Category: Blog

This week, we’d like to raise a metaphorical glass to Gulf Coast staple, Beef O’Brady’s.

Without exaggeration, Jim Mellody changed the world in 1985 by launching the first Beef O’Brady’s. But that is not who we are here to talk about today. Larry and Linda Kessler’s story with the franchise began long before they opened their restaurant in 2006. Larry and Linda ate many delicious meals at Beef O’Brady’s while raising their two sons, Nick and Joel. By the time that the boys reached adulthood, Larry and Linda realized that it was only natural to invest in the Beef O’Brady’s franchise.

Larry and Linda live life with a glass-half-full perspective. Just look at their charity efforts! In the past 14 years, the couple has sponsored the following organizations: Spanish Fort High School Football Team, Daphne High School Football Team, Spanish Fort Elementary, Rockwell Elementary, Spanish Fort Middle and countless Little League teams. When they are not sponsoring Baldwin County schools, the Kesslers also host Spirit Nights. The nighttime festivities support all types of local organizations. For example, Spirit Night in October raised money for Breast Cancer Awareness.

What is next for the Kesslers and Beef O’Brady’s? The future is bright despite COVID-19 challenges. The Kessler family plans to continue supporting local schools and teams, as well as continue hosting Spirit Nights. If you would like to discuss sponsorship opportunities with the Kesslers, you should reach out to them!

In summary, the Beef O’Brady’s in Spanish Fort is a community cornerstone. Baldwin County is better with the Kessler family in it… And our stomachs are better with their jaw-dropping burgers!

Every business should be on social media. While a common phrase, some business owners may find it difficult to determine how to actually garner business from social media. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. We see tons of businesses struggling to convert their followers into leads every single day. So that is why we are counting down 3 of the best ways to convert customers from your social media content.

Let’s get started!

1. Become a Teacher

One of the best things you can do on social media is to become a teacher for what your business excels in. A lot of business owners are confused by this idea. We get asked all the time: “Why should I teach my clients, or worse, my possible competition?” It seems counterproductive, but the reality is that what people are looking for on social media is free content that has immediate value to them.

By making educational posts in the form of statistics or tips on whatever it is that you do, you are giving value to your followers who are interested in knowing what you do. You also present yourself as an expert on the subject, making it more likely for people to choose you when they’re in need of your services.

Win/Win!

2. Consistency is Key

You’ve probably heard this one, but let us reiterate: your social media presence should be consistent.

Ideally, you should post regularly, and at peak hours for your target audience. All of this is an effort to maintain a presence on your followers’ feeds. Because social media has grown so much, competition is fierce, and a spot on the timeline is not always guaranteed. That’s why we recommend posting often. Any post can be skipped over, for any number of reasons. With more posts, and each one bearing your branding in some kind of way, you will become harder to ignore and a regular part of your followers’ feeds.

3. Be Human

When it comes to social content, the goal should not be to post link after link to your website. By doing so, you’re coming across as more of a link-posting-robot than a person. Your page should blend in as best it can with the content found within everyone’s timelines: posts from people. Photos of parties, fun quotes or quizzes make people stop scrolling and actually engage.

That’s the keyword: engagement. Comments, likes, shares, anything that has users stopping to interact with your posts is the first major step in making customers out of those users. Focus on that and allow your feed to stay human, and your users will know and love you all the better for it. It increases your reputation and makes people more comfortable asking for your help when they need it.

Social media strategies can still be very difficult, however. Not all of us have time to sit on social media and find new things to post every day. But we do! Here at Southern View Media, we have an expert social media team that can ensure you have engaging posts on your feed as often as you want. Just visit us at southernviewmedia.com to find out more about how we can help you!

When it comes to gaining traction through social media, there’s almost no better way than to create Facebook ads. With many marketing tools and a worldwide user base of 2.7 billion people, Facebook can help you reach just about any audience. That said, with so many people utilizing the platform, the goalposts have shifted. Not everyone’s ads convert, and that is why it’s all the more important to slow down and consider everything when making your Facebook ads. From the creative to the targeting, we’re counting four things your Facebook ads need to survive on this competitive platform.

