Summer Marketing, For Your Business.

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Summer might seem pretty far away, however… that gives you plenty of time to plan an effective, cost-efficient advertising campaign for your business!

But do you know where to start?

Welcome to the AngelStar blog! This is a place where you can learn industry leading advertising, marketing & design advice from some of Windsor-Essex’s top talent! Being in business for almost 30 years, and serving hundreds of businesses over that time has provided us with the knowledge, and know how to help business owners achieve greatness!

1. VALUE! VALUE! VALUE! With the world of business being the most competitive it has ever been, customers base their purchases off the value that you provide them. This has made things like customer service, rewards-programs, etc more important than ever! Here’s something to think about…what value do you provide your customers? What value does your competitor provide to their customers? Take a deep dive into realizing how you can provide more of an incentive to our customer. (Cheat Code: Loyalty Programs have caused the most return purchases out of any incentive!)

2. Free Stuff! Now wait…before you run away, hear me out first. This point is in direct correlation with the one I listed above. What do tote bags, sunglasses, and water bottles have in common? They’re an affordable, blank canvas built for both functional value and your brand. Think about it. By offering a free pair of sunglasses or a water bottle with every purchase, customers are incentivized to buy, while you gain with day-to-day summer marketing. These promotional gifts are lightweight, low-cost, and can be easily branded with your company logo to maximize reach!

3. Social Media Giveaways! As we know, social media is a very valuable tool that can provide solutions to almost any problem your business is facing. One of the best tools for increasing your brand awareness, and showing your customers that you care is by hosting giveaways on your social platforms! Put simply, people love the feeling of “winning” and getting things for “free”, and your business can greatly benefit from this! Most giveaways tend to have certain actions that are “required” to increase their chances of winning. These “requirements” are usually things like “like our facebook page” or “share this post”. Even simple things like that can increase your reach over 200% on average!

4. Corporate Responsibility! One of the most important things younger consumers look for when buying from a business, is how ethical their company is. You can sell the best, highest quality products…but if you’re company is deforesting the Amazon to get your materials…good luck! Your opinion on whether corporate responsibility is “stupid” or not, should be out of the equation. If you want to survive, you have to get with the times. Summer is the best month to create events that show that your business cares, and some examples of those would be things like: Charities, Local Clean-ups, and more!

Showing that you care is a simple, yet effective way to gain new customers, retain existing customers and to increase the image of your brand overall. Get ahead. Plan out your summer campaign while it’s still cold out!

When it comes to being a business owner… there are very important decisions you must make to ensure that your business thrives! The marketing budget, tends to be an overlooked expense by many business owners which is quite odd because it is the KEY to building new relationships with customers, and getting your name out there. If you increase your marketing budget, and spend it wisely…you are guaranteed to see results! Not sure how to effectively spend it? That’s where we come in. Give our experts a call, we would love to advise your next campaign!

(519) 969 0712

1554 McDougall Street

We’re Here To Help! Advertise Your Business, The Right Way!

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Spring is known as a refreshing, season of life…and the return of the temperatures we all know and love! Many people see Spring as an opportunity to give their houses, wardrobes, cars a deep cleaning and breathe new life into them.

But why don’t you use this time to refresh your business! With the warm weather fast approaching, it means more people will be out and about…which makes it the PRIME opportunity to get your brand out there via traditional means!

In the advertising community, there’s been a debate for years about how traditional media is “dying”, and while the numbers have certainly decreased since the release of Social Media Advertising, and other digital means…it certainly is far from dead!

Here at AngelStar, we’ve been helping businesses in Windsor advertise through traditional advertising forms for over 25+ years…so I guess you can say we are qualified to speak on the matter!

So… with that being said, here are some of the ways you can make your business feel fresh and new, in Spring 2022!

VEHICLE GRAPHICS

Starting out with one of our most in-demand services, high-quality 3M vehicle graphics. It’s common knowledge that the majority of cars on the road are the colours white, silver, and black. This means that adding just a small amount of colour, can have the biggest impact! From full vehicle wraps, to decals…the “billboard on wheels” is one of the best ways to stand out to thousands of potential customers, on a daily basis!

SIGNAGE & BANNERS

Signs and banners are one of the most important parts of a business, as they are the first impression a customer tends to have with your store and as we know…first impressions are everything! If you saw a store with a sign in rough shape, bulbs burnt out…would you trust that store? As a business owner, you should always try to view your business from the eyes/minds of the consumer.

