific American notes how creating psychological distance is key in creativity, proving that the creative process lies much more outside an individual than it does within them. The construal level theory notes that anything we do not experience as happening in our present, or to ourselves, creates psychological distance. In short, the more concrete and immediate an idea or object seems in someone’s mind, the less flexible they are in thinking of it as a moldable construct.    

Secondly, achieving psychological distance requires avoiding habitual patterns. The more perfunctory a routine becomes, the narrower the vision of its agent. When avoiding habitual patterns, one’s experiences not only broaden their vision, encounters with stimuli become less concrete, and therefore more malleable. A Utah content marketing expert would fare better hiring a well-traveled and spontaneous copywriter than someone with a regimented schedule. 

Before one deems these strategies too difficult to implement in their routines, it is possible to stimulate creativity in a place you frequent often — such as the advertising office. Just because you work in one place every day does not mean you can’t change the experience you have inside its walls on a daily basis. Keep your desk changing, answer the phone with a different hand, eat lunch at a different time, sit somewhere else; the variants of experience are unlimited even within the confines of a work place. A Utah advertising agency that understands these concepts will foster more creativity than otherwise.

However, one place in particular seems to be excellent in stimulating creativity. Ever wonder why so many writers and artists frequent coffee shops? Coffitivity, a website that promotes coffee shops and creativity, notes how a light buzz of music or background activity can spurn the development of ideas. Utah content marketing strategists and Utah SEO specialists may begin frequenting these places once they read Coffitivity’s study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

James O’Connor is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

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Helpful Facebook Secrets

These days, social media marketing is bigger and bigger. Marketing companies from Utah to Virginia and all over America are utilizing networks like Facebook and other social media. For the average Internet user, Facebook is pretty easy to navigate. However, there are a couple of tricks that can make your life easier when on this social network. And if you’re in the marketing industry, these tricks can be essential. 

Some of your friends on your Facebook are co-workers, conservative in-laws or even snoopy neighbors — all of whom would be sorely offended if you ever de-friend them outright. Nevertheless, you do not want these individuals seeing certain … suggestive photos from Harold’s Halloween party last week. You can use Facebook’s “Lists” feature by clicking ‘Account,’ then ‘Edit Friends’ and then ‘Create a List.’ After that, you can simply go to Privacy Settings, go to ‘Customize Settings’ and enter the name of the group under ‘Hide.’ The rest is up to you. You can even click ‘Preview my Profile’ and enter the name of a friend to check how your profile will look to them. 

One of the most useful links for Facebook is inviting friends to an event. When your friend count gets upwards of 100 people, individually clicking on each person can be dead boring, if not downright frustrating. So here is a super helpful code when you want to invite all your friends on Facebook to an event:

javascript:var x=document.getElementsByTagName("input");for(var i=0;i<x.length;i++) {if (x[i].type == 'checkbox') {x[i].click();}}

You can also turn your own profile picture into an emoji. Simply take your username (usually the last part of your Facebook URL) and type it in double brackets. Then it will show up as a little emoticon of you. With a couple keywords, you can also search for people who aren’t your friends, say at a marketing agency. For example, simply type ‘randos who work at Utah Department of Commerce’ and you’ll get results of individuals you aren’t friends with. Talk about social media networking. 

If you are a small marketing industry in states like Utah, making your social media page easy to find is important. You can personalize your Facebook URL and thereby help your potential customers find you. Simply click ‘Account’ and then click ‘change’ next to your username. Then you can type in something you like. Be sure it’s simple and watch as it can improve your search results. 

Sara Bezdjian enjoys writing articles for Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City. When she isn’t reading or playing roller derby, you can find her eating ice cream.

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10 Fun Facts About Content Marketing 

Content marketing is continuing to grow in the advertising industry. By publishing information online, content marketing can inform consumers from Italy to Utah — even if your company is based in South Carolina. It’s amazing what a little traffic on the Internet can do for you or your business. Advertising on the Internet can be instrumental — especially for smaller companies in states like Utah. The value of content marketing is growing as technology permeates more aspects of everyday life. Here are 10 reasons why your company needs a content marketing plan. 

1. It’s Worth It

Why? Because content marketing costs 60 percent less than traditional marketing and results in about three times as many leads

2. More Effective

In fact, almost three out of four marketers consider branded content more effective than magazine ads. And 69 percent of them claim it’s better than direct mail and PR. 

3. Three Letters: ROI

About 82 percent of blogging marketers see a positive return on investment for their inbound marketing. And more than 40 percent of marketers confirm content marketing’s positive ROI. 

4. Customer Preferences

According to some statistics, buyers go through more than half the purchasing process before they ever talk to sales. 

5. Everyone’s Doing It

Well, almost. About 73 percent of business-to-business (B2B) organizations have an individual who oversees the company’s content marketing strategy. And about the same percentage (72) of adult Internet users in America are active on at least one social network.

