Are you fully utilizing the Power of Online Reviews?

Are you fully utilizing the Power of Online Reviews?

Are you fully utilizing the Power of Online Reviews?

Shelley Gulley

The Cowbell Agency

When you think about the last time you needed to make a purchase – how did you go about researching your options? I’ll bet you probably consulting online reviews BEFORE making your decision. Did you know Online reviews are the 1st place consumers look when they begin their consumer journey?  In fact, 72% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews (1). That’s powerful. 

Gone are the days when consumers relied solely on recommendations from friends and family to inform their buying decisions. While personal referrals still hold sway, consumers have a world of information at their fingertips, and they’re no longer simply relying on catchy advertisements or persuasive sales pitches to guide their purchasing choices. Instead, they’re turning to a more reliable source: online reviews. 

Since the pandemic, the importance of online reviews for businesses has skyrocketed even more, reshaping the way companies engage with their customers and ultimately influencing their success.  Today, online reviews offer a glimpse into real-life experiences, shedding light on both the positives and negatives of a product or service. This transparency helps consumers’ confidence in making informed decisions.

Who do you trust? 

Trust is a cornerstone of any successful business-customer relationship. Reviews are the new “Digital Word-of-Mouth”, and the biggest deciding factor when consumers are choosing products or services. Companies, in a sense,  have lost control of their brands with the freedom of the internet and social media. Customers are NOW in control. Customer perception IS your Brand. 

In the digital age, trust takes on a new form: Online Reputation. Reviews, ratings, and testimonials serve as a litmus test for the authenticity and reliability of a business. 

Businesses that want to succeed in our digital age of Review Reputation Management will stay focused on consistently delivering quality and prioritize positive customer experiences, which will in turn be rewarded with higher review scores, higher quantity of reviews, and therefore. increased sales.

SEO and Visibility

The impact of online reviews transcends the realm of consumer decision-making. Search engines, recognizing the value of user-generated content, factor reviews into their algorithms. Positive reviews can significantly enhance a business’s search engine ranking, leading to increased visibility and organic traffic. This interplay between reviews and search engine optimization (SEO) highlights the symbiotic relationship between customer feedback and online presence.

Building a Feedback Loop

Businesses that actively engage with their customers’ reviews demonstrate a commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Responding to reviews, whether they’re positive or negative, fosters a sense of community and customer loyalty. It also provides a platform for businesses to address concerns, offer solutions, and showcase their dedication to enhancing the customer experience. By utilizing reviews as a feedback loop, businesses can adapt and evolve to meet their customers’ evolving needs.

Improving your Online Reputation with Cowbell’s Reputation & Review “Boss” Management Platform

A great example of the power of Reputation & Review Management came in March 2023, when one of our clients was looking for a way to improve their search engine performance (SEO). Google’s new algorithm places much more importance on total reviews, frequency of reviews, and review scores than ever before.  

While they were receiving some Google reviews, the quantity was very low compared to the volume of client interactions they have on a daily basis. They were MISSING OUT! Connecting their Customer Relationship Management system to our Reputation Boss Platform allowed for time-saving automation for review requests through email and SMS messaging which dramatically increased their volume and rating experience.  

Instead of receiving an average of 40 reviews monthly as of March, they were projected to hit 286 reviews monthly by August 2023 while sustaining a 4.9 Rating. 

That’s a 615% increase in just 5 months! 

All this increased review activity is just one of the pieces of the SEO puzzle that helped them go from 24 keywords in the top 10 results for Google search to 240 just 6 months later. That is a 10 fold increase. 

We are able to offer our clients a proprietary portal that allows you to solicit your customers for reviews, and automate a process that promotes the positive reviews over the lower reviews. In other words, you develop a proactive, disciplined approach as opposed to sitting back and letting it just…well…happen. 

Get more reviews – This allows you to instill a proactive and disciplined approach to improving your online reputation

Manage your brand reputation – Control critical review sites and search engines including Google, Bing, Yelp, and Facebook.

Monitor and track your customer feedback – The dashboard provides analytics and trend metrics on review scores

Increase your online reputation review score – Encourages more 5- and 4-star reviews online which raises your average and moves lesser scores further down the page.

Navigating the Landscape

In the dynamic world of 2023, businesses must navigate the online review landscape strategically. Monitoring various review platforms, encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews, and promptly addressing negative feedback are crucial components of this strategy. Businesses should also prioritize delivering consistent quality and exceptional customer service, as these are the bedrock of positive reviews.

