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Highlighting Your Woman-Run Business in March

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Marketing

March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of women throughout history. If you are a woman who runs a business, it’s an excellent opportunity to highlight your achievements and showcase your business! We’ve put together some tips on highlighting your Woman-Run Business in March.

Share Your Story

Your story is unique, inspiring, and essential to your business. Use this month to share your story on social media and your website. You can write a blog post, create a video, or even host a live stream where you share your journey, your struggles, and your successes. Share your passion for your business and dedication to making it successful. 

Collaborate with Other Women-Run Businesses 

Collaborating with other women-run businesses can help you reach a new audience and create new opportunities for your business. You can create a joint promotion or even host an event together. Look for businesses in your industry or niche and reach out to see if they would be interested in collaborating with you. 

Offer Special Deals or Discounts

March is a great time to offer special deals or discounts to your customers. You can create a Women’s History Month promotion and offer a discount or a special package to celebrate women in business. This will attract new customers and show your current customers that you appreciate their support!

Highlight Your Customers

Your customers are the heart of your business, and Women’s History Month is an excellent opportunity to celebrate them. You can feature your customers on social media, your website, or your store. Ask your customers to share their stories and tag your business; you can feature them on your social media pages. This will create a sense of community and show that you value your customers. 

Host an Event

Hosting an event is a great way to showcase your business and connect with your customers. You can host a Women’s History Month event, such as a workshop or panel discussion, and invite other women-run businesses to participate. This will create an opportunity for you to network, showcase your business, offer advice to other business owners, and provide value to your customers.

Celebrate your accomplishments and inspire other women to follow their dreams this March! Your followers would love to hear your story and all the amazing things you have accomplished.

Maybe you don’t have time to set up a campaign this month. Don’t worry; we can help!

Smart Marketing Advertising Agency is a woman-run business in Anderson, South Carolina. We can help you set up a campaign showcasing your business and all its accomplishments this month and moving forward! Call us today if you’re ready to take your marketing to the next level – 864.224.6002

How to Market Your Business for Valentine’s Day

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories ad agency, Marketing

It’s time to love your business a little extra this February! Smart Marketing Advertising Agency is here to share some tips you will fall in LOVE with this February! 

The Valentine’s Day industry has consistently brought in over $20 billion in revenue in the past couple of years, so taking advantage of the holiday of love can be extremely beneficial to your business. Whether you offer a service or own an e-commerce business, these tips can be used!

Running a Campaign

If you are looking to either push your business, offer specials or discounts, or sell limited Valentine’s merchandise, then running a campaign for the first two weeks of February is a must for your social media! Run your campaign with curated content from designed graphics, and photos of your products, or add Valentine imagery to your feed that promotes you and your business. This can go on past Valentine’s Day since most couples celebrate well into the month!

Giveaways or Valentine’s Deals

Add to the excitement by running a giveaway for your product/service to consumers looking for a deal or a gift for their loved ones this month. This will keep your followers intrigued, draw potential customers to your page, and drive engagement with your page. This can be for a product, date night, or even a gift card!

SEO

This month is the perfect opportunity to use SEO to drive engagement, views, and clicks. Use keyword searches for what people will be searching. “February” and other Valentine’s Day words are important to implement into your blogs, hashtags, and holiday-specific promotions on your pages. 

Here are popular Valentine’s hashtags that you can implement: 

#valentine #love #valentinesday #valentines #valentineday #valentinegift #gift #valentinesgift #valentinesdaygift #happyvalentinesday #handmade #gifts

 

Be Smart this month and take advantage of the Valentine’s Day market! You will LOVE the results!

At Smart Marketing, we want to be an extension of your team in all things marketing. Everything from web design to SEO, logo design, digital, Google, and social media advertising, print, and media marketing. We do it all! We are a full-service marketing and advertising agency located in Anderson, SC serving our local area and nationwide clients. Call us today if you are ready to take the next step! 

864-224-6002 | thinksmartmarketing.net 

Keeping Up Your Instagram Insights

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Marketing, social media marketing

Billions of people around the world use Instagram every day. Most spend an average of 28 minutes on the app per day. That is plenty of time for your brand to reach them.

