The Rapid Shift Killed Human-Centered Economics—Here’s How To Fix It
These days, just about every element of our lives exists in some form online. It's where we learn, work, socialize, and, yes, shop. But somewhere between landing on a site and clicking "Add to Cart," the shopping experience's human element gets lost. And if the...
How To Make User Experience Your Most Valuable Brand Asset
Think about the websites you visit regularly. The brands you support and the products you choose to keep around the house or the office. What do they all have in common? Our guess: they’ve figured out how to leverage the user experience to keep you coming back. Are...
4 Packaging Design Trends That Today’s Consumers Are So Ready For
Scrolling through Amazon or strolling down an actual aisle— packaging design affects our purchasing decisions. Packaging isn’t just a vehicle that gets products safely from store to home, it’s part of the product experience. And thoughtful packaging is one more...
Branding Agencies, 230, and Free Speech
Parler's recent shutdown shows how much free speech protections are in the hands of technology. On January 9, Apple and Google removed Parler from the App Store and Android's Marketplace. This move prevented new users from downloading the app. The following day,...
Move Over Wi-Fi. How the 5G Network Is Already Impacting the Digital Marketing Space
When you think of “the Cloud,” you might picture your documents, photos, and music floating around cyberspace waiting for you to access them from device to device. The 5G network is the latest wireless advancement that uses the Cloud to make things faster and easier...
The Future of Sales? Socially Distanced E-Commerce and Keeping Customers Safe
Click, scroll, buy, repeat. If that mantra seems to resonate with you and your consumer behaviors over most of 2020 (and now into 2021), then you already know a thing or two about e-commerce. But if you’re on the flip side of the shopping cart trying to create a...
A Lookback On Our Favorite Digital Marketing Ad Campaigns from 2020
We’ve all seen it by now. The slowly panning, wide-angle shot of empty streets and playgrounds. The tremulous, somber piano notes. And the word “unprecedented,” repeated ad nauseum. And we do mean “ad” in the most literal sense of the word. In a rush to strike the...
Personalized Marketing Isn’t Going Away Any Time Soon. Are You Using It Effectively?
If you’ve ever gotten a new pet, then you’ve likely experienced personalized marketing firsthand. From the moment that new dog, cat, or hamster enters your home, somehow, the algorithm has you pegged. Suddenly, your social media feeds are flooded with ads for...
Why You Need Clear Brand Guidelines (and How a Digital Marketing Agency Can Help)
Imagine if life came with a script and stage directions. They could help you navigate social situations, guide you through difficult conversations, and even help you make big life announcements! While that’s sadly not available, you can create clear brand guidelines...
How to Use Pinterest Marketing to Multiply Your Website Traffic
Pinterest: the dark horse of social media. In its 10-year history, the online platform has amassed over 442 million active users—and the highest percentage of female users of any social media site. Plot twist: Pinterest isn’t just a social media site where women go...
Navigating Your 2020 End-of-Year Holiday Marketing Strategy
It’s that time of year again. Mariah Carey has climbed out of 1994 and back into the Top 40. You can’t get away from the sound of jingling bells, and everything on the menu comes with a side of “Christmas Cheer.” Whether you love it or loathe it, there’s no denying...
Data-Driven Storytelling: How Big Data Is Suping Up Digital Marketing
“Sometimes reality is too complex. Stories give it form.” — Jean-Luc Godard Back in 2015, the Harvard Business Review, predicted data-driven storytelling would be the next big trend in content marketing. And they weren’t talking about binary code short stories or the...
Is It Time to Hire a Digital Marketing Agency? Savy Weighs In.
Sometimes, running a business can feel like juggling chainsaws. Between sales leads, production, HR, research and development, and keeping the lights on, marketing can feel like an afterthought. But when you drop your marketing best practices, you run the risk of...
Then Versus Now: Brand Positioning Strategy in the 21st Century
Brand positioning has become increasingly important—and challenging—since the start of the 21st century. What used to be a slow dance between brands and consumers has evolved into a crowded parade akin to Carnival festival. Now consumers have more choices than ever,...
Before Seeking Out a Web Developer, Do This
Developing a new website is like renovating your house. It’s easy to get excited and jump ahead to the fun parts. But for your website to be successful, you need to start with the foundation. In other words, why are you developing this website? What’s the plan?...
Link Google Ads to the New Google Analytics to Track Like a Pro
The new Google Analytics provides customer-centric measurements instead of measurements fragmented by device and/or by platform. It uses identity spaces, including marketer-provided IDs and Google signals from users opted into ads personalization, to give you a...
