Category Archives: Marketing

8 Best Practices for B2B Landing Pages

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Manager   What is a landing page? The term is thrown out a lot, but do all marketers know the meaning and purpose behind it? A landing page is a standalone webpage — separate from an organization’s main site. A landing page has a focused objective that leads the visitor to…
Read more

Classic Creative: Amoco

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Who thinks about what’s under the pavement, or those orange woven plastic fences alongside the highway, or those black plastic fences about knee-high attached to metal poles on construction sites. The answer is: not too many people. These are the products behind the scenes that make a difference in the…
Read more

Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]Using Facebook for B2B Lead Generations [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/facebook-b2b-lead-generation/309368/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7]37% of Consumers say Ads Placed Next to Offensive Content Impact Brand Perception [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/37-consumers-say-ads-placed-next-offensive-content-impact-brand-perception-217504" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Twitter Gives…
Read more

Swipe and Scroll: 4 Ways Mobile is Shaping Advertising

By: Claire Wilcox These days mobile devices seem to be an extension of the human body. A millennial without a phone is like a baby without a pacifier. No wonder marketers are pushing themselves to take on the challenge and opportunity of reaching audiences on the go. It is determined that by 2021, 81% of…
Read more

Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] YouTube unveils new rules to vet channels who advertise in order to protect brands from appearing next to questionable content [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/pewdiepie-declares-adpocalypse-youtube-makes-rules/308591/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook gives agencies more transparency following metrics blunders [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-moves-offer-agencies-transparency/308578/" style="default" size="normal"…
Read more

Classic Creative: Special Edition

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Have we gone full circle? In the 1940s and ’50s brands rushed to place their ads in the latest of thousands of magazines and ever-growing TV and radio broadcast stations, which soon became crowded with ads vying for the same attention. The answer came in the form of conceptual advertising…
Read more

4 Best Practices for B2B Direct Marketing

By Claire Wilcox, Account Support Intern "Whether it's B2C or B2B, you're still talking about stories," said John Osborne, president/CEO of BBDO New York, Ad Age’s 2017 B2B Agency of the Year. BBDO revealed how compelling marketing for businesses is just as important (if not more) as connecting to consumers with creative and resonating storytelling.…
Read more

Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest Launches “Propel”, a Hands-On Support Program for New Advertisers [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/pinterest-launches-propel-hands-support-program-new-advertisers-210598" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Mobile Now Accounts for Nearly 70% of Digital Media Time [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/mobile-now-accounts-nearly-70-digital-media-time-comscore-210094" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1]…
Read more

Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google Ramps Up Header Bidding Alternative as Pressure Mounts From Facebook. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/google-ramps-header-bidding-alternative-ebda/308434/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Unveils a New Ad Format, Called “Collections”, Meant to Drive Product Awareness and Sales for Brands. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebooks-shoppable-collection-ad-latest-iad-like-format-209886" style="default" size="normal"…
Read more

Industry Insights

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] xAd Reveals a New Location-Based Ad Model Where Brands Only Pay for an Ad When Customers Walk Through the Door [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/cost-per-visit-xad-brings-search-like-performance-mobile-advertising-209306" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Others Are Facing Pressure to Allow 3rd Party Audits of Their…
Read more

ADmirable Series: Vans “Off The Wall”

By Luke Suggs, Account Intern Image Source For nearly 60 years, the Vans slogan “Off The Wall” was thought to be a skateboarding term because Vans has historically been a skateboarding brand. However, in recent years, Vans has transitioned from an exclusive skateboarding brand to a broader lifestyle brand. And after all these years, Vans…
Read more

7 Best Practices for B2B Social Media Marketing

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator & Social Media Manager Generally people consider B2C companies when thinking about brands on social media. But social media also provides a huge opportunity for B2B brands that should not be overlooked. According to Salesforce, “Social media accounts for a third of all time spent online.” And while B2B brands…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Competitors Leave Twitter in the Dust [button text="See Full Article" link="https://www.statista.com/chart/5358/twitters-user-growth-in-perspective/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook Opens Itself to Ad Measurement Audit, Giving Brands More Control Over Video Ad Buys [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-opens-measurement-audit-gives-brands-control-video-ad-buys-206387" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1]…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook updates News Feed algorithm to focus on video completion rates [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebook-video-completion-rates-204788" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Inmoji allows brands to create sendable, emoji-like stickers that they refer to as “Interactive Emojis” [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/inmoji-launches-first-self-service-platform-interactive-emoji-like-icons-stickers-204638" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline"…
Read more