You may be posting on Instagram, but is your content making a difference in your engagement and reaching potential consumers? At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we specialize in all things social media, so we’ve put together some tips for you to keep up your Instagram insights in 2023!

Keep Track of Your Insights

If you’re interested in engagement and followers, it’s important to keep track of your insights on Instagram. To access your insights, your Instagram profile must be converted into a business account. Once complete, you’ll have full access to your account’s data.

Before we continue, there are a few keywords you will want to understand:

  • Metrics are the number of interactions on a post. Using metrics, you can start to understand the importance of other data on your insights tab.
  • Rate metrics give you a percentage figure to help understand your growth over a certain amount of time. So, for example, your interaction rate is the percentage of your followers that have interacted with your post, story, or reel.
  • Growth metrics show you the increase or decrease of a metric over a certain amount of time. For example, you can see if your followers have increased or decreased over a certain period.

Change Your Posting Day or Time

There is no “perfect time” to post on Instagram, but each account has an ideal time for posting. With Insights, you can find your ideal posting time based on your audience’s habits and your past performance. You can view the days your followers are most active, and the average times they are on Instagram per day. Using this data, you can post when a majority of your followers are online to ensure the most engagement.

Adjust Your Content

You can find your top Instagram stories and posts on Instagram Insights based on impressions, reach, and engagement. Look at your top posts and see if you notice any common trends! Usually, your audience will be able to show you 

Experiment with New Content

When all else fails – try something new! It never hurts to change up your strategy and post different content than you have in the past. You can even try different types of content such as Instagram reels and stories, or use Instagram live. 

At the end of the day, keeping track of your Instagram insights is a full-time job – that’s what we’re here for. 

At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we are a full-service marketing and advertising agency located in Anderson, SC serving our local area and nationwide clients. We want to be an extension of your team in all things marketing. From social media advertising, and web design to SEO, logo design, digital, Google, and print and media marketing – we do it all!

Give us a call today at 864.224.6002 or email our Director of Client Relations, Sarah Mosteller, at smosteller@smartmarketingsc.com if you’re ready to implement a new marketing strategy!

2023 Graphic Design Trends

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Graphic Design

In the recovery of the pandemic, we have seen a lot of abstract and nostalgic based design trends that display designers’ need for comfort and familiarity, but include an experimental twist on trend revivals. Though these trends have been around in the past year, they are still evolving and being experimented with. All of these designs’ similarities feature an untraditional and/or organic display of vivid color and bold compositions. 

Print Effects

Print effects are the use of grainy print texture and double exposure (or overprint), to create more depth to abstract shapes and minimalist concepts. This type of design can take flat shapes and compositions, and create complex subjects.

By: Brad Hansen

Botanicals and Organic Shapes

Botanicals and organic shapes are great for backgrounds and patterns and have become increasingly abstract and hand-sketched-looking. The natural effect and contrasting colors give the design a whimsical element, which gives the digitally created lines an organic-looking composition.

By: Maggie Enterrios

Anti-Design

An untraditional and experimental approach to compositions, fonts, and coloring – Anti-Design has grown in popularity in the past couple of years and has shown no sign of slowing down. With artists continuing to create unique typography or texture overlays, this design features punk and hand-made elements that emulate a grungy and bold aesthetic, with contrasting fonts and vivid colors. 

By: Ewelina Kotra

Retro Flat Cartoon

Retro flat cartoon is an emulation of 70’s flat cartoon design, featuring vividly colored subjects with borders, and reimagined vintage typography and coloring. It’s a resurgence with a bang – bold, brightly colored, and youthful.

By: Christina Moreland

All these design trends rise and fall in popularity each year. At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we stay on top of the most recent trends to help your company stay up-to-date and modern! 

At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we are a full-service marketing and advertising agency located in Anderson, SC serving our local area and nationwide clients. We want to be an extension of your team in all things marketing. From social media advertising, and web design to SEO, logo design, digital, Google, and print and media marketing – we do it all!

