Social
Great question! There are several that should be addressed before you move forward. We go through all of them in this blog you should check out. To wrap it up quickly, you should ask what the initial process looks like, what’s required of you and what the agency will provide, is a contract and what is included, how often you have access to the social media manager, are they familiar with your industry, do they have references they can provide, what kinds of packages they offer, and how they measure success.
The three main reasons are cost, experience, and time. If you keep your social media in-house, you will either have to hire someone or add to a team member’s existing responsibilities (do they have enough time to accomplish this). Let’s be real, hiring someone is expensive. You have salary and benefits to provide them. Plus, the hassle of training and the potential of turnover.
Hiring an agency, on the other hand, is more affordable. You can expect to pay around $17,000 a year. That’s much more affordable than a full salary. Plus, we are experienced, we have regular training to keep up with best practices, and most importantly, it’s the only thing we do! Your marketing goals are our priority. Read more about outsourcing here.
The primary goal of social media marketing is to build relationships with your ideal audience and drive referrals to your website. We use a mix of curated, organic, and paid promotional content to build a know, like, and trust relationship with that ideal audience to keep your brand top of mind. When done right, social media can work for any business. The key is to give before you get. A lot of our time will be spent engaging with other pages as your company, so your brand is seen everywhere.
We do! To ensure authenticity of your message, we do a deep dive into your company to understand your business goals, your culture, and your voice. Our account managers are social strategists, experts in creating a content mix which will capture your audience’s attention and build relationships through tried and true strategies. Your dedicated account manager will create 30 days of unique social media content, specific to your business, and send it over in advance for your approval. The content developed is designed to: position your brand/company as experts within your industry, educate and engage with your audience, and entertain. Once approved, we will publish content daily. Of course, we love real-time happenings from your brand and can incorporate photos, kudos, or other “happening now” content into the mix as you share it with us.
You will have direct access to your account manager anytime during standard business hours. You will also have pre-set monthly or bi-monthly meetings to review your goals, analytics, and social media reports.
To successfully build relationships online, consistent engagement is necessary. We will publish content a minimum of once a day depending on your brand needs. The most successful social media campaigns are those producing content regularly to stay relevant. We are able to monitor when your ideal audience is online allowing us share your messaging timely, ensuring the best possible results and maximum brand exposure.
Ongoing account management is based on your goals for your marketing strategy, and we’re able to provide a custom approach to meet the needs of your business. We offer several monthly retainer options for clients who wish to contract with NOW Marketing Group for ongoing relationship management.
Social media management can certainly be maintained by a member of your team. We suggest this individual be fully engaged in the marketing of your business and brand. Relationship marketing requires constant engagement. Hiring an agency to provide ongoing relationship marketing management allows your business to grow while you are able to stay focused on your expertise and your day-to-day. Our team of experts are in-the-know when it comes to the latest updates, tools and techniques to engage with your audiences. By contracting with an agency, we can do the heavy lifting and provide you with detailed reports to monitor how your brand is performing.
Web
We have an entire web development team to work on our web projects.
Our team includes:
A project manager
A web designer
A content writer
A developer
A marketing strategist
If you want to learn more about the people it takes to build a website, check out this resource.
Hey, we have a whole blog written on the subject! Read it here. The gist is that you should ask who is writing content, where the photos and graphics are coming from, if the website will be user-friendly and mobile-first, if you’ll have access to make changes down the road, if it will be a custom site with SEO included, and if there is an ongoing fee or contract you’d have to pay.
Well, we’d be remiss if we didn’t say US! But, truly, what you really need to look for in a web developer is experience, customization, professionalism, and forward-thinking. You need someone who will take your ideas, drill down into them, ask questions, and determine the best solutions. All while making it perform at its best while looking clean, fresh, and modern. A great web development team will build a site that you can grow and that will help grow your business.
We hate to break it to ya, but websites aren’t build-it-and-forget-about-it anymore. At the very least, it means maintaining and refreshing about every two years.