Why Digital Marketing Agencies Consider PPC Services A Powerhouse
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) has become a versatile workhorse in the marketing world, working behind the scenes to boost search rankings. More than 7 million advertisers invested a total of $10.1 billion in PPC ads in 2017. Sales steadily increased in 2019 as...
Interview with the Founder: How to Achieve Business Growth Amidst a Crisis
It’s been seven months since COVID-19’s first wave and the ensuing stay-at-home orders, quarantines, and new regulations. During this time, businesses big and small have suffered the crisis’s impacts––declining sales, interest, and overall motivation. We sat down with...
What Marketing and Advertising Companies Can Expect in a More Virtual World
Digital ad spends are up—but human attention spans are down. In 2019, U.S. advertisers spent $57 billion on digital advertising, a $9.8 billion increase from 2018. Meanwhile, the average human attention span dropped from 12 to 8 seconds between 2000 and 2018. Mostly...
Taking Your WordPress Site to the Next Level and Why It Matters
There are over 200 million active websites on the internet today—and WordPress powers 38 percent of them. This puts WordPress leaps and bounds ahead of Shopify, the runner-up that currently powers just shy of 3 percent of the web. New content management systems (CMS)...
Is Your Brand Reading the Room? A Guide to Brand Messaging During Times of Change
Imagine you arrive at a party where you don’t know anyone. As you wander past groups of strangers, you take inventory of what people are wearing, how they’re interacting, and what topics they’re discussing. You read the room before you interject, instead of jumping in...
Product Branding: What It Is and How to Do It Right
We’re gonna ask you to do something a little different. Take a beat to think about the products in your bathroom. No, seriously. Envision your face wash, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo. Consider the packaging—how the colors, logos, package shapes, and even...
What 2020 SEO Trends Should Your Brand Invest In?
We’ll admit it: we’re SEO nerds. We love to follow best practices, play with optimization, and test out content that will hit the mark for your brand. And because we keep our finger on the industry pulse, we also love to follow the latest SEO trends that can get your...
How an Agency’s App Development Expertise Puts Your Brand On the Map
Imagine a world with no smartphones (or just think back thirty years). No instant gratification, one-touch results, or apps to spend endless hours scrolling. As a brand back then you had to rely on other marketing channels to connect with your audience. Now, app...
Selling Sunshine: The Art of Digital Marketing in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is a gem on California’s Central Coast. With pristine beaches, chaparral-covered mountains, and gorgeous Spanish architecture, how could it not be? This small city on the coast is also known for its diverse art and culture scene. Which makes digital...
The Importance of Implementing Stellar Email Marketing Into Your Brand
Have you ever sifted through dozens of branded emails but paused midway because a punchy subject line caught your eye? Maybe it was announcing a sale for your favorite brand, or maybe it was talking about an event or product so specific to your needs that you could...
Anyone Can Build a Website. But Should You? 7 Benefits of Custom Web Development
These days, anyone can be a businessperson-turned-web developer. Just pick a theme, input some content, and you’re live for the Internet to see. But just because you can do something, does it mean you should? (Yes, we’re going back to elementary rules). Custom web...
What’s In a Name? Company Naming Strategies That Hit the Mark
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But would its name resonate as much? And what, then, would we call rose-colored glasses or replace with “roses are red”? You see the problem. And while your brand is maybe not as well-known (yet), choosing its name is as...
Is Big Tech Too Big? Historic Antitrust Hearing Could Decide
Trust in the digital age, we’re learning, is a fragile thing. Especially when Big Tech uses Big Data. Americans seem to be split regarding the regulation of the big four––Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple––but trust, in general, is declining in the digital era. And...
The Ins and Outs of Amazon Advertising: What Makes It a Whole New Beast
When someone says you can find anything on Amazon, they’re not far off from the truth. The online retailer and juggernaut rolled out Amazon Advertising in 2008 and, since then, it’s given product-based brands another avenue to reach consumers. But how does this...
The Need for Progressive Web Apps in the Changing Brandscape
Remember that old iPhone commercial that had the catchy phrase, “There’s an app for that?” When applications began crowding screens, developers knew they were onto something. Over the years, consumer needs have changed to be primarily mobile, to have instant results,...
Why Rebranding During A Crisis Might Be Your Brand’s Best Move
If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it, right? Maybe. When it comes to a brand, just because you’ve been doing something a certain way for years doesn’t mean that’s how it should remain. But rebranding could help you reach new audiences, increase engagement, and build your...
