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Lead generation often starts with paid ads.

Generate & Capture Leads

By Blog

Leads are important to nearly every business because each lead is a potential new customer. Lead generations start with your marketing efforts which will drive customers to your website and to lead capture tools on your website. However, you may wonder what options are available to you for lead generation and lead capture?

What is a Lead Generation?

Lead generation drives people to your website or social media channels through your marketing efforts. Lead generation provides multiple touchpoints for your customers to reach you, and find out more about what you offer.

Methods for lead generation include email marketing, paid advertising, referral marketing, and social media marketing. Email marketing and social media marketing also allow you to engage in lead nurturing which can convert to more sales. Examples of lead nurturing include inviting leads to webinars, sending case studies, or other kinds of helpful information.

What is Lead Capture?

Once at your website or social media channels, lead capture tools offer a reason for customers to take that extra step needed to covert a sale. Lead capture is when a customer provides your business with their contact information.

Lead capture can include signup forms, or a free demonstration, or downloads such as help guides, white papers, or e-books. When your customer fills out the form, they provide you with the information you need to move them from a lead to a sale. The quality of the kind of download you provide will make your lead capture tool more effective as it will be perceived as more valuable.

Lead capture is part of the end game, but customers must also be fully informed of how you will use their information. Do not bait and switch your leads and do not sell their information to third-parties. Once you have captured leads, respect their privacy or risk losing the customer and damaging your brand.

Lead Generation Options

As mentioned above, there are several ways you can engage in lead generation through your marketing efforts. Paid advertisements are a great way to target your potential customers.

Digital marketing is an affordable and effective way to do lead generation. Paid ads on social media and through Google Ads allow your customer base to be targeted fairly granularly. These ads can drive customers to your website where your product or service is explained and a lead capture tool is available for them to provide you with their contact information. Email marketing is another great tool for nurturing current customers or potential leads.

Need Assistance?

Baseline Creative can help your lead generation efforts through digital marketing and web development. Contact us today to see how we can help!

SMART goals help small businesses grow

SMART Goals Help You Plan for Success

By Blog

What Does SMART Stand For?

The acronym SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. As you write your objectives, do so with this framework in mind. As you start to plan a project, setting SMART goals will help you define and measure success. Only three percent of adults have clear, measurable, time-bound goals that are written down. However, those in that three percent accomplish ten times more than people with no goals.

How to Write SMART Goals

Specific – Your goals must be specific. Don’t just say that you want to increase sales—provide a number. Instead, get specific. Are you increasing overall sales or sales on a product or service that needs to be improved? Also, include the time frame you need to work within. You want to increase sales by 20% in the first quarter.

Measurable – Your goal needs to be measurable. In the example above if you want to increase sales, how do you measure that? How can you measure your objective? Usually, this will be through a conversion of some kind, in our example, we can measure sales by the number of products or services purchased. In this case, it is relatively easy to track the number of new sales.

Achievable – Keep your goals achievable. For instance, it’s probably not realistic to say you want to increase sales by 100% in the first quarter. For one, you may not actually have the capacity to increase sales by that much. You may need to order more inventory, or revamp processes to make this achievable and perhaps those efforts are just not realistic in the time frame you are working within. Achievable goals keep you moving forward and help you plan realistic implementation. Instead of setting a goal to increase sales by 100% in the first quarter, a review of your processes and inventory may show that a 20% increase is more realistic.

Relevant – Your goals need to be relevant. Why is this goal important to your business? For example, increasing sales by 20% in the first quarter will help you to launch a new product in the fourth quarter which is part of a long-term goal for the business.

Time-Bound – Deadlines are important because you need parameters to accomplish your goal. Setting a specific timeframe will help you and your team to stay on track, which will help you reach that goal. In our continuing example, the first quarter is the time frame. Set a specific date, such as March 31 as the deadline.

Reaching Your SMART Goals

Strategy, planning, and implementation are vital to helping any business grow. Whether you sell products or services, you need SMART goals to be successful. Whether it’s on the strategy and planning end, or implementation, Baseline Creative would love to help you reach your goals. Contact us to start a conversation.

