Social Media Content Development Archives

Our Marketing Services

August 15, 2023/in News /by Marketicity

We know that most professions, excluding perhaps “nuclear physicist,” have their own version of the armchair quarterback. And “marketing professional” is certainly no exception. In fact, the reality is that marketing probably gets this significantly more than other industries. In its essence, marketing is meant to be commented on, publicly appraised, and deemed effective or ineffective by casual observers, competitors and other marketers… all day, every day.

The advent of social media and digital influencers has certainly only grown the idea that anyone can do marketing. And while that’s technically true, it’s also very true that not everyone can do marketing well. For small businesses or companies simply looking to save on costs, we understand the temptation to handle marketing internally. We’ve heard it before, “I’ve got a cousin that says he can do ‘_insert needed marketing item here_’!” And in some cases, it works out to be adequate, or at least allows you to check something off of your to do list.

We will be the first to admit that marketing isn’t rocket science, but it does take talent, skill, intuition, experience, insights, and a healthy dose of common sense if you hope to do more than “check a box” in your marketing efforts. And that’s where Marketicity comes in. The many ways and forms that creative and marketing can take is borderline endless and the skillset required for print marketing is different than video marketing which is different than social media marketing which is different than website design or public relations.

And if you wanted to be exhaustive about it, you could continue to drill down into the fact that Facebook marketing is different that Instagram marketing which is different than Twitter marketing. In other words, marketing outlets and opportunities are broad and deep, and if you’re going to navigate them, it helps to have a partner. An experienced partner.

Over the years we have helped businesses build their brand, reach their customers, grow their sales, communicate with stakeholders, and so on. When you employ us for any of our services, from direct mail to website design, you can be sure that we will meet you where you are and help get you where you want to go.

In some cases we act as consultants, other times we brainstorm, develop, and implement a full-blown marketing strategy. Our job is to provide you the support, strategy, insight, and out-of-the-box thinking to move your brand forward, and our team has been designed to tackle every angle of your marketing needs with professionalism, wisdom, and joy.

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Value of Creativity

May 9, 2023/in News /by Marketicity

So often the tightrope walk of marketing is finding that balance between letting the process of creativity play out while still being able to provide something in a timely manner. With the increased options and decreased cost of video editing software, graphic design tools, and social media campaigns, the opportunities for creative work are seemingly endless. Yet, even though the tools of creativity may be more available than ever before, the creative process is less easily expedited.

At Marketicity we have made it our career to find creativity on a timeline. But we’re not just looking at creativity for creativity’s sake. When we work with clients we are always searching for creativity with purpose. Whether we’re working on an email marketing campaign, social media marketing, or print marketing, we are always working with our clients on finding the message or design or look that can suddenly break through all the clutter. But we also know it can’t be all style and no substance. We believe that dependable, usable creativity requires finesse, knowledge, background, and experience.

When wielded the right way, creativity can provide incredible value. A previously invisible brand can suddenly pop with the right marketing. A stale message can grow vibrant again. A hard-to-sell or hard-to-understand product can gain quick appeal. When you work with Marketicity we will first work hard to understand where you’re coming from and what your business offers and then we will apply the value you offer to the creativity we provide.

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

Increasing Your Brand’s Online Presence

June 28, 2022/in News /by Marketicity

In the year 2022 this statement is one of the more obvious ones we could make, but: your online presence matters. There we said it. Our work here is done.

Seriously though, we all know we need a comprehensive, easy to navigate web presence. However, this can be a bit of a blessing and a curse for companies. Smaller companies that may not have the resources or the inhouse ‘expertise’ as many major corporations that you can think of. And so often they will do the bare minimum of what’s required, but may not have the ability to do anything beyond that. And so you end up with old, unresponsive websites, pages that aren’t optimized for mobile, or a hodgepodge of random buttons, gifs, fonts, and colors. We don’t say this to be cruel. Everyone has to start somewhere. Look at the early days of any major corporation’s website and you’re sure to find something quaint, hilarious, or downright ugly.

One of the best things we get to do here at Marketicity is come alongside some of these businesses, get to know their wonderful staffs, their unique services, and see how they get to be true experts at what they do. And then we get to tell the world all about it. For us, one of these clients was the International Ingredient Corporation (IIC). This incredible company has been making feed ingredients for companion animals, swine, dairy cattle, aquaculture, horses, and more for almost 50 years. They have prioritized ‘upcycling’ by repurposing food byproducts. Rather than these byproducts ending up in a landfill, IIC’s research and development teams upcycle them and turn them into viable ingredients, which are then released them back into the food chain. IIC not only has a huge US footprint, but their products are exported to over 25 countries around the world.

This industry leader is located in Fenton, Missouri, and for all of their innovation and success, they were operating off of a very old website. So, we were thrilled to get to build them a brand-new site and create new video content to better share their remarkable story. Now, IIC has an online presence that better reflects their industry leading capabilities, breadth of products and a digital presence that promotes both.

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

Partnering in the Social Media Space…for a Great Cause

May 24, 2022/in News /by Marketicity

Every company has a story. Sometimes those stories are straightforward and unspectacular, but every now and again you come across a business or organization whose story is so memorable or meaningful that communicating that story hardly feels like work. In the world of traditional marketing, a company’s ethos will often have to take a backseat to their products. However, the world of social media gets to transcend traditional marketing barriers.

Social media is a narrative-driven space where ideas and stories can resonate just as strongly as prices and outcomes. This affords marketers an opportunity to communicate with their audience and the general public in a way that’s less directly tied to a bottom line, yet can still have positive impacts on that bottom line.