MARKETING MATERIALS

Marketing materials are a smaller scale, less “in your face” type of marketing however…they are still crucial to a business. Some examples of marketing materials, are things like business cards, menus, brochures, etc.

APPAREL

This is one of our least demanded services, which is honestly..a shock. The importance of company apparel goes beyond just slapping your brand on a t-shirt.

From the employee perspective, receiving work branded apparel tends to provide a morale boost. They can wear their company shirts with pride, on and off the site. This also, provides free advertising every place that they wear it!

From the customer/client perspective, there are quite a few benefits. If one of your employees shows up to a site in a branded vehicle, wearing a high-quality uniform..they are more likely to make a sale/impress your client! Why? Because trust is everything, and the more professional you look…the more trust you gain with the customer. However, beyond that..

CONCLUSION

There is a wide variety of ways you can increase the awareness, and trust of your brand via traditional means! In the highly-competitive landscape of the business world however..it requires your marketing to be creative, and innovative..which is something a lot of business owners don’t have the time for! That’s where we come in.

Give us a call for your next business endeavor!

(519) 969 0712

The Power of Branding: Construction Industry.

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The construction industry is one of those industries that is often overlooked and undervalued by people who don’t know much about it. Construction and all that encompasses it (which is a LOT of different sub-categories) is a lucrative, and essential industry. Unlike a lot of corporate industries, the construction industry is led by tons of small-scale, usually family-owned businesses that all specialize in different things, instead of MASSIVE giants. In the world of construction, the massive giants are the “Unions”, which is something I won’t dive into for the sake of the post.

Why is branding so important if you work construction, or have your own business? Well, it ties back to a point that I made in the opening paragraph. That point being….market saturation. Off the top of my head, I can name at least 5-10 construction companies in my small, local area, and I know little to nothing about the industry. With that in mind, think of people who actually might know a thing or two, how does your company differentiate itself from the competition? Is your quality better? Are you more efficient, and quicker? Do you charge less?

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Here’s a quick example of how a brand can affect even the smallest conversations.

You recently performed a job for a client named Jim. After the job was completed, Jim was very impressed.

Later during the week, Jim met one of their buddies at the bar and showed them pictures of the job you did. The client’s friend, Bill looked at the pictures and asked “Who built that?”

Jim responded with “John Doe Contracting”. Bill said, “Oh I think I’ve seen those guys before, they have those bright green trucks with the bear logo or something right?”

“Yeah, that’s them.”

“Damn, they do some great work” Bill responded.

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If you still haven’t realized why that example would be awesome in real life, let me spell it out for you.

Your client showed a friend (potential customer) your work.

Both of them liked your work.

The friend remembered your brand, based on seeing your trucks.

Catching on?

If you’re still not sold, here are some other reasons to brand your construction company. Wearing brand shirts or hoodies can help identify your workers on sites with multiple contracting companies.

People who like their jobs love wearing their employer’s merch, so everybody knows what they do, and where they work. Which in turn, is also free advertising for you.

Plus, look at this awesome wrap we did for local Cainen Contracting. Pulling up to a site with a high-quality, sexy wrap like this makes a statement. What is that statement?

That you guys take pride in your work, you’re professionals, and you are the right guy for the job.

 

 

Why Should You Rebrand Your Business?

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Ever wonder why big companies change up their brand “appearance” every few years?

Surprisingly, there are many different reasons for this.

Primarily, many businesses like to rebrand their company to feel up to date and to reposition themselves. For example, lately, there has been an influx of brands changing their brands to a more modern, minimalistic appeal.

Here’s an example of some of the biggest rebrands for 2021:

When it comes to repositioning, we can take a look at Walmart who changed its business slogan from “Always Low Prices” to “Save Money, Live Better”. Why was this so significant? Well, Walmart had a reputation for dirt cheap prices but wanted to provide some value/guarantee to their slogan. They knew that saving money led to a “better” life, subjectively. While these changes are minor, they can have a major impact on how people view your company, and sometimes it feels good to rebrand your business after using the same logos, colors, themes, for so long.

Rebrands don’t have to be drastic either, it’s all depending on your goals, and how you can make your company more “unique” compared to the competition in your field. For example, look at McDonald’s, which completely shifted into a “cafe” style restaurant.