A digital camera captures a custom stock photo of a cup of coffee

Custom Stock Photography

By Blog, Uncategorized

There are several benefits of having custom stock photography for your business. However, you may wonder if it’s necessary for your company.

The terms ‘custom’ and ‘stock’ may sound like they don’t go hand in hand. For instance, if it’s a stock photo, then how is it also defined as custom?

A library of custom stock photos means you can ditch browsing websites for stock images that don’t capture or reflect your brand. Custom stock photography gives you the ability to portray your brand image and company culture through original photos.

4 Benefits of Custom Stock Images

  1. A professional photography/videography session.
  2. Photo and video editing that portrays your brand image.
  3. Unique and original assets with a personal touch, providing a cohesive look across all platforms.

Imagery plays an important role in branding, and it can make or break a business. Companies need photos for everything they have to offer, including products and services.

From social media content, to blog posts and marketing materials, you need photos. So, why not make them custom stock photos that are original and unique to your brand?

Custom Stock Photography by Baseline Creative

Are you in need of original photos that capture your business in its finest element? At Baseline Creative, our team can do it all. From the photography session, to editing images, and posting them to your website or social media, we are here to help.

However, we offer more than just photography and videography. Some of our capabilities include developing brand identity and image, creating social media campaigns, and designing and building custom websites.

If you’re in the market for updated headshots, custom stock imagery, or other marketing needs, contact us to start a conversation. No task is too complex for our team of strategists, designers, and developers to handle!

Rebranding strategy in a word cloud

Is it time for a brand refresh?

By Blog

A successful rebrand entails more than just a redesigned logo.

Some brands may require an entire overhaul. This can include evaluating your current brand, assessing your company goals or marketing strategies, and researching or conducting focus groups to understand how customers feel about your brand.

Three Reasons to Refresh Your Brand

There are several factors that can influence a company to rebrand, including:

  1. Rebuilding a loyal following
  2. Embracing a new philosophy, values, or mission
  3. Desiring a fresh new look

The History of Popular Rebrands

Some of the most well-known and influential brands have updated their brand more than once or twice.

For instance, McDonald’s has refreshed its brand at least once a decade. Their most recent rebrand incorporates vibrant colors on the packaging and in stores, as opposed to their signature red and yellow. However, the famous golden arches haven’t gone anywhere. Rebranding has also included updated taglines, from “You deserve a break today” to “I’m lovin’ it” the fast-food giant has included brand slogans into their marketing.

MasterCard is another recognizable brand with its red and yellow circles. The credit card company upgraded their logo, website, and other marketing staples for a complete brand overhaul in 2019.

Hardware and appliance staple, Sears had undergone several rebrands. From it’s start as Sears & Roebuck in 1906, the retailer relied on catalogs to sell products. After opening brick and mortar stores in 1925, Sears quickly became one of the biggest retailers in the nation. Known for hardware and appliances, Sears rebranded in the 1990’s to promote their softlines, including women’s fashion, shoes, men’s wear and kids’ clothing. Marketing efforts promoted “The Softer Side of Sears” to women. The latest rebranding effort in 2020 has fallen flat as many pointed out that the new Sears logo bears a striking resemblance to Air B&B.

Ready to Refresh?

Now that you’re familiar with the definition of rebranding and case studies for reference, you may decide that it’s time for a rebrand. Whether you’re looking to rename, redefine, or rebuild your brand or business, we can help!

Baseline Creative is equipped to redesign your brand from the ground up. We will assess your current brand, and recommend strategies and innovations based on our research and industry knowledge. Contact us to have a conversation about where your brand is and where you would like it to go.

Case Study: Kansas Hispanic Education Development Foundation

By Blog

Each year Baseline Creative works with nonprofits that align with our vision for a better community. When the Kansas Hispanic Education Development Foundation (KHEDF) reached out to us for a web redesign, we were excited to help. KHEDF opens doors for Hispanic students in Kansas to help make their college dreams come true through scholarships and leadership development.

