Interesting dynamics for the marketing world (something I've been arguing for since "influencer marketing" became a thing years ago) as we continue to see re-evaluations of things like Google Ads and social media marketing as well. The landscape is changing rapidly and I've been on a ton of strategy calls with clients lately trying to … Continue reading Rise of OnlyFans, Decline of Influencer Marketing
Category: Marketing
Google Slashing Marketing Budget
Read the tea leaves, folks. Things aren't "re-opening" anytime soon. This is a long term situation and those at the top of the food chain are very much aware of the coming choppy waters... Google is slashing its marketing budgets by as much as half for the second half of the year, according to internal … Continue reading Google Slashing Marketing Budget
Google’s Ads Updates in Search Results
We manage a number of Google Ads campaigns for clients. We've definitely noticed an uptick in desktop CTR's since the updates (same as what happened with mobile last year). But a Google Ads campaign is only as good as the conversions it drives. If the quality tanks b/c of more junk clicks, ad spends will … Continue reading Google’s Ads Updates in Search Results
The Problem with Trying to Do Your Own Email Marketing
Web designers always bemoan online website creators like Wix and Squarespace for making it too easy to build a website and undercutting their own trade (and pricing). We've certainly battled with that at Harrelson Co over the years, especially given that our main client base is made of nonprofits, churches, small businesses, and generally those … Continue reading The Problem with Trying to Do Your Own Email Marketing
Own Your Own Name
Very much agree... As for the future, I believe owning your domain name will become increasingly important and that experiences like mine will become more commonplace. Source: How I Finally Won My Name from Domain Squatters After 9 Years of Waiting
Intelligent Voice First Interactive Advertising
"We are in very early days of the Voice First revolution and Intelligent Voice First interactive advertisements along with true Voice Commerce will form the new backbone to Voice First AI just as pay-per-click and shopping carts formed the last revolution. In the next 10 years “Dumb Pipes” of audio and video channels that do … Continue reading Intelligent Voice First Interactive Advertising
NASCAR’s Social Media Leaderboard
Marketing and NASCAR are two of my longtime passions (lots of overlap on that Venn Diagram)... so I couldn't resist sharing these stats. Interesting to note that Danica retired from NASCAR after this year's Daytona 500... that doesn't say very good things about the health of the sport from a marketing perspective. Kyle Busch led … Continue reading NASCAR’s Social Media Leaderboard
It’s not a bucket – Seth Godin
Drip by drip is how we build things, but we can’t see it. One more “no,” one more failure, one more lesson learned. — Read on seths.blog/2018/11/its-not-a-bucket/
Instagram Stories for Churches and Nonprofits
More and more of my clients on the nonprofit and church side are asking about Instagram Stories and experimenting with them in some form to help with outreach. Like anything on the web or mobile, it's always fun to dive in and try things out. But there's no need to reinvent the wheel if you're … Continue reading Instagram Stories for Churches and Nonprofits
NASCAR’s Marketing Decline
I've been a fan of NASCAR since I was a small child (runs in the family) and got to experience the peak of the sport in the early 2000's. Sponsors and money and TV deals were rolling in and it was just an exciting time to follow races despite the gimmicks that NASCAR leadership started … Continue reading NASCAR’s Marketing Decline
Do Facebook Ads Really Work?
Within the advertising industry, the debate about whether advertising works on Facebook is not new. A survey last year showed over 60 percent of small business owners felt advertising on Facebook was ineffective. The lawsuit takes it a step further, saying Facebook is misleading advertisers. Source: Does Facebook Really Work? People Question Effectiveness Of Ads … Continue reading Do Facebook Ads Really Work?
Keyword Research Tips
Good overview of keyword research here. Too many people neglect the usefulness of thinking through important terms and keywords in their web site's content or blog posts. If you ask a Googler how to rank better in their search engine, they'll tell you to "write great content." That's true but deliberately thinking about your "main … Continue reading Keyword Research Tips
Personal Branding (Not Selling Out)
I'm not a huge fan of the "personal brand" phrase, but I do appreciate how David Bowie (a constructed name and a series of constructed personas) was a "personal brand" of sorts and never in a band (besides those three Tin Machine albums in the early '90s that we won't talk about here). Same with … Continue reading Personal Branding (Not Selling Out)
An observation on “Church ‘Marketing’”
Hyperbole aside, this is ridiculous. It's called the gospel. Marketing is not a negative phrase or concept that churches or religious orgs should shy away from. "Navel-gazing" and "not spreading the word," however, are according to the Gospels. The marketing of the church is an invention of the Antichrist. If you have to 'sell' your … Continue reading An observation on “Church ‘Marketing’”
Church Marketing and Political Issues
Six-in-ten religiously unaffiliated Americans – adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – say the questioning of religious teachings is a very important reason for their lack of affiliation. The second-most-common reason is opposition to the positions taken by churches on social and political issues, cited by 49% of … Continue reading Church Marketing and Political Issues
Churches and nonprofits shouldn’t focus on attribution as a social media goal
For years, marketers have tried to attribute social directly to sales, but industry standards and consumer data reveal that their true focus should be expanding awareness and consideration.Think long-term, not quick fix. Think relationships, not attribution. Source: The 2018 Sprout Social Index | Sprout Social The biggest mistake I see churches and nonprofits make when … Continue reading Churches and nonprofits shouldn’t focus on attribution as a social media goal
What to do about the end of auto-sharing to Facebook profiles and creating episodic social media content
If you auto-share items from your site to Facebook (blog posts for example), you'll want to take note of the big changes coming this week. Many people, nonprofits, small businesses, churches etc use the built-in social media auto-sharing features on platforms such as WordPress or Squarespace or Wix or Weebly etc to share content to Facebook, Twitter, … Continue reading What to do about the end of auto-sharing to Facebook profiles and creating episodic social media content
Churches Should Realize That Branding is Dead
As with many things to do with marketing and messaging, churches are way behind the curve when realizing that relationships are much more powerful than advertisements or fancy branding. Marketing data points have already moved larger brands to this realization but there's still a large vacuum in the world of nonprofit and religious org marketing … Continue reading Churches Should Realize That Branding is Dead
Video at every stage of the customer journey
Holistic marketing campaigns that are based on customer journeys and utilize a mixture of text, video, and image based ads have always been the vehicle for real results if you had enough budget. It's great to see Google (YouTube) helping to make this reachable for nonprofits, community groups, and religious orgs with a limited budget … Continue reading Video at every stage of the customer journey
Harrelson Agency and Google’s New Responsive Search Ads
At Harrelson Agency, we manage a number of Google Ads campaigns (formerly AdWords as of July 24, 2018) for clients. Simply put, there's really no better way to drive web traffic to a site or a landing page regardless of your budget, size, or goal. Whether you're selling stuff, raising awareness, or trying to get more … Continue reading Harrelson Agency and Google’s New Responsive Search Ads