Everybody misses the old McDonalds, including me. However, McDonald’s saw an opportunity for rebranding and took it. What was this opportunity? Well, there were quite a few. For example, the packaging of their products. This was changed to increase the “sustainability” of their previous packaging. (Which is also why many companies are switching to paper straws, due to climate change activism, and many people pointing the finger at large corporations.) As far as an overall rebrand, it was more of a reputation thing. In the United States, the obesity rates were rising through the roof in young children, and many feds pointed the finger at McDonald’s saying that they were too playful, and appealing to children.

Now with some background information and examples in your head, let’s look at the stats.

  1. Most importantly, consumers purchase from authentic brands, that they trust. What does this have to do with rebranding? Well look at big companies who have had controversy, and managed to “rebrand” to show that their company is a different company than before. For small business owners, you want to make sure you look professional, and up-to-date which is where a rebrand comes in. If you want to look more trustworthy, stop using your 1990s photoshopped logo, and switch to something more modern.
  2. First impressions make a BIG impact. Keep the above point in your head because it directly correlates with this one. If your brand is lacking visually, or business model-wise, it’s time to change that. Something business owners should always remember is that if they want more customers, you have to be in their face as much as possible. This means that branding your vehicles, running ads, branding company outfits, all work together like pieces of a pie, but with that being said the initial impression is definitely the most important.
  3. Be Consistent. If you’re going to rebrand your logo, for example, make sure that you are using that one logo everywhere. If your vehicle wrap has your old logo, it’s time to visit AngelStar Digital and update that to your new logo. In my opinion, as a marketing specialist, these are three of the most important branding tips I could give you.

Hopefully, this post helps you consider whether your brand is up-to-date for 2022, or still stuck in 2008.

Are you keeping up? For Business Owners, and Marketers.

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The world of business is an ever-changing landscape. Each and every day, new technology and software are released, that will eventually shake up the digital world.

As we know, Social Media is an absolute giant. It has become the best way to reach the consumer, and deliver our message to them.

As a marketer, the digital world fascinates me. It amazes me how ads have been more impactful, and relevant more than ever. When the user likes certain pages, talks about certain things, and shows a general interest in a product/service/industry, it allows us to segment better than ever, and get better results than ever before. While this is all great news and all, it also brings up some challenges.

For example, consumers are exposed to an average of 4,000-10,000 ads per day.

How is your message going to stand out, and stick in the mind of the consumer, with a stat like that?

Here are some best practices, that should help with that exact problem.

Whether you’re a marketer, or a business owner if you follow some of these practices you are GUARANTEED to excel in the digital landscape.

  • Content is King, Video Content Trumps All. I put this first, for a good reason. Next time you scroll through your social media feed/timeline, take a look at how much still imagery you see. I guarantee you that while you are scrolling, you will stop because you see either a gif/video that moves. Now that it grabbed your attention, it reels you in even further by using sound, and video. Every business should include video content for this exact reason, however, the ones that stick out the best are the most clever/creative ones. For example, here at AngelStar Digital in Windsor, we post satisfying, “behind the scenes” video content. Why? Put simply, people love satisfying content.

 

  • Optimize EVERYTHING for SEO. And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING. When you write content, figure out ways to tie in your key phrases/words, and make sure they are CONSISTENT across all platforms. And no, it’s 2021, you can’t just fill a page in with keywords and color the font white to hide it, that just makes Google upset. He’s a mini-scenario of how I tend to optimize my content for a YouTube Channel.
    • Let’s say our company did a vehicle wrap, of a 2021 Ford Bronco. After my video is done rendering, I make sure to name the finished product something like “AngelStar_Car_Wrap_Ford_Bronco.mp4″. I use this name, because it’s based on the keywords people use to find our business, and it is relative to the content in the video. Then, when I make the thumbnail image, I’ll give it a similar name. When I write my description I’ll make sure to use keywords that relate to the video, and what people are searching for similar to the service ‘Car Wrap”. So on, and so forth. You want to make sure everything you upload to the internet is named properly and can help improve your search rankings.

 

  • Google MyBusiness. Tying into SEO, but important enough to be its own point is Google MyBusiness. This is something you should stay on top of, constantly. Making sure your business hours are correct, posting photos of your workplace/products, responding to customer reviews (Especially the negative ones), posting offers and events, are all extremely important especially for business owners.