As consumers continue to consult online reviews before making purchasing decisions in 2023, the importance of these reviews for businesses cannot be overstated. The digital age has ushered in an era of informed consumers who rely on the collective wisdom of their peers to guide their choices. 

Embracing the power of online reviews, businesses can build trust, strengthen their online presence, and forge lasting relationships with their customers. In this landscape, reviews are not just feedback; they’re the currency of credibility and the key to unlocking business success.

If you are ready to take charge of your Business’s online reputation and reviews, Contact us today.  Learn more about Cowbell’s reputation management

Reference:  (1) The 2022 State of Online Reviews Birdeye.

Unlocking the Power of Targeted Advertising

Unlocking the Power of Targeted Advertising

Unlocking the Power of Targeted Advertising

Adam Latham

The Cowbell Agency

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, businesses are constantly seeking ways to maximize their return on investment and reach the most receptive audience. The key to achieving this lies in identifying and targeting the right audience – individuals who are most likely to become customers. By focusing their efforts and budget on engaging with this specific group, advertisers can enjoy significant cost savings. In this blog post, we will explore the different methods of identifying the right audience and how it ties into the effectiveness of a DSP or programmatic advertising model.

(Even before we get too deep into this, I realize I have already introduced some jargon or acronyms that people who don’t speak advertising geek might not understand. If you want to better understand exactly what DSP or programmatic advertising is you can refer to HERE

Identifying and Targeting the Right Audience

To effectively reach the right audience, advertisers have access to a wealth of data-driven insights that help them understand consumer behavior and preferences. Now, some of you right now are repulsed by the notion advertisers have access to this data. But get over it. We do. Take your consumer hat off for just a moment, please your business owner or advertiser hat on, and just embrace the many different ways we can target. 

Personal Demographic Information:

Understanding the demographics of potential customers is crucial. This includes factors such as age, gender, marital status, education level, income, home value, and even specific details like car make and model. By analyzing these demographic attributes, advertisers can tailor their messaging to specific subsets of the population that are most likely to be interested in their products or services.

In fact, trying to prepare a list or spreadsheet of ALL of the different levels of demographic data is virtually impossible. The depth of different attributes changes and evolves from day to day, and the true beauty is when you combine different attributes, which can provide an almost infinite list of possibilities. If that sounds like an exaggeration, imagine if you will for an advertiser who might make branded accessories for people who own Jaguars. Imagine the ability to deliver everything from online display ads to actual television ads, during the most popular streaming television show, but only paying to deliver that ad to people watching who a) own a Porsche, b) have an online behavior history purchasing similar items, and even has 5X to 7X the average discretionary income. 

Gone are the days of paying to deliver ads to people who don’t want, need, or can’t afford your product or service.

Online Behavior:

Online behavior provides valuable insights into consumer interests and habits. Keyword search analysis allows advertisers to identify individuals who are actively searching for products or services similar to what they offer. Contextual content viewed allows targeting based on the type of content users are consuming, ensuring that ads are relevant to their interests. Moreover, analyzing the types or categories of websites visited provides valuable information for advertisers to determine the online preferences and align their ads accordingly. 

Previous Purchasing Behavior and Habits:

Studying customers’ past purchasing behavior and habits helps businesses identify potential customers with similar characteristics. By analyzing previous purchase history, brands can create lookalike audiences – individuals who exhibit similar behaviors and preferences to their existing customers. This approach enables advertisers to target prospects who are more likely to convert, thus optimizing their marketing efforts.

Geographic Location:

Geographic location plays a pivotal role in targeting the right audience. Advertisers can narrow their focus to specific regions, cities, or neighborhoods by leveraging geographic location data. This allows them to tailor their messaging to local audiences who are more likely to be interested in their offerings due to their proximity to the business location.

Event or Business Geo-fencing:

Event or business geo-fencing is a powerful technique that enables advertisers to target individuals in specific physical locations. By setting up virtual boundaries around events, trade shows, retail stores, or competitor locations, advertisers can deliver relevant ads to individuals who enter or exit these boundaries. This approach allows businesses to engage with potential customers who are physically present at specific locations or have shown interest in similar events or businesses.