1. Precise Targeting

Targeting your ads to the right people is an art. It’s often a balancing act where you try to ensure your ads are seen by all the people you want to see it and no more. But the most common targeting mistake is that the audience is far too broad, as business owners fear that being more specific will ultimately exclude someone who may want to buy from them. It is true that by being more specific with your targeting, you do run the risk of potentially excluding someone from seeing your ad. But try to think of it another way. Without proper targeting, Facebook is going to have a harder time deciding who is best for your ads with your budget, potentially excluding even more of your target audience as Facebook serves instead to others who may not even look at your ad, let alone convert. Don’t fall into this trap. 

2. A Pixel for Your Website

Your ad’s ability to help you doesn’t actually stop when they click on the link. Enter Facebook Pixel. Though not a literal pixel, Facebook Pixel is a block of code that can be added to each page of your website to track your viewers as they move around and interact with your site. An important usage of the Pixel is tracking conversions, which are the actions you want those viewers to complete after seeing your ad. By tracking all the way from their initial viewing on Facebook, to the things they click on the website, you’re able to know precisely what does and does not work in both your Facebook ads and your website, allowing you to make more informed decisions whenever pivots need to be made.

3. Great (And Correctly Sized) Ad Creative

With a huge variety of ad types that allow you to add videos, photos, gifs, products and more, there’s a lot of room to play in the ad creative on Facebook. The ultimate question is: what will your audience respond to? That’s not an easy question to answer, especially if you haven’t been running ads for a long time. It takes a lot of time to measure and figure out what works, so what do you do? Our advice is to try everything. Change your ad creative and copy often, and allow each a fair amount of time to bring in new eyes. You may be surprised at what works, and what doesn’t. Remember that your ad creative is the first thing many may see of your business, so spend as much time with it as you can.

On another note, make sure that your images and videos are the proper sizes. Always consult the documentation for the specific kind of ad you’re trying to publish, and follow its advice as best you can. 

4. A Willingness to Experiment

As we said in the last section, changing things often is a must. The likelihood that your ads will perform to their best ability on the very first try is very low. The best Facebook ad campaigns are carefully crafted over time. Everything from the budget, to the goals, to the targeting and creative, change with experimentation and research. There’s a reason that Facebook gives you all of those charting and demographics tools. Making informed, researched decisions on how to pivot your ads is a must, and those are there to help you do just that. By doing this enough, your ROI will increase and allow you to achieve your ultimate goal with your online advertising: ads that just pay for themselves.

Facebook ads are a complicated subject, and many don’t have the time to constantly be checking them. That’s why you should hire an expert team of marketers with the experience necessary to kick Facebook ads into high gear for you and fast. Call us at 251.517.9425 today to find out more about what we can do for your business!

A new year is finally upon us, and a major theme for this year is “change”. The last several years have shown us just how much can change for business owners in a very short time, and this year will likely continue that trend. Keeping up with the times and pivoting your business accordingly is essential.

That’s why we’re listing off 4 of the most important survival tips going into 2021.

1. Embrace Digitization

Peoples’ needs for convenience are only increasing, so it’s becoming more essential to make sure that your business is online. There are many things a business needs to accomplish that, from building an accessible, functional and beautiful website, to being on social media and regularly using it to post to your followers. This new digital world we live in is indeed a lot of work, but it’s no longer just something that’s “nice to do.” It’s all but required. Do the best that you can with it, and remember that the time you’re spending is an investment in your business’s success. Of course, if you ever need help with bringing your business online, we can help you do just that.

2. Targeted Social Media Marketing

“Doing social media” is a common phrase these days, but for a business trying to garner more customers through these platforms, what do you need to do?

Creating a page and posting is great on its own, but to see results from your social marketing efforts, you need to make sure you know your audience. Facebook’s user base is some 2.7 BILLION users large, so it’s impossible to market to everybody. You need to narrow it down, which is a process called targeting. By deciding on a specific type of user, called a user persona, you can quantify what kind of content those users respond to the most. So instead of just “everybody,” your user persona might be women between the ages of 18-25 who are engaged shoppers. With a description like that, you can more easily determine where and what to post based on what kind of content frequently gets engagement from that audience.