Award Series: Virgin Islands Telephone Company

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director The Virgin Islands Telephone Company had been our client for about 3 years. Our focus was a print, TV and PR campaign focused on stemming complaints about the quality of service in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as the weather, humidity and annual storms, wreaked havoc on above-ground lines. The biggest…
Read more

ADmirable Series: “The Force” by Volkswagen

By: Luke Suggs, Account Support It’s Super Bowl time! A time when friends and family come together for wings, beer, football, a halftime show, and, most importantly, commercials. The Super Bowl is an exciting opportunity for brands and agencies to showcase their best creative work to millions of viewers. Volkswagen nailed it with this 2011…
Read more

The Do’s and Don’ts of Branding in 2017

By Chloe Ayres, Senior Designer Just as our personality is a mixture of inherent traits and characteristics that develop over time, your brand is a mix of existing factors and developed characteristics. Branding is how you shape and communicate that personality to your customers. While some truths of branding will always stand the test of…
Read more

The Importance of Music in Advertising and Branding

By Luke Suggs, Account Support For most people, music is an essential part of everyday life. Although people may have stylistic differences, music has the ability to connect people and has power to make us feel. Similar to smell, music can trigger memory. Just the other day my friend said whenever he heard the song…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Pinterest to expand their advertising services by rolling out ad group functionality to paid campaigns in about a month. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/pinterest-ad-groups-203882" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Instagram accounted for 70% of GQ’s social revenue last year, bolstering the site’s credibility and value…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google appears to be introducing a simple website creation tool for small businesses. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/google-taking-another-run-simple-website-creation-small-businesses-203468" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook’s extended Ad Network now serves ads to over one billion people. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-serving-ads-washington-post-rolling-stone/307486/" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"]…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook to expand their “Dynamic Ad” service, allowing brands to retarget users who have viewed products on other brands’ sites or apps as well as their Facebook followers. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://marketingland.com/facebooks-retargeted-ads-broadened-include-rivals-site-page-audiences-203045" style="default" size="normal" target="_blank" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Facebook plans to add mid-roll video ads…
Read more

Classic Creative – Austin Quality Foods

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director We conducted our Brand Exercise “Benefits Testing” to arrive at the primary benefit “End the hungries.” It sounds pretty obvious now, but it wasn’t so obvious before. Product benefits led to options like after-school snack, perfect travel food, most fulfilling and convenient snack, sports energy (this was before all the…
Read more

DigiKnow?

[row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Digital marketing continues to grow, with marketers spending a record-breaking $17.6 billion in the third quarter of 2016, a 20% year-over-year increase. [button text="See Full Article" link="http://thegossagency.com/2017/01/05/iab-advertising-report-finds-marketers-cant-stop-spending-on-digital/" style="default" size="normal" target="_self" display="inline" icon="no"] [/span7] [/row] [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] Google will now actively work to pair brands with YouTube creators to produce…
Read more

Study: 55 percent of mobile dollars wasted

More than 70 percent of mobile ads fail to create a positive user experience. Greg Sterling on December 21, 2016 at 9:55 am A recent study (reg. req’d) from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Celtra, argues that $0.55 of every dollar spent on mobile advertising is wasted. Beyond this, negative mobile ad experiences are hurting brand…
Read more

IAB Advertising Report Finds Marketers Can’t Stop Spending On Digital

By George Slefo. Published on December 28, 2016. [row] [span8] Digital advertising is on a relentless path toward gobbling up more ad dollars, with marketers spending a record-breaking $17.6 billion on digital in the third quarter of 2016. That represents a 20% year-over-year increase, according to a report released Wednesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau.…
Read more