The Role of DSPs and Programmatic Advertising

Here’s where all this comes together. After you identify your ideal target audience, you want to be able to reach them. This is where Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and programmatic advertising play a crucial role in efficiently doing that. When we say “demand-side” what we are talking about are these opportunities when when websites, video providers, social media platforms, and yes, even streaming TV content providers, are asking for ads to serve up. If you watch any streaming television (and there are more of you than cable watchers now), it happens very fast. The show is pausing for a commercial and that little wheel in the corner of your screen is spinning. A few seconds later, it tells you how many minutes of commercials it is going to show you. In those few seconds, the AI in the background found ads specifically targeted to you. Cool, uh? Well, I think it’s cool. Some people find it scary. But for the life of me, if I have to be served up two minutes of ads, I can’t understand why it is better to see an ad meant for a 17-year old, female, who is actively downloading boy band tunes. Why not see ads for things I actually might want to buy. And yes, I get how that gives us marketers a lot of power. Again, embrace it and take advantage of it. 

Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

Understanding Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) and the Programmatic Advertising Revolution

Adam Latham

The Cowbell Agency

Programmatic advertising has revolutionized the way digital ads are bought and sold. Instead of manual negotiations and direct sales, programmatic advertising uses data, algorithms, AI, and automation to streamline the ad-buying process. It allows advertisers to target specific audiences, optimize campaigns in real time, and achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness. In this blog post, we will delve deeper into programmatic advertising and explore how it enhances targeted advertising efforts.

What is Programmatic Advertising? 

Sometimes, the most fundamental or basic questions are the most difficult to answer. If you were to ask two different marketers you might get two different answers. Here’s the way I like to explain it. Let’s look at the different “functions” of advertising. There’s creating content and messaging, and then there’s delivering that content and messaging. Pretty basic concept. 

Now, we have DSPs, or Demand-Side Platforms that are asking for ads. They have demand, and they want that demand filled so they can get paid. They can be part of the Google display network, an independent website, an app, or a video news site, or…geez, this list could go on forever. Let’s just say they deliver content, even as far up the food chain as an entertainment provider like Hulu, Tubi, or Netflix. 

What happens very quickly is a transaction. And this happens constantly, 24 hours a day, and simultaneously. There’s no way any individual could see the request, read the request, and agree to the request. So what happens is you configure a campaign that is programmed to respond to these requests. That is why it is “programmatic.”

And just to confuse things even more, the content providers could never agree to these things in advance because they don’t know the parameters of the deal until that final variable is in place: YOU are watching the content. Each and every one of us merits a new negotiation.

This isn’t as complicated as you may think (or maybe it really is and I’m just so dived into this my perception of reality is altered). Let’s say individual A, who is a 65-year-old male who lives in a specific geographic area, is watching a college football broadcast on a Saturday afternoon. There may be a thousand different campaigns that want to show him ads as long as they don’t exceed $1.50 to show him. The demand goes out, the order is filled, and he is seeing ads. Now, let’s change that slightly. Individual B is watching the same exact broadcast from the same exact content provider and lives right next door to Individual A, but, this individual is a 35-year-old who owns a Porsche and has 7X the discretionary spend level of the average American. For this individual, the request goes out, and it finds that a company that makes Porsche-branded leather jackets is willing to pay up to $3 to show that person an ad. Guess what, the content provider finds, offers, gets acceptance and shows him this ad so that they double their money.

If you want to learn more about the many different ways we can target including geo-fencing, go to this link HERE

These offers and acceptances take place while you are waiting for commercials. This real-time bidding (RTB) is a key component of programmatic advertising. It enables ad inventory to be bought and sold in milliseconds through automated auctions. Advertisers can bid on ad impressions based on their targeting criteria, and the highest bidder gets their ad displayed to the desired audience. This dynamic bidding process ensures efficient allocation of ad spend and maximizes the potential reach of campaigns.

The “programs” that run these campaigns use a combination of Big Data and AI to keep these running in the background. They are called Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs). These software platforms provide advertisers with a centralized interface to set campaign parameters, target specific audiences, and optimize ad spend. DSPs integrate with ad exchanges and supply-side platforms (SSPs) to access ad inventory from multiple publishers, ensuring a wide reach for advertisers.

The capabilities offered by DSPs are diverse and powerful. Advertisers can leverage audience targeting features to define their ideal customer profile and deliver ads to the right individuals. Real-time bidding on ad exchanges enables them to bid for ad impressions based on predefined criteria, ensuring that their ads reach the most relevant audience.