3. Make Your Reputation a Priority

Maintaining your bottom line is of course super important, but a definitive trend that continues to grow is the importance of your business’s reputation online. People want to do business with companies they like and support, and maintaining a relationship with your audience by providing value can do just that. That is to say, make and post content that can help them. Use your expertise to craft a message that gives them something to think about, or laugh with, or even something that might measurably help them in their personal lives. Doing so will make it infinitely more likely for them to think of you when they need help, and is far more effective than constant sales posts consuming your whole timeline.

4. Don’t Stop Marketing

Due to the current extreme state of the world, revenue may be down. If you’re struggling, it is a good idea to cut costs where you can, but something we highly urge you to do is NOT cut your marketing. As Henry Ford once said, “A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.” In other words, your marketing is an integral part of your business. Always market your business, especially in a time like this.

That being said, marketing can be a full-time job on its own. Not every business owner will have the luxury of time to do it themselves this year. In those cases, we highly recommend that you hire a reliable and professional marketing agency to get the job done for you, and here at Southern View Media, we do just that. Just visit our website at www.southernviewmedia.com to find out more about how we can help your business survive and thrive through 2021!

THE CLIENT

Entrepreneur Scott Blair had dreamed of opening his own tire, rim and chassis training center. In mid-2020, he fulfilled that lifelong dream by establishing T.R.A.C.K. Auto Training, a training center that is the first of its kind in the United States. We were more than happy to assist Blair in bringing his vision to life. In December 2020, we published a website as dynamic as him and his other brands.

THE WEBSITE

After many meetings with the client, a Southern View Media designer created a mockup of the homepage in Adobe XD. Upon the client’s approval of the initial design, a Southern View Media developer began building the site and the designer began the secondary pages. With its overall design and features, the website is simple and accessible but dynamic with its colors and shapes.

At Southern View Media, we believe in the details and use industry-grade techniques. Our talented developer built the website in WordPress. All 8 website pages were built with Elementor. Scott Blair wanted clients to register for courses online, so we utilized Google Calendar integration. Other Gravity Forms, such as the contact form, were customized with CSS.

A simple but satisfying detail is the custom preloader of a tire and wrench.

THE RESULTS

The final product is a modern website designed to attract clients, promote course registration and encourage sponsorships. You can visit the final site at https://trackautotraining.com/. Maybe you should sign up for a class while you’re at it!

The Client

The Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo (ADSFR) is a big event here on the Gulf Coast every year, well regarded as the biggest fishing tournament in the entire world, where thousands come to compete in fishing for the finest specimens that the Gulf has to offer. In fact, they currently hold the Guinness Record for Biggest Annual Fishing Rodeo. We were honored when we were approached by the runners of the project, the Mobile Jaycees, in 2018 to build a brand new website for the event. Their site at the time was out of date; not responsive and generally lacked the creative feeling that they wanted to represent them. They wanted a website that worked, one that looked sleek and modern and included some much-needed features. So of course, we said OK!

The Website

With ADSFR having such a huge following, the website needed to be solid. We decided to use WordPress, for its reliability and extensible nature, which proved to be a good decision. ADSFR needed a series of features tailored specifically to the event, such as live weather updates that connect out to the buoys floating in the Gulf, as well as live leaderboards for the tournaments and live feeds. Apparel sales are also huge for the event, so the board wanted to support that through a new eCommerce section of the website, where users would be able to buy a variety of the events’ yearly items online during the event. These are all complicated features, and no existing set of code offered by WordPress was going to implement them.

So, we had to write our own. Our team of developers wrote a custom WordPress site, complete with PHP-powered interfaces completely unique to the site, that reliably pulled in all the necessary information. We lovingly crafted 32 individual pages, each one including all necessary marketing tags like Google Analytics and search console. The eCommerce portion was specifically built out to sell 13 different products to fans of the event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the end, the ADSFR website was functional, reliable and up-to-date.

The Results

Their website was a big hit. The update greatly impacted the participants’ and spectators’ experience by allowing them an easy-to-use space to get all the information they needed online. In July alone, the site amassed 50,607 sessions, a major increase.

