Blog Post 7: Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship

 

ManticMedia.com

Andrew Mimault is the owner of a growth marketing firm named "Mantic Media Group." His company specializes in creating "successful paid search engine advertising campaigns, paid social advertising campaigns, attention-grabbing content, revenue-increasing processes, stunning branding, modern websites, and consulting." Mimault is very passionate about advertising and has always been an entrepreneur. He spoke about all the jobs and projects he did before being able to own his own business. A key takeaway I got from his presentation was that as an advertiser or someone in the business, you always have to keep evolving.

The marketing industry has evolved tremendously over the last decade. Mimault talked about the importance of being multifaceted in the industry. Having knowledge of Search engine optimization, social media, paid media, content marketing, programming, and data analytics. As an advertiser, studying and learning new skills is important to keep your career and servicing your clients. A useful tip I learned from his presentation was the resources for classes to expand your skill set. He spoke about the website called Hootsuite which is a social media management program that offers different classes to take on communication skills. Youtube, is also a free space where you're able to look up new skills and watch videos to learn.

Overall, Mimault inspired me to never stop learning and that hustling is a huge part of the advertising industry. Getting your foot in the door is hard, but the growth opportunities are worth it. Being able to sell yourself and your skills is very important in this business. There are always learning and growing opportunities, but it is up to you to take them.  Being successful also means you can never get comfortable because there is always evolution in the industry.

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Blog Post 8: Moxie Digital

 Moxie Digital is an internet marketing company that focuses on creating digital marketing plans for smaller to medium-sized companies. The founder: Jenni Millis, has years of experience with social media, mobile, paid advertising, analytics, and search engine optimization. Millis spoke about giving offering a customized campaign for their clients to help them grow their businesses. This is a unique product for an advertising company because many times companies use a universal marketing plan for all of their clients.

Millis discussed the importance of Google Ads and how they are imperative to growing a company and reaching an audience. Knowing how to utilize Google Ads and all of the services they offer optimizes the reach a company can have. The key to a successful Google ad is the right size of the image. "Choosing the wrong size will effectively limit how much reach your campaigns have. And if you’re trying to target a specific niche, this could make your ads ineffective altogether." As an advertiser its important to understand how the ad you are creating will show up on the platform that is used. Typically, the ad space you are buying will give dimensions to what they are looking for you. The ad you create should look well-spaced and planned out to that specific size.

I learned that Google usually splits up its ad spaces into three categories- Leaderboard, skyscraper, and square. Once you know how those ads are laid out it is easier to figure out the look of your ad. If you don't create an ad that fits in the correct measurements then you lose out on the impression. Sizing is especially important for mobile ads. Mobile devices are how most people see digital media and the ad needs to be universal across all platforms. "Statista reported that in 2022, the mobile advertising expenditure worldwide reached over $288B. An overwhelming 60% of that enormous spend came from mobile digital ad spending." The mobile advertising industry is only growing and advertisers need to learn how to create an effective ad that can be impressionable on a mobile device.

Blog Post 4- SEO in Media Mix

Search engine optimization is essential because an online presence draws people to a company's website. An effective search engine optimization is having your website be on the top of the search result page. Being one of the first results can drive traffic and expand consumer reach. SEO is an organic digital marketing tool. An organic search result attracts people to a website because it is seen as more trustworthy. An SEO is effective because it connects you to your audience when they are in search of your product. It is when the customer is looking for you and not you looking for the customer.


Keywords are an important part of an effective SEO marketing plan. Keywords are words a company chooses that make it possible for people to find a sight on the search engine. A company chooses specific keywords that relate to its product. When people use any of the keywords on their search the more a website matches the word the higher on the page the website appears. You want to choose the most effective keywords that have heavy traffic, but a low keyword difficulty. "You can use various SEO analysis tools that can help you perform an in-depth SEO Analysis to understand how well your SEO efforts are helping you generate leads." Analyzing the success of your SEO can look like examining your spam rating, internal and broken links, primary keywords, etc...