Furthermore, DSPs offer ad creative management tools, campaign tracking features, and comprehensive reporting capabilities. These functionalities enable advertisers to monitor campaign performance, make data-driven optimizations, and gain valuable insights into their ad campaigns’ effectiveness.

That’s how I describe the whole thing, acronyms and jargon included at no extra cost.  But if you’re the type of person who likes the Wikipedia sort of way of answering that question of “what is programmatic advertising”  it might read:

“Programmatic advertising empowers advertisers to leverage sophisticated targeting options to reach their desired audience segments. By utilizing demographic information, browsing behavior, location, and interests, advertisers can tailor their ad campaigns to specific audiences. This level of precision targeting ensures that ads are shown to the right people, at the right time, and in the right context.”

That actually wasn’t as painful as I thought. 

Conclusion

Programmatic advertising, facilitated by Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs), has transformed the digital advertising landscape. It offers advertisers greater efficiency, precision targeting, and real-time optimization capabilities. Through programmatic advertising, businesses can reach their target audiences more effectively, improve campaign performance, and achieve a better return on investment (ROI).

DSPs play a critical role in programmatic advertising by providing advertisers with the tools and infrastructure to manage and optimize their ad campaigns. These platforms enable advertisers to leverage data-driven insights, reach the right audience at the right time, and make informed decisions to drive their digital advertising success.

As the digital advertising industry continues to evolve, programmatic advertising and DSPs will remain key components in the arsenal of advertisers seeking to maximize their online advertising efforts. By harnessing the power of programmatic advertising and utilizing DSPs effectively, businesses can elevate their digital advertising strategies and achieve their marketing goals. Embracing programmatic advertising opens up a world of opportunities for targeted advertising, enabling businesses to connect with their audience in a more precise and impactful manner.

Protect yourself from online brute-force attacks

Protect yourself from online brute-force attacks

Protect yourself from online brute-force attacks

Owen Yorio

The Cowbell Agency

If you own a website, or have used any type of online account before, you may be familiar with a brute-force attack. If you are unaware, a brute force attack is a common way hackers or malicious sources could try to access your sensitive information. Essentially, nefarious code is executed that attempts hundreds of passwords a second in an attempt to gain access to locked content. There are a few simple ways to protect a website or user from these types of attacks, we’ll go through two of those now.

Good Password Management

The most simple way is to be diligent with your passwords. If your password was created with extra symbols, numbers, and cases, that greatly increases the time it would take for a program to brute force into. There’s a cool website that proves this point with simple math, https://www.passwordmonster.com/. This tool shows how long it would take for a brute-force attack to break a password. Let’s try an easy password, “tomorrow.”

According to this tool, it would take less than a second for a brute-force attack to crack this password, notably because it is an actual word, with no special characters, numbers, symbols, or case changes. Now, let’s try to make this password a bit more secure by trying a different approach.

In doing this, we’ve made our password virtually impossible to break. No need to worry about a brute force attack anymore! This number is astounding by the way, 4 thousand trillion (sextillion) years works out to about 289 billion times longer than the universe has existed for. There are other tools to use that can help you manage complex passwords like this as well, Google Chrome has some built right in.

Lock account after too many login attempts

Most people have encountered this measure before, almost all sites enforce this one by default, others may not. Nearly all websites you could have an account with use this function to protect you, not just to frustrate you when you’ve forgotten your password. So why shouldn’t you use it on your own website if you’re not already?

If you need any help with website security, give us a call or contact us here on the site!

Take more advantage of Google My Business

Take more advantage of Google My Business

Take more advantage of Google My Business

Owen Yorio

The Cowbell Agency

Google My Business (GMB) is a crucial element to your online presence. With a proper account, you are eligible for all of the advantages the platform offers. So as a start, make sure you claim your business. If you’ve been operating your business without creating a GMB profile, there’s a good chance Google has automatically created a shell of one for you already. This does make it easier for potential customers to find your business, but it doesn’t come with all of the bells and whistles that can optimize traffic to your business or website. Simply search for your business on Google, if a widget displays on the side with your information, you can claim the business (there should be a button). If you do not, you’ll have to navigate to the Google My Business homepage and set up your profile there.

