FRANCIS | Marketing and Branding Solutionist

Conveying messages with strength and simplicity

Phone: 202-553-6766

HOLY COW — 7 Eye Popping Mobile Marketing Stats

I try to read a couple of blog posts from my favorite marketing blogs every day of the work week. Sometimes I’m just too busy to do it, but reading these posts is important to me because it keeps me sharp and up to speed with the ever-changing landscape of inbound marketing. You’re always seeking more knowledge in my line of work, it’s just the way it is.

But anyway, today one of the blog posts I read was about 31 mobile marketing statistics to help marketers plan for 2016.

Here are the 7 that stood out to me the most:

1. Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead (Source: McKinsey & Company)
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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Uncategorized, Websites

Stop Relying On Social Media Automation

Social media automation may be efficient and less time-consuming, but it’s really not significantly effective. Automation feels robotic and some of your followers can tell the difference between an automated post and a real-time post.

The bottom line is, your followers want humanistic, real interactions. So instead of scheduling your next few posts on social media, try these proven tactics instead:
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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Social Media Marketing, Strategy, Uncategorized

One Heck of a Tip For Your Google Retargeting Ads (This Will Save You Time and Money)

Do you ever find yourself spending a whole bunch of cash on Google retargeting ads only to receive a small number of clicks after thousands of views?

I know, it sucks, I’ve been there. But it’s important to be proactive and find solutions to such problems. So since “sharing is caring,” here’s a little trick I learned from someone else that saves me a ton of time and money whenever I run a retargeting ad online — USE PLACEMENTS.
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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Digital Marketing, Lead Generation, Strategy, Uncategorized

Why Hamburger Menus Are No Longer A “Cool” Website Feature

Do you have a hamburger menu on your website?

You know, the compressed website menu that looks like three lines (or a sandwich depending on how you look at it) located in the top left or right corner of your mobile phone, laptop, or tablet (See the image above).

Well, last year it was a hot trend. Everyone started using it and now having this feature won’t make your website stand out from the crowd. There’s no longer anything unique or original about it. It’s actually becoming less popular these days because of all the research out there that suggests it’s no longer good to have. For instance, people have a hard time finding hamburger menus (low discoverability), making them less efficient.

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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Design, Websites

6 Smart Ways to Involve Your Fanbase and Build Deeper Connections

If you want to grow your fanbase quickly and organically, you can make it happen with technology. But you have to find ways to engage people as you work towards your goals. Whether you want to grow your fanbase or keep the fans you already have, you must keep them involved. Involvement is one of the best ways to do just that.

So how do you nurture people that you want to buy tickets to your shows? There are many ways to do this, here are six of them that work really well: Continue reading →

Posted on by Alvin Francis in Lead Generation, Strategy

3 Amazing Tricks to Get More Shares On Twitter

These days there are full-time positions for social media for a reason. You have to do quite a bit of testing to figure out what works. You also have to devote a lot of time engaging with people that are a part of your target audience. There’s a lot of outreach involved if you want to reap significant benefits. Benefits such as driving a large amount of traffic to your website or making people advocates of your brand by sharing your content consistently.

I’m proud to say I’ve been able to generate leads and revenue through social media over the years. Specifically Twitter and LinkedIN. But man oh man, it’s a grind.

Here are 3 amazing tricks I’ve learned along the way that work:
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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Social Media Marketing

Know Your Audience — The Importance of Buyer Personas

Buyer personas (aka marketing personas) are fictional representations of your ideal customers. Personas help us get a better understanding of what the ideal customer we’re trying to acquire finds interesting etc. It lets you know what makes your target audience tick, what inspires them to pay for your offering.

I was reading an article called ‘How many buyer personas should I really have?” by Bob Ruffalo, founder and CEO of IMPACT, a few days ago. And he made some great points.

These are the three points he made that really resonated with me:

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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Digital Marketing, Lead Generation, Strategy

3 Things I’m Thankful for as a Marketer

So yesterday was thanksgiving. I got to eat everything that I usually try to stay away from and it was damn good. I love thanksgiving. You get to make merry over food with family and friends, watch football, and most importantly, take a moment to acknowledge the things you’re thankful for.

Therefore it was only right that I put together this blog post. I’m especially grateful for certain things that make my job easier because like most, I have to deal with work all the time to make a living. So this year, here are a few things I’m thankful for as a Marketer:

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Posted on by Alvin Francis in Digital Marketing, Uncategorized