 

  • Social Media, Use It Properly.  This one is mostly for the business owners that might be out of the loop, as marketers are USUALLY trained/educated on the matter, and yes…usually. If you run a social media account for your business, make sure you follow some of these rules of thumb.
    • Post consistently, don’t spam post either. Using a tool like Hootsuite, you can schedule all your posts in advance. Generally, there are some best days/times of the week to post, which you should Google search. However, every few months you should review your analytics to see what time your viewers actually interact the most with your content, and base it on that data.
    • Use emojis, strategically. The use of emojis, in general, seems to help increase overall engagement with posts. however, when executed properly, can be even more beneficial.
    • Establish a voice, and stick to it. Take a look at some of your favorite brands, and scroll through their posts. (The best example, is Wendy’s). You should automatically be able to get a gist of the brand’s “personality” by the content they post, how they “speak” through their copy, and how they interact with their audience, which brings me to my last point.
    • Engage with your audience. Remember, your goal for this is to get your audience to interact and engage with you. This means that when they do, you have to interact back with them, professionally, even the bad comments. You know how the saying goes, “Even Bad Publicity, is Good Publicity”. While you shouldn’t aim for bad publicity, you should still make sure to keep it under control when it does happen, because it does.

 

Now to be quite frank, I could spend the whole day writing about this. There are so many different aspects that you need to consider, in order to separate yourself from the pack and get ahead. If you actually had the time & patience to read the entire post, make sure to look up some more pointers and etc to get a better understanding.

I’ll leave you with one final statement. “The Human attention span has dwindled down to approximately 6 seconds and is expected to sink even lower. This is how much time you have, so make sure you make the best of it.”

As always, thanks for reading! I hope this does help your business, and if you have any further questions, you can reach out to any of our social media profiles at AngelStar Digital.

 

Vehicle Advertising. Here’s why your business NEEDS it!

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Vehicle Advertising is a marketing trend that is growing more and more, each year.

What on earth is causing it to grow at such a rate?

Well first, let’s start off with some need-to-know facts about this form of OOH (Out-of-Home) advertising!

  • Vehicle wraps/decals give you between 30,000-70,000 ad impressions, depending on the density of your area.
  • A vehicle driven only 15,000km per year will pass by roughly 9,000,000 cars. (No exaggeration!)
  • Vehicle wraps/decals help improve brand recognition by almost 15% greater than other advertising mediums.

These were only a couple of the many reasons your business should be utilizing vehicle advertising.

Now, let’s discuss WHY those numbers are so high.

Let’s start with a scenario.

You live in the Greater Toronto Area, and you spend about 30-45 minutes commuting to work. You spend most of your commute in a “Stop-and-Go” traffic jam. While waiting for traffic to move, you notice a bright Orange and Blue pickup truck, wrapped in a company decal. It immediately caught your attention as it went by, sticking out like a sore thumb against the sea of silver, white, and black cars you’re normally used to seeing. The truck was from a local plumbing company in the area. When you get home from work, you notice that your pipes under our sink have been leaking. On your way to work the next day, you see that bright truck again, which has a decal on the bed of the truck with the company phone number. When you get home, you call the company and they show up.

This was obviously a highly sped-up scenario, but it gives you a general idea of how these things work.

Almost 70% of cars on the road follow a “grayscale” color scheme of white, gray, black, and silver. What this means, is that it is ridiculously easy to stand out amongst the crowd. Not only does this apply to automobile traffic, but to anywhere your vehicle can be seen with a pair of eyes.

Not only can wrapping your vehicle help your car stick out, and gain more “impressions”, it also helps people briefly understand what your brand is about.

Here’s an example showing just how much of an impact wrapping your vehicle can have.

Before:

After:

(Wrap performed by the talented team at AngelStar Digital, in Windsor, ON.)

Which one would catch your eye in traffic?

Hopefully, this blog post helped you realize how beneficial this could be for your business!

Let us know!

Top 10: Best Ways to Grow Your Small Business!

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When it comes to marketing your small business, and trying to get ahead there are a few roadblocks many small business owners face. These include:

  • Lack of Funds
  • Lack of Time
  • Lack of Knowledge.

So how do you tackle these? Well…it depends on what the issue really is.

Usually business owners that lack time & knowledge, tend to hire someone to advertise their business for them but what if you lack funds too?

Well you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself for the time being, but that’s where this blog post comes in.

Here are 10 of the BEST ways to advertise your business to the right people, at the right place, at the right time.