6. The Biggest Challenges

For B2B content marketers, the biggest challenges are lack of time, producing enough content and producing engaging content. 

7. Tweet Away

More than 96 percent of major brands tweeted in 2013. 

8. And Then Tweet More

The average number of corporate Twitter accounts for a large company? 39.2

9. Top Three Tactics

The top three content marketing strategies are videos at 87 percent, online articles at 86 percent and in-person events at 85 percent. 

10. Happy Customers

Nine out of 10 customers consider content useful and nearly eight out of 10 think the organizations behind the content are trying to build good relationships.

Sara Bezdjian enjoys writing articles for Fusion 360 in Utah. When she isn’t reading or playing roller derby, you can find her eating ice cream.

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Your Employees are your Social Media Marketing

Utah marketing isn’t just about ads in the newspaper or a giant billboard near the side of I-15; the market has grown and information is available digitally with just the click of a button. The digital word of social networks has created an amazing marketing tool for Utah businesses. Now you can create a small ad, or post a link, or answer customers’ questions over social networks in just a matter of seconds.

While Utah businesses use digital marketing to help their business grown and get their name out there, one thing Utah businesses might forget is that they have employees who have their own personal accounts. Business News Daily says “Most businesses today have company Facebook and Twitter profiles, and many have even created accounts on LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram as part of their social media marketing strategies. But the employees of those businesses have their own personal social profiles too. If your staff isn’t using their profiles – particularly LinkedIn and Twitter – as branding tools for your company, you may be missing out on a big marketing opportunity.” Your business needs to have a face, and people trust faces they know — more often your employees than your logo.

Employees play a huge role in a Utah business, and can play an even bigger role in the digital marketing world. Once your business hires someone, they are your employee and they are representing you and your business. What they post to their personal profiles can come back and hit you in two ways: it can either help you and your business or it can hurt you and your business. Digitally, information is easy to access, so you employees should conduct themselves on social media the same way they would in the office.

Business News Daily also gives three keys you can do to help your business have a good social media standing. 

“Create high-quality profiles. A high-quality profile shows both the employee and your brand in the best possible light. It’s more than having a professional photo and filling in all of the profile fields. Employee profiles should use consistent language to name and describe your company. They should hit key marketing messages, and include links to your businesses website and job posting.”

“Build a relevant network. When it comes to networks, relevance matters more than size. Employees should connect with customers, partners and prospects whom they really know.”

“Engage connections with valuable content. Share interesting and timely news stories, blog posts, videos, journal reports, white papers, etc.”

Taylor Hatch is a writer for Fusion 360.

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The Best Social Media Campaigns of 2013

Although individuals who work in a Utah Advertising agency are among the elites of content marketing campaigns and SEO strategies, they are not unwilling to be fast-followers and learn from incredible works of digital marketing that took place outside the state of Utah. Many of the loftiest marketing achievements of 2013 occurred through social media campaigns. Here’s the proverbial campaign countdown, containing brilliance that others will strive to emulate in 2014: 

8. Go Pro’s Fireman Saves Kitten’s Life: Utah SEO experts are astounded that this campaign was created without an agency, as it went viral within 24 hours, sweeping the digital marketing world by storm with 12 million views. 

Watch here.

7. Heineken’s Departure Roulette: Heineken representatives enter an airport and challenge many a passerby to forget their plans and travel to an unexpected location with them. Garnering more than 5 million YouTube views, 7,000 Facebook likes and 5,000 tweets, Utah digital marketing experts are wondering why mom told us to avoid going places with strangers. 

Watch here.

6. Wendy’s Tweet at Buzz Feed: Long after Wendy’s birth as the company’s mascot, redheads were disparaged throughout the globe. To her company’s benefit, she had a lot to say about these transgressions. Taking a break from burger promotion, she enumerated on the 18 most offensive things said about redheads. 

See here.

5. Kohl’s Show Your Joe: Although Utah advertising agencies played no role in producing this campaign, it made them chuckle. A newfound clothing pastiche, men dance with tuxedos and boxers, generating 16 million YouTube views.

Watch here.  

4. Water is life #FirstWorldProblems: This nonprofit took a colloquialism and used it to not only cultivate empathy among differing worlds, but also to establish awareness of the world’s water shortage. If you’re a nonprofit getting 2.5 million views on YouTube, you’re not something to scoff at.   

Watch here.

3. Human Rights Campaign’s Marriage Equality: The company changed its Facebook logo to red, supporting Proposition 8 for marriage equality, which got others to change their Facebook photos as well. This sterling photo was seen 9 million times and accumulated 70,000 shares.  

See it here.

2. Kmart’s Ship My Pants: Making for the 4th most popular ad of the year, it garnered three million shares on Facebook and has been viewed 20 million times on YouTube. A brand that was in dire need of resuscitation, this campaign made Kmart relevant again.

Watch here.