Facebook’s latest measurement error undercounted Instant Articles traffic

For those keeping count, this is the fourth time Facebook has disclosed measurement errors in as many months. Tim Peterson on December 16, 2016 at 11:00 am It’s happened again. For the fourth time since September and the second time this month, Facebook has disclosed a measurement error. Facebook had been undercounting iPhone traffic for…
Read more

Salesforce moves beyond first-party data with Krux integration

The CRM/marketing giant unveils several new features for its Marketing Cloud that incorporate its recently purchased data management platform. Barry Levine on December 16, 2016 at 10:46 am In October, Salesforce announced it was buying data management platform (DMP) Krux. This week, the CRM/marketing giant unveiled the addition of three new features to its Marketing…
Read more

Advertisers are cooling on Snapchat Live Stories

With viewership for Snapchat’s Live Stories stagnating, the feature is not a priority for media buyers. In addition to Discover, Live Stories is one of two media-driven features inside the Snapchat app. Available alongside Discover on the Stories and Discover pages, Live Stories provides content curated around different events and topics — everything from a…
Read more

What Businesses Should Know About Local SEO

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Coordinator Of course businesses want to draw visitors from across the state, country, and even the other side of the world. But what about the local visitor? Businesses should optimize their local search ranking and provide content to encourage traffic from their local geographic region as well. According to…
Read more

5 Marketing Predictions for 2017

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator Ready or not, 2017 will be here before we know it! Here is a compiled list of predicted trends that will help you adjust, prep and optimize your advertising and marketing plan for the new year: [row] [span1] [/span1] [span7] An increased focus on analytics — including the use of…
Read more

ADmirable Series: H&M “Come Together”

By Luke Suggs, Account Intern Nobody likes delays, especially on Christmas! In H&M’s new holiday ad, “Come Together,” passengers on a train are informed there is a delay and will be missing Christmas with their families. The train operator sets his efforts to ensure that a young boy gets a Christmas even if it’s with…
Read more

Award Series: Sky Dive North Georgia

By Jeff Goss, President/Creative Director Small client, small budget: How do you get the word out? It was the perfect fit: Creation of powerful headlines to go in, well, “Headlines,” Atlanta’s premier facilitator of restroom advertising. You might say our ads were in the toilet — strategically placed above the urinals. The look was simple:…
Read more

Advertising is Crucial for Mobile App Developers

Report: Most users will need multiple exposures to an app before they download TUNE study based on a mix of consumer survey and app download data. Greg Sterling on November 11, 2016 at 2:14 pm How does brand impact app installs? That’s a question TUNE sought to answer with a number of related consumer and…
Read more

The Power of Online Reviews (and How You Can Improve Yours)

70% of consumers will leave a review for a business when asked Want to get inside the minds of potential customers for your local business? Columnist Sherry Bonelli shares insights from BrightLocal's annual Local Consumer Review Survey. Sherry Bonelli on November 14, 2016 at 10:03 am A business’s online reputation is more important than ever.…
Read more

Pinterest Testing the Waters With Autoplay Ads

Pinterest queues up autoplay video ads for new Explore tab American Express, The Home Depot, Macy’s and Sony Pictures are among the first brands to test Pinterest’s autoplay video ads. Tim Peterson on November 15, 2016 at 2:12 pm A few months after introducing click-to-play video ads, Pinterest is catching up with the times —…
Read more

Facebook Attempts to Restore Trust With Advertisers

In major measurement update, Facebook overhauls metrics, makes corrections, adds viewability Facebook is also adding more third-party verification and forming a Measurement Council to stay in step with evolving products and metrics. Ginny Marvin on November 16, 2016 at 9:00 am In a sort of course correction, Facebook made several announcements Wednesday pertaining to audience…
Read more

New Creative: Alliance AutoGas

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Our client, Alliance AutoGas, proudly offers fleet managers across America the ability to convert their fleets to propane autogas, one of the cleanest burning fossil fuels known to man. In creating this digital direct piece, we aimed to create an emotionally compelling advertisement that highlighted this product benefit, contrasted it…
Read more

7 Ways to Improve Your Search Rank Using Social Media

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Social media is like a multi-tool; use it to engage with customers, sell products, market new products, for PR. But did you know that social media can also help your SEO? That’s right! And while its effect on your search results is indirect, it goes a long…
Read more

Award Series: Farnam Custom Products

By Jeff Goss, President One of the biggest mistakes business-to-business clients make is getting too technical. They forget that, although their customers are buying a product for business and there are a lot of technical features, they have to add up to a benefit at the end of the day. But, most importantly, that benefit…
Read more

Adobe Marketing Cloud’s Secret Agent: How’s your Customer Experience?