"A media mix is a marketing term for the combination of channels a business uses to meet its marketing goals. It can include billboards, email, websites, and social media. Businesses might refer to their marketing mix when thinking about how to hit future campaign goals." Adding an SEO strategy to the marketing mix can optimize website traffic and a more natural relationship with your consumer.

Blog Post 3- Digital Strategy

 

A digital media strategy for a business consists of using digital channels in company advertising and communication methods. Digital media channels include “search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, display advertising, public relations and partner marketing.” Having a strategy for the business objectives helps to figure out which of the channels mentioned would be most efficient to use. Strategy is key to keeping on track and allocating resources to meet your business objectives and overcome challenges.




A strategic plan is based on research of the target market, market share, and competitors. “Digital strategies require the setting up of business goals and the initiation of campaigns, which can be anything from gaining more customers, raising brand awareness, lead generation, or boosting sales. These will ensure that monthly, daily and annual goals are being reached.” A part of a strategic plan is a timeline for evaluating the outcome metrics to see if goals are being met. If the strategy is not reaching the goals the business can shift its resources and create a new strategy that works best.




Paid, earned, and owned media are important tools in a digital media strategy to maximize impact. Paid media are the third parties a company pays to promote its product. An example would be an influencer you compensate for giving a review. Owned media are the digital channels it uses to promote its product. Earned media is the organic promotion of a product from users that were never paid. Earned media can consist of reviews or user-generated content. Utilizing these media channels can broaden the awareness of a brand and obtain the business objectives.

Blog Post 2- Buyer Personas

A buyer persona is a detailed profile of your target audience. The persona is fictional but based on research that has been done on your desired audience. The persona profile will have demographics, geographics, behavioral traits, goals, challenges, marketing messages, etc. A great idea to understand your persona better is to create a mood board for them. This aids in visualizing your target persona and seeing your research come to life. Understanding your buyer persona aids in the marketing process by understanding who you're speaking to and where to put the message.

Understanding your audience allows a business to tailor its marketing messages to increase visibility and convert views to sales. The marketing message will be more successful if targeted at the consumer who is most interested in your product or service. In the persona, you can see where your audience tends to frequent including the sites they visit and what they like to view. "Personas give you the information and perspective you need in order to make objective decisions about how to craft your brand messages through the most consumed and widely accepted formats like videos, social media posts, and articles” (Digital Marketing institute). Without understanding who you are speaking to your message will not come across effectively. 

In my digital media college class, I created a buyer persona. I had a client and I put together a profile for their target audience along with a mood board. I enjoyed making the mood board because it made visualizing the consumer much easier and it showed me the research I put in paid off.  I was able to see my research come to life and apply it to the marketing model. Creating a persona also makes it easier to show your client the work and research you put together for their marketing plan.

Blog Post 1- Digital Media

 

My definition of Digital media is connecting a larger audience to deliver information, entertainment, or create a space for others to share with each other. At my University the majority of my classes have been about the history of digital media. I have learned where digital media began and where it is going. Before there was Digital media there was traditional media “Traditional media include radio, broadcast television, cable and satellite, print, and billboards.” Traditional media has been used for many years and was very successful. Now, advertisers and media expert are using digital media to connect with their audience. media has taken a drastic change in the last decade because of the advancements in technology and the rise of social media. Digital media has become more interactive than ever before. "An important shift associated with convergence and social media is the rise of user-created content, with users changing from audiences to participants." Now, there is an increase in content creators on all digital platforms. People are able to create their own content for the public to view. Digital media looks drastically different compared to twenty years ago. Instead of digital media being television and radio it is now Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok and Facebook.

A question I have about digital media is "what does the future look like?" I watched it evolve into social media but I believe it will continue to evolve and it makes me wonder what is next. With the ever-evolving digital media age, I also want to know what types of jobs are available in the industry with a degree in public relations and advertising. Many careers that were available before are almost extinct or not necessary anymore. After graduation, I want to have a solid and steady career, but I am not sure if that is possible because of the changes in the industry. "Will I be able to have a solid career or will I always need to search for a new job and gain new skills to avoid unemployment?"