  1. Social Media: This one is kind of a no-brainer, however there are many practices that can help you grow your social presence without spending a dime. Even if you aren’t going to be doing the social posting yourself, it’s still important to know how it works. Check out this post by  CoSchedule to learn more about organic social growth. If you have any money for marketing (which you definitely should) a good idea would be to look into paid ads. Social Media offers some of the cheapest ways to get your posts/ads/business in front of more eyes and are perfect for upcoming promotions, displaying your best work, and getting more people interested in you.
  2. Google Search Ads (PPC): It’s no secret that Google is an absolute GIANT, which is why it’s landing in the second spot. On average, businesses make $2 for every $1 invested when using Search Ads so take that how you will. If you are unfamiliar with the term “pay per click” it means you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. One of the major downsides to this though, is that like social media, there’s a lot of market saturation. While this can be a low cost, high turnover form of marketing, the big players with bigger wallets tend to win.
  3. Video Content: This ties directly into social media, however it’s important enough to be it’s own point. One important thing you will learn is that good content is king, and video content is king. Video is the best, for quite a few reasons. Since there’s visuals paired with audio, it tends to keep the viewer interested more than if it was just words and a picture. This directly correlates with the average attention span being 6 seconds, which is unfortunately lowering more and more.
  4. SEO: For business owners, SEO is very important for many reasons. The internet is a highly saturated place, and you are competing against hundreds, thousands, even millions depending on where you are located, and the type of business you are.  SEO helps you organically build up your Google Search presence, which can be done for free. If you end up hiring someone to do this for you, it’s worth noting that SEO isn’t a one and done deal, you have to do SEO year round to see effective results. If you only do it for 3 months, you might experience growth during that period but once you stop doing it you will fall back down the ranks and end up at square one.
  5. Email Marketing: Believe it or not, Email Marketing is an effective tool for re-targeting previous customers, and keeping them in the loop. Giving people incentives (Such as deals, promos, etc) to join your email lists can help increase signups, and ultimately sales. Just make sure you are following the CASL regulations or you can get in serious trouble. While the open rates for emails have dropped substantially in the past 15 years, they are still a very viable tool because the people that actually open your emails are interested in hearing from you.
  6. Google Display Ads: Google lands another spot on the list. What are display ads, and how are they different from search ads? Well simply put, Display Ads are a form of “push” advertising, where as Search Ads are a form of “pull” advertising. Search ads show up when users search for something, and are most commonly text based ads. Whereas, display ads are visually based ads perfect for showing off products, and carrying emotion. So why is this one lower on the list? Well budget wise, search ads tend to be better for lower budget startups, and smaller scale business.
  7. Niche Marketing Tips: Niche marketing in this scenario refers to smaller, less “mainstream” forms of advertising that can carry large impacts. Some of the best forms of niche marketing, are custom work apparel, vehicle wraps, banners/decals, signage….real life things. These “real life” tactics take your marketing beyond the screen, and help your brand get in-front of more eyes through different channels. The more you get your logo in-front of consumers, even if it is low key, still helps them recognize you. If someone sees your Facebook ads, then sees your vehicle wrap in traffic, then sees your shirt at a store, these are all different ways to increase awareness and eventually get more business.
  8. Encourage Reviews: Reviews on almost every platform affect your SEO, credibility, and profits in ways you can’t even imagine. If you can ask customers to leave a review on socials or on Google, it can greatly benefit you. Especially if you pair that with a coupon for their next purchase, this encourages them to review you and return back for more business.
  9. Print Ads: Back around 30 years ago, print would have topped this list. However, the world of digital has shaken up traditional advertising media quite substantially. Does this mean that it is no-longer a valid method of advertising? Not at all. Depending on your target audience, your business, or your industry, print advertising is still a very attractive way to advertise. Keep in mind though, print advertising is more expensive than social media, however people tend to trust print ads more than digital ads.
  10. Engage with Local Community: Now this one takes the last spot, but not because it’s the least effective. I put this in last place, because it depends on your business, your budget, and your goals. All the factors come into play here, however as far as trust goes this is the way to build up the most trust. Participating in charities, events, giveaways, contests, etc will show that you care about the community, and that you are a responsible and ethical business.

One of the best things about advertising/marketing is that it allows you to be creative, with tons of different platforms and mediums to get your message across. While this list isn’t the end all, be all, it’s still based on previous experience with campaigns and clients, and what performed the best short term and long term.

Thanks again for sticking around and reading the blog! Hopefully this can help you promote your business. and if you have any questions/feedback feel free to reach out to our social channels!

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SWOT Analysis for Small Businesses

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Customer Relationship Management: A Tailored Experience

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