Keep Your B2B Marketing Fresh in 2020
Since we talked about direct to consumer brands in our last blog, it only follows that we now talk about business-to-business or b2b marketing this time. If you live, breathe, and market in this category, you should be planning how to keep things fresh and optimized...
What We Can Learn From D2C Brands Like Chewy
In a consumer world that has become increasingly digitally-focused, direct-to-consumer brands are leading the pack. Brands like Chewy, Casper, and Hello Fresh are great case studies in what it means to reach those who want to purchase from you directly. So what can we...
Optimizing the Customer Experience At Every Touchpoint
If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times, brands today must go beyond traditional thinking and marketing. And at the top of this out-of-bounds thinking requirement is optimizing the customer experience. At every touchpoint, at every purchase, and every...
Lifestyle Marketing: What It Means and How to Do It
Close your eyes and think of your favorite brand. Maybe it’s that athletic company that’s inspired you since you were a kid. Or maybe it’s that makeup brand that you’ve purchased religiously since high school. Chances are if you thought of a brand you’re attached to,...
Google Dumping Third Party Cookies: How It Impacts Your Brand
While not as fun as the chocolate chip variety, third party cookies impact how your consumers browse the Internet and how you market your brand. With Google’s recent announcement to dump these cookies, you might be wondering how this will impact you. Don’t worry,...
How Custom Home Builders Can Set Their Brand Apart
Branding is an art form. It is fluid, multi-faceted, and sometimes fickle. And while some foundational principles remain true across all brands, you should always do research and adapt for your particular brand’s market. Marketers for custom home builders are one...
Embracing Human Needs: Applying Maslow’s Theory to Your Brand
Maslow’s Theory has been circulating since the 1940s, but it has never been more relevant than it is today. In a society that changes at the click of a button, it seems as if consumers are all over the map on what they want. But when you get down to it, we all have...
Consumers Are Looking Forward to the Future. Is Your Brand?
There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has changed systems around the world––including the brand landscape. Consumer behavior is a significant influencer in your marketing decisions. But as your audience starts looking toward the post-pandemic future, is your brand ready? ...
Why Give-Back Brands Thrive in Times of Crisis (And How Your Brand Can Get Involved)
People have been obsessed with the end of the world since its beginning. For ages, we’ve churned out dystopian fiction and monster movies—think Godzilla stomping across Tokyo or post-societal collapse classics like Mad Max. From a young age, we’re trained to believe...
Working from home? Here’s how to keep virtual meetings professional
Now that we’ve emerged from the longest March in recent memory (who knew one month could last five years?), many of us are settling into new routines. We’re finding new ways to power our workdays, find work-life balance, and maintain a sense of professionalism. Of...
Marketing with an Environmental Impact Mindset
If you’ve taken in any news in the last twenty years, then you are no stranger to the concept of minding your environmental impact. For brands, assessing their impact and going green can sometimes mean the difference between loyal followers and unhappy consumers. But...
Don’t @ Me: The Dos and Don’ts of Brands Interacting on Social Media
Social media is a necessary component of any brand’s marketing strategy. For some, it’s a necessary evil. For others, it’s the lifeblood of their brand voice. Whatever the case, communicating with your audience on social media is an art. So, how do you perfect this...
Marketing in the reset: COVID-19, health crises, and more
10-min 10-sec read, by Christina Brown In a short period, human and market behavior has undergone massive changes due to the rapid onset of COVID-19, or coronavirus. From running out of stock on staples to the closure of schools to cancellations of major international...
What 30 Years of Bowflex Ads Tell Us About the State of Modern Marketing
Sometimes, looking in-depth at a specific brand can give us insight into the marketing field as a whole. In the case of Bowflex, its 30-year history showcases the changing marketing industry and, even, changing cultural norms. Marketing for wellness brands––any...
COVID-19 Update: Even Google is Quiet
First of all, I and the entire Savy Agency team hope you and your loved ones are well. As you know, a global health crisis is impacting every single one of us. Our lives, our jobs, our kids' schooling, our economy—our 12-month projections—are at a halt, except for...
How Google’s Guaranteed Ads Might Impact Your Brand
Few things in the SEO space are stagnant. It seems as if once one system becomes the standard, another takes its place. Before, it was Google AdWords shaking up the industry. Now, it’s Google Guaranteed ads. So, what gives? Is this new system going to disrupt your...