As far as merch, with the help of our developers and advertising team, we were able to bring in tons of web traffic and sales for as little as $0.93 for advertising per customer purchase, an astoundingly good value that made them very satisfied with their ROI. Within just days of the site being online, over 600 merch orders were already placed. This site was a huge victory for our client and for us, and we can’t wait for the next annual event to see it help them again.

Google Ads is a terrific – to some, an essential – tool for a business’s marketing strategy. In theory, it’s as simple as picking keywords that match your users’ searches to your services and writing some basic text that encourages them to click. 

But Google Ads is deceptively complicated, and people wouldn’t hire us if it wasn’t, right?

Google Ads is filled to the brim with nuance, and looking deeper at how Google Ads works is important. While researching, you may also find some examples of Google Ads failing a business’s budget, which often were simple mistakes causing a big impact. To save you some trouble, we are listing 5 simple, but big, mistakes that people make when setting up Google Ads for their businesses.

1. Confusing Impressions for Results

This is the case with all online marketing, but it’s an important principle to keep in mind when using Google Ads. Impressions are not results. Impressions are views, and nothing more. Impressions increase when your ad merely appears in someone’s search results. Many see this number and stop looking, and continually add keywords without considering a campaign’s results. How much money are you making back from your Google Ads? That’s the question to ask because remember, a single sale is a single sale, whether you got 1 impression or 10,000,000.

2. Not Thinking Like Your Customers

As business owners, we tend to have a single-minded view of what our keywords should be. Those keywords are often offerings, services and product names. Those things should be keywords, but they are not enough. Those are the ideal searches, but often, it means you are not reaching the people who truly need you without knowing to look for you. Tons of people search Google, not looking for one thing directly, but looking for Google to provide a series of solutions. So the next time you update your keywords, always ask yourself: “What do my clients search for?”

3. Your Keywords are Too Broad

Broad keywords are keywords with no “quotation marks” or [brackets], meaning Google will do its best to make assumptions about those keywords. Google will automatically match your keyword with similar keywords in an attempt to catch more attention for words you don’t explicitly write down. This is a great tool – sometimes. It is easy to assume that every keyword should be broad, but doing so can cost you money down the road, not to mention having the potential of false leads. We usually recommend your keywords be “phrase matched” (within quotation marks). It’s a balance between broad and exact matching. This strategy tends to have good results without placing you at risk for showing up for keywords that you shouldn’t be. When in doubt, targeting a more narrow set of keywords is more recommended than the alternative.

4. Not Using Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are the opposite of keywords. They are words you do not want your ad to show up for, and it is common for new users of Google Ads to ignore them. But they are just as useful as keywords! We are always optimizing our campaigns, which means we are often adding negative keywords. Every negative keyword you add saves you money on a result or click that you do not want to pay for. We highly recommend that anyone using Google Ads utilize them as often as possible.

5. Having a Poor Post-Click Experience

Even if your Google Ads are the best in the world, the most important thing to remember is where you want those searchers to go: your website. That click should point them to what they wanted to see, ideally a landing page on your website that gives them the answer they wanted immediately. Your landing page should be fast, reliable and easy to use, with clearly displayed contact information and calls to action. (If you need help building one, or optimizing yours, feel free to reach out!)

Google Ads are complicated for all of those reasons and more. That is why many businesses opt to hire a marketing agency with experience. At Southern View Media, we have made Google work for hundreds of clients across hundreds of industries. If you are interested, call us today!

Articles about building your brand with the help of a marketing strategy are all over the internet. As a beginner, you will slowly notice that a business will thrive off the story behind the brand. The core steps that get you there are not only important but will determine your brand’s purpose and the overall areas of success. To help you fill in the blanks, we’re highlighting a few key points that we think are worth noting.

Define Your Brand.

Ask yourself this: “What am I offering, and why is it important?” Customers will want to invest their time in a product or service just as much as you do if they know what your brand provides and stands for. By creating this safe space for core values, interested consumers will easily become attracted both online and off. 

Target Audience Reach

Being naive and thinking that “the public” will have an interest in your brand tends to make you stray away from your overall focus. You must therefore define your target audience and reach with the mindset of looking at plausible influences. Who are the interested age groups? What do they bring to the table as far as sharing the same interests, and are they capable of reaching a tangible product or service with their personal earnings? Also consider ways that you can reach them, whether it be through a first-time user sign-up email newsletter or through an ad. 