Give us a call today at 864.224.6002 or email our Director of Client Relations, Sarah Mosteller, at smosteller@smartmarketingsc.com if you’re ready to implement a new marketing strategy!

A Smart Start to the New Year

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Marketing, marketing agency

The new year is rolling around, and it is important to keep your business updated and fresh. In this day and age of the internet, marketing has become a fast-growing field, and this year is no different. The internet is the most important tool to find reliable sources and businesses. 

Having a well-designed website is a key part of keeping up your internet profile. Your website is what drives all of your traffic, and where future and present clients can learn about what you do as a business. Potential clients are able to find all your basic information from your website, so maintaining your information and having it easily digestible helps clients easily navigate your website and find your socials.

Your logo reflects your brand and is vital to your website. Your brand identity is what people know you by when they see it on signs, shirts, or any other branding. Making sure your logo is unique and stands out is important in making sure you are remembered when people need your specific type of service. Having a clean updated logo will keep your brand in the minds of clients when they need your specific service.

Digital branding is an important step in social media marketing. Exciting and interesting content that pertains to your brand and your services can create traffic for your social media platforms, and create new clients for your business. It is important your social media is tailored to your desired clientele, and maintains traction in your business. Social media is the best tool for your growth and recognition, as there are various ways you can utilize its features to reach your targeted audience.

Physical branding is essential to your business’s recognition. The use of well-made business cards, t-shirts, billboards, and other various merchandise is how everyday items will display your brand and its identity. Having a strong and consistent brand that displays your logo, coloring, and fonts will make your business stand out to potential clients through everyday merchandise. 

Be smart this year with your business strategy and branding! It can be difficult to sustain your social media savvy practices, but putting yourself on the right track is essential to the growth of your business. Implementing any of these tips this new year will be a great start to your growth.

At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we are a full-service marketing and advertising agency located in Anderson, SC serving our local area and nationwide clients. We want to be an extension of your team in all things marketing. From web design to SEO, logo design, digital, Google, social media advertising, and print and media marketing – we do it all! Start your new year the smart way, with Smart Marketing. 

A Smart Start to the New Year!  

Marketing and Advertising Agency located in Anderson, SC

Holiday Social Tips for Your Business

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories advertising

The Holidays are right around the corner, and now is the time for your business to drive engagement with the excitement and buzz of the season. Holiday related hashtags and posts will be growing on social media platforms, making this a great time to use social media as a tool to drive your engagement. Here are some tips on how to own this season and curate an engaging feed!

Community

This season is about coming together and spreading joy. Here are some ideas that encompass holiday cheer: 

  • Collaborating with local artists and businesses on events or products is a great way to double the exposure of both businesses. 
  • Post flyers and social media graphics of upcoming events that your business is hosting or attending.
  • Showcase photos and social media graphics of small businesses to encourage shopping locally!

Promotional Items

‘Tis the season of giving! Advertise your holiday sales, local charity events, or giveaways with intriguing graphics, photos and captions.

  • Now is the time shoppers are looking for discounts- use this to interest potential customers with your holiday deals!
  • Use local charity events and fundraisers as an opportunity to get involved with the community and get your name out there.
  • Organize a calendar countdown giveaway to engage with your followers. Host a giveaway for a week or two, and give away a gift to one of your followers for every consecutive day of the countdown!

Holiday Inspiration

Use your page as inspiration for the upcoming Holidays with gift and decoration ideas, recipes, and DIYS that relate to your product or service.

  • Show off your product or service as a great gift idea.
  • Create DIY videos or picture walk-throughs that relate to your product or service to inspire creativity.
  • Post videos and pictures for an end-of-year recap.
  • Make sure to use popular Holiday hashtags to increase your engagement.

This Holiday season is the time to take initiative and step up your social media marketing technique! If you’re interested in taking your marketing to the next level, contact us at Smart Marketing Advertising Agency! We are a full service marketing agency located in Anderson, SC helping businesses with website design, logo design, digital and social media marketing, graphic design, SEO, branding, and so much more!