KHEDF needed an updated website that better reflected their brand, and included functionality to help them add events, spotlight student success stories and include donor recognition. The ability for students to fill out an online form was also important. Micaela Ramirez, KHEDF Executive Director said they chose to work with Baseline because of our experience with nonprofits and understanding their needs.

Baseline set out to visually incorporate the colors in the logo to the website and create user-friendly navigation that would appeal to the student demographic as well as donors and volunteers. Ramirez said, “Our team really enjoyed the creativity and effectiveness the Baseline Creative team implemented in the story telling of our mission and services we provide.”

In addition, an online scholarship form was needed to help automate the process for both student applicants, and KHEDF staff and volunteers. Student applicants can now apply online, save their application and return to it later if needed. KHEDF also needed an easy-to-use event calendar and a way to highlight student success stories and donors. Baseline was able to build these functions as well as online payments for events, and donations.

Collaboration is an integral value at Baseline and it’s important to us internally, and with our clients. As a relationship-based agency, we believe in listening to the client, getting insights from them, and combing that with data and our own experience to create quality work product. “Our team really enjoyed working with the Baseline team and how each of their team members talents and expertise came together to implement our thoughts, needs, and goals within our website. Their team was great at communicating, offering ideas, and their turnaround time was amazing,” said Ramirez.

As we started the project we discovered that the designer assigned to the project, Gabby Garlow, had received a KHEDF scholarship when she was in school. “It was a pleasant surprise to know that Gabby was the person designing our website,” Ramirez said. “It feels like we have come full circle to have one of our students succeed in school and then help design our new website.” Baseline has extensive experience working with nonprofits for website development, graphic design, training, public relations, and social media. Contact us to talk about how we can help you save time and resources with a new website.

Marketing Plan in 2021

Marketing in 2021

By Blog

What will your marketing plan look like in 2021? There are some trends that should be considered when making your plan or working with an agency like Baseline Creative to make your plan.

Social media, technology, and web presence, and cause marketing will be important elements include in your marketing plan in the new year.

Social Media  

Social Media will continue to be an important part of your marketing plans. While it may not make sense for your business to be on every social media platform, businesses need to be on social.

Most of your customers simply expect to find you there. In this way, social media serves as a local listing of sorts—which boosts your SEO and makes it easier for people to find you.

For those in retail, food, the hospitality industry, or even health care, social media is a natural fit, and platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and even TikTok are likely to put your business in front of your customers. For those whose products and services are more business to business (B2B) chances are that a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn is enough. Your marketing goals and target audiences will help determine where you should be on social.

Social media, when done right, can help improve your customer service experience. Responding quickly to customer inquiries, or customer feedback can help you build credibility for your business and can help you recognize the things you do well in addition to opportunities to grow and change.

Influencers will also continue to be an important element of marketing in 2021. While it may look different for every business, an influencer can get your product or services in front of a targeted audience and provide credibility to your business.

Technology

Technology and the ability for your customers to shop, meet, or conduct business online is going to remain vital in 2021. According to Census.gov, online purchasing increased by 44% in the second quarter of 2020 and was at 37.1% in the third quarter. Many experts agree that even as businesses open back up to the public, e-commerce will still be important.

Ecommerce has been the difference between success and failure during Covid. For example, this year, restaurants that never offered online ordering, quickly had to add that to their websites to remain viable as dining rooms were closed during the pandemic. This kind of quick adaptability was critical to success for many.  Online shops for retailers, including small businesses, is also a trend that is continuing. Businesses will need to continue to provide virtual, delivery, and online ordering capabilities to remain adaptable in 2021.

In the same vein, search engine optimization (SEO) will be even more important in your marketing plan. As more retailers and businesses compete for our attention, SEO will be key to make sure your website is offered up to the right audience, more often.

Cause Marketing and Social Issues

According to EngageforGood.com, “71% of Americans believe that companies have more responsibility than ever before to address social justice issues and 56% say companies that do not talk about social justice issues in their marketing or communications are out of touch.” This is especially true for Gen Z who are increasing their purchasing power every year, and who expect the brands they support to take a stand on social issues.