Once you’ve claimed/set up your business (it should guide you through some relatively easy steps to do so), you can begin adding additional information. You’ll want to take the time to do this if you want to get the most out of GMB. You should see a tab on the left displaying different sections of your GMB profile:

All of these are important to most businesses, except for Products and Website, and we’ll get to those in a bit. Let’s go over these in order:

Home

This is your dashboard, it displays broad information at a glance, and allows you to monitor aspects of your business while giving you various alerts.

Posts

This section allows you to create content for your GMB page, like COVID info, offers, updates, events, and products. It is useful to keep updating in this section as our business changes. Google likes to reward sites that keep their GMB page up to date with posts that reflect what your business is actually up to.

Info

In this section you can change information about your business, things like hours and social links. You probably won’t be in this section too often after you create your GMB profile, but it is important to make sure you fill out as much information as possible here, so potential customers know enough about your business to make a decision on it.

Insights

This is a great place to get information on the visitors of your GMB page and people who call directly from GMB.

Reviews

This section compiles all of your reviews, and allows you to respond to them. One of the most important tips we can give is to reply to all reviews, good and bad. Potential customers can see all of these reviews as well as your responses to them. If you don’t respond to reviews, it gives the impression that you don’t care about your customers. A simple “We appreciate your kind review! Thanks for doing business with us!” or a “We’re sorry we didn’t serve you to the best of our ability, we hope to make this up to you the next time you visit!” can go a long way. Obviously, you’d want to make it more personalized than that, but generally a response is better than no response. 

Calls

This is a new offering of GMB, so it isn’t as fleshed out as other functions. But if you set it up, it’s helpful to have call history information to track.

Messages

Once this option is activated, customers can message your business directly through GMB, a helpful offering.

Photos

The photos of your business is one of the first things people will see when they come across your GMB page, so give them something nice to look at! Interior and exterior shots to give them a good sense of the space. It’s also helpful to keep this relatively up to date.

Products

This area allows you to upload product information, allowing people to see what you offer right on Google. If you offer any type of product, this is a great option for you, but as we said earlier, this doesn’t apply to all businesses.

Services

If you offer services, this area is extremely important. You want to display what you can do to potential customers as soon as possible, so make sure this section is as up to date and accurate as possible. This also helps Google index your website and GMB profile, and offer it to people who are searching for your services.

Website

If you’d like a barebones website, this section allows you to make one through GMB. We don’t recommend this, as the sites that come out of this have no personality or much in terms of functionality or style.

Users

The last option here is to add other Google users to have permissions on this GMB page. Helpful if you’d like other team members to help you out in creating or monitoring your business information. 

It is important to keep all of your pertinent business information up to date and accurate on Google My Business, as it helps you and potential customers. Don’t put it off as a waste of time, because you could lose out on business, it’s worth the time to set it up and update it. If you need any help setting up an optimized GMB profile, let us know by giving us a call or commenting!

Domain Extensions: Looking Beyond .COM

Domain Extensions: Looking Beyond .COM

Domain Extensions: Looking Beyond .COM

Suzanne McBride

The Cowbell Agency

This month, our agency begins the celebration of its 20-year anniversary. Since late August 2001, this award-winning agency has evolved from U.S.Ad & Marketing to McBride Woodbridge Marketing to McBride Marketing Group and finally Cowbell Agency. Looking back at 2001, the internet was relatively young and .com and .net ruled the domain names. Today, things are different.

Most everyone knows what a domain is, but what about Domain Extensions?  A domain extension is the suffix at the end of your web address that specifies an internet category and/or the country code of the location the domain is from. We’re all familiar with .com, .net and .gov, but did you know there are over 280 extensions delegated globally?

First, let’s look at how they are categorized. They are divided into 2 main categories:

Why are Domain Extensions important to your business?

People associate certain things with different domain extensions, for example, whether the website seems trustworthy (for example “.gov” for government) or even modern (for example “mobi” – for mobile).  And they do it unconsciously. It also becomes part of your branding so you need to choose wisely when registering.

 

What happens if the domain/extension is not available to you?

If you are frustrated that the domain name you want is already taken, try looking into another domain extensions. Here are a few extensions and their meaning:

.museum (museums)

.pro (professionals like legal, medical)

.name (individuals)

.club (club)

.life (wellness, charities, bloggers)

.xyz (means “little universe” – a new trendy extension , and easy to remember!)

.tel (online directory, virtual business cards)

.travel (travel industry)

.store (store)

 

And if you have more than one domain, they can be forwarded to one main domain. So have some fun with it. 

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