Anderson’s Annual Ladies Jet Ski Crawl

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories anderson

It is that time of year again, for the 4th annual Ladies Jet Ski Crawl benefiting the Cancer Association of Anderson. The event is hosted on Lake Hartwell by Grand South Bank. This unique event is hosted every year by Laura Thompson, a commercial banker and the SVP of Grand South Bank, and a group of ladies to raise money for the Cancer Association of Anderson. The event starts on August 5th at 1 pm on Party Island. Then they will ride their jet skis, boats are welcome, to The Grill at Clemson Marina where the registered riders will have an all expenses paid for lunch sponsored by Grand South Bank. After lunch, they will head back to the island to hang out for the rest of the day. This is a day for ladies to socialize, network, and relax all while raising money for a wonderful cause.

 

      

 

The ride was imagined by a group of ladies who live on the lake and participate in other events that take place on the lake. These ladies envisioned a day where they could spend time together, drive their watercraft, and meet new people. Other events raise money for many wonderful organizations in this area, “why can’t we do the same for a cause that directly affects many women that we know and love”.

With 16 plus years of service, the Cancer Association of Anderson is the only local cancer association, and they have made it their mission to help with the burden of Cancer on the Anderson residents. The cancer association supports Anderson residents through these difficult times in their life. The women of the jet ski crawl felt that breast cancer would be a good cause because it directly affects 1 in every 8 women. Thanks to the Cancer Association of Anderson, women in our area are able to get the finacle support needed to lessen the hardships and stress with their diagnosis.

 

Smart Marketing of Anderson, SC

Logos • Websites • Social Media Marketing

What Are The Best Ways To Reach Your Target Audience On Social Media?

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Uncategorized

Social media – the best way to get your business across to all types of people through multiple platforms. But the real question is: how do you help your account find the right people? People who need or want your business? It’s important to find out what your audience reacts to best and what they find most interesting so you can keep them coming back. There are a few ways to find out what your audience likes the most, and we are here to help you get started. 

What is a targeted audience?

A social media target audience is a group of people your business wants to appeal to. It might be their age, income level, job title, location, or behavior you are targeting. Your targeted audience are people who you believe are interested in your product or service.

Create a buyer’s persona.

A buyer’s persona is a detailed description of a person who represents your targeted audience. This person is fake, but the persona is based on research on your existing target audience. This helps your company get a better understanding of what your customers like and want. This will make it easier to create your posts, messages, products, and services. This will help you target different groups of people based on their likes and habits.

Find where your audience is most active.

There are a lot of different social media platforms, and it can be very difficult trying to decide which one is right for your business. Facebook markets to people in their 30s and 40s, and Tik Tok markets to young adults and teens. So how do we decide what platform is best for you? We have to break down your target audience. Are you reaching out to first-time home buyers? Or possibly reaching out to people who need legal help. What are the average ages of these people? Every platform caters to different people, and that’s why you need to find what platforms are right for you and your business.

Look at your competitors.

Studying your competitors’ social media can also give you valuable information. Their target audience is very similar to yours, so you can see what their audience reacts to the most and what posts get their attention. This will help you gain more followers on your platform with your targeted audience, and also helps you learn how to keep your audience interested in your business, service, or product.

 

Smart Marketing of Anderson, SC

Logos • Websites • Social Media Marketing

TikTok for Marketing

Should Your Business Use TikTok?

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories Uncategorized

TikTok for Marketing

 

With more than a billion active monthly users, TikTok is an extremely popular social media platform. And although it is particularly popular with younger demographics, its target age range is 13 to 60. For this reason, the platform presents a unique and somewhat untapped opportunity to boost your company’s social media marketing to a broad and booming segment.

While many businesses are still getting familiar with other social networks, like Instagram and Facebook, we want to encourage you to get ahead of the pack and try marketing your business on TikTok. We’re going to give you some ideas on how to do just that.

Use Trending Sounds to Boost Your Brand on TikTok

TikTok thrives on trending sounds — reusable audio clips that can be added to other videos. Often, these repurposed bits of audio come from a popular song, a movie, or a viral video. Then users make fun and entertaining videos of their own using the audio.