Several examples of cause marketing include Nike’s “Dream Crazier” campaign aimed at celebrating women in sports. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand has been supporting the Black Lives Matter movement since 2016 and has incorporated their support into messaging on their website, in blogs, and even in products. For Ben & Jerry’s cause marketing isn’t a gimmick, it’s a part of their brand’s culture.

Cause marketing is more than supporting a favorite nonprofit throughout the year. Cause marketing should incorporate your brand and involve marketing, advertising, and public relations as well as internal communications. In short, cause marketing should go beyond just one event or campaign.

Bring on 2021!

Most of us are looking forward to a new year and leaving the trauma and chaos of 2020 behind us. However, we must not forget the lessons we learned in this challenging year and should strive to grow in 2021.

If you need to develop or add to your marketing plan in 2021, Baseline Creative would be happy to help. Contact us for a conversation about how we can help you reach your goals in the new year.

Email notification on a tablet

The Art and Science of Effective Communication

By Blog

Marketing is ever-changing, and as professionals, we have to evolve our strategies and keep up with industry best practices.

Recently, the Baseline Creative strategists attended a webinar hosted by the Kansas Chapter of PRSA with keynote speaker Kristin Graham, Principal of Culture & Communications at Amazon. Graham came to speak about effective ways to communicate in a time in which people are having digital overload.

Effective Communication in the Digital Age

Email communications have increased 31% since March, according to Campaign Monitor. In addition, many companies have shifted their workspaces to be permanently remote due to the pandemic. As a result, employees have adopted new methods of communicating virtually, including video conferences, chat rooms, and a surge in email communications. This is a change that while keeps employees safe, has created communication challenges.

Our brains are flooded with information from the moment we wake up in the morning to the time we go to sleep each night. Advanced technology and mobile devices make it easy to send and receive information within seconds. Within seconds of starting our days, we begin to experience decision fatigue.

As a business or organization, ensuring your employee communications are as clear and actionable as your client communications are important. According to Graham, we can achieve this with bite-sized cookies of information, rather than long, drawn-out emails.

3 Tips to Help Email Stand Out

Graham offered up three ways in which you can make your internal, or external email communications break through digital clutter.

  1. Use a clear, intentional subject line with no punctuation. The ideal length is seven-10 words.
  2. Keep your body content to 111 words. This is the “sweet spot” and after this number, 49% will stop reading. Break up your content with spaces.
  3. BLOT (Bottom Line on Top) or don’t bury the lede. The most important information should be at the top of the email including deadlines.

Making Messages Stick

The brain can process visuals 65,000 times faster than words so when possible, use a combination of visuals and words for the most effective communication. This combination of visual and auditory will help your audience recall the message.

Graham reiterated that as communicators we need to respect the brain drain that is happening all around us. By using clear subject lines, concise content, and using “multi-sensory activation”, we can help our internal and external audiences understand what we have to say. Providing more effective communication is key to any person, in any industry.

The word Search appears on a computer screen

What is Search Console?

By Blog

Google Analytics is one of the best tools on the market for analyzing web traffic. Included in Analytics, is a separate, but powerful tool called Search Console. This month we examine this tool and why it’s important.

Another Tool in Analytics

Search Console is a set of tools that helps measure search traffic on your website, measure performance, and helps identify issues that could be hindering your site in search results.

One of the most important features of Search Console is the ability to track how you acquired users. Within the tool, you can see which landing pages get the most impressions and clicks. When analyzing your data, it’s important to see which pages are getting the most traffic and which pages could use more optimization.

This tool also offers insights into bounce rates (how long a user stays on the page) as well as how many pages a user visits during each session. Data on how many impressions your website has on a desktop versus mobile and tablets and which countries your users are coming from is also included. Queries in Search Console allows you to see what users were searching for when they found your website.

Additionally, Search Console reviews websites and sends performance reports detailing elements that need to be changed to improve your site ranking.

Why is Search Console Important?