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Manager Everyone needs a laugh, and everyone loves a story. Brands that use storytelling and humor can connect with their target audience in a personable and impactful way. A brand that has successfully used humor this fall is Adobe Marketing Cloud. Adobe speaks to the problem many brands face…
Read more

Branding Process Kicks Off For Elizabeth City, NC

By Ryan Laffler, Account Manager Two weeks ago, The Goss Agency had the pleasure of visiting one of its clients, Elizabeth City, to present the results from our branding process. Located on the Pasquotank River in Eastern North Carolina, Elizabeth City truly is a gem of Southern charm and culture. The branding process uncovered Elizabeth…
Read more

ADmirable: Dell and Intel’s “The New Experts”

Many brands use back-to-school ads to showcase flashy clothes and products that’ll appeal to students and parents. But this year, Dell went a step further. Rather than focusing on products, Dell tells the inspiring story of its “New Expert,” 22-year-old physicist Taylor Wilson. At the age of 14, Wilson was the youngest person to produce…
Read more

Classic Creative – Haywood County

Haywood County, after our branding workshop filtering and prioritizing all the features and visitor experiences, determined that the authentic Appalachian culture and clean natural environment were the assets that rose to the top. Thus, “Haywood County, Authentic Appalachian, pure and simple” was born. A new logo was created by illustrating the landscape in a turn-of-the-century…
Read more

How Brands are Getting Millennials to Flex their Voting Muscles

By Rachel Hornay, Copy Writer Intern It has become that time of the year when political campaigns are everywhere in the media. This election year there is a huge number of millennials who are able to vote. According to ABC News, millennials have edged out baby boomers as the largest living generation in U.S. history…
Read more

ARE YOU FOR REAL?

By Rachel Hornay, Copywriter Intern Technology is always developing but the recent craze of virtual reality invites brands to explore a whole new platform. Virtual reality (VR) is defined as a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real way by a person using special electronic…
Read more

4 Ways To Attract Millennials To Your Destination

By: Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Millennials are armed to be the driving force behind the travel industry. They use travel to go on adventures, learn other languages and study. Why are they so eager to travel? This generation was jaded by the recession and now places less importance on saving for retirement and instead values…
Read more

Q+A: HOW TO OPTIMIZE PINTEREST FOR YOUR DESTINATION

By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator and Social Media Manager 1. Why is Pinterest important for travel destinations? You may ask: Isn’t Pinterest just a website where stay-at-home moms find cool recipes and quirky DIY crafts? While there may be some truth in that, there is so much more to Pinterest that your destination can benefit…
Read more

Why You Need to be Focusing on Native Advertising

By: Ryan Laffler, Account Manager & Digital Director Display ads, the advertisements that you see on the top and sidebars of almost every webpage nowadays, are in decline. One part of the problem is that they are rarely relevant to the user. While this has changed somewhat with Google Adsense’s targeting algorithm, it started to…
Read more

Pin It! – The 3 Most Important Tips to Optimize Your Pinterest

By Travis LeJune, Account Intern Do you have a Pinterest yet? If you are a shopper, you should definitely get one. If you are a seller, you MUST have one! Sure, it is still a fairly young social media platform, but it has been churning up some extremely surprising statistics we think you should know…
Read more

ADmirable: Chipotle’s New Campaign

Fast food giant Chipotle recently came out with an animated short about two kids who grow up locked in competition with each other. The heartwarming video works because it captures Chipotle’s brand distinction in an entertaining way that resonates with others. Memorable brands don’t just offer great products or services, they connect with their audience…
Read more

Award Series: The Thoms Estate

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director The heir to a 100-acre estate in the heart of Asheville partnered with GDR (Global Development Resources), our client, for an environmentally responsible development design that paid respect to the property and her father, who established the estate in 1937. Her mother was an artist, as were many in her…
Read more