Center Your Brand Story

This is the time where you want your brand to shine and tell its story. How you want to present this story is up to you. Most marketing strategies will consist of building a website and getting the about page and mission statement up and running. 

Create It. 

The way you present your brand’s look will help visually attract what you want to project. All aspects matter here, from the colors you choose to the way your product is packaged. The marketplace competition should be a reason your brand’s look stands out as you acquire it to fit and convey your brand’s value. 

Continue To Show up.

After you have presented your brand, you will need to continue to show up. Social media platforms are a great way to show off your skills by creating and uploading content. Engagement will also take part in your brand marketing strategy as customers want to feel included in what you bring to the table with comments and questions. New product launches, innovative features and limited-time offers are great ways to keep the momentum going.

Contact us to find out how we can help with your business’s digital presence. For a free consultation to formulate a strategic and affordable plan, call us today at 251-583-2605 or visit www.southernviewmedia.com. We are a Google Trusted Agency and will be happy to answer your questions.

THE CLIENT

Advanced Management Operations Platform (AMOP) is a connectivity platform created to assist both carriers and enterprise customers to manage their processes. When you work with AMOP, you can also work with Altaworx, a successful telecommunications company based in Fairhope, AL.

The client asked for a sleek and modern look that would complement the design of the preexisting Altaworx site and brand. We more than delivered.

THE WEBSITE

A Southern View Media designer created mockups of the homepage and secondary page. Upon approval from the client, one of our expert developers brought the designs to life within WordPress by utilizing Elementor. With its design and features, the website is simple and accessible while maintaining a modern appearance.

Our developer used CSS throughout the AMOP website. The site consists of seven individual pages. Six of those web pages highlight different aspects of AMOP. The seventh page, “Contact Us”, utilizes custom CSS within the unique honeycomb shape. It also takes advantage of Gravity Forms. 

THE RESULTS

The final product is a website designed to promote AMOP and its services, as well as earn leads for both AMOP and Altaworx. You can visit the final site at www.getamop.com.

Running Facebook Ads to benefit your business comes with many key components you should familiarize yourself with prior to promoting any content. You can use ads to launch exciting campaigns and get your creative juices flowing. However, it is important to note that not all campaigns are guaranteed to give you the results you crave. It takes time and effort to see what works and what does not. In the midst of Facebook ad competition, one thing is for certain, people want originality. Giving them deliverable organic insight into your business works like gold. 

Find your niche

If you are a start up business, you may want to consider your niche audience while utilizing a Facebook Ad. You will need to focus on creating an ad that is not only appealing to the eye, but that sends out a straightforward message. Potential customers do not yet know who you are, and even if they do, you need to sell them on why you are better than the competitors. Keywords like “free shipping world-wide”, “new” or “limited time offers” are some the few ways to get people to click. 

Choose a schedule for posting

After you have created your ad, you might become excited and want to instantly post. Is everyone on their timelines ready to make a purchase with their wallets at hand at four in the morning? Most likely the answer is no. People have busy schedules just like you. Try to strategize a schedule for posting on specific days and times where you find your audience the most active. Once you analyze, track and get an idea of when and how many people show interest, your algorithm should steadily begin to align. 

Keep ROI goals in mind 

Running ads can be costly depending on your set budget and whether or not your ads are a hit. Which is why it is important you make a return on investment (ROI) plan. Are you getting enough ad impressions? Are you making your landing page a one-stop fits all? Are you taking your ad reports seriously? Facebook ads run so diverse when it comes to the direction that you initiate on taking. You must therefore not be afraid to change as you go. Essentially, you would want to create a financial plan that makes your ROI worthwhile. Consider using integrated Facebook tools to help you stay on top of your ads as well as other helpful apps outside of Facebook that focus on other benefits such as analyzing adwords. Optimization is now made easier with marketing companies that specialize in Facebook ads and know what your business thrives off. 

Contact the team at Southern View Media to find out how we can help with your business’s digital presence. For a free consultation to formulate a strategic and affordable plan, call us today at 251-583-2605 or visit www.southernviewmedia.com. We are a Google Trusted Agency and will be happy to answer your questions.