At Marketicity, we have had the pleasure of providing support for an incredible organization called Songs 4 Soldiers which organizes annual benefit concerts and other events to raise money for combat veterans needing assistance. The organization, also started by a veteran – Dustin Row, is an easy cause to get behind. But the best intentions in the world don’t always translate to immediate success. But through the use of target social media messaging, ad boosts, outreach to country and rock music listeners in the region, as well as specific marketing in Nashville, Songs 4 Soldiers has been able to share its incredible purpose, and experience incredible growth, over the past number of years. The concert has gone from a one-day event featuring talented local musicians to a two-day event that, in addition to local acts, includes national touring mega acts like Night Ranger, 38 Special, Bret Michaels, Josh Turner, Granger Smith and many more. It has moved from a grocery store parking lot to Bolm-Schuhkraft Memorial City Park in Columbia, IL. And at its most recent concert, raised $270,000, all of which goes to help veterans in need.

Of course, the joy in getting to work with such wonderful people for such a wonderful cause is truly special. And so is wanting something to succeed, not just because you’ve been tasked with it, but because you genuinely believe in its value. It’s one of the best parts of doing this kind of work. The benefit of utilizing social media is that you can go beyond the elevator pitch or the keywords or the great deal to capture attention. Partnering in the social media space gives you an opportunity to speak to the emotion or the humanity of something in a way that can do justice to an organization like Songs 4 Soldiers.

Interested in learning more about this truly special organization or even better yet providing financial support or a donation? We encourage you to visit Songs4Soldiers.org and give! You can also visit their site to find out more about the 2022 concerts scheduled for September 9 & 10!

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

Five Reasons Planning is Crucial to Your Brand’s Success

January 25, 2022/in News /by Marketicity

As we often like to discuss, there is no one foolproof way to guarantee your brand’s success. If there was, our job here at Marketicity would be a lot easier. But of course, we all know it isn’t like that. Instead, a good marketing plan requires a lot of prior experience, some targeted internal conversations, a few intangibles, and a lot of hard work and planning. So let’s focus on that planning for a moment and talk about why it’s so important and what it looks like when we sit down with you to plan out a trajectory for your brand.

Reinforcement
One of the most important parts of any brand is the feeling associated with it. Some brands carry a feeling of quality with their name. Some do just the opposite. What is your brand? What does it do? How does it make people feel? When updating or creating a marketing plan, finding ways to reinforce your brand’s feel and purpose, or perhaps creating that feel and purpose for the first time, is a great place to start.

Budgets
This one is pretty obvious, but it needs to be said: consider your budget. A splashy product unveiling sounds like a great idea, but is it actually feasible? Things like TV or radio ads, or even targeted ads on social media can be effective, but like everything else, they cost something. Having a strong handle on your budget will help you know where to direct your marketing efforts and what kind of material should be created.

Clear Messaging
Unless confusion is part of your brand experience, you want to make sure that whatever messaging is out there for you is clear, cohesive, and additive. Social media is a different kind of space than the radio and you want your messaging to adapt appropriately.

Brainstorming
Planning is brainstorming. It’s important to create space and time to look at your brand, where it’s succeeding, where it’s failing, where it’s been remembered, where it’s underperformed, and so on. And then ask yourself: what now? What next? What more? While we could insert some quote about how there are no bad ideas, etc., etc., what we like to say around here is: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Accountability
Marketing without a plan is like archery without a target, how are you ever going to know if you’ve actually succeeded? When you work with us to create a plan for your brand, we all become accountable to it. Having a plan means collectively there is something to aim for, something to work towards, and measurable ways to determine if it worked or not. If you are stuck in a dark room with a flashlight, it would be foolish not to turn it on.

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Dog Days of Summer

August 24, 2021/in News /by Marketicity

Here we are, halfway through 2021, in the dog days of summer. While many of us are still adjusting to the changes and realities of the past year and a half, there are some things that may have seemed strange a couple years ago, but are now so commonplace, we may not even stop to think about them anymore. And if there is a silver lining to this cloud, not all of those changes have been bad.

Virtual work, Zoom meetings, conference calls, and the hundred other ways we found to keep working, stay in touch, and move through pandemic life, introduced a new dynamic to a lot of work days. Morning meetings at the breakfast table, interviews in the guest room hoping the kids can stay quiet, and of course, the curious noses, whiskers, and snouts that love to peak their way into the corner of our screens.

Many of us had an opportunity to see into the everyday lives of our colleagues, clients, coworkers, and supervisors in ways we might not have before. We got to see children, spouses, and pets roaming through the backgrounds of our meetings and in some cases, suddenly appearing point blank in our webcams. ”Sorry about that,” and “Please excuse the noise,” became common refrains and often refreshing moments of humanity in an isolating time. So in honor of those moments, the crew here at Marketicity wanted to give a proper introduction to the pets that have made themselves a regular part of our workday.

Khaleesi and Apollo Antor love eating snacks, chasing squirrels, and taking naps. Khaleesi likes to be on standby for Zoom calls while Apollo likes to watch for squirrels. Calvin and Olive Antor are actually cats and may look sweet, but they run the house (and the dogs).

Macy Most is the official Head of Security for Marketicity, though to be honest, she isn’t great at her job. However, she loves sitting on laps and giving kisses.

Coco Jacobs is cute, but loose items and flies better beware, she will attack them both. Trixie Jacobs is the diva. She will only lay on the softest surfaces and is an escape artist in training.

Marketicity is a marketing services firm whose team members have delivered successful campaigns and have been Moving Brands Forward for some of the best-known brands in their categories – both locally, regionally and nationally. We’re proud of our work but even more proud that our clients are proud of the work produced for their brands. Want to learn more about how we can help you “move your brand forward”? Simply give us a call or visit our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.

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