Knowledge is power, so knowing where your customers are finding your website, and what they are doing when they get there is critical information. Search Console allows us to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each website.

We can see if a landing page needs to be optimized or updated because it’s not showing up in results. Search Console tells us if a blog post is driving significant traffic to your website—or not. When we understand what people are searching for when they find your website through queries, we can optimize keywords or create Google Ads with those terms. Through performance reports, we can see any design elements and page speed issues that might affect search results. This reporting is important because the more we know about how a site is performing, the more we can adjust as needed to improve—and that increases your bottom line.

What Do You Need to Do?

Baseline Creative helps many clients each month with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing such as Google ads, and website maintenance. If you are interested, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us to learn how we can help.

Business Cards are laid out on a table

The Importance of a Good Business Card Design

By Blog

Business cards may be the smallest tool in the toolbox, however, they can have the biggest impact on your company’s success, even in a digitally-dominated world.

Design matters

Have you ever received a business card that is plain boring, or poorly-designed? Both of these can ruin a first impression and may cause people in your network to avoid doing business with you.

Business cards don’t have to be boring! In fact, they can incorporate fun designs and colors while still being professional. Including a fun and personal touch on your business card design can make you memorable while standing out among the rest. Baseline Creative has designed hundreds of business cards over the years. From the concept to the design to the print production we help businesses put their best foot forward.

What are the benefits of keeping business cards in your toolbelt?

4 Benefits of Business Cards

  1. First, business cards provide an opportunity to make a good first impression on a potential customer.
  2. Second, it allows you to give people the most important information they need to know about you, including your name, company, email, and phone number.
  3. Also, business cards are a great networking tool as they can help establish personal relationships with individuals in all industries, ultimately building trust.
  4. Lastly, business cards are an inexpensive way to build your brand awareness and identity from the get-go.

Need a New Business Card Design?

Although we live in a digital world, business cards are still relevant. Furthermore, the power of a good business card can’t be underestimated.

If it’s time to update your current business card, or create a new one that reflects your identity or brand, Baseline Creative can help!

Our skilled team of designers are equipped to create one-of-a-kind business cards that capture the essence of your brand. In addition, we offer logo design, web development, marketing strategies, and more. Reach out to learn how we can help with your next project.

SafetyTec Services logo

Case Study: SafetyTec Services

By Blog

For over ten years, Baseline Creative has had the pleasure of working with the SafetyTec team on websites, print collateral, logo design—even animations. As one of the top fire prevention services companies in the region, SafetyTec has steadily grown and Baseline has been honored to be part of that growth.

Growing Together

SafetyTec serves Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska providing commercial hood cleaning, ceiling tile cleaning, wall cleaning, fixture cleaning, and most recently, fire suppression services. “We love seeing SafetyTec expand and grow their business into new markets,” Williams said. “

“We’ve just found that the responsiveness and the understanding of our business, and the collaboration that we’ve been able to achieve has really taken us to where we are today,” said Andy Jacobs, SafetyTec Services President.

Nathan Williams, Principal at Baseline agrees with Andy that the collaboration with Baseline and SafetyTec has produced amazing work and a wonderful working relationship. “Andy and his team are good people. We love that he trusts us to fulfill his vision and is always open to new things.”

Website Design & Social Media

Andy’s vision for a new website was something that was modern and interesting. Using the SafetyTec brand colors, and black and white photography, Baseline designed and developed a website that is striking and contemporary. SafetyTec worked with a videographer to capture a video of their crew on the job and Baseline used that motion throughout the site. “We have probably one of the best websites in the industry and we could not have done that without Baseline,” Jacobs said.

Each month the Baseline digital strategists create content for the SafetyTec social media channels. “We’ve seen over the years that consistent, high-quality content on social media, has increased the brand awareness for SafetyTec and drives people back to the website,” said Andrea Anglin, a digital strategist at Baseline. “We love coming up with new and interesting ways to tell the SafetyTec story.”

Baseline Creative is proud to work with SafetyTec and their team to build brand awareness, generate leads, and help them tell their brand story. If you need assistance with your brand, contact us. We’d love to help!