We encourage our clients to be part of these trends, associating their businesses and online marketing with a particular trending TikTok sound. But keep in mind that lots of people, and even businesses, may be using that same sound, so think of creative ways to use it that will make your brand stand out.

Also, keep in mind that trending sounds are always changing in TikTok, so make sure you act fast — make your TikTok before the trend fades and always be thinking of new ideas. A great way to do this is to frequently scroll through the FYP (For You Page) on TikTok. You’re most likely to find the popular trends there.

Find The Right Balance

Now, you may be wondering why a business would want to create a TikTok using the same audio that thousands, if not millions, of other people are using. The key is to be part of the trend but stand out at the same time. You also want to maintain the integrity of your business while not coming across as boring or unappealing. The best way to do this is to find a healthy balance between TikToks that are informative and those that are fun and humorous.

In other words, if there’s TikTok audio trending of a dog barking, use that audio to make a funny video for your business. Perhaps one featuring your office pet? Then follow it up with an informative TikTok Introducing your business — what you do, the company’s mission statement, who the employees are.

You can also use the informative TikToks to tell a brief story of how your business was founded and the progression of how it got to where it is today.

Here are some other ideas for TikToks:

  • Give a step-by-step tutorial about something relating to your business (e.g. How you package your products, how you prepare for an appointment or meeting, how you create a product)
  • Make fun TikToks that show the lighthearted side of your business (e.g. What your employees like to eat for lunch, what their workspaces look like, have one of them do a “takeover” of the company’s TikTok)
  • Encourage your followers to respond to your videos in the comments section and make sure to answer any questions they have. Interacting with your viewers is crucial. They are likely current or prospective customers.

At Smart Marketing Advertising Agency, we help our clients utilize digital marketing tools like TikTok and other social media platforms. Located in Anderson, South Carolina, we have been helping businesses with marketing for more than a decade now, and we would love to do the same for you. We are a full-service marketing agency. We can help you with your logo and website design, your social media presence, and even print and large media ads.

Contact us today for full-service marketing solutions!

The Lasting Impact of Quarantine on Marketing Today

Author Smart Marketing of SC Categories ad agency, advertising, Marketing, marketing agency, social media marketing

When COVID -19 shut down the world as we knew it, many businesses didn’t know what this would mean for their future. They had to change the way they ran in order to meet guidelines and keep their employees safe. Many switched to curbside pickup and contactless delivery, which are still very popular today even with most of America now back up and running. 

But what did Quarantine mean for marketing? 

As people were cooped up at home to stay safe, they spent more time online leading marketing to evolve to meet them there. 

According to research, the time spent online during lockdown saw an increase from the year 2019 to 2021, from 56 minutes to 65 minutes, respectively. The amount of social media users worldwide also increased by 11% between the years 2019 and 2021, from roughly 3.4 billion to 3.78 billion, according to the same study.

What were people doing online during this extra time?

The amount of time people spent watching videos in 2020 increased by 85%, making video the most popular type of content for the past two years. Quarantine saw the rise of the popular app TikTok, where a variety of videos, ranging from educational to funny, can be found on just about any topic.

According to Forbes, YouTube was also a staple for many bored-at-home internet users, seeing an increase from 73% of Americans frequenting their site to 81%

 

When are people getting online?

The pandemic also changed peoples’ habits when it came to what time they chose to get on social media. Research shows that now the best times to post on Facebook are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10-11 AM, and the best times to post on Instagram are now Tuesday at 11 AM or 2 PM, and Friday at 11 AM. 

All of these changes resulting from the pandemic have led social media to become the number one channel for marketing. Users like to see lighthearted or inspirational content from brands relevant to their interests, and social media likes to make it easy to find these people for any brand! If you need help pivoting your business towards this new marketing strategy, we’re here to help. 

 

Smart Marketing has been successfully helping businesses market their products and services for over 10 years. We can help you with anything marketing related from logo design, social media management, website design to large media buys for professionally shot videos.

 

Smart Marketing Advertising Agency

Anderson, South Carolina

Logo Design • Website Design • Digital Marketing

 

 

 

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