Digital Advertising Statistics You Need to Know (Infographic)

Ever since the turn of the century, Digital Advertising has been changing the ways brands communicate with their audience. The number of tools and techniques that have surfaced over this time can be a little overwhelming, but with the right strategy and agency behind you, digital advertising can produce tremendous returns for you and your…
Read more

Sustain Your Brand using Instagram and Food

By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern Brands are constantly looking for ways to engage with consumers on social media. However, one challenge is noticing the trends occurring on various platforms and capitalizing on them successfully before the competition. One such trend that is growing in popularity centers around food. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t…
Read more

Award Series – Speidel ID Bracelets

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Clunky ID bracelets of the ‘50s and ‘60s by Speidel were engraved with teens’ names and exchanged and worn when dating--a brand and product withering of the vine in the ‘90s. What to do? With a little research we identified the top 3 social issues for teens: drunk driving, environment…
Read more

Classic Creative – Gold Toe Socks

by Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Gold Toe socks, depending on direct sales to department stores for decades, became a household name brand in America from the 1930s-70s. Back then, men didn’t really care much about socks. They were an afterthought, “black, brown, grey, or did I say black?” That all started to change with competition…
Read more

Can You Switch Me Now? Good.

by Ryan Laffler, Account Manager What happens when your company burns bridges with the spokesperson of your advertising campaign? What happens when that same, iconic spokesperson joins forces with your competitor? Well that’s what just happened to Verizon Wireless, and we’re not sure if Aloe Vera is going to be enough to soothe the burn.…
Read more

7 Digital Marketing Takeaways from the Digital Summit 2016

By: Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator/Social Media Earlier this month, I was privileged to represent The Goss Agency while attending The 2016 Digital Summit Conference in Charlotte. I was able to gain knowledge from industry leaders during those two days. I almost felt a tad nostalgic of college lectures as I quickly scribbled down note after…
Read more

Award Series – Franklin Graham Crusade

By Jeff Goss, CEO/Creative Director Faced with the communications objective to create an invitation for the Franklin Graham Crusade, we did not go the traditional route and do a classic card and envelope with script type. We thought about what would happen upon receiving the invitation. One would be moved to go but then rationalize…
Read more

6 Tips To Succeed In Real-Time Marketing

By Dari Mullins, Senior Account Manager As the capacity of digital devices continues to increase and the craving for new, current, engaging content from consumers rises – Brands have to act quickly to stay ahead of the emerging trends. Real-time adverting has been around for several years, but it’s popularity continues to grow on Social…
Read more

YouTube Introduces a New Ad Package

    By Brady Rothschild, Intern   YouTube is introducing a new ad package for companies looking to advertise through them. Last Tuesday (on April, 26, 2016) they announced the start of bumper ads. Bumper ads are 6-second ads that you can’t skip, rather than the traditional 30-second YouTube ad that you can skip after five…
Read more

Marketing to Women in 2016

Gone are the days that sex sells everything. A sexy, twenty-something model advertising a car will not sit well with most female consumers. The 75 year old trend of only using women IN advertising has drastically shifted to advertising TO women
Read more

Cyber Monday Versus Black Friday

You’ve probably seen the holiday shopping reports. “Holiday Sales ‘Perfectly Average So Far” via CNBC, and “Black Friday Sales Down More Than $1 Billion” via Time. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Adweek reported...
Read more

Email Marketing Works!

Today's marketing landscape is more fractured than ever. People are hit with TV and radio commercials, digital ads, email marketing, social media...it's a lot to take in, and a lot for businesses to keep up with. Thankfully, we know that email marketing is not dead and can still deliver solid results. Entrepreneur recently released, "7…
Read more

2016 Marketing Plan

In our many, many hours spent on the Internet, we came across this image recently, and it struck a chord with us. Although this image was created to motivate changes needed in complex systems like education, we thought it was also applicable to thinking about your 2016 Marketing Plan for your business. Each element is…
Read more

Marketing to Millennials from a Millennial

The Millennial generation is coming into the workforce now, in a world with a tough economy. The Millennials are used to having things their way, and we can get very upset when life does not go as planned.
Read more