Here are some signs you need a new website:
- If your website was built before 2017
- If it’s not working right anymore
- If customers are confused or not converting
- If it doesn’t match your brand or goals
- If it doesn’t follow Google’s rules for SEO
- If it’s not responsive or mobile-friendly
We’re so happy you asked! Before anything, we’re going to hold a discovery call with you. We want to know that we’re both a good match for each other and that we can accomplish your goals. After our initial call, we’ll provide you with a quote based on the things you are asking for. Every quote will be unique and we will do our best to provide an estimate that aligns with both your financial goals and website goals. Read more about website pricing here.
After you sign on, we will have a project kick-off meeting, usually with the whole team present. We will once more go over goals and dive into the nitty-gritty. We will discuss things like custom functionality, content, site map, and design elements. At the end of this call, our project manager will set up an ongoing weekly call.
In the beginning, you will be asked to provide any marketing material you have, including any copy you’d like to repurpose, photos we can incorporate, and graphics you’ve had developed. Sometimes this all needs created. That’s cool! We have a graphic designer and videographer in-house who can help with this task or we could suggest other resources to help with the project, depending on what you’d like to do. As a part of your package, you will have access to a writer who can also assist with writing new material. So no matter where you are in the development process, we’ve got your back.
After our kick-off meeting, we get to work! We start developing the perfect site map, web copy, content, and design for your new site. As we check off our list, you will have the ability to review and approve. If we didn’t hit the mark, just let us know and we will edit, make changes, or redesign.
After the design is approved, our coder gets started. He will create a beta site for us to work in. Once content is approved and the beta is ready, we will start adding copy, photos, graphics, and videos in the site map. You can watch this as it’s happening; we give you access to the beta link so you can see it in real time.
Once everything is placed, you will go through the beta site and approve or make any little changes you need. After everything is ready and reviewed, you’ll give final approval. Then we will take it live! Once we do a happy dance, we will make sure everything is working as it should with a final audit.
Lastly, we will train you on how to use your new site so you can make edits moving forward. We will also give you the option of some ongoing packages, just in case you’d like some help monitoring and maintaining the site.
That’s our web development process in a nutshell!
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Content
That’d be us! All of your content is written in-house by our team. We create social posts, blogs, whitepapers and downloads, web copy, and much more.
That’d be you! All of your copy is yours and you can use it however you wish.
Design
Need a business card, brochure, graphic, or other piece of design work? We’ve got you. First, you tell us what you need. Then we will give you a quote. Once we get the go ahead, we confirm any details we need to know and then send over a design. You get the chance to review it and make changes before it is approved. Once the design is finalized, it’s yours and you will receive the files. If you need help printing it, we can suggest some options and send it over to the printer.
Video
A full day’s shoot within 20 miles of our location is $900. If you are outside of a 20 mile radius, it will add $1 per mile. Music and video editing are not included in the shoot and typically take six to eight hours at $80 an hour.
All kinds! Do you have an idea? We’d love to hear about it. Together, we’ll work with you to develop creative content that will tell your story through video marketing strategies.
Here are some examples of the kinds of videos we’ve done in the past:
Virtual tours
- Meet the team
- Corporate interviews
- Event coverage
- How-to video production
- Product demonstrations
- Website videos
- Commercials
- Story-telling
- Hype videos
Typically, we will cover ideas, storyboard the concept, and once approved we will work with our videographer to schedule a day to film. He will spend several hours getting the footage needed, completing interviews, and capturing the story. Once the filming is done, it’s time to edit. Editing typically takes about two weeks. Once an initial draft is cut, you will preview it, can suggest changes if there are any, and we will work to incorporate your vision into the editing. Once we have approval we send the files over to you and place the video on YouTube and/or add to your website or social channels if we have an ongoing social media or website package.
General
Nope. We believe if you’re happy with our partnership you’re going to stick with us and that’s good enough for us.
Yes! We recommend HostGator for hosting. Google G Suite and their apps for file storage, email, and conferencing. Hubspot and SharpSpring for customer relationship management (CRM). And, AgoraPulse for social media management.
For web development, we split-up payments. At the start of the project we require a 50 percent down payment, and then we will bill you 25 percent at the six week mark and the remaining balance at the end of the three-month period (upon your final approval of the website).
For our ongoing clients, we will set-up an auto-billing schedule and will bill you for the month of service already performed. We accept check, PayPal, and credit cards.