1. Dove’s real beauty sketches: Utah content marketers are awestruck by the brilliance in this campaign. It conveys proof of customer research and even better, understanding. Exposing how we are all our own worst critics, Dove reminds us that beauty is fluid and unfixed, revealing the deepest pathos in its customers. Accruing 114 million YouTube views, it is our #1 choice for the year. 

See it here.

[fusion360blog]

Top 10 SEO Strategies Your Business Should Avoid

We are in something of an SEO red scare lately; SEO black hatters are ending up on Google’s Blacklist, while the benign white hatters are rewarded for smart digital marketing strategy by more clicks, page visits, conversion and customer engagement. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it is a tool that Utah content marketers, digital marketers and advertising agencies have learned to incorporate into their marketing plans in the past decade. But along with the emergence of any new marketing strategy, there are common flaws Utah businesses make with their SEO game plans.

1. Using the wrong keywords. It’s not enough to make an educated guess about what clients will type in search engines to find your products. Anybody claiming they know keywords without research is just another monkey throwing a dart at a stock list, one who may on occasion beat a seasoned financial expert in his predictions. Utilize tools like Google Ad Words to find essential keyword information.

2. Keyword stuffing. In Google’s nascent years, this was a common practice. Nowadays, not so much. Why? The Google bots who crawl a keyword stuffed page will consign it to the bottom of their search engine results. Don’t believe us? We wish you the best on Google’s 230th page of the search result.

3. Link stuffing. It’s OK to place several links in your content that send page visitors to additional content that is relevant to your business, but do not stuff your page with links in the same way you should not stuff your page with keywords.

4. Cloaking. This is another black hat SEO tactic where the page content a user would view is different from the information a Google bot would see while crawling the page. The bot is the new sheriff in Internet town, and you do not want to anger him or your Utah business will be dragged to the depths of content marketing and digital marketing hell — being banished from Google’s spotlight.

5. Failing to put keywords in URLs. Not a great idea. If a potential customer cannot roughly tell what your page is about from the URL, then your SEO visibility won’t be as clear for a Utah-based customer as it should be.  

6. Link buying. This involves purchasing links to well-developed SEO content that relate to your product. In the end, link buying is a lot like buying a Gordon Hayward jersey and trying to pose as him before a Utah Jazz paparazzi; nobody will believe you.

7. Links from non-credible sources. If other companies with less-than-credible clout are linking back to your page, you are guilty by association. After all, who wants a vote of confidence from a source that Google throws by the wayside?

8. Failing to measure analytics. Keeping track of your SEO efforts is crucial, and there’s no shortage of Utah-based companies who aren’t realizing this. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger pumped iron without measuring his biceps? Forget about it. And remember, lots of web traffic is a good thing, but converting customers is the gold standard of SEO success.

9. Duplicating content. This is a lazy way to make keywords and page links relevant. Better yet, Google has never had an easier time detecting this artifice.

10. Keyword dilution. Putting too many of the same keywords or combinations of sentences containing keywords can make it obvious to readers — and Google bots — what you’re doing. Be sure to utilize as many different yet relevant keywords as possible. 

Marcus McReynolds is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.

[fusion360blog]

Principles for marketing your small business

Utah is a small business hotbed, chock full of entrepreneurial people willing to test their mettle in the market. But even a high degree of vigor will be fruitless without understanding the best practices of content marketing, digital marketing and SEO. As Utah increasingly bustles with small business ventures, small businesses need to keep several marketing principles in mind.

If your business is a niche market, try to be that market’s harbinger of information and set a precedent of growing your business through the informational outlets that content marketing provides. If your product is a new idea with few competitors, your content should give you an opportunity to define what traits are desirable in your products — a huge advantage. 

Also, allowing your customers to create their own content and cultivate a relationship with your company’s brand is essential. As a small business owner, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide you an opportunity to let people interact freely with your brand without letting you lose control over what is seen and how it is portrayed by other page viewers. Creating content in these media that draws readers to your page will also boost your Utah-based SEO relevance.

Although this strategy brings a Utah small business half circle with its content marketing strategy, more formal and newsworthy forms of publicity are important as well. Think about ways your business can create newsworthy content and distribute it through a newswire. If the story is high quality, larger publications may ask to feature it in their work. Sponsor a scholarship, assist another organizations whose ambitions coincide with your own, or do something a journalist would find interest in covering.

As a small business, research and development dollars may be scarce, but making your best possible effort to discover who your customers are and what they are like is crucial, especially if your business is new. Studying psychographic, demographic and geographic trends will help guide content marketing efforts and ensure they are not vested in the wrong places, people or perceptions.

With Utah digital marketing becoming more relevant, keeping these things in mind will help guide business owners through the labyrinthine Internet, and its evolving coterie of companies contributing to the ever-expanding brand-scape. Even with rapid strategy development, these plans will help for years to come.

Sean Walker is a writer at Fusion